Lost origami

Despite the green backdrop, Elena is actually resting alongside Gurko street, one of the oldest streets in Veliko Tarnovo. Some of the houses on Gurko street have been there for over 300 years; I doubt Elena will stay so long! It is a popular street for tourists, who enjoy walking along it and taking photographs of the impressive views over the Yantra River and the art gallery and monument of the four horsemen, visible here in the background. Elena is, as I said, a very Bulgarian crane - in touch with her roots and traditions, but not afraid to look outwards and forwards, facing the modern world. So Gurko street is a good place for her to rest a while. She is sure to meet people from all over the world here, and who knows where they will take her? But for now, as you can see, she is very comfortable and happy in her leafy repose.

One other point about Elena is that today - 21st of May - is her name day. This is another Bulgarian tradition: Name Days. Most Bulgarians share their name with an Orthodox saint, and the saint's day is also that person's name day. On a name day, it is the custom for anyone with that name to celebrate with their friends, and to present sweets or chocolates to friends, family and colleagues. So perhaps whoever finds Elena will be given chocolate. It wouldn't be asking too much in return to give this simple little crane a home, would it?

How nice! We finally have a paper crane in the land of origamis - Japan. 

On Saturday I received the nicest message ever. I girl, sweet as a teddy bear, wrote me in Facebook that she has read the blog and she had already left one paper crane in Japan. That's why I decided to give her name to the origami. So if you find this yellow fellow you could call it "Natsuko" or "Sweety", both suits very good.

Natsuko (the girl, not the paper bird) lives in Saku-shi, Nagano Prefecture but she left the origami under cherry blossom tree in Nagano city.  Nagano is most famous for Zenko-ji, a 7th century Buddhist temple which overlooks the city. From the photos which Natsuko has uploaded from the city I could easily say that this is one amazing and very beautiful place. 

Now we have the perfect Asian picture - cherry blossom tree, origami and sweet and polite Japanese girl. 

But like every good story, we need a pretext... or simply said - how lostorigami managed to go to Japan so fast?

Ones upon a time there was one sweet 22-year-old girl who lived in mysterious and beautiful land. Suddenly she found herself in another mysterious but very different place. The name of this new land sounded like the native people of it will be always hungry. Still, the little girl was exited about this new land. She thought that everything so far away should be different but actually she found other people - just the same like her. She also realized that there are people who cherish her culture, even though her home is so far away.
One day she met another boy, who was far away from home. He was leaving paper cranes in central places this new land. She was interested why the boy does that and he explained her that he is simply spreading them everywhere he goes, hoping that someone will continue the chain. He took photos of the paper cranes and sent them to another girl, living in even more exotic place. The girl from the faraway land was amazed by the story of the boy but most of all - she was exited. She wanted to continue the chain. So when she returned to her faraway land she did...

Hi origami readers!
I am sorry for not updating the lost origami site but lets say that we had some technical problems. I even didin't update my Facebook profile, so it means that the problem was serious :)

The most important is that we are not lost, we are here and our spreaders are working hard all over the world. And they are more and more.
When I opened my e-mail yesterday I was pleasantly surprised because our spreaders are not having brakes. I cannot wait to show you the amazing stuff they have made.
So sit down and be ready for some serious updates in the next couple of days...
By the way, my pleasant surprise was even more joyful when I saw this in my mail (the real one, not the virtual).
I received this amazingly sweet letter from Gian Paolo. Inside there was a set with origami paper. Strangely, in Ruse there is no place from where a person can buy origami paper, so Gian Paolo, like a typical Italian gentleman, sent me this set. I am not sure what made me more happy - the paper or the "fake" post stamp I  lostorigami.blogspot.com
Lost origami loves you too Gian Paolo. Keep spreading love and tasty deserts everywhere you go!

Origamis continue travelling through Europe. This one is made by Yuya, who is travelling around the world almost a year now. Yuya is a Japanese so he is perfect for making origami. When you think for Japan (if you are not from Asia of course) the first associations which will came to you mind are: small Asians, taking a lot of photos and hi-tech. If you think harder in your mind will emerge images of origami, tea, karate and sushi. 

Well, Yuya is not fitting the profile - he has long rasta hair, wears wide jeans and sports jacket. He is not crazy hi-tech owner, but he does take a lot of photos. Still he cannot make sushi. Actually his first sushi he made with me, or at least he said so. But origami... oh, he is the master of them. And each one of his paper cranes just smiles at you. That's what I call the power of native maker. 

He really liked the idea for lost origami. He liked it enough to write about it in his blog, which right now is one of the most read blogs in Japan. It's on first place of some rating site for travel blogs. His blog is amazing, however it is in Japanese, so I have hard time reading it, and lets face it - Google translator sucks in Japanese. I hope that he wrote nice things about me and didn't share the color of my underwear for example. Whatever he wrote it was good enough because yesterday I have more than 700 page views from Japan. I really hope that origamis will start spreading in Asia soon...

So here are the first traveller from Yuya. He left it in front of Terror Haza  (Hous of Terror) in Budapest. It is a  unique house-museum, which is made to the memory of those held captive, tortured and killed in this same building, which, by the way, survived two terror regimes. I think Yuya choose a very Hungarian place for his first origami. A place sad but unique which represents the strength and will of Hungarians. 

The next traveler is changing his location fast, so that's why we won't be able to give you GPS coordinates this time. This story is written directly by Boyan, who probably wrote it in his phone. My digitized friend uses his phone all the time and, amazingly, he really uses it, and he creates some very good stuff with it. I use my phone only for checking my mail, Google calendar and of course Facebook. But Boyan - he writes, he blogs, he chats, he cheats with it...

And how do you think this little origami got lost in the vast world of carriages, locomotives, rails and power. Perhaps it needed some rest from its publicity and just grab the first machine to a land of unknown new people, places and possibilities. As it turns out this little cellulose bird has its origins in the world of railway transportation as it had been diligently and a bit shakily folded from a Maastricht – Vise train ticket. This did not make it any less willing to get picked up and caressed by likeminded travelers, who come to pass by it. But where was this enormous clunking and clattering machine taking this little, fragile being? Well, it seems that it was on its way to Brussels, Belgium, the capital of the European Union. But this is simply a stop along its way, ending at Belgium’s sea front- a town called Ostende, or the East End. There it will be greeted by peace and tranquility, interrupted promptly by the screech of seagulls and small children running around their parents and throwing sand on everyone’s towels. And I can agree and I think you would as well Mr/Ms.. Reader that it will have a marvellous time. Let us just hope it is being taken care of by that special someone, who picks him up and gives him a loving home in the palm of their hand. 

Here comes our first origami from the land of weed - the best place for a crane to fly easily. Boyan is pretty new to making origami. Actually his experience is at the level of "I kind of tried once and it kind of happened". He is a typical student, who studies a lot, parties a lot and kind of drinks a lot. But being a Bulgarian - it is part of his culture. He really liked the idea of becoming a spreader, so much so that he sent me the photos while he was still at the crime scene. Unfortunately, I couldn't upload them that fast. Actually he made the origami after having exam. And considering that he had slept only 4 hours the previous night  because he was studying up to the last possible moment, he is definitely getting into the group of people who embraced the idea.
The first Netherlands origami is in Maastricht. It is lying on the shoulder of a very interesting statue of a young boy, who sells cigarettes. When I saw the photo I thought that the statue represents a poor boy, selling matches (like in Hans Christian Anderson's story "The Little match-seller"). I was pretty close, but you know that Dutch people are always connected with either tulips or cigarettes (weed preferably). So as soon as I got the GPS coordinates I could Google it and found out that our little friend is really poor but he is selling cigarettes, instead of matches and his name is Pieke oet de Stokstraot. And as guessed, he is a character from a novel by Dutch author Ber Hollewijn. Our cranes are free, so don't hesitate to take them.