If you look in my closet, you will find lots of twisted
clothes. Due to their abundance, the clothes are placed in my, my parents, my
brother's rooms, under the wardrobes, in the balconies or in the cellar next to
the strawberry jam. That's why my father calls me a
,,gypsy’’ . Also, I do love
traveling and in his imagination,
Gypsy’s life looks like: colourful dresses, , lots of unnecessary things ,
changing places and laughing loud. ... Wherever I go my father's
comment is the same over and over: ,,Gypsy’’ went to Austria, Gypsy went to
Germany, Italy, to the Netherlands etc. . as soon as I decided to travel to Romania (and not
only travel, but make my ESC project
there ) dad had a sarcastic smile on his
face ,saying: "gypsy is going to
her own country ‘’ ...Do you think
others think in the same way as my dad
does about Romania or gypsys ? Do u think that for people Romania is just glittering dresses ?! not really.
In this photo I am wearing traditional Gypsy cloth, while wearing it I thought that this colorful, beautiful, glittery dress was created for me and whoever wears it, should sing, dance, celebrate, and show up that even with golden teeth you
should be equal to others ! For those, who think that in Romania live just
gypsies , no guys! To fill the gap between the
Romanians and the Gypsy community, many governmental and
non-govermentalorganisations have been created , which try to integrate them, there is also a new
term instead of Gypsy – you should say - ,, Roma Community’’.
Photo credits: CristiGaman
Here's everything you can dream about:
beautiful mountains, sea, carved architecture, histories of castles, galleries,
churches, ... colors are not symmetrical, not classical, but blended, more
vibrant and more emotional ……. People are emotional, kind, supportive, caring
... I don't know whether I'm lucky or everyone is .......
We have lot of common things, including religion (Romanians are Orthodox , as well as
Georgians), as well as the rhythm of life. People are walking down the street
just as slowly, as if they were not late at work or anywhere else. Deadline?
–OMG! Come’n !slow dawn! relax! I will start today and continue tomorrow !This
kind of harmful attitude towards time may be felt
while travelling by public transport , especially by train! Nowhere are they so delayed as on
the train to Bucharest. I guess the reason for being late is eating
Papanashi during every break. You can scroll newspapers at the station
and train your Romanian language or if you are lucky enough to meet handsome but angry guy like you , u can
complain with him. It works;)
Papanashi!
However, if they
really delay the trains because of papanashi, we have to forgive them! And if
you haven't tried it, be sure that the fun of having one of the best dessert in
your life is still ahead! The cuisine of any country, I think, reflects the character
of the nation. For me Papanashi reflects
the Romanian spirit with all accuracy. For a perfect dough, you need both salt
and sugar, dough should be airy, though heavy after baking, it should be salty
and sweet in a same time, like the average Romanian for me : neither too bitter
nor too sweet!
Every travel, every story has its
hero, and my Romanian travel hero is Albertiko!
I don't know you ever have met a person who never judges
the others, does not say a bad word, does not hurt anyone, always caring about others and spreads nothing but
love and. And can you imagine how lucky I am to have this person as my Roommate
and where from is Albertiko ? Do you
think she could be a refugee, or from a
country where women have no word, or from a very poor country ? Do you think
these kind of background could be a reason for her sensitivity? Not really, she
is from Denmark, the second happiest country in the world and none of the
above-mentioned would suit her reality.Whenever, wherever you feel hurted,
always remember that there is a relief !
So find out, maybe you have your own private Albertiko near you!
If you have never explained
to the armed border policeman that you are not a refugee, while standing on the riverbank, all
frozen and tearing, consider that you have not had the coolest adventure in
Romania! Though I had! Everything was
exactly as you have read ! Me and Nata decided
to travel to Serbia, but on our way back we missed the bus, so we found ourselves
in a border village at 10AM (already dark ) on a riverbank with a backpack and
a half-liter pallinka. We walked a lot on foot
and reached the fisherman's
house! This time we remembered all the
tales about a good fisherman who would invite travelers into his hut, but our story
was different. Actually, the house which we reached was not a fisherman’s but a
Svinitaborder police! It took time to
explain them that we were not a refugees, (they thought so because we had
scarfs all over the faces because of freezing) they said that the only way to
stay overnight was a police station was
at night, not in the water or on the boat.
In the picture below you see the policeman – TONI PADUREANU , who took us
to the police station, talked to the police sheriff, they got us a wonderful
host, served us with sandwiches, tea,
fruit. We were treated with the full
respect and the next morning they took us to our city Craiova by car. As
long as such policemen are guarding Romania, I think you should not be afraid
of going there! Yeah, by the way, it's not dangerous to put your legs out
either ... Don’t need to have an eyes on the back as well ;)
It is impossible to describe all the things that have
happened during the half year. But I
have kept all the people whom I met
during this trip: people who created, shared, laughed, danced, learned,
taught with me! Multomesk a Romania for all the days u gifted me! Now is the time for me to return to her home country - Georgia and
get prepared for new adventures!
Tamta (Tamtuka) Jinjolava spent 6 month European Solidarity Corps in Craiova, Romania. Her hosting organisation was Asociatia Comunitati Pentru Tineret.
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