We have time

Today I’ve been put to the wall by Octavian Paler’s death. He was a Romanian poet, writer, well-known journalist and editorialist, a spectator of the political and cultural phenomena, but nevertheless… in my own words… not only a believer, but also the reality-maker.

Listening to his thoughts and comparison on every talk-show was so moving, due to his strong arguments that sometimes all the time it made you think and analyse more and more.

Little is left to be said now, but even more should be sad. Like him, there have to be more. It simply has to!

We have time
poem by Octavian Paler

We have time for everything.
To sleep, to run around
to regret that we’ve done wrong and to do wrong again
to judge others and to forgive ourselves
we have time to read and to write
to correct what we have written and regret what we have written
we have time to do projects and not to stick to them
we have time to cherrish illusions and search their ashes later.

We have time for ambitions and diseases
to blame destiny and details
we have time to watch the clouds, the ads or whatever accident
we have time to chase the questions away
to postpone answers
we have time to break a dream and reinvent it
we have time to make friends, to lose them
we have time to take lessons and to forget them afterwards
we have time to receive gifts and not understand them.
We have time for it all.

There is not time but for a little tenderness.
When we do this as well, we die.

I have learned that some things in this life that I’m sharing with you !!
I have learned that you cannot make somebody to love you.
All you can do is to be a loved person.
The rest… depends on the others.
I have learned that no matter how much I care
others might not care at all.
I have learned that it takes years to win the trust and only a few seconds to lose it.
I have learned that it doesn’t matter WHAT you have in life
but WHO you have.
I have learned that you get by and that the charm is worth for 15 minutes
afterwards, however, it would be better to really know something.
I have learned that you don’t have to compare yourself with what others can do better
but with what you can do.
I have learned that it doesn’t matter what happens to people
but what I can do to solve it.

I have learned that anyway you cut it
anything can have two sides.

I have learned that you have to say goodbye from the dear ones with warm words.
It might be the last time you see them.

I have learned that you can go on for a long time
after you said that you can’t do it any longer.

I have learned that heroes are those that do what it is needed, when it is needed
no matter the consequences.

I have learned that there are people who love you
but do not know how to show it.

I have learned that when I’m upset I have the RIGHT to be upset
but not the right to be mean as well.

I have learned that true friendship continues to exists even when you are far away
and this is true even for true love.
I have learned that, if somebody doesn’t love you the way you want
it doesn’t mean that you’re not being loved from the bottom of the heart.
I have learned that no matter how good a friend is to you
he will hurt you from time to time anyhow
and you have to forgive him for that.

I have learned that not always it is enough to be forgiven by others.
Sometimes you have to learn to forgive yourself.
I have learned that no matter how much you suffer
the world will not stand still for your pain.

I have learned that the past and the circumstances could influence your personality
yet YOU are responsible for what you become.
I have learned that, if two people are fighting, it doesn’t mean that they don’t love each other
and also if they don’t fight, it doesn’t prove that they love each other.
I have learned that sometimes you have to put the person itself on the first place
and not the actions.

I have learned that two people can look at the same thing
and can see something totally different.
I have learned that no matter the consequences
those who are honest with themselves get farther in life.

I have learned that your life can be changed in a matter of hours
by people that don’t even know you.

I have learned that even when you believe that there’s nothing left to give
when a friend calls for you, you will find the strength to help him.

I have learned that writing
as well as speaking
can comfort grief.

I have learned that people that you care about the most
are taken away to quickly…

I have learned that it is too hard for you to realize
where to draw the line between being kind, not hurting people and to speak up for your opinions.

I have learned to love
so that I can be loved.

Facts! (and not) my Facts! — Part One

I haven’t been blogging for a while, but I think I’ve gathered a lot of energy (and at the moment, a lot of headache), so I’m writing. What about? What else to write about?! 

About Nobody’s Land - Romania

But I won’t go on stating my view, but stating pure facts as well. Something that many journalists failed to do. But then again… the Romanian journalists weren’t even sure how many deputies voted for, how many against and how many were present upon the debate over the suspension of Traian Băsescu!

Though there’s a big ammount of excerpts in order to have a comprehensive picture, I suggest you read the full texts, by clicking on the links!

 

1. Băsescu - Reuters’ key facts [Full article]

* EARLY LIFE: [...]
– A rank-and-file communist party member, a must for any ocean-going captain in the 1980s during the rule of former dictator Nicolae Ceauşescu, Băsescu’s only claim to fame was praise from the party newspaper in 1985 for being a good sailor.

* BECOMING MAYOR:
– After communism collapsed in 1989, he became transport minister in a centrist government, spearheading the privatisation of Romania’s vast but rusting commercial fleet.
– In 2000 he won a landslide victory against the Social Democrat Party (PSD) candidate for Bucharest mayor, Foreign Minister Mircea Geoană, with a campaign whose symbol was the red pepper — a staple of Romanian cooking and a warning to his rivals that he stings.
– Famous for trying to rid the capital of hordes of stray dogs, he dismissed angry reactions from Western animals rights activists. “I am elected by the people of Bucharest, not the dogs,” he told Reuters at the time.

* BĂSESCU AS PRESIDENT:
– Băsescu was declared winner of the 2004 presidential election runoff, snatching victory from the favourite, former President Ion Iliescu’s hand-picked protege Prime Minister Adrian Năstase.
– In 2005 Băsescu started the process of opening of Securitate records when he ordered the secret services to transfer their files to the National Council for Studying Securitate Archives. Researchers of the country’s communist-era secret police cleared the president in October 2006 of accusations he collaborated with the feared Securitate.
[...]

Cosmic World!

 Excerpts (translated) from Rux - “you! out of your cosmic world!”:

The hell with this virtual identity. Everybody tries to connect to 1000 bullshit things, from the MSN that I’ve started to use too recently, since the foreigners haven’t heard of Yahoo (you cannot even make yourself invisible only to a few of your buddies!) to the newest “ting” called Facebox that fills in your inbox in the last few days.

Ok, people: Chill!!! I need to stay calm. Since when do we have to write on 2 (3,8,..2000) blogs instead of one?! Why would you chat on messenger with someone that you can take out for a beer? [...] Unbelievable how you can “talk” with someone for a full night and the next day you cannot even say “hi”.

[...]

So, a single blog is enough (there are exceptions that deserve the 16 blogs, no names…)! One messenger (please… without the Russian or the Polish one, people) cuz that’s why it also has Live support (n.r. Yahoo Messenger). Otherwise: get out, walk, and if you want that wanted identity, you know “do it like they do it on the discovery channel!”… verbally/face to face. Find your guts and talk (no, it is not the same thing as doing it on the mess, dudes) with the red-curly-head and believe me that the smell of her hair cannot be found in a emoticon/smiley [...] Be brave, minions!

Unbelievable! =)

Musical background: Urma - After all

Bukovina

Reference: Non-Corporate Finance Management

Today we asked Michał (Conflicts and International Negociations) what was Piotr talking about.

He was talking about Bukovina!

Mulţumesc

Concerning bright sides, let’s try to see the bright side of Romania!

I’m emailing this to all my teachers ;)

“Priveşte părţile pozitive”

* “Look on the bright side”

I was talking to a friend of mine from Romania today, while having a window between two courses.

I started to tell him that somehow I’m done seeing the worst in Łódź. We’ve been picking on the Polish people for everything. Somehow with a bit of truth in it, because I think that the bottom line is that Poland is marketing it’s country “too well”, at least in comparison with Romania.

Maybe in fact they are doing the normal thing, while it is us, the Romanians, who give little importance to the things we have to offer to the other nations!

But… I’m sick of F words, of asking Why, of saying Shitty.  Ja jestem chore strasznego!

I have calmed down my enthusiasm and I think I’m now ready to see things as they are!

Watch out, Poles! Here I come =)

ReDe: conciliation/fence - part 3

3. Economy

I will not go through this again, so here’s the previous post related to this. Unenployment in Poland and Romania.

There are plenty of things to add, but I guess the car in the photo does says a lot.

And this is not a rarity on the streets of Łódź. And this is happening while Romanians have a renewal programme of the car lot for the 3rd, 4th consecutive year to take out Oltcit or old Dacia cars?! It just doesn’t seem right, does it?

ReDe: conciliation/fence - part 2

2. Humor

I don’t think that we need to treat each other like weird people when it comes to humor.

Latin people have this silly way of making jokes. Very subtle some times, or maybe very straight forward. Most of the times it is harmless joking, until we are in an environment where there is non-Latin people. But most of the time =) we are not mean when we joke.

It is merely another way to joke. Coming to Poland can be a difficult thing regarding humor. Who knows if it’s the same when going to other countries?!… Hmm. Very tricky question? I wouldn’t say that.

Maybe it’s easier to go to Italy for us and joke. But it is certain that they have their joke stereotypes, we have ours and so on.

I’ve been talking quite a lot with Gosia, a Polish friend of mine. I would say that it took us a while, and some open-minds to come through the cultural barriers.

Like for instance, before coming here, I tried to learn some Polish. Some things like “Mogłaby mi pani pomoć?” or “Jak się masz?” were very funny to tell you the truth.

Mogłaby sounds more like an African word, while the second sentence is quite Chinese or something :)

ReDe: conciliation/fence - part 1

* Reconciliation / Defense

Boiling Point: Non-Corporate Finance Management & its comments

Sometimes we are like snowballs that turn into avalanches. We only need a slap to get into a full-contact match.

Sometimes it’s “nice/good” to give a slap just to get more dynamic to the situation (very dramatic, I know). I gave a slap, but here’s when I say stop.

First of all, I think we all came here to see a new country, its people and its culture. We didn’t come here to see a better country, better people, a better culture. It was in fact something we expected, but we expected this as a desire to be so, not by following the facts.

I’m sure that if things would have been the same as in Romania, then it wouldn’t be that fun or challenging =)

1. History

We, Romanians, have a nasty way of having high expectations so that afterwards we can look down on the others. How come? It’s just the way we were TAUGHT to think! Throughout 15 years (since the 1992 elections) we haven’t actually looked in our courtyard. All we deed was compare us with the Western Europeans. We are doing it now as well, with small exceptions.

Why I’m NOT taking Polish lessons

Cont. from Polish Course - Dlaczego do kurwy nędzy??

Context: before coming to Poland, I already had some Polish friends and started to chit-chat with them and learn something about Poles and learn some tiny Polish phrases. Let me not forget about pronunciation and Polish digraphs (Wikipedia on Digraphs).

Coming to a new culture for me is (COULD BE like) a rebirth. You tend to adapt to a new environment and that is like becoming a new self.

But why would I do it when there’s no immediate and visible will from Łódź’s inhabitants to reach you half-way?