Big fishes in the little pond

Csíkszereda is quite a little town, but still, it has it's own celebrities. In the following few lines I'll present some of them. I hope there's no misunderstanding: I'm not going to present scientists, great thinkers and so on, because I'm not good at this. Instead I'll present some people, who are generally known in the circles I'm in.
Let's start with some athletes.
As far as I know, our town is proud to be the hometown of the best winter sport athlete in the whole country, Tófalvi Éva. Her successes in biathlon are truly great, but sadly underestimated in the country, and as far as I can see, even in Csíkszereda.
Although football is not that popular in our town, we have a football player, who's pretty well known in our country for his hard work and leadership skills, Ilyés Róbert. In his career in the first league of Romania he played more than 280 matches and scored more than 50 goals, but most importantly he inspired and helped other talented young players over the years.

One of my favorite athlete born here is called Novák Ede Eduárd. The cyclist who has just won in Beijing a silver medal at the Paralympics is the living statue of the székely stereotypical strong will. He didn't give up after his accident, but he kept on working, so now he's not only the best paralympic biker in the country, but he usually beats his healthy opponents too.

Of course, I would be the biggest traitor of my town if wouldn't mention hockey. So here it is, the oldest and the best (or maybe not:P ) player who's still playing here, Elekes Levente.

Enough of sports! Let's see just a few of the town's living legends, like Gaál László, a physics teacher from the Márton Áron High School. He earned his reputation by being a severe teacher, whom everybody is afraid in the freshman and sophomore years, but after that people start to like him better and better, not to mention that their physics knowledge gets much above the average. Just mention his name to any student, and they'll have tons of stories to tell.
An other person, who's always a good topic to speak about in is our mayor, Ráduly Róbert. People always like to speak about politicians, especially in a small town like this where almost everyone knows some gossips about him (see the previous post for more about gossips). As a matter of fact he tends to feed the need for gossips with his sometimes not really diplomat-like attitude. I'm not trying to judge him here, because it's not my job: I'm just saying, that it's a fact that by asking anyone about him, you'll get a hands full of gossips. To be correct I have to tell you, that he's been elected for the second time , se the bigger part of the people think, that he does his job.
An other person who's known by 99% of the town's residents is the actor Kozma Attila. He's not only known for his acting in the theater, but mostly for his commercials in the radio , and his co production with an other actor, Lung László Zsolt. Both productions use stereotypical székely accent and behavioral models, creating a type of humor, that is hard to understand for anyone not form this region (though they seem to have success with their CD on the other side of the border, in Hungary too).

Let's mention the younger generation too: here you have a video, made by three students from Csíkszereda. I think this is the most viewed video on youtube, made be people from our town. And it's funny too:).


This time I'd like YOU, my dear reader (if you even exist:P) to complete this post, by adding comments with other well known persons:). I hope I'll hear from you real soon!

Solving problems

This weekend I’ve realized something I’ve already known. Sounds strange? Let me tell you about it. On Saturday somebody pointed out for me, that every time when some problem arises, that is a bit out reach (and it is somehow related to the town), for example I need some footage made at a festival in the town, my first task to do, is to check my phone book. Seems strange? I guess, that for some it does.
If I want to generalize, the fact, that I call a friend, or at least someone whom I know if I have a problem that I can’t resolve, tells two things: first that I have lots of names in my phone book, and second, that those people are usually ready to help. I know that this is not that specific to our region, but the number of problems solved with this method is.
This is how people usually proceed: they realized that they don’t know what to do. Their first task is usually to search in their heads for a person, who they know, and who had the same problem, and they usually find one! Not necessarily because the town is small, and everyone knows everyone: I think that the more important factor is that our people love to know everything about everyone, in other words, we love to gossip. You can’t imagine how funny it sounds, when one old women says to the other: “Have you heard that XY doctors brothers mothers sisters mother in laws second cousins son is cheating on his wife?”, and the other one understands it, and has even other stories with that man, even though they don’t even greet each other on the street. They just know who is who’s who :).
So they have found someone with the given problem. Then it’s even more simple to find someone who knows, how they resolved it, or in the worst case, they get the number of the one with the respective problem. If they have to call him, he won’t wonder how they know about his personal life: he’ll know very well how fast gossips spread.
One may ask, why to get involved with others life if you can resolve it yourself. Well, the fact is that sometimes it’s almost impossible to do this. For example sometimes bureaucracy is so complicated, that you get lost between the tons of papers.
Anyway, I like the fact, that people here tend to help each other. Sometimes not, and sometimes they seem uninterested, but they often find a way to surprise you positively. So the moral is: in this region, you’ll find your answers faster by asking somebody, than searching in some book.

Summer dreams

Although there are a few days left from the school, not to mention the examination period at the universities, but my spies, including myself :P, have informed me that in our little town, the summer atmosphere is already spreading. If you are not yet in the “Summer-mood” then check out this video. This track has almost everything that summer holds for me. But that’s an other topic. So just check it out!

Sum 41 - In Too Deep
Încărcat de Sum41-official - Music videos, artist interviews, concerts and more.

So now you’re in the mood…Than you may be interested, what the students, the young people usually do summertime in the town.
First of all swimming. Summer means warm weather, warm weather means bathing! In the town you’ll find three places where you can refresh yourself. It’s funny that although you can choose from three different locations, none of them is not even near perfection. Don’t even dream of slides or even regular sized pools: all of them are smaller and shallower than regular size, not to mention that one may complain about the cleanness of the water. But still, all of these pools are crowded if the weather is fine. No wonder, because although you can’t practice for swimming competitions there, with a bunch of friends, and some extra stuff like a ball you can have a great time while in the open. Not to mention that the water in the pools is mineral water, which is very healthy (though it smells funny). Of course there are lots of other possibilities to refresh yourself while swimming, if you have a more time to spend. My favorite destination is the Saint Ana Lake. This lake is the only one placed in a volcanic crater in Eastern Europe. Though it’s a nature reserve, and it’s one of the main tourist attractions of the region, it’s still not too crowded. You can reach it with car, but where’s the fun in that? It’s more interesting, if you approach it on foot. There are several trails that lead there, from which I’ve tried two: the one from Tusnádfürdő and the one from Bükszád. The first one is more like a challenge: it’s the shortest, but the sheerest trail. You can choose to go straight, or to follow a serpentine, but either ways you’ll reach the lake in less than two hours. The other trail, from Bükszád is more like a friendly trip, first of all because you’ll have to walk in the woods for a short period, so you can admire the beautiful hills of the Olt’s depression, you can have a glimpse on the village, on its narrow streets, with the unmistakable signs of cows passing by, and you can taste the mineral water spring, and at last, but not least this trail is not too sheer, so even little children will reach the lake without getting too tired.
Besides swimming other sports come to life too, so the basketball courts are full with streetballers, it’s almost impossible to find a free football court, and the main square (“Liberty square”) becomes the host of many extreme sports fans, most of them bikers and skaters.
As night falls, and all the sports fans get a shower :P, the terraces of the Petőfi street get full. Usually people have a drink, and nice talk there, but the parties don’t take place here, but in the discos around the town. Of course summer means festival time! So at almost every week, there’s something happening in the area. I’d mention the Peninsula Festival at Marosvásárhely, which is one of the biggest musical events of Romania, and the Tusványos, which is not exactly a festival, and my personal; favorite, the Dob-ban rhythm-festival, hosted by our town.
If you are still bored, there are like hundreds of destinations for shorter and longer trips. In fact it doesn’t really matter which way you go, as you leave the town the view will be breathtakingly beautiful.
Of course, I’ve only scratched the surface what the summer holds…But at this moments, these are the things I miss most from the summer. And still, four exams to go…