Two moments:

- one (more) Romanian military died in Afghanistan last week. In january, the Supreme Council of Defence approved the suplimentation of the Romanian military contingent in Afghanistan (1020) with 600 more soldiers. Maybe it could come as a shock for people in US or UK, Germany or anyother country, but the decision triggered no debate whatsoever and was almost completely ignored by the political class, press and civil society. Why is there no debate, asks one newspaper? “A debate is not advisable at this point (…) There are too many tensions on the politica scene”, sais Ştefan Pirpiliu, a PDL member of the Defence Committee in the Chamber of Deputies (lower chamber of Parliament).

- begining of february, The Supreme Council of Defence approved a decision to start negociations with the US for a planned deploy of missile interceptors here in Romania. Few details were given and the announcement came as a surprise for many countries. The subject was intensly followed by press, be it local or foreign, and this was not a good thing, according to Iulian Fota, a high Presidential Adviser on national security. “Sometimes, the press plays a false and dangerous game (…) journalists should not speculate”, he sais in an interview. In fact, half the interview he trashes the press in every possible way, because journalists were too critical and, according to him, had unexpected anti-western feelings.

This should not come as a surprise. Freedom of speech is guaranteed in Romania, but most politicians are still bothered by criticism and find it dangerous, reminiscences of the old regime. In other words, there is a proven freedom of speech in Romania, so shut your mouth!

After Belgian taxes and social security charges are deducted, that is a brutally small amount to live on.

he sais, and he is probably right.

let me tell you this: a carrfour employee in romania gets some 600-700-800 RON, that is somewhere around 200 euro, maybe less. they probably get some other small advantages, like food vouchers (cheque dejeuner for example), which they usually spend in the store.

you would guess that wages are low in romania, because the costs of living are also down. well, guess again – monthly rent for a lousy studio in a grey comunist sleeping district is exactly 200 euro. so you get the paycheck, you pay the rent and this is it! the wages are the same for all hypermarkets – cora, auchan, bila, etc.

new hypermarkets appear all over bucharest every two months and people still wander how is it that although so many, they are still profitable.

• a friend of a friend left the country. he went to n.y, and came back to europe, got a schoolarship somewhere in germany, and after that he will definitely spend some time in berlin. we’re talking years of staying abroad. the thing he did before leaving the country:  paying a visit to the dentist. you never know what will happen beyond the border, fix your teeth here, it’s cheaper, you may never get the chance out there.

• my parents prepare to retire after a life of hard work. they will surely get a small pension, not that their actual pay check is to big, but anyway. so they did what they had to do: fixed their teeth. this is it, sais mom. our final dental work. thanks god we have the money now.

• i visited my parents in my old home town. i’m having problems with my teeth as well, i keep postponing a visit to the dentist. well, you know what you have to do, sais mom. you’ll have to take a vacation and come here to fix your teeth with our dentist. my mother knows how expensive is to go to the dentist  in bucharest where i live (actually, is not that expensive for me) and she is not bothered by the complications – taking a vacation, travelling to other cities. all theese are small potatoes compared to the massive financial burden of a dental intervention. hopefully, the final one.

i for one don’t know yet if mr. Ghiveciu is guilty, but all the people that voted fo him didn’t give a damn about this. they knew, but they didn’t care.

this is for the European Commission, if it wants to understand why corruption is still such a big problem in romania.

p.s.

reporter: what did mr. Ghiveciu do to deserve your vote?

old lady, rural area: he gave us lots of things, including blankets. (during the campaign, that is – n.r.)

- realitatea tv, november 2 -

very low turnout, only 30% in bucharest. part of the romanian middle class, still benefiting form the last 4 years of growing economy under a right wing government, went for a short holiday, and thus helped its sworn enemy – PSD (Social Democratic Party) to obtain a good result.

still, very little choise. all the parties that made it in the parliament have more or less the same problems – endemic corruption, irresponsible politicians, lack of professionals, populism and a general lack of respect for citizens and democracy.

partial official results: the social democrats (PSD) and the democratic liberal party (PDL), neck in neck. the liberal party (PNL) third, the hungarian minority representatives (UDMR), in fourth place. and the good news: the extremists form greater romania party (PRM) were ousted form the parliament.

• House of Deputies: PSD – 33%, PDL – 32.57%, PNL – 18.32%, UDMR – 6.29%
• Senate: PSD – 33.99%, PDL – 33.79%, PNL – 18.49%, UDMR – 6.54%

2 explosions killed 12 miners and injured another 14 in the Romanian coal mine Petrila. just another accident that came to remind us the horrible working conditions miners have to deal with. the problem is simple: the government has yet to decide if it wants to keep on investing in the coal mines or close them for good (thousands of miners have already lost their jobs during the 90′s). because of this indecision, nobody bothered to upgrade technologies used in the mine, to increase miners security. not much changed since communism. it’s hell down there.

the chief of The National Hard Coal Company has no time to deal with the miners security. he is campaigning for the parliamentary elections on 30 of november.

yes is true, there are a lot of stray dogs, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that you are in a real danger to get bitten. you could walk for hours in bucharest and not see a doggy.  

2. bribe. you have to be careful with the police (while driving), because they will stop you and ask for money to let you go.

actually that doesn’t happen. anymore. 

3. communism. romania is still a communist country.

well, kind of..

4. capitals. budapest is the capital of romania.

i’m afraid not. budapest is the capital of hungary, go check it out, is much more beautiful than bucharest.

5. diseases. you will surely get infected with some sort of disease when in romania.

come on, it’s not that bad. yes, you should be careful if you have to visit a public hospital, yes, romania has a high rate of tuberculosis infection. still, there are extremly slim chances to get sick. 

6. civilisation. romanians still travel in carts pulled by horses.

yes, because 50% of romanians still live in the rural area and some of them are fighting poverty and can’t afford cars or tractors. the laws that ban carts acces on important roads and in cities areas are starting to get effective though, and you’ll have to travel to the rural area to see this kind of transportation (it’s quite an idilic image). meanwhile, the cities are full of expensive cars – a different kind of civilisation.   

i have always wanted to tell you that you’re doing it wrong. the rooster’s call is not 

coc-a-doodle-doo!!!

…but…

cu-cu-ri-guuu!!!

thank you

i’m not saying that you should avoid coming to romania. i’m just saying that you shouldn’t come to bucharest. trust me, it’s a dreadful, dreadful city. i only live here because of my job and my friends. and i’m getting tired of this compromise.

of course, you may happen to like: garbage in the corner of the streets, depressing grey sleeping districts, sidewalks covered with mud, weeping buildings, suffocating traffic, smog, dirty parks, people shouting at you, people shouting at each other, rude taxi drivers, shop assistants, civil servants, violent-absurd behavior that you do not understand.

then, you should definitely come.

love, stephanides