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.