2008 in 37 Q&A

As seen on Stingoo's blog. I read it there and I decided that in a while or so (longer, the better) I will like going back to this post and reading my answers. I will then invite the friends that I know have blog, to do the same. I think it's a nice honesty exercise. So here we go, for 2008:

1. What did you do in 2008 that you'd never done before?
Started to live by my own, in a new country.

2. Did you keep your New Year's resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I always make New Year's resolutions (I even made a Rosh hashana resolution) but I always loose them somewhere so I don't remember if i kept them or not. Too bad. And yes, I will make another one also. Should I write on it, among other, "Not to loose this resolution" ? Maybe...

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
YES! My sister! To the amazing baby Eytan! The smallest baby I've ever held in my arms! And the most advertised baby ever! (people that visited my room know why)

4. Did anyone close to you die?
Unfortunately, yes. My grandmother passed away this February. She didn't get to see her third great grandson. I miss her, and even more, my heart breaks when I think how much my grandfather misses her.

5. What countries did you visit?
Israel, Hungary, Czech Republic, Israel again, Turkey, Bulgaria, Greece, Serbia and now, Austriaaaaaa!

6. What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008?
Butterflies in the stomach, but ones that will last and be worthed.

7. What dates from 2008 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
February 6th - my grandma died
July 4th - my sister gave birth and I was dancing in Prague (damn it!)
October 19th - I moved to Vienna and my life changed
And unfortunately, a certain Friday noon, by the pool...


8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
By far, deciding on leaving everything back in Romania and jumping in this new adventure called "studying in Vienna".

9. What was your biggest failure?
The fact that I still didn't learn from my own mistakes...

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Beside heart little scratches?
Not anything seriously (and, as I don't have medical insurance yet, please not!)

11. What was the best thing you bought?
Clothes and Universita for Eytan (whoever doesn't know what that is, means that he didn't have a small baby around). That and the ticket to come to the LBS assessment interview.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
My mother's for everything she does.
My sister for giving birth naturally! I respect her tremendously!
Mine! For daring to take such a big decision as moving abroad alone!

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
Sometimes mine, sometimes the behavior of the people that dissapointed me.

14. Where did most of your money go?
Flight tickets, laptop and food (last one, since in Vienna - this is one of the best reasons for living with parents:) )

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Having a nephew, moving abroad, meeting great new people.

16. What song will always remind you of 2008?
"Halevai"...

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
a) happier or sadder? happier
b) thinner or fatter? fatter (I wonder how will I answer next year to this:) )
c) richer or poorer? moneywise - poorer, experiencewise - richer

18. What do you wish you'd done more of?
Spend more time with my mom and grandfather, Swimming, Sports, Dancing (yes, even more!), learn more salsa, Blogging (;) )

19. What do you wish you'd done less of?
Google-ing, facebook-ing, mailing, all in all, Internet, loosing time in a terrible way.

20. How will you be spending Christmas? What about Hanuka? (My add, of course)
Home with Dad, Grandpa and Woody. As for Hanuka, first days here, starting on ice skating with people from LBS, lighting my candles on the Hanukia mom sent from Israel, and then, the rest, at home with friends. Can't wait!

21. What was your favorite TV program?
Amazing Race 12 and 13, of course.

22. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
I don't really hate. Let's just say i dislike some persons more than i did last year, or some persons that I didn't know last year.

22a (My add). Do you like anyone now that you didn't like this time last year?
YES! So many of my new friends that I made, be it here, in Austria, or in all my travelings (Summer U people!!!!).

23. What was the best book you read?
UPPSSSS..I feel sooo stupid...I know a book that I would love if i read it: "The Kite runner". Does this count?

24. What was your greatest musical discovery?
I don't listen too much to music. But I need to say that I liked Straigt no Chaser the first time I heard them and that David Broza and Shlomo Artzi are always wonderful to listen to. But all in all, music needs to be danced!

25. What did you want and get?
To change my life, my work place, my environment.

26. What did you want and not get?
Some people's feelings.

27. What was your favorite film of this year?
"The kite runner". By far!

28. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
Danced all day & night long in Machol Hungaria, Israeli dance camp. 150 people sang Happy Birthday to me, the teachers carried me on their shoulders and I had with me some of my best friends. 25

29. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
Having mom near me all the time, being able to control and impose myself over my feelings, eating better food (since in Austria). :)

30. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2008?
As confortable as possible. And sometimes even sexy can go:)

31. What kept you sane?
Talking to mom, having friends (even far away but feeling them close) to whine to.

32. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Sarit Hadad, the famous Israeli singer, as I saw/met her in person, and organizing the Israel 60 event in Bucharest, in which she performed, was one of my great achievements.

33. What political issue stirred you the most?
Basescu, the President of Romania, but sure not MY president

34. Who did you miss?
Come on, this is what I am writing over and over on my blog. My mom, my sister, Eytan, my dad, my aunt, my friends back home, my new friends not in Austria, Woody.

35. Who was the best new person you met?
Well..can't rank them and they're so many. You know yourself and if I haven't, I'll soon tell you, you are among them! But for sure, this was one of the year with the highest amount of "best new persons".

36. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2008.
Trust your feelings and intuition and don't give in to what you believe in too quickly. Don't be afraid of change. And also, something that I learned some years ago, but still valid: Time solves everything. Ups, three lessons already!

37. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.
"It's the first day...of the rest of your life"

Later edit: Of course, among the wonderful persons I met this year, I couldn't forget to mention Sophie, my first niece ever, very very cute, with who I got to spend only a few days but I sure hope I will get to see her more often. So, Adina and Josh, we need to make this happen, ok?:)

Politics, feelings, marketing exam, (no) food in the mensa and many more...

I know. That's all i can say. I thought there is nobody else reading my blog no more. And it would be perfectly legitimate from you not to want to read it anymore or not to even remember my address no more. What can I do? All the time i want to write, i become sooo lazy with no reason. Starting is hard, but once I get going, nobody can stop me:). I can tell you from now on that this post will be a looong one because too many things have gathered since I last wrote. I even got to write the subjects I wanted to share with you on a piece of paper. See how much I am thinking about sharing my experiences with you guys? But from thinking to typing...long shot...
Anyway, where were we? Oh, yes, to me voting. Since then, parties have won, a Prime minister was nominated by the President, chosen, after was announced he refused (a gesture that he has done once again some time ago -2004 was it?), another Prime Minister was chosen, a guy that represents me as much as my President does. And now I just found out the names from our new government. Unbelievable! I am totally ashamed and dissapointed with leaders of Romania nowadays. But then again...each country has the leaders its people deserve. So no complaints. Oh, yes complaints cause I voted, ok?

Now, let's talk about things that are in my closer environment. Like snow-rain today. Bad ugly weather. And all the mood around the campus is like everybody wants to go in vacation, go home, go out, just go. In less than 1 week i am going to my homy. I so thought i won't miss it. and here I am, missing Bucharest, missing dad, missing Apu, missing Woody. Woodelutzuuuu.....he definitely deserves a walk out. This in case he remembers me...
Of course I miss a lot my family in Israel but them I will see in february! Yeeey!
And also I miss friends. I think it is already the 10th time I am telling you about what nice people I am meeting here day by day, how happy i am to spend a lot of time with some really cool guys and girls, but i still miss the old gang back home. I read on Rina's blog that she also misses home and parties and friends, so I feel better:)

Had yesterday the first big exam. In marketing. I was pretty dissapointed about it after, I feel I've done pretty bad, or at least not enough. The question that still remains in my head is why the hell is there the need to make the exam as stressfull as possible? We had 14 subjects in 1 hour and 30 minutes. Definitely not enough time. And why? You were supposed to write whatever comes to your mind first first first. Not even reflect for a second, cause ups, time's up! I don't understand! Does this show more about our knowledge? About how we react in times of stress? About how we prioritise which subjects we cover and which not? anyhow...after the exam, stressed and mad, we went to eat...guess what? Dinner is from 7-8 pm. We got to 7:30..."we are sorry, there's no more food left" (you imagine that this is my nice translation of a shoulder movement from down to up and then again down and a head dropping to the left - of the lady in the kitchen). No chicken, no jam, no chocolate, no...i felt my pressure going up. (PS: me going now to dinner not to miss this one too. I shall be back, no worries!:)
Ok, me back. so were was I? Oh, yes, at the part with no food. So we left for the city to eat something. Vienna is something extraordinary from this point. The coffee places (Starbucks is a good example) is closed after 8 pm! And everything else! Even now, some days before Christmas, in the middle of the week, in the evenings, you find all the shops closed and too few people on the streets. Unbelievable!
But, as I found out last week, in the weekends, during the day, things change dramatically! On the main shopping street, you can barely walk! In the shops, there's no place to move! This shopping day was a very educational one. I learned a lot of things. Like the fact that you can loose the person you went shopping with in the first big store you enter and then shop all by yourself all day long. Or the fact that ALL and ONLY Romanians and Hungarians do shopping in Vienna. Everywhere, but really everywhere, I heard only Romanian and Hungarian. I felt like in Transilvania:) And I learned that the sellers in Muller are among the rude and unpolite sellers I've seen. So very educational...:)

I found a very nice quote somewhere. And this while I was thinking I don't have a motto in my life. And I should start looking for one. This is not my motto, but just something that made me smile and reflect: "Listen! Today is the first day of the rest of your life! But relax, so is tomorrow!" :) Does it tell you anything? What do you take from this? I am curious on your oppinions.

Remember I told you I've been to a Klezmatics klezmer performance a while ago? Still didn't get to give details about that, but they sang a song that I loved. That has a very deep meaning. I knew I heard it before and searched it over the Internet. Klezmatics made only a cover, but the way they sang it is really nice. And they've added some Iddish lyrics, something that makes it even nicer. I will try to upload here a video, last time it didn't work, let's see now. And below you have the lyrics..."I ain't afraid..." Very powerful lyrics (here you can listen to the original version and also read the lyrics) and very modern nowadays. "I ain't afraid of your Allah, I ain't afraid of your Jesus...I'm afraid of what you do in the name of your God"...

I have much more to write (from my list i ticked only some, but i want to post this not to loose it)...soon (very soon) another shall come...
Listening to "I ain't afraid", I leave you...
Good night

news, bla bla and other stuff...

...all of them are on my mind now. And none of them is International Marketing, the course of which I am supposed to make a summarize. But I just can't read anything...too many things are happening, too many things that should happen are NOT happening, my mood is up and down and then again up...

I wanted to tell you I voted! YEAP! Am I a great citizen of Romania or what? One day before my exam (oh, and the exam on Dec 1st, Romanian National Day), I dressed warm (it's starting to smell and feel like winter here), and went with 2 trams to the Romanian Cultural Center. Beside my adventures on the way (surprisingly enough, even the perfect-timed Vienese public transportation has its moments of break...but don't understand how come I was caught in between...), I got there and used my constitutional right and voted. Why did I bother? Beside the fact that Silvian nagged me to vote for Mr. Vainer, the representative of the Jewish Community of Romania for the Parliament, I voted because I want to complain. I want to be able to complain. And if you don't vote, you don't have the right to complain. And i sure know there will be a lot to complain about:) In the same time, I met with some friends of mine from Romania that brought me some more things that I needed from home. Thanks guys and thanks Erwin! Oh, and also on the way there I passed in front of the Rathaus (the Municipality) and saw a wonderful Christkindelmarkt (gotcha! you don't know what that is! hehe...i didn't till 2 weeks ago but not even till now I couldn't manage to get there)...It's a Christmas market with a lot of Glukwine (for sure i mis spelled it) and other yummy things and a lot of small nothings that you can buy.) I do want to go there one evening but always i am so tired to do it. note to self: Dana, please get yourself together! :)

Then, yesterday i wanted to dress myself in the colors of the Romanian flag. Of course here I feel much more patriot than back home. Being the only Romanian in the whole dorm doesn't help too much to express this patriotism. After trying some outfits that included red, yellow and blue, decided that people will not appreciate my purpose and will just see the clowny outfit and judge me for that...eh, superficials!:) But I made sure to announce all my classmates about the event, my teachers, and especially the teacher that gave us an exam on that date. And i mentioned that he should be greatful that I'm having this exam instead of celebrating at home...riiiight:) (the exam, at "Scientific methods and tools of research" went good. Got an 1:) here it means the best grade:P)
How was Dec 1st back home? Anybody wants to tell me?

Today I had the first shift in the library. I told you about the points one must collect doing different chores in the campus. So I had time to read the book for school. The fact that I didn't is something else. But at least I got a GREAT massage for my achy (no, not heart:) ) back. It was worthed!:)

Going back to the votes, we witnessed an unbelievable result: the representative of the Jewish Community received 22.400 votes. Taking into consideration that the number of members of the Jewish Communities all over the country is of only 6000(!!!) nobody can explain where does the HUUUGE difference come from. I still don't know how come, but for sure it shows that the Jewish Community is a strong one in Romania and this can't but make me very proud, knowing that I was an active part of it and I (still) am a small part. And I am really curious to see how many votes did Mr. Vainer get from Vienna...:) One is sure mine and another is Miriam's:)
Besides all these...what can I tell you? A great weekend...going to a very nice Shabat evening organised by Eytan at his house, meeting nice people, walking back (yes, on foot!!) 1 hour and 15 min by the Donau, laughing a lot, playing ping pong at 3 am (!?!):)) and waking up with a great mood at 12:00 at noon...
Oh, and I found out that it might be that next March I will be dancing at a Jewish Ball in the Rathaus! That is beyond any expectation! I'm soooo excited...yea, yea yea...
And with this excitement in mind, another thing poped out: me needing to go back to my Intl. Marketing...see yaaaa!

Hanukia Bait...

...or how to do anything else than working on your project. This time i really didn't have anything important to tell you (beside the pictures i promised from my room) but as the other option was to finally start working on my project for quality management, I chose to put ideas down on the blog. I know, not very productive :)
Oh, and there is another worth-mentioning event! Today i got another package! From my aunt, back in Bucharest:) It makes me feel so good, no matter what it is there. Not to say that i got Salam de sibiu (a special kind of salami), Smoked yellow cheese, zacusca (yummy Romanian dish), jelly (although i already eat here jam and jelly as for all the previous 25 years in a row. And also tea i drink like crazy. Somebody said that they give us so much tea to be able to digest better the untasty food. And to have less stomach aches:) Makes sense:P) So thank you, Rita!
Today we had again the finance class with the great teacher. I know i said it before but I sooo much like how he explains. And we all agree on that. I could stay and listen to him all day long and all the boring book would be so much easier to handle. He is funny but keeps the distance, serious and looks and talks like a real professional. His teaching skills are very developed. And today we had the most difficult session from this semester (from his perspective). Talking about corelation between risk and rate of return, standard deviation, R hat, SML and CAPM. All things i had no idea about till now...wow!
And after that, the class of Resource Planning, in which we negotiated eliminating the exam in favor of presentations of different subjects around the ERP. And here it is where the balagan begun. Most of us don't really understand the topic and what does the teacher expect from us. He gave us individual subjects on which to work. For me, knowing i (teoretically) have knowledge of programming (yea right!) he gave me something that i never heard of before and that till now doesn't make any sense. Anybody willing to enlighten me? It sounds like this: "JCo, Netweaver and MII in MES" :)). Where J comes from Java. Cool, isn't it?:D

Ok, meanwhile Olga came to my room and we talked as usual for like 2 hours so it's already 1 am so I should call it a day. We decided we need some adventure in our life so now i am looking for adventure parks and Cart places around. yee!
So my room. I officially announce that this is my online Hanukia Bait (innauguration of new house). You are all invited, and you didn't even need to bring presents:P This is how it looked when i first came in and dropped my luggage:












All you see is all there was. bed, closet, table little chair and a bath.

And this is how it looks now:

I would say it's much nicer and blue-er:)











And yes, all these pictures i got from mom and sis and the leaves are collected from the LBS campus. But there is a problem with my home. The window doesn't close properly so i get some wind in under it and also the air is very dry. I wake up in the morning with a very dry throat and lips, can't breath and I'm either too cold or too hot. But, besides this, everything is wonderful:) Next time, a picture from outside and towards outside;)

So guten nacht for now...
PS: Please try not to pay too much attention on the layout. I am too tired to play with it. Please accept it as it is. Thank you.
PPS: Today I wrote to the administration that I want to start the sessions of Israeli dancing and Salsa in the campus! Ye! i hope everything works out and there will be a lot of people. So far everybody says they want it very much, but we'll see if they will come. Anyway, I'm excited!
Me really going to sleep now.

snow, stolen hanger,floridita,new sweater auction, security guy...

...and many more happened since we last "talked".
If somebody said that living in a dorm is boring, probably didn't live in ours.:) I will again talk about mails received on our school mailing list. I still consider them funny, although some of the things happening here are not that funny and you get to ask yourself "what the hell is going on?" (this talking about the first e-mail i'll attach). As for the second one, I love (again) people with humor. And guess what? it totally worked! i understood he had about 12 replies from girls. And that he added all of them on facebook too:) Oh, and this guys's favorite color is PINK! really pink!
PS: i am keeping my laudry hanger in my room, i have my food on the window as it's anyway cold enough and i (usually) watch where i'm stepping. So mom, I'm good:)
PPS: Most of the students here, because they receive scolarship, need to do some jobs inside the campus, jobs that give them points in the Work Study Program and they need to reach a certain amount of points. This to explain what he is saying there.

Also, today SNOWED!!! First snow this year! Although i saw snow before in June (!!!) when i was in Austria, but up on the Grossglockner at about 2600 m altitude, not on my window, in the middle of Vienna. The park of the campus looked so nice...Took some pictures of it to see how heavy the snow was.
And not only in snowed but it was a huge snow storm! And as I don't have nor winter jacket, nor boots, nor gloves, nor warm pants (yeap, i don't know what i was carrying in those 45 kilos when i came, i really don't know:) ), i needed to go out and buy all these stuff. So here was I, confronting the heavy wind and snow, but hell I was successful! Managed to buy not only gloves and boots (really nice and matching!) but also...SKI SUIT!!!;)) yeap! I know you will all think: right, she really needed ski suit to wear in the 2 minutes between her room in the dorm and the class, but hey, it was incredibly cheap, looks good and i needed at least the jacket. I am really proud of my aquisitions and the fact that now i'm REALLY ready to go skiiing:) So, this was on the way to buying the stuff:
And here are the things I bought:


But till skiing, going to do my quality management project...or maybe some sleep first...:)
Here are the two e-mails i was talking about and I am waiting for your reactions:)
"Dear all, Usually I would not like to make a big question out of that issue but I really got mad. I went today to pick up my clothes from the laundry room and what I saw was that my hanger ( which by the way has my name on it and is in red and white) was missing and somebody had put my clothes on the washing machine. I don't know how you do it at home but I was personally taught to ask first and then take. So I kindly ask whoever took it to return to to room 1**. Otherwise I will personally find the person and explain him how he should not do it again. And I'm not joking. All the best, R"

Mail no 2:

"Dear Students, Due to the ongoing complaints from my female classmates that I am wearing only boring colours (except for my green sweater), I need 1-2 ladies to go and buy me a new sweater that will save me from the shame. The budget is subject to your negotiation skills, though by now the pressure has grown so dramatically that I am willing to pay up to 40 Euros! There is no specific experience required for this job, except for good taste. This assignment does not officially fall into the Work Study Program, but upon successful completion of the task, I might ask Mrs. K for permission to transfer you a work study point from my account. Whoever replies first, will get the job!"

Oh, and one last thing: I was finally in Floridita, the salsa club, on Thursday night. This after trying with the girls 2 other clubs. It was nice, not too many people so there was enough place to dance, but not so many boys that knew to dance. I was surprised (in a good way:) ) by the amount of black guys there. I was invited to dance and i also went and took a guy to dance. Had fun (and an elbow in my head:) ). The Austrian clubs have this habit of getting photographers inside to picture the people and then to post them onto their website. So we became famous. Here is the picture. The guy was just the security guy, but me and Olga decided he is goodlooking enough to enter in our picture:P

really?? One month??...

...exactly, to the day! I have arrived in Vienna one month ago. One month ago I left Romania to settle in a new country, new place, new occupation, new people. And so far, I can say that the choice is wonderful. As i was telling you before, I enjoy a lot of things going on here, I am (still) enthusiastic (as the dean noticed today), i am still looking forward to meeting even more new people, especially outside of LBS, and i am considering traveling a lot.

One month in which i started managing myself, my own time and activities, my room which has become my home now. For sure there are a lot of things to still do, but hey, only a month:) I am already thinking about what i will be doing the 5 days i will be home in December and how fast i want February to come to go to Israel, to see mom, Sorana and most beautiful baby in the world, Eytan. Him i miss the most! And I am sure the feeling is totally mutual:) This is how he's looking at the camera, knowing that Doda Dana will see this picture.How can't you miss such a baby? But no worries, by february, he will be 7 months so he will be for sure able to have a conversation with me...in German even, as I need to practice it:)
Besides all my family, be it in Israel or Romania, I miss Woody so much...I even dreamed of him one night...sniff sniff...
Now...happier times! TODAY I had a celebration! In the honor of my first month here, I cooked my first real meal! In the community room...And it was heavenly delicious!mmmm....Chicken breast with mushrooms ...yummmmmmmmmyyyy...In the reality it was much better than it looks here. We were laughing that the LBS horrible food regime makes you cherish on an unbelievable scale the little pleasures in life...like the pancake the Indian-that-thinks-he-speaks-Romanian from the kitchen gave me today, specially and only for me :) (i know that from that moment on i have some new enemies:P).
And also...a very important event happened yesterday: I have received a package from mom and sis!!!! You have no idea how i rushed to the offices to take it and how all cocky I was walking back with it to my room! My rich relatives didn't forget the lost daughter that they sent in foreign land!:) Not to say that now I could start some sweets illegal traffic, but also I have Bamba, soup, choco. And a lot of printed pictures (that are already on my wall). And even a bamboo that i will take care of and will grow up to the sky:) I felt so excited yesterday...little things again:)
So now, i have almost finished decorating my room so expect by the end of this week pictures with my sweet home. People say it looks really nice and cosy and i really feel it this way too.

Now, I have moved to Olga's room cause she has windows to the "outside world" which means she can reach some outside wireless networks, (yes, but me, with my inside the campus windows have the advantage of being able to put food on the window. She is not allowed, as it "bothers the neighbours with an unpleasant view!!!?!") so I came here to download a torrent as I miss my Amazing Race sooo much. And with our LBS network downloading illegal torrents is not an option.

Tomorrow evening we are going to visit the Christmas Market. I understood there are different markets but we will go to the main one and will drink also some "vin fiert" (is it mild wine in english?). Anyway, I expect some quality time with colleagues, although they announced that it will be colder and colder, reaching on Sunday the wonderful -5 degrees Celsius air temperature!!!!
Guten nacht lekulam!:)

experiences in LBS dorm...

...can go on and on...Remember the post about the food stolen from the fridge? Because many of you found that funny (as I did), I am posting this too. We found out that it can go beyond it. Only few days passed and we received another email from somebody more mad. And I totally understand him. The fact that, again, this e-mail will probably not help at anything, is even more annoying. What lessons does Dana learn from all these?
Watch your step and don't carry anything with you, especially things that you want to remain in one piece:)
I am adding it below. I didn't answer to the guy because his tone was not funny, even the situation was. I don't know thought why does he consider that he is Dana Scully and Mulder all-in-one, in order to solve this case, but I wish him good luck.


I wonder...only in this dorm things like this happen??

"Dear LBS Students,

Usually, I do not bother myself writing about trivial issues concerning
lost scarves or community rooms, however this is an obvious exception.

November 15, between 11:30pm and midnight I was walking in the corridor
towards the direction of community room 101 when all of a sudden I slipped
on
a disgusting puddle of food (which magically matched the color of the
floor, by the way), obviously cooked by someone on the 1st floor.

As a result, my laptop ( which happened to be in my hands at that time),
fell from a distance of at least 1.5 meters on the stone floor. As it is
right now, the webcam on my computer does not work and some of the computer
drivers are damaged.

If you know who is responsible, please give me his\her name in order to
settle this thing and compensate for the damage. If the person does not
choose to confess, he will be found anyway (sooner or later) and the
consequences will be much worse.

Sometimes it really sickens me to see how little the students on campus care
about each other and about the school.

Peace,

LL"

people can snore in Bratislava...

...and this i know now for sure!:) not that i ever doubted it anyway. But anyway that doesn't make those people less nice, overall...cause in the moment when we're about 15 people that want to sleep and one of us wants to show us how loud he can be, or how small throat he has, for sure he's anything but nice, cute and wonderful:)
Ok, and now when i lost already all those that were bored, i can explain to you, the one that remained, what i am talking about:

It is already 1 week ago that we went to Bratislava for a short weekend in which we were planning on visiting the capital of Slovakia, on partying biiig time and on...finding good cosmetic saloons:) (it is universal known that the prices are much better than in our beloved and expensive Vienna). Well...if you ask me whether these goals were achieved (talking business already:) )...i would say about 53.2%! How did i reach this exact no? I will elaborate:
1. Visiting Bratislava - we, the happy gang, Olga, Luka and myself, decided we'll go before everybody else, to get to visit and to walk around also on Saturday. But what we forgot is that it's winter already and that by 4:30 pm it's already pretty dark. But anyway, we only got in Bratislava at around 5:30 pm...so what sighseeing to do? We learned that walking around in the city center doesn't take more than..30 min, especially when you're totally hungry. So, at my persuasions, we got to eat in a very Slovakian restaurant (not!) called La Rambla...as some of you might know already, it was very spanish, but i enjoyed a lot the salsa music in the background. So much that at a point i went and asked the waiters if there's anybody that dances salsa around here. At their negative answer, I started dancing by myself...lame? nice? cool? i enjoyed myself and this is what's important. (and also Olga and Luka were pretty embarrased with me - but it's ok, as it was only the beginning) Then we walked some more, laughed some more, sang some more, noticed how everything resembles Prague only that Prague is 100 times more beautiful and full of life, found everything closed and headed to the party.
The party all in all was ok, not too bad (good music, on my taste - but this was the problem, the music on my taste = oldies and latino, was not on the tastes of most, so a lot of the LBS people left soon). But going to sleep...that is the interesting part...this is what made all this trip worthy:)) We were told we're going to have a place to sleep, and to bring sleeping bags but if we don't have, we'll be provided with sheets and everything. Only to get there and discover that the place we'll sleep in is at the last floor of this building!
So you can imagine what great test had the organizers in mind: with all the free alcohol...drink as much as you can but after that...it's your business how you reach up there. Should i mention that there was a HUGE hole at every floor, by the stairs?:) fun fun fun. And also, we slept...on the floor...i don't know what is more on the floor than that...sqeezed in between girls (yeap, i know, other were luckier than me:) ) cause we didn't have enough sheets. no mattresses whatsoever anyway(this is why i said that i can fell my BONES!).
and with all these...also the nice guy i told you above...that woke us all up with his snoring...and here i was, the courageous one (cause this guy is by far the best built one among us) going to practically shake him. He stopped for a few minutes but we couldn't sleep anymore and we started laughing so loud and unstoppable that we woke the rest of the people up. But it was fun! These are the things i remember from the whole trip.

In the morning, after sleeping all in all about 3 h, we went visiting the city again, this time with a guide and with a group of about 10 people. Taking pictures in weird positions, drinking hot chocolate, visiting the synagogue, taking the bus back, sleeping in the bus, sleeping in the metro, laughing some more...and this was my last weekend.
Most of the pics i have uploaded here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=83334&l=af573&id=720410940
Ufff...such a long post already...and i wanted to tell u about the Klezmatics show and the Salsa congress on Saturday. But hey, out of all these you will get the idea i am only partying. Which honestly this time would be so far from the truth...really! again studying a lot, but liking the subjects, not having almost any free time in the weekdays but, mom, dad, i'm great!:)

The direct relation between financial crisis and the fridges in our dorm....

....is much easier to spot now than it was before receiving the e-mail that i am attaching below. And you will see why. I laughed so much when i read it that i had to reply to this guy from my dorm. I love when people have good humor and manage to mock stupid situations especially when they can't do anything else. I said to share this with you now, cause the copy+paste actions don't take too much of my time, but other than this, i again want/desire/need/thrive/wish to tell you about my weekend in Bratislava (so much to say) and about the Klezmatics concert on Monday evening (amazing at least) but i literally don't get more than 10 min off school things. really. for example now, i need to make another presentation, as last week, proving this time that "A company is NOT a machine". Last week, as i was telling you, was writing about "A company IS a machine". If i get to do this fast enough, i will for sure write another post about the events mentioned above. For now, enjoy the exchange of e-mails and tell me whether u found it as funny as i did:

Quoting xxx.yyy@lbs.ac.at:

Hello all,

Today I felt the world financial crisis directly. Seems that impoverished from the crisis, a poor student, desperately craving for food took some of my own food from the fridge in community room 123.
Of course, I understand that to sustain his biological existence he or she had to go to this extreme measures. However, I kindly would like to ask the person who did that to bring me back the leftovers from bread and cheese, and in turn, I officially promise to give him half of my food from now on.
Ashamed, I have to admit that some part of me believes that its not about the crisis but about greed, laziness, and misunderstanding of the concept of property. Nevertheless, I would not
let this part prevail over my belief that there are only decent and worthy,young Jewish people in the dormitory.
I guarantee full confidentiality for the student and his social status in our wonderful little community will not be harmed by any means.

And my answer after laughing a lot:

> Loved your message! :)
> this is how i see it (yes, from a mathematical point of view cause this is what i f...ing studied 4 years:))

> the relation between you-the stolen food-the thief- the general public looks like:

> 1. you = empty stomach and without resources = -1,
> 2. stolen food = ate already = 0,
> 3. the thief-not so decent anymore but totally content and full = 1+ (cause we don't count only the actual food but also the increase of his general state of being. and we don't have what to decrease cause that would be the decency and the correctness, which seem are totally 0)
> 4. the general public = 0 (as usual not intervening and being just a regular outside observer, cause the drawbacks of being called a traitor, are bigger than the satisfaction of being called a friend by somebody else)

> So then, which is the impact of your email on the involved factors?
> 1. you= still empty stomach but at least happy u took it out on somebody and even with a good humor = - 0.5
> 2. stolen food remains stolen food =0
> 3. thief= i assume no change whatsoever (hope i'm wrong)
> 4. general public with sense of humor = +9 and others = 0

> So the conclusion? Even though i never step foot in 123 yet (yeap, newcomers), just because u made me smile and get from 0 to 9, u get a share of my cheese when u want (and when i will have bought a new one, cause the one from now got rotten;) )

> Dana
> PS: if there is anything in the mail u don't understand, either
> 1. ask me and i will draw u a scheme :)
> 2. ignore and delete the message:P

Of course the funny guy approached me at dinner telling me that he will make use of that cheese as soon as possible:)

i had so many things to tell you...

...but i am too tired. it's almost 2:30 am, the second night in a row that i am going to sleep at 2 am because i had some school assignments. Does it sound weird for those of you that know me? Me, who was learning for school only in the exam period...well, this doesn't work here. i have so much to read (especially for finance, as i mentioned in a previous post) and some projects and presentations, be them in a group or personal. Some of them are nice, others at least weird, or confusing, to say it nice. But all in all, i am learning a lot of new stuff, i don't know how i lived till now not being curious about so many things, how i passed by them, now words that till now i only knew i heard them once, make sense. And i learned once again, the big difference between a difficult subject, with A LOT of material, but with a great teacher that makes it all look pretty logical and connected and an ok subject, but with a teacher that tries to find the most complicated way of explaining a notion, that we end up being so damn confused. I hope things will clear up later.

Anyway, wanted to write more about how nice autumn is in the campus, how i collected red, yellow, brown, green leaves and put them in books as i used to do back home...how i will wait for them to dry and then put them all over my home's walls...how i went yesterday and studied in the courtyard, among leaves, me and my Winnie the Pooh Caravan pillow and how refreshing that was...how awful the food is here and how much bread, jam, pasta, rice, milk and cereal i eat no matter it's breakfast, lunch or dinner...how in the same time, i just ate (at 1:30 am) some tuna paste with about 5 groupmates in the community room, while talking about the paralell SWOT analysis between LBS and the Granz Facheschule:)...how i'm playing ping pong with boys in the dorm (yes, only with boys, and i am some kind of specimen that people come to check out in the "let me see what a girl can do" idea.:) Well, i don't think i've done so bad yet:) so Cristian camp, i owe it all to you:))...how not even till now i didn't get to the center of Vienna, at least for a little walk...but who's rushing me?...how the accounting teaching sent us a list of cinema movies that he recommends, with a little review and i found it really nice of him...how i'm listening now to a bachata song on Radio Romantic and how i miss dancing Israeli dancing or salsa...but how i will go to the Salsa Congress next week right here, in Vienna...how i am missing...something. i honestly don't know exactly what i miss, or who i miss, or if it's an illusion i miss something...and then again, how busy i am here with things i like and enjoy, that i don't get to miss anything afterall.

This weekend i'm going to Bratislava! there's a big party organized by the Jewish Community and we're a pretty big group from LBS going there (well, why wouldn't be? it's about 1 h distance and there will be free alcohol all night long, so, of course, why not?:D - as for me, it's good i spoke with the bartender and i ordered already some customized Dana's non alcoholic cocktails). For sure i'll do some sightseeing as well.

Yes, everything came in this post pretty messy and unorganized. well, surprising or not, i became more and more organized and tidy in my life and home, so at least in the post to have my old "good" habits:)

I know i still owe you pictures from my room and some stories from the past. They too shall pass away:)
By the way, i would love to hear some comments or questions if you have about everything that is happening here.
Good and nightmares-free night ...

"Vienna hills"...

...or how to make a boring Sunday become a most colorful one...
As i told you last night, today was supposed to be a day of study, rememeber ? (wait, wait, don't ya nod your head already, i ALSO studied, but you'll see that by the end, ok?). And taking into consideration that i went to sleep at about 2 am (as every night), waking up at 12 at noon was not something unrealistic. Although, after what nightmare i had, with me trying to run away from the bad guys, being helped by a friend whose car was going very slow on the highway, and all of this happening inside my appartment in Bucharest (yes even the highway!), i should have waken up much earlier. Anybody eager to interpret my dream? does it mean that i'm already home sick?
Anyway, by the time i was ready to go, i realised i missed not only breakfast but also lunch. But as I wasn't too hungry so that didn't matter. I got a call from a friend of mine living in the dorm (I don't know yet what rule I should apply regarding the people in my stories. Should i give out names? Should i put initials? Should i not mention at all? I, for myself, like writing out the names, but as it's not me to say, i will have to ask for people permission to have their names written in my blog:) ok, at least in the not-so-embarrasing posts:) ) So he was offering to do something cause he's bored. So Dana, the anti-boredom solution came in handy:) like...Mr Proper whistling, but without the musles:) I told him I anyway wanted to play table tennis (cause guess what? I just discovered a ping pong table in the dorm! can't wait! we'll see who can beat me in LBS:) I hope I won't dissapoint the Cristian-Popa Soare training center :P! But, as we couldn't find "matkot" (rackets), we decided to go for a walk as the weather was great.

We didn't have a certain place to go, but in the end, we managed to get in a beautiful area, very pitoresque, on the hills, with lots and lots of vineyards, with colors that went from green to dark red going through yellow, brigh red and brown. The first picture of the post has became my desktop picture.


And think that this was only about 10 min far from my dorm:) How lucky can i still be?
We also met some locals and we were amazed by how friendly people in Austria can be. Really! How helpful, and full of smiles and goodwill always. I really think this is related to a combination between the standard of living (people are not so stressed about the daily life) and the level of civilization. As my friend said, they are YES people. They think how to make out of everything something good, if that good can be achieved.
Anyway, we ate grapes directly from the vineyard, goofed around doing jumps on a not very solid terrain, took pictures, drank 100% natural -me, grape juice, him, some kind of must (between juice and wine) at a lovely peasant restaurant in the middle of the vineyard, played with a German sheperd bred by an Austrian family that got a lot of prizes in Japan dog contests (!?!?:)) ), and we also made it to the wonderful dinner in the campus, consisting of tuna fish, salad and cornflakes with milk, all in all to end one of the nicest days in Vienna so far.

But hey, then where is the studying? And no, i won't come with my "usual" excuses like "studying people in the nature is an interesting and useful thing in life, so this is what i did" but i really came back into my room and did my homework at accounting. See? Dana, Good girl:) And tomorrow i also want to check with the teacher cause i spotted a mistake (on the "teacher, teacher something's wrong there! (sau tovarashu, tovarashu!!!) way :) )

Good night everybody cause tomorrow it's a heavy but nice day!

I left Romania 2 weeks ago...

...and here i am today...

yeap, lucky day that is, 2 posts in a row. what can i do if i need to catch up with the things happening here? i will start with the beginning, since i came and settled in.

First, i haven't felt this lucky in a long time...knowing i am allowed to have only 20 kilograms besides the carry-on, i went to the airport with...are you ready?...45 kg! needless to say that i wasn't so surprised to find out how much exactly i was carrying but believe me, the lady at the check in thought i'm making fun of her. And so here was i, pleeding and begging to be taken on board, with all the luggage in and even without having to pay some incredible fees. The lady at the counter (i would send her a bouquet of flowers if i knew her name:) ) was unbelievable helpful and nice. But she told me she doesn't have too many options, there are the regulations of the company, yada yada. I was like "please please, i am going studying and i have a lot of books to carry and please please please...maybe other passagers don't have the maximmum possible". And i was right. And lucky. exactly behind me there was a family (two parents and a child) and all three of them, yes ALL three of them, had...7 kilos!! Can you believe it? I couldn't...i think they had only socks in there:) but it was great for me.
So this was my first luck.
I'm not going to tell you how i managed with 5 (yes five!) bags and suitcases on the way from the airport to the dorm, just imagine me with all of them on some prety narrow elevator stairs and everything tripping and collapsing. see? Laurel and Hardy (sau Stan si Bran in romana) 2 in one!:)
Lucky me I had Annie here, so for the first night i slept in her room. The next day, i got my own room. MINE! miiineee!!! and here the second luck interfeers: i got a single room!! all alone and only miiine! don't ask me how i managed cause i really didn't do anything special, i just think that coming late sometimes is not necessary a bad thing:)
I will post soon a picture of the room, but i want it to be in the before/after mood so i need some more days to arrange everything in it.
Anyway, i feel good in here, i like buying different stuff for the house (i need to start calling her my home, right?:) ) and for that i went to...where do all people that want to buy cheap do-it-yourself products go? yeap, IKEA! but this needs totally another post as there is too much to say.

About classes: - also a lot to say but to make it short, for now: me likes them!:) for those who know me, that's something surprising, right? well, not really, taking into consideration that i changed the field. and that i can feel the immediate practical sense in everything we talk about. But the names of the courses, some of them, are something...for example, the course for Contemporary Concepts of Organizational Behavior & Management of Change I. For the first week i managed to learn the title of the course...i am on the right way, isn't it? :) Talking about understanding, diagnosing, managing organisational behavior and human resource development. Interesting. For now, the homework is a presentation with the subject "A company is a machine".
Then we have Financial Reporting and Controlling (which is accounting basically, but not the basics of the accounting, if you understand the difference:) ). With this, all the Balance sheets, and Profit-loss sheet and all the calculations, believe me, i have a much higher respect to accountants then i had till now:)
The Interpersonal Dimensions of Leadership is something definetly on my taste. Different types of leaderships, where works what, with who works what, and so on. Already i have scheduled a personal presentation on Dec 22nd.
The Contemporary Concepts of Finance and Investment is something i will have to take care of. I need to catch up a lot as i have no experience whatsoever in finance. A huge book to read (and this is only the start). Already it sounds scary but i'm not letting myself defeated by that.
And for now i will mention only the Personal Assesment course, which by the end of the first two weeks is the winner at the "Nicest and most "I know Dana, I'll have a tailored for her" - course". It is again related to Human Resources, to how to asses the person in front of you, in an interview for example and how to understand which are his/her values, motivations. And for that, we first need to know what drives us in a certain direction. so...self assessment that is, with somebody smarter to interpret everything. I feel i so much needed this kind of assessment or consulting regarding my future carrieer and what are my expectations in life about 7 years ago.
anyway, the time is NOW!

There are other courses as well, but about this...in our next episode:) (don't i sound like Teleenciclopedia?:)

I am open to any comments, questions or reactions whatsoever:) I will be happy to answer to them.
Oh and tomorrow, it's Studying time! I just said it here so i make sure i will do it, otherwise i will be too ashamed to come in front of you with other stories:)

being halloweenic...

...only once a year you can! so why not go for it? this is what i thought and that i why i went crazy!! For sure the imagination didn't overwhelm me this time and i went for the classic devilish look. but with all the Westerns' stereotypes about Romanians, it was anyway matching way too good.
So, i won't tell you all the struggles i had to put the makeup on and how many clothes i tried to end up with this:



















Most of the girls will definitely appreciate the shoes. well, they're not mine, they're 2 numbers bigger but i said that they match way too well (remember the Devil Wears Prada poster?). And there we were, ready to go. And here we start. if you thought going to a party with 4 bulgarians and 1 hungarian is easy, than u would be where i was yesterday: for about 1 hour on the way to the party, forgeting to get off the tram, then walking back to the metro station where we anyway missed the last metro, taking another metro in another direction, walking for about 25 min and then finally taking a cab which dropped us somewhere from where we walked another 10 min to the party:))
And all these, dressed like that:
But, the party was fun, with lots of people dressed up and with a lot of make up on, which made it really fun. besides the house electronic tehno (i never know the difference between all of them, they all sound only like beats -the same rythm all the time, to me). and besides the smoke. and besides broken glass everywhere under your feet. :) but nice people around...at a moment a spotted a nice cute looking guy. i showed him to one of the girls i was with but also told her i think he is gay. he was too cute to be straight. and guess what? when he left the bar...he kissed the guy he was with...:) me and my tastes:)))
on the way back i again experienced the night public transportation, waiting for about 20 min for a night bus which then we changed with 2 other buses and walked some more and eventually, at 5 30 am, i got to sleep:)

As there are a lot of stories to be told since i came, i will come back to them, as promised.
Tonight i am planning to go to Floridita, the salsa club in Vienna. heard it's very crowded in Saturday so i am still undecided.
More scary pics on my facebook account:)

Un nou inceput...

...suna banal dar momentan asta este...si nimic mai mult sau mai putin...dar sa o luam cu inceputul inceputului. Am promis atator oameni ca in momentul in care ajung aici voi incepe sa scriu pe blog. mi-a luat o saptamana, dar iata-ma-s! si promit sa ma straduiesc sa devina asta o obisnuita. pentru ca lucruri de povestit sunt multe, nu prea stiu cum sa le selectez inca. deci o sa vina de-a valma momentan. Va deranjeaza ca nu scriu cu diacritice? cineva spunea ca daca nu scrii cu diacritice nu prea arati respect cititorilor. nu sunt de acord. ca sa nu zic ca nici nu am fonturi romanesti instalate pe computerul asta si mi-ar lua si mult mai mult timp. voi scrie in engleza pentru ca am destui prieteni din tari straine carora vreau sa le povestesc ce mi se intampla. Daca are cineva ceva de obiectat in acest sens, astept un comment ceva, si ma apuc de tradus:)
deci...bloggarea a inceput!:), Enjoy!

inca putin si...Gesher!!!

Stiu, stiu, pe langa faptul ca de mai mult de o luna (de fapt aproape 2) am neglijat blogul asta prea mult, am mai si promis acum o saptamana ca revin si scriu si tot nu am facut-o. E, dar e timpul. Sunt in masina, in Bulgaria, mai avem vreo 80 km pana la Ruse si venim (cu Elly si Erwin) de la…are you ready?...Nessebar! Prin ce e asa de faimos Nessebar asta? Inca prin nimic, dar dupa ce vor trece cei 400 de participanti la Gesher 2008 prin el, sigur va deveni! Yeap, acolo mergem anu asta la Gesher! Si dat fiind faptul ca facem parte din Gesher Team (chiar daca anul acesta mie personal mi-a fost mai greu ca altadata, pana la urma s-a facut asa cum am vrut) am mers in asa numitul Gesher Preparation. Ne-am intalnit cu toata echipa si impreuna am pus cap la cap diferitele idei (cretze, zburlite, ciudate, fanteziste, excentrice, glumete, serioase) pentru a crea ceea ce va insemna Gesherul anul asta.

Dar intai sa va spun despre locatie. As putea spune doar ca e… INCREDIBILA si sa va las sa muriti de curiozitate. Dar va mai spun ca este un complex din 3 hoteluri imense, noi o sa il avem ocupat in totalitate pe unul din ele, asa numitul Sol Nessebar Bay. Hotel de 4 (patru, da!:) )stele cu….ALL INCLUSIVE! Ce inseamna asta? Ca mananci si bei de dimineata pana noaptea pe gratis, singurul lucru care te va opri va fi propria masura (care unora le lipseste cu desavarsireJ ) Si apropos de asta trebuie sa va spun ca (din pacate) in acest weekend, TOATe cele 3 hoteluri erau ocupate FULL numai de romani. Dar numai! In sensul ca Julia a venit cu masina personala cu numar de Bulgaria si nu au lasat-o sa intre in parcare pentru ca este “numai pentru masinile din Romania”, Va dati seama draci (pe buna dreptate) pe Julia (coordonatoarea gesherului). Dar cum se comporta dragii nostri romanasi cand dau de All Inclusive? De parca sunt pe tarlaula lu’ taticu. Mancarea dispare intr-un ritm destul de rapid, dar felicitari chelnerilor care sunt si mai rapizi sa refill imediat. Erwin a observat un incident “dragut”, in buna traditie romaneasca: un grup care isi luase la masa proprie intregul bol de…masline (care era MARE) si langa inca un bol cu samburi care devenea din ce in ce mai plin iar domnii si doamnele, stateau la o sueta, mancand maslinele ca pe seminte…si nu s-au ridicat pana nu au terminat intregul bol. Frumos, nu? Am trecut de la amuzament la jena si penibil cand pe usa restaurantului scria DOAR in romana “Dragi oaspeti, Va rugam sa nu scoateti din restaurant mancare sau vesela. Va multumim”. De ce oare au trebuit sa puna afisul si de ce numai in romana, puteti intelege cu usurinta. La receptive ti se da o lista cu instructiuni, explicatii in romana iar chitanta de exemplu pentru sejur, chiar daca a fost platita de Julia pe nume buolgaresc, cu leva si cu tot, era in…romanaJ.

Acum, ce ofera hotelul? Piscina indoor si outdoor, Jacuzzi, sala de fitness, mese de ping pong, fotbal, air hockey, darts, ditamai castelul cu tobogane si alte jocuri pentur copii, terenuri de tenis si baschet dar care pot fi transformate in teren de fotbal, sali de conferinta cat cuprinde, 3 baruri diferite in functie de moment al zilei, camere dragute, colorate, cu paturi imense in care pot intra cu usurinta vreo 4 persoane (nu ca am sugera/propune asa ceva:), club super misto cu lumini, lasere, DJ suspendat, etc. Mai trebuie sa zic ceva? Nu cred. Veniti voi si continuati descrierea, dupa gesher.

Si programul pregatit este f misto, avem multe activitati fun, de la cursuri de barman, graffiti, arts&crafts, la campionat de poker, cursuri de gatit, de salsa,si de hip hop. Totul se va concentra pe ideea de ecologie, Balkan warming dar si de Israel 60. Lectori din mai multe colturi ale lumii, subiecte diferite, controversate si foarte bine prezentate.

Cam asta va fi Gesher 2008! Acum sa mai speram doar de vreme buna, lume multa ca distractie va fi 1000%. Aaaaa….si nu ma pot abtine sa nu va spun ce cadou vor primi toti participantii(mai tineti minte uozo din Grecia? Sau brelocul cu papucul din Macedonia?) e, de data asta, si fiind in ton cu tema seminarului veti primi un foarte frumos…Citirlisna Detelina! Stiti ce frumos e?:)) promit ca cine ghiceste primul ce este primeste un cadou de la mine pe langa acest mirific Citirlisna Detelina. Chiar si numai pentru el si merita!

Si acum, pentru ca tocmai am intrat in Romania pe la vama Giurgiu inchei povestea despre Gesher pentru moment, sperand ca ajung in timp acasa sa imi fac bagajul si sa fuuuug la gara unde ma vad cu grupul de…MACHOL! Si chiar daca ma simt obosita ca DUPA o saptamana de machol, the best is yet to come! Si de abia astept sa cad franta de oboseala pe la vreo 3-4 noaptea dupa dansuri non stop. Bafta echipei de mandri flacai romani care merg la campionatul de fotbal in acelasi timp si va mai povestesc de acolo….poate…:)

it's all about opportunities...

...and about whether you accept them or not. And about whether you notice them. And about whether you seize them or not. In all aspects of life. It's good to know you have opportunities. But how do you recognise them? That's the toughest part. And then, when you have opportunities, what choices do you make? Do you follow your heart? Do you follow your brain? Do you go where the legs carry you? Which part of the body do you listen to? And how objective can you be when it involves you? And how do you know not to run in two many directions and in the end to be left in the middle, in a big pond? This is why you have friends, and they are able to give you the outsider view, the objective knock on your head and say "i think you should do like that..." And then, what if they're wrong in their wish to make good?

I know it's kind of clichee, but have you ever wondered what would it have happened if once, when you had to make a big decision, you'd have chosen a different thing? The bad part is that we'll never know. And this is what is so scary. Never in your life you'll be twice in the same position to be able to chose between the same things.

Anyway, it's good to have opportunities and it's good to know you need (and you can) make the choice. But what if the choice is not only yours to take? What if it involves other people? How do you know what those people will choose? And how do you know whether you're on the same track as them?

Ok, too many questions for a day. I need to refresh my mind having some salsa reharsals. I hope i'll find the answers...or they'll find me. Did you find them?

se cheama ca sunt logica...

...pentru ca in sfarsit am terminat www.proveyourlogic.com la care, dupa cum va spuneam la un moment dat, ma chinuiam tare mult. am dat sfoara in tara, am pus pe jar alti cativa "muncitori cu calculatorul" care si-au mancat si ei in perioada pauzelor de masa nervii in loc de carnaciori, si mai cu tras mai cu impins, i-am dat de cap. Si imi pare tare bine ca nu l-am lasat balta. Unele intrebari se pare ca au mai multe raspunsuri acceptate (as vrea sa ii vad codul micutului programel) iar altele, dimpotriva, chiar daca problema are mai multe raspunsuri, nu stiu pe ce baza se accepta doar unul pe care il vrea el. La una din intrebari (aia cu scrisoarea, pentru cei care vor avea curiozitatea sa inceapa jocul- atentie- e addictive si are efectul de a scoate cativa peri albi!) munca in comun a dat rezultate si cu atat mai placut a fost succesul.
Daca mi-ar putea folosi logica asta si la chestiile legate de corazon...da sa nu cobim, azi am avut o zi minunata, chiar de la inceput. ;)

A dog for sure he's not...

...if, when he's laying down he looks like a lion (in miniature), he licks people's hands like a cat, coughs like a donkey (poor him, bad cough), barks like a woodpecker (from here the name), when he hears the words "wanna go OUT?" jumps like a goat, sings as a wolf in a full moon night (you can see him in the video), sits in 2 paws like a meerkat (suricata in Romanian), stubborn like a mule(or like a man, it's all the same), considers himself a Rotweiller, tricky like a fox, blind like an old men, greets you when you come home like a child, and when you cry gives you the "i am here for you" look that only the best friends do. So what is he? He's Woody and i'm so happy I have him, even if he wakes me up in the morning to take him out, even if he missed the class with "you should never bite the hand that is feeding you", even if I think the neighbors have a right to want to kick us out from the building because of his barking. He is part of my life for the last 12 years, was born in our house and is (unfortunately) the alpha male in the family.
I now present you: Woooodddyyy in his duet with my humble person! And even though you might think he does this because he hates my singing...you...might be right! Let's see who recognizes the song.

the day of the song

I promised i'll write some posts in English as well. This is one of them.

Today i felt all kind of ways. I felt shining, i felt tired, i felt content and i felt puzzled. I felt everything will get set by itself, i felt calm and I felt i'm starting to put order. In my life, cause my desk is messier than ever. Or as always, cause always is messier and messier:). I felt (over)confident in what's it gonna be, I felt again that i love to dance, I felt dissapointed that it is not as it used to be, i felt lazy but then happy i overcame this laziness.
But what does all this have to do with the "day of the song" (and yes, on purpose it is upside down instead of "Song of the day")? Nothing. Just that the song is full of love and i love the message it sends (i recommend that you'll check the lyrics, otherwise it doesn't have too much meaning) and someone might think that if i chose this song i'm either very much in love or very sad and desperate(cause the song gives you a hope). And i'm not any of them.
This day, it's Shlomi Shabat's turn. Far from the other 2 Israelis which are definetly stars and values, Shlomi Shabat is famous, has a lot of fans, but sings a much more Mizrachi (close to the Romanian "manele") style. I'm wondering how many readers did i just lost by writing this sentence. Do listen to the song and let it get to you. I think the lyrics are really beautiful and have nothing to do with the usual lyrics of a "manea".

You can (and are invited to) check
http://www.hebrewsongs.com/?song=lecholechadyesh

ce usurare simti...

...cand nu mai simti...
Vi s-a intamplat si voua sunt sigura. Cand stai langa o persoana care ai fi vrut sa iti fie acel "cineva" din viata ta, si nu s-a intamplat, si astepti sa nu te mai doara si sa nu mai vrei si sa nu te mai gandesti. Si iti dai seama ca nu mai simti, ca esti impacata cu tine si cu ea, ca ti-e bine, ca poti sa o asculti (pe persoana respectiva) fara sa ii sorbesti cuvintele, si fara sa speri sa nu treaca timpul prea repede. Nu numai asta, ci aproape te plictiseste si nu mai esti asa de disponibil sa treci peste oboseala si peste faptul ca vrei sa dormi. Asa o usurare si o mandrie de genul "Kol Hakavod, ai trecut si peste asta" simti. Si atunci ti-e mult mai usor sa ii vorbesti, ai mai multa incredere in tine, nu te mai intereseaza ce gandeste despre tine pentru ca tu stii ca esti "over him".
Din pacate, pana la acest moment de usurare, trece un timp foarte delicat, direct proportional cu imaginea pe care ti-ai construit-o tu in cap asupra viitoarei relatii (dar care nu are nici o legatura cu realitatea). Timp in care incerci sa te convingi ca el de fapt vrea mult ca voi sa fiti impreuna dar tu ai inteles gresit cand el a spus: "better let's stay friends", ca poate este timid si tu ar trebui sa incerci mai mult (dar cat??), ca poate i s-a stricat/furat/pierdut telefonul si de aia nu te suna dar de fapt numai la tine se gandeste. CIU CIU! si nu numai ciuciu, chiar si PENCIU! Nimic mai eronat. dar nu ai ce face...trebuie sa stai sa astepti sa treaca timpul asta. Mintea nu are ureche pentru "Nu te mai gandi la el", si inima nu inceteaza sa bata mai repede cand ti se pare ca ai auzit soneria personalizata. In cot le doare pe amandoua ca eu vreau sa imi treaca. Noroc cu prietenul meu, timpul...el chiar le rezolva pe toate, intr-un mod sau altul. Si inca ceva: it's all for the best! You don't know what you lost, as for me...la vie est devant moi!
Deci da! Ce usurare simti cand nu mai simti!:)

LATER EDIT: Cred ca fiecare o sa se intrebe la cine exact ma refer. Serios ca nu conteaza. Este o chestiune universal valabila. Din pacate...sau nu.

Vine, vine primavara...

...si maine e Martisorul! Intotdeauna mi-a placut mult aceasta traditie si am purtat martisor. Tin minte ce nebunie era la scoala si cum se facea coada la fiecare profa sa dai martisor si sa primesti pupici. Si cum simteai ca e 1 Martie. Mai tin minte si acum, cred ca eram in clasa a 6-a cand am primit flori si martisoare de la 3 baieti speciali (care, la momentul respectiv se bateau care sa ma impresioneze mai tare inainte sa ma decid eu cui sa-i dau prietenia). Stati linistiti, asta s-a intamplat doar intr-un an, nu ma laud prea mult, dar recunosc ca m-a facut sa ma simt taaare bine. Apropo...ce-o fi cu ei acum? Virgil stiu ca planuia sa se insoare anul asta, dar Ionut si Laurentiu?
Back to martisoare. mie nu mi-a prea placut sa dau niciodata martisoare fetelor. asa cum nu imi place sa dansez cu fetele, pe perechi, daca e un dans gen blues. Mai bine stau pe margine. Deci nu imi place sa dau martisoare eu prefer sa dau fetelor flori. incerc sa fie ghiocei si sa urez "primavar frumoasa". Si consider ca martisorul asta este o "obligatie" a baiatului si ca orice baiat ar trebui sa le respecte si pretuiasca pe fetele/femeile din jurul lui incat sa le dea chiar si cel mai mic martisor, chiar si numai snurul alb rosu, semn ca s-a gandit si preocupat. A, si cu cat e mai original si facut de manutele proprii, cu atat mai special si mai pretios. Si nu imi plac deloc martisoarele pe care nu le poti pune in piept. Atunci care mai e schepsisul? Mie imi place sa imi pun in piept (tot ca semn de apreciere al gestului) toate martisoarele primite in anul respectiv. de aia cateodata ajung sa arat ca un pom de martisor:) dar toate cadourile facute de martisor, pline de fitze (gen "hai sa-ti ia baiatu un Ipod, cadou de martisor, pentru ca POATE") ma enerveaza.
Dar am observat ceva: incetul cu incetul baietii (si asta am vazut inaintand in anii de scoala) intai au ajuns sa dea martisoare din obligatie, venind cu punga plina si spunand:"hai alege-ti unul, oricare, numai ia, ca m-a trimis mama" sau intr-un final, prin facultate, ne mai dand deloc. Si ca sa nu se simta prost, nici nu mai veneau in ziua respectiva la scoala. mi se parea tare lame. dar nici fetele nu le mai purtau in piept si se uitau cam ciudat la mine ca eu le port intre 1 si 8 martie.
Anul asta nici nu am mai vazut asa multi vanzatori de martisoare(intr-adevar, la orele la care plec eu de la JCC sigur nu mai e nimeni pe strada) si martisoarele pe care le-am vazut sunt foarte kitsch-oase si tare greu mai gasesti ceva dragut.
Pe de alta parte mi-a placut si traditia bulgarilor (Martinica, citit Martinitza cred) si acolo tot un snur alb rosu, dar si baietii primesc de la fete si le si poarta, ca bratari. E, poate anul asta o sa dau si eu martisor, chiar daca cu intarziere;)

Concluzia? Sper sa vad anul asta pe cati mai multi baieti dand martisoare cat mai mici si mai de bun gust si pe cat mai multe fete purtandu-le. Eu cu siguranta o sa port!

Primavara frumoasa! (mai ales pentru mama si Sori pentru ca este unul din primele 1 Martie in care nu sunt cu nici una din ele. Dar lasa ca are tata grija!:) )