A new year, a new traveling experience

One week, two new European cities on my map....two Bs, two different cultures but with one common factor: WAR. My trip started in Beograd and continued with Berlin, a cultural loop through Europe.

Belgrade
We went to Serbia to a black metal music festival: Darkness Rising. As I am not a fan, the trip was labeled from the very beginning as an experience that would take me to a new, not very popular touristic capital in Europe.

A country neighboring Romania to South-West, a country that went through war not long ago and was bombed even from Romania...sad but true. Though we stayed next to Belgrade because of the festival  (at hotel Sucevic, a four start hotel that was worse than the worse hostel I ever went to), and were more than tired every morning, we managed to visit Belgrade. We walked for about 4 hours around Belgrade's center. Not much to visit except for a huge Orthodox church and an old fortress right at the other end of the city. The city's vibe is very similar to Bucharest. I am talking about a capital that was recently bombed and is not an EU member. Stray dogs, garbage, street vendors...these are common points between an EU capital and just a regular European capital's city center. Amazing or not...I have not seen as many gypsy as in Bucharest...which basically, in my view, makes us the lords of gypsies in Europe...

We went by car, so we entered Serbia at Portile de Fier and drove along the Danube. The scenery here is absolutely amazingly beautiful. The Danube flows through the mountains before entering Romania, turning from a sea like river to a stream...before heading for the Black Sea. Golubac Fortress is an old Turkish crossing point over the Danube. An old fortress lost into the Danube, unfortunately not very well taken care of.

The festival was the very interesting experience I expected. We had great company and made cool new friends...The cold weather and all organisational issues were nothing to the great time we had in the end. In the first day I was absolutely frozen and literally couldn't feel my toes anymore. The bus back to the hotel was never on time and kept changing schedules without us knowing. It was the first edition, and we were expecting them not to be super organised, but at some point it was just amazing...and it seamed like the organizers stopped caring. Black metal bands singing after sunrise :) I am sure that was something new for them as well.

Berlin

No time to get used to being home as I had to leave for another European B. For me, Germany is the womb  of civilization. The city was a first timer, but the country not. I have not been to Germany since I was 13...when it was the first country I ever visited. A memory that sticks with me because of the sadness I felt when I got back to Romania back then.

I did not like Berlin as much. The city is continuously being built since the '90s, and because of that it's not very inviting for tourists. Everything is just too clean and very well organised, and an obsessive - compulsive like me would go mad in such a place. I found out some interesting facts about the city though: 

• it has 153 museums which I only got to see from the outside, 
• one third of Berlin's citizens are immigrants, first or second generation, 
• there is no minimum wage law and though some would like to have that, others don't.

If I were to describe the city in a few words, the first things that come to my mind are: linear, massive, organized.

Unfortunately, our trip was rather short, but we did manage to see the most important touristic attractions, even if we could not get a real vibe of the city, maybe next time.

My favorite thing about the city was the street art. I didn't get to see much because we were mainly going through the center, but it is something particular about it.

Charlie and Sophie

Charlie and Sophie are my new foster kittens for a couple of weeks. They are the smallest kittens I ever fostered and I am super in love with them. I could stay and watch them all they long.

They are brother and sister, and about 3 weeks old. They've been found under a car - lost or abandoned, alone for sure. They were two little flea bags with typical eye problems and a little flu. They've been taken to the vet and already started their treatment. In a couple of days they should be in full health, but not yet ready for adoption as they are still too small.

They still eat special milk formula twice a day, though they also love regular cat food (of course, for kittens) and dig their whole faces in it. To my surprise they only use the litter box. As small as they are, they walk around the bathroom and climb up the litter box. They never miss :) I knew that cats have a special instinct for this, but this time I actually see it...and can't believe it.

They take me as their mother and follow me around the house. They seam to be afraid to cross the bathroom door if I don't pick them up :) They lick me and purr when we cuddle. The girl likes to sleep in my hair and the boy in my arms with his belly up, so I can pet him.

They still don't see very well, and often get scared of each other  They play together and even fight, probably getting ready for "the laws of the jungle". Taking care of them, I realize how difficult it must be for a mother cat to care for 5 or 6 like them, especially when she is just as vulnerable. The streets are definitely not an appropriate place for animals to live and struggle, and I definitely can't understand those who abandon mother dogs or cats with their babies.

I recycle. Do you?

I can still remember the first time I recycled....it was all my books and notebooks from the 1st to the 8th grade. They were all filled with memories and I just didn't want them in the trash. They were not garbage...they were the notebooks on which I learnt how to write, make calculations, draw and develop my general knowledge...they were in a way like a treasure to me. Luckily my father has always been a green person. At the time, he was a geography teacher and very much involved in ecological education and school camps. He is the one who made me believe that if I recycle my notebooks they would not become regular garbage, but would return to life in a different way, and all my experiences will be out there forever :)

I still recycle, though it's not easy to do that in Romania. I recycle about once a month one full bag of paper and one of plastic (also some glass from time to time). To make my life easier, I bought a double sided laundry container from Ikea, and in one of them I collect plastic and in the other one paper. This makes it easier when you have to put them in the containers. I keep them in the kitchen as this is a "garbage" that does not smell or cause any problems, so you don't have to worry about that.

I recycle anything paper and anything plastic. I had some doubts about whether in Romania all plastics are recycled, so I contacted several different recycling companies and NGOs, and they all replayed the same: any type of plastic is recyclable.

The other BIG question is about the fact that usually materials are collected together. This basically means that you struggle to sort them and in the end the all end up in the same place. Again, I received the exact same answer from every organisation I contacted: they are indeed collected together, but that does not mean that they all end up in the regular garbage. Romania recycles too little and so the industry is not very well developed, and as a result not enough investments come this way. For this reason, not enough trucks can be bought to transport the material...that's also the reason why at some point the containers get full and nobody comes to collect them in time. If more people would recycle than the need would grow and as a consequence more money would be put into this.

The important thing I found out in my quest is that the city hall (or district representatives) can be forced to bring special recycling containers next to your house....but you have to request that. You can easily do that by writing an official letter. You don't have to have your legal residence in that place...you just have to live there. I have not tried this, but it's next on my list :)

To make it easier, you can download the letter model from here:
http://www.viatadupacolectare.ro/resurse/trimite-o-scrisoare-autoritatilor

The movie I received from one of the NGO's is perfect for this post, and I really advice you to watch it. I am sure you will identify yourself in many of the questions raised and be sure that you will receive your answer.

I was so happy in Denmark because they make you recycle by law and you had special containers everywhere. I hope that some day this will also be available in my country...a very very very far away day from now. 

I know that many of my friends recycle, but I wonder how many? It's so easy to do it...the only trouble you get yourself through is taking the materials from your house to the containers. If you manage to get a container next to your apartment building that it's even easier. It's like everything else in life, one you do it for the first time, then it doesn't seam as hard anymore. I really think it's a matter of lack of education and laziness.

Don't expect things to change if you don't/ are not willing to change....