My White Dragonfly

England, Wales and Scotland

2010-04-16T11:13:00.000-07:00

Recently I've realised that I've seen more of the UK in less than 2 years than I've seen of my own country in 24. The reasons are numerous and easy to understand, but it's still something I'm ashamed of. And I intend to fix this at some point in my life. I still consider Romania's landscape more spectacular in its variety and pure beauty, but I know now that a great vacation it’s a little more than that.
However, I cannot consider myself extremly lucky for having the opportunity of seeing Wales and Scotland, destinations I can heartily recommend now to whoever is interested.

I live in England so this is the largest area we've explored until now.
The seaside is beautiful; my only regret is that it is always to cold to enjoy the beaches, at least for me. Brighton will always remain my dearest town, right after Pitesti, of course. It was my first contact with “the outside world” and I had to deal with it on my own.
Our 5 day Easter journey began with Wales. First stop - Stonehenge

What I like about this place is that no one knows exactly what happened there, but they have so many stories and legends that everyone can create their own scenario.
The we stopped a little in Brecon Beacons not only for the beauty of the lake, but also for reasons more human and less noble. The weather was genuinely British.

While driving to the hotel situated in Caernarfon (I still have no idea about the right pronunciation of this name) we encountered an “unidentified jumpy little orange thing”, just to quote the best English definition I’ve ever heard. for a creature that we concluded to be an ornithorhynchus (what an impossible spelling!). After such a consuming debate we got very hungry and stopped at this amazing inn (or guest house which I totally forgot the name of and the exact location). We ate the cook’s specialty: pork ribs in a sweet sauce with peas, carrots and corn on the hob. Delicious dish, delicious people, delicious place.

We arrived in Caernarfon around midnight and we slept at Travelodge, a little too plain, but a clean hotel and cheap as well. It didn’t have a terrace which for me was the major defect because we couldn’t smoke. And outside it was freezing!
The next day we woke up and saw the Ocean and the seagulls which made the lack of sleep a little easier to bear. We ate at the Black Boy Inn, a “full English breakfast”, which included fried egg, beans, ham, sausage (which personally I hate because they're tasteless compared to the sausages I know), half of grilled tomato and mushrooms. Very good, overall.

The Caernarfon Castle was our next objective.
Incredibly well conserved, amazing structure and architecture, it truly is one of the most beautiful uninhabited castles in the UK. A lot of history within these walls whose construction begun around 1280.
After the check out we headed to Llanberis and stopped here for half a day, a sunny, warm day; quite unusual weather for Wales this time of year. I like to believe that we had something to do with this…

The major attraction of this town is mount Snowdon (1,085 metres), the tallest in Wales. Obviously, not an impressive altitude, but what really is overwhelming is its surroundings and its mountain railway which goes all the way to the top. Unfortunately,the full journey is available only in the summer, but the one that we took, probably ¾ was totally wrth it. We’ve met the happiest sheep and its family.
Continuing our journey to Lake District, one of the places I’ve been meaning to go to since the first time I came here, I saw the perfect mixture between mountains and lakes, sky, clouds and timid sun. After a tea break at a Tea Garden in the middle of nowhere, I decided that this is where I’ll come when I’ll be writing my first novel.
Next, we stopped at Aira Force, a very friendly waterfall.
And here we are in Edinburgh (again, a very difficult pronunciation) the Scots capital.

Fascinating history, great figures with amazing connections to the masons and their myths (the Hungarian Princess Margret was escorted to Scotland by the first of the Saint Claire’s who established the Rosslyn Chapel and Roselin village), amazing lives, such as the one of Mary, Queen of Scots (born exactly 441 years before I). Hollyrood Castle is another must be seen objective, not as much for the castle itself, but for its gardens and surroundings and for the ruins of the Abbey where Mendelssohn's Scottish symphony was born.

A lot of places for having fun too. The World’s End is one of them. Those really courageous amongst us tried their haggis and their whiskey fume (which are both looking and smelling totally unappealing).
The next day, and the last of our trip, we went to Rosslyn Chapel, where no pictures where aloud, and which was under huge restoring works. But it’s the place which astonished me the most. It’s beyond words and for sure beyond the current explanations the real meaning of this place. Is as special at they say and much more…
We will go back!

Change of look

2010-02-21T10:00:00.000-08:00

I have recently got a few "complaints" from my friends about me not writing often enough on my blog. True! And I thank them for complaining and for pushing me to do something that I should do everyday. I could find loads of excuses for why I didn't do that in such a long time. But I guess the main one is that I have this preconceived idea: that a written piece must be truly interesting and even more than that.
This idea somehow stops me from writing literally anything that crosses my mind. So now I will do exactly that!
I want to get a hair cut and to go blond (a quite light blond). Now, since usually I'm not impulsive, I asked some advice (not professionally though) before taking any decision, and people proved to be very reserved, some totally against the idea. I wonder why?
Well, as I haven't given up this yet, I looked up for one of those applications that gives you a clue about changes like this. And I found one. This is how the blond version of me should look like:

Now, that I looked at it again, it doesn't seem such a good idea anymore. But I probably shouldn't say that, 'cause I wouldn't want to influence any other sugestions I might get.

The right to die

2009-09-23T11:33:00.000-07:00

Slowly, but surely, the human race is obtaining the right to decide when to end it's valuable or not so much existence. And I'm not talking about climate change and our continuous efforts of destroying the planet by polluting it. I'm talking about the new steps made in the direction of legalizing the assisted suicide.
It's been a wile now since we've been able to decide when to give birth, how to do it, efforts are still being made to control the dominance of certain genes and the color of our children's eyes ... And, following the efforts made lately in the UK to justify the reasons for which we should be entitled to die, the matter of assisted suicide stopped being looked at so taboo-ishly. Obviously, this is not about legalizing human euthanasia or even the assisted suicide. But to clarify certain reasons for which a person who would assist the suicide of someone close would not be prosecuted. But, as this is not a law yet, there aren't any promises...
This matter concerns only desperate cases, terminal cancers or incurable diseases, for which the death is days or just a few weeks away. Obviously, this law or these new clarifications are not as important for the dying person as for his family. In the UK, there are at least 100 people that helped their loved ones to die, to terminate their agony by taking them to a Swiss clinic specialised somehow in assisted suicide. None of them was prosecuted.
I find it very hard to have an opinion on this whole matter. I know I admire the open-mindedness of the English Parliament and the attention they've paid to an ordinary British citizen who initiated an inquiry-campaign to find out what are the legal terms if deciding for an assisted-suicide. I admire as well the strength of the people who fight for that, both ill people and their families. I appreciate as well the militants against this movement. Even if they're guided by fanatic religious reasons or by principle or moral ones. They all have very good reasons and answers. And even though I have been there, and I can probably judge the situation better than the others who haven't, I can't say I agree to any of them. I do know though for sure that I would have given anything for stopping that tragedy from happening.

Oxford Road

2009-08-21T07:17:00.000-07:00

There is a street in Reading named Oxford Road. It's located very close to the Town Centre and, a wile ago, when looking for a bigger and nicer house to move to, it seemed to me the perfect street from this whole little nice town. Mihai never liked the idea of moving there, he always said that it's a very "dodgy" street and pretty soon I gave up the idea myself, but without being too convinced about the ugliness of this neighborhood.

Three weeks ago I started a "very part-time" job, and the office was on a street parallel to Oxford Road. When finishing the day, I decided to walk back home and to take a look at this (in)famous neighborhood. I was amazed. It's like the twilight zone. The streets seemed to have never been cleaned, unlike any other daily cleaned street of the rest of this town. The aspect of the shops is so untidy and repulsive, the people seem so poor and unhappy that for a while I had the feeling of being back home, in a different world.

Pretty soon I found out the explanation. Here live a lot of Polish people. They have their own shops, their own pubs, they've lived here for three generations or so. They've managed, it seems, to have brought "home" to this foreign country, with all it's aspects, including those too specific, that are still representative for Western-Europe and that they wanted to get rid off in the first place. It's hard for me to understand how this happened, how come they haven't been assimilated by the British specifics, how come they managed to open exclusive bars for Polish people (no British or any other nation accepted) in a foreign and very civilised country.

Apparently this kind of rules are not accepted any more, but the fact that the English are allowed to enter the bar it's still perceived like a favor they're doing to the Brits and to the other foreigners.
I'm not racist, I even understand them, and I pity us and our Western-European spirit (under it's bad aspects) that apparently we can't get rid of.

That's why I cannot love them!

2009-06-08T16:07:00.000-07:00

...because of a wrong image of Romania that they're sending to the world, and back to us.

A little update: apparently, the picture with the Gypsy old lady was removed from the European quiz, this measure being taken probably, following the great amount of critics received about it. So... mission accomplished!

Here is my little "love" letter to them.

Dear BBC,
I would like to make a comment related to the image representing Romania on the EU election quiz section published on Sunday, 7th of June, on your website.
First, I don't want to question your good-intentions or the general knowledge you have of Romania, but I can assure you that the outfit of that poor old Rrom "lady" is not a traditional one, not even of the Rrom people, not to mention of the Romanian people. (There you are some of the traditional Romanian outfits: http://www.eliznik.org.uk/RomaniaPortul/
Second, there is a very big difference between Romanian people and Rrom people, and my saying this has nothing to do with racism. That lady is relevant for Romania just as much as any poorly dressed representative of a minority is for any other country in this world. This ethnicity is all over the world, and they were not born in Romania. And the poverty, neither.
You should know better than this...
And if you don't, please read here the definition and something about the history of the Rrom (or gipsy) people.
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rrom "
I think it's very interesting to highlight the fact that these people, of Hindu origin, firstly appeared in England, in the 16th century (detail mentioned on the Oxford English Dictionary as well). And, long before that, the Romanian nation was born from the mixture of the Roman (again, nothing to do with Rrom) and Dacian people.
So, no, the Romanians are not Rroms (or Gypsy) and neither vice-versa. Why are you misleading all your readers and encouraging them to imagine things that are untrue?
Putting the moral aside, the journalistic information presented or suggested by the mentioned photo from your quiz is completely incorrect and misleading. I know that for sure, because I am a journalist myself.
And until the majority of Romanian citizens will be represented by any other people than Romanians, I think that you should stop suggesting the contrary. Just like never suggesting that the Indian, Polish, Spanish, Romanian people or any other kinds of immigrants or minorities are representative for the UK.
Thank you!

And here is their answer:

Thank you for your e-mail. There was no intention to cause offence by
including this photograph. However, as the item was about traditional
outfits, we felt in retrospect that this was not perhaps the best
example and we have now replaced it.

Best wishes,

BBC News website

The G20 Summit or Becali?

2009-04-02T11:12:00.000-07:00

Being here were I have been for the past seven months, I am connected, whether I want it or not, whether I'm interested or not, to the events that they (and by they I mean the British press)consider relevant and important enough to be presented in details.

It's been awhile, and I'm not proud of that, since the last time I have read the Romanian Newspapers, or checked the Romanian News sites.
Today, I went to antena3.com to see how this very important G20 summit (at least for the English people and apparently for the rest of the world) was presented by the Romanian press. No front page title on this subject. Just a short mention in the External news section about the present received by the Queen from Michele Obama.
I move to another one, realitatea.net; nothing here and either on the other three newspaper's sites I used to read back home, except for a note from the news agency in a column, next to the news of the European Film Festival. And finally I find something on my seventh choice: a list of the summit's conclusions.

Even considering that this is not an extremely important subject for the Romanian people and that these measures, decided by the most powerful 20 people in the whole world, are not going to affect Romania in the next few weeks, or months, even considering that all those conclusions and presumably to be taken measures presented there are just words and empty promises, I still can't understand how the news about Becali getting arrested after his car being stolen(news that appears on the first page of every newspaper or news site) would have been more important that this.

I find hard to believe that the only interesting thing about this event is the present offered to the Queen by the First Lady of America.

But suddenly I understand that this is the level of the Romanian public. And this is because of the level of the press. It's a vicious circle that keeps going round and round, growing bigger and stronger because news like gossips and scandals (all sort of) sell.
Since I got here I forgot all about political scandals, because here I find out about measures being took when a child is abused, about no corruption, at least when people's sake is at stake, about reducing the limit of the political people's claim expenses because of the financial crisis instead of blocking the increase in pensions or teacher's salaries.

From here to the habit of transforming very low people in subjects of national interest is exactly the way from a joke-press to the watch-dog of the society.

Open minded as... me!

2009-03-06T10:22:00.000-08:00

As a very successful housewife, I have subscribed to all kind of job site's newsletters hoping that at some point I'll stop being so successful as a housewife but a little less successful as an employee.
One reason (a very insignificant one) for which now I spend almost my entire day looking for a damn job is that I cursed so much the previous one that my wish granted at some point and very soon after getting in I finally got out. Why did I hate it so much? Because of the "jail rules" I considered absurd and extremely unusual for such an open minded people.

To be more concrete, not being able to answer the personal phone during working hours, not even being allowed to keep it on your desk, no personal email access, asking permission to go to lunch, not even talking with the colleagues if the subject is not job related and other similar stuff... all this was way too different with the working environment I was used to and not because I was spending my entire day on the Messenger, but because I was considered reliable enough to not being mentioned this every day for the first week.

Anyway, after trying really hard to convince myself that this was just bad luck, I read today on this newsletter that if you "have emailed your friends or made a doctor’s appointment while at work" it means that you're not "as innocent as you think."
And they're not kidding!
If you have any doubts about it, please read further: "However, if you wish to make a doctor’s appointment why not ask if you can use the phone? An employer will rarely refuse such a request". And it's not about using the phone from your desk, it's about "no mobile phones" and nothing else so "personal" at work.

I really don't think that my male manager has to know when I need an appointment to the gynecologist or that I should wait for him (or her) to step out of a meeting for asking her such a thing. I really think that I should be entitled to use my personal phone when an emergency or when I need an appointment to the doctor without asking any permission. I wonder what monstrous disappointment from an employee made them create such rules...
So start appreciating more your employer and your office politics because worse is always possible.
Enjoy your work!

Shopping at Tesco

2009-02-17T07:42:00.000-08:00

So what if you can't find a normal, Romanian like, corn flower and a few other things that used to be at hand...
Now you can find ham with Mickey Mouse's face on it (or literally... in it).

Snow White

2009-02-10T07:14:00.000-08:00

Snow white is now in town. They all are very happy about it, even though because of her the trains were cancelled, the traffic is a nightmare, the schools are closed, and the people couldn’t go to work… Or maybe, those are just few more reasons for them to be even happier.
18 years passed since last time when she came with such pomp… There are children who never really got to met her, to play with her, to enjoy her company. Yesterday, al those people, all over the UK went out to celebrate her presence. Although she came escorted by the cold, these people know how to enjoy just the good parts of this quite unexpected visit. They are wise enough to appreciate just the slide of the white flakes, the snow ball fights, the snowmen, the white… they are human enough to know how to become children again and to play like ones.

The view is fairylike, but what it’s even more beautiful is the people realizing how fairylike this is. They notice, they know how to appreciate it, how to enjoy it, they don’t lose the moment. They just know when to get some loose and just… live.
It is some time since I realized that back home people forgot how to be happy. For so many years to enjoy life was prohibited, that the word happiness, the notion itself and not to mention the mood, they all got out of their system. We were raised by these people and is somehow surprising to see that some things are so different out here.

For them everything seems easier than for the rest of us. They don’t deprive themselves of fun, they don’t find everything just bleak, and life is not just black and white.
They trust themselves, they are the best, every single one of them, and they were not raised being told that modesty is a virtue; the other’s opinion is not that important, they dress up funny because they’re in the mood of doing it, they were sandals in the middle of the winter because they feel like it, they were very short skirts (even they are fat because it really doesn’t matter if they look like tramps…
What it matters is that they know how to make snowmen even after 18 years.

Being here

2009-01-27T07:51:00.000-08:00

Have you ever had the "new in town" feeling? If you did, multiply this by 10 thousand and 10 and then you'll have a clue about the way I've felt for the last 5 months.
A friend asked me if it was worth moving here. It certainly was under quite a lot aspects. It's just like you give yourself a treat everyday by enjoying things you knew anything about, things you never knew that could be so simple and so at hand. Things that people from here had since they can remember.
There are so many people back home asking me how is it like? It don't have a simple answer yet.

When you see how tidy the buildings and the streets are , how the roads are washed, and cleaned with some kind of a hoover, conceived to be able to take the dry leafs even on rainy days...
When at the post office you're treated kindly and politely (not more that normal, but in a way that you're not used to), when the trains are never late (well... there are exceptions, of course...), and when their shittiest train looks like our famous blue arrow, when you're not afraid to walk on the street all alone when it's dark, when you're not seeing beggars at every turn, when driving is not an adventure or a slalom among the road's hollows..

When buildings are not just grey and sad and stinking at communism, when you need to return something, anything, no matter that is just a blouse on a wrong size or a TV that doesn't fit in the room, and you're not needed to make a scandal at the store about it...
When the sales are sales indeed, and when you're able to buy with no more than 10 pounds an incredible Lee Cooper pair of jeans, when you don't find "made in China" labels on everything you buy (by the way, made in Romania it's quite a brand...)
When in the train you see more that 2 people reading great books and not just the news paper, when you're welcome to enter everywhere, not just by the signs, but by the people's friendly faces as well, when the guy from the “convenience store” near your place is asking “how are you today?” although he never saw you before and though you can't really tell him if you are sad...

THEN you feel quite lucky to be here.

But when the guy or the lady from the store asks me if I'm al right, I can't really share with them how much I miss my family, my friends, my home, my last job's atmosphere and my colleagues, I can't tell them all these things because they don't really want to be friends with me. They don't really care, they're just polite. They're like this because that's who they are, that's the way they were raised and the way their parents were raised..

BUT when it's so hard to find a job, when, if by any chance you get a temporary assignment and you go there with too high expectations and when you find people that claim that never heard of your religion, unless you mention them that is the same as in Greece, when they don't recognize your work experience because it wasn't in the UK (although there are similar tasks, and use exactly the same application system), when they say that your lunch smells, although is just fries and salad, bought from the building's cafeteria, or when they don't invite you to the Christmas party because you're just a temporary employee and they have no interest in doing something nice for you...

When you don't have a friend to talk to, other way than using the internet, when you have no friend to go out for a coffee or to look for a dress, when they claim they don't understand your “shitty accent”, or the way they look at you when you use movie instead of film or any other American words instead of the British ones, when you can't find anywhere Protex bar soap or the absorbent type that you used since ever...

When there are so many rainy days, that quots from the Minulescu's “Acuarela” spring to your mind all the time, when forgetting your umbrella is like forgetting your keys, when you see the sun no more than twice a week...
That's when you would love to fuck it all and just go back to were you've come from.

P.S. Why have I written my first posted text in English? That's just because I'm learning and I need to practice. Nothing more that this... :P