Author Archives: Fatca Pop

About Fatca Pop

Fatca Pop is a dreamer, adventurer, cook, and blogger. Fatca was a hairdresser, company secretary, and teacher.

Happy Martisoare

Posted on March 1, 2025 by Fatca Pop

The first of May is celebrated throughout Europe, but slightly differently in each country. Most have similar-looking traditions, creating a false friends kind of misunderstanding, where similar symbols might have different meanings. The white and red threads are one example. … Continue reading →

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Cluj and Tallinn

Posted on February 5, 2025 by Fatca Pop

Romania recently claimed the world’s fastest Internet speeds.  Estonia also likes to see itself on the forefront of tech. Cluj is the tech hub for Romania, making house prices unreachable.  There was a joke, after Elon Musk bought Twitter, that … Continue reading →

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Days of the week in Romanian – Nadalapäevad rumeenia keeles

Posted on January 20, 2025 by Fatca Pop

Zilile săptămânii în limbă română. English – Eesti keelt – magyarul – português – français – cymraeg – limbă română Monday – esmaspäev – hétfő- segunda feira – lundi – dydd llun – luni Tuesday – teisipäev – kedd- terça … Continue reading →

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CTP Cluj, one of the easiest bus payments in Europe.

Posted on January 14, 2025 by Fatca Pop

In the old days, if you wanted to buy a ticket on a bus, you paid the driver. Or, you bought a ticket at a bus stop and validated it. Then technology gave us more options.  These were fully implemented … Continue reading →

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MINA – Museum of immersive New Art – partial review

Posted on January 9, 2025 by Fatca Pop

We went to Mina, the Museum of Immersive New Art, in Cluj.  At fifty lei a person (40 lei for reduced tickets) you would think you got to see the entire museum.  Instead, you see a series of three short … Continue reading →

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Twitter x and Tiktok Is the media the message?

Posted on January 8, 2025 by Fatca Pop

Ah!  Sounds like a title written by an academic stiff!  Too long for a TikTok. If you are an expat in Romania, your “informed” relatives probably bring up certain personalities.  We can’t list all of them in a Tweet, without … Continue reading →

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Can we trust the media?

Posted on January 1, 2025 by Fatca Pop

Some people might be angry with me for even asking that question. “Can we trust scientists?” they might mock.  “Is the world flat?  Do brown cows make chocolate milk?” However, some high profile lawsuits may affect what we read in … Continue reading →

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Is the smell of smoke making you sick?

Posted on December 30, 2024 by Fatca Pop

In English, they call it third hand smoke.  If you want to translate it into Romanian or other languages, perhaps a better term is “residual smoke.” Residual smoke could be making you sick, your children sick, and could even give … Continue reading →

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Happy Christmas from Hey Cluj

Posted on December 26, 2024 by Fatca Pop

Christmas was yesterday.  We saw some sad people, happy people, dog walking people, and not many snow people on our walks the past couple of days. What are some Christmas traditions?  Singing Christmas carols.  Religious ones, like Silent Night, and … Continue reading →

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Why a Trump win is good new for Americans Abroad (and in Cluj)

Posted on December 21, 2024 by Fatca Pop

When we started this Hey Cluj, it was meant to be a magazine about Cluj in English, not just another blog-rag for expats.  However, we have heard so many American accents in Cluj that we figured, yeah, FATCA [sic] is … Continue reading →

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