“Just talk.” – the teacher would say. On the first session my mind went black, my lips paralyzed. I was barely able to say “não posso falar“, (meaning: “I can’t speak”). One the second day I was already able to say few things about my hometown, my friends and the bike trips I do. Last week I made few grammar mistakes, but I spoke remarkably fluent (at least that was my impression) about my first trip to Paris: starting with how I planed everything, how I booked a hotel, a flight and ending with all the sightseeing, the food experience and my final impressions of the French lifestyle. I had finally detached from fear. For the first time Portuguese felt natural. This week I’m preparing my next assignment on one of my favorite books and… the anxiety is gone. Last semester I was struggling to learn by hard verbs, tense endings and grammar rules. It was all arid, boring, it made each of us question our motivation for learning a this new language. It made me seriously consider to give up.

While my Portuguese learning experience took this remarkable turn-around, Hindi and Urdu aren’t doing so well. Few days ago it came to my mind: I’ve been learning Hindi for over one year and a half… and I’M STILL UNABLE TO READ THE GODDAMN NEWSPAPER OR CARRY A BASIC CONVERSATION. This issue is getting more and more frustrating, thus I’m looking for new ways to speed up the learning process. And here’s one of the ideas I had: since I’m getting all these cool assignments for Portuguese… wouldn’t it be interesting if I’d complete them in Hindi as well?

Dear readers, here’s where I need your help! As I already mentioned, I’m far from excelling in Hindi. My texts are going to be full of errors, mistakes and weird formulations. Thus, someone will need to read them through and point out all the errors. I’m not going to ask my Hindi teacher for this favor, as we don’t quite get along. Instead I’m considering to publish all of these texts right here, so that any of you can correct them and help me make a little bit of progress with Hindi. Eventually, I plan on correlating all these attempts + corrections with various online Hindi lessons and turn them into a great learning resource for anyone interested in Hindi/Urdu.

So, what are your thoughts on this idea? Do you think it’s a feasible project? Can I count on your support?

It’s funny how my vacations are in fact full work days, while the semesters at the Humboldt University feel like a sort of vacation. Berlin is the place I get to go and take a break from all the beautiful yet exhausting things I dream to do. Berlin is the where I spend my “leisure time” learning Hindi, Urdu, Portuguese and all those incredibly interesting things about South Asia. It is where I waste time in the kitchen and mix spicy ingredients until I create the perfect masala. It is also the place where I’m enrolled in a sports club and play tennis few times per week. But, basically, over there all my activities are related to myself. I have very few friends there, I don’t feel like going out, exchanging ideas, participating in any events or fighting for any cause.

Guess there’s just one conclusion: I like both countries, both cities, but for now I’d rather spend a little more time in Bucharest and a little less time in Berlin.

What about you, have you already found the place where you belong to? Do you think a place like that actually exists?

source: libertatea.ro

Today I had lunch with a couple of colleagues, aspiring entrepreneurs, from the business workshops organized by FPP. During all of our talks, we obviously came to debate over more delicate matters, such as corruption. Ah, yes! How Romanians love to discuss matters such as injustice and corruption, unfortunately very few consider taking any action against it. To be more specific, this afternoon we came to talk about the well known “parcagii” and how the rotten system enables them to make money at our expense. Let me tell you a little bit about their “work”. Parcagii are the people who watch over free public parking places, frankly, they are everywhere. When you try to park one of these parcagii will flash out of nowhere and guide you frantically into a free parking place. Once you step out of the car, they ask you to pay for their service. If you refuse to give them any money, you will most likely end up having your car scratched, your tires flat or, in worst case scenarios, with one of your windows broken (maybe even with stuff from your car missing). Sometimes the parcagii can become quite aggressive and ask you to get the hell out of their parking place.

As we started to discuss the issue of parcagii today, here’s what I told my colleagues:

“The police may be corrupt. The streets my be corrupt. Nevertheless, every time I see one of these annoying parcagii, I report them to the police. I just stop, make the two minute call and ask for a police crew to come and arrest them.”

My colleagues laughed. According to them, I am completely crazy and silly, as my actions won’t change a thing in this very messed up country.

“False”, I said. “Most policemen may be corrupt, my hope is that out of every 10 phone calls I make, at least one will be answered by good cops, who will eventually come and beat the shit out of those lazy parcagii. You may think this is naive, but I’ve done it before and I’ve seen that this kind of attitude can shape a whole society.”

My colleagues laughed again, this time louder.

I haven’t continued the conversation, but here’s what I think on this matter: my own actions (and your own actions as well!) do have a big impact on social habits. I know it, because I’ve been part of a massive social change once. When I was about 16-17 old, Ariel invited me to an obscure event called “bikewalk”, where a group of people were supposed to meet and do a small bike trip, aiming to promote the bicycle as an alternative to cars and public transport. You can read the whole story here. At that time, the world saw us as naive fools, who would eventually end up run down by a car.

Well, guess what! Most of us haven’t been involved in any severe car accidents and look where we are today:

23 March 2013: over 4000 bikers have met in Izvor Park to fight for their right to exist. There aren’t any real bike lanes in Bucharest, our mayor has ignored this issue so far, arguing that you don’t need to build bike lanes in a city where nobody rides a bike. Well, today we have proven the contrary. I am proud of everyone who came today, I am proud of the whole city.

This is why, dear fellow readers, every time one of those bloody parcagii tries to force me into his parking place, I call the police. Little things like this can one day turn into major social changes. Stop tolerating the misery that surrounds you!

- Hey, I’m Dorothea and I just launched a new tea brand. Who are you?

I have come to accept this and even understood that it’s not necessarily a handicap. It can be a feature in many ways.

As I get to know and more and more entrepreneurs, I realize that I myself have to change my way of being and become one of those people. I must cease to play the role of the puppeteer who pulls strings in the background and afterwards climbs to one of the highest rows in the amphitheater, and enjoys the show. If I want my business to succeed I need to get down there, on the stage, and talk about my ideas, about my business. I need to entertain my audience with jokes, be coherent, be convincing and very, very professional. When it comes to all these things, it does not matter how much you work, how great your plans and your thoughts are, it does not even matter how extraordinary your products will turn out to be. In business all that matters is to smile, to inspire trust through your body language, to speak clearly, to show your conviction and enthusiasm. To be a professional business man. The fanciness of your packaging matters. You must believe that you are a person who has some pretty important things to say.

These are among the things I hope to fix in 2013.

1. She has the voice of an angel:

2. Another great song by Noah and The Whale:

3. Jaane kahan mera jigar gaya ji

4. Beautiful old Yiddish song about Romania

5. Meet Carla’s Dreams, an anonymous music band from Moldavia:

6. If you haven’t heard of Florence yet, you’ll probably see her mentioned everywhere quite soon.

I’m once again tired, exhausted, but happy and I can feel excitement pumping through each of my veins. I only wish I could quit sleeping and spend 24 hours a day working on this beautiful, beautiful project: d’Oro Tea.

My my! Time flies…

The thought of recruiting people scares and amazes me at the same time. For Christ’s sake! I’m not even 22 years, I can’t possibly be the boss of someone else. But then again, I realize… I have already been someone else’s boss, without even noticing it. Perhaps this was so because I  never had the allure of a real boss. When I was 19 old the company where I was working as a SEO consultant introduced me to a girl I had never seen in my life.”She’s M.”, the CEO said. “It’s your task to teach her stuff, tell her what to do, so that she’ll be able to help you out with all the future projects.”

Me and M. worked together for over a year, then she left the company and soon after I left too. She was a wonderful person. If I’ll find a team just as nice and motivated as M. I won’t need to be anyone’s boss. We could all just be friends, melting their goals and aspirations together, living life to its fullest. As long as we all care about getting the job properly done, everyone can be their own boss.  Even though we’re a bootstrapping business, there won’t be any fancy offices or private limousine drivers, I want everyone to feel good about what their doing. Where do I find such people?

I can imagine myself working together with a few good friends, who too carry a tiny bit of this rebellious entrepreneurial drive within them. I’m going to ask them out for coffee and tell them everything I have in mind. Let’s first see how this works…

- Şefu, are ceva dacă merg fără centură? (rough translation: “Boss, do you mind if I drive without using the seat belt?“)

The officer answered:

- Sigur, dar doar dacă dai centura de două ori pe gât şi-apoi tragi tare. (“Sure, as long as you tie the seat belt twice around your neck and then pull real hard.“)

Boy, I almost fell off my bike laughing… You see, in spite of the dirt, corruption, injustice and everything else, these absurd yet magic moments make Bucharest so incredibly delightful.

Bucharest 2012