Abgeschickt von MArtin am 16 Mai, 2001 um 14:04:13
We feel like it’s about time to say THANK YOU to all you guys who have signed our Guestbook. It is one of our travel’s most rewarding experiences !
Which page do you think is the first to be opened by our browser when we go online? And guess what on it gives us the big, whole- day- lasting- smile ?
Well, it’s the Guestbook and a new entry in it:
Is it somebody we already know?
From our former home? WOW, news from home! – AASTRID! – Guess who signed the guestbook!? – She’ll be at my side to read it, even before thinking for a second about answering the question.…J .
It’s just overwhelming to realize, that old- time friends still want to be involved in our ongoing life – just as we often think and talk about our friends at home: “What’s the time in Germany now ? What would you think xxx is probably doing at that moment ?” Or we try to imagine, how situations we used to know very well are carrying on and evolving since we left…
Or did somebody we met on the road write the message? Then it is most probably someone we shared a close experience or relationship with.
If I have found that out at a cybercafe, then when I meet up with Astrid I am tempted to play a cruel game: “Guess who from xxx wrote in the Guestbook ? – You should see her eyes, when the name is revealed and we both start remembering the circumstances of our meeting! This game also happens vice versa, of course.
And the third possibility, it’s somebody unknown to us who has written the message? Well, she/ he dropped in by chance, had a look around and felt like leaving a message. Great, isn’t it ? And these are the most mysterious ones, because the writer, having read our diary, has information about us, whereas we don’t know anything about her/ him.
Up to now, we have managed to reply to all of these and not surprisingly we have often found another soul mate.
In times, when it’s really hard for us to get connected to the net, or when we’re busy with our non- virtual life at the place we’re now in, or we feel tired because the site has bugs again, we often open our Guestbook and re- read it’s entries. The resulting joy and pride about the positive and encouraging tenor of every single comment received so far, helps us to find the strength and motivation to carry on.
Not everything is positive. We also have experienced bad feelings with Our Guestbook: It was a sad week in 9/00, when we realized that all the entries of the last three months had vanished into virtual nirvana and have not been restorable :((
Soon there will be a new chapter on the Forum “About Us And Our Homepage”, where we want to tell you more about the challenges we have had starting to design and publish a website.
However that is for the future. For now, what we want to do is tell you how much we appreciate every single message you have sent us and gratefully say THANK YOU for your kindness in making the effort.
Astrid & MArtin