Do you know what a Godfather is? Other than the famous movie that I’ve ever seen? I will tell you what a Godfather is to me.

I arrived to Cluj, Romania, in January 2015. And a Foreigner as I am, I did not know many people. I was eating, shopping, training, and going to places by myself (and with my also foreigner friend when possible). Don’t get me wrong, that’s not bad, but sometimes you need the local knowledge, the hints and tricks of everyday living in a (new) place.

Luckily, one day in my office, I met this lovely woman with a very interesting and “opinionated” sense of humor. She was one of the girls from the procurement department. For some reason my desk was in the procurement area, though I was part of the engineering department. Even in my own working organization I was feeling like a foreigner, seated in a different area from the rest of my group; but that was just for a couple of weeks 😉 . And it’s part of the fun!

One day I asked her if people go for after office drinks, to which she told me to join her and her husband for dinner. And that was the beginning.

We had dinner at Hanul Dacilor for the first time ever. I repeat, have a Ciorba de burta!! And papanasi 🙂 (Romanian doughnuts for desert). We had great connection, awesome jokes, politically incorrect and inappropriate comments, good beer, and a high dose of sarcasm, and that’s the perfect combination for a true friendship. Lovely evening.

After that day my new friends where taking care of me. Helping me to find out where to go skiing, who can cut my hair (The awesome Romanian hair stylist Emilian) , where to go for food, road trips, city tips, Romanian language lessons 😉 , how to handle cultural differences, long chats, great listeners, good company, among more. After a while, I started to call them: My Godfathers!

And trust me on this one, if you are a wanderer, a traveler, a foreigner, or just a vacationer you need to find yourself your Godfathers.

Godspeed my friends!

The Foreigner

Cluj 2015