Blog of Romania

Just like my mum cooks better than your mum, I can’t be objective concerning my country.

While standing in line in the Vienna airport I was deep in thought while looking at a young Buddhist monk wearing a traditional garment, accompanied by a very beautiful woman. The dream state was broken by the charming approach of a group of noisy women. They were restless, flurried and pleasant, and when they started to ask questions in broken English I burst into laughter.

I like colorful people and, since I met most of them in Romania, I like it here.

I like cultures that overrate themselves and, since Romania is the most familiar to me, I like it here.
Any culture establishes itself as a center, a pole of interest for a certain community. Thus, any worthwhile display is inflated to glorious size and not justified in an objective manner. We have a good movie, we squeeze it as much as possible and it was successful all over the place and it’s a rebirth of Romanian cinama and etc. When we use the exceptions to fuel our desire that they become the rule, you can recognize a culture that overrates itself. It’s just a phase (sometimes to be blamed), but it pushes things forward.

I like blazing, confident and beautiful women, and since most of them are Romanian, I like it here.

I like the noise, the bustle, the turmoil and, since you can find them all here, I like Romania.
(more…)

Costel Busuioc, the recent flag carrier of the country which we live in, has won the contest “Hijos de Babel”. Basically, it’s the story of a Romanian who went to work in Spain, a “strawberry picker” who got into the contest because his hosts liked his voice. And yet, it’s not exactly like that. The story is more than that, it’s the story of a sad Romania, a hypocritical Romania that wants to have as much as possible without doing anything.

The Romanian Costel Busuioc is a simple man. A country man who left his home to win some money. He became a national hero overnight. Everyone is in a hurry to praise him, to praise the country he’s from. But no one is saying that Romania has no merit in what Costel Busuioc has become.
(more…)

Bookcrossing has become an international phenomenon, but it doesn’t seem to work in Romania. Why? No one did a survey, but I can guess. Books are still expensive - at least in relation with the salaries. Internet use is still low, so even if someone finds a book, it probably won’t get registered. People are suspicious of free things (’what’s in it for me?’ is so very common…); the concept of a free book is difficult to understand for them, why would someone just give a book away? Mainly because of reason no. 1, most people are unwilling to permanently part with their books. So… here is where the story begins.

Schimb de Carti (Book Exchange) is a project started by Bookblog (a collective book reviews blog) and Gramos (couple Gigi and Ramona). Called Bookcrossing at first, it now has its own identity, because it was never linked directly to bookcrossing.com.

The concept is very simple: you come, you bring one or more books, you take one or more books home. After you read them, you bring them back and get more. The owner only loans his/her books, everybody gets to read stuff that’s not interesting enough to buy or too expensive or simply new to them. What started as a small get-together in Bucharest has now grown to dozens of people, 5 cities and 2 countries.

Dropping the numbers now, the things that draws me (and, I suppose, many of the participants) isn’t exactly the books. Yes, that is one of the reasons, but I already have too many books on my to be read list. So, what’s the thing then? The atmosphere. Cultural events are pretty far in between and they can be quite stuffy. Author sits in front and talks about his latest masterpiece, editor tries to make people buy as many copies as possible, the public listens then leaves. Schimb de Carti is populated with readers. You can meet people with the same literary tastes or you can try new things (with no strain on your wallet). When authors show up, it’s never like a book launch - friendly cup of tea or pint of beer would be a more appropriate description.

Meeting no. 8 was this December, with no. 9 coming up in January. We’re always happy to have visitors (Romanian or not!).

Original post for BlogofRomania.
Jen is 23, born and raised in Bucharest, did completely different things in high-school, undergrad and postgrad, and now is involved in various internet things.