View of Old Brasov from Mount Tampa

By Armando (Chava) Salvador, Web Designer

I’ve been working with the Romanian IT Team for almost four years now, and I used to think since Romania was straight from the Communist Block that people there had no sense of humor, but that idea disappeared as soon as I left the plane in Bucharest with a massive coat at 89.6 ºF (32 ºC), obviously I’ve asked to someone from the IT Team about the weather and he took the chance to play a little joke ..

I was so tired since it was a very long trip from Mexico to Romania. Alexandru Parasca (Para) picked us up at the airport and the trip from Bucharest to Brasov took us more than three hours since there was a lot of traffic. After some traffic we started to move faster and I really wanted to sleep but the landscapes were so beautiful. The mountains, the houses, everything looked so different from anything I’ve ever seen that I just couldn’t stop enjoying the ride.

Tom at Bran Castle

As soon as we started to have contact with the local people we noticed they were so warm and nice, even more than my fellow Mexicans! I’m used to shaking hands, hugging and kissing people but nothing like in Romania, amazing, just amazing!!

I really loved everything about Romania, the people, the food, the architecture, everything. There is a mountain named Tampa with a “Brasov” sign at the top just like in Hollywood and we went on a hike up it one day. It was easy to see where the old Brasov ended and the new Brasov began. The old Brasov was covered in red because of the red tiled roofs while the new Brasov was more gray colored because of the concrete apartment blocks all around.

Chava by the Brasov sign on Mount Tampa

I made some great friends with the IT Team and the Romanian Staff, they are such nice and warm people. Mircea, the Country Director, invited us all to his apartment where we ate homemade bread and black olives. We had a really great time there and a few days later his mom invited us to dinner. She is the most adorable woman ever. Besides the amazing traditional Romanian food we had a nice chat about a lot of things including Mexican soap operas.

Dinner with the Romania staff

In regards to the Mexican soap operas, the only contact many Romanians have with Mexico are these soap operas, so every time people heard my real name (Armando Salvador), not my nickname (Chava), they said “Oh telenovelas name”. Every place we visited people would ask me “Are you Mexican?”, and I used to answer “Yes, how did you know?”, and they would say “It’s obvious!!! All Mexicans looks pretty much like you!!”, so suddenly I became exotic and “The only Mexican in the village”, which was so fun!

Ok, this isn’t everything, my mind never forgets, but I think this is enough to express a clear idea about my recent trip there.

Catch you later, or how Romanians say “La revedere” (Good Bye)  or “pa pa” (bye bye)…