Radio Was Priceless for Me in the Eighties

 

Many years ago, in the eighties, the radio played a significant part in my life because it represented the main way to find out what was happening in the world. The television and the press at that time were completely obedient to the ruling political party, and in fact the only one which existed in my country, the Communist Party, so for many people the only solution to get real news from the West was to try to listen to radio stations like Radio Free Europe or the Voice of America, which had programs in the Romanian language.

For me as a child, those radio stations represented a glimmer of hope in a bleak reality, and although the communist authorities did their best to prevent the radio waves from reaching the houses of Romanian citizens, they often failed in that respect. Almost every evening we used to listen to those radio stations from the world instead of watching the boring two-hour TV programs of the national television which glorified the communist regime and its unique ruler.

Those times are now history, and so are the radio days for me. Now, when access to information is no further than a click away, the classical radio has lost its significance for me. Of course, there are lots of stations I could listen to on the Internet, but the radio as a whole no longer has that extremely high value of being my window to the so-called free world. Nevertheless, I will always keep in mind its golden days and acknowledge the paramount importance it used to have for me.

Photo source: Pixabay

10 Years Ago- The Day I Quit Smoking

 

August 18th is a date which has a special significance for me: it marks the anniversary of 6 years since I quit smoking. Whenever my the mind takes me back to that summer day in 2010 I remember quite clearly the feeling of sheer determination to finally achieve what I had been contemplating for a couple of years, which is giving up that nasty habit. It was the day in which I finally grabbed the bull by the horns, said to myself "No More Smoking!" and stuck to my resolution, which is no small achievement in my opinion if we consider the fact that there are still many people who want to quit smoking, but still haven't got enough will to do it.

This small, but nevertheless important anniversary also represents a good opportunity for me to make a comparison between the smoking past and the non-smoking present and identify the ways in which the decision I took six years ago has influenced my life ever since. The more I think about it, the more I realize that it had nothing but positive consequences, so here are the key reasons for which my life has improved after kicking cigarettes out of it:

1. Health improvement

This is an aspect I noticed shortly after quitting and its signs were more than obvious: no more yellow fingers caused by nicotine consumption, no more coughing due to tobacco, breathing became easier and my stamina grew as well within a few weeks. I remember reading an article in a medical site which stated that if you manage to quit smoking while you're still young your life expectancy will be significantly longer than the one you had while you were a smoker. I did before the age of 35, so my chances of adding a few good years to my life expectancy are significantly higher.

2. Financial aspect

My decision to give up smoking was greatly influenced by the fact that at that time the price of cigarette packs was growing at a fast pace as the government regularly added new taxes on tobacco producers in an obvious attempt to make cigarettes less accessible to the ordinary people. Before August 2010 I hated the government for constantly the price of cigarettes, but now that I'm on the other side I think they did the right thing. The high price of cigarette packs is a solid reason for many heavy smokers to gradually reduce the number of units they smoke daily until they realize it's time to give up! It is needless to say that the money spent on that poison are simply lost, and when you realize how many other useful things you could have done with your hard-earned money them instead of wasting them on that garbage you can't stop wondering why you started smoking in the first place.

3. Passive smoking is no longer an issue

Quitting smoking doesn't necessarily mean that the nicotine will be completely out of your system. There are circumstances in which you are subject to passive smoking, but fortunately, this possibility has been considerably diminished in my country after a law which bans smoking in closed spaces has been recently adopted in my country. Pub and restaurant owners certainly didn't like that law at all as they lost some of their customers because of it, but smokers got used to it, and whenever they feel the urge to smoke they simply get out of that closed space and satisfy their vice without forcing the others to smoke passively.

4. Coffee Tastes Better Without Cigarettes

I used to think that a cigarette was an almost indispensable accessory to a cup of coffee, but as soon as I quit smoking I realized that the flavor and the taste of quality coffee is much easier to identify and appreciate without being accompanied by tobacco. Coffee not only that tastes and feels better than cigarettes, but if consumed in moderate quantities it has benefits for our health, but I'm convinced that if it is accompanied by a cigarette those benefits are simply neutralized by the negative effects of tobacco.

5. I Can Chill Out Without Smoking Nowadays

I used to think that smoking would help me relax for a few minutes during a stressful day, and maybe there was a little bit of truth in that, but after my smoking days were over I realized that there are other ways in which I can relax and diminish the stress, such as looking at playing a game, listening to a song I like or looking at some beautiful pictures of natural landscapes on my smartphone, and so on.

As a conclusion, when I think about the differences between my life before and after quitting smoking, I can only find positive aspects of my decision to quit. Smoking is a matter of individual choice and I respect smokers as long as they practice their habit without doing any harm to others; since I've been one of them for a few years I realize how difficult it is to give up smoking, why is why I appreciate so much those who go all the way and succeed in getting rid of this vice once and for all. If you think about quitting smoking, I wish you good luck and I know you can do it!

Photo source: Pixabay

The Sphinx in the Bucegi Mountains- a Natural Wonder of Romania

 

Sometimes I feel the need to detach myself from the immediate reality and let my mind wander throughout centuries. One way in which I try to connect to the past is to look again at pictures of spectacular sites I visited and relive the feelings I experienced when I saw amazing things like wonders of nature or historical buildings or monuments.

For instance, today, after watching a documentary about the Roman conquest of Dacia, my mind flew immediately to an amazing natural rock formation which is one of the symbols of my country: the Sphinx from the Bucegi Mountains.

Two years ago, when I made a journey high in the Bucegi Plateau, this 8-meter high and 12-meter rock impressed me because it resembled perfectly the head of a Dacian warrior. It was hard for me to believe that it was the work of nature and not of the human hand, but that’s the reality. Now, when I look again at the pictures I made with this quiet giant called the Sphinx, I almost expect him to wake up and gather people around him to defend the country from its invaders.

Shaped by the action of nature throughout thousands of years, the Sphinx stands still and proud like a true king of the Carpathians. For some people, it’s just a rock and nothing else, while for others it has a symbolic and mythological value. As for me, I have to say that I consider it a perfect illustration of nature’s capacity to create unique and wonderful things that will last as long as the Earth itself.

Ancient Citadels- a Bridge Between Present and Past

 

Whenever I travel to old citadels who were restored thanks to the hard work of people fascinated by history and archeology, or even when I see simple ruins whose origins are often shrouded in a veil of mystery, I experience a strange, but wonderful feeling of living both in the present and the past at the same time.

 

I can see tourists like me walking in the citadel yards and admiring the vestiges of the past while taking as many memories as they can with their fancy cameras and smartphones, but in the meantime  the mind takes me back in time centuries ago, as I try to paint my own mental pictures of how life was then. The more time I spend in an old city or medieval fortress, the more vivid those pictures are in my mind.

 

Knights all wrapped up in heavy metal armors, merchants negotiating with buyers, people of different social statuses filling the streets of a citadel, some of them so wealthy that they afford to throw some coins to the poor dirty people dressed in rags who can barely earn their living, all these images of a vibrant, but also troublesome past keep my mind occupied while visiting any place of great historical significance.

I think the possibilities are unlimited when it comes to letting our imagination wander back in time and the role of the visual elements represented by those ancient walls, ruins, bridges or bastions in stimulating our creative thinking is highly significant.

That is why I love visiting them so much and I think that examining an ancient building is often a much more cultural experience than being in a busy city avenue surrounded by modern skyscrapers. Any visit to an old place represents an invaluable history lesson for me!

The photos from this post were taken in the following locations: Râșnov Citadel, Făgăraș, Neamț Citadel, Sighișoara, Deva Fortress, Rupea Citadel.

Do I Live in a Ghost Town?

 

A few days ago, in an effort to improve and expand my general knowledge, I decided to take a look at a list of cities and towns from my country ordered by population; I was simply curious to see what the rank of my hometown, Onești was on such a list, so I googled it and the first site I opened in order to check it out was World Population Review, which I considered to be a reliable source, but when I opened that list and looked for Onești, I had an unpleasant surprise: it wasn’t anywhere on the list!

Every town in Romania, no matter how small, was present in that table, except for Onești, which may not be a metropolis, but it isn’t a little town either; even with a dramatic decrease in population in the last a couple of decades caused by the bankruptcy or the severe reduction of activity of the factories which were part of a huge industrial platform, once the heart of the town, and the consequent migration of many people to greener pastures, in search for work, Onești still has, at least according to official numbers, a population of almost 40,000 inhabitants, but according to World Population Review, those people simply do not exist!

After such a bewildering find, I couldn’t stop wondering: Do I live in a ghost town? Is Onești a real site or is it an illusion, a deserted place which can’t be found on maps or on Google Earth? Or maybe the guys from World Population Review still aren’t aware of the fact that 30 years ago the town of Onești regained its original name, which had been first mentioned several centuries ago, after being named Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej during the communist period? That maybe a possible explanation, but still they have no excuse for this omission.

Fortunately, there are other sources as well, and when I looked for the list of Romanian towns and cities on Wikipedia I had a sigh of relief: my hometown is included on the list, with a population of 39,172 inhabitants which makes it the 49^th town in Romania by the population at the moment. It isn’t a desolate place populated by elves, zombies, White Walkers or other mythical or fantastic creatures, but a real town whose inhabitants breath, talk, work and struggle for a decent living, so luckily I don’t live in a ghost town yet!

Anyway, I’m curious to find out if there are any other towns from around the globe which are not included on the list made by World Population Review, because if there isn’t any other one in such a position, that would make Onești a truly unique place in the entire world!

Travel Impressions- Deva Fortress

 

I had admired it from a distance on several occasions and I had placed it on my list of cultural and historical Romanian sites that I would absolutely have to explore one day and in October 2016 I finally got the chance to visit the majestic fortress situated on top of the volcanic hill which lies next to the city of Deva, the capital of the Hunedoara county.

When you see the citadel from below it has an aura of mystery that seems to draw you towards it like a magnet because you know that the stone walls and fortifications which compose the citadel have been the witnesses of a lot of historical events and managed to survive in times of turmoil and fierce battles. If I had the time I would have gladly made the journey to the hilltop, where the citadel lies at at an altitude of 370 meters, on foot, but since I was participating in an organized trip and time was limited, I chose the easy way up, which is by funicular, and there I was, at the gates of the once mighty citadel, in a matter of a minute or so.

Once I stepped within the fortress walls and I found myself inside the main yard I have to say that the sights I experienced were quite close to what I had anticipated: a massive castle with huge stone walls which give an appearance of stability and impregnability. Those walls speak for themselves, they are the best testimony of the impressive strength of this citadel mentioned for the first time in the second half of the 13th century, which has been besieged on many occasions, but never fully conquered and destroyed, throughout the centuries in which it was a military and administrative center of the whole area.

Unfortunately, I had the misfortune of reaching the Deva citadel on a cold, windy Saturday afternoon, so due to the bad weather I had to shorten my visit and do the tour of the citadel at a very alert pace, but still, I could notice the ruined portions of the castle which were caused by an accidental explosion of the ammunition storage belonging to the Austrian forces which are said to take place during the Hungarian revolutionary uprising of 1848-49. That explosion might have represented the nail in the coffin for the citadel, but thankfully it was only partially destroyed, and the restoration works recently made a guarantee that the fortress will be admired by its visitors for many years to come.

 Another interesting aspect I noticed in the short time I spend at the citadel was the spectacular view of the city of Deva and the surrounding areas. I could picture myself as a soldier looking down on the valley below and get ready to unleash the firepower on the enemies who dared to venture up on the hill; thankfully, those troubled times are probably gone forever and instead of invading troops the view I could see from the highest points of the citadel was that of a modern, beautiful Romanian city.

At the end of my short, but intense visit at the Deva fortress I had a feeling of satisfaction and accomplishment because I had added another site to my collection of visited Romanian treasures, which is far from complete, and I also said to myself that I would be back to the Deva citadel one day. I was tempted to do it again by climbing up the hill this time(after all it's not that high) but after reading on the Internet that one of the inhabitants of that hill, which is also a natural reserve, is the dreaded horned adder, a venomous snake, I think I will choose the funicular again! Anyway, regardless of the method you choose to reach it, the Deva fortress is a landmark of Transylvanian history which is worth visiting!

My First Golden Owl- a Special Duolingo Achievement

 

Last autumn, in the month of October, I started using the well-known language learning platform Duolingo to expand my linguistic knowledge by studying a new foreign language. I chose Spanish because it is relatively close to my native language, Romanian, and it is one of the most used languages worldwide, mostly in Latin America, so I thought I should begin my Duolingo journey with this beautiful language.

It didn’t take me a long time to become fascinated by this activity and turn the English to Spanish course(there is no Romanian to Spanish course yet) into a daily routine. Duolingo’s method of having users learn languages mostly by the use of everyday sentences has worked like magic in my case as I found it relatively easy to assimilate the new grammatical structures and vocabulary associated with each skill which represents a branch of the fairly big Spanish tree. During the first 8 months of studying Spanish on Duolingo my approach was to reach level 5 in each skill and then move on to the next one, but then I changed my strategy and I started doing level 1 on each of the remaining skills until I went down to the root of the tree and I was rewarded with a nice trophy, my first shiny golden owl!

Obviously, when you learn a language you don’t necessarily do it for the sake of prices, but because you want to expand your knowledge, to learn something new about other cultures and countries and for many other reasons, but nevertheless having a precise target, like promoting to a higher league in the Duolingo system, taking your streak to 100 days, then 200 days and so on, or getting a golden owl for finishing level 1 on all the skills of a course, all these extra incentives can only have a beneficial effect as they help me stay motivated to keep on learning and aiming for new heights, and that’s exactly what I’m going to do next.

If you are on Duolingo as well, you can find me here: My Duolingo Profile

After getting my shiny precious golden owl, my journey into the world of the Spanish language will continue until I manage to finish the whole tree, which means getting all the skills to level 5. In the meantime, I am also going to embark on another language learning journey because Duolingo is so addictive that it simply makes you want to learn more and more, so why not? I am probably going to stick to a language which is closer to Romanian, such as Italian or Portuguese, and after that try my hand at more distant languages, like Swedish or even Korean and Japanese, so I am quite confident that my Duolingo adventure will continue for many years to come! 

For the time being, I will keep on improving my Spanish skills, by using not only Duolingo but other resources as well, such as the Coffee Break Spanish podcast on Spotify I have been listening to for several weeks now, and like I said before, I will also start to discover the secret of another language and I will definitely reach new achievements and get another shiny golden owl to my Duolingo trophy cabinet in a few months' time!