Childhood in Romania

Timotei Centea was born in Romania, in the city of Brasov, on August 26, 1985 - a medieval mountain town in the heart of Transylvania.

It was a sunny day at the end of summer, and his long-awaited and desired birth in the world brought happiness to his parents, Simona and Serban, together with the whole family.

Tim was a gifted child: At the age of one and four months he could recite - with a broken pronunciation - a poem learned from his grandparents, and at the age of two he prayed his own prayers, asking with a wide gesture his guardian angel to protect all the loved ones in the house, making sure to include both his stuffed monkey and toy car. He began to know his first car brands when he turned three, and the drawings created at his young age foreshadowed perhaps his inclination towards mechanics and engineering.

In fact, Tim was a normal child, happy to always be able to play with his cousin Radu, his great accomplice. To these two inseparable friends, born in the same year, was added the third cousin - Adrian in 1987 - as well as his sister Ruxandra, the only girl in the indivisible group of four musketeers, born in 1989.

Timi was brought up by a harmonious family environment and by the school education and the geographical area in which he grew up. He attended the German kindergarten on Cerbului Street in old Brașov - years of training that sparked his taste for foreign languages. He was fortunate enough to spend most of his childhood summers in the country, in the ancestral house near Brasov (Târlungeni), taking advantage of being surrounded by nature (food and water coming directly from local, natural sources), beautiful walks, and a deep spiritual connection with his grandparents.

Every year, 2 weeks of family vacation was reserved for the beach on the shores of the Black Sea. Tim admired the ships and wide horizons; perhaps then was born his curiosity towards limitless possibilities, discoveries, marine adventures and a fascination with the immensity of the world that never left him.

At the age of 7, while being enrolled in the German High School Honterus in Brasov, he started taking piano lessons at the local music school forming his appetite for the arts. He began to read a lot: first, children’s books, and over time, more advanced readings. This helped him with his school grades, proving - through the class awards received every year - that he was special and mature.

Tim loved sports and exercise - maybe not as much as reading - but he preferred individual sports (skiing, skating, cycling) to team sports. He later dedicated a lot of time to these passions - along with his love for the mountains - especially in the magnificent years he spent with Alyson in Los Angeles. He added to that a great passion for car racing, which he developed while still a student, making him a “aficionado” of Formula 1 rallies.