Meet my life

This will be a rather short post. No news in this one... though I do have some, even some shocking ones... I reserve them for my next post.

This post is a special presentation. I have finally gotten my camera out! And so, meet my new life!

First, meet my "Romanian" hairdo... which I got the day I left for Romania:

Bangs, at least in my book, are a very Romanian, very European thing... much more present than in America. And so I thought I would indulge them for a little while and I am still enjoying them.

Now, meet my good friend Alexandra, without whom I would be lost:


She was driving me around when I stole this picture (February 20). She has been and still is my rock, my very own private angel in Romania. She has shown me around my new city, helped me in everything from settling in, to bus routes, to grocery shopping at all odd hours and, above all else, being there for me no matter what, no matter the hour. From her, I have learned and am still learning the meaning of friendship. We were born 1 month apart in the same apartment building and spent the first 12 years of our lives being best friends. Now, after more than two decades spent on different continents and with not much contact, we have become sisters.

Now, meet my apartment!!!! Just yesterday I had an epiphany... I could not live in ugliness anymore and so, for not too big of an investment, I have beautified the part of my apartment in which I live, to such an extent that I actually LOVE it now! There is MUCH more to do... and show, but it will be for another time.

Now, meet my living room, where I eat, sleep, work and play :

This is my sofa bed (responsible for my recurring neck pains and visits to new age osteopaths) that I never make into a sofa because it is so broken that it might not become a bed anymore... which would be a tragedy... for I have actually become quite accustomed to it!

I beautified this are with the new purple curtains, the carpet to hide the UGLY and ripped linoleum, the bed spread (exactly the same I had in Montreal!), the plant and the 3 cushions. Following, the other side with the door to my as of yet not usable balcony.


My "office space":


Meet my little and now fully functional kitchen. I have actually cooked meals in it (yes, I have!) and have even satisfied taste buds and stomachs (other than my own) with my cooking skills!

In order, from the left: gas stove, (previously stinky) midget fridge, washer / dryer (thank you Mommy for your investment!!!), my Ikea support for drying dishes and an Ikea poster to cover up an old Orthodox calendar that was super-glued to the wall, sink and little shelf with my beloved traditional cups and ... my meds!

In this next picture here you can see the sum total of my storage space in the kitchen. It includes dishes, cups, glasses, cutlery, pots and pans, food items (perishable and not), plastic bags and containers, scissors and various sewing items (my great aunt was a seamstress) as well as a collection of old shooter glasses from my grandparents' pub from the pre-communist era whose only purpose in life now is to gather dust and occupy precious space in my already small (but LOVELY) little cupboard.


That's it for the apart. I have yet to show you my scary bathroom... and some other equally scary corners which I avoid at all costs.

Now, a few cute places and houses I took pictures of today. And, believe it or not, a bunch of bamboo trees, right in the heart of Bucharest!

House with bamboo bunch:

See? BABMOO!!!!
Bucharest beauties:




And, last but certainly not least... Alexa & Alexa... posing in front of the bamboo trees :)


All for now....
Coming up shortly, real news and a shocking perspective of Romania... not a rosy picture AT ALL.

Till then, all my love!
Alexa... in Romania

Sweet Romania

Hello again, dearest friends. Today, it is exactly 3 weeks since my feet have touched the motherland... Romanian soil, my new-found love.

Of course, I had some mishaps. One day, just when the balmy Romanian version of winter had turned to actual winter, I woke up with no heating, frozen (it seems in Romania companies can decide to close heating with no prior warning) and with no hot water in the bathroom... I had hot water in the kitchen, but none in the bathroom. Somehow, i survived. The very next day, I woke up with still no heating (what the !@#$?!!!) and no water at all... None. Neither hot nor cold, neither in the bathroom nor the kitchen. Every time I opened a faucet, it would cough and spit out air but not even a single drop of liquid came out. Somehow, I survived that too. Not too happily, granted, but I did.

Since then, I must say, things have considerably improved. I was told that the missing hot water in the bathroom was simply because I have to wait and let it run till it gets hot. So, this is now what I do. Average waiting time, I kid you not: 15-20 minutes... But, at least, I get daily almost hot showers in the morning and burning hot ones at night :)

My apartment is looking slightly more acceptable each day. My stinky fridge has been cleaned... not by me, though, I must admit! My good friend Alexandra helped!!! I owe her. BIG TIME. I cleaned my stove, while she was doing that... My mom actually scolded me when she heard that. I know, it's probably not very heroic of me... but, hey, who here claims to be perfect? Certainly not me :)

I think I have managed to contain the second moth infestation in my apartment. One morning, I liberated 4 moths in one go and all that before morning Kriya practice. I then bought lavender smelling moth killing thingys to put in wardrobes and placed them all over. I have yet to see more moths! Yay me!

The errant dogs... well, I now know the 4 dogs that roam around my building and up till now, have managed to keep my boots out of their daily offerings and my bum unbitten. I have heard 2 people tell me how they have unwittingly given of their bottoms to these sometimes dangerous, sometimes pitiful creatures. Wish me luck for the future for, now that winter has turned to spring (we have 9 degrees right now), I plan to take my running shoes for a spin.

This is the sum total of the not so cool things in Romania. However, I AM SO IN LOVE WITH THIS PLACE!!! People, Romania is good to me! Sometimes I am so happy to be here, to see and experience and learn everything I do that I go to bed at night and can't sleep for sheer happiness! Who would have thought? I was sent here with numerous warnings about how bad things are in Romania, how people are not nice, impolite, hot it is dirty and ugly, etc. Really? Are we in the same universe???

Here's MY experience:
People not nice? I ask where the post office is, the lady from the tramway walks me all the way to it. At the post office I ask where to go to get my passport done, the lady whom I asked and the two people waiting behind me all offer me detailed information, help and pointers. People ARE nice. People are great. In fact, Romanians have the biggest hearts I have seen. They are real, raw, they do not pretend. But they are sweet and genuine. And you should have seen the people who took part in my first Art of Living course here. I could have sworn they were enlightened. I have never, in all these years, had such a course, such an experience. So open-minded, so perceptive, so deep... Not only that but when we talked about seva, about selfless service in our society, they wanted to work in the same 3 areas as I: the kids in orphanages and streets, the elderly on the street and the errant dogs. They have taken the initiative. Tomorrow we have a first meeting to see what plan we start with first.

Bucharest not nice?


Whoa... My dears, I was floored. Shocked really by so much beauty. I wanted to save this post till I could take pictures and actually show you what I see on a daily basis... But now I am on a roll, and I will add some pics from the net... though they do not do justice to what I have actually seen. The beauty of Bucharest is such that my eyes can't get enough. There are buildings - hundreds of them, streetlights and little streets in such architectural styles that leave me breathless with their beauty. Especially in Old Bucharest, where some have started to be renovated. Paris has NOTHING on Bucharest. Old Montreal can't even DREAM of such beauty. I don't mean to take sides, but it is so true. Everywhere I go, I but have to look up for my heart to skip a beat from the beauty of some old carving, some intricate detail on a door or balcony, some embellished roof or staircase. I truly hope you one day get the chance to roam on the streets of the city that stole my heart, the city I now call HOME.




This weekend that just passed, I have had so many wonderful experiences, so many new discoveries. So many gifts, really. The best was when I went to the National Theater in Bucharest where I saw the best show in town. Second row tickets bought last minute on the black market gave me the experience of a life time! (all the while protecting me from the passionate spitting that produced the much appreciated masterpiece...) The show started with a big bed on the scene. I was so close I felt I was right there in bed with the actors. And what a show! Last time I had been to the theater was waaaay too long ago and I had forgotten what it felt like. Movies can't even come close. Or perhaps it was the proximity, but really, it was grand to see so much talent in action. For 2.5 hours straight, these people acted flawlessly, fearlessly, greatly. At the end, it was the most exhilarating thing to look right into their eyes and see the person behind the actor while applauding them. To my knight in shining armor who got us there, I am forever grateful. An unforgettable evening.

Today, I also finished my second Art of Living course, this one all in English for all mothers from other countries! It was also filled with tears of gratitude, happy hearts, big smiles and full of wonder at the beauty of people. I can never get enough of that, either.

This is, in very short, my past few days. I am filled to the brim with happiness and gratitude to be here and to be experiencing all that I am. It is a strange mixture of discovering the new and finding again the once-loved. Little things such as buying my bread at the local baker or shopping in the local farmer's market as I remember from my childhood are soooo soothing to my soul. Loosing myself in my still unknown city from childhood and discovering beauty that as a child I did not see, meeting people with hearts of gold and gentle souls, stretching my limits and experiencing new things has given me a thirst for life I did not, as of yet, know.