Having fun and working a lot December 2, 2009
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We decided to find ways to have inexpensive fun in Romania for this winter. Though we still have to adapt to the cold weather, which amazingly after so much time, we are still not used to. We decided not to go to our friends in Italy for the winter because we are trying to spend less. With this crisis the apartments’ prices are finally going down in Romania, it took a while…so maybe next summer we will manage to buy our own place.
Talking about inexpensive fun, I discovered paradisul acvatic – a huge covered water park in Brasov. They even have a heated pool outside:) so I negotiated some prices and we are going there with our friends for a day, guess for what price: the trip, the stay overnight and the entrance for 3 hours of water fun is going to be 25 eur/pers 
I also have other ideas to apply from January on…I am planning to get people out of the house because we all work too much and in the weekends we just vegetate on the sofa and this is not good….we can’t get old yet!
The rest is the old story, working a lot…because when you are on your own you actually work much more then when you work for someone else…though some dreamers think that being a freelancer will allow to plan your own schedule…is false. Or if it’s true it might be that your workweek can get from a few hours when you start and then go up to 80 hours, which is our case, but it’s ok
Other new projects: well, we are re-vamping our website, planning our wedding, and organizing movie nights at our place…and lately drinking a lot of hot wine to get warm (me at least, because I feel like the outside cold is damaging me a lot)…like in those strategy games when the enemies come and demolish your castle, that’s how I feel and only hot wine and tea can put a “repairing 20%…30%…” label on my castle-like brain:))
Winter is almost here… October 19, 2009
Posted by armina in thoughts.Tags: plans, trips, weather
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The summer was busy and autumn even more. In different ways though, first one traveling, the second working. Iin the middle of the economic crisis you would think there should be more free time for a small entrepreneur.
After one month in Italy and one in Belgium, some trips to Germany and France, we got homesick and came back to Romania. It was interesting to leave Brussels in autumn (end of August) and arrive home in the middle of the summer…it felt like 2009 had two summers. Now it changed, it has been raining for about a week…a bit too British for my corner of the town.
It’s unbelievable how with all the crisis in the newspapers, there is no crisis in the online industry and I am sure it will be like this until January which is a bit silent and then in mid Feb it will start all over again…which makes me think about taking a small break again before the December work peak. The projects’ number will increase in December, when everyone wants to finish before Christmas and of course they will outsource almost everything to have all stuff finished before New Year’s:)
We have already planned some big breaks: the New Year’s party (hopefully for not more people than the last one) and our wedding party (I won’t brag about it, but I had to mention it). I still have to think about a short non-active break someplace nice for this winter and see what discounts I could get for an early booking for a July tour to Scandinavia…though sometimes “last minutes” are cheaper and cooler than early bookings – this July, Swissair had last minute return plane tickets from Zurich to Tokyo at around 300 euro. How cool is that? But I decided I want to see some parts of Romania first, then Scandinavia before Asia. Unfortunately there is no serious and complete website about what’s there to see in Romania. I had a talk with a friend who has traveled a lot in Romania and surprisingly it seems that the ones who know the beautiful places around here, don’t want others to know about them…maybe I will make the website after discovering the parts I haven’t seen yet…
My third day in Brussels…the second time. August 6, 2009
Posted by armina in thoughts.Tags: Brussels, freedom, grass, parks
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We have seen most of the city last year by walking around…the first city we have seen walking was Genova in 2006. We did that because we wanted to spend the possible least on transportation. Then it became a pleasure and a habbit. We have seen Paris on foot (18km in the first day), Barcelona, Brussels, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Zurich…we love ending up in a deserted neighbourhood or some forgot place that usually is not discovered by tourists so we take the untaken roads and don’t listen to the gps.
2 evenings ago when we arrived we went for a beer. Last year we went to the ’2004 beers menu bar’ and tried various ones, this time we went to a small typical bar and drank typical beer (we tried the triples which were over 6% alcohol). I got a bit dizy since I am not used to alcohol anymore, like when I was a student.
Yesterday we started walking:) We didn’t want to see what we have already seen and we felt attracted towards the parks so this is what we did. We walked for just about 2 hours and staied in a park for 3 hours more. I love the feeling of staying on grass. In Romania you can sit on the grass so I have always loved the Western Europe parks for this freedom. In Zurich people were wearing swimming suits in the summer in the main park near the Zuri Lake and if it got too hot they just jumped in the water. In Frankfurt it seemed parks were the only perfect places to study and people made barbeques. I miss the botanical garden from Frankfurt…
The best symbol for freedom, from my point of view, is the sea. Not the one you see from a sandy pieceful 1km beach, where people go to be lazy, but the one you see from the rocky shores of the Mediteranean…where the waves don’t joke and the sea shows its entire joy of life, where you need to take a mountain bike or your tracking shoes to see it. That’s freedom. However, when I lived in a city with no sea, I needed to figure out another symbol for freedom and rest my eyes watching it for hours…and this is the green from the big parks, both the grass and the trees.
Packing August 4, 2009
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Genoa was great this year.
I have been seeing it each summer since 2006: as a student in a holiday, as a job searcher, as a “house wife”, as a freelancer and this year…as a tourist. It was amazing. Of course, if the previous years wouldn’t have existed, this couldn’t have been so amazing.
Since I wrote last time, we moved. We were staying at a friend’s place on Via Balbi (Unesco heritage street) 2 minutes from the train station and 10 from the harbor. The street was very noise and lively: full of people of all colors and nationalities, some of them sipping their coffees on a terasse placed on the sidewalk, in front of the doorstep of the coffee shop. In one word, the touristic area, full of life, charm, young people, hot weather, dust, sleeping with open windows, hearing the bus every hour until 2 in the night and then starting again at 5 in the morning. Hearing the same song over and over again from the dancing school across the street. Seeing blond backpackers – so obviously not Italians since the Italians turned their heads and said “ciao bella” to the Scandinavian blonds. I missed the noise of this street and I took it in completely.
Then last Wednesday we moved to another friend’s place up on the hills, away from the tourist area. This neighbourhood is so amazing. I have been to Monica’s place before but never stayed here. I always smile when I remember how we got to know her. She is a Romanian who had a tough life and who’s been living in Genoa for almost 8 years now. The neighbourhood is one of the cheapest in Genoa, the kind of place where most of the Latin people live, together with some young Italian families with low budgets and old Italians who just stayed at “home”. And when I say old I mean from 90 years on. The blocks are build on every piece of land possible, they have terrasses one on top of the other, you need to climb hundreads of stairs to get to the highest block. In the same time, we are less than 2 km from the harbour, so in the night we can see the light of the laterna caressing the blocks. The wind is so enjoyable and seeing grass and trees is wonderful. People cherrish their small gardens and once in a while you can hear a granny calling her husband for lunch, asking him to leave the darn garden. Everybody says hello if they happen to go on the balconies and meet eachother’s eyes. You can actually hear birds and the air is clean and has an adurable temperature. Compared to Via Balbi where the heat was sometimes unbearable and because of the air humidity I felt like taking a shower every half an hour, this is heaven countryside. On Sunday you hear the church bells, and every morning some old people play some forgotten songs like our “romantze”…melancholic…
Of course, most of the women are housewives and at lunch time you can guess what type of food the nieghbour cooked by the smell. In Zurich that never happened to me…and the kitchens were so small…you could have definitely guessed that is not an enjoyable area. Here, kitchens are bigger. The kitchen is the room where family gatherings happen. With a 2-3 hours lunch break of course you can jump on your scooter and run home for lunch and then go back to work for a few more hours.
Well…that’s Genoa through my eyes as a tourist…of course if you search the archives of my blog from 2006 you will see my stories were different…
And like any other tourist, I am leaving. Me, my fiance Dani and my brother Luxi are flying to Brussels tomorrow. We just finished packing. Me and Dani have seen Brussels before and I it’s in the top of the “favourite cities to live in” list. For example I love Genoa but just to come here for a break, I couldn’t live here for the rest of my life. Things happen to slow, people are either tourists or old people…Last year I thought I could live in Brussels forever – it seems the perfect mix for me…let’s see how I feel this year…
And even though we are in a holiday, business has never been better…
Sipping a coffee in Genoa… July 29, 2009
Posted by armina in dareberry, thoughts.Tags: freedom, gelato, Genoa, holidays, relaxation, Romania, the sea
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It’s been a long time since I wrote last time. I have been going through a period where many thoughts were diving through my mind. After a lot of hard work this spring, we decided to take a 1-2 months break. We bought a one way ticket to Milan and from there we went to Genoa – a place where we have lived before and we fell in love with. We have been here for 16 days now and we love it. It’s no wonder people here live up to 100 years old. We have already done the Cinque Terre track 4 or 5 times and seen the French Riviera about 4 times, together with Santa Margherita Ligure and Portofino…
I just can’t get enough of the typical icecream…the best I have ever tasted. I would fly to here once a year just for the gelato from Boccadasse. It is faithfull love – i don’t really eat other icecreams even though I am in love with it – because nothing compares with it. Sometimes I cheat and buy a Hagen Daz where it is available…as a surogate cause nothing compares with the Boccadasse icecream from Latteria Antica.
I love watching people on fitness bikes on a terasse on the rocks in front of the sea. The trainer plays this wonderful music that makes you paddle some more and gain speed and you are biking and biking and watching the sea…that’s sports!
For me, there is nothing more beautiful than a rocky edge you look over and see the sea…and possibly there will be people sunbathing on the rocks, just like seals do….Mountains and the Sea! Both in the same 50sq meters!
Amazingly enough the business goes just fine with me and Daniel in a holiday. I don’t know whether we are great managers or it’s just some luck, but it works. We can actually be in a holiday for half a month and the “machine” keeps running just as well.
Also amazing is the fact that my Italian has never been better. It seems it improved more from making translations than from actually living here. I have been living here for 1-6 months a year since 2006 and I gained another language skill without even opening a book…I even make money from translations…why go to Harvard? If you have a brilliant mind and want to keep it that way, don’t choose education means and institutions that will make you lose the ability of your artistic and dreamy side of your brain! At least this is how I see things. To evolve, we need to use more of our brain, more of our both sides of our brain…which we thought is not quite identical with becoming a senior business analyst in my case or a senior system engineer in Daniel’s case.
We have no plans for tomorrow and this gives my mind so much freedom and imagination started running loose again. The best thing to do if you want new ideas is to “disconnect” and travel. I have a great business idea. I am sure others have thought about it but well, many have thought about outsourcing, too, but few do it properly. So I am sure that in time, with work and patience I could put this idea into practice and it doesn’t matter how many competitors are there, I know I can do it better and if Daniel helps and Luxi also, we could all have the best “special” travel agency – of course it will be special…what did you think? that we will have “just another travel agency”?…We have always loved the travel industry so this might be the place to actually be since we weren’t quite happy as “multinatinals’ employees with pretty good salaries”.
There was a month when we thought the dream of owning a studio could become reality since prices were going down in Romania. Now they ar up again…and most of our friends say “take a loan and buy the damn studio”…well for us being in dept means loosing our freedom, which is priceless!
From here, on the 4th of August we will fly to Brussels – going from an old town to a more 21st century-like city. We were invited there by our dear friends and we will stay for an undefinite time. We still have the rented flat in Romania but don’t feel like running back there. We are quite disapointed of the guys who run the country and the mentality of the people. Last autumn we were so anxious to go back and thought that so many things would have changed to the better…we were so wrong. The clowns who have the power are the same, just where different make-up depending on the party they left and the party they joined and things aren’t any better. To live there and not be affected by what happens around you, you either need a crazy dosage of optimism and struggle everyday to do things better and motivate others to do so, too (like Musat for example), or you need to be totally senseless…which is hard because we are “souls” people…we went back for our families and friends…to be closer to them and hoped that living there might be better. Instead, to make sure I won’t become a “anger monster”, I had to think of some mind tricks: I almost never watched the news, I visited my parents and went out with my friends as much as possible. I watched only Discovery and Travel & Living became the “most watched” TV channel in the house. Once in a while I asked my mother to tell me the news…she got used to watching them everyday as it it was a soap opera and in the same time to be detached. She also puts some humor in the story so it works for me.
Adina came back to Pitesti last month. After living in the Western Europe for about 4-5 years she thought of coming back and starting a business with her husband. They were sooo optimistic and full of energy. They reminded us of ourselves last autumn and we thought we got to get them back to their senses because this “folie” will only make them invest in things that will eat money and soon they will be just as dissappointed as us. Now they are back in Brussels and think about their “folie” more realistically. Just like us, they were puting their hopes into “living in Romania”…might not be the best idea ever…
Thank God for cheap flights…not that I believe in God…but it’s a good way to express the fact that cheap flights are great and help feed our freedom thirst.
More with the next coffee…maybe…
Who Am I? June 10, 2009
Posted by armina in friends related.Tags: book launch, friends, who am I
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That’s the name of the book agood friend of mine is launching next week.
3 questions are part of the book pre-lauch and he asked me to answer them and publish them here so you see them as well.
Since the book is addressing the Romanian market the questions and my answers are in Romanian. However I can translate them if any of you is curious about them or about the book:)
Here we go…
- Daca ar fi sa fac un muzeu al propriilor mele accesorii sociale*, ce exponate as vedea pe raftul meu?
- De ce le mai tin inca in viata mea?
- Care ar fi acele experiente, oameni, relatii, obiecte pe care le-as lua intr-o carte despre mine?
Si raspunsul meu…
De obicei intrebarile tale nasc alte intrebari in mintea mea, si ma intreb oare de ce nu m-am intrebat niciodata ce ma intrebi tu, realizand ca sunt simple si indreptatite si nu ar trebui sa fie nimic chinuit in tot procesul asta.
Ei bine se pare ca azi nu e de obicei si raspund cu zambetul pe buze si bucuroasa ca desi nu m-am gandit la intrebarea asta, am trait-o.
Nu detin niciun accesoriu social:)
Intr-o carte despre mine as lua toate acele elemente care se identifica cu “eu in afara zonei mele de comfort” – cred ca doar ele ma pot defini. In restul timpului nu ma pot “vedea” si cunoaste.
Daca vrei sa dai peste alte intrebari de cunoastere de sine si sa iti oferi oportunitatea de a iti raspunde la ele, te asteptam la Bookfest pe 20 Iunie 2009 la lansarea cartii “Eu cine sunt?, iar dupa aceasta data, prin librarii
Mai multe despre autor aici
The difference between a bitch and a “woman entrepreneur” April 11, 2009
Posted by armina in thoughts.Tags: bitch, entrepreneur, woman entrepreneur
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First of all let’s define the notions:
The bitch is a very masculine woman, hiding behind a suit and using her assets more then her brains. All she thinks about is how to make more money off your back. You will say this is “normal” in capitalism. Though there is something about her that makes her a bitch…the assets part and the ice-cold soul. There is nothing wrong about making a career but if you don’t balance it with a healthy “heart warmth” you are seriously endangering your health – for good. She will smile to you and say “thank you sooo much for your support” but she actually means: “thanks for spitting out everything, now you can fuck off”. To her, this means power and is all she probably dreams about.
The woman entrepreneur is a powerful woman but in a smarter and more honest way. She is powerful thanks to her diplomacy, self trust and attitude. She can intimidate men with her eyes and brains, not with her other…assets. And she will never be so vain to say “thank you so much” without actually meaning it. She knows that balance is important and career is not everything. She knows that a unique personality is important so she will not dress and act like a man just to feel more accepted in their world. She is accepted for her uniqueness and earned everyone’s respect for who she is and that makes her special.
Do you see the difference?
It is true that sometimes you have to be a bitch to be a good entrepreneur but what if the bitch takes over? Well…you will die alone…and no, not all of us die alone.
Whatever helps you sleep at night… March 30, 2009
Posted by armina in dareberry.Tags: crisis, happyness, life, living, millionaire, slamdog, sleep
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YEverybody is talking about this crisis…well my darlings it will not stop if you keep talking about it. It will not stop if you are trying to change things either because “up there”, there people that are more powerful then you and this is one of the species of “war” in the 21st century.
As my mom says: “The crisis is a crisis for those who had tons of money and now they have just a portion, but for us, the ones that are as poor as 20 years ago, and who’s jobs were always under a question mark, there is no crisis, is just how things are and have always been!”
I was among those that had lost a job because of the crisis and i am far better now. Why? Because i didn’t concentrate on that. I erased any connection with the moments of sadness the “crisis” provoked in me and went for entrepreneurship which in my view, is means freedom. It is true that not everybody can do this but reading, seeing, talking and complaining about the crisis won’t bring anything good in your life.
Try to watch some movies like “slamdog millionaire” or “Australia” and you will see there are and were worst times then these ones we are living in! They are not “just” movies…they are the representation of how much a person can bare and what you should concentrate on in life.
A friend of mine who is very dear to me, sent me this video: “Everything is amazing, nobody’s happy” . Watch it and you will realize in what wonderful world we are living in!
My dareberry for today is: “Whatever helps you sleep at night” – which is my advice for you to try to concentrate on the beautiful and positive aspects of life. As long as you are not dead, you should enjoy living and concentrate on whatever helps you sleep at night!
Where’s the real music? March 19, 2009
Posted by armina in dareberry.Tags: hip hop, Lady Gaga, music, no.1 song, top songs
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Because I am growing tired of hearing Lady Gaga everywhere…I mean, come on, we have been hearing it on the radio since how long ago?…I decided to check out the billboard to see what’s new…
Well…I am sad. Top 10 it’s all rap/hip hop (which from my point of view most of it is “manele americane”…very few ones create quality hip hop) and a few white little ladies who “blues”/complain about something – except Lady Gaga, who occupies 2 spots who is great but come on, i like diversity. So I was just wondering…all these guys, except the “featuring Timberlake” are what…like 18-20? Where are the older guys? Are they all in rehab? I miss the real music.
When I was just thinking that way, one of my best friends tagged me in a note about a great place. At this is going to be my dareberry of the day. On this website you can see the #1 song anytime in history. It’s like a journal of the great songs when also people above 25 were singing and were making history not just money. Here it is: Josh Holser’s website.
Enjoy!
What’s with the Wanderlust? – Now I know, I am half a twixter January 31, 2009
Posted by armina in thoughts.Tags: career, dream job, grow up, twixter, wanderlust
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Today I couldn’t work from objective reasons and I wondered how would life be if i didn’t have this small business of my own. If i would choose to go back to being an employee, what would i want to be?
I thought about the purchasing job offer i received a few days ago, and then i thought about being a project manager somewhere, and until i tried to figure out a country i would like to live in, i starting thinking about going for a Ph.D. to gain myself some time to figure what and where. Then i thought it would be too much learning and most of the companies back in Romania would consider me overqualified – because i would like to live in Romania.
No more studying, so i went for a thought in the opposite extreme…”The best job in the world” campaign…remember? The Island caretaker job for the 600 islands in the Australian reef. It seems there are about 2000 applicants and 2,3 million visitors. A really good promo campaign. If you want to apply, there is still time. Go here.
So I ended up where i never thought i would be – asking myself the wonderful question of childhood: what do i want to be when i will grow up. It is amazing – when i was 20, i knew it, when i was 23 i knew it, now i don’t know anymore. It seems there are so many things to explore and in the end, whatever career i would choose it doesn’t matter, as long as it deals with people, challenges me and there’s a team around.
I couldn’t sleep so i grabbed a beer (which i seldom do) and started searching for the answer on the internet. I bumped into a funny quizz, but as funny as it is, it made me wonder. At least in my case it’s true: i would be a good social worker or an artist (i couldn’t make my mind which picture to choose so i chose two). You should try it, it’s cool: here. You just have to choose your favorite picture and it tells you your inclinations. I kind of knew them but it was fun – and i am not a big fan of quizzes, so…
Then i searched deeper and bumped into an article in TIME. Such a wonderful article. It made me draw the conclusion that i am half a twixter. Twixters are the people between 20 and 30 who don’t seem to want to grow up…or who can’t. I am kind of one of them, too. I don’t know what my dream job would be (i know what i would be good at and what i would like it to include, though), i don’t want to get married yet, i don’t want to make loans. I dream about traveling the world, having a family. I traveled a little, i do have a finace and we are living together…so this makes me half a twixter. Anyways…if it sounds familiar, take some time to read this article: “Grow Up? Not So Fast” – you will find some answers to your questions. (I know the article is 4 years old, but we are behind US so it’s fine, just read it!)
