Fury and hope

by Mihai Dumitrescu

Dear Friends in safer parts of Europe.

In Romania, we are all looking at Timisoara right now. With sadness - and hope.

Why sadness? Because they (securitate) are shooting to people! Children die, you know?! And why? Beacause they are hungry, that’s why!    

But there is also hope. We all feel that’s enough. Like they write on transparents in Timisoara: “We are not affraid to die”. We don’t want to be hungry and in chains anymore!

And what does this monster, our dictator - Ceausescu - do in such situation? He flies to Iran, like there’s nothing happening here!

But THERE IS SOMETHING HAPPENING. And I feel that in a short time, we’ll see a very different Romania. A free country.

Wish us luck!

Mihai

Open letter to Mr Vaclav

by Joy Abercrombie

Dear Mr Havel! 

I hope you’ll read this because something terrible has happened! 

Few days ago we - by “we” I mean 15 000 people! - were demonstrating on the streets of Prague. Peacefully demonstrating! We just want democracy - I’m sure no one understands it better than you. 

But authorities don’t understand it. Militia have beaten some of us. Among them - my very good friend, Petr Svoboda. 

What can I do to help him? I’m an American journalist. I will write about it to western newspapers. But I can also ask You, Mr Havel: what  can YOU do to change this situation! 

Only Freedom will solve this! 

Let’s make it happen. Please. For Czechoslovakia - and for Petr. 

Joy 

We are one nation!

by Laura Moeller

What a week! 

1) There were NEVER such big demostrations in East Berlin! And what does the authorities do? NOTHING @_@ Unbelivable! Oh, wait - they did SOMETHING today! They RESIGNED! LOL. 

2) Fall of Berlin Wall? Unbeliveble? NO MORE! 

3) What’s next??? Now I feel that sky is the limit! So maybe… Germany United??? 

Why not! Hahahaha!!!

Joy, where are you? We’ve got a lot to write about these days! Come here with Petr, let’s distroy this wall together!

Laura

What a joy to see... JOY! :)

by Petr Svoboda

I’ve seen HER! Finally! Right after I lost my hope and returned to Prague, depressed and frustrated!

So I drink my beer, totally sad, in this place at Mala Strana. I look through the window. Sad me, sad weather, sad world. I order another beer.

And then…

I see two people walking down the street. One of them is Vaclav Havel. He is talking to a young woman. She looks like a journalist, who is interviewing Havel. She looks like… Joy! That was her, I’m sure!

So get up, ready to run outside… But then, the place’s owner stops me - he’s a big man! - and forces me to pay for the beers!

I lost her again - but this time I’m sure I’ll find her! She is close! In this town, right now! I just need to stay close to Vaclav Havel…

Wish me luck!

Lucky Petr   

What next?

by Joy Abercrombie

Hi everyone!

I’m Joy. Yeah, THIS Joy. I know Petr is looking for me. I have known it since the Round Table talks in Warsaw. Then, he followed me to East Berlin. Later, to Budapest. And now… I can’t tell where I am now. Not yet ;)

Why not? Because there are more important things happening right now in Europe than this “thing” with Petr! And I have to write about it! My job is to inform American readers what is going on here - not to fall in love with a handsome, inteligent and romantic Czech guy…

… But when it will be over… who knows...? ;)

And it will be over soon - I can feel it! The freedom is in the air. I can feel it from my balcony in…

I can’t tell you where I am ;)

Not now.

What’s going to be next? I can’t wait!

Joy  

FREEDOM!

by Laura Moeller

What a month! August 19th I travelled to the Hungarian city Sopron for a Pan-European Picnic, organized by Austrian and Hungarian diplomats. There was food, great atmosphere, and… an opportunity to flee West! @_@

The idea of the picnic was to open the border for about three hours and allow participants to cross unchecked into Austria. There were a huge crowd of people (about 10 000!) and among them… 600 of us, smart citizens of East Germany, who decided to grab the occasion!

So, we seized the moment and the Hungarian border guards turned a blind eye, letting the East Germans through. And we made it!  

I’m in Austria now and you know what? Freedom tastes so gooooooood!

with love,

Laura

https://www.flickr.com/photos/alexdram/3842353635/

Holiday is over!

by Ferenc Keleman

It’s good to be back home! We’ve just returned from a short trip to Keszthely. I wanted to take Petr out of town and show him the Balaton lake. It’s so beautiful this time of year!

We did some swimming and eat a lot of fishes. Petr stopped talkin about this Joy (uff!) for a few days. It was relief! He even talked with some girls on the beach one evening (!).

But now we are back in Budapest. Tomorrow we are going to Vorosmarty suqare to a peacefull demonstration on the 28th anniversary of the building of the Berlin Wall. We want it to be demolished! This stupid division of Berlin is so old-school! Enough with it! 

See you on the square! Maybe Joy will appear? ;)   

Photo credit: tutuka / Foter / Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic (CC BY-SA 2.0)

Ferenc.

Love affaire!

by Veronika Zabavnik

So excited! Just read Jadwiga's new post on her blog. I KNEW IT. She loves Petr! And Pert loves Joy. What a mess! 

I love it! It's like a soap opera but in real life! What's gonna happen in nex episode? Petr will love Jadwiga, Joy will love Mihai, Laura will love Ferenc and Ferenc will love Petr? I'm going for popcorn! :)))    

V.

I just write to say I... miss you, Petr :)

by Jadwiga Walczak 

Petr is in Budapest right now, still looking for his Joy. You know, this lost American journalist who is somewere in Eastern Europe. 


I wish him all the best. No, that's a lie. I realy miss him! I miss his jokes, his stories and his smile...
Maybe he won't find Joy in Hungary and he'll go back to Poland then? 


What else? Good news: we have a new, partly democratic parliament! Who will be elected President? We'll see, but I think it'll be general Jaruzelski. July 19th is the date of elections. 


Cheers! 


Jadzia

Love triangle :)

Hello form Budapest! You know, Hungarian city with this huuuuuuuge parliament building:

Photo credit: bill barber / Foter / Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC 2.0)

I'm staying at Ferenc's place and still #lookingforJoy. She may be somewhere here 'couse Hungarians have the Triangle Table Talks right now. Something like the Round Table in Poland, but... hm.. triangle. It looks like it's going in the FREE direction, if you know what I mean. On 16 June we were at the Imre Nagy's (leader of the 1956 revolution) funeral. Incredible experience... Such power of everyone's hope! 

And here are some photos from yeastarday's squat concert:  

Photo credit: Sterneck / Foter / Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

and my new friends:

Photo credit: Sterneck / Foter / Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

Yeah, it's all fine, but Joy is still missing! 
Cheers, 
Petr.

Freedom!

So excited! 4.06.89 – day to remember. First partly free elections in Poland and a huge success of Solidarity! Now we’re all waiting for second round. Wind of changes is blowing J

źródło: wp.pl

I left Berlin and returned home for this one day. But it was absolutely worth it! To vote in the first (partly) free elections since over 50 years was a duty and a privilege. And we made it! As a nation – we made it. Now I’m back with Petr and Laura but I’m sure I’ll vote in the second round. 

And then what? I’m so excited to see it!

Jadwiga :)

Hello world!

My name is Petr and I’m looking for The Lost Love of My Life – beautiful girl named Joy. Read my blog and find out if I’ll find.. her! 

It all started during the New Year’s Eve 1988/1989 in Tatra Mountains. I was there with my friends - students from different countries all around Eastern Europe. And then – SHE appeared. We talked all night and the next day she was gone. 
Now I’m going to find her!
I don’t know much. She is journalist, she’s name is Joy and she is writing about political situation in Eastern Europe. First, I looked for her in Warsaw – for sure she was curious about the Round Table talks. Then, with my good friend Jadzia Walczak (cheers Jadzia!!!) we traveled to East Berlin. Here, Laura Moeller (cheers Laura!!!) is our great host as we look for Joy in sad, divided city. 

For now, we’ve got nothing But I still hope to find Joy. I think about her all the time… Ferenc, my friend from Budapest, wrote me that something BIG is about to happen in Hungary. Government is ready to talk with opposition. Maybe it will be my next destination?
If I go there, I’ll put some photos from the road Stay tuned and wish me luck!

Petr :)