If you asked us in 2024 what we missed about Belgium, we might say calendars, atoma notebooks, and family organisers. Even this year, in our trip abroad, we started to stock up on these things… but when we came back, we round that you can now buy these things right here in Cluj.
Don’t worry, you can get most normal things in any shop in Cluj (supermarkets or stationery stories). Compases, printer paper, notebooks, notepads, pens, protractors, almost anything. But there were some things that we were afraid Romanians just didn’t use. Well, now we found them.
Family organisers
Family organisers are more than simple agendas. They are like calendars with a column for each family member, that you can stick on your fridge. Belgium developed some of the best of these, so we call them “Belgian style.”
IPB has the “Belgian style” family organisers. They might not have as much variety as Fnac does, but they look at least as good, maybe better, than what you find at Tesco.
Atoma Alternatives
Mega Image has imitation Atoma. They aren’t atoma brand, but they do the same thing, where you can easily pull a page out and put it somewhere else. This is great if you missed notes for a day, or made a mistake in a long handwritten manuscript, or what to move your pages around for some reason.
Atoma’s are great, and we think they might be part of the secret to the Belgian comic artists. (Even after Smurfs and Tintin, Belgians continue to bring in many great comics, like Boule and Bill, Suske and Wiske, Marsupalami, and Ducobu. Okay, maybe Ducobu is the only new one I mentioned. But Atoma’s are still cool, all our teachers in Belgium made us use them. (And while it isn’t Atoma brand, it’s like those imitation Legos, they work with the real thing.)
Western style calendars
For years, we couldn’t find Western Style calendars in Cluj. One year, we went to ten shops (including stationery shops) and only found one calendar with boxes. It was a smurfs calendar. So, when we go abroad, whether it’s Estonia or Britain or Belgium or Portugal, we always look for calendars.
Well, this year, we saw a big selection at Cărturești. Of “western style” calendars with boxes. Well, most of them had manga characters, so maybe people think they’re Japanese style.