But the more I think about this brother-sister relationship, the more I don’t understand it. I know it’s some sort of parent-child thing, only cooler, but it still puzzles me. I am an only child and I was raised like one: I got to eat the whole bar of chocolate, I got to play with all the toys, I was grounded for every stupid thing I did. I have no idea what it means to share a room with someone, to take someone’s side out of brotherly care etc. I don’t know what it means to worry about someone who is travelling by plane and I have no idea how it feels to spend time with your siblings after months of being apart.

Yes, I have a family and, yes, I care about *almost* all of its members but except for my parents I don’t feel like there is any special bond connecting me to them. I have learned to accept them the way they are but I still judge them from time to time (not out loud, though) and we see each other for Christmas, Easter and a couple of times during the summer holiday. No big love between us, no real bonds.

I don’t regret not having siblings – hell, I’m glad I’m alone, spoiled and egotistic but sometimes I would like to know how it feels to care for someone not because you are great friends or because they are your parents but because you’ve shared so many things together, so many memories, because they were grounded because of you or because they wanted to save you, because you were fighting over the same bar of chocolate.

Siblings – strange creatures

It’s simpler, cleaner and still in progress Most probably I will change the pictures in the header from time to time and I still have some stuff to put in the sidebar (about me, my profiles on other sites, maybe a widget with my pictures from Lomo etc.) but this is it. This is my new blog theme and I love it even though there is just one small rainbow here, in the favicon

So, what do you say? Suggestions and comments are more than welcome

Kiel is a completely different city from Baia Mare or Bucharest (the only two cities I’ve lived in). First of all, it’s a harbour city, meaning it has lots of water, beaches, ships, docks, all kinds of unfamiliar things to me. When I first saw the Stena Line I felt like a midget. Martha just laughed saying that the Color Line is even bigger. We also went sailing one day: five people in a rather small boat, which shook with every wave that hit it. I was a bit scared in the beginning but then I got the hang of it. And no, I wasn’t seasick I am not a good swimmer and I’m not very fond of water (except blue, salty, warm sea water) so I looked at everything that happened in that harbour with a bit of fear and awe.

Although we had planned a whole bicycle trip along the coastline the weather was so unpredictable (and cold for me but they didn’t seem to mind it; they were used to autumn weather in summer months) that we decided not to take any risks and just pedaled for one day. We didn’t get very far – we stopped in a city about 30km from Kiel – but, still, it was my first bike trip and it was awesome! There is a special bike lane that goes along the whole north coast of Germany: the Baltic Sea Cycle Path. I am proud to have used it. The landscape was amazing and cycling next to the sea was better than any cycling I’ve done so for (the reasons are obvious). Again, Martha is the best trip planner ever

One day we visited Hamburg, another rainy day we went to the cinema, we had drinks and cakes in a very nice local café, we went second hand shopping, we did lots of great things. It was never boring and I didn’t feel homesick (well, I missed some people from home but I didn’t miss home). I was in the right place, at the right time, with the right people. It was perfect.

2. Her boy, who is 16,  is staying with us for 2 weeks just because I like his mum and I feel like I owe them something for those 2 weeks I spent at their place. I don’t like him at all and it was just a favour.

3. When we got back home from BM, the house was a mess. He had been using our pans although Eddie had told him to buy his own pan for frying meat. There were oil stains everywhere, unwashed dishes scattered around the kitchen. More than that, his stuff was everywhere – we barely had any place in the fridge to put our own groceries.

4. The moment he came home I told him about the mess he had made. His answer: “I didn’t think that was a mess. To me it looked clean enough”. Not to mention the countless rude retorts. He thinks he owns the place and he acts like I’m the guest.

5. I started cleaning the kitchen and the moment I was finished with the cooker he wanted to fry meat!!!!! For fuck’s sake, I scrubbed and I cleaned and now you want to fuck up my work? Of course, he is a sportsman and he needs to eat heavy stuff… Now all the apartment smells of his fucking fried meat and I don’t even want to see how the cooker looks…

6. Every time I tell him about something bad that he has done, he replies that “I’m only 16″ or “I had no idea about that” or “I’m a boy, I don’t have to know how to cook”. Well, fuck you, I won’t give you private cooking lessons! Speaking of which, his mum told me today that I should teach him how to clean! EXCUSE ME??? Are you bloody insane???? You’re letting your kid move on his own to Bucharest, finishing his high school here and you want me to teach him everyfuckingthing that you haven’t taught him yet??? I’m sorry, I’m no babysitter.

7. This is it! Except friends and family and the occasional couch surfers, I won’t have anyone else stay at my place. Yes, I have a spare room, but I don’t want to be anyone’s maid. Really, it’s absolutely outrageous the way this kid talks to me! And for these two hell of a weeks he is not paying rent and he didn’t bring us anything, not even a bar of chocolate. It’s like “hey, suckers, I’m pissing all over you and you can’t do anything about that”. I would LOVE to just throw his stuff out of the balcony and change the lock. But I can’t, so IN MY OWN HOUSE I will have to put up with his crap until Friday.

Someone really hates me up there…

The main goal of those first days in Germany had been reached: I spent some quality time with a dear friend and I was prepared for the touristic part of the trip: Berlin.

Martha being one awesome girl had decided she wanted to meet me in Berlin and show me the city. I don’t think I have ever had a better guide. You should have seen her reading the map, knowing almost all the cool places in Berlin, discovering quaint streets and having a sixth sense when it came to just cycling around aimlessly.

Cycling in Berlin? We did it! I should write a different post only about this but I’ll just describe the experience in a couple of words: civilized, awesome and fun! Not once did I feel like I was about to be hit by a car; it was the first time I had the courage to turn left from the main road into a smaller one while still being on my bike (I think that is a suicidal act in Bucharest) and it was also the first time I had to watch out for fellow cyclist. Actually, I thought the chances of being ran down by a cyclist were bigger than those of being ran down by a car.

The city itself is incredibly awesome! It is not as touristic as other capitals and, in my opinion, that is a plus. We walked around the main touristic places without feeling suffocated and I could easily picture how it would be to live there. Well, we won’t be moving anywhere cause he doesn’t want to but a little daydreaming never killed anyone Martha wanted me to see everything!!! in just 3 and a half days so each and every night we went back to the hostel I was dead tired! In the end I did manage to make some small (and not so small) talk with the other people in the room. Actually, it was the first time I’d been in a hostel room with people I didn’t know. But it was more than OK

Alexanderplatz, der Reichstag, Kreuzberg (one awesome neighbourhood; a must see!), Tacheles, Topography of Terror, Unter den Linden, das Brandenburger Tor, some streets in the former East Berlin, East Side Gallery – we’ve been to so many places! I’m glad Martha dragged me everywhere Berlin was quite an experience and I secretly hope that Bucharest will take its example one day.

i: “Argh, I can´t believe he doesn´t know how to do that! He´s a man, he should know how to do such practical things! If not, why should you have a man around the house?”
Mm: “Just to have babies.”
i: “And if you don´t want to have babies?”
Mm: “Well…”

First of all, the morning I woke up to go to Cluj and catch my plane was gray, cold and rainy. I had packed only summer clothes from Bucharest and just tossed in a pair of jeans and some cardigans because Martha always told me how chilly it can get in the north of Germany. But what Martha didn´t tell me was that sometimes it´s cold everywhere in bloody Germany! I´ve exchanged temperatures of over 30 degrees Celsius for autumn weather with temperatures that I don´t believe go higher than 18 degrees. So all my skirts and dresses and thin T-shirts are useless here, unless I put them all on me, at the same time.

Getting back to my plane trip, when we arrived at the airport the plane had a delay of 2h. Anyways, I sent my parents back home and waited patiently for them to announce that we were boarding. And I waited, and waited and waited and in the end they told us that we wouldn´t be flying that day but early next morning. I was a bit panicky by then because I don´t know anyone in Cluj but the airline company sent the non-Cluj people to a four star hotel. I can´t say that I was thrilled or anything like that but I wasn´t yelling like a retard demanding that the company should give me a refund or fly in a special plane just for us. On the other hand, I had all the time in the world, I could wait until next morning. Which morning turned into early afternoon. I still have no idea why our plane got cancelled – I´ve heard lots of rumours but nothing official – but, in the end, I made to Dortmund safe and sound.

From there I went to Schwelm, where I stayed at a friend´s of my Mum. That couple was amazing! I´ve never seen a couple their age (mid-forties) being that in love! I was totally impressed Not to mention what nice people they are and how they looked after me. At least I´ve started my trip meeting incredible people. So, while the people part is OK, the traveling one still needs more adjustments. On my first train ride within Germany, I got on the wrong train. I was at the right line, the time was right, a regional train came, I got on and everything seemed to be perfect until it was time to arrive in Köln and we weren´t there yet. Using my very poor German I asked a man if the train was going to Köln. Of course it wasn´t! I almost had a panic attack but the nice man told me to get off at the first station and simply wait there for the right train. And so I did. Thank God, Martha had bought for me some really cool tickets and I can take any train to get my destination. Yes, any train I want, I can change how many I want as long as I get to where I have to in less than 24h. And it costs only 30 euros/trip. Now that´s what I call a bargain!

There I was, in the middle of nowhere, having to wait another hour for my train. What did I do? I started talking with a girl next to me who turned out to not speak a word English! Damn, it was so difficult for me to speak German but I did it. I mumbled and mixed the articles and mispronounced almost everything but in the end she still got the right information: that I´m 23, traveling through Germany, staying at friends, that Romania is still regarded as a poor country but there are lots of rich people etc, etc.  We both got off in Köln and wished each other a nice holiday.

Now I am in Bad Homburg, staying at Vio´s place. I love it here! Yesterday we rode the bicycles along that wonderful wheat filed and into this really quaint city. I´m sure I will take tons of pictures here and have a wonderful time. Vio and I can´t stop talking – there are so many things we want to share with each other. In the end, this trip seems to be about discovering a better way of living (I´m seriously thinking of moving here one day) and having the greatest time with some of the greatest people I know

And because I am a walking paradox I still can’t process the fact that I have a plane to catch tomorrow, that by 13:30 I’ll be in Germany, looking for a curly redhead in the airport – one of Mum’s friends whom I’ve never met before. I’m going to stay at her place for three days and then take the train to vio. No matter how much I keep repeating to myself that “tomorrow I’ll be in Germany” I still don’t feel like it’s really going to happen. Has time gone by so quickly? Really? OMG!

On the other hand, I can hardly wait to see my two special girls (Martha and vio) and spend some quality time with them. I’ve met vio exactly 3 times before: twice in the airport and once in a bar and now I’m going to spend 5 days at her place! The Internet does wonders for my social relations! And Martha… oh, how I miss my Martha! It feels like ages since she left but we’re planning a lot of trips between our countries of residence

It will be the longest I will have spent apart from him and it’s going to be difficult for both of us but I have my special people there and places to see, white beer to drink and he has uRMa and his work so we’ll manage somehow I’m coming back on the 16th of August, just in time to celebrate Mum’s birthday. Basically, these are my plans for the next 30 days. And I like to think that I’m not plan-making type of girl!

I’m pretty sure I’ll have the opportunity to regularly update the blog and I’m sure that I’ll bitch about German keyboards As for what I wish to do while I’m there, it’s pretty simple: talk German, buy second-hand German books, see the Frida Kahlo exhibition in Berlin, eat falafel and Asian food, drink as much white beer, of course, have as much fun as possible. I’m pretty sure I’ll tick everything on that list.

Germany, here I come!

Visiting Athens for the second time took away its awe from me. I wasn’t anymore the kid who went “wow!” at every step she took. I think that this time I saw the city how it really is: crowded, dirty and HOT. There are buildings everywhere, excessive traffic, neighbours partying till the break of dawn, all the things I hate about Bucharest. But unlike Bucharest, the old and touristic part of the city doesn’t consist of 5-6 deteriorated buildings and overpriced bars and restaurants. Plaka and Monstiraki are worth visiting and it’s even better when you simply walk around without having any idea where you’re going.

The sea is also worth mentioning: clear blue, salty and warm. It was a pleasure swimming there! Too bad that he is an aquaphobic and the deepest he got was up to his bellybutton. Nonetheless, I had fun Except for walking around, going to the beach and shopping we didn’t do much there. It was a very lazy holiday but we need laziness in our life. Although I feel that sometimes we kinda abuse it

I still have some more pictures to post, but another time. Now I’m heading to the train station cause I’m going to BM.