Shari Creates

Books, languages, things I make and notes from everyday life.

Author: Shari

  • Farewell Kiki

    Farewell Kiki

    Our little bunny breathed his last on the 22nd of June 2021. He was short by a few months to his 7th birthday. For a lop-eared dwarf bunny, I read that 7-9 years is the average lifespan. So he was almost a senior in human age.

    Since we are living in an apartment building with shared garden, we decided to bury him at our weekend house in Gödöllő. We think he liked the place as we let him roam around a bit there. He had more space and was outside more there.

    Kiki’s resting place

    He was family to us, and I believe to him we were the world. I don’t think we were the best owners but I hope we had given him somewhat not too bad a life.

    As we are a small family and having had a few family members passed away last year, this lost is really felt. I just hope, where ever he is now, he is happy.

  • My First AstraZeneca Vaccine

    I had my first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine last Thursday. I had been holding off for a while because I was hoping to get Pfizer instead, but eventually I decided to register.

    By then, many people in Hungary had already received their vaccinations, including my husband, and it had become possible to book an appointment directly and choose a vaccination site. Naturally, I picked the one closest to home. 😁

    The place where I had my jab was a cardiology clinic. My appointment was at 10:21 a.m., but I arrived about fifteen minutes early.

    First, we lined up to hand in a form we had filled out. They registered our arrival and asked us to wait, then called people in groups of five.

    After that, I was given a small piece of paper with the vaccine batch number and the date of my second dose. Once I had that, I was called in for the injection itself. The whole process was quite quick — maybe ten minutes or so.

    After the injection, we were asked to wait in a designated room for about fifteen minutes. I spent the time reading the information about possible side effects and wondering which ones I might end up with. 😁

    Fifteen minutes later, I left the clinic. My husband was waiting patiently for me outside.

    For most of the day, I felt fine. We even went for our usual evening walk.

    It was only after I got home that the side effects started. First came the chills, then a slight fever, aching joints and a headache. My left arm, where I had received the injection, also felt swollen and sore.

    I could not sleep properly and was still awake around four or five in the morning. Eventually I took some NeoCitran, which contained paracetamol, and finally managed to sleep until about ten.

    When I woke up, I felt somewhat better. I answered a few work emails and then went back to bed. 😅

    It took me roughly a day to feel normal again. By the time I wrote this, I was feeling quite well.

    My second dose was scheduled for 29 July at the same clinic. I cannot say I was exactly looking forward to going through the side effects again, but I did want to get it over with.

  • Simple Hungarian – Fifty Topic For Beginners.

    Simple Hungarian – Fifty Topic For Beginners.

    SimpleHungarian

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    From Goodreads: The title of the series is Simple Hungarian, for the stories are told in simple, everyday colloquial style.

    I have to admit that I got this book a while back and started reading it long ago only to put it aside for a long time. I began to read the book again since I started to brush up on my Hungarian. I just need something else to read other than the text books that I am using.

    If you are learning Hungarian like myself you would know that there aren’t many study resources out there for this language compared to other languages; say Japanese or Spanish. So when I saw this book I was glad.

    Well, despite what the title says, “Simple Hungarian”. There is nothing simple about Hungarian. 😀 But just like everything the more you expose yourself to it the easier it gets. I find that the book is good for learning new words and also helps you remember the basic concepts and words usage as they are repeated a lot. It kind of ease you into the language.

    The book is divided into 2 parts – Simple present and simple past. Each part comes with 50 short articles or topics. The topics are about common things that you would use in your daily life with topics like – family, friends, siblings, work, hobbies etc. The topics were actually repeated in both parts but  as I mentioned earlier, one is presented in simple present and the other in simple past. And at the end of each topic there are questions based on it. Also the translations of both the articles and questions are provided as well. So you can use the questions to try to repeat what you’ve read by memory.

    This book is not something you can use as a textbook for sure but definitely something you should consider getting as a supplement for language learning.

    “Jó tanulást!”

     

     

     

  • Dear Hank Williams

    Dear Hank Williams

    Bookcover Dear Hank
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    From Goodread: It’s 1948 in Rippling Creek, Louisiana, and Tate P. Ellerbee’s new teacher has just given her class an assignment–learning the art of letter-writing. Luckily, Tate has the perfect pen pal in mind: Hank Williams, a country music singer whose star has just begun to rise. Tate and her great-aunt and -uncle listen to him on the radio every Saturday night, and Tate just knows that she and Hank are kindred spirits. Told entirely…

    I finished this book about a week ago. I just didn’t have the time to write my thoughts on it. I am a fan of ‘letter writing’ or ‘journaling’ story telling. Not surprising that one of my all time favorite books “daddy long legs” by Jean Webster. You kind of get into the head of the characters and it can make them seem much more real.

    It took me a few hours to go through this book. I love reading stories from the perspective of a child. Innocent ,funny and refreshing. The story is based in the late 1940 post II world war period and the story was told through letters sent by an 11 year old girl named Tate P. Ellerbee to her idol, Hank Williams. I have to confess that every time she mentioned a song, I had to look it up and listen to them while reading the book. It was well written that I could imagine rather vividly how it was to live as a child in the 40s. How much more simple and complicated it was at the same time. Now when I wanted to listen to a song I could just google it or look it up on ‘spotify’ or ‘Tidal’ and chances are I would find them there. But for a child in the 40s who wanted to listen to songs of their favourite singers, they would have to make time to tune it to the radio at certain time of the day with the entire family. If you missed it, you miss it. You just have to wait for the next day or week for the program to come up again on the radio. I suppose something that we modern people would not have to go through – everything is instant gratification these days.

    Anyway, it all started when her teacher decided that they should all start writing to penpals. And Tate, after listening to Hank Williams for the first time on the radio, had a good idea of who her penpal should be – which is Hank Williams himself,  and nothing her teacher told her could convince her otherwise. From then on she started to relate the daily going ons in her life religiously through letters – without getting a reply of course other than the occasional autographed photos.

    As I mentioned earlier, the letters were well written, peppered with childish humor,  and curiosity. It is a story about love, family and grief. I conveyed in the end of how a grieving child might see the world. It reminded me that nobody is safe from the harsh reality of living. Not even a child. But love and hope conquers all and makes it easier what ever hardships life throws at us.

    With this I have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed the book and recommend it for sure.

  • The Ghost and Mrs Muir — R. A. Dick

    The Ghost and Mrs Muir — R. A. Dick

    Book cover of The Ghost and Mrs Muir by R. A. Dick, showing a blue coastal landscape beneath the title.
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    1. Spoiler warning: This review discusses the ending of the story.

    I read The Ghost and Mrs Muir after watching the 1947 movie, and from what I remember, the film was actually quite faithful to the book. That probably helped because I already knew the characters and the general shape of the story, but I still enjoyed going back to the original novel and seeing where it all began.

    Mrs Muir is a widow with very little money, and that is partly what makes Gull Cottage possible for her. The house is cheap because it has a rather inconvenient problem: it is haunted by its former owner, Captain Daniel Gregg. Most people would probably leave the moment they realised the ghost stories were true, but Mrs Muir does not really have that luxury. She needs somewhere affordable to live, and apparently sharing a house with an irritable dead sea captain is a problem she is prepared to deal with.

    Captain Gregg has managed to frighten other occupants away, but Mrs Muir refuses to cooperate. She is stubborn enough to stay, and eventually he has to accept that she is not leaving. I think that is one of the things I liked most about their relationship. Neither of them gives in easily, and what begins as an argument over who has the greater right to the house slowly develops into companionship and affection.

    I do not remember every detail of what happens in the middle of the book now, but I remember the relationship between Mrs Muir and the Captain very clearly. It is such an unusual romance because the problem between them can never really be solved while she is alive. They can talk, argue, care for one another and become important parts of each other’s lives, but they cannot have an ordinary future together.

    That is what makes the ending so bittersweet. Mrs Muir eventually grows old and dies, and Captain Gregg has waited for her all those years. When he comes for her at the end, they can finally be together without the barrier that had always existed between them.

    It is sad because an entire lifetime has had to pass first, but at the same time I cannot imagine the story ending any other way. There is something very moving about the idea that he simply waited until her life was finished.

    Despite being a ghost story, The Ghost and Mrs Muir never felt frightening to me. It is much more about companionship, loneliness, independence and a love that has to wait far longer than most.

    I watched the movie first, but reading the novel afterwards did not spoil either version for me. If anything, they complemented each other, and I can understand why this story has lasted as long as it has.

    Rating: ★★★★★

  • Emily Of New Moon trilogy by L.M Montgomery

    Emily Of New Moon trilogy by L.M Montgomery

    Emily of New Moon trilogy
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    One of the lesser known works of L.M Montgomery compared to Anne of Green Gables, but according to her,  Emily was closer to her own heart. Like Anne, Emily is a strong-minded, gifted, imaginative child, left alone and unprotected in a harsh world, who is taken in by adults who are at least initially cold and unloving. Both girls grow up amid the beauties of Prince Edward Island, both keenly sensitive to natural splendors and…

    The last time I read one of Ms Montgomery’s books, I was still a teenager. I loved all the books with Anne as the heroine – from Anne of Green Gables to Anne House of dreams. The books were magical for me. Anne, Diana, Gilbert were like real people that you’ve got to know more about them. Despite my love for those books it sure took a while for me to get a hold of the less popular books by Ms Montgomery. I suppose that was it, because it was less known, I barely could see these at bookstores back in Malaysia years ago when the internet was not that widely used.

    In fact, I got these books for free to be read on my ipad. You can find great bargains and even free classical books on Amazon Kindle once in a while. So the books in order which they are supposed to be read: Emily of New Moon, Emily climbs and Emily’s Quests.

    I read all three books within 3 days. I am at the moment sleep deprived for sure but I just couldn’t help myself, it was not easy to put them down once I started reading during the night.

    I decided to just do one review for all three books as to me it is like one whole story of Emily. It just won’t be complete to just read one or two books out of the series. This is one of those stories that you simply got to read one book at a time and not skip any.

    So here is what I thought of the books. They were good. Obviously as to how it was difficult for me to put them down. 🙂  But not as good as the Anne of Green Gables series and I could not help but to compare. This series seems to be a bit darker with a touch of paranormal, pedophilia, emotional incest and rather not as cheerful as Anne of Green Gables series. Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride characters kept on popping up when ever Emily’s uncles and aunts were in the picture.  The Murrays ( Emily’s maternal family) just infuriates me sometimes with their judgmental nature with one Aunt Ruth for example always suspecting Emily as being sly at all times and questioned everything she did as having a bad underlying motive simply because of what her mother did in the past. But I suppose that is what real life families are at times – annoying pain in the ass lot.

    I don’t know why it is, but somehow I felt it was rather rushed at the end. Maybe because it was only planned for 3 books and no more, or simply she just got tired of writing it towards the end. Some characters had more attention than some other important ones. I mean, there was Teddy Kent who was supposed to be a love interest for Emily and we barely know anything much about him. With Anne of Green Gables each character’s personality was well built so much so you feel like you yourself know them all your life – like Ruby Gillis, and heck even Charlie Sloane. Now with Emily of New moon this lack  some how left me with a feeling of slight dissatisfaction.

    All in all they were worth the read. Believe it or not there were positive take aways from the books for me personally. So I gave the books 4 out of 5 stars. Looking forward to read more of L.M. Montgomery’s other works soon.

  • Looking Back on 2020

    Looking Back on 2020

    2020 was a difficult year for many people. Many lost loved ones or income because of the pandemic. Our family had its own share of loss: three family members passed away during the year, although not because of the virus. Earlier that same week, a former colleague I had worked with for about five years also died suddenly. He was far too young, and I was still very sad about it when I wrote this.

    Despite all the bad news, here we were on the final day of the year. In Hungary, we had only a few hours left before 2021, and I wanted to take a little time to look back.

    Even though we lost people we loved, there were also things we gained. Because of the pandemic, I was fortunate enough to be able to work from home. That gave me back several hours each day that would otherwise have been spent commuting, and I could use that time for things that mattered to me.

    As a family, we also spent much more time together. We live in a relatively small space, so being around one another constantly took some adjustment, but eventually we learned to enjoy it.

    Towards the end of the year, we had settled into a routine of waking up around 6:00 to 6:30 every morning and having breakfast and lunch together. Breakfast was usually the main meal of the day, lunch was lighter, and we often skipped dinner unless someone was hungry.

    We started a family savings fund sometime in May and were surprised by how much we managed to save once we became more deliberate about it.

    My daughter and I also became more disciplined with music. She played the piano, while I played guitar — although not together, at least not yet. She became quite consistent with her practice, and I started learning fingerstyle guitar as well as some music theory.

    I also got my driving licence in 2020. I had not started driving yet, so one of the things I was thinking about for 2021 was finally getting a car and putting the licence to use.

    I exceeded my reading goal for the year. I had planned to read 48 books and finished 57, across different lengths and genres. It was probably the first time since my school years that I had read that many books in a single year. For 2021, I set the goal at 52 books.

    My Hungarian studies also went well. I could understand more and speak more than before. I bought the books in the MagyarOK series, completed one level and was nearly halfway through A2.

    I had deliberately gone back to the basics and started building up again more slowly. I also tried to use what I learned by writing to native speakers on sites such as Lang-8 and HiNative, rather than relying only on textbooks.

    There were many smaller goals I managed to achieve that year, but these were some of the main ones. 2020 was undeniably difficult, but when I looked back at the year, I could still see areas of progress in everyday life.

    My next task was to finish writing my goals for 2021.

    Here’s hoping for a better 2021 for everyone.

  • Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption.

    Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption.

    Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption

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    Andy Dufresne, a banker, was convicted of killing his wife and her lover and sent to Shawshank Prison. He maintains his innocence over the decades he spends at Shawshank during which time he forms a friendship with “Red”, a fellow inmate.

    Yesterday being a rather gloomy and rainy Sunday, we decided to stay indoors and watch a movie. And that movie was Shawshank Redemption. I had watched it like 4-5  times now perhaps. It never gets old.

    Though I’ve watched the movie that many times but it never occurred to me to actually read the book of which the movie was adapted from. Yesterday afternoon, right after the movie I decided to look for the book and remedy that.

    I was surprised that the book was actually a short read – less than 120 pages. From the over 2 hour movie I expected something more. But I am not complaining – I love short books with substance.

    The movie didn’t follow the book to the “T” but to be honest I was hoping that it wouldn’t. As I was looking for a different end for the crook in the book. A better payback than the mere hours or maybe days before he ended up ‘making it easy’ and pulled the trigger on himself. The ending for the man Sam Norton indeed differs from the movie, not satisfying enough but I settled for it.

    I sat down and finished the book in a couple of hours and enjoyed every bit of it. What I love about the movie and the book is that it teach us to continue to hope. Something nobody can take away from you if you don’t let it. And where persistence, patience and grit would lead you.

    “Remember that hope is a good thing, Red, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.”

    Great book, totally, totally worth the read.

  • Ikigai – giving everyday meaning and joy.

    Ikigai – giving everyday meaning and joy.

    Ikigai
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    Ikigai is a traditional Japanese concept that embodies happiness in living. It is, essentially, the reason that you get up in the morning. This book is about finding your ikigai – identifying your purpose or passion and using this knowledge to achieve greater happiness in your life. Your ikigai doesn’t have to be some grand ambition or highly noble life’s purpose – it can be something simple and humble, like tending your garden or walking…

    It is not a new idea that we all need some sort of ‘motivation’ or passion in order to get up in the mornings feeling alive and motivated. The question is how to find it? Usually we were told it is supposed to be related to what you do as a job. But according to the author, it can be anything and not necessarily limited to just one’s career – it could be taking care of your family or enjoying your hobby. I particularly love the example of the cleaners of the Japanese trains. How they take pride on what they do and how they are appreciated by the Japanese society. Most societies’ perception would be that as cleaners they are at the bottom of the career chain. They are not appreciated, and who would wake up happy everyday if only to get up to a thanklrss  job? But for these Japanese cleaners, the passengers’ comforts seem to be their ‘ikigai’. They maintain a high standard of cleanliness, so that the passengers can travel to work or school in comfort and they, in return, will be able to contribute back to society through what ever they do.

    Other than the story of the Japanese train cleaners, I don’t find anything else that is interesting or extremely inspiring . My biggest qualm about this book is that, she only interviewed those people who were already deemed to be ‘successful’ and one of those lucky ones who already know what they want and need to do in their lives from a very young age. If only she could have included interviews from  those people who were ‘lost’ and actually found their ‘ikigai’ by chance or from Zero to Hero sort of story. That would have been more inspiring and more interesting.

     

  • Frostblood – Elly Blake

    Frostblood – Elly Blake

    Frostblood
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    Seventeen-year-old Ruby is a Fireblood who has concealed her powers of heat and flame from the cruel Frostblood ruling class her entire life. But when her mother is killed trying to protect her, and rebel Frostbloods demand her help to overthrow their bloodthirsty king, she agrees to come out of hiding, desperate to have her revenge.

    When I first got this book, I wasn’t really sure what I would be reading. I chose it based on the title instead of reading the synopsis. From the title, I was expecting it to be something like the “Game of thrones”. However, after reading the book till the end, it isn’t exactly that but it was a bit more of an Avatar’ish sort of fantasy story. With people gifted to wield an element of nature. In this first book of the series, there are mainly 2 tribes, which is the Fireblood, those who can wield the power of fire and the Frostblood, those who can conjure ice and frost.

    Other than an interesting story line, in order to enjoy a book I have to like the characters. Ruby, the Fireblood didn’t make me feel like rolling my eyeballs – no foot stomping, or demanding this and that. Instead of simply born to be good at something, just like the rest of us mere mortals, she had to really work hard to learn to bring up her powers and and control it. She had her moments when she wanted to just give up but she went back to it. I suppose, she is relatable.

    Her love interest, a Frostblood called Arcus is not your typical dashingly handsome hero. His face was badly burnt and scarred, a constant reminder for him as a survivor of a  Fireblood attack. So he didn’t have and entirely beautiful face,  but his rare to smile, brooding, fiercely loyal, hard working sort of personality made him ‘handsome’ and likable. He disliked her at the beginning and so did she because of their differences – obviously since one is a Fireblood and one is a Frostblood. But they had to fight a common enemy, therefore they had to put animosity aside. For Arcus it was to save his people and for her it was for revenge.

    Now, though enjoyed the book as it was written well, but I have to say that the storyline is okay-ish as I felt it was too predictable.  If you read the book, most probably you will know what I mean. Will I be reading the sequel? I am not sure. The first book was good enough on it’s own but it didn’t leave me wanting to know more about what will happen to the shadow for example or whether Arcus will ever marry Ruby etc.

    So I will skip the sequel for now and concentrate on other books or series first.