<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><rss version="2.0" xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/" xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" xmlns:sy="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/syndication/" xmlns:slash="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/slash/" xmlns:georss="http://www.georss.org/georss" xmlns:geo="http://www.w3.org/2003/01/geo/wgs84_pos#" > <channel> <title>short – Ziarul Gandacul de Colorado</title> <atom:link href="https://www.gandaculdecolorado.com/tag/short/feed/" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" /> <link>https://www.gandaculdecolorado.com</link> <description>Ziarul Romanilor de Pretutindeni</description> <lastBuildDate>Sun, 15 Mar 2020 06:22:35 +0000</lastBuildDate> <language>en-CA</language> <sy:updatePeriod> hourly </sy:updatePeriod> <sy:updateFrequency> 1 </sy:updateFrequency> <image> <url>https://i0.wp.com/www.gandaculdecolorado.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/logo_style1-1.png?fit=32%2C14&ssl=1</url> <title>short – Ziarul Gandacul de Colorado</title> <link>https://www.gandaculdecolorado.com</link> <width>32</width> <height>32</height> </image> <site xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">232272730</site> <item> <title>The Curse of the Dark Heart</title> <link>https://www.gandaculdecolorado.com/the-curse-of-the-dark-heart/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Redactie]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Mon, 01 Feb 2010 19:50:51 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Cultura]]></category> <category><![CDATA[able]]></category> <category><![CDATA[after]]></category> <category><![CDATA[also]]></category> <category><![CDATA[another]]></category> <category><![CDATA[appearance]]></category> <category><![CDATA[away]]></category> <category><![CDATA[book]]></category> <category><![CDATA[both]]></category> <category><![CDATA[caîn]]></category> <category><![CDATA[castle]]></category> <category><![CDATA[chamberlin]]></category> <category><![CDATA[characters]]></category> <category><![CDATA[control]]></category> <category><![CDATA[could]]></category> <category><![CDATA[creative]]></category> <category><![CDATA[death]]></category> <category><![CDATA[details]]></category> <category><![CDATA[didn]]></category> <category><![CDATA[difficult]]></category> <category><![CDATA[discourse]]></category> <category><![CDATA[drown]]></category> <category><![CDATA[element]]></category> <category><![CDATA[elements]]></category> <category><![CDATA[ending]]></category> <category><![CDATA[enduring]]></category> <category><![CDATA[even]]></category> <category><![CDATA[events]]></category> <category><![CDATA[felt]]></category> <category><![CDATA[find]]></category> <category><![CDATA[flowed]]></category> <category><![CDATA[folktale]]></category> <category><![CDATA[folktales]]></category> <category><![CDATA[found]]></category> <category><![CDATA[frozen]]></category> <category><![CDATA[happening]]></category> <category><![CDATA[happy]]></category> <category><![CDATA[have]]></category> <category><![CDATA[having]]></category> <category><![CDATA[heart]]></category> <category><![CDATA[iana]]></category> <category><![CDATA[idea]]></category> <category><![CDATA[imprisonment]]></category> <category><![CDATA[include]]></category> <category><![CDATA[included]]></category> <category><![CDATA[interesting]]></category> <category><![CDATA[into]]></category> <category><![CDATA[ionela]]></category> <category><![CDATA[long]]></category> <category><![CDATA[love]]></category> <category><![CDATA[made]]></category> <category><![CDATA[magical]]></category> <category><![CDATA[marries]]></category> <category><![CDATA[marry]]></category> <category><![CDATA[nearby]]></category> <category><![CDATA[nearly]]></category> <category><![CDATA[note]]></category> <category><![CDATA[pieces]]></category> <category><![CDATA[place]]></category> <category><![CDATA[pleasing]]></category> <category><![CDATA[plot]]></category> <category><![CDATA[present]]></category> <category><![CDATA[presented]]></category> <category><![CDATA[princess]]></category> <category><![CDATA[puzzle]]></category> <category><![CDATA[read]]></category> <category><![CDATA[reader]]></category> <category><![CDATA[released]]></category> <category><![CDATA[repeated]]></category> <category><![CDATA[sacrifices]]></category> <category><![CDATA[short]]></category> <category><![CDATA[sister]]></category> <category><![CDATA[statue]]></category> <category><![CDATA[stone]]></category> <category><![CDATA[story]]></category> <category><![CDATA[suppose]]></category> <category><![CDATA[take]]></category> <category><![CDATA[taken]]></category> <category><![CDATA[tears]]></category> <category><![CDATA[temptation]]></category> <category><![CDATA[tense]]></category> <category><![CDATA[their]]></category> <category><![CDATA[them]]></category> <category><![CDATA[those]]></category> <category><![CDATA[though]]></category> <category><![CDATA[threes]]></category> <category><![CDATA[through]]></category> <category><![CDATA[time]]></category> <category><![CDATA[together]]></category> <category><![CDATA[traditional]]></category> <category><![CDATA[trance]]></category> <category><![CDATA[transformations]]></category> <category><![CDATA[true]]></category> <category><![CDATA[under]]></category> <category><![CDATA[very]]></category> <category><![CDATA[went]]></category> <category><![CDATA[were]]></category> <category><![CDATA[which]]></category> <category><![CDATA[witch]]></category> <category><![CDATA[work]]></category> <category><![CDATA[written]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.gandaculdecolorado.com/the-curse-of-the-dark-heart/</guid> <description><![CDATA[by Kim Chamberlin and Ionela Tudor Book Review by Rachel GrahamAfter reading this book and researching about the origin of the story, I found that it was written to be a folktale. However, this folktale was one that came to the author, Ionela Tudor, who had help with the composition of the idea from Kim […]]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img data-recalc-dims="1" decoding="async" class=" alignleft size-full wp-image-5473" style="margin: 5px; float: left;" alt="the_curse_of_the_dark_heart_1" src="https://i0.wp.com/www.gandaculdecolorado.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/the_curse_of_the_dark_heart_1.jpg?resize=140%2C210" height="210" width="140" />by Kim Chamberlin and Ionela Tudor </p> <p>Book Review by Rachel Graham<br />After reading this book and researching about the origin of the story, I found that it was written to be a folktale. However, this folktale was one that came to the author, Ionela Tudor, who had help with the composition of the idea from Kim Chamberlin. Folktales typically are from the oral tradition of sharing stories and only in recent years have been written down for preservation and to share with wider audiences. This story was meant to be written in the style of a folktale, but the idea was newly born.<br />The beginning starts with Cain and Ana meeting by chance and falling in love with one another. Soon after, Cain is tempted by a witch of wealth, power, land and a beautiful wife. Temptation wins and Cain is swept away to his riches in the castle of a nearby town. Ana, drawn by her love for Cain, sets out in search of him. She stumbles upon him once she reaches the city and quickly finds herself working as a seamstress for Cain’s new fiancé, the princess. Cain has plans to marry the princess, Iana, and take over for the dying king. Unbeknownst to Ana, Cain is under a spell from the witch. The witch uses her powers to take away all of Ana’s strength through the wedding dress Ana is sewing. As Cain is getting ready to marry Iana, an angry crowd stones her to death and nearly Cain as well. Ana saves Cain, but he is on the verge of death. After their escape from the castle to a nearby cave, Cain is nearly healed and released from the witch’s control, when the witch makes another appearance and turns Ana into stone flowing with tears. Then, Cain marries Ana’s sister and has a daughter, who is also named Ana. When Ana is older, she and Cain go to visit the statue. The witch appears to tempt the younger Ana, but Cain steps in to rescue. The statue Ana is able to drown the witch in her tears that have flowed for so long and she is then released from her imprisonment in stone. <br />This book was a short read that included many elements that may be found in a traditional folktale. Many folktales include magical transformations and this story included Cain in a trance under the witch’s control and Ana frozen in time as a stone statue. There was also the repeated element of events happening in threes. I found that this story had an interesting plot, but didn’t end on a happy note. As I read the story, the sacrifices Ana went through to find her one true love were enduring of a happy ending for the both of them. That was not the case. In the end, Ana is not rewarded for her pure spirit and heart. Cain, who gives into temptation, is the one who is able to live his life, even if it is without Ana. I found this part of the story disconcerting. As a short story, a writer has very little time to work on character development so it must be done very strategically to fully tell the story. Several characters that had a major role, such as Ana’s sister who marries Cain, were never introduced until later in the story when they made their appearance. As a reader, I would have appreciated more about those characters to be able to put the pieces of the puzzle together as I read the book. I also felt that having the story written in the present tense, even though it was suppose to have taken place long ago, made it difficult for me as a reader to believe that the tale took place in the past. In the end, the story had many appealing and creative details, but the discourse in which it was presented could have been more pleasing.</p> ]]></content:encoded> <post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">791</post-id> </item> <item> <title>Au crescut fraudele în domeniul imobiliar</title> <link>https://www.gandaculdecolorado.com/au-crescut-fraudele-in-domeniul-imobiliar/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Marian Petruţa]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Wed, 15 Jul 2009 18:16:56 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[America]]></category> <category><![CDATA[2007]]></category> <category><![CDATA[2008]]></category> <category><![CDATA[aceleasi]]></category> <category><![CDATA[afectează]]></category> <category><![CDATA[altele]]></category> <category><![CDATA[anul]]></category> <category><![CDATA[asistent]]></category> <category><![CDATA[bailouts]]></category> <category><![CDATA[biroul]]></category> <category><![CDATA[biroului]]></category> <category><![CDATA[builder]]></category> <category><![CDATA[cadrul]]></category> <category><![CDATA[california]]></category> <category><![CDATA[cinstiţi]]></category> <category><![CDATA[colorado]]></category> <category><![CDATA[columbia]]></category> <category><![CDATA[condo]]></category> <category><![CDATA[conversion]]></category> <category><![CDATA[credit]]></category> <category><![CDATA[crescut]]></category> <category><![CDATA[creştere]]></category> <category><![CDATA[criminală]]></category> <category><![CDATA[criminale]]></category> <category><![CDATA[curânt]]></category> <category><![CDATA[declarat]]></category> <category><![CDATA[director]]></category> <category><![CDATA[districtul]]></category> <category><![CDATA[divizia]]></category> <category><![CDATA[dolari]]></category> <category><![CDATA[domeniul]]></category> <category><![CDATA[enhancements]]></category> <category><![CDATA[exactitate]]></category> <category><![CDATA[făcut]]></category> <category><![CDATA[faptul]]></category> <category><![CDATA[faţa]]></category> <category><![CDATA[federal]]></category> <category><![CDATA[finaciare]]></category> <category><![CDATA[financiare]]></category> <category><![CDATA[flipping]]></category> <category><![CDATA[florida]]></category> <category><![CDATA[folosite]]></category> <category><![CDATA[foreclosure]]></category> <category><![CDATA[fraud]]></category> <category><![CDATA[fraude]]></category> <category><![CDATA[fraudele]]></category> <category><![CDATA[fraudelor]]></category> <category><![CDATA[georgia]]></category> <category><![CDATA[identificate]]></category> <category><![CDATA[illinois]]></category> <category><![CDATA[imobiliar#]]></category> <category><![CDATA[imobiliare]]></category> <category><![CDATA[institutiile]]></category> <category><![CDATA[investigatii]]></category> <category><![CDATA[island]]></category> <category><![CDATA[kevin]]></category> <category><![CDATA[legate]]></category> <category><![CDATA[loan]]></category> <category><![CDATA[locaţii]]></category> <category><![CDATA[maryland]]></category> <category><![CDATA[massachusetts]]></category> <category><![CDATA[metodele]]></category> <category><![CDATA[miliarde]]></category> <category><![CDATA[milioane]]></category> <category><![CDATA[missouri]]></category> <category><![CDATA[modifications]]></category> <category><![CDATA[mortgage]]></category> <category><![CDATA[numeroase]]></category> <category><![CDATA[ohio]]></category> <category><![CDATA[pare]]></category> <category><![CDATA[pennsylvania]]></category> <category><![CDATA[perkins]]></category> <category><![CDATA[pierderi]]></category> <category><![CDATA[pierderile]]></category> <category><![CDATA[principal]]></category> <category><![CDATA[probleme]]></category> <category><![CDATA[procente]]></category> <category><![CDATA[property]]></category> <category><![CDATA[proprietarii]]></category> <category><![CDATA[proprietăţi]]></category> <category><![CDATA[public]]></category> <category><![CDATA[pump]]></category> <category><![CDATA[raport]]></category> <category><![CDATA[raportat]]></category> <category><![CDATA[rata]]></category> <category><![CDATA[relevă]]></category> <category><![CDATA[rescues]]></category> <category><![CDATA[reverse]]></category> <category><![CDATA[rhode]]></category> <category><![CDATA[ridicată]]></category> <category><![CDATA[sales]]></category> <category><![CDATA[semnificative]]></category> <category><![CDATA[short]]></category> <category><![CDATA[state]]></category> <category><![CDATA[statele]]></category> <category><![CDATA[ştiu]]></category> <category><![CDATA[texas]]></category> <category><![CDATA[topul]]></category> <category><![CDATA[trecut]]></category> <category><![CDATA[unite]]></category> <category><![CDATA[york]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.gandaculdecolorado.com/au-crescut-fraudele-in-domeniul-imobiliar/</guid> <description><![CDATA[Un raport făcut public de Biroul Federal de Investigaţii relevă faptul că în 2008 fraudele în domeniul imobiliar au crescut cu 36 de procente faţă de anul 2007. Cu toate că pierderile în dolari, legate de fraudele imobiliare, nu se ştiu cu exactitate, instituţiile finaciare au raportat pierderi de 1,4 miliarde de dolari, o creştere […]]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Un raport făcut public de Biroul Federal de Investigaţii relevă faptul că în 2008 fraudele în domeniul imobiliar au crescut cu 36 de procente faţă de anul 2007.</p> <p>Cu toate că pierderile în dolari, legate de fraudele imobiliare, nu se ştiu cu exactitate, instituţiile finaciare au raportat pierderi de 1,4 miliarde de dolari, o creştere cu 83 de procente faţă de 2007.</p> <p>“Fraudele imobiliare afectează proprietarii cinstiţi şi instituţiile financiare” a declarat Kevin Perkins, director asistent la divizia criminală din cadrul Biroului Federal, adăugând că în continuare luptă pentru pedepsirea celor vinovaţi.</p> <p>Raportul mai arată că 63% (peste 1,000 de cazuri) din investigaţiile aflate pe rol în 2008 implică pierderi care totalizează peste 1 milion de dolari. Au fost înregistrate peste 3,1 de milioane de aplicaţii pentru procedura de forclosure, la aproximativ 2,3 milioane de proprietăţi. Procentul este cu 81 % mai mare decât în anul 2007, şi cu 225% faţă de 2006.</p> <p>Partea de vest a Statelor Unite are se pare rata cea mai ridicată de investigaţii criminale.<br /> Topul celor 10 state cu cele mai numeroase fraude în 2008 sunt: California, Illinois, Texas, Georgia, Ohio, Colorado, Maryland, Florida, Missouri, şi New York.<br /> Statele Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, şi Districtul Columbia au fost identificate de curânt ca noi locaţii cu probleme semnificative în domeniul fraudelor imobiliare.</p> <p>Metodele folosite sunt in principal aceleasi folosite in trecut dar si altele noi: property flipping, builder-bailouts, short sales, foreclosure rescues; sau reverse mortgage fraud, credit enhancements, condo conversion, loan modifications, pump and pay.</p> ]]></content:encoded> <post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">562</post-id> </item> <item> <title>How I Came to Immigrate to America (XI)</title> <link>https://www.gandaculdecolorado.com/how-i-came-to-immigrate-to-america-xi/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Redactie]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Fri, 17 Dec 2004 17:28:06 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[America]]></category> <category><![CDATA[accident]]></category> <category><![CDATA[administration]]></category> <category><![CDATA[after]]></category> <category><![CDATA[again]]></category> <category><![CDATA[although]]></category> <category><![CDATA[always]]></category> <category><![CDATA[anything]]></category> <category><![CDATA[basic]]></category> <category><![CDATA[because]]></category> <category><![CDATA[before]]></category> <category><![CDATA[being]]></category> <category><![CDATA[blood]]></category> <category><![CDATA[business]]></category> <category><![CDATA[calculus]]></category> <category><![CDATA[call]]></category> <category><![CDATA[called]]></category> <category><![CDATA[came]]></category> <category><![CDATA[clinic]]></category> <category><![CDATA[computer]]></category> <category><![CDATA[continued]]></category> <category><![CDATA[couldn]]></category> <category><![CDATA[courses]]></category> <category><![CDATA[crazy]]></category> <category><![CDATA[customer]]></category> <category><![CDATA[degree]]></category> <category><![CDATA[didn]]></category> <category><![CDATA[down]]></category> <category><![CDATA[drove]]></category> <category><![CDATA[during]]></category> <category><![CDATA[english]]></category> <category><![CDATA[enroll]]></category> <category><![CDATA[even]]></category> <category><![CDATA[exam]]></category> <category><![CDATA[exams]]></category> <category><![CDATA[eyebrow]]></category> <category><![CDATA[feel]]></category> <category><![CDATA[fingers]]></category> <category><![CDATA[former]]></category> <category><![CDATA[girls]]></category> <category><![CDATA[given]]></category> <category><![CDATA[good]]></category> <category><![CDATA[graduation]]></category> <category><![CDATA[happy]]></category> <category><![CDATA[have]]></category> <category><![CDATA[home]]></category> <category><![CDATA[hopes]]></category> <category><![CDATA[just]]></category> <category><![CDATA[laughed]]></category> <category><![CDATA[leave]]></category> <category><![CDATA[little]]></category> <category><![CDATA[manage]]></category> <category><![CDATA[master]]></category> <category><![CDATA[medical]]></category> <category><![CDATA[month]]></category> <category><![CDATA[mother]]></category> <category><![CDATA[myself]]></category> <category><![CDATA[night]]></category> <category><![CDATA[office]]></category> <category><![CDATA[pass]]></category> <category><![CDATA[passed]]></category> <category><![CDATA[people]]></category> <category><![CDATA[place]]></category> <category><![CDATA[prepare]]></category> <category><![CDATA[processing]]></category> <category><![CDATA[program]]></category> <category><![CDATA[programming]]></category> <category><![CDATA[quite]]></category> <category><![CDATA[rather]]></category> <category><![CDATA[requisite]]></category> <category><![CDATA[românia]]></category> <category><![CDATA[said]]></category> <category><![CDATA[seemed]]></category> <category><![CDATA[shirt]]></category> <category><![CDATA[short]]></category> <category><![CDATA[some]]></category> <category><![CDATA[split]]></category> <category><![CDATA[start]]></category> <category><![CDATA[started]]></category> <category><![CDATA[state]]></category> <category><![CDATA[store]]></category> <category><![CDATA[take]]></category> <category><![CDATA[taken]]></category> <category><![CDATA[tell]]></category> <category><![CDATA[them]]></category> <category><![CDATA[think]]></category> <category><![CDATA[thought]]></category> <category><![CDATA[time]]></category> <category><![CDATA[told]]></category> <category><![CDATA[took]]></category> <category><![CDATA[training]]></category> <category><![CDATA[typing]]></category> <category><![CDATA[unemployed]]></category> <category><![CDATA[very]]></category> <category><![CDATA[wanted]]></category> <category><![CDATA[well]]></category> <category><![CDATA[went]]></category> <category><![CDATA[were]]></category> <category><![CDATA[word]]></category> <category><![CDATA[work]]></category> <category><![CDATA[would]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.gandaculdecolorado.com/how-i-came-to-immigrate-to-america-xi/</guid> <description><![CDATA[During that time, I had continued to work a few evenings a week at the T-shirt store. In addition to going to clean up the elderly lady’s house on Saturdays. Next to the T-shirt store, there was a little restaurant that had happy hour. It was not very clear to me what that meant at […]]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>During that time, I had continued to work a few evenings a week at the T-shirt store. In addition to going to clean up the elderly lady’s house on Saturdays. Next to the T-shirt store, there was a little restaurant that had happy hour. It was not very clear to me what that meant at the time. Anyway, some nights when I went to work at the T-shirt place, I would stop to fill up my plate with shrimps and take it to have something to nibble at the store. They didn’t charge me anything. One night, right before closing time at 9, I had a customer who couldn’t decide what he wanted. I was rather impatient to leave. So, when the man finally decided what design he wanted imprinted, I took the shirt, put it on the imprinting machine but didn’t lock it completely on top of the shirt. When I let the handle go, it snapped back and hit me in the eye. A flood of blood started to pour and I didn’t know whether I had lost an eye or what. I was too afraid to feel anything. The customer left in a hurry. I called my mother at home to tell her that I had been in an accident. I was not very precise what had happened and my mother thought it was a car accident. I then called my employer and he told me to call 911. All that time, I was holding tissues to my eye and they were quickly drenched in blood. The ambulance came at the same time with my sponsor and his son. My mother had dispatched them. The son drove my car to the hospital. There they had to sew my eyebrow. I had been lucky. My eyebrow had been split open, not my eye. But the force of the impact gave me a huge bruise and swelling that closed my eye. It stayed like that for almost a month. <br /> After that I drove myself home. And I called my then boyfriend in Romania (presently my husband) to tell him the news. It was the night for me to call. I always called the last Saturday of the month. <br /> I continued working at the T-shirt place through a change of ownership. The new owner was a Korean woman who introduced me to sushi, which I came to love. I worked for her until she dismissed me. She said she would work there herself. It was a one-person store. <br /> After my dismissal from the clinic, a few months passed and I didn’t find another job. I was getting rather anxious. So, when the unemployment office mentioned a state-run and state-paid program for the unemployed that wanted to learn new skills, I jumped at the opportunity. I was screened and found eligible. Fifty or sixty people who were unemployed, former drug addicts, former convicts or otherwise hard to place individuals, including myself were taken to a kind of retreat where we had inspirational music, tearful confessions of past mistakes, greatest accomplishments, etc. All of this seemed highly fake to me but I went along because I really wanted the training. <br /> I was enrolled in a program that would prepare you to become a word processing operator. We would start and end every day of training with a chorus of “I feel happy, I feel healthy, I feel terrific!” yelled at the top of our voices. Then we would split into groups and study office procedures, typing and then computer word processing. There were frequent tests. As usual, I did well, with the exception of typing. I couldn’t use all my fingers and my speed was terrible. Being very competitive, I felt bad. The more so, because there was a young girl in the program who was born with extremely short hands and with just 2-3 fingers. She was typing better than I was. It got me so upset that I would start to cry and had to leave the room to calm down. I was very good in the computer work. <br /> Just before losing my job at the clinic, I had started to take some pre-requisite courses (Calculus and Basic Computer Programming) because I had hopes to enroll in a Master’s Program in Business Administration. Although the girls put me down and laughed and said that I was crazy to think that I would manage to pass calculus and go on to get an advanced degree, I continued. Their words did not discourage me. On the contrary. <br /> The Romanian man who had given us a small black and white TV when we arrived encouraged me to go for an MBA. He bought me books that would prepare you for the GMAT exam. I studied them religiously, and when I finished one book, I started again. When I took the exam, I was rather good at it. I passed with a good score. I was quite used to taking exams. During my job searches I had taken exams for federal or state jobs. I always scored well but wasn’t hired, but placed on waiting lists. <br /> I realized quite early that my Bachelor’s degree in English from Romania would not serve me in any way in the States. It was good because I knew the language but it seemed ridiculous to even think that I could teach English to native speakers. On the other hand, my mother’s pharmacy degree would have been quite useful, had it not been for numerous exams that she had to pass before being able to practice again. On my mother’s feats, a little later. <br /> The people in the Word Processing School were very friendly. We kept in touch even after graduation and even went out to eat together. But just before graduation, one of my colleagues told me that she saw an ad in the paper for a word processor in a medical facility. She thought that I would be good for that given my prior involvement with the medical world. I applied and was offered the job. That was a great accomplishment. (va urma)</p> ]]></content:encoded> <post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">322</post-id> </item> <item> <title>A Little Black Book</title> <link>https://www.gandaculdecolorado.com/a-little-black-book/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Redactie]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Sat, 17 Jul 2004 16:09:52 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Cultura]]></category> <category><![CDATA[across]]></category> <category><![CDATA[after]]></category> <category><![CDATA[attractive]]></category> <category><![CDATA[balmer]]></category> <category><![CDATA[before]]></category> <category><![CDATA[behind]]></category> <category><![CDATA[black]]></category> <category><![CDATA[braves]]></category> <category><![CDATA[brown]]></category> <category><![CDATA[câmp]]></category> <category><![CDATA[campfire]]></category> <category><![CDATA[ceremony]]></category> <category><![CDATA[check]]></category> <category><![CDATA[class]]></category> <category><![CDATA[coincided]]></category> <category><![CDATA[confessing]]></category> <category><![CDATA[continued]]></category> <category><![CDATA[counselors]]></category> <category><![CDATA[cover]]></category> <category><![CDATA[credenza]]></category> <category><![CDATA[desire]]></category> <category><![CDATA[desk]]></category> <category><![CDATA[drawer]]></category> <category><![CDATA[during]]></category> <category><![CDATA[ended]]></category> <category><![CDATA[enough]]></category> <category><![CDATA[enrolled]]></category> <category><![CDATA[entries]]></category> <category><![CDATA[entry]]></category> <category><![CDATA[filled]]></category> <category><![CDATA[first]]></category> <category><![CDATA[forest]]></category> <category><![CDATA[frank]]></category> <category><![CDATA[friend]]></category> <category><![CDATA[gazing]]></category> <category><![CDATA[gift]]></category> <category><![CDATA[green]]></category> <category><![CDATA[hand]]></category> <category><![CDATA[handing]]></category> <category><![CDATA[happily]]></category> <category><![CDATA[imagined]]></category> <category><![CDATA[indian]]></category> <category><![CDATA[inside]]></category> <category><![CDATA[into]]></category> <category><![CDATA[involving]]></category> <category><![CDATA[kind]]></category> <category><![CDATA[leather]]></category> <category><![CDATA[left]]></category> <category><![CDATA[lengthy]]></category> <category><![CDATA[life]]></category> <category><![CDATA[like]]></category> <category><![CDATA[list]]></category> <category><![CDATA[little]]></category> <category><![CDATA[minds]]></category> <category><![CDATA[mountain]]></category> <category><![CDATA[near]]></category> <category><![CDATA[night]]></category> <category><![CDATA[notebook]]></category> <category><![CDATA[notepad]]></category> <category><![CDATA[office]]></category> <category><![CDATA[open]]></category> <category><![CDATA[opened]]></category> <category><![CDATA[other]]></category> <category><![CDATA[presented]]></category> <category><![CDATA[prodding]]></category> <category><![CDATA[reached]]></category> <category><![CDATA[record]]></category> <category><![CDATA[relinquishing]]></category> <category><![CDATA[remembered]]></category> <category><![CDATA[retirement]]></category> <category><![CDATA[role]]></category> <category><![CDATA[saturday]]></category> <category><![CDATA[school]]></category> <category><![CDATA[senior]]></category> <category><![CDATA[shaman]]></category> <category><![CDATA[sherwood]]></category> <category><![CDATA[short]]></category> <category><![CDATA[sooner]]></category> <category><![CDATA[story]]></category> <category><![CDATA[striding]]></category> <category><![CDATA[such]]></category> <category><![CDATA[switzerland]]></category> <category><![CDATA[teacher]]></category> <category><![CDATA[telling]]></category> <category><![CDATA[thin]]></category> <category><![CDATA[things]]></category> <category><![CDATA[thought]]></category> <category><![CDATA[time]]></category> <category><![CDATA[told]]></category> <category><![CDATA[took]]></category> <category><![CDATA[tried]]></category> <category><![CDATA[underneath]]></category> <category><![CDATA[urged]]></category> <category><![CDATA[village]]></category> <category><![CDATA[want]]></category> <category><![CDATA[wanted]]></category> <category><![CDATA[which]]></category> <category><![CDATA[while]]></category> <category><![CDATA[would]]></category> <category><![CDATA[years]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.gandaculdecolorado.com/a-little-black-book/</guid> <description><![CDATA[Not too long ago, I was sitting in the well-appointed office of my friend, a senior officer of a brokerage firm, with whom I had a luncheon appointment. Before leaving the office for our chosen restaurant, I casually told her the story of Mr. Frank Balmer and his little black notebook. Why I did so […]]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Not too long ago, I was sitting in the well-appointed office of my friend, a senior officer of a brokerage firm, with whom I had a luncheon appointment. Before leaving the office for our chosen restaurant, I casually told her the story of Mr. Frank Balmer and his little black notebook. Why I did so has now escaped me.<br /> Mr. Balmer was one of my high school teachers in Toronto, Canada, during the mid-1950s. I hadn’t thought about him for scores of years until I faced retirement. Then he became a frequent apparition in my mind, but not because he had been a master teacher, or was remembered for making profound pronouncements to generations of students. <br /> A more likely candidate for such a mentor would be Mr. Hundert, the main character in Ethan Canin’s short story “The Palace Thief,” which Hollywood turned into the poignant motion picture “The Emperor’s Club.” Kevin Kline, you may recall, played the role of the erudite schoolmaster who tried to leave upon the minds of his countless charges “the delicate imprint of their culture.” More simply, Mr. Balmer was a science teacher, who honestly tried, with the help of his dry wit, to pound the principles of physics into the minds of my classmates and me.<br /> The sole reason he had reemerged in my thoughts was the small black notebook he extracted during class one day from the inner left-hand breast pocket of his sports jacket. Holding it in his upraised hand and scanning the class with his captivating eyes, he told us it was where he recorded all the things he wanted to do before he died.<br /> From my perspective as a 17-year-old, I judged him to be in his late 50s. Although he wore glasses and his short, thinning hair displayed distinct streaks of gray, I figured he had enough life left in him to scratch a good many entries in his notebook. <br /> Coincidentally, I replaced Mr. Balmer as the campfire medicine man at a summer camp for boys near Haliburton in northern Ontario. The weekly activities were marked with the program director’s own perception of the “Indian way of life,” and culminated every Saturday night with a campfire ceremony involving senior counselors as key braves of an imagined Indian village.<br /> After relinquishing his role as shaman at Camp Sherwood Forest, which coincided with his retirement, Mr. Balmer I imagined continued happily to check off his notebook entries for many, many years.<br /> No sooner had I ended telling the story, and confessing my desire to own a notebook like Mr. Balmer’s, when my kind friend reached underneath her desk and presented me with a thin green box. And after striding across her office to a credenza behind where I sat, while prodding me to open her gift, she took a black pen from a drawer.<br /> By this time I had opened the box and was gazing at an attractive brown leather cover with a notepad inside. Handing me the pen, my friend urged me to record the first entry of things I wanted to do.<br /> Due to my resolve to follow Mr. Balmer’s example, I had thought about what I would include on such a list. And having been prodded to record my first want, I took the pen and wrote: “Visit Switzerland at least one more time.”<br /> It seems like a simple enough wish, but one filled with a mountain full of my memories and emotions. Switzerland is where, as a boy, I skied my first downhill run, took my first communion, smoked my initial forbidden cigarette, hiked my first mountain and experienced death at close quarters for the first time. An older fellow student had drowned during a supervised group swim. It happened in a lake near the renowned (throughout most of Western Europe) Benedictine monastery and school of Einsiedeln where I was then enrolled.<br /> A lengthy list of other remembered experiences connects me to the land of William Tell, the Jungfrau and echoes of the alpenhorn, and all justify the first entry in my own leather-covered notebook of things I want to do before time runs out on me. </p> <p>Frank L. Kaplan is a retired University of Colorado professor who writes from Wheat Ridge, Colo. kaplanfăcolorado.edu</p> ]]></content:encoded> <post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">285</post-id> </item> <item> <title>My School Years in Romania (VII)</title> <link>https://www.gandaculdecolorado.com/my-school-years-in-romania-vii/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Redactie]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Wed, 13 Nov 2002 19:26:40 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Romania]]></category> <category><![CDATA[also]]></category> <category><![CDATA[announced]]></category> <category><![CDATA[assigned]]></category> <category><![CDATA[avail]]></category> <category><![CDATA[because]]></category> <category><![CDATA[before]]></category> <category><![CDATA[beginning]]></category> <category><![CDATA[blue]]></category> <category><![CDATA[book]]></category> <category><![CDATA[books]]></category> <category><![CDATA[bought]]></category> <category><![CDATA[came]]></category> <category><![CDATA[carry]]></category> <category><![CDATA[cheating]]></category> <category><![CDATA[check]]></category> <category><![CDATA[checked]]></category> <category><![CDATA[class]]></category> <category><![CDATA[colleague]]></category> <category><![CDATA[consignment]]></category> <category><![CDATA[continued]]></category> <category><![CDATA[copying]]></category> <category><![CDATA[could]]></category> <category><![CDATA[different]]></category> <category><![CDATA[down]]></category> <category><![CDATA[each]]></category> <category><![CDATA[every]]></category> <category><![CDATA[everything]]></category> <category><![CDATA[examinations]]></category> <category><![CDATA[exercise]]></category> <category><![CDATA[expense]]></category> <category><![CDATA[first]]></category> <category><![CDATA[format]]></category> <category><![CDATA[georgescu]]></category> <category><![CDATA[grade]]></category> <category><![CDATA[grader]]></category> <category><![CDATA[grades]]></category> <category><![CDATA[grew]]></category> <category><![CDATA[hemmed]]></category> <category><![CDATA[homework]]></category> <category><![CDATA[inside]]></category> <category><![CDATA[item]]></category> <category><![CDATA[just]]></category> <category><![CDATA[least]]></category> <category><![CDATA[left]]></category> <category><![CDATA[long]]></category> <category><![CDATA[longer]]></category> <category><![CDATA[loose]]></category> <category><![CDATA[manuals]]></category> <category><![CDATA[money]]></category> <category><![CDATA[moved]]></category> <category><![CDATA[navy]]></category> <category><![CDATA[neatly]]></category> <category><![CDATA[necessitated]]></category> <category><![CDATA[needed]]></category> <category><![CDATA[once]]></category> <category><![CDATA[oral]]></category> <category><![CDATA[outside]]></category> <category><![CDATA[pants]]></category> <category><![CDATA[paper]]></category> <category><![CDATA[papers]]></category> <category><![CDATA[pleaded]]></category> <category><![CDATA[remember]]></category> <category><![CDATA[required]]></category> <category><![CDATA[school]]></category> <category><![CDATA[sell]]></category> <category><![CDATA[shirts]]></category> <category><![CDATA[short]]></category> <category><![CDATA[simona]]></category> <category><![CDATA[some]]></category> <category><![CDATA[sometimes]]></category> <category><![CDATA[started]]></category> <category><![CDATA[stayed]]></category> <category><![CDATA[stores]]></category> <category><![CDATA[student]]></category> <category><![CDATA[students]]></category> <category><![CDATA[subject]]></category> <category><![CDATA[subjects]]></category> <category><![CDATA[supplies]]></category> <category><![CDATA[sweat]]></category> <category><![CDATA[taught]]></category> <category><![CDATA[teacher]]></category> <category><![CDATA[term]]></category> <category><![CDATA[their]]></category> <category><![CDATA[them]]></category> <category><![CDATA[these]]></category> <category><![CDATA[time]]></category> <category><![CDATA[uniform]]></category> <category><![CDATA[uniforms]]></category> <category><![CDATA[until]]></category> <category><![CDATA[usually]]></category> <category><![CDATA[very]]></category> <category><![CDATA[waste]]></category> <category><![CDATA[were]]></category> <category><![CDATA[white]]></category> <category><![CDATA[widespread]]></category> <category><![CDATA[work]]></category> <category><![CDATA[would]]></category> <category><![CDATA[writing]]></category> <category><![CDATA[written]]></category> <category><![CDATA[year]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.gandaculdecolorado.com/my-school-years-in-romania-vii/</guid> <description><![CDATA[The grades were between 1 and 10 with 10 being the best. 1 or 2 was given for cheating. 5 and above were passing grades. Usually 5 was considered a “charity” grade. The usual grades were for oral examinations, in front of the whole class. There were however, written examinations. Some were announced, some were […]]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<div>The grades were between 1 and 10 with 10 being the best. 1 or 2 was given for cheating. 5 and above were passing grades. Usually 5 was considered a “charity” grade. The usual grades were for oral examinations, in front of the whole class. There were however, written examinations. Some were announced, some were not. Sometimes you got a grade for a home assignment. Starting with the 5th grade, we started having term written examinations for a few subjects, first just 2 and then up to 5-6. The term written examination was announced from the beginning of the term. Everything covered in that subject for that term could be tested. You had to know everything. To get to the term grade for that subject, an average of the oral examinations would be taken, and that figure would be averaged with the written exam to get to the term grade. <br /> At the beginning of each year, we would assemble in the schoolyard, by class, in a U shape. Our main teacher (diriginte) was there. We would line up and then, two by two, go to our class. Each year the classroom would be different but the class itself stayed the same. Some kids moved away, or moved out but just because their parents changed residences and they enrolled in other school. <br /> Then, the very first day, every student would receive (free) manuals for each of the subjects. We got to keep these manuals. Later on, in high school, the manuals were recycled. We might have gotten used manuals for some subjects and at the end of the year we had to turn them in. <br /> Before school started, all stationery stores had long lines of people who waited to buy school supplies. We had to buy these. Everything was very organized. Each store had received the exact list of what a first grader, second grader, third grader, etc. would need for that year, down to the smallest detail. Supplies for each grade would be different. Wrapping paper would also be bought because books and copybooks, draft books, everything had to be neatly wrapped (only blue paper) and neatly labeled with the student’s name and grade. <br /> The first day we would also get the schedule for each day. School was taught in the morning and in the afternoon. I remember that in some grades, we started around noontime or 1 PM, and stayed in school until 5 or 6. Each day, 4-6 subjects were taught. Usually, each of these subjects necessitated a book and 1-2 exercise books. We were required to carry all these books and exercise books that would be needed for that day. One exercise book was for writing in class and one for homework. There were no loose papers. Everything was in book format. Homework was checked every day. Sometimes a student was assigned to check the colleague’s work. There was some cheating, students, copying their homework off some colleague’s exercise book just before the teacher came, but it was not widespread. <br /> Before the school year started, we also had to buy school uniforms (usually at least 2 so that we could change into clean ones mid-week) and also uniforms for gym. The required outfit for gym was black satin shorts and white t-shirts (for inside) and navy blue sweat pants and shirts for outside and colder weather. The uniforms had to be kept neat and in your size. You could not wear a uniform that was too short or too long. We usually bought them long and hemmed them to save on the expense. And as we grew, the hem would be let down. I remember that one time, when there were just 1-2 months until the end of the school year and the following year uniforms would be different, a principal asked me to buy another uniform because mine was getting a bit short. I pleaded that the time left was too short and that it would be a waste of money, but to no avail. I had to buy a new uniform. And there were no consignment stores to sell it to, once you no longer needed an item. <br />(to be continued) </p> <p>Simona Georgescu</p> </p></div> ]]></content:encoded> <post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">114</post-id> </item> <item> <title>My School Years in Romania (V)</title> <link>https://www.gandaculdecolorado.com/my-school-years-in-romania-v/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Redactie]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Fri, 13 Sep 2002 19:09:17 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Romania]]></category> <category><![CDATA[after]]></category> <category><![CDATA[again]]></category> <category><![CDATA[also]]></category> <category><![CDATA[another]]></category> <category><![CDATA[appear]]></category> <category><![CDATA[average]]></category> <category><![CDATA[back]]></category> <category><![CDATA[beginning]]></category> <category><![CDATA[behavior]]></category> <category><![CDATA[book]]></category> <category><![CDATA[booklet]]></category> <category><![CDATA[books]]></category> <category><![CDATA[bound]]></category> <category><![CDATA[bring]]></category> <category><![CDATA[checked]]></category> <category><![CDATA[class]]></category> <category><![CDATA[clean]]></category> <category><![CDATA[cloth]]></category> <category><![CDATA[could]]></category> <category><![CDATA[course]]></category> <category><![CDATA[each]]></category> <category><![CDATA[ears]]></category> <category><![CDATA[every]]></category> <category><![CDATA[fact]]></category> <category><![CDATA[final]]></category> <category><![CDATA[fingernails]]></category> <category><![CDATA[first]]></category> <category><![CDATA[found]]></category> <category><![CDATA[friend]]></category> <category><![CDATA[general]]></category> <category><![CDATA[give]]></category> <category><![CDATA[good]]></category> <category><![CDATA[grade]]></category> <category><![CDATA[grades]]></category> <category><![CDATA[hair]]></category> <category><![CDATA[have]]></category> <category><![CDATA[high]]></category> <category><![CDATA[higher]]></category> <category><![CDATA[highschool]]></category> <category><![CDATA[impression]]></category> <category><![CDATA[individual]]></category> <category><![CDATA[inside]]></category> <category><![CDATA[issued]]></category> <category><![CDATA[just]]></category> <category><![CDATA[less]]></category> <category><![CDATA[long]]></category> <category><![CDATA[matricola]]></category> <category><![CDATA[mention]]></category> <category><![CDATA[mentions]]></category> <category><![CDATA[mine]]></category> <category><![CDATA[name]]></category> <category><![CDATA[necks]]></category> <category><![CDATA[nicely]]></category> <category><![CDATA[nobody]]></category> <category><![CDATA[number]]></category> <category><![CDATA[over]]></category> <category><![CDATA[pages]]></category> <category><![CDATA[people]]></category> <category><![CDATA[perfect]]></category> <category><![CDATA[prize]]></category> <category><![CDATA[prizes]]></category> <category><![CDATA[regular]]></category> <category><![CDATA[regularly]]></category> <category><![CDATA[regulation]]></category> <category><![CDATA[reportedly]]></category> <category><![CDATA[required]]></category> <category><![CDATA[ribbon]]></category> <category><![CDATA[rights]]></category> <category><![CDATA[românia]]></category> <category><![CDATA[school]]></category> <category><![CDATA[score]]></category> <category><![CDATA[second]]></category> <category><![CDATA[sent]]></category> <category><![CDATA[short]]></category> <category><![CDATA[small]]></category> <category><![CDATA[special]]></category> <category><![CDATA[started]]></category> <category><![CDATA[stay]]></category> <category><![CDATA[student]]></category> <category><![CDATA[subject]]></category> <category><![CDATA[term]]></category> <category><![CDATA[than]]></category> <category><![CDATA[their]]></category> <category><![CDATA[thin]]></category> <category><![CDATA[thing]]></category> <category><![CDATA[third]]></category> <category><![CDATA[thought]]></category> <category><![CDATA[throughout]]></category> <category><![CDATA[trimester]]></category> <category><![CDATA[uniform]]></category> <category><![CDATA[uniforms]]></category> <category><![CDATA[violation]]></category> <category><![CDATA[wearing]]></category> <category><![CDATA[went]]></category> <category><![CDATA[were]]></category> <category><![CDATA[white]]></category> <category><![CDATA[without]]></category> <category><![CDATA[would]]></category> <category><![CDATA[year]]></category> <category><![CDATA[younger]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.gandaculdecolorado.com/my-school-years-in-romania-v/</guid> <description><![CDATA[Second Grade Of course, there were uniforms. There were uniforms from pre-school on to the last year of highschool. They were not voluntary. They had to be kept clean. In fact, we had to keep our bodies clean. Our ears, necks, fingernails were regularly checked and if found less than perfect, we were sent to […]]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<div>Second Grade<br /> Of course, there were uniforms. There were uniforms from pre-school on to the last year of highschool. They were not voluntary. They had to be kept clean. In fact, we had to keep our bodies clean. Our ears, necks, fingernails were regularly checked and if found less than perfect, we were sent to the potty-room to clean up. <br /> For festive occasions, such as a holiday or inspection, our uniform was somewhat changed. You see that the girl in the front row (actually a friend of mine to this day) is wearing a white pinafore. She made a mistake that day. White pinafores were for special days and picture day was not considered special. Of course, the boys had to have short, regulation cut hair (if it grew too long, they were sent home and not accepted back until the hair was regulation short). The girls had to have their hair neat, short or braided or pulled back. And a white ribbon headband was mandatory. You could not stay in class without one. And of course, the hands had to stay behind our backs when we were listening to the teacher. I think that when the body is still, the mind is more receptive.<br /> One of the most strictly enforced things was the wearing of your “matricola” (your number). This was a piece of cloth, roughly 2 x 3 inches that had the name of the school and your personal number embroidered on it. You had to wear your Matricola from Grade 1 to the end of high school. At the beginning of “general” school and again at the beginning of high-school (grade 9) you received 2-3 copies of this cloth rectangle and you had to affix this securely on your left sleeve half way between your shoulder and your elbow. You had to have this number on your uniform and also on your coat, cardigan or whatever. You could not come to class without one. <br /> This might horrify people that don’t know the system but it served a very good purpose. Knowing that they could be reported by anyone, (by their school and number), students behaved. And nobody thought that it was a violation of his or her rights. A good friend of mine I went to highschool with, reportedly started wearing her matricola again long after highschool was over, just to give the impression that she was a highschool student (to appear younger). <br /> Another thing we had all throughout school (to the end of highschool), was the student’s grade book that each student was issued at the beginning of each grade. It was a small, thin, cloth – bound booklet that each student was required to bring to school every day. You had your name in ink on it. Inside, there were pages for the end of trimester grades for each subject but also pages for regular, every day grades. There were term grades for your general behavior. To get a final trimester grade in a subject, you had to have at least 2-3 individual grades in that subject. An average of the individual grades would give the term grade. And the average of the three term grades in each subject would give the year average in that subject. The average of all subjects would give the final score. And you were ranked by that score. A handful of people at the top would get prizes at the end of the school year. It was a public festivity in which you came in your crisp, pressed uniform and then they called your name and said that you got First Prize, Second Prize, Third Prize or Honorable Mention. All of the prizes and mentions were books. You got more books for a higher prize. They were nicely tied with a ribbon and a flower. You also gave bouquets of flowers to your teachers. <br />(to be continued) </p> <p>Simona Georgescu</p> </p></div> ]]></content:encoded> <post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">100</post-id> </item> </channel> </rss>