21:41

Driving through... my first police routine check!

   So, ....I promised more news, here is the latest. I should explain first, although I moved to Germany, most of my friends are still ...in Romania. I don't spend more time than necessary on Y! Messenger, so that means I have no time to say the same things, over and over again, for everybody, each with the little separate conversation window, most of them don't know about the others, so obviously accidents are bound to happen, I type something in another's messenger conversation window, and so many misunderstandings appear,...guys that have no idea why I'm suddenly recomending a particular shoe shop, and other simillar issues. The best solution I could come up this evening,....after a long, exhausting day and even a glass of red wine, which may have caused some problems in the normal information process within my already stressed out brain (if now you are wondering how is that possible from just one glass, well....truth is that I usually don't drink alcohol...at all,....I know!.... that, to many people, sounds very unusual.... for god knows what reason!!!), so the "brilliant", although not original idea is to write about whatever news in my blog once...and then they can comment here if they wish so, although,....I know my friends:  they will just buzz me on messenger again!....because they know I always have my speakers from my laptop turned on loud, and the buzz will not only ruin the music I'm listening to, but also scare the shit out of me,...and for them, that is always funny!

 So here is the event,...I drived in Romania for.....I'm not sure 6 -7 years, ever since I got my driving licence basicly, and I was never, ever stopped by police for a check or what ever, and sometimes I was speeding there( if the road could permit that, romanians know why.....) So one month after I got here...yes you guessed it ..."polizei" stop me for a rutine check. Hell, I have never seen how the stopping pads they use here look like, but from the obvoius movement of the arms I understood what she wanted from me. Yes, it was a she, and specially for Dan: no, I have no pictures to prove it, but she looked very pretty, and she was about 25-28 years old, most likely you would have enjoyed being pulled over by her!

 I was driving my boyfriend's car, alone, and the minute she stopped me I remembered I have forgotten to ask him about where are the papers of the car, inside the car. I was pretty calm though, and felt even better when I discovered that she did speak English, very, very well actually, and considering what I have seen here that was outstanding. I asked her about the rules,.... I mean it's not America, where you are not allowed to come out of the car, your hands should be on the steering wheel and everything....but there still could be some rules I didn't know, then I phoned my boyfriend and asked him about the documents, she calmly waited, then checked the papers..... At this point I thought it will be over, but...no...I had to show her the first aid kit and the reflective triangle,...and I also thought the extinguisher (as required in Romania),...but here only the first 2 are required. But,...did I know that?...no....How long it took me to find the first 2? well the triangle i knew it's in the trunk, I have had seen it there while shopping, the first aid kid though.....couldn't find it...after 3 minuntes, the police woman decided to give me a warning, or a notice or something, probabilly thinking "who is this woman, she's not too smart!", and I decided to make another phonecall, and finally found it..... in the armrest from the back seat of the car...last place on Earth I would have looked in,.....but that is where appearently in most Audi cars it is in. She calmly looked at me and said now everything is ok,....but what was going through her mind...I think I'd rather not speculate...it's not good for my image!

  I knew most of the problems I could have are not due to my driving, here I drive absolutely legaly ( at this point Dorina I know you're gonna say: who knew you can drive without speeding.....because I did scare you in a Peugeot 206, but let's not forghet that here everybody is very fair and correct about avery law...there is however a BIG advantage to this country, and it's called AUTOBAHN. Yeap...NO SPEED LIMIT,...it is however limited by traffic, and unlike Romania, Germany actually has many highways!) No, the only problems I had were due to communication and the fact that I didn't bother to look for the papers in the car, ......and the triangle, ............and the first aid kit!  But I have to admit that that police woman was more than proffesional and very polite, and made everything look very normal, not so...official! So thums up!(sorry you weren't here Dan, I know you like women in uniforms!)
 
    So that is how my first stop ever from the police was! a little bit embarrasing for me!...I can't help of wonder how this would have happened in Romania.....most likely the circumstances would have been different,....probabilly I would have been stopped for speeding. New things I learned? How the stopping pads from police look like here, that here too police use unmarked cars, and that no extinguisher is required here, and as a bonus,...where all the required things are in my car!...finally!  Now, if you want to comment on this, please use this blog and not the buzz button from Y! messenger! Just click on comments and you should be able to write it, .....simple, no??? so buzz off!

19:58

Fresh New Start

OK ...first of all, I lost a bet so.....i have to restart my blog....this time in English!.....
Normally that would be no problem for me.....except I have now another interesting task,....wich has to do with another language...and here's why I have a problem with this! The language in question is German language....which I must learn to speak in several months....because I moved to Germany, ofcourse. Most of you at this moment will say...wtf? But that's probabilly because you don't know that Romanian language is in fact a latin language.....very similar to Italian....and the way we speak , even the pronunciation, the speed we talk, all these are very, very different than the language I try to learn! The only consolation.....I speak well English, it's the only true international language, and apparently there are some similarities between the two languages....but the main problem remains the pronunciation.

If someone would have asked me a year ago where did I think I will be in 1-2 years, I would have answered, without a shadow of a doubt, in Romania, trying to make a career and a future and trying to have my own family. But....I ended up in Germany.... why and how....are now irrelevant, specially for this post, but as it turned out...it's also quite an adventure!

Now....this is not the kind of country someone will ever choose to spend their vacantion.... maybe in a tour or something.... for a week and that is it! And I can see why! Most of the young people here speak English, but older people don't...and even if they do understand English and what the hell you want from them....they will answer you in German, because you are in Germany...and this really is a proud and patriot nation, but in a serious way,...not the flashing, enthusiastic american way. So if you come here you better have a guide or some knowledge of German language....or ask someone young for directions....or have a very good navigation system ( I discovered this little tip, after getting a nokia with navigation, it's quite handy specially while driving, but also when walking, however don't forget to get the latest maps!) I can tell you many things about this country...I will reveal them in time, in future posts here.

Now however, in this post I will tell you of my goal, because ever since I arrived here people told me it will take me years to speak the language and properly integrate here...they almost gave me the feeling they try to scare me off this country! Unfortunally for them... I am Romanian, that means I am smart, adaptable, proud and I can easily learn somethings new, if I have to.... like in this case.... So ...let's see how fast I will be able to learn German language ...remember, I have never spoke or learned any word before, and to see the tipically long German words, like... half the page row in lenght, didn't help encourage me, if I'm honest! But I have a course (audio and written) and it has 32 lessons... so for one lesson / day, 5 days / week (ofcourse I want the week-ends off, and have a break!) I should be speaking German language in about 7 weeks...that will be almost 2 months....NOT years! So I will keep you posted on my progres(I am determined to win this bet!)...and with other things that might happen here.... because I know it will happen, in this country, a normal life is very different than what I consider to be actually normal...!
So if you have tips on how to learn that faster (most of the times I just wish I could learn to speak this language in 1 day!), or any comments what so ever, feel free to write! Meanwhile...all of you,... stay golden!