First time at Glina

This week I became an official volunteer for ROBI - The Animal Association (http://www.4animals.ro/home.html), and today I had my first visit at Glina. This is a small "city" next to Bucharest, 40 km closer to Bucharest than my grandparent's village and it looks nothing different.

The stray dog's shelters aren't far from the main road, in an opened field. Water and electricity represent a luxury for that area. As we got closer a pack of dogs started running towards the car. They seemed to know that we were there to feed them and patiently waited, waving their tails, until a lady we were with got out of the car and gave them something to eat, not much...We weren't there yet. On our way, I got warned that I will be very muddy when we will be leaving, and next time I should pack extra clothes. We got there...150 dogs barking at the same time, rusty shelters, a filed full of garbage and mud, lots of mud. The land is loaned from a man, and there are several animal associations with shelters there. We started feeding them, they were rather hungry and impatient.

A few hours before we arrived "an intruder" was killed there. "Intruders" are dogs that don't belong to the shelters and surroundings. The others dogs attacked and killed him, fearing that he might become competition for food. The dogs weren't even tolerating other dogs from the shelter jumping over the fence and demanding food before their turn. As soon as one of them was doing this the riot started, 150 dogs barking at the same time again.

After we finished feeding them, 190 kg of dried food and about 50 cans (only a part of them got that treat), we added water and a bit of love. The mud and the hungry dogs make everything look scary, but once you start talking to them and see how they wave their tales and jump up the fences so you can put your hand through the bars and pet them a bit, your heart melts instantly. You have dogs of all sizes and personalities. You have three legged dogs and blind and deaf dogs...everything that managed to be saved from really traumatizing environments. Worst story: a female dog saved from a stray person who was...raping her.

This is nothing like Animal Planet. It is nothing like anything...but this is the maximum they can get from the mercy of people. Food is gathered from donations, just like the money for rent and building those horrible shelters. On my next visit I will try to take pictures and post them. 

Till then, a representative movie:

Eco Duties

In one hour I cleaned with Bianca this small public land area that's right under our bedroom window. Of course this is a insignificant area comparing what we have around our building block. We managed to gather 14 X 12 l garbage bags full of plastic bottles and bags, textiles, batteries, glass containers and loads of other plastic containers. Visible in the picture are 4 doggies. They are the reason why all this garbage appeared, not that everything around them is cleaner. People bring them food and water and dump the bags and plastic containers there. I called the District's pound to come and castrate them, and they scheduled for next week. Maybe if they are castrated people will be willing to adopt them :)

We still have a bit left, we will probably clean it next week because it's just behind our car. I was thinking about trying to call the City hall to tell them to do the rest, because it's kinda difficult to clean a whole neighborhood on my own :-§

Twinkly, twinkle, little star

A lot of people have been wondering about the meaning of my star tattoo. I usually say "...well I made it in the USA, you know...stars, freedom!?" I'm not lying when I'm saying that. USA represents a dream for me and I do associate it with my way to freedom, my star, the one that everybody has.

A better explanation to my tattoo can actually be found in what it really represents - constellations. I am not a religious person, actually I don't really believe in a higher entity a.k.a God. I do believe in infinity, the infinity of the universe and the infinity of essence. The guardian of my sign is planet Venus. Venus has a funny trajectory, reaching five points. Those five points represent the peaks of a pentagon - the kind of star I have on my neck. The pentagon represents a person, human. My tattoo reminds me that I am a nothing but a person born under a star. I am not infinity in shape, body - I am infinity in essence, soul. Venus is still the brightest star we can see during the night.

On top again

You know those things you fall in love it and at some point you love them so much that your afraid of getting disappointed?! This is me and the travelling mania I am slowly developing.

Last week I visited, on fast forward, two of Europe's greatest historical capitals, London and Paris. Maybe the quickness of the visit made the experience "dirty". Of all my travelling I found both as the darkest, dirtiest cities I have ever been in, Bucharest included.

London, I arrived around 6 (UK time) at Heathrow, and the second I looked out the plane's window, I remembered the beautiful Nordic sunset from Denmark. The darkness was similarly warm. I felt familiar, maybe because everything was in English :P. I went around the city only a bit (Buckingham, The Parliament, Big Ben, Westminster Abby, The Eye). I would have liked to see more, but it was cold and the poor illuminated streets made things look darker and colder, and I constantly had the feeling that I have to go to bed. The chaotic direction of cars was confusing and dazzling...though I wasn't scared, I felt like getting out of the streets as soon as possible. The feeling was tripled by the sight of homeless every here and there. When I got home I realized that I forgot about London's bridge, so I'll just have another reason to go there, this time by day...in a warmer season.

Paris was even quicker. I didn't even realize when the train we were on crossed the channel and got us in the suburbs of Paris. The sight wasn't so great. I've seen these gipsy built suburbs for a million times on TV, but never got goose bumps. You cannot imagine the dirt and poverty standing to be noticed next to a city of luxury and history. Once we got in the city, I had the feeling of familiarity again. The language is a complete puzzle to me, but the faces, clothing and architecture made me feel like home. The stint of the underground in Paris, could not be neutral to me. They urgently need to drop one of those famous perfume bottles in the underground. I didn't see much...but in April I'll go back and investigate :)

On top of it all, these cities are so expensive...and in my opinion....without reason. My no. 1 is still San Francisco...and my no. 1 1/2 is Madrid.