14 October 2013

Relocation Permutation I




Having my best friend around is nothing short of awesome (and it's not just because of my place being constantly clean, having a steady supply of food in the fridge, or even because I can now ask her to buy me cigarettes whenever she goes grocery shopping). However, there are some limitations to having two girls live in a small studio for an undefined period of time.

1. Lack of space
Girls will be girls, and even the largest amount of willpower will not prevent us from getting that cute wall decoration or carrying our favorite blankets around with us when we move, be it to a different street, city, or even country. So, as you can imagine, a 20 square meter apartment can get pretty cluttered with all the random, partially useless, but very cute stuff we like keeping around.


2. Lack of privacy
As if the above-mentioned issue wasn't enough, my (soon-to-be former) studio has a massive disadvantage: there is no proper door to the shower. Now, if this were an adult movie, it would be the perfect setting to a perfect script. But this is reality and neither of us has any sort of desire to have her back washed by the other. In fact, anything short of a 4 meter distance (roughly the distance between the shower and balcony) is too close for comfort as far as we're concerned. And, to top things off, Rotterdam in fall is not the best place to take long breaks on ones (uncovered) balcony.






3. Lack of human decency
The issues listed so far are caprices as best when faced with this one undeniable and unsurpassable problem: Some landlords can really be jerks.
It's not that I mind not having seen my landlord more than two times throughout the 6 months that I've lived here. Heck, I love that actually. It's that he decided to drop by and actually get involved in my business when I have less than a month left on the lease (in hindsight it was predictable that this would happen, but hey! Faith in human nature and all that). And not only did he get into my business, he also got into Immah's, more exactly he kicked her out with only two days of notice and with threatening to keep all of the deposit money I gave him.
That's ok, Mr. Landlord. I'll take very good care of the place till the end of the month *evil laughter*.



As you can probably imagine, this combination of factors lead to the unanimous decision of finding a new place, preferably one that has a door to the shower and allows us to move around without having to become proficient in ballet steps. Thus Immah and I began our epic adventure, also known as "View ALL the apartments!"



But that is another adventure with another series of mishaps, which you can read all about in our next post. Stay tuned! 

7 October 2013

Rocking Rotterdam

It’s been a while and for that we’re sorry. It has, however, been a pretty eventful year for us, with Immah returning to the Netherlands and me… well pretty much doing the same things I was doing one year ago.
Our break was not entirely unfruitful though, as we can now proudly announce the winner of our Facebook competition. Our hundredth like came from… *drum roll*


Now back to the bigger news: Immah and I are officially roommates! Currently crammed in a crappy studio (now try saying that three times faster), we are now facing Rotterdam together. Or, better said, Rotterdam should consider trying to keep up with us now!


Speaking of our winner and very dear friend, he’s been nothing short of a blessing to us throughout these past few weeks.


All jokes aside, we do not exploit our friends and Simon’s services have been paid in energy drinks, cookies, and healthy(ish) food. Not to mention our undying gratitude, which can further be converted to hugs.

Speaking of food, as any good immigrants, Immah and I try bringing a bit of our home country with us everywhere we go and are very eager to shove it down other people’s throats (sometimes literally). As a “Welcome to Rotterdam,” we decided to throw a small dinner get-together for some friends, nothing too complicated or too fancy, just some traditional food from our country. Of course, both of us being Romanian, we managed to cook enough food for a small army, which was then used to feed the impressive amount of… 5 people.



Aside from the friends that I’ve managed to make throughout the past few years, Rotterdam in itself is a lovely city and I’m ecstatic about sharing it with my best friend. It’s a city filled with fun, interesting people, lively places to hang out, and amusing combinations of the two former elements. Take our latest adventure, for example: An average night at a bar, spending time with some friends and making attempts at socializing, when the hunter instinct kicks in for a fellow bar-goer. Why not walk up to the afore-mentioned girls and start some small-talk? I mean, what could go wrong?


In all fairness, you can’t blame a guy for trying, particularly when dealing with two girls sitting alone at a bar. What is more difficult to understand is the tendency of guys to travel in packs, with the alpha hitting on one or more ladies while his posy lurks behind him, cheering from the shadows. I’m not entirely familiar with how the gentleman-code works, but I’m pretty certain that watching your friend get a girl to go home with him won’t help keep your bed warm at night (with some obvious exceptions that I don’t feel the need to explain here).


Long story short, a warm and cozy welcome back to the Netherlands to Immah. As for you, Rotterdam… Prepare for trouble, and make it double.

25 March 2013

Tales from Bavaria

We might have mentioned a couple of times in the last articles that I've been spending my last 6 months doing an internship in Munich. All went well and now that I'm leaving I decided to share a bit of my experience here.

Living in Bavaria is clearly a character building experience. Bavaria is known even throughout Germany for its exclusivist nature. All the traditions are kept so stringently and the culture of the place is so well protected that most of the time all the facts that foreigners know about Germany comes from Bavaria. And if you would already expect to feel like an alien coming from the outside, if you don`t even have the common sense to learn German beforehand, you`re going to start living life on hardcore. However, despite all, I managed to have some fun here and I speak it like it is an accomplishment because it is. (It`s funny cause it`s true). So to keep it as less tl;dr as possible I've made some visuals about things that "moved" me.


















This is something anyone tends to notice at the beginning. Simply walking on the street and watching the people they all look like they had the worst day. Germans why so frowny all the time? But on the other side of expressions, I really like the German characters. They`re so nice and cute

No I will not understand what`s with the sparkling drinks here. Especially apple juice. Why ruin a nice glass of apple juice by putting sparkling water in it? WHY?!


















The weather in Munich is the most annoying weather I had to live in. And I lived 10 months in the Netherlands. That should say it all.
 
This country makes home for more types of sausages that I'm in the mood to draw right now. And yes we did all the jokes that were to be done about this subject. So I've chosen to draw the most traditional one, the Weisswurst. I still have mixed feelings about this one but you know what they say, like it or not you can suck it.





























































Oktoberfest is pretty cool I have to admit. It`s horribly expensive but definitely something you have to try once in your life :D It`s a nice atmosphere, drunk people are always funny (if you are remotely drunk too), the beer is everywhere, the girls are pretty. I would even go so far to compare it with the carnival in North Brabant  (I expect I`ll be kicked out of both countries asap) I know it`s a different thing with different purpose but there was there was something that made me put them together.



If there`s something that helped me feel nicer here it`s listening to the local music. Not only to learn a few more words in German but simply to discover that they actually rock :D
If you`re curious to listen to some of my favourite German songs listen to this playlist

















If you`re a vegetarian in Bavaria, clearly you`re gonna have a bad time. And even if I'm a proud meat eater I'm still not that fond of the traditional meals (weeeelll except for spatzle, kartoffelsalad, nuddlsalad, dammit I`m a hypocrite). However when it comes to sweets, I have a different stand. Marmor Kuchen, Stollen, Apple strudel, Kaiserschmarrn; that`s just some of the home made delicious cakes and I`m not even mentioning the great candy that comes through export from here. 

















Oh internet. Yes, as you know it half of the internet is banned here and people rarely speak meme which saddens me the most (that`s why they make fun of Germans on 9gag because none of them are actually there ). Not to mention how hard was for me to get a proper connection at my place. I think the lack of internet and internet geeks here stood as a very strong point in the "Why I don`t wanna live in Munich" list.

If there`s anything I particularly like at Bavarians, and Germans everywhere it`s their pride for their culture and country. It`s something I admire and somehow envy that I can`t share the same feeling for my country. As a matter of fact I've never met one Romanian to be so proud and respectful towards his own culture (no, Eminescu, not even you, not even once) and by that I don`t mean pissing off some Hungarians with a idiotic rebellious gesture, I mean a really meaningful relationship with one`s cultural roots. Most of the time I'm asked if I would ever come back to live here again. I wouldn't say no. In the end it`s a decent place to live and if you`re with the right people, any place will feel like home. I did enjoy the Netherlands more, though, and I still stand by my dream to go back there as soon as possible. (I`ll leave the comparison of cultures for another time ) Somehow I feel Germany has just begun trolling me.Even though there were many times I wished to leave Munich as soon as possible, I have to admit I will definitely miss some people (te quierooooo Eli!!!!!)  and I guess that`s the biggest disadvantage to go from place to place, the more you stay the more your roots attach to the ground until it`s too late to leave. And this is one of my fears: getting tied up to a place that does `t suit me. And if there`s one thing I learned in Bavaria it`s: Less complaining, more acting. That beer ain't gonna drink itself.  



7 March 2013

Live


Take a risk. Change something.

That little Italian place you've been passing by each day on your way to work? Take 5 minutes to walk in and have some gelato there. That cute girl in class that you keep wanting to approach, but never seem to find the chance to? Just walk up to her and ask her out for a cup of coffee. The relative you want to patch things up with when you have some time? Make time, call them, before the break gets too big to fix.

Things won't happen on their own, you have to make them change. Take a chance, do something.

Don't settle for 9 to 5. Don't settle for "we get along well enough." Don't lie to yourself saying "I'll do it when I have the chance." Don't settle. Strive for better, for your dreams, for happiness. You might never reach your goal, but trying to get there will make you feel alive. It will make you feel like you matter.

It's not about where you'll end up; we all end up in the same place. It's about what you do until you get there. It's about how many times you smiled and made other people laugh. It's about the places you saw and the things you experienced. It's about that one time you took your shoes off and danced barefoot in the rain. It's about that stranger you kissed on the train without ever seeing them again.



Be stupid. Be crazy. Be alive. Be anything you want, as long as it makes you happy. You only get one chance at life, don't spend it waiting for life to just happen.

15 February 2013

Anti-Valentine's day manifesto


I hate Valentine’s’ Day.

There, I said it. And no, I’m not single, so it’s not just bitterness towards all the happy couples that are snuggling to the sound of cute love songs while surrounded by rose petals and candlelight.

Before you judge me, take a breath and hear me out. I am a big fan of romance; I do believe in true love; I love pampering and being pampered by my loved one. So why the hate towards a holiday that celebrates love? It’s forced and fake. Fake. Fake. FAKE!!!



I never managed to understand the point of a holiday that forces you to buy candy, teddy bears, and flowers, present them to your significant other and expect the same in return. Aside from all the shopping-caused stress, there’s also the “you’re dead if you didn’t get me anything” factor. Yeah, way to go humanity! Let’s force our partners into buying us gifts, not because we deserve it or they want to make us feel special, but because they have to, else they’re killjoys, cynics, or inconsiderate.

Then there’s the obligatory dinner and/or movie, the bubble bath, the fancy wine. “But, Vivid Illusion, all of those are very nice and romantic things to do for someone you love.” Yes, reader, you are very right. IF YOU DO THEM BECAUSE YOU WANT TO. There’s nothing romantic about having to book a restaurant table weeks in advance, or rushing to be the first one to grab a day off from their boss so they can try their hardest to make everything perfect. It’s like the whole Christmas [link towards Christmas post here] disaster all over again: even if you had anything to be happy about on this day, you might be too exhausted from trying to make it perfect to actually enjoy it.



But what kills me most of all about Valentine’s Day is the principle of celebrating love. On a particular day. The same day that everyone else does it. Love isn’t something that should be commercialized like this. Love is the reason we’re alive (well, most of us, but I don’t think it’s safe going too much intro that). If mommy and daddy didn’t love each other, most of the people reading this blog wouldn’t be here. Love is what keeps us alive, when our moms hold us in their arms and simply know that they would give their own lives to keep us safe. Love is what makes us work harder, when our significant other is unwell and we know we can provide for them. Love is something special, that we should surround ourselves in, every single day, not something we should celebrate on an arbitrary date (yes, not arbitrary, I know. Just forcing a point). The love between you and your partner is not the same with the love between that couple holding hands on the street. It’s completely different from the love between that girl that’s crying on the phone in a café and her boyfriend that’s miles away on a business trip. No two love stories will ever be identical, same as no two couples will love in the same way. Then why take something so intimate and demean it by turning it into a product? How does anyone dare measure their love by how big the heart balloon they gave to their partner is?



You want to celebrate love and happiness? Do you really want to make your significant other feel happy and cherished? Then feel free to celebrate Valentine’s Day however you see fit; but remember to show your love every day besides that. Buy them that occasional box of chocolates, take the time to hold their hand and take a walk through the park. Make silly, funny, cute gestures every chance you get, and tell them that you love them as often as you feel the need to. Because that’s what love is: beauty, warmth, happiness.


At the request of Immah, I'm also going to point out another brilliant aspect of Valentine's Day and of "proofs of love" in general. What is up with all the candy, balloons and stuffed animals?! Aside from the obvious ridiculed of the celebration itself, the choice of gifts is just flabbergasting. You stuff your loved one full of chocolate (look at the bright side: you might get them fat enough and they might not leave you because they'll be insecure); you give them stuffed animals that, in all likelihood, will just end up pilling up dust on some forgotten shelf somewhere; you give them balloons which, like your commercially-induced euphoria, will deflate after a couple of days; if you're really serious about things, you might even get them jewelry, because your love might not be forever, but diamonds are.



 All in all, I have to amend my previous statement: Valentine's Day is not sufficiently stupid on its own; Valentine's Day along with the overrated "symbols of love" you can find at any cornershop, however, make the image complete.

3 February 2013

Home is where... where the... Where is Home?


Once again I offer my sincere apologies for being completely incapable of maintaining any schedule, be it self-imposed or enforced by others. In other words: I'm being lazy again.

Despite my talent to procrastinate, it isn't entirely my fault this time around. You see, after the whole Holiday mess that was so eloquently described in our previous post, we eventually had to make our way back to our daily lives in freezing, windy Holland and snow-filled Germany.

Speaking of which, some belated congratulations are in order for Immah, who has successfully breached yet another border and infiltrated the German ranks for roughly 6 months while she's doing her internship there. Maybe a post would be in order from her part, so she can share the Bavarian experience with the rest of us mortals (which would also mean I can postpone writing a post myself).

Back to the point, it's always weird going from home to… well… home. Yeah, I said it. It's not a matter of cultural identity, national pride or anything of the sorts. For most healthy beings, home is where you're comfortable, where you're happy and where you sleep at least 4 nights a week; therefore, it can get a bit confusing when you have a home in Romania, a country whose beauty is overshadowed by some of its less-evolved inhabitants, and another home in the Netherlands (or Germany, for some) where the streets are clean and the stray dogs absent (although there is a slight possibility that both situations are caused by the horrible wind that can probably kill even cockroaches).
  

Jokes aside, I often find myself torn between my birth and adoptive country. They've both been nice, caring, and giving to me. And they've both had many an opportunity to screw me over. But then again, there is one incredibly essential difference between Romania and the Netherlands that has to be pointed out.

The people.

While I can't say I've met every person in either country personally, I can sum up my experience with Romanians and Dutch as follows: hot and cold.

Event that actually took place: after he was struggling with a store door for who knows how long, this poor man received a moment's help from Vivid, which caused him to promptly burst into tears while riding away on his bike. Only in Romania.

Romanians, despite being a part of the former Soviet Union, still track their heritage back to Ancient Romans. And we're so damn proud of it as well. We boast with our Latin blood, using it as an excuse for mostly any outburst. Yes, we are a passionate people. We love, we hate, we rebel, we fight, we drink, we kill, we swear, we cry. And we do all of it with passion. Unfortunately, we're also misguided, conceited, and sometimes ignorant. At our best we are caring, sympathetic, and generous. At our worst we're uncivilized, deceitful, and petty. With the clear distinction that the latter stand out a lot more (not because of numbers, simply because pain, filth and destruction are more easy to notice than an act of kindness).

And then, there is the Dutch people that are simply… cold. They are extremely polite and helpful, but will never go out of their way to do something for you. They will wave or smile back, but just because it's polite to reciprocate. As a whole, they are very well-mannered, just overall decent people. But you'll have a hard time actually gaining their friendship, trust or glimpses of who they actually are. Of course, there is a high possibility that I perceive them as such because I am, after all, a foreigner to them, but it seems more likely that it's simply how they decided to build their society. It's “live and let live”, with a touch of social responsibility. Don't get me wrong, once you manage to penetrate that polite barrier of theirs, they can be pretty amazing people (which applies to most of the Dutch people I've actually befriended), same way I'm convinced some of them are complete scumbags. But it's so frustrating that you never know until it's too late.

Excuse the part about the Germans, Immah has her own humouristic way of seeing the world she lives in. I'm sure she's just teasing.


You learn to love both of them (sorry, German people, I lack exposure here). The same way I'm certain I could learn to love Spanish, Croatian or Norwegian culture. But the weird part is trying to adapt to your new habitat, without losing track of who you are. That's why I said it's not a matter of national identity: all that matters is who YOU are. Just because you were born in a country, doesn't mean you belong to that country; it is entirely up to you where you end up and what you do there, just make sure you do it as YOURSELF.



2 January 2013

Holiday Cheer


After a very long and undeserved break from writing, along with ceaseless nagging from Immah and various other friends, I’ve finally gathered up the courage to come up with our new blog post, hoping that the next one will take a bit less to come up with.



It’s no coincidence that we’re posting so close to the winter holidays. We both had the great opportunity of going home to celebrate Christmas, and the overwhelming feeling of Christmas cheer provided plenty of inspiration for me to write this eulogy to Romanian holiday customs (I wish conveying sarcasm in writing was easier.)

I know that this blog should be mostly about our experiences abroad (which are now very broad and interesting. Damn, I really should write more often), but I feel that the world knows too little of how us, Romanians, celebrate Christmas and, more importantly, how we prepare for it. It begins with making a list, then checking it twice. The twist being that it doesn’t matter if you’re naughty or nice, you’re still in for a world of hurt. You see, everyone makes their preparation plans well before Christmas. No one actually starts doing the work until there’s three days or less left, meaning that you can kiss that sweet sleep goodbye until Christmas Eve.



First, there’s the cleaning. Aaah, the cleaning. Nothing helps you feel that Christmas cheer quite as much as having to vacuum, dust, mop, wipe and scrub every square inch in your house. Oh, it’s snowing outside? Maybe we should wash the windows as well! Do we have industrial amounts of food to cook? It might be a good idea to make sure the kitchen is spotless before that. You’re going to bring in a Christmas tree that leaves needles everywhere at the slightest touch? The floors better be immaculate then! All these, and many more, are logical, intelligent ways in which we prepare our homes for the arrival of Saint Nick.



Once the house has been thoroughly cleaned, you can merrily begin preparing the food. Let’s say you have a family of three and are expecting about 4-5 other people to visit you throughout the whole holiday season. Well then, we should probably cook around 10 different dishes in massive quantities, let’s say about 3kgs of each. Yeah, that sounds about right. But how can we cook all this food without any supplies? ONWARDS, TO THE STORE! Christmas shopping (for food, not presents) is such a lovely process; you take your list of groceries (nothing short of two pages will do), grab a shopping cart and start plowing your way through all the other happy shoppers that postponed doing everything till the very last moment. Fast-forward to four hours later when you’re done throwing half the store in your cart and you will find yourself halfway through waiting in line behind many of the afore-mentioned shoppers, among which there will be at least three that have forgotten to have their fruits weighed or have a few products that don’t have a barcode on them. Another eternity afterwards, you can finally make your way home with all the stuff for all the food that you’re planning to prepare for your family and friends.

Now, where were we? Ah yes, cooking so much food that restaurants seem like amateurs. The process is pretty straight-forward: you’ll find that you don’t have enough pots, pans and containers, every other hour you’ll realize that you forgot to buy something you urgently need, which will force you to make a run for the corner shop where there’s little and less to choose from, and by the end of the day you’ll find that the smell that’s impregnated in your skin is unlikely to leave you for the next few days. Just hope that you have enough perfume and body lotion to cover the smell of pickled cabbage and smoked meat (you probably don’t. nobody does.)





Okay, so you’re done cleaning, all the shopping is done and the food is nicely cooked (and decorated. You have no self-respect if you don’t spend at least an hour decorating all the dishes). But wait! You don’t have a Christmas tree yet! How could you possible enjoy all the hard work you’ve put in without having a tree that’s been cut down and thrown around in trucks? But worry not, my friend. That tree will look majestic in your living room, covered in all the decorations you’ve gathered throughout the years, and a few more that you’ve purchased in your recent shopping trip. It doesn’t matter that it’s going to start looking downright morbid after a couple of days when the branches start to bend under the weight of all the pretty shiny stuff, or that it’s going to leave a huge mess in your newly-cleaned house. You need a tree, and you need it natural.

Well, now you’ve got it all covered. Everything that needed doing is done. So what that you haven’t slept in three days and you’ll end up throwing out half of the food because it’s not going to be eaten? Who cares that your stress levels have never been higher? You have successfully prepared a very Romanian Christmas and you should feel very proud. In the meantime, I’ll have a nice hot chocolate, enjoy my foldable Christmas tree and exchange gifts with my friends.

Hope you had a Merry (stress-free) Christmas! 
Happy new year!