Category: Inside Romania

We are used to enjoying and bragging about the successes of our Olympians. Romanian teenagers seem very capable of winning medals at the mathematics, physics, chemistry, or computer science Olympiads in the country and abroad, which is really gratifying. In today’s column, however, we will talk about a project called the “Smile Olympics”, through which the organizer aims to bring joy and normality to the lives of children from villages, who live in disadvantaged conditions.

Simona Grigoraş Olaru, founding president of Topolino TA Association and of the “Azi copil, maine adult” (Today a child, tomorrow an adult) Association, told us about her story and her projects:

“The story is strong behind me, and guided my steps towards many projects and destiny. Topolino started in 2017, following the medical story of my child, who was born with a congenital malformation, and from there things took on a different meaning in my life. Officially, since 2017 I deal with children with medical and social challenges, and I also go to the more special cases in the villages, where you don’t get very often, except at Christmas or Easter. And I always go because over the years I have discovered many cases of children who are alone, raised only by grandparents, or only by older siblings. And somehow, slowly, slowly, many things took on a different meaning in my life, and I have stronger motivation with each case I encounter.”

The personal life story also prepared her to face challenges, and that’s how the “Smile Olympics in villages” project appeared, about which Simona Grigoraş Olaru told us:

“It’s a project from my soul, I initiated it in 2018, I started with it in Dor Mărunt commune, in Călăraşi, where with the director of the school in Dor Mărunt we gathered children with more special social situations from single-parent families, with a high risk of dropping out of school, children with medical conditions. And we thought about how to make these children, with a destiny perhaps a little sadder than others, to laugh, to gain beautiful memories, to have some examples of life (n.r. to be able to say) that they also want to become so when they are bigger. And, starting from this idea to bring smiles where there is sadness, we created this concept “Smile Olympics”, where we have a lot of activities, starting from the area of ​​education and awareness on nutrition, where we teach these children from the villages about what is good is to eat, cleaner food, and not just crackers and juices, try not to eat only sweets, and eat a healthy pepper from the garden, a cheese from a cow or a goat, it depends on what animals are around. Beyond this educational aspect, we went to a play area, because the “Olympiad of smiles” means playing a lot, and we initiated all kinds of team games for them, because I’m interested in the cohesion between them. At the end, we usually finish with a picnic, either on the sports field or on the grass, and there we sit and tell stories. We talk about what everyone has at home: a grandmother, a puppy, a cat, a sister.”

We found out that the participants do puzzle competitions, connect dots on a piece of paper by discovering clues to other games, or in the open air participate in ingeniously designed relay tests, so that later everything is rewarded with food that they, in general, only see in pictures, and with hygiene products.

Simona Grigoraş Olaru also announced another project:

“On June 1st we will go to the “Mother and Child” Settlement, for children who were victims of domestic violence, in Giurgiu. It is a parish settlement, SS. Michael and Gabriel, about 5 km away from the town of Giurgiu, where mothers and children who are in Child Protection live, precisely to give them a transition to peace and protection. Now, on June 1st, we go to laugh a lot, play, and bring them what they need: food, clothing, toys, games, furniture.”

And as an exhortation for all of us, Simona Grigoraş Olaru, founding president of the Topolino TA Association and the “Azi copil, maine adult” (Today a child, tomorrow an adult) Association, added:

“Let’s never forget where we started from and be good, because we don’t know in which direction life takes us. Throughout my life and journey, this is what I have learned! I have many projects that are in great need of support, through volunteers, through partnerships, because it is so simple to change things for the better around us, we just have to want to do so.”

Prompts to which there is nothing left to add!

The “Dobrogeanca” ensemble of the Sulina House of Culture was founded in 2010 for young people who love folklore. Full of energy and enthusiasm they perform folk dances from the region of Dobrogea, but also from other areas of the country. With fast and precise steps, with a versatile choreography, this ensemble fills the viewers’ hearts with joy, because it expresses health and liveliness, but also appreciation for traditional values, something that is increasingly rare among the younger generation. All the more joy to see young men and women aged 13-19, who are happy to work on their skills in this way.

Florentina Dunaev, a cultural referent at the House of Culture in Sulina, told us about the children who make up the “Dobrogeanca” ensemble:

“The children start at the age of 3-4, with easier dances, with games, and then they become members of Dobrogeanca, where choreography is more difficult. Roman Jora is in charge of choreography, and I take care of the training part, so together we do our best to prove that culture is a reality in Sulina. There will be an international festival in the autumn and we hope to participate.”

Andreea Maria Pioara is 19 and she told us her story:

“I’ve been a member of this ensemble for about 7 years, I think. But I’ve been coming to the House of Culture for 10 years. What does it mean to us? Everything. The music, the dancing, it’s how we express ourselves and get rid of all the stress. It’s pretty difficult, but we work hard, and we like it, we try to improve every day. We are nervous when there’s a show, but on the other hand we know we’ve done our best and we can aim high.”

Alexandru Mihail Serbov, aged 15, is another passionate member of this ensemble :

“I’ve been a member for five years, but I’ve been coming to the House of Culture for more than 10 years. To me, dance is passion, is everything. When there are contests, of course we get a bit stressed, but when the music starts, we forget about that and we find ourselves back into our world.”

Asked what they would like to do in the future, these enthusiastic young people told us that they couldn’t imagine a life without dancing, as Alexandru Mihail stressed :

“Whatever I do, dance will always be part of my life and wherever I go I want to dance.”
In turn, Andreea Maria told us :
“I am currently attending the Naval Academy, but as my dance partner said, I will dance no matter my age ; I want a part of me to always be there.”

Usually, girls are more interested in dancing than boys, so we wanted to know how come they chose dancing instead of going to the gym, as most young people these days do. Alexandru Mihail Serbov said:

“I like to move, and I found myself in dancing, which lit a fire in my heart »
Andreea Maria Pioara added that dancing could be seen as a different type of sport, a team sport, but much more fun and entailing much more harmony.

Thanks to the talent and perseverance of those involved, the ensemble has become a well-known name by participating in various folklore festivals. The main goal of the group, made up of young people in love of beauty and harmony, is the promotion of traditional dances. Over the years, thanks to the beauty and vivacity of the dances, and the special presence on stage, the ensemble has been invited to performances and festivals in the country where it has won many awards and distinctions. The most remarkable have been the National Minorities Festival Trophy at the “Delta Celebrations” Festival (Sulina, 2017), the First Prize in the ethnic dance section of the “Lină Chiralină” Festival (Brăila, 2018); The award for the best choreographic musical show at the “Delta Celebrations” Festival (Sulina, 2019). As for the future plans, until the International Festival in the fall, the ensemble will participate this month in the in the Mackerel Festival in Maliuc and in June, in the National Minorities Competition Festival of the Sulina Delta Celebrations. But invitations to participate in various events also appear along the way, and our young people do not hesitate to follow them!

Afghanistan, Iraq, Africa, Mali, these are just some of the conflict zones where she flew with military transport operations. The longest flight was to and from Korea, a 40-hour round-trip flight to transport medical equipment. A flight that gave her food for thought was one with maximum visibility over the Sahara Desert. We are talking about Lieutenant Commander Simona Maierean: the first woman from Romania to fly a supersonic plane, and the first woman in Europe to obtain the certification of pilot in command of an aircraft from the Strategic Air Transport Group of SAC (Strategic Aircraft Capability), within the Multinational Strategic Transport Unit of NATO, from Papa Air Base in Hungary.

A series of premieres that started from the dream of a young woman, who, until her Air Force Academy courses, had not even flown a passenger plane. Lieutenant Commander Simona Maierean told us about the beginnings of her career.

“I entered the military system 20 years ago, even more. I wanted to fly, and then the option I found at hand was the military, because it’s much cheaper, on the one hand, and, on the other hand, it’s another thing to fly a fighter plane, or fly a military aircraft in general, rather than an airliner. And then that drove me to look for solutions to make this dream come true.”

Lieutenant Commander Simona Maierean told Radio Romania that training makes you feel unafraid:

“You will hear in aviation “make the movie of your flight”, that is, imagine it in your mind over and over again until you put that thing into practice. That’s what stunt pilots do, it’s normal. You have a plan, you don’t get on the plane without a backup plan. You have the plan in advance, you execute it, you have a back-up plan and so on, you don’t have time to think too much, in quotation marks.”

On March 13, 2009, Simona Maierean was the pilot of a MiG-21 LanceR. The first woman from Romania who flew a supersonic plane detailed for us:

“If you make a very tight turn at a very high incline, at a high speed, you can reach quite high accelerations, you don’t have to be in supersonic flight to do that. In supersonic you break the sonic threshold, but it’s not something you feel in your body, it doesn’t feel like extra gravitational acceleration. You feel it more at the equipment level. At least with the MIG 21, I don’t know how it is with the F16, so I’m talking from memory. When you were going from subsonic to supersonic and going through trans-sonic, there is a moment when the equipment can give you an erroneous indication, for a very short period, due to the waves that form and the pressures, and so on. But it is not so demanding on the body. However, flying a fighter jet is demanding per se. Think that on a mission they fly for an hour or two, it depends on the range of action of each plane, while on a transport they have a flight of a good few hours, 4, 5, 6, 10. You could not fly 10 hours in a fighter jet, continuously, because it’s something else.”

Since 2012, she no longer flies the MiG, and switched to the military transport Spartan. How was this transition?

“You don’t have to come at it from scratch, because you already have some knowledge of aviation, but instead it’s about flying with a crew, and then all this communication and “crew resource management”, as it is defined in the specialized language, crew management, is the practical novelty element, because you have learn the plane. You make the transition from another category of aircraft, you learn to fly that plane. That’s what you have to do, but crew management is really the art. You have to know how to listen to orders, not just give them. I was a commander, I was even an instructor on the C17 Globemaster, within the detachment from Papa airbase, of strategic transport aviation. I returned to the country, and here things are starting again, I am co-pilot on the Spartan and in training to be a commander. As I said earlier, you cannot execute a mission of any kind without people. And then it matters a lot how you relate. and how you maintain the balance between having a successful mission and having people satisfied, and in the right mindset: to help you, and to make things happen safely. “

Having worked so much with foreign pilots, Lieutenant Commander Simona Maierean told us what are the challenges for Romanian pilots:

“There was a time when there were really few flight hours, in any category. Especially the young ones, right out of school, flew very little. Things have changed, especially after 2014. And the differences began to be seen. The flight hours were more, and thus the change was also seen in terms of the way outsiders saw us, because we were doing extraordinary things with what we had, with very little. But you were making an effort to keep up with someone who was coming at you with thousands of flight hours. I remember, myself included, when I went to make the transition to the C-17, in the United States, I had flown for 10 hours that year, and my training partner – because I was going in a group of two – was a Dutchman who had flown 700 hours. There were 4 months in which I studied 12 hours a day, in order to reach a certain level. I succeeded, but it was a sustained effort!”

Although she has flown all over the world, Lieutenant Commander Simona Maierean says that nothing compares to the feeling of landing at home.

Spring is a time of regeneration and renewal of nature, so it’s no surprise that a group of cross-disciplinary artists together a group of pupils created an event called Eco-Sensoriality. Paths for communities of the future, aimed at building together alternative communities of the future. The event was held in both Petroșani and Bucharest. In Petroșani, at the headquarters of the Urban Lab association, the participants had the opportunity to take an active part in the immersive experience of the eco-sensorial installation that sets all senses in motion and to explore the visual universe of the planet with the help of virtual reality. The installation also showcased the work of the robotics teams in Jiu Valley, a team of young people who won awards at home and abroad for their contribution in the field of robotics.

A conference was also held by the three associations involved, namely Macaia, via the Plastic Art Performance Collective, Urban Lab and Creatorium from Norway. Entitled Reconnecting with nature/ Å gjenopprette kontakten med naturen, the subject was tackled from various perspectives, at local and European level. The questions explored included the protection of the environment and the need for an active involvement of communities and the role of culture and activism in making a space useful again, whether in the rural or urban environment.

Alina Tofan, performer and artistic director of the project explains why the city of Petroșani was chosen as the focal point of the project both as an actual working space and as a place of artistic inspiration:

“Spatial mining is becoming one of the tendencies of the future. Unfortunately, we tend to colonise space and other planets, and look for new lifeforms. Meanwhile Jiu Valley remains a place where, its resources now long since exploited, nothing seems to have been left behind, apart from many possibilities to reconnect with something we still have: nature. For the last two years we’ve come up with a number of projects for Jiu Valley and this time we’re happy to have two guests from abroad, from Norway, and I think it’s a way in which we can also truly rediscover nature and the stories of the people in these parts. Art can open up worlds and bring light where there was a lot of suffering and darkness.”

Eco-Sensoriality. Paths for communities of the future proposes the vision of a planet untouched by humans and therefore as yet unexplored. A planet where vegetal, mineral and animal species exist and thrive outside of the devastating consequences of global warming and pollution. Dana Codrea is one of the pupils involved in the robotics project:

“The event is about building alternative communities of the future together. The project aims to combine creativity and imagination with various concepts relating to the connection between people and nature. For me, the project is an opportunity to form connections with new people and places and for the team it’s about new connections with the community and an opportunity to use technology in developing our community.”

Can we redefine the role and position of humans in relation to the environment and other species? Can we imagine a world in which the human narrative of the world is not dominant, but in dialogue and harmony with all the other non-human perceptions? These are some of the questions to which the project is trying to find an answer.

There is a saying that if you don’t know your history, you condemn yourself to repeat it. Thus, knowing the history of over a century of the gold treasury of the National Bank of Romania (NBR) is very important, which is why, at the beginning of March, the Gold Treasury of the National Bank of Romania exhibition was hosted at the headquarters of the European Parliament in Brussels . It is part of a tradition of the National Bank of Romania, which has undertaken the mission of making this history known, as Brândușa Costache, Head of the Archive, Library, and Information Dissemination Service with the Secretariat Directorate of the NBR, told us:

“The success of this exhibition actually represents the continuation of the efforts dedicated to this problem since the interwar period. The history of the Treasury begins in 1916, when, in the context generated by Romania’s participation in the First World War, in the face of the advance of the armies of the Central Powers, the state institutions, including the National Bank, were forced to withdraw to Iasi. The treasury of the National Bank, in the amount of 91.5 tons of gold, the jewels of Queen Marie, the valuables held by the commercial banks, but also countless goods belonging to the national cultural heritage, were sent to Russia, to be sheltered on the territory of an allied state. But the empire of the czars proved to be a colossus with feet of clay; in the fall of 1917, the Bolsheviks took over power. Shortly after, in January 1918, diplomatic relations with Romania were broken, and the Romanian values stored in the Kremlin were seized. Diplomatic efforts to recover these valuables began immediately after the end of the war, but without success. Over time, there have been two partial returns of Romanian cultural valuables, but these returns did not include the NBR’s gold treasury.”

Brândușa Costache, head of the archive service of the NBR, continued her story: “Seeking to keep the public’s attention on this issue, in 1934 the National Bank supported the publication of Mihail Grigore Romașcanu’s volume The Romanian Treasury in Moscow. After 1990, the Central Bank resumed actions aimed at reminding the public of this issue. Among these are the debates within the Cristian Popişteanu Annual Banking History and Civilization Symposium, produced by the Magazin Istoric Magazine, with the support of the National Bank. There are also volumes published by Cristian Păunescu, adviser to the Governor of the National Bank of Romania, as well as the participation of the representative of the NBR in the Mixed Romanian-Russian Commission’s Works, established in 2003, to study issues stemming from the history of bilateral relations, including the issue of Romania’s treasury deposited in Moscow during the First World War. We can say, therefore, that we already have a long tradition, and the organization of this exhibition, at the headquarters of the European Parliament in Brussels, comes to continue it.”

We asked our interlocutor why the need to organize this exhibition was felt now, and why in Brussels:

“The current international context was considered by the management of the bank to be favorable for the internationalization of this issue, because we need international recognition of Russia’s obligation to return to Romania the more than 91.5 tons of fine gold from the BNR stock. That is why the documents that the Bank keeps in its Archive attest to the existence of this claim, whose validity cannot be doubted. In this context, the National Bank joined the initiative of MEP Eugen Tomac, who brought this issue to the attention of the European Parliament, through the Resolution regarding the return of Romania’s national gold treasury illegally appropriated by Russia. This was debated and adopted by the European Parliament, demonstrating the support enjoyed by Romania’s cause. “

Vintage photographs, along with maps or photographs based on historical documents, are part of the exhibits presented. Brândușa Costache detailed:

“The exhibition represented a good opportunity to bring before the widest possible audience images of the original protocols, signed in Iasi and Moscow, by representatives of the Romanian and Russian authorities, on the occasion of transport and storage in Russia of the NBR Treasury and other Romanian values. The documents drawn up in Moscow at the beginning of 1917, on the occasion of the inventory of the bank’s gold stock, were also presented to the public. I would like to mention that these documents are published by Cristian Păunescu in his volumes about the Romanian Treasury evacuated to Moscow. The subsequent fate of the Romanian Treasury, the one after 1918, was reconstructed by presenting in the exhibition the documents discovered in the Russian archives and published by the historian Ilie Schipor in the volume The Destiny of the Treasury of Romania.

In a recently adopted resolution, MEPs pointed out that, despite several attempts at diplomatic negotiations after the First World War, Romania’s national treasury, sent to Russia between 1916 and 1917 for safekeeping, was never fully returned. This is an unprecedented international case of illegal appropriation of gold reserves and heritage objects.

Slovaks represent 0.1% of the total population of Romania. They live mainly in the western part of the country, with the largest communities of Slovaks in Romania being found in the counties of Bihor and Arad, where they represent 1.22% and 1.25% of the total population, respectively.

Today, in Şinteu (Nova Huta), in the heart of the Plopiș Mountains, on the border between Bihor and Sălaj counties, more than 2,000 Slovaks remain, each of them knowing how to process glass and breathing new life into local history. More than two centuries ago, Slovaks settled here, attracted by the rich forests, and by the first glass factory in Romania, established in 1780 in Huta. After 60 years, in 1840, the factory moved to the Black Forest. Until the First World War, there were around 20 thousand Slovaks in the Sinteu area.

Today, a glass museum here recalls that the first injection vials for penicillin and other products from the pharmaceutical industry were produced in Stara Huta. It is a unique experience to see what was produced here, in those times, by very primitive methods. The museum also keeps certain artifacts or pieces of glass and whole pieces of ampoules from the former glass factory. Among the exhibits are the key to the factory, as well as a seal with the Slovak initials, and this is because each blower had to apply a seal, as a personal mark attesting to quality.

Today, inside the Museum of Glass, two qualified glassblowers, one from Şinteu, the other from Sălaj, produce various glass objects. They recycle glass and make glasses, globes, handicrafts, holiday decorations, bottles or other components, which they sell to tourists.

Cornel Lupo attended the vocational school in Turda, he has been working in glass for 40 years, and reported for Radio Romania:

“Glassblowing is a rather complicated occupation. After 1996, when the factory in the Black Forest closed, I went to Hungary, also in a glass factory, where I stayed for 11 years as a glassblower. There I participated in a creative competition and won the first place in the country. Then, in 2002, I went to Ukraine for a year. From Ukraine I went to Palma De Mallorca, in Spain, for eight years, also in a glass workshop. And from Spain I arrived here, at Huta Slavia.”

We asked Cornel Lupo what objects glassblowers are creating today:

“From glasses on up, all kinds of glasses that exist, up to handicraft art. There are few glassblowers who make handcrafted pieces. Craftsmanship means free hand, no molds, no press, no robot. There is no (no object) that we can’t make! The chandeliers alone! In the Black Forest we had the only factory in Europe where chandeliers were made for all the cathedrals in Europe, with leaves, arms, and lampshades.”

Frantisek Koritar also started processing glass out of passion, who told us:

“We had to work where it was closest to home, and the closest was the Black Forest. I’m from here, from Şinteu. Now, at my age, I would like to pass on this job to others, but there are young people who don’t want it. I had one who came to learn and left instead of working. We have no substitutes.”

Cornel Lupo added with a laugh:

“He wanted to learn the job in two or three days, but it is a long struggle, for years and years. You go to the next stage, and you have to work until you are able to make another product from A to Z. You don’t learn in two or three days”

When asked how many glass products he made from the age of 19 until now, Frantisek Koritar said:

“I couldn’t count them, because I was working on a schedule, and there were 7 of us in a team and we had imposed batches. I was also making wine glasses and bottles, there were about four or five hundred, six-seven hundred for liqueur , in six hours. It wasn’t easy, it was also very hot near the furnace where glass is melted at 1,450 degrees Celsius, and during processing, where it’s 1,100 degrees, it wasn’t easy!”

We also found out that from Şinteu you can reach the Black Forest by a direct road, and this is because since the olden days there was this road through which the glass went from Romania to Slovakia.

Folk tradition says that at the beginning of February, when the bear comes out of its den, if the weather is sunny and the bear sees its shadow, it goes back and hibernates for another three weeks, and the weather cools down again, but if it is not sunny and it doesn’t see its shadow, it no longer hibernates, and the weather warms up and spring really comes.

Macaveiul Ursului, or Bear Day in Romanian folklore, is an ancestral celebration with a complex meaning, bringing to the fore the connection between man and nature, but also the cyclical evolution of life. Although traditions and customs have changed over time, this celebration remains an important element of Romanian cultural and folkloric identity. The worship of the bear was widespread in many Indo-European cultures, including the Romanian area, being an animal considered sacred and associated with the deities of nature and fertility.

Bear Day is celebrated in Romania and by other European nations on February 2, on the same date as Groundhog Day, celebrated in areas of the United States of America and Canada. Both have in common the element of predicting the weather for the upcoming period of the year. The brown bear is a protected species both in Romania and in the European Union.

We learned how Bear Day was celebrated at the Braşov Zoo from Mihail Milea, education coordinator:

We had several activities. The event itself wanted to explore the fascinating life of bears, and, of course, we provided the opportunity to better understand these impressive animals. We had speeches by the caretakers, stories about bears, curiosities related to the world of these animals, and we aimed to shed light on aspects regarding behavior and the environment. At the same time, we wanted to emphasize the importance of conserving and protecting bear habitats.

We learned from our interlocutor that at the Braşov Zoo, snow leopard day, red panda bear day, and monkey day are celebrated throughout the year. Mihail Milea spoke about protecting ecosystems:

In the activities we had, we started with a riddle game, through which we introduced children and even adults to our game, after which we organized an activity that we called it ‘delicious gifts’, in which the participants were divided into groups, beautifully wrapped boxes were prepared, with colored paper, then the children colored and added messages on the ready-arranged boxes. We put some fish, pastries, muffins, and apples in the boxes, after which our caretakers distributed the gifts in the bears’ pens, and it was a very pleasant moment for the visitors when the bears came across the gifts and tore them open.

Mihail Milea added:

Later we told a story, ‘The Bear Emperor’, from which the children were able to learn more. The story itself is a folk tale and has been passed down from generation to generation, and it presents the adventures of a bear and what lessons we can learn about bear life. The children were able to learn respect for nature, the courage and wisdom of the bear, bonds in the community, because the bear uses its strength and abilities to defend and help community members, and respect for the elders and their teachings. It is about a family of bears, where the bear is the Emperor of the Bears, a majestic, imposing individual, he has a family composed of the bear queen, who is also very attentive to the needs of the forest, and they also have three cubs, two of which, unfortunately, were hunted down, and thus comes the idea that hunting is not something that brings any benefit.

The approximately 120 participants in the Bear Day organized by the Braşov Zoo this year had more surprises. Mihail Milea:

Then we had another activity, ‘Enchanted Forest’, and told the visitors about various legends and curiosities from the world of bears. For example, related to curiosities, we told the children that there are variations in the size of bears, that there are small-sized bears, I mean the small panda bear, which weighs somewhere around 100 kilograms, and up to the Kodiak bear, which can weigh up to 900 kilograms. We introduced the children to the resistance to hunger, because it is known that, before entering hibernation, bears accumulate a significant amount of fat to feed themselves during the winter. We also told about the rich diet of the bears, or about their ability to swim. Then, in terms of legends, we told them the Legend of the Polar Bear and the Northern Lights, the Bear and the Great Constellation, or the Legend of the White Bear.

And, since on February 2, in Romania, the weather was cloudy, we would say that tradition teaches us that spring is indeed coming!

Statistics show that over 50% of children in Romania are overwhelmed by depression and anxiety, lost for hours in front of screens, eroding their empathy, motivation and academic performance, prisoners of their own uncertainty.

Faced with this reality, the Parents’ Gala – Education for the Future materialized not only as a charitable event, through which the money collected from ticket sales support children from disadvantaged backgrounds in continuing their educational journey, but also as a catalyst for change.

Răzvan Vasile, the organizer of this event, told us how the gala was:

Absolutely fantastic! I knew it would be like that, but it was like it was beyond what I anticipated. And I can also say why: first of all, there, the parents together with us, with all the partners, we learned what the biggest problem of a child is. What 88% of children think: that they are not good enough, that they don’t automatically deserve it, that they can’t, that it’s hard, that it’s not for me. And all this comes from the fact that we parents, who did not educate ourselves, did not prepare ourselves, not for lack of love, but for lack of resources and time, robbed them of their greatest strength, which it is their uniqueness. The uniqueness of children is their greatest strength, because, in life, if you are the best, or if you try to be the best, there will always be someone who will be better than you. Whereas if you are unique, you remain unique on your path, you have no competitor!

How do we prepare our children for a fulfilling future, how do we encourage them to discover their true inner potential, to look ahead with confidence? Răzvan Vasile told us: The parents referred to the future. I said that 85% of the jobs of the year 2030 do not exist today, I said that it is in vain to steal their power that we were talking about and compare them, criticize them for some school grades, when the jobs of the future are totally different. And then, I also brought a robot on stage, with artificial intelligence, who shook hands with everyone, welcomed people on stage, (n.r. accompanied them). When they got off the stage and I understood that the future is here, and that we must train children both for the present and for the future. And the children related to their parents exactly as they should: like teachers. Children choose their parents to be their teachers. And what are parents for children? The children’s mirrors!

900 parents, along with renowned personalities, experts and specialists, gathered at the gala, to learn from the stories full of exhortations. A phenomenal role model who joined the gala was Costel, as Răzvan Vasile told us:

Costel was a child abandoned at the orphanage until he was 4 years old, then taken in by his mother, who thought, well, maybe together with you I’ll get an apartment. During that adventure to look for that apartment, Costel slept only in houses that were falling apart, he was injured, and the worst problem was that he fell from a tram, and he got amputated both legs and his right arm. That’s what happened to 12-year-old Costel. Who is Costel now, at 38 years old? A rich man, a man who is a psychologist, a man who conquered Kilimanjaro, Machupichu, Everest, a man who plays the panpipes, easily competing with (Damian) Drăghici. He is a man who built a home himself, and a man who has two exceptional children. If I, said Costel to himself, half a man, without two legs and without a right arm, succeeded, I talked to myself, I talked to God, and I succeeded, you? What problem do you have? All our struggle is only in our own mind! Our mind is the only battlefield. That’s where we have to win!

Răzvan Vasile also sent a message to the children and their parents:

I want to convey to them that the future, success, does not necessarily consist in necessarily learning something new, but in unlearning things you know and you know wrong. I want to convey to them that everyone was a child, including myself, but they, the children, will then be parents one day. We have over 90 thousand thoughts every day, of which 90% negative. Let’s focus on solutions, on the positive, not on the obstacles, not on the negative. Let’s understand that if we want to change something, we have to do something! Let’s act! What did Einstein say? We expect new things to happen, but do we do today what we did yesterday and always? I want to tell the children, now, to have courage! Beware of shame, guilt, fear, pain, they are all inventions of the mind, and always dwell in gratitude, flow with life, do not resist, because every crisis requires a leap of yours, as child, as a parent, a leap in which you become a better person. And if you understand that you were the creator of this little crisis, and this crisis comes with a message, which lifts you up like a ramp, then you have come out of this triangle of drama, an illusory triangle of drama, in which people are victims, there is an abuser and a savior.

The organizer of the Parents’ Gala – Education for the Future, Răzvan Vasile, added I want to say something else which is extremely important: let everyone think about a real truth, all forms of life struggle to reach their potential maximum, without exception. A tree, a cat, a beetle, a flower, less so us, the people. A flower does not say today is hot, today is cold, today I am not doing photosynthesis, but man has the power to choose, he has free will. What I want to emphasize is that we decide if we want success or if we want failure! But who decides? Our free will. We must be very, very sure that our free will is indeed free! And we must know that nothing is free. If we want to be successful we have to pay a price. Nothing is simple, we have to think differently, be different and act differently. Let’s be unique!

With a greater involvement of parents in the education of children and with a greater openness in understanding what education means, embracing the sphere of emotions, the future looks more promising!

Folklore is the identity card of a people, but keeping it alive is increasingly difficult nowadays, when traditions are known to fewer and fewer people, and global influences are felt in all areas. That’s why any attempt to bring folklore back to attention is welcome, even more so when, along with embracing a tradition, we also enjoy a show, or start a physical activity.

We are talking about the initiative by Anca Niţă, dance instructor and choreographer of the Hora Sânzienelor show, to bring authentic Romanian values to the attention of the young audience:

Hora Sânzienelor is a show of music, dance, and acrobatics, folk dance intertwines with contemporary dance and with other dance styles. Everything is expressed in a unique story, and the music is specially created for this show, it is a mix of several styles. We have a special guest, Costel Enache, who will perform on the panpipes, and Oana Sterie, on the flute and voice. The idea came to me when I realized that we needed something unique, modern, which would attract both the middle-aged audience and the young audience towards Romanian folklore. This is how the authenticity of Romanian folklore is interwoven with the modernity of our days, and it will be a unique show, where we have also added acrobatic dance movements. This is how this show became a modern and original vision.

And because there was another Hora Sânzienelor show a few years ago, Anca Niţă clarified:

Hora Sânzienelor took place in 2019, right before the pandemic, but, unfortunately, right when we started to take off, the pandemic appeared unexpectedly. We decided to resume it now in a much larger form. People were very excited about this news, we were even called to other countries, in the diaspora, but it could not materialize due to the restrictions of that period.

Always in contact with the fitness and aerobics market in our country, Anca Niţă is also the creator of a new style of dance or physical activity: Fetno. What is Fetno and where did he come from?

Fetno is a new approach to Romanian folklore. I thought of combining it with movements from classical aerobics, to give flavor and joy to aerobics classes, and also to succeed in combining the beautiful with health, and the pleasant with something Romanian. Because that’s what I really wanted. I was away in Italy for 7 years and I really missed the country and, working in this field, I thought to change something, to bring something fresh, even internationally. And that’s how Fetno was born, which is ETNO with Aerobic movements, and it caught on very well with the Romanian public, there are over 100 instructors in the country, who interpret this style of aerobics, with many fans – we even held a competition where more than 700 people came – both adults and children. And I think it’s something unique, which promotes Romanian values abroad.

This is an 8-year-old dance form that is growing consistently, as Anca Niţă told us:

Fetno appeared in 2016, so it’s been a while, but it’s still a pretty fresh and modern concept , I would say. Every time we bring something new, we also have some elements that help us make everything more intense, more fun, it’s about the canes from the Morris-like dance, and the twisters, with which we work intensively in the gyms, with both children and adults. In the future we want to continue to develop this branch, both in the aerobic-fitness area and in the dance area, because now we find Fetno in dance competitions, and there are many people who want it, so it is a new branch, Fetno dance .

The show Hora Sânzienelor will take place on January 20 at Sala Dalles showroom in Bucharest, and is almost sold out, being the first show of this kind after the pandemic, in a new format, but we are promised a return in April. And if we have piqued your curiosity, you can look for Fetno classes, where folklore combines with the joy of physical activity!

As usual, we start the year with a review of the most interesting topics covered in 2023. We set out to tell you surprising stories and I think we succeeded.

Thus, in January we stopped at the first educational park opened in our country and found out from Ana-Maria Pascaru, director of marketing and communication, what offer they have come up with for children between the ages of 4 and 14.

If you remember, in the old days, visits were made to the parents’ workplace. Now I understand that these things still happen, but not in all companies. But here, at Destiny Park, is practically the place where children come for the first time, most of them in connection with certain jobs. That is, we go from the IT area, to medicine, agriculture, industry, chemical laboratory, airplane pilot, car pilot. It’s all very attractive to them because they’re playing and learning at the same time.

In the spring, we found out that the first edition of an event that can create a tradition took place: the Best Wine Grower in Romania Contest. It is about a national competition in dry pruning grape vines. The competition had the role of bringing to the fore a category of specialists, increasingly difficult to find, but whose work in the vineyard is essential in obtaining a good wine, as we learned from Marinela Ardelean, ambassador of the Open Romanian Wine Program, founder of Wines of Romania and co-founder of the international wine festival called RO-Wine.

It is about an event through which we proposed to celebrate winegrowers and viticulture at the same time in Romania. We often talk about wine, about oenology, less about those without whom we would not be able to enjoy the good wines that Romania has to offer, namely the winegrowers. This is exactly where this idea came from, the need, on the one hand, to highlight a lesser-known world, on the other hand, every action that contributes to increasing the quality of wine and the industry is very important. So, highlighting these professionals implicitly emphasizes an extremely important area when it comes to quality, namely the vine and how it is processed or worked. That is considering that the most important moment, from the point of view of works in the vineyard, is precisely this pruning that takes place at the beginning of the year.

In the summer we took you to Oradea, to tell you about the European Tram Driver Championship. Adrian Revnic, the general manager of the Oradea Local Transport Company, told us:

In Oradea, the 10th edition of this European Tram Driver Championship, and we already believe that this championship has become a tradition. It started as an effort by transport companies in Europe to promote urban public transport, and also to create links between European cities. This year, 25 teams participated in Oradea, 24 from Europe, including Oradea. Others are Barcelona, Basel, Berlin, Bordeaux, Brussels, Debrecen, Dresden, Dublin, Florence, Gotteborg, Hanover, Kosice, Kiev, Leipzig, Malaga, Oslo , Oradea, Prague, Nurnberg, Rotterdam, Stockholm, Szeged, Vienna, Warsaw, Zagreb. As you can see many capitals in Europe, many metropolises, many beautiful cities!

Towards the end of the year we met Alexandru Benchea, the blind Romanian mountaineer who aims to climb the Seven Summits Circuit, of which he has already climbed three. With a fascinating life story, Alexandru Benchea told us how he learned to walk on the mountain:

I learned this walk on the mountain gradually. I would like to say that it was not easy in the beginning. When I went for the first laps, I didn’t know how to use the tracking sticks. Before Mont Blanc, I learned to use them, and it helped me a lot. And many people ask me how I manage on the mountain, how I orient myself. If the path is wider, I walk next to the guide, I hold on to his arm, and with the other hand probe the terrain, using the tracking stick. It’s already automatic, first you feel with the stick, you feel that it’s a path, that it’s something stable, and then you put your foot down. If the path is narrow, I walk behind the guide, hold on to his backpack, and, in the same way, with the other hand I use the stick to balance myself. And, on the glacier, the guide walks in front of me, about 2-3 meters away, we are tied together by a rope, and in this case I use both sticks, to delimit the path, to walk on the path.

We also discovered the most popular YouTubers and vloggers who talk about Romania and traditional Romanian perfumes, but also the special tastes of some traditional products, such as babic, the special dried salami from Buzău.

We invite you to stay with us this year for other interesting stories!