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Mar 13, 2019
4 min

One word at a time: “Ochi”

When it comes to phrases and idioms based on body parts, one such body part is especially prolific, the key word in many expressions: the eye. The essential organ of sight, which has accumulated impressive symbolic meanings especially in religion and spirituality, is called ochi in Romanian, it comes from Latin oc(u)lus and has generated around thirty phrases and idioms. Interestingly, it is also the base word in noun compounds with names of animals, referring to different ki

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Ilinca Stroe

Jan 9, 2019
4 min

One word at a time: “Cap”

Just like in English, names of body parts generate in Romanian numerous phrases, idioms and even proverbs which are quite common in everyday speech. “Cap” is just such a prolific word. Originating from the Latin noun caput, the word’s main meaning is “head”, while some of its secondary meanings include “mind” and “leader”. Consequently, most of the phrases based on cap can be grouped around one of those meanings. Let’s review the most frequent of them, with some minimal conte

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More than Teachers at IH: Iulia, Romanian & English Trainer

Ilinca Stroe

Oct 3, 2018
3 min

More than Teachers at IH: Iulia, Romanian & English Trainer

1. Can you sum up in a paragraph how you’ve come to be a teacher? I think our childhood experiences influence a lot our future choice of profession. I first experienced being a teacher when I was about 8, and my father and his friend were my first students. With a jacket on my shoulders and my mother’s high heels, I was playing the “school game”, testing the two. Twelve years later, I was on my summer holiday after finishing my first year at the University of Bucharest, and I

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Learning Romanian: with or without a teacher?

Ilinca Stroe

Sep 19, 2018
5 min

Learning Romanian: with or without a teacher?

Today, whether you are an expat professional, a local office worker or a migrant un/skilled worker, you are expected to know (a bit of) a foreign language. Especially in the European Union, where linguistic competence and multilingualism are Union policy (in, for instance, the Europe 2020 Programme), lifelong learners had better be actively engaged in a language learning process. But should that learning be formal (e.g. post/graduate courses), non-formal (e.g. language centre

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Veronica Negru

Jun 11, 2018
1 min

Romanian Intensive Courses 2018

Each summer, International House Bucharest invites you on a journey in the world of foreign languages. Language Travel is an intensive summer training (English, German and Romanian for foreigners), which is organized every year in July, August and September. Each module lasts 2 weeks, 4 sessions a week, 2 hours each, Monday to Thursday, from 18:00 to 20:00. The courses will take place in one of our locations in Bucharest: 93-95 Lânăriei, 1st floor, sector 4 or 12 Postelniculu

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Ilinca Stroe

Apr 26, 2018
3 min

Today’s a Little Time Machine

Weekend holidaymakers and locals strolling on Bucharest’s Calea Victoriei on 1 April 2018 experienced the thrill of losing their way right into turbulent 1945 Romania. Streams of angered workers in navy overalls, suburban housewives with worried eyes under their grey scarves, young intellectual rebels sporting the ringlet curls of the trendy ‘40s, and bourgeois men in smartly tailored three-piece suits – all, swelling into the Palace Square. For handsome 24-year-old King Mich

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Ilinca Stroe

Apr 19, 2018
2 min

One Word at a Time: „Dor”

Sensibilities have changed significantly among Romanians in the last few decades: for example, the music of the late ‘80s/early ‘90s, which moved our (grand)parents to tears, risks giving us a good laugh, today - and nothing more. Yet, there’s still this one Romanian word which calls to mind this one Romanian feeling which, whether we’re young or elderly, residents or émigrés, seldom fails to impact us: dor. If we’re here, ne e dor de (we miss) friends or relatives from far a

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Veronica Negru

Apr 5, 2018
2 min

Bucharest's Spring Festivals/2018

12-15 April: Spotlight The fourth edition of Spotlight Bucharest International Light Festival will take place between the 12th and 15th of April. Six artists will transform the façade of the CEC Palace located at 13 Calea Victoriei through video mapping. The authors of the six finalist films come from Spain, Italy, Russia, Romania, Germany, and China. Inspired by the celebration of 100 years since the Great Union of Romania, the theme of this year's video mapping screenings i

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Fasting – a Romanian tradition explained

Ilinca Stroe

Mar 29, 2018
2 min

Fasting – a Romanian tradition explained

When we say "fasting", we immediately think of food restrictions, that is, what we eliminate from our rich, daily diet - meat, dairy, eggs, and fish. But the benefits of this practice are part of a much deeper body cleaning and detoxification cycle. Fasting, at a more profound level, has other benefits as well - increasing cardiovascular health, reducing the risk of cancer, repairing genes and increasing longevity. The body has the great ability to repair and fix itself, as l

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Time in Romania: the Widespread Present Tense

Ilinca Stroe

Mar 22, 2018
2 min

Time in Romania: the Widespread Present Tense

Learners of Romanian who are familiar with the phrase “sfertul academic” may have also realised that punctuality, by which one generally means “arriving, starting (or whatever else there is to be done) on the hour,” not a minute earlier and none later, isn’t precisely our forte, here in Romania. That, of course, is regrettable. So is, apparently, our historic interpretive twist on the notion of “academic quarter”: it used to have to do with late mediaeval university lectures

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A Fairytale Destination: Romania’s Sohodol Gorges (Cheile Sohodolului)

Veronica Negru

Mar 15, 2018
2 min

A Fairytale Destination: Romania’s Sohodol Gorges (Cheile Sohodolului)

Set in a less touristy part of Romania (i.e. Gorj county, which has lots of treasures in store for tourists), the Sohodol Gorges are a 20-minute drive from Târgu Jiu and they make for a fairytale destination with breathtaking scenery! It’s the Vulcan Mountains that harbour this hidden holiday treasure, the ravine carved into rock which, no matter where you’re coming from, won’t fall short of impressing you. Particularly in summertime, the area is really crowded with tourists

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Veronica Negru

Mar 8, 2018
2 min

Brâncuşi’s Hometown: The Museum City

At the foot of the Parâng Mountains, in the southern sub-Carpathians, almost 300 km away from Bucharest, lies one of the most beautiful cities in Romania. No matter why you are in the country, while you’re here you’ve simply got to visit the hometown of Constantin Brâncuşi (1876-1957), the world-famous modernist sculptor: Târgu-Jiu. It is the museum city of Romania, where art at its best, Brâncuşi’s works, stand right in the city centre. So let me explain in more detail why I

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Breaking News: Mărţişor Declares a State of Spring

Ilinca Stroe

Mar 1, 2018
2 min

Breaking News: Mărţişor Declares a State of Spring

There was once a Roman offspring On Momma Dochia’s braided string. Handsome and news-some, Stuck to the ladies’ bosom, Love, luck and much fun he always did bring! If there’s a Romanian tradition to fully deserve an Irish limerick, that’d be the mărţişor! Because of its fine blend of clover-level luck and a spirit of merriment in the month of St Patrick, i.e. March. On Thracian edge-of-the-Empire territory, i.e. nowadays Romania, the tradition understandably and predictably s

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Veronica Negru

Jan 2, 2018
3 min

Adventure weekend

It`s been a while since my last visit to Făgăraș: more exactly two years. It was actually an attempt to reach the Moldoveanu Peak, the highest of the Romanian Carpathians, 2,544 meters (8,346 feet). It all started from the idea of spending three days in the Făgăraș Mountains, only the two of us in a tent. Tempting, right? So, we backpacked our things and went on our adventure. We left Bucharest really early on Friday morning, very excited and enthusiastic about it, heading fo

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Veronica Negru

Dec 23, 2017
1 min

Santa Claus is coming to town

Do you ever miss those cold winter mornings when the whole house smells of sweet bread (cozonac) and your friends call you to go out carolling? I close my eyes and I can feel that smell again… Do you ever want to be a child again, to go sleighing and snowballing all day long? Well, I do! I really miss those wonderful times! I remember all the family preparations before Christmas: cooking the traditional Romanian cabbage rolls (sarmale), pork specialties like piftie, tobă, cal

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Veronica Negru

Dec 11, 2017
1 min

Why you should go hiking in winter

Is there anything more breathtaking than the visual feast of a snow-clad mountain? All those places once teeming with people taking selfies are now less crowded, shelters are empty, and there are no bugs, no bears, no rain or thunders. It is so quiet, you can actually hear the silence! Winter is the ideal time to take advantage of the beautiful snow-covered trails. Just go out there for a short hike and enjoy the solitude. It is a good opportunity for reflection. Snow changes

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Hello winter – it`s good to have you back

Veronica Negru

Nov 28, 2017
2 min

Hello winter – it`s good to have you back

Winter may be cold but there are so many ways to make it pleasant: a good book in front of the fireplace, snow, Christmas, New Year and mulled wine with cinnamon! I know that the whole city becomes a tortuous labyrinth much more crowded than usual, full of people so irritable that they pick up a fight in a wink, but why don’t we just leave all that behind, and think about the beauty of this season, instead? Winter brings people together; it is all about love, connection, d

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Veronica Negru

Nov 10, 2017
2 min

Ciucaș kissed by autumn

As I said before, the first time I went hiking in the Ciucaș Mountains it was in February 2014 and since that moment on, I`ve always wanted to go there in autumn: to see that view kissed by autumn`s colors. The Ciucaș Mountains, part of the Eastern Carpathians, are best known for their unusual karst formations, shaped over time by weathering. The most impressive are: Tigăile Mari and Tigăile Mici (the Large/Small Pans), Turnul lui Goliat (Goliath’s Tower), Babele la Sfat (the

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1917: Romania’s First Female Second Lieutenant [1]

Ilinca Stroe

Nov 9, 2017
4 min

1917: Romania’s First Female Second Lieutenant [1]

How did she, one of eight siblings born to villager parents in Oltenia, (still) a poor region of her country, become the woman that the famed French General Henri Berthelot saluted as “Romania’s Jeanne d’Arc” (Joan of Arc)? Here’s the short answer: through courage and courage again. The longer answer unfolds like a chivalric tale out of the village of Vădeni, where Cătălina Toderoiu was born (1894) and attended primary school, whence she went to the Romanian-German School in

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Veronica Negru

Oct 31, 2017
2 min

Dracula`s Legend

Vlad Tepeș (Vlad the Impaler), by his real name Vlad Dracula, born in 1431 in the fortress city of Sighișoara, was Voivode (Prince) of Wallachia various times between 1448 and 1476. His father, Vlad II Dracul, was a member of the Order of the Dragon (the Latin word for dragon is draco), a semi-military and religious organization founded in 1387 in Rome - Hence the name/ title Dracul, which in Romanian means “Devil”, Dracula being the diminutive and meaning “the son of the

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