The National Day- 1st of December

I went in the morning to the center of Cluj-Napoca, to celebrate the National Day with my countrymen. But nothing really special, a short religious ceremony in the Orthodox Cathedral, wreaths, local political figures, soldiers, fanfare, silent people, quite children, but interested in the soldiers weapons and rain. Happy birthday Romania.

Cazanul de tuica

I took these pictures at a brandy distillery (cazan de tuica) in a small Transylanian village (Sacalu de padure), in Mures district, few km from my grandma's place. Even though the European Union standards are not totally respected, tuica is clean and strong, sometimes even more than 60 degrees.

New Moon

Saturday night around the moon was a strange circle. Without a tripod and with a 2 second shutter speed the picture came out not very clean, but the phenomenon is interesting.

A Saturday in Central Park (Cluj-Napoca)

Saturday I was a bit melancholic. I was listening "Nothing else matters", reflecting and watching how the sun goes down. It was that kind of autumn day when you don't want to be in the house. It was quite warm for a November day, so I made two sandwiches, I took my camera and I left the house, going to Central Park, to admire the "nature" and see what people were doing. Bellow are some pictures, quite many actually, but even though there are not master pieces, I really like them, because you can see the diversity of people, each of them with his/her stories and thoughts.
I love deversity and is great how a park can be the place where everyone can find a path.

Guy

This week, Tuesday, a friend of mine invited me to Carturesti for a session of African stories. The storyteller was Guy from Ivory Coast, who came to Cluj-Napoca few months ago and he made a nice atmosphere, especially with his "drum" (I don't know the name) which attracted many hands. Search for him, because he is an interesting story and is learning Romanian quite fast.

Steps on leafs

Busy hands

Double bass

When I arrived in Cluj I participated to a baptism. After the religious ceremony everybody went to a restaurant for a small party where three gypsies played a really cool music. They are from Mociu, Cluj district, and they are quite famous in this region. The man who plays double bass really impressed me with his passion for his music and even though he was really short in comparison with his instrument, he was the master.

Naomi

Naomi is a special girl for me. A great voice and a good soul, she inspired me and made my interest for Africa grow. She was an intern for Atlantic Bridge before I came and is still involved in different activities. This week she spent one day in Kruiningen and because I didn't have enough pictures with her I decided to take few more. There she is.

Bike trip in the evening

When the last youth from Europe Week left I was a little sad. At our center it was quite and that made me remember that I have less than one month from my EVS experience. I've got used with life in Holland, in Kruiningen and at Atlantic Bridge. Last evening I had the feeling that I haven't tasted enough from the region that I live in. So, I took my bike, my backpack and my camera and I started a longer trip. I biked almost 40 km in about three hours and I tried to feel and capture the Netherlands, in a way that I always want to remember. It was a great feeling and only darkness made me to come back home.

Europe Week, beach day

For ten days we organized at Atlantic Bridge a multilateral exchange with more than 40 youth from seven countries (Romania, Lithuania, Czech Republic, Wales, Germany, Belgium and Netherlands). We prepared many interesting activities for them, sports, arts, trainings and other workshops and trips, thus we spent some time at De Banjaard, a really nice beach at the North Sea. The weather wasn't very good so we played few games that made the youth quite involved.