Vasilica Tataru Nastase

Vasilica. She's put a mark on my life like no-one other. We grew up together as part of the Ensemble "Busuiocul" in Bacau.

We went on tours together with the entire group and we enjoyed a friendship that inspired me to be a good friend for many others..

When I listen to her singing, a beautiful world opens up in my heart.

Keeping the doors of access open: CCIF (Community College Infrastructure Fund)

I integrated so much in Delaware Tech's community that out of the people who passed by my display table the majority I saluted by name and I made *deposits into their emotional bank account.

Volunteering to support the CCIF project was an opportunity for me to be of service to Owens Campus at Delaware Tech. That was around March 5, 2007 when united groups of volunteers throughout all Delaware Tech's campuses joined up to support Orlando J. George, Jr. Delaware Tech's President and the college. Governor Ruth Ann Minner and the State Legislature who authorized a task force to investigate possible solutions to Delaware Tech’s capacity issue (http://www.dtcc.edu/access/index.html) and came up with a report that contained 3 solutions.

One of them was to establish a Community College Infrastructure Fund (CCIF).

*Stephen R. Covey - The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

Rockwood Mansion Park - Wilmington, Delaware

On February 3, 2007 I went to the Victorian style Mansion in Wilmington Delaware, Rockwood Mansion. This house/museum is a few blocks distance from where I used to live while I was an aupair (2004-2005), when either Saturdays or Sundays I would go there to study and enjoy a peaceful atmosphere.

Small talk, politeness, and "thank you's" from during that time..paid off, because after years of not going there, I was recognized, acknowledged, and saluted the minute I stepped in. It was a young lady in her early 70's, white hair, she knew exactely who I was, she greeted me and she made a point of not seeing each other for such a long time..

Fantastic experience!.. and I updated her on my progress. Incidentally, she was only visiting the mansion having not worked there anymore.

When you least expected...

On January 14, 2007 I had found myself close to desperation not knowing what to do. I came back from Romania - the semester had started and I failed to register for classes and to begin the spring semester, and all of a sudden I begun to have a real positive attitude full of faith. It was the attitude of what-will-God-put-before-me is what-I'll-be-thankful-for.

I felt that there was a great opportunity coming my way, really soon. And what have you, only a few days later on January 18 the opportunity I was feeling to come soon had miraculously come up. Mrs. Diana Erney, who at the time was my international student adviser, called me up and told me Dr. Ileana Smith, Campus Director, really wanted me to graduate and awarded me the Campus Director Scholarship.

Mrs. Erney had contributed so much to all this, she even spoke with Dr. Stephanie Smith, Dean of Instruction (at the time) about me and they all united their powers and reached out and saved me from falling down. Thank you.

End of 2006. Happy New Year!!

"I believe in myself" I told myself. Some of the most important goals were to graduate and transfer, but the most important for 2007 to come was to graduate.

January 3, 2007

Back in America. It's morning sometime now about 8:37 am. I am in the car listening to some Romanian music Stelica had on a CD he gave me. I really respect Stelian Prodan very much. He had helped me when I most needed help. I'll talk more about that later on.

January 10, 2007

I'm having challenges with Rehoboth Beach in general. Leaving by myself I've been learning the value of friendship and family.

Ever since I stopped smoking cigarettes, a major challenge was that I haven't found activities to really stimulate and motivate me very much. The American Cancer Society helped me with it's wonderful and fully free program ACS:: Guide for quitting smoking. Double your chances of quitting for good! in 2005 when my good friend, mentor, and just someone who helped me so much in many aspects, Jorge Armenta, motivated me enough to understand that cigarettes and smoking were not things I wanted for myself.
Thank you Jorge!

Full Color Postcard Printing, Brochures, Stickers, Calendars & More!

"Gala Premiilor Trustului Media Desteptarea" (Prizes Gala of the Media Group Desteptarea from Bacau, Romania).

December 21, 2006

At this event I met with many people I knew way before going to the US to live and to study there. Most of them were my colleagues, traditional dancers, singers and musicians, I grew up with as part of the Folk Ensemble "Busuiocul."

I exchanged a few words with people I worked with at Magura Verde (for a very short while when I was still in college at the University of Bacau). They were contracted to do the catering for the event.

I also reconnected with Gabi Berca, a leader of Bacau County, who I knew from a long time ago and who I respect very much for his accomplishments. He was named General Secretary of the Government in Romania, on March 26, 2008.

In addition to that, I took the liberty to introduce myself to a neighbor of mine from Bacau, Petru Placinta, a successful person who I also respect and look up to because of his business accomplishments. I told him I was a college student in America. He listened very carefully, yet a bit surprised. He asked me what was my major of studies, and I shared it with him; "Marketing & Management" I said. Then he assured me, a good future awaited for me. We then saluted each other politely and wished "Success!" to each other.

"Busuiocul" Folk Ensemble

December 21, 2006 Ateneu, Bacau - Romania

Half an hour before 5 pm I was surfing through my cell phone's agenda. I found Petrica Vlase's phone number. He is the director of "Busuiocul" Folk Ensemble of Bacau County's Culture Centre. As I was growing up as a dancer of the ensemble, he was one of the first people who first explained to me the importance of higher education.

He took me in his office one day, around the time when I was graduating from high-school, and he compared me with his older son, Gabi Vlase . He said he had a similar talk with him, when he was my age, to help him understand the importance and value of higher education.

Brilliant! I managed to speak with him and incidentally he was preparing to have the "Busuiocul" Ensamble perform a local event "Gala Premiilor Trustului Media Desteptarea" (Prizes Gala of the Media Group Desteptarea from Bacau, Romania).

Interactive Seminar with Mohandas K. Gandhi’s Grandson, Arun Gandhi

Grandson of the legendary Mohandas K. Gandhi, Arun Gandhi presented a 60-minute interactive seminar entitled “Lessons Learned from My Grandfather” on Tuesday, November 14, 2006. The seminar, was conducted LIVE via satellite broadcast. We had the opportunity to call-in or email questions to Mr. Gandhi.

Arun Gandhi was born in South Africa and raised in an environment wrought with the difficulties and humiliation of apartheid. At the age of 12, he was sent by his parents to stay with his grandfather during a turbulent period in India’s struggle to free itself from British rule. Viewing firsthand the effects of his grandfather’s national campaign for liberation through nonviolent means, he was set on a course for life. After leading successful projects for economic and social reform in India, he traveled to the United States to study racism in America. In 1991, he and his wife founded the M.K. Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence in Memphis, Tennessee. (source: http://www.ptk.org/)

Arun Gandhi described his grandfather’s concept of a nonviolent way of life. He explained what his grandfather meant by “nonviolence” and provided examples of nonviolence in practice. Ultimately, he argued that the U.S. should not resort to violence and fear to solve problems. Rather, the world needs to see the U.S. as a super-power in terms of her moral strength.

It was a true priviledge for me to be able to watch the seminar, while I was at home in Romania. Some of my notes from the lecture will share with you 3 of the most important lessons Mr. Gandhi learned from his grandfather:

RESPECT. UNDERSTANDING. ACCEPTANCE. APPRECIATION.

• 1st lesson - Understanding anger is an effective tool to produce good.
• 2nd lesson - Meditation is good (Sit in a room quetly a few minutes with a flower in hand and focus on the flower for a minute and than shut the eyes and keep the image on the flower for as long as possible. This is a mental exercise meant to improve concentration and mental focus generaly)
• 3rd lesson - Writing and anger journal with the intention of finding a solution and commiting yourself to the solution is a practice that helps you control your feelings.
  

The program, which is co-produced by Phi Theta Kappa International Honor Society and the National Collegiate Honors Council (NCHC), was the fourth installment of a four-part Honors Satellite Seminar Series entitled Gold, Gods, and Glory: The Global Dynamics of Power.

Phi Theta Kappa International Honor Society, is headquartered in Jackson, is the oldest and largest honor society in American higher education with 1,200 chapters on two-year and community college campuses in all 50 of the United States, Canada, Germany, the Republic of Palau, the British Virgin Islands and U.S. territorial possessions. More than two million students have been inducted since its founding in 1918, with approximately 100,000 students inducted annually. (source: http://www.ptk.org/)

More from Dec '06

After spending the night at my friend's Stelian Prodan's aunt's house in Silver Spring, Maryland in the US it was time to fly to Romania. I had not seen family since spring of 2005. My heart was filled with appreciation and with gratitude for being alive and able to make that trip.

It took a journey of about 30 hours through airplanes and other means of transportation until I arrived in Bucharest where my brother greeted me. I understood a very important value as I got there. One that will stay with me for the rest of my life. That is, that although and regardless of his financial situation or standard of life, Daniel my brother who's older, he went the extra mile to support me and my educational goals. I realize that I owe him a lot of credit, and that we sure are brothers who love and understand each other.

I was also enthusiastic to see my mom and dad at home. Mom has sacrificed herself much for keeping the family values up, and she succeeded, in my opinion. I was also eager to eat food she prepares. She's an excellent cook. My dad ,on the other hand, has great character and an always positive attitude about everything. He's the kind of person that when you fall ,he helps you raise back up, dust off, and motivate you to learn from that fall and to be cheerful and optimistic.

January 21, 2005

Back on the right track

- from the paper submitted to Larry Boehm, ENG 121 professor.

The right path, in my vision, is the road with happiness. Steven Covey in The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, says that ”happiness can be defined, in part at least as the fruit of the desire and ability to sacrifice what we want now for what we want eventually.” I think I wanted it all, back in 1999, when I was almost 16 years old. I was doing something teens my age wouldn’t normally do. I was taking products from booths without the owner’s permission – booths were unconventional mini stores in Romania. I had a well-developed plan, everything was going smoothly, and I always got to sell those products here and there, until one day when my brother’s friend, Ovidiu Coarda – happen to be in one of those booths having a coffee with the sales girl.

My plan was very simple. I would’ve assured myself that there was only one person, the seller, in the booth - at a given time. My philosophy was that if he or she would run after me, eventually, they wouldn’t have left the booth unlocked just to catch me. It makes sense, right? Therefore, there was no failure in that quest for me.

Pretending I was sent by someone older to the booth to buy cigarettes and coffee, I would start to get to know the person first, and then ask for whatever I wanted. I could have asked for anything I wanted and he or she would have given it to me without knowing that I would be running without paying.

Anyway, the point is what I did was wrong, and no one should do anything like that. With Ovidiu Coarda’s help, I’ve never stolen anything ever again. One day, Ovidiu called the home number to reach me, and my brother picked up the phone. Ovidiu wanted to speak with me.. “How about that?” – my brother thought to himself, “Ovidiu doesn’t know my brother Ciprian; they have never even spoken with each other,” which was true. In any event, he handed over the phone to me, and Ovidiu introduced himself by saying he didn’t know me personally, but he remembered seeing me in church with my brother. He knew I was Daniel’s younger brother.


He emphatically advised me that what I was doing was wrong (…of course you can imagine that I wasn’t admitting anything, in fact to this point almost no one but him, me, and now you know this story). Well, let me tell you something, Ovidiu became one of my best friends to this day. His principled way of life had inflicted my own in such a miraculous way that I had become a totally changed person the years that followed…I am happy to call him one of my best friends, I appreciate him as much as I appreciate my own parents, my brother, my mentors, professors, colleagues, and every single one of my friends.

Ovidiu and his wife...

December,13 2006

Finally. I decided to write a personal journal because in my thinking now, a few minutes here and there, taking the time to reflect on the special events of that day and to write about them, or to write a few decisions taken, or future actions resulted from those events..would keep track of my life and it will change many future happenings in it which go along with memories and goals I create for myself.

These writings will help me clear up unnecessary thoughts I would have, and also help me create thoughts to use in taking myself wherever I want to go. It will help me identify changes to apply to myself to reach those goals and to succeed in what I do because I owe myself and a bunch of other people appreciation for getting me through my educational journey, my childhood, and other life experiences.

All these people have been improving my life, me, and my future life journey.

To illustrate this here's a good example. The year 2006 was when I finished my fifth semester at Delaware Tech, where I was an outstanding student, however - unlike the previous semesters my focus was barely on education, all due feeling burned-out..which I eventually managed to chase away after visiting my family in Romania that winter with my brother Daniel's help. He was my savior, rescuer. Thank frate-meu.