Love

Once upon a time, there was an island where all the feelings lived: Happiness, Sadness, Knowledge, and all of the others include Love. One day it was announced to the feelings that the island would sink, so all repaired their boats and left. Love wanted to persevere until the last possible moment. When the island was almost sinking, Love decided to ask for help.

Richness was passing by Love in a grand boat. Love said, "Richness, can you take me with you?" Richness answered, "No, I can't. There is a lot of gold and silver in my boat. There is no place here for you."

Love decided to ask Vanity who was also passing by in a beautiful vessel, "Vanity, please help me!" "I can't help you Love. You are all wet and might damage my boat." Vanity answered.

Sadness was close by so Love asked for help, "Sadness, let me go with you." "Oh... Love, I am so sad that I need to be by myself!"

Happiness passed by Love too, but she was so happy that she did not even hear when Love called her!

Suddenly, there was a voice, "Come Love, I will take you." It was an elder. Love felt so blessed and overjoyed that he even forgot to ask the elder his name. When they arrived at dry land, the elder went his own way.

Love realizing how much he owed the elder and asked Knowledge, another elder, "Who helped me?" "It was Time," Knowledge answered. "Time?" asked Love. "But why did Time help me?" Knowledge smiled with deep wisdom and answered, "Because, only Time is capable of understanding how great Love is."

[Source: Internet]

Fell the Music: Romanian Athenaeum

The Romanian Athenaeum is the symbol of the city as far back as its 1888 inauguration. The work of French architect Albert Galleron, who also designed the National Bank of Romania, the building was inaugurated on February 26, 1888, and was built almost entirely with money donated by ordinary citizens of the capital, when a campaign called 'Give a penny for the Athenaeum' rescued the project from folly after the original patrons ran out of funds.

The first concert of the Bucharest Philharmonic Orchestra took place on March 5, 1889, under the Athenaeum’s dome. Between the two Wars, the hall was embellished with a superb fresco, and at George Enescu's suggestion, was endowed with an organ.

Romanian Athenaeum is situated in Revolution Plaza (on Bd. Calea Victoriei). With its sublime baroque cupola, it stands proudly at the flux of the city's busiest public square, competing with the Athenee Palace Hilton hotel, the Royal Palace and the old National Library.

Romanian Athenaeums is the place to hear classical music; the resident orchestra is the George Enescu Philharmonic. The auditorium can seat 1,000 spectators comfortably, and is renowned worldwide for its outstanding acoustics.

It this Romania that you know?

At what are you thinking when you hear “Romania”? These are the answers that I got from a professional group:

• I have been only once in Romania (it was approximately 8 years ago). You have definitely very nice mountains. I love them. I do not know how it is now but when I was there I could make tent everywhere without any punishment...from my point of view it is last place in Europe where man can really feel free (Alps are horrible in this point of view). Unfortunately, I got some bad experience with gypsy people on south of Romania: they sit next road and once when they saw that we are not going to stop, they just throw stone against our car, next the front window. They could even kill us :-(.
• First though - Count Dracula;-). I've never been to Romania so this is almost everything.
• Dacia
• Beautiful Carpathian Mountains, largest ethnic minority in Europe, December 1989, RMDSZ, Trianon, and of course the gypsies on the side of the road. The Csango people of E. Romania & Moldova a good people, however.
• For me Romania = great business opportunities and new market for our services and products at the moment! We have to be fast, because the Romanian IT companies getting better and better.
• When I hear Romania, growing opportunity comes to my mind :).
• Loving Romania and visiting this country several times. Nevertheless, last time we’ve escaped fast from the mountains with three small children (two at the back seat) hearing bears. Brrr… We have friends in the Sibiu, beautifully repaired city and I love to go there again. However I am really not sure if to go there now with the car without a spare wheel. Routes are not the best.
• I've been there once and what I have seen: nice people, nice culture, country of great opportunities and the best place to arrange a motorbike trips (winding roads with a breathtaking views)
• I'd love to go to Romania and already have some friends there :) Looking forward to doing business in there soon :)
• I don’t think that there is a significant difference between safety in the Bucharest , Sophia or Prague. The difference for me is in the accessibility of the services far away from the capital that helps to solve the trouble if something happens. No one put the professionalism of the specialists in Romania to the doubt. I know several very good specialists for the quality management and process improvement from the south-east Europe. Good luck.
• Beautiful country. Absolutely gorgeous!!! And people are very honest in their behavior and open towards others. And ....the food is great :)
• No journey to Eastern Europe would be complete without paying a visit there. Outstanding landscapes. Simply magnificent.
• Normally Hungarians go only to Transsylvania. I am exception: I have been on business trips several times to Bucharest only. First time I landed in 1996, I thought: Oh my God, how many years they are behind us. Last time I was there in 2000 I thought: Oh my God how many years they will beet us if they continue at this pace. I met with Romanian businessmen and women, and I had positive impressions, however to make business there is not easy.
• I expect that Romania has the same trouble as all post-communistic countries including Czech, Slovak or Hungary: for local companies friendship is more important decision attribute than quality of a supplier. On the other hand, subsidiaries of large international companies have decision headquarter abroad and managed by people in USA, Japan, Germany,… that prefer local subsidiaries of their global partners and do the “waste time” with small local companies.
• I visited your country in 1999... Very nice Retezat and Sureanu mountains, strange people around the railway station in Arad around midnight. Summarized, I have good impression and recommend to everyone to see the mountains.
• Personally, I find Romania perspective for business. So I wonder to look for business partners in Romania in the nearest future

Romania's romance

Due to its geographical location, Romania was always the meeting point of political and territorial interests. The Romans, and later the Ottoman, Austro-Hungarian and Russian Empires have all tried in turn to take over this land. This makes Romanian history particularly interesting, as the local people always stood up against foreign occupation, managing to preserve its culture and traditions.

Historically, the descendants of two very old peoples: The Dacians and The Romans. The Dacians were the ancient inhabitants of the land. Due to the legendary richness of this region, Dacia was a great temptation for the Roman Emperors. But Dacia was not easy to conquer, and general after general had to bow in front of the brave natives. Finally, the Emperor Traianus conquered the country in A.D.106. The celebration of the victory lasted 123 days. Seven years later, Traianus erected a monument depicting his victory, which is called Traianus's Column and still stands in Rome. By the mixing of the two peoples, the Romanian people emerged. As a proof of Rome's powerful influence, not only the land was later called Romania, but also, the Romanian language evolved from Latin.

What is Romania today? Come to see and don’t believe all “political” stories.

Vladimireşti Monastery

Vladimireşti Monastery is situated between Galati and Tecuci, at 4 km from Tudor Vladimirescu commune. This monastery is one which has the greatest number of nuns of Romania, after Agapia and Varatec. Its history is in connection with the life of Veronica Barbu Gurau (in 1941, she took the veil to become Mother Veronica).

In summer of 1936 there was a drought. One particularly hot day Vasilica came running into the village announcing a miracle: she has seen the Holy Virgin, Jesus and an old man, God, in a beam of light which turned into flame when touching the earth on the Gurgueta Hill outside the village! They had given her a command to pass on to the people: to build a convent and dedicate it to the Holy Virgin, for the redemption of Romania. They told her the country would be faced with terrible trials in the coming years so the nuns should pray unceasingly for mercy. The nuns should never number more than 200 and the church, cells and convent were to be the work of their own hands. Work began that very week. She carved a cross on the bark of the old tree where God had spoken to her and the news of her vision spread. Girls from nearby villages came to help her and the peasants gave them the land with the tree.

After being closed by communist regime in 1956, on Christmas Day of 1989, just three days after the Romanian Revolution, the nuns, lead by Mother Veronica, were returning to their rightful home, to their place where, in their hearts, they wanted to celebrate the birth of Christ. They found their monastery in a poor condition. It had been used as a home for mentally handicapped children and the church had been used as a gymnasium and storage area. The tiled floor was damaged, the stained-glass windows smashed and the frescoes deteriorated. But there were some surprises - a portrait of King Mihai still hung just inside the doorway, covered throughout the communist period by another picture, and many of the icons had been kept safely by villagers and were now returned. Many of the original nuns joined her together with several younger girls.

Nowadays, Vladimireşti is an incredible working community which is largely self-sufficient.

[Ref.: http://www.manastirea-vladimiresti.go.ro/vladimiresti-eng.htm]

Gara de Nord: Your Gate to Bucharest

On October 4, 1868 a law passed for the construction of railways in Romania. It allowed the H.B. Strousberg Prussian Concession to build, in three years, the first Romanian railway network. On September 22, 1869 works were started at the main railway station of Bucharest: Târgovişte Station. It was opened to the public on 27 November 1870, when the railway Roman-Galaţi-Bucharest-Piteşti was inaugurated.

Built after a plan proposed and approved by the Technical Council of the Public Works Ministry, the Târgovişte Station was thought as a transit station, with six lines, direct access to the three storage areas (one of them was for perishable merchandise) and a depot for locomotives with eight places. The last line insured direct access to the Reparation Atelier for Locomotives and Wagons.

The passengers' quarters with a single floor was 93.4 meters long and was made of a central building, guarded by two towers. It had two clitoral wings and the front was parallel to the Calea Targovistei Street. Between the two towers there were three main gates for passenger access. The entrance became in 1896 the Royal Salon, specially created for the visits that the King of Austria, Frantz Ioseph 1st and King of Serbia, Alexandru Obrenovici paid the king of Romania.

In the summer of 1887, at the Bucharest Central Atelier for Locomotive and Wagons Repairs a gas plant was built that supplied power to the installations in the station and in 1897, a power plant became operational. The plant insured electric lighting to the station. Once the station was modernized, the name changed to Gara de Nord (North Railway Station).

Since then, a lot of work was done to keep in line with traffic increase and continuous modernization of railways transportation.

Now, almost in the middle of the town, Gara de Nord is the main railway station in Bucharest and the largest one in Romania. With good connections with subway, local transportation and international airport, Gara de Nord is your gate to visit Romania.

Apple's Wisdom

Steve Jobs: "Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything - all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart."

Silicon Valley

About 50 years ago, the authorities of Stanford University (California) tried to solve their financial problems by leasing part of the university land to high-tech companies for 99 years . The original bequest of his farm by Leland Stanford prohibited the sale of the land, but there was nothing to prevent its being leased, so the Stanford Industrial Park was founded. The goal was to create a center of high technology close to a cooperative university.

Geographically, Silicon Valley is an area surrounding San Jose, California, in the Santa Clara Valley. Technologically, it is the center of today's computer industry.

But don’t think of Silicon Valley like an area dominated by robots and metallic-futuristic architecture. It is a spot with natural attractions. It is an attractive place for residents to live and tourists to go to see. The areas around Silicon Valley can also be visited and enjoyed.

The Two Wolves

A native American grandfather was talking to his grandson about how he felt.

He said: „I feel as if I have two wolves fighting in my heart. One wolf is the vengeful, angry, violent one. The other wolf is the loving, compassionate one.”

The grandson asked him, „Which wolf will win the fight in your heart?”

The grandfather answered: „The one I feed.”

[Source: Native American Story]

Mărţişor: Welcoming the Spring

Mărţişor is a traditional celebration of the beginning of Spring. It is a symbol of friendship and love, appreciation and respect, given especially to women.

The name Mărţişor is the diminutive of the name for March (Martie, in Romanian), and thus literally means "little" or "dear March". (It is also the folk name for this month.) It is made with red and white string, from which a small decoration is tied, and which is offered by people on the 1st day of March. Usually, women wear it pinned to their blouses for the first days of this month.

Red is the color of fire, sun, blood, and the symbol of life, associated with the woman. White is the color of the cold snow, foamy waters, the clouds, and also of man's wisdom. The thread of the Mărţişor represents the union of the feminine and the masculine principles, the vital forces which give birth to the eternal cycle of the nature.