In one of her
sleepless nights Christine Thϋrmer learnt about Via Transilvanica and set out on
this journey alone, as she’s always done boldly and fearlessly. And instead of
learning how to ask for things in Romanian or to thank she chose to learn only
two words, ‘singura’ the Romanian for ‘alone’ and ‘urs’, which is ‘bear’ in
Romanian. She hiked through the area while the road wasn’t marked yet and
befriended Alin over a pint of the local plum brandy called ‘palinca’.
Christine: When I came here first I couldn’t speak a single word. I believe
that any route teaches you something, you may learn things on the way. So, in
Romania I learnt the word ‘singura’, alone because the lady who welcomed me
when I arrived had cooked a meal for four persons and I had to say pas. Had to
tell her that I was alone and can eat for two people but not for four. The
second word was ‘urs’ the Romanian for bear because there is still this danger.
So, this is what my Romanian sounds like, ‘alone, bla,bla, bla, urs, urs.
Alin Uşeriu,
coordinator of the Tăşuleasa Social Association, initiator of the Via
Transilvanica project, also known as the road you cannot get lost on, recalled
how happy he was when he met Christine:
Alin Useriu: I
have fallen in love with Christine forever because the project we coordinated
and implemented in the past five years needed an ambassador like someone from
heaven and Christine proved to be that very ambassador. She is actually the
first woman to have finished Via Transilvanica because she walked over 60
thousand kilometers around the world. Then she dedicated an entire chapter to
Via Transilvanica in the book she wrote. We couldn’t get a better international
ambassador for this route and because she reaches out exactly to the people who
must come to Via Transilvanica she is also very present here. We are glad that
she liked it and that she keeps pointing this hiking route to her very numerous
readership. Furthermore, she is also very generous. She presented us with her
first book, which we have translated because we wish to build this social category
of hikers who can found themselves on such picturesque roads like Via
Transilvanica. So we are going to launch a book by Christine shortly!
Alin Uşeriu told
us why Christine’s book is worth reading
Alin Useriu: Christine
has just come back from Japan and she says that our route has a correspondent
in Japan now. I can say there was no better decision in my life than to set out
on a long journey. I went to Camino de Santiago, but after I had met Christine
I realized that I wasn’t actually prepared for that trip. I was carrying a 17
kilo backpack and I was trying to reach the destination before everybody on
that way. Christine came and told me, ‘your backpack should not weigh more than
5-6 kilos. You have to leave at home all the unnecessary things, including
those in your head.’ That was my first right step so to say, and the moment
zero of my becoming a real rambler on Via Transilvanica. It was a true deep
spiritual experience for me.
Meeting you is
the most important thing, Alin went on to say adding:
Alin Useriu: This
is what a long-distance walk does: it allows one to meet oneself, at a certain
point. I arrived in Caraş Severin and at a certain time I realized that ivy is
my favourite plant because unless it had a tree, a building or other structure
to climb on, it would grow on the ground like other plants. And I believe that
this credo of ours, Via Transilvanica, made this route possible in five years.
And I was in good health to cover all these 14 hundred kilometers and meet
people who said, ‘how wonderful it was for this to happen in our location!’
Christine has her own stone in the town of Cugir. It’s a very pretty stone
carved by a Bulgarian, Ivan Ivanov and features a woman standing on the globe,
as she actually is, a globetrotter who surrounded the earth one and a half
times! I believe the most important word here is cooperation. Because if we
want to have a better world we need to cooperate with each other and find
solutions. And this is what we are so beautifully doing here at Via
Transilvanica, a project, which has even attracted such an experienced hiker as
Christine. The Road that Unites People’ is a slogan we took very seriously and
have been cooperating to have a journey and road we cannot get stranded
on.
Christine Thϋrmer wants to
encourage women to set out on this adventure because they are those who are
waiting for the right time: to get ready, get money and all or get fit and in
this way they become unable to enjoy the trip altogether. Her message is that
if she, who is neither fit nor slim, who is actually overweight, wears glasses
and has flat feet can, we all can.
(bill)
