Bunissima

How do you know that you are spending too much time at your computer?

When, trying to real a real book (the one made from paper), you want to press Ctrl F to find the word you are interested in.

Tonight I have learned a new trick. If you are a foreigner and also maybe a future tourist in Romania this will serve you very well. Oh, and even if you are not, it still should serve you. If you ever arrive on Otopeni, late at night, with no bus and no friend to pick you up, don’t forget two things. Both of them gravitate around the drivers and their affinity with taxi companies. If they are not a taxi company employees, you will get ripped off in one way. If they are, you might get ripped off in the other way.

Fact one: you have to pay much much less than the taxi drivers will ask from you. They will most likely ask double from romanians, wich means they will ask four times as much or even more from tourists. So, bargain with them from the beggining. I mean, just tell them how much you will give. Bargaining means that two opposites meet in the middle, and that communication is happening. Drivers don’t bargain. They just get you.

Fact two: even if some taxis actually have a meter so you can see the right amount, and they can’t cheat you on the price by telling you stories, there is a technological trick, that is a meter remote control. They will just embigen (as heard in Simpsons) the price, by pressing a small remote control that they keep hidden in their pockets. This apparently happens with the all legal, company based taxis.

I am not making this up. The taxi driver who told me all this, also told me that he never forgives the foreigners. Read: he rips them off. Now, if you will doubt about the remote control part, you should seriously think about not getting ripped off as a tourist, because nothing bounds the unofficial drivers (the ones that don’t work for a company, but for themselves co.) to be honest. And never ever tell them that it’s your first time in Romania. In fact, tell them that you know how much it’s worthed because you’ve just done it a couple of months or weeks ago, and they will soften a bit.

And another thing: don’t let them fool you when they start to communicate with you. In any possible way except the fare. It’s just a psychological trick to make you feel comfortable with them, as well with emptying your pockets for being dumb enough to listen and talk nicely to them.

Exista oameni care se dedica totalmente jobului lor. Cei mai ai naibii vor fi intotdeuna cei care sunt siliti, prin natura lucrurilor, sa vanda. Si nu vorbesc de acei salesmen, imbracati la costum, cravata, cu laptotp impresionant si cu maniere impecabile, sau femei super sexi dar super professional, de la care barbatii cumpara orice salivand in gand.

Exista oameni care vand pentru a supravietui si atunci lucrurile devin agresiv de simple. Vinzi si mananci, sau nu vinzi, nu mananci. Acesti vanzatori devin niste poligloti versatili, abili negociatori, perseverenti pana la hartuiala, avand mereu aerul unei politeti desavarsite. Te trezesti salutat la orice pas in aproape toate limbile de circulatie internationala, daca nu intelegi, vei avea o escorta cu ochii stralucind infometati de castig, pana cand incepi sa vorbesti in romaneste. Si pentru ca nimeni nu intelege o asa limba, te lasa in pace. Si ochii si limba. Uneori si mana care te va fi luat gentil de maneca hainei pentru a iti da ragazul necesar sa te decizi ce vrei sa cumperi.

Sunt intr-un fel ca si martorii lui Iehova. Adica, fiecare om are dreptul sa creada in ceva, dar ei pur si simplu vor sa iti bage pe gat o chestie la care tu nici macar nu ai avut timp sa te gandesti. E o lupta in care victimele, adica cei haituiti, posibilii cumparatori, trebuie sa devina ei insisi the bad guys, spunand nimic sau “dispari”, in orice limba. Atunci vei auzi “fuck you.” Si pentru ca esti intr-o tara islamica, unde esti, evident alb si cel mai posibil crestin, taci si inghiti.

Editare intarziata (de a doua zi, that is): Craciun fericit to all the infidels out there.

De ce de fiecare data cand ninge inima imi palpita cu o bucurie copilareasca? E ceva ce aproape nu pot sa controlez, pentru ca in secunda urmatoare stiu ca nu mai sunt copil, ca nu ma mai dau cu sania si ca nu mai am nici o bucurie in a sta uda pe afara toata ziua, de dragul de a ne juca toata gasca de la bloc cu zapada in toate modurile posibile. De cate ori nu ne duceam acasa plangand sau razand, ochind de fiecare data usa pe care aveam sa iesim dupa ce ne vom fi schimbat pe fuga…

Este si acum ceva magic in zapada si atunci cand ninge parca totul e mai placut si mai proaspat. Nu pot sa concep Craciunul fara frig sau zapada, precum cei din emisfera cealalta, si totodata stiu ca m-as fi adaptat fara sa imi pun vreo intrebare daca as fi trait acolo. Insa aici se intampla sa ninga in iarna cu Craciunul. Si atunci cand ninge, parca intri intr-o oaza seculara de liniste, cu arbori albi si inghetati, nisip cu reflexii de ploaie de stele, si cu ape adanci de cer rece-ntunecat.

Happiness is not actually the man’s usual state of mind. Because, for some reasons and for centuries, people have changed that heavenly state of being, as prescribed in Genesis, to a more pragmatic state of existence. The usual self is not happy, is just eager to do things. When you are doing things you can’t be happy, but if you are not doing things, you can’t be too happy either. So, as paradoxal as it is, these two ways of existence are intertwined and yet they exclude each other like magnets with the same polarity. It is a real blessing that life is so fragmented into little pieces so that you do not perceive all its changes.

Am vazut ca acum Mos Craciun nu mai este Mos Craciun. Pentru a isi fauri o imagine si mai puternica, marile companii se folosesc pana si de el, care nu poate da gres in preajma sarbatorilor. Mos Craciun a ajuns sa vanda mai mult decat sa dea, saracul. Oricum, asta si era menirea lui. Dar, cu putina decenta, se putea ascunde acel semn de egalitate intre identitatea Mosului si cea a unui mare supermarket.

“Mami, anul asta nu mai vine Mosul? Eu am vazut la tv ca anul asta Carrefour e Mosul, eu nu vreau sa intre Carrefour pe horn, ca ne strica bradul” spunea Diana, 5 ani.

Sau, simplificand lucrurile si mai mult, se poate ca tu insuti sa fii un cadou pentru altii daca vrei, bineinteles, sa cumperi o sticla de Coca Cola. Tot ce trebuie e sa te impachetezi si sa te cari singur, cu sticla cu tot.

There are times when you wish to change things. There are times when you wish things don’t change. When it comes about things, depending on how much you want, they might happen, or change or not. But people cannot change. And there are two kinds of people that are the most dangerous. The stupid and the crazy. They are more dangerous than the intelligent people, because the former are only slaves of some fixed ideas that cannot be changed. And this I can never pretend to want to change. So for them, just like in stupidity and madness, only extremes will do.

Sometimes around here things are not quite so perfect. I mean, it’s a truism, but nowhere things are really perfect. Let alone the degree of comparison for “perfect”, wich originally should have none. But, let’s not get myself tangled in the more-or-less-known traps of the language.

So, a slice of truth from these parts is that life is not always lived by the patterns already settled by society. Let’s take for instance a Police building, where not only do the employees accomplish their sacred duties, but they also do some other sacred duties, outside-of-the-job. The main one is actually living there, because the police looks like an inhabited house by normal people also.

But now, looking better at the details as a good trained citizen should, I am beggining to have serious doubts. I mean, why in the world do they need two satellite dishes? I think it’s an undercover top secret activity and they use the Godforsakenplace village to do this. I am sure the satellite dishes cover each other as well. If one is not getting the cartoon channel, the other one will.

As insightfully requested in the previous post by a reader, I decided to make this post the second part of the dog story started before. So, briefly, here you go.

I was visiting Dragasani one day, a city nearby Valcea. I was just trying to make the time pass. And there he was, the little black dog. After few more steps, I have seen all his family waiting for him in front of the bank. I did not took take a photo of the bank itself, because I am not advertising.

I think that lately, in order to save some money, banks hire unsheltered dogs as guardians.