Tuesday 23 March 2010

[EN] Worth trying in the UK / [RO] Merită încercat în UK (11)

[EN] As much as I disliked these sandwhiches, I’m recommending this vegetarian buger that I ate in Lewes [RO] Pe cât de mult nu mi-au plăcut aceste sandvişuri, pe atât recomand acest burger vegetal pe care l-am mâncat în Lewes.

[EN] The picture says it all, doesn’t it? It looks almost like a real (fatty & unhealthy) one, but it’s entirely made of vegetables. [RO] Fotografia spune totul, nu-i aşa? Arată aproape ca unul real (gras şi nesănătos), dar este făcut în întregime din legume.

[EN] This is, maybe, one of the most decent fasting food (or vegetarian) choices I found in the UK. [RO] Aceasta este, poate, una dintre cele mai decente alegeri de mâncare de post (sau vegetariană) pe care le-am găsit în UK.

[EN] I’m not refering to its (more than reasonably) good taste, but to the fact it appears to satisfy one’s hunger. [RO] Nu mă refer la (mai mult decât rezonabilul) gust bun, ci la faptul că pare să potolească foamea.

[EN] And I should add that it’s something warm, and cheaper than other choices. [RO] Şi ar trebui să adaug că este ceva cald şi mai ieftin decât alte alegeri.

[EN] As long as even little Lewes had one, I hardly imagine a British little town not having such a little fast food outlet, most often Turkish :-) [RO] Câtă vreme şi micul Lewes avea unul, cu greu îmi imaginez un orăşel britanic să nu aibă o astfel de prăvălie fast food, cel mai adesea turcească :-)

[For all the episodes of this series, and all the posts on this blog go to/Pentru toate episoadele din această serie şi toate postările de pe acest blog mergi la: Contents/Cuprins]

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

In some of the articles on this blog you talked about corporate people
You somehow blame them for being workaholics five days a week and alcoholics for the weekend.
You also say there is nothing else in their minds and souls except for work and having fun which is spending the hard won money on distractions

But what if they have no choice ?
What if the reason for all those distractions is the hard work they must do ? (and not viceversa)
What if, without that, their minds would just refuse to go trough such a torture every day ?

So, you might say, what is the point then ? work to exhaustion every day so that you can afford the distractions that allow you to continue working ?
Very often I ask myself the same question: what is the point ? But soon after that I realize: it might be no point in all of this but do I really have a choice ?
And by that I mean a realistic choice.
Or maybe the modern world (with all the technologies) is just incompatible with the human nature.

Anonymous said...

Sorry for being off topic. By the way, the sandwich looks great. I hope I'll get the chance to try it one day.

MunteanUK said...

@ Anonymous

I'm not upset for you having chosen this post to refer to my tag 'Corporate People', but I find your rethorical questions somehow very personal, as if you were issuing a 'cry of help' here.

You appear to be caught within what you are describing: a vicious circle of excessive workloads, alterning with brief moments when you try to detach from the immediate grim reality, to relax...

To be honest, this is also my case. I've been through four very difficult months, and I'm really in a severe deadlock.

I can't set myself free, I can't pray more (as I'd want to), and I'm really unable to make decisions on my own. I'm trying to leave myself entirely in God's hands.

Being unable to 'think' properly, it's no wonder I can barely pray. Far from being in a typical melancholic mood, I'm just 'tied' with countless invisible ropes.

All I know is that when things get as 'stuck' in my life as they seem to be these days, only a miraculous divine intervention could get my out of my nerve-breaking daily schedule.

***

Having confessed the above, I must add that I can ever accept the notion of 'having no choice'... or, as you prefer to emphasize, no 'realistic choice'.

Contemporary people (including I) are quick to complain, yet we should never compare our situation with the 'choice-less' situations of those detained in Auschwitz, in Soviet or Romanian Commnunist prisons.

Even those poor people had rather stark (but nonetheless still 'choices') options: to bear or to give in, to live one day or to give in to suicidal impulses, to hope or not to hope, to hold on to their last bit of humanity or to turn into beasts...

***

I assure you that I have firsthand experiences these very days with feeling the 'torture' of long hours spent at work. And all... to no foreseeable avail.

Goood money? No. A bright 'career prospect'? No. Any personal plans or understanding of why the Lord keeps me 'stuck' in a situation like this? No.

However, I'm trying my best not to succumb to despair, and not to forget that the Lord surely knows why everything that we deem absurd happens to us really does have a meaning for our salvation.

It may be pretty hard (from a spiritual perspective), but let us remember that we have the 'luxury' to have a job, the 'luxury' to be part of the Lord's Church, the 'luxury' to be part of the EU...

We do enjoy the great luxury of having choices... Even the choice of spending a few minutes on this blog (here, in my virtual world) is a 'luxury'.

Anonymous said...

I agree with you in what you say.I myself am very quick to complain. Maybe it is most unfair for me to complain, as I have so many times been miraculously saved from difficult situations.

I have read some books about the Romanian Communist prisons and I was completely shocked.
I wouldn't dare to compare my situation with the situation of those people who went trough Pitesti,Aiud,Gherla and all those brain-washing experiments.

And now, about my question: do I have a choice ?

Do I have the choice not to succumb to despair ?
Yes I do have that choice.

Do I have the choice to believe in God, to believe that even in the hardest moments He's watching over me or, on the contrary, to deny Him or blame Him for all the (supposably) bad things that I see in my life ?
Yes I do have that choice.

Do I have the choice to take a break once in a while ?
Yes I do have that choice.

Do I have the choice to go on without all the drugs (distractions) that I take ?
No, that choice I do not have.

***

I see you are a journalist at Gandul, one of the most famous Romanian papers. Congratulations ! :) You must be good at what you do.

All the best !

MunteanUK said...

@ the same Anonymous again :-)

I'm glad I could remind you that things are not as bad as they seem, and that our perspective on them is often subject to exaggeration!

***

Although I admit it may be very difficult, and I'm not judging you for your weakness - Oh, I also have so many of those!!! - but I simply can't understand why you consider that it's 'impossible' to live without 'drugs'.

Who or what forces you into 'having (senseless) fun' and being 'distracted' from what really matters for your soul???

Of course, we are all very 'distracted', we are all running away from oursevels, we are wasting much of our lives...

As long as even St Ephrem the Syrian complained abourt that (along with so many other Saints), it's pretty clear that 'un-Saints' like us are more exposed to that risk.

But as Saints fought, we should also fight! Every second offers the chance of a choice! Every little prayer can make a difference. Also, very important could be every smile, every sigh...

***

Your shortcoming is not unique. I also complain too much, too often, never being 'entitled' to complain :-(

I've also had some narrow escapes granted by the Lord, irrepective of my unworthiness, yet I also tend to forget the miracles He made in my life :-(

The truth is that the easier their cross is, the more people complain. Those who are peing put through really extreme hardship, those who eventually become Saints never complain. So why do we?!

***

Are you a new reader of myy blog? Or have you found out only recently who I am? Why it my status worth 'congratulations'?

Is 'fame' everything that matters for a newspaper? Why do people imagine it's such a bliss to work for a 'famous' paper?

I'm just asking... not actually saying that it's not a bliss. It has good parts & bad parts like any other job. Only God's Kingdom is 'ideal', but nothing here, in this passing world.

I don't think I'm necessarily good at what I'm doing. It only happened that this was the Lord's plan with me for the time being - in fact, for the past 5 years!

I couldn't answer to the question 'what next?' in my life. I'm utterly unable to foresee anything :-(

Mihai said...

I am a new reader of your blog. I only know as much about you as you share on this blog. Thank you for your thoughts, I guess sometimes we need others to wake us up from our laziness.

As for 'Gandul', I remember I used to read that in highschool. I think I really enjoyed it back then and I wasn't the only one.
Once in a while, me and my friends used to buy it and read the most interesting articles(most of them by Dinescu or CTP) during the breaks. And we did that in front of the whole class, loudly. I'm not sure all our classmates appreciated that, but we thought it was a great thing to do.

Surely, many things changed since then and I stopped reading papers in the meanwhile.

MunteanUK said...

@ Mihai

It would be hypocritical of me not to confess that I'm particularly pleased with discovering such a reader of my blog as you are!

Let me give just a few reasons for that:

1) Although I have a fairly decent number of 'hits' recorded by my counter (some 20-50 every day or over 120 when it happens that famous blogs link to some of my posts), I'm almost sure that actual readers are rather few :-( So it's good to know of you!

2) You choose to interact with me throught posting comments, and also to practice your (very good) English. This is also something that I like a lot, as I love this language.

3) Last, but by no means least, you are a former 'Gândul fan' - that's really a nice surprise :-)

***

Undoubtedly, many things changed in the Romanian media landscape since Gândul started five years ago and Dinescu was writing in the paper, but I hope you'd also keep an eye on our website.

It may not be as fun as 'reading it in front of the whole class' but I still hope you find nice things to read.

***

I'm looking forward to seeing you check other stories from the Contents of this blog...

http://munteanuk.blogspot.com/2008/03/en-contents-ro-cuprins.html

...and offering interesting comments, either in English or Romanian.