Casa Poporului - House of Parliament, own Picture

A typical Romanian would probably stress now that it is the nearly largest building of the world, second only to the Pentagon and actually, after 9/11 even the largest (at least I heard so). He will consider it also the right moment to let you know that Bucharest is actually little Paris and does not mind about the fact that there are several other Eastern European capitals which claim this very title for themselves. Indeed, it were in most cases French architects (Paul Gotterau is the first to be mentioned here) who built the most interesting buildings in the Romanian Capital (see here for more examples).

A less known, but extremely well fitting comparison – brought to me by Mihai – is about Bucharest being little Venice. It refers to the poor performance of the local canalization system and the flooded streets after a rain or when snow melts. In collaboration with the potholed streets and sidewalks it indeed resembles little Venice; just that the badly needed boats are missing.

But for several weeks we had snow and several centimeters of ice on the sidewalks as hardly the streets have been cleared. At least not without the very personal intervention of Major Oprescu. After four weeks of discussions whether streets have been cleared or not , Oprescu went out at 3 A.M. to look for himself and afterwards fined all snow clearing companies. One day later the streets looked awesome. The sidewalks instead not, and so people walked on the streets to get to work I for myself have become quite an expert at ice figure skating, but of course I lack the elegance. Bad for me, fun for the viewers.

Better news do not exist right now, as Romania is still being hit hard by crisis. GDP fell last year by some 7.7%, unemployment in Romania is on the rise and many salaries have been reduced. I just witnessed several newspapers being closed and remaining redactors facing the fact to work for 20% – 30% less salary. Just over night. For my German readers I might mention that Nokia actually raised the salaries here by 9% right now, but that’s an exception.

One might argue that it is not Romania’s fault as Romania did not produce the crisis, but – among others – has to suffer the consequences now. Yet, if the guys here had used the years of growth before properly it would not have been that accentuated. For example, the planned and badly needed investments in infrastructure have been delayed all the time and as a result e.g. Mercedes opted in late 2008 for Hungary and their nice highways instead for Romania. Nokia’s suppliers did not come as promised streets haven’t been built, while politicians spent the allocated money for current spending or simply bullshit like the next “feasibility study “ with astonishing prices. And the people here just accept such monkey business instead of kicking those politicians’ asses. It’s the same as with snow clearing, actually.

That is not to say, that here are not good points, too. Romanians, when they happened to criticize something about their country usually start with the assertion they don’t want to generalize anything and close with the conclusion, that there are actually several “honest, hard working and admirable people” in this country, namely on the country side. I have never been good at diplomacy and stuff, neither I am a big fan of the countryside and hard working in subsistence agriculture and thus, I will end this post in a different way: Bucharest is great city; the people here are quite polite and educated and especially much more civilized as their buddies on the countryside (including wannabe cities) tell them to be. And I have the opportunity to work with some of Europe’s best online developers and marketers here. That’s amazing and I really appreciate them and their little Paris.

Cya soon
Stef

Update: We have boats now

The happy dude in the video below is living in a side-district of Bucharest and takes the boat for buying some bread at the corner store

Though it is certainly a modern metropolis, it still features a lot of historical buildings and elements inherited even from ancient times, which are perfectly integrated into the throughout modern face of Istanbul. So, Istanbul was rightly chosen as European Capital of Culture 2010. But beside sightseeing, there are several other things to do. The city is full of clubs, cafes, bars, cinemas and actually, everything you want. during my stay it were 35° C, thus, just perfect for feeling good, hanging around and staying at the seaside. The food is of course extraordinary good, so is the beer and Raki is fine, too if you are into it.

Istanbul at Night, Source: Wikipedia

Just see the picture gallery of Istanbul below for yourself!

First of all, weather is great here. We have every day some 26 to 30 °C, a clear sky and the sun is shining. A less enjoyable part is that in Sibiu the wind is also pretty tough, every day, what sometimes turns out to be a bad combination when combined with the heat (as a result, I got a cold). To me it seems to be one of the only reasons imaginable why Mrs. Alina Stefanescu still stays in USA instead of moving back to Romania (a really well done site, indeed!). However, I would like to use this occasion to thank her for the neat demonstration of how some1 Romanians react if they consider their national pride being hurt because foreigners dare not to continuously praise Romania. Probably the »beautiful landscape and nature« would to be praised.² And to answer the question Alina Stefanescu put to my colleague Alex Cocieru in another part: Yes, WE blog. Not much, but you may see the result here

Das Letzte Einhorn (The Last Unicorn) – Vocalist of In Extremo in Sibiu, 2009

Besides the great weather Sibiu has several events to offer during spring and summer such as an International Jazz Festival, followed by an International Theater Festival and an International Film Festival. I attended them all, also another Heavy Metal Festival the week after but however, I was most deeply impressed by an absolutely outstanding and fascinating staging of “Faust” by the local Theater “Radu Stanca”, Sibiu. Modern, avant-garde and simply surprising. I think I have to go there a second time.

As you see on the image on the right, we had the privilege to see In Extremo, furthermore, Stratovarious, Korpiklaani and John Oliva (Savatage) at the metal festival. The stadium was not too crowded, though. However, beer was cheep and good and we (that is me and Mihai) had fun.

However, remains the story with the police. Monday morning I got woken up by my colleague, who told me that the police is in our apartment and wants to talk to me. Two officers, waited for me to get up, showed me a picture of some ugly guy and asked me where he might be. Of course, they were quite nice, but disappointed as they obviously didn’t found who they were looking for. The rest of the dialogue went somehow like this:

Police: So you do not know the guy?
Me: nope.
Police: But doesn’t he use to hang around here?
Me: Nope. Not that I would be aware of.
Police: And from whom did you rent this Apartment?
Me: From family H.
Police (again disappointed): Family H.?
Me: Yep.
Police (somewhat desperate): But didn’t you see the guy here?! It is also written in his identity card that he stays here…
They show me his ID; I could not withhold to grin…
Me: Well, yes, House number X, block number Y, Apartment Number 2, that is pretty fine, but this is STRADA ABC, not STRADA XYZ!
Police (still disbelivingly): How come this is not Strada XYZ?!
Me: Well, it simply is not considered as such by most people.
Police: But we think it still is…
My colleague: And how come we still receive our mail?
Me: and Pizza?!
Police: Ooooh! You receive your mail? Ok, that changes things somehow…

After the world seemed changed to our two officers they left us and I could sleep for another 30 minutes. Well, Mondays often do not start so well. I hope they eventually found the right street or at least read the labeling of the next block they may have entered. Or as Alexandra put it: »I am not even surprised. The Romanian Police is always in action. But not where they are supposed to be.« And I hope that they found the guy. He really did not look nice in that pic.

I will come back to you with more news from Romania another time. Maybe I will tell you about the mountains then. Best greets to all of you

1. However, in general we have fun here.
2. Or as Ina pointed out: »If there is nothing to say people tend to praise the nature and the landscape.« Indeed, the incredible beautiful landscapes are to be mentioned here first, followed by some old houses and decaying castles. But also a small shopping mall might turn out to be considered a remarkable touristic feature. Good for me, as I am not a big fan of nature and landscapes.

First of all, Romania is a country in South-Eastern Europe (some would account it to the Balkans but most Romanians strongly oppose this idea) and, it is a rather beautiful country. Unfortunately it is populated, as the Romanians use to add. Means: things could be better and somehow, the population living there is in some regards responsible this for. Another joke in this regard is that Romania is not a state, but rather a state of emergency (România nu este o ţară ci o stare).

However, for now I want to leave these Romanian (self-) ironical qualifications aside and stop this part with the conclusion, that Romanians are always eager to criticize themselves and their country in the sharpest ways, but on the other hand, they do not like it at all if strangers do so. When it comes to international relations Romanians are very proud of their country and their ethnic heritage, which they consider to be a unique miracle in history.

The story goes somehow like this: Some 2000 years ago there were living the Dacians in these regions, strong and proud people, though occupied by the Romans, which conquered Dacia Felix for being beautiful and rich of mineral resources (Gold!). After great and glorious battles the Dacians got romanized, mixed with the large bulk of Italians (actually, still Romans then) which flooded Dacia Felix (Lucky Dacia – the ancient Roman name for the province) in a big rush to gain a better life¹, and finally: the outcome were the Romanians: The first and single Christian born nation on earth and in history² – which resisted the next 2000 years as an island in a oceans of Slavic nations, keeping their very Roman identity and culture and still full of Dacian virtues.

On the other hand, one could be confused by the fact that history does not know anything about Romania and Romanians until the early 12th century and that the Romanian states which emerged during the 13th and 14th century used the Slavic alphabet (until a reform in the 19th century). The Romanians themselves are less confused about that issue and celebrated in 1984 »2000 years of statehood«.

However, Romanians are usually somewhat darker than Slavic people and their vocabulary is up to 90% based on Latin³, so is their grammar, which is among all Romanic languages still the most appropriate one to good old Latin.

But enough with history for now, let’s switch to the present. Romania is full of contradictions which appear everywhere. For this time, just a single example: on the one hand, Romanians stress the fact that they had the first electrified city in Europe (Timişoara)⁴, on the other hand, they are often confronted with the contradictory fact – often stressed by other Europeans –, to be maybe the country with most still un-electrified villages in the European Union nowadays. In the end, both sides are right, and that is maybe the very essence of the Romanian tragedy: after some real cool efforts and contributions, Romanians tend to do some steps backwards or at least, to keep staying where they are for another long period.

Order at all costs: »Caruta« cu license tag

However, you should know; it is not that bad here. We are not using horse-chariots, but cars (though the streets often suck) in daily life and I did not even know when I have seen the last time such a thing (but on pictures). Smoke signals are by no means a popular measure of communication, but cell phones are cool and a must have. My internet connections here (WAP, UMTS and Cable) are even better than I was used from in Germany⁵.

And to answer the question how I came here: By plane. Romania has plenty of airports and even nice ones. Currently, I work for a domestic online agency here, I really like that shit and enjoy learning some things about the country (or state of emergency) my grandma came from.

However, I am also looking forward to revisit the love of my life: Düsseldorf and its Königsallee.

More about my experiences and impressions from Romania will follow soon. The Romanian version of my diary can be read at Alex Cocieru, my »Russian« friend, who was crazy enough to translate all that stuff.

Miss you guys (and girls) and best regards

Stef

PS: If you are somewhat crazy and interested in a large bunch of figures, charts and tables on the economy of Romania, feel free to visit Romania Central, my site on the economy of Romania

1. This notion however, misses the fact that the most important and maybe only contemporary witness who left us some written material – we talk about Ovid – wasn’t too happy here, though, the Black Sea is said to be very beautiful.
2. You might notice that Romania has the shape of a fish, the secret sign of Christianity during the Roman antiquity
3. Mean people would stress the notion that there had been several language reforms with the single attempt to re-romanize the language. Furthermore, a huge bulk of the vocabulary is just derived from French during the 19th and early 20th century and not directly stemming from Latin times. However, the grammar is always hardly subject to changes and thus, is clearly speaking in favor of the Romanians and their noble version
4. Again, mean persons say it was the German minority who did this. But then again, how German are you after your family lived for some 800 years in Romania?!
5. Best regards to the suckers from a German popular and renowned telecommunication company having a cryptical name resembling somehow the chemical sign for oxygen, which taxed me with nearly 100 Euros for checking some mails. Beside the fact that the service was shitty, the same service with an ACCURATE quality in Romania costs me as FLAT RATE about 3.5 Euros per month!