Category: FAMILY

My wedding, part III, or How I cannot read the future, even when it’s laid right in front of me

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I grew up in a house full of books.

Books in the mahogany bookcase, books in the vitrines, in place of figurines, knick-knacks and glassware. Books instead of side tables. Books supporting dressers and cabinets, books in wall crevices. Books in the wardrobe. Books in corridors, books behind doors, books on the kitchen table, books in beds, books on the upright piano, books on windowsills. Books at the entrance, books in the balcony.

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Our wedding – PART II, or how to piece one memory from different sources

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The story of our wedding, part I, can be found here.

It is the same day, 11am.

Let us piece the rest of the day, from various sources:

My feelings: of embarrassment, or rather pure terror. In my usual life, I smile and laugh a lot, especially in inappropriate moments. I was somehow convinced I was going to burst out with laughter, so pinching myself I sat, in a fixed uncomfortable position, throughout the ceremony. I remember nothing else.

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On football and the only World Cup game I have watched this year

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‘I often lay awake at night and look back at my life in wonder.

I am married, I have a family and I have changed jobs 5 times, because I wanted to. I feel like I have only moved up.

If my mother had lived to know this, she would find herself in disbelief, but proud. Continue reading “On football and the only World Cup game I have watched this year” →

Purple and red, apples and pears

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featuring APPLES & PEARS

I grew up in a concrete jungle, in a flat at the centre of Bucharest. I learned to love walking to school among blocks of flats, reaching the city centre on foot, marvelling at architectural antitheses. I fell in love with grey. Continue reading “Purple and red, apples and pears” →

On being task-oriented

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featuring EVOLVE WORK AND LEARNING

‘The first time I saw a city bus I was seventeen years old.

I had met him on messenger. People still ask me how I had the patience. I am a patient person, when I know it is worth it in the end. Task-oriented, that is what they call me.

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Cold coffee and walnut cake… and world sanitation

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featuring GATHER, on world sanitation

If you asked my husband the names of my Transylvanian cousins, aunts and uncles, he would struggle to give you the right answer. He would be much better able to tell you which household owned a TV, who had the first refrigerator, the first toilet, or who was the first to have electricity installed.

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The Book in the Bag

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featuring INDIAN FUTURES

‘I used to take our cow out to the field every morning after breakfast. Once I was ready, I would take it by the chain, a book in my bag. We stopped at the field next to ours, four kilometres away from our house. It was 1955 or thereabouts. I must have been nine or ten.

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