Tangerine's PoV

Who cares that the students have to go to the University the 26th of September? I guess nobody, as it’s been almost one month since I submitted my application for the Student Visa and it’s not here yet. So, here I am, trapped in Romania, classes will begin, and it’s not enough that I don’t understand Catalan and the classes are in Catalan, I have to lose one, maybe two weeks of classes and let’s see how I can retake it without knowing anyone there. I hope my visa will arrive soon as I’m not able to work, not able to study, I cannot do anything here. Maybe I’ll finish my Heroes quest, or maybe not.

So, here it goes, to the Embassy of Spain in Romania: If you need more people, get more people. We don’t have to suffer because you’re understaffed.

Yesterday at 3 o’clock in the afternoon, after taking a long walk with Alina looking for Hard Times, we arrived at the train station. I though it wouldn’t be crowded, so I chose to leave at 4 o’clock. I forgot why I swore I’d never go to Vaslui again with the train that leaves at 4. Later on, I remebered it but it was too late to go back.

It was a hot afternoon and this was an old train, with 8 seats compartments, very uncomfortable. I finished my cigarette and I entered the compartment. There I saw a middle-aged man, with thin lips and very small eyes, a boy with a FCB t-shirt and a 70 years old lady. I left my luggage and sat down waiting for the train to leave. The other persons arrived, a young girl, another middle-aged man and one man that didn’t get a seat and asked us if he could sit there. As soon as the train left the middle-aged man with those thin lips started to talk to me:

- So, do you live in Bucharest?

I was afraid of that, I don’t like people asking me questions when I don’t feel like answering.

- I used to. I said trying to make him stop asking me dumb questions. I don’t like telling my life to strangers.

- And where are you going?

- Vaslui.

- Ah, nice. I’m going to Iasi.

I was starting to lose patience. I never asked him where he was going, what he was doing there, etc.

- So do you live in Vaslui?

- No.

- So where do you live? And why do you go to Vaslui? Are you from Vaslui?

My answer was quite conclusive:

- Yes.

And then I started to ignore him, trying to get some sleep, as the night before, after a BitDefender night in Twice I only slept three hours. I feel asleep quite easily and he stopped the gibberish. It was really hot and the man next to me didn’t want to open the window so we were all sweating when the man decides to take out of his bag a sausage sandwich and eat it in the compartment. At that point my bile said “kill him!!!” and a migraine started to ruin my journey. I forced myself to fall asleep again and I woke up when I heared the man next to me shouting:

- I don’t have to travel uncomfortable just because you have put this luggage here. Take it out of the compartment.

- I don’t want to put it there, this is my seat and there was a luggage which is not mine and I want to sit. said the young boy that I guess that got on in Ploiesti.

- Who’s luggage is that? asked the man next to me.

A girl said that someone came saying that he didn’t get a sit and that he will leave the luggage there if there’s no problem.

- How stupid can you be to let someone leave the luggage without asking him who he is, where he comes from and where does he go? says the man next to me with a very upset voice.

- I don’t know. The small black luggage was here when I entered. I asked and you told me exactly what I told you know so I don’t know who’s the idiot here? said the girl, and we were all looking at each other trying hard not to laugh.

- How? .. HOW?.. Hmm.. How can you say that to me? Who’s luggage is that?

The man next to me was really nervous and he took the luggage and threw it on the corridor when lots of people were passing by and he hit a young man. He looked into the compartment and when he saw this man incredibly red and nervous he decided not to say a word. After a few minutes the small black luggage was again inside our compartment, in front of the old lady.

- Young man, can you please put this luggage up there? I’d put it but I’m old and I can’t do it.

The man put the luggage up there and sat down again. I could hear the man next to me saying quietly:

- Don’t put the luggage there.

But I guess nobody heard it. As the man realized that he was ignored he started to shout again.

- I cannot imagine how you all can be so stupid and allow someone to leave a luggage and just dissapear. You cannot understand that there is a bomb inside there. Yes, yes, one of those that can be activated remotely. And you just sit here and wait for your death.

- You’re exagerating! says the old lady next to him.

- Yeah, right. I’m exagerating. Let me exagerate and still be alive. You think that the world is what it was when you were virgin, it’s not like that anymore.

It was getting harder and harder not to laugh, especially when you looked at that in front of you that were also trying hard not to laugh. I went out to the corridor as I couldn’t stand anymore.

The man kept quiet but he was nervous and didn’t stop moving and his hands were shaking and sweating. He finally stood up, took the luggage, opened it and searched for the bomb. He got off the luggage all the clothes and all the stuff that was there in search for the bomb. When he realized that there was no bomb there he closed the bag and put it back.

He felt the need to explain things and started to say that nowadays nothing is safe, etc, etc, but he kept his aggressive voice so we were all pissed off with this guy.

Half an hour later, a boy with a pink shirt came and looked for the bag. It was not where he left it so he asked if his bag was still there:

- It’s here, young man, this man thought you left a bomb here and opened your luggage to search for it.

Of course the boy didn’t believe that and he just ignored it.

- Could I leave my luggage here please? I’m not going anywhere, I’ll sit here next to the door.

- Of course you can, young man, said the old lady.

- Why are you talking for all of us, did you ask if we all agreed with that? I recommend you not to leave your bag here. Just leave, we don’t want your bag here. said, of course, the man next to me.

- This is the man that thinks you have a bomb in your bag. said the old lady.

I saw an ironic smile on the pink-shirted man’s face.

- And you look like an Arab, so you’d better take you bag out of here.

That was the moment when we decided that we could’t stand anymore and we all started to laugh. The young man left his bag here and asked the rest of us nicely to not throw or open it as he had no bomb.

The man next to me didn’t say a word until we got to our destinations. Well, some words that were successfully ignored.

I wonder, what is going on in this world? I came home and I told my parents this story and we all laughed.

When the train got back from Iasi to Bucharest an 80 years old man was killed in the toilet. Apparently for no obvious reason as he had all the money in his pocket. Are these the reasons that make people lose their mind and exagerate everytime something unexpected happens?

Today I realized that as much as I tried I could not express my feelings sitting in front of this PC and hearing the sound of the keys being touched aggresively by my fingers. So I went out. I sit down on a bench which wasn’t here before. The ants tried desperately to enter the book I brought (Hard times, does it have anything to do?). This place is not as it used to be, nothing is the same. The river (I remember how we always waited for it to get frozen so that we could cross from one side to the other) was now covered with all sort of plants that wouldn’t let it flow. Maybe it does not have any new story to tell, maybe he just want to rest. I look at it with the same eyes that looked at it when I was 10. I remember how we always played hide-and-seek there and we used that place as hiding place, as a home, as a dream factory… I wonder, are there no kids here or are they all playing with the PC?

I see a man crossing the bridge. He is in a rush to get home. His hot food is waiting for him to arrive, just as it did years before, when there was no bridge here. Just a couple of pipes we were afraid to cross, but just because of that we crossed them at least once a day. I still have a scar on my knee. When I was 12 I fell from the pipes. My parents, together with other kids’ parents reported this to the town council so …. now we have a bridge. Well, what can I say? It’s not as funny as before. It turned to grey. No more “Let’s see how’s the first to arrive on the other side”, “Run, I’m right behind you”, no more laughs and no more tears when hearing “Come home! NOW! 3 days without TV”. We’re not here anymore.

Now the river just stands there and waits. Sometimes, when we come home it tries to uproot the plants and flow, just flow, but then it stops again, when the train we are in leaves… I guess it should hate the trains so much!
Then I went back, to my house. When I was going up the stairs I remembered that when we were 15 years old, we were 20 persons of similar ages in that block, and we were all friends. After we enjoyed burning the walls with candles, writing all kind of things on them we started to feel uncomfortable about it, we didn’t like seeing those walls all dirty everyday when coming home, so we decided to save some money to buy some paint and paint the walls ourselves. After a few months we decided to tell our parents, organize a meeting and ask for their permission. The boys painted the walls and we, the girls helped them.

I saw now that nobody painted that after our work 6 years ago. I wonder what the kids nowadays do. Only two of the girls that lived here before are still here, on holiday, of course. Most of them left to other countries or other cities looking for a better future. I wonder, are the kids that still leave here looking for a better future? And if so, where are they searching for it, I see green grass and no child enjoying it.

Visualize it HERE.

You know you’re one of us if:

- everything you eat tastes like onion and garlic;

- you try to recycle flowers and gifts wrapping and aluminium foil;

- in an airport, you sit next to the two biggest suitcases;

- you get to a party one or two hours late and you think that it is normal;

- your kids have nicknames very different from their real names;

- when you visit someone, before you leave you stay one hour in front of the door talking… when you get to your house you call back to say you have arrived well and spend one more hour on the phone;

- your parents never throw anything, and if you succeed in throwing something it misteriously appears where it was before in less than 24 hours;

- you have lacy curtains;

- you have at least one macramé tablecloth and a doily on top of your TV;

- you have carpets that cover every centimetre of your house;

- you have or had carpets on your walls;

- your mother tells you you’re thin even if you have 110 kilos;

- you have blinds for at least one door;

- your mother recycles plastic glasses, cardboard plates and sandwich bags by washing them;

- you’ve got vinyl tablecloth in your kitchen;

- you use the shopping bags as rubbish bags;

- your parents use animal diminutives to call you when they are angry;

- you cannot leave on a trip unless at least 5 persons accompany you to the train, bus, airport, etc.

- your parents call you to ask you if you’ve eaten even if it’s midnight;

- you parents aren’t up-to-date with the latest technology advances so when they call abroad they shout;

- your son wears a cap and three sweaters in September even if the temperature is of 25 degrees;

- you wear a coat from September to May;

- if you see someone wearing short trousers in December you say he’s crazy even if the temperature is of 25 degrees;

- when your relatives from the coutryside visit you, you keep and eye on the TV (or cylinder);

- you think that if you drink milk and eat fruits (especially plums) you get to the toilet faster;

- you think that “urda”, “mamaliga” and “parizer” are international dishes;

- when you have guests from other countries you enjoy giving them “tuica” and when they finish the glass you give them more;

- when you have guests and you ask them if they want to drink something and they say NO you understand YES.

Funny but not completely true.

Source: Povestiri Haioase

Well, today I’ve decided to open my Digui Digui book (thank you, Raul) and start studying. It seems that I will not learn Catalan without the book, I understand it quite well but all that I could say until now was: “This train’s route ends in this station”, and I can only say it, I don’t know how to write it. I’ve also expected some miracles, like moving Pompeu Fabra’s headquarter to Madrid (what would the “castellanizado” name be? Pompedo Fabra?) and force everyone to speak Spanish at the University, or finishing my “catalan forgetting” chip and implant it in the teachers’ neck… but it seems it’s not possible. I have to learn Catalan .

So I have started today, and I hope tomorrow I will read this post and I will continue with it. Up to now I know the numbers, and to say who I am and I’m sorry and all this crap. I hope I will be able to visualize it as this is what I need for the University. Wish me luck!

A while ago I have found the book in a library. I wanted to read it as I have read some other book written by Delibes and I always enjoy his writings. This is his last book and the most extensive. The main character is Ciprian Salcedo and the plot is build around his life: from his birth (the same year Luther’s Church was formed) until his tragic death. It’s a great novel, very human, that through Cipriano tells us the historic truths of that period, the proceedings of the Inquisition, the secret meetings of the Protestants and their conversations.

Cipriano always tried to fill empty spaces in his life: when he was born his mother died and his father thought he was guilty for her death and for this reason he never showed any proof of love to his son. Because of this Cipriano put all his life and love in hands of his nurse, Minervina. When he lost Minervina and realized that all his attempts to find her were useless he was empty again, and as his wife, Teodomira, couldn’t fill his emptiness he joined the group of Protestants from Valladolid trying to find what he was looking for. The novel describes a Valladolid reluctant to all that was new or changed, where all that was different from the beliefs of that time was rejected and punished.

The end of the novel is sad, describing the tortures of a merciless Inquisition that killed in the name of God and Love. Cipriano’s death is similar to a religious death. Thanks to his uncle Ignacio, Minervina, the most important person in Cipriano’s life, could accompany him on the way to his death, which reminds us of Maria Magdalena and Jesus.

In spite of some thick passages the book is a great historical novel and at the same time the history of a life. A very recommended book.

It seems our colleagues from Germany like to kill viruses singing and dancing. It is a more entertaining way indeed.

Watch it here: BitDefender – Here We Go

Enjoy!

My hair is short!