Isac Tinichigiu with his wife Borbala and their son Paul

I took this picture of my family myself, on my son Paul's first day of school, in the fall of 1986. He was seven years old at the time. I remember he was very disappointed because he would have to wear ?official? clothes, as he always used to call them, and that he was forced to obey rules. He was never good at this, not even later, when he grew up!. My wife Borbala [Tinichigiu, nee Szakacs] and I were very happy, for him and for us as well: when he was little, he was an ?energy-eater?, running around all day long! When he came back from his first day of school he said: ?You know what? I think I like my new friends. They let me do whatever I want.? So he adapted very quickly to his new environment. Paul was born in 1979, in Sfantul Gheorghe, one year after my wife Borbala - who is not Jewish but Hungarian - and I got married. We lived at first in my wife's parents house, in Brasov. When he was little, from the age of three and until he was 13, Paul did a lot of sports, especially skiing. He won several medals in national and European skiing championships. I never raised him to be a Jew, but he strongly identifies himself as one: he studies Hebrew and goes to the synagogue every Saturday. He also knows Hungarian from my wife. He came in contact with the Jewish community in Brasov when he was in high school: they needed someone who was good with computers to help them fix their computer lab, and they knew my son studied that in school. Since then, he has been involved in the choir activities and others as well, especially concerning young Jews. He went to the Information Technology College of the University of Science here, in Brasov, and graduated last year, in 2002. Now he works as an IT instructor.