Andreea Sepi – author – Page 40 – Writer Between Worlds

Engines of the world

I don’t know if this means I’m getting old or I have just been pushed into insanity by two sweet nagging children, but the world used to be so much quieter when I was little. The days seemed fuller, too, although I cannot imagine what we could have filled them with. No TV, no Internet,…
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Penny-pincher extraordinaire

Advertising has got to be the easiest profession on Earth in Germany. You start out with a comprehensive technical description of your product, and then you just add “BILLIG” ( CHEAP) in large, bold capitals on top of it. Or the “creative” version “SCHNÄPPCHEN” (BARGAIN). Heck, you can sell any rotten fruit, any withered vegetable…
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Life is a cucumber salad

I’m into natural beauty. I hear people are giving their daughters nose jobs for their 18th birthday. I love my daughter’s nose, and I’d much rather cut up anybody who comes near it. It is perfect just the way it is. Who would want a mass-produced Barbie for a daughter?!.. But that’s another story. This…
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Small town blues

I used to be a big city girl, dynamic and fulfilled. But then I emigrated and became a shadow. First, I couldn’t speak a word of German. Yes, to the extent that I would bring home a jar of red cabbage thinking it was red beet. By the time I was einigermaßen able to communicate,…
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Sons of a gun

At this point I just want to say something about the recent shooting sprees in America. It seems all sorts of maniacs are on the loose again. And their guns, too. Now, I am not trying to pick a fight with anyone, but I cannot stand the blatant hypocrisy and shortsightedness of the gun-loving party.…
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Paradox of our existence

That you cannot keep any of it. That is the most sadistic part of life, its sardonic grin. That you cannot keep that which you hang on to the most, that which you love the most, that which is most said to be yours. You cannot keep that which you are held most responsible for,…
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Latest ownership craze

I remember my mother raising me with that Central European sense of politeness, where she would constantly nag: “What does it cost you to say hello? What does it cost you to say thank you?” It used to cost nothing, and so we grew up always politely saying hello and thank you. But what do…
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A touch of German humor

Well, since I did such serious German-bashing in my last post (and my conscience has been shaken by vigorous spasms of guilt ever since…), let me make it up to them by saying that they do have occasional bouts of excellent humor. Take this guy that was on Deutschland Funk this morning, a stand-up comedian,…
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Prozedur über alles

Would it be possible to write a piece about the periodic absurdity of German life? The eye-popping, mind-boggling, neuron-grilling absurdity of the bureaucratic mindset? I don’t think so. See, I can’t even come up with the right adjectives… Remember those Tom-and-Jerry cartoons where a desperate Tom pulls his own tongue, hits himself over the head…
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Hasta la vista!

Actually, it’s therapy. It’s therapy the three protagonists in Geoffrey Enthoven’s film are looking for. And it is actually baffling that no one else around them happens to see that. Not the parents, overprotective and naturally obsessed with maintaining the physical body, the tortured, handicapped body, present and “alive”. But the body isn’t really alive.…
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Adio, România!

Nu îmi mai înţeleg ţara. Când despre politică nu se mai poate glumi, când totul se discută din tranşee, la modul absolutisto-fundamentalist “dacă nu eşti cu noi eşti împotriva noastră”, sau, mai recent, “dacă nu eşti cu noi, eşti gunoi”, când până şi proprii părinţi răcnesc cu brutalitate la tine şi te jignesc pentru că,…
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P.S. la criza Euro

Din păcate, criza asta care riscă să se perpetueze la infinit în UE nu are numai consecinţe de ordin economic. Din păcate, chiar şi politicienii europeni suferă de miopie şi de “micime” a viziunilor. Ei (şi întreg Vestul Europei) s-au concentrat numai asupra limitării efectelor economice ale crizei, s-au dedicat numai aspectelor materiale, de ordin…
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Author: Andreea Sepi – author