Blog of Romania

Click on the image to see the rest of the comic!

…being surrounded by fog, a few meters above the earth, clueless about where you are heading. What goes on in your head?

BorÅŸa was a beautiful place to visit, since it made me reflect upon some personal issues. The thick mist reminded me of ‘Bleak House’, while also making me think about Hell. Yes, for a moment there, I thought that is how Hell must feel like: freezing. And this comes from a person who usually loves cold and fog and, generally speaking, gloomy stuff. Anyhow, it was an incredible experience, the walking and the climbing and the snowflakes which made my hair look as if I was born during World War One. Note to self: if you ever learn to ski properly, go back to BorÅŸa.

Gastronomically speaking, the place was not a bit less surprising than the rest of Maramures county (in Sighetu-Marmatiei the pork-brain sauce, liver and dill seemed to be pretty common pizza toppings): pork fries were high up there in the menu. And, although apparently they’re actually tasty, I didn’t have the “balls” to try them.

Finally, as I was saying, the place made me think a lot. I thought about mistakes, about sins, about regrets. And this is what I tried to express through the pictures I took. A place so beautiful and so quiet I felt even the slightest sound I would make could harm its exceptional beauty.

(Click to enlarge)

Original post: here (RO).
Ela is 18 and very talkative. In fact, she is so talkative many people have told her to shut up. So she started blogging. Now she can ban those who tell her to shut up.

The blog of the city of Constanţa said, on January 11, 2008

What is a flash mob?
A flash mob is a large group of people who assemble suddenly in a public place, perform an unusual action for a brief period of time, then quickly disperse.

We will meet on Sunday, January 20, 2008, at 2 P.M. (sharp), on Åžtefan cel Mare street, in front of the Tomis Mall.

There you will find a person with a cap, sunglasses and a newspaper in his hand, who will be facing the passage under Mihai Viteazu street. Tomis Mall will be to his right. We shall stand in line, in random order behind him, and we will follow him. We will enter Tomis Mall, we will climb the first escalator up to the last floor and we will come down on the other escalator until ground floor, and then we will exit the store and disperse.

The important thing is to follow the person in front of you.

The aftermath, January 20, 2008.

Ohh yes! ConstanÅ£a didn’t sleep this Sunday.

Our city was brought out of its idleness by the enthusiasm you showed at this flash mob.

“We have gathered here on this historic day to show the world that…” Do you know what we proved with this crazy thing of today? For me and for Mr. Olaru it was a proof that we still live in a world with people like we hope them to be: without complexes, ready to face an awkward situation and very similar. We were hoping for at least 50-70 “rebels”, but it looks like you’ve manage to exceed our expectations.

The escalator broke down because of our weight. The guards didn’t know how to react. The people who were in the mall were “woken up” and brought out of their Sunday routine. The clerks were probably happy that something was finally happening. It was the best walk through Tomis ever. It was a demonstration that we exist and that together we’re damn strong. We “said” so much without saying anything.

It’s time to face the stupidity. We promise that this type of free expression will become a tradition and that in the future we will not be discouraged by all that is happening around us and we will make a stand.

Thank you, and we hope to see you again.

Photos from the flash mob can be seen here and here.

Original posts: here and here (RO).

This week [note: post originally published on June 1st, 2007] I got to Câmpulung, in ArgeÅŸ country. Câmpulung - the city where the lights really go out at night, the heaters are already cold (explanation: no heat since ‘96, cut off from the heating system, cast iron, metal collecting center, going out for a drink, human needs). Although the poor neighbourhoods give a stark image to town, there are however a couple of areas of the town and its environs: Negru Vodă Monastery, Flămânda Church [Hungry Church] (also known as Mireselor Church [Church of the Brides]), the Vidraru dam, the Heroes’ Mausoleum in MateiaÅŸ and others.

Among the town attractions you can see the Pardon Boulevard close to the park. The boulevard is divided in two by a pedestrian walkway, so the locals have (unofficially) name one side of the road Merci. [Pardon and Merci - Sorry and Thanks]

I, for one, saw the Heroes’ Mausoleum in MateiaÅŸ and the Mireselor Church.

The Heroes’ Mausoleum is located on the Câmpulung - BraÅŸov road, 15-20 km from Câmpulung, close to the limestone quarry. The mausoleum is “dedicated to the heroes of the National Unification War in 1912-1918″. It costs 2 RON to visit the museum and the ossuary. The museum has evidence of the battles in the Muscel area, reconstructed (static) war scenes, maps of the fronts.

Above the marble plated ossuary inscribed with the fallen soldiers’ names rises a gazebo from which you can see the hills surrounding the area. In the tower of the gazebo there is a metal repository with the bones of the soldiers. The entrance to the ossuary and its hall are done in mosaic.

Photos (click to enlarge):
1. The Heroes’ Mausoleum in MateiaÅŸ (exterior) - The National Office for the Cult of Heroes
2. The Heroes’ Mausoleum in MateiaÅŸ (interior - ossuary) - Bogdan Morar

Mireselor (or Flămânda) Church rises on the hill with the same name and it was started by Dimitrie Rosetti and, after repeated collapses and attempts of partial rebuilding, it was designed by the well-known architect George Matei Cantacuzino in the Moldavian style of the Muşatin family.

You can see a collection of photos took on this trip to Câmpulung here.

Original post: here (RO).
Petrus is 25 and lives in the city we all love to hate, Bucharest. He blogs on ProfilVirtual (RO) and DigitalGuide (RO/EN), the latter a blog about tourism, a spinoff of a category of the first blog. He writes less often because personal and corporate life don’t leave him much time.

I recently found a great set of photos of IaÅŸi from Bogdan Todireanu. They were taken as a test for a new camera, but nonetheless they show a beautiful view of the Palace of Culture at night.

Click on the photos to get to the original post, where you can see many more.

Click on the image to see the rest of the comic!

Last weekend took place the Ravasitul Oilor Festival (Sheep Scattering) in Bran village located in Braşov County. Before we reached our destination, Platoul Inima Reginei near Bran Castle, we saw how the festival increased the traffic in the area. Also, the barbecues’ smoke could be confused with a thin fog… sandwiched between layers of air. The old Bran Castle (recently available for sale) walls powerlessly watched the joy of the festival’s participants, natives or tourists.

Being a shepherds’ festival, the main attractions were the cast-iron kettles (necessary to prepare the corn mush/polenta for the bulz, a shepherds’ food specialty), the green ewe cheese, the grilled pemmican and the unfailing traditional dances, like Brasoveanca. The local boozers danced in the front of the festival stage, keeping the rhythm with the local folklore band. The participants could admire the skillfulness of the local hatters and furriers and, near to the Bran Castle street entrance, they could buy the delicious Kürtös kalács.

Unfortunately, Sunday we could not make it to the sheep exhibition, but we visited the Dâmbovicioara Cave, in Piatra Craiului Mountains.

The cave is located between Câmpulung and Bran Village. Following the road from Câmpulung to Podul Dâmbovitei Village, I was surprised to see that all the houses, even the ramshackle ones with broken-down fences, had Boom TV & Digi TV satellite antennas. To enter in the Cheile Dâmbovicioarei, you must pay an entrance tax, a hand with all the fingers bedecked with golden rings asking you 1 RON for each person if you want to drive your car in the area. To visit the cave you must pay 5 RON.

Although the cave is poor in karsts forms, the main attraction are the guides, all of them very young. Only the cave’s first 250 meters can be visited, half of them arranged with a metal platform for walking.

After you visit the cave you can admire the beautiful landscape in Cheile Dâmbovicioarei or you can relax making a barbecue near the river.

Original post: here.
Petrus is 25 and lives in the city we all love to hate, Bucharest. He blogs on ProfilVirtual (RO) and DigitalGuide (RO/EN), the latter a blog about tourism, a spinoff of a category of the first blog. He writes less often because personal and corporate life don’t leave him much time.

A student from another university contacted me for an interview she needed to take for her class on cultural differences. Her overarching question was what about America shocked or impressed me when I arrived (almost three years ago) and what is different in my country.

I found myself telling her about how I love that people are smiling in the streets and they greet me even if they don’t know me. I also appreciate how important family is here. I’m afraid my comments might have made her think that I come from a country of cold, grumpy people who would sell their mothers if they could. For some reason I forgot about how big the trucks and SUVs appeared to me, about how much a visit to the emergency room cost me, about what a big role institutionalized religion plays in people’s lives compared to what I’m used to, or how I found racism in the most unexpected places. Instead I told her about growing up under communism, about the revolution, about the eternal transition, about the disillusioned young generation who flees the country and the nostalgic older generations, and even about La trecut, a Romanian webpage that brings together bits and pieces from my contemporaries’ past.

I guess I just opened a vein and let it bleed. I don’t know how much she understood and she seemed a bit overwhelmed, especially because she knew close to nothing about my country. When she arrived in my office all she knew was that I was a foreign student. Sure, I told her many more other things but I’m still left with a feeling that I didn’t do justice to any of my two worlds. I comfort myself with the thought that one cannot explain one’s cultural background in 20 minutes.

Original post: here.
Raluca is a 27-year-old PhD student, born and raised in the mountains of Romania, making sense of life in the swamps of hot Louisiana.

“Evil death, so pitiless came to take me with a scythe”

The title is a more or less accurate translation from the Romanian “Moartea rea ÅŸi nemiloasă a venit ÅŸi cu o coasă”, one of the many rather nonconformist inscriptions on the crosses in the Merry Cemetery of SăpânÅ£a. Having passed the opportunity of visiting this unique place a few years ago, I didn’t think twice when the occasion was presented to me again. We were supposed to go to SăpânÅ£a on the 5th of January and yet, due to very well-founded reasons (”I’m sleepy, we’ll go tomorrow!”), we postponed our trip for the next day. Believe me when I say laziness is a gift from God! For the next day (January 6th), Orthodoxes celebrates the baptism of Christ (Boboteaza) and there is no better place to admire tradition than in a small village. Young girls and boys, aunts and uncles with their nephews and nieces, grandparents with their grandchildren, parents with their kids, everybody set off to the church to listen to the sermon then followed the priest to the river banks for the customary blessing of the water. Even for those less religious, the simple beauty and the hospitality of these people are impossible to describe, so I’ll let the pictures speak.

Original post: here (RO).
Ela is 18 and very talkative. In fact, she is so talkative many people have told her to shut up. So she started blogging. Now she can ban those who tell her to shut up.

I could hardly get my bags into the bus: a 19-kg backpack, another 2 not-so-very-light handbags and uRMa’s cat carrier. I put my backpack on a chair and the carrier on another one.

‘What do you have there? A little kitty?’ the lady sitting opposite to me asked.
‘Yes, it’s my cat.’

She looked again.

‘Aww, she’s so nice! Isn’t she cold?’
‘Well, hope not :) We’ll be home in a minute, anyway.’
‘Where are you from?’
‘Baia Mare.’
‘Oh, that’s so far away. Did she like the train ride?’
‘No, not exactly. But I gave her some pills and she slept most of the time.’
‘:)) Really?’
‘Yes :)’
‘Where are you getting off?’
‘At the next stop.’
‘Well, you’d better put you backpack back on, cause we’re almost there. And let me help you with the carrier.’
‘No, you don’t have to. I can do it, really.’
‘No, no, no. I want to help you.’
‘Gee, thank you very much.’
‘:)’

She carried the carrier for me right to the entrance to my block, tough she lived some blocks away and she had to go back. It was damn nice of her to help me. Yeah, Bucharest is still full of surprises :)

Image credit.