Pop Culture in Romania

One of the reasons why I love Eastern Europe is that it is easier to get away from popular culture. Though I grew up in Los Angeles, in a family involved in the television news industry, I have no great love for popular entertainment. The fact that high culture -- a concept that American seem to have all but rejected -- is easily available here does not mean that American pop culture is not uncommon. In fact it’s practically everywhere, more so than in other European nations(I have now heard Tok Toc in four separate countries). While there is a fledgling Romanian entertainment industry, its offerings, along with Eurobeat, remain relatively unpopular here. This increased glorification of American pop-culture seems to be yet another consequence of the decade late start that Romanians got when converting to the capitalist system. One of the people at the office, Maria, explained her latest obsession-Lady Gaga- by saying “ I grew up in communism. For us the pop-culture was always so glamorous.” It is true that in many Eastern European countries that it was also forbidden by the government.
This is just one of the ways in which Romania is still adapting to capitalism. There still remains the idea here that anything imported from the west is automatically superior to a domestic product. This attitude applies to everything from popular entertainment, to sweets, to beer. Romanians have a few more years to go before they grow accustomed enough to the plenty of a free and growing economy and before they realize that what they can produce themselves is often just as good, or better. This period of conspicuous consumption is an understandable phase in a period of adaptation. The good news is that, while I wait, I can still by the best seat in the opera house for 20 bucks. It’s still Europe after all.

Office Update

Since this blog seems to now be dealing with everything but international business, here is a quick update on what is going on at the office. I spend most of last week setting up a gold key or one-on-one meeting between an American defense materials manufacturer and various Romanian distributors. My tasks included making the schedule and calling various Romanian CEOs to confirm the meetings. Having me do this is a sneaky way of gauging their English skills. I have also been doing a lot of copy editing. These assignments make me feel like I’m back in a newsroom, and I am actually more comfortable doing this than most of the business-related assignments. I thought was supposed to research the supply side of the Romanian market for Energy generating infrastructure, for the SCO. However, when I talked to Maria Notiu the Commercial Specialist for the energy industry, I found that, in reality, this means “get the list of American companies that attended the recent webinar and put it on the boss’s desk.” Apparently this is my project for the internship. This week the defense contractor has been in town, so there really hasn’t been much for me to do. On Monday the highlight of my day was a fascinating discussion about geopolitical differences between Romania and Bulgaria with Maria… in Spanish. She is attempting to get her certificate as a speaker of Spanish, and was apparently very impressed by my skills with the language. Today there was really nothing to do except a bit of copy editing. Monica, my supervisor, is now back from her honeymoon. She saw how bored I was and told me “It’s a slow day, go explore Bucharest” at about 1:00 pm. The lack of work is apparently normal for the whole office, as this is when most of Europe takes its vacation. Monica is now the fifth person to express surprise that I have not done MORE traveling, including the boss, Mr. Kirkham. When I asked for a couple days off to go to Moldova he said “ I’d have been concerned if you had not asked for any days off. I’m mean you’re in Europe for Christ’s sake!”

Bulgarian border town

Last weekend was another great weekend in Europe. I started it off a bit early, on Friday with another night at the Romanian National Opera, which was presenting Verdi’s Nabucco. This is a rather famous opera, and for good reason. While the opera company does have some minor issues to work out, namely the balance between the orchestra and the singers, The entire production is amazing, going from one amazing chorus aria or scene to the next. Nabucco is now my favorite opera. Next day I got up, packed an overnight bag, headed to La gara de Nord, and caught the train to Russe, Bulgaria. The train ride was uneventful and I enjoyed watching the goats grazing next to the tracks. After stopping at the Romanian–Bulgarian border for customs the train trundled across the Danube River, on the largest steel bridge in Europe. I was pleasantly surprised upon arrival at my hotel. It was a newly renovated historical building near the town center. It has been everything from an aristocrat’s house, to a taxi depot, to the Romanian Consulate. I was upgraded to a double room, with a balcony and a view of the river at no extra charge. Immediately after checking in I headed for the town center. While Russe may be in the geographical sense a ‘border town’, it is the fifth largest city in Bulgaria, and has a totally different feel than Romania does. I found a restaurant right on the central square and enjoyed lunch. I then set about sightseeing. The highlights included the Pantheon of Romanian revivalists, which consisted of a large monument and park with small chapels interspersed among the trees. Some of them were very old. There was also a church, which was built mostly underground. The Monument to the Soviet Solder is a time capsule. It consists of a large statue and a couple of fascinating socialist-realist reliefs. The inscription on the back of it says something like “this is a sign of the friendship between Soviets and Bulgarians, long may it last”. The monument was not moved after the fall of communism, and remains at the entrance to one of the city’s main parks. The Café culture in Ruse is quite ubiquitous. This is something that is somewhat lacking in Bucharest. Taking full advantage at about 8pm I stopped into one of the cafes for dessert, a crepe filled with chocolate cream, topped with vanilla ice-cream and dark chocolate shavings. I was surprised at the price when the bill came. It was only 3.50лв (about $2) for a decadent desert, beverage, and an hour of people watching on one of the main old town roads. One of the problems with staying in the town center is that it is hard to find anything outside of a restaurant. I spent an hour looking for water before going back to the hotel. Next morning after breakfast at the hotel I decided to go sightseeing south of the city center. This proved difficult, as many of the sights are inside of or are used by Ruse’s port. I am thankful that I can read Cyrillic as I would have been completely lost if I did not. I managed to see the ancient watch tower, and the Roman Fortress. The much talked about fortress consists of a few stones, which you can look at through the port fence. While looking for these relics, I ran into a few sights which are not on the tourist map in the city’s center. I found the monument to Bulgarian Saliors, which has a stunning view of the Danube. I also found a Orthodox church, which made a point of displaying Catholic stations of the cross, with inscriptions in Polish. I passed the Catholic church of Russe. In was Sunday morning, so I ducked in for mass. I was surprised when the mass ended after the sermon. Apparently the Catholics in ruse have no priest and a lay-person was giving the mass. I walked by the Danube, which is a pale shade of brown here, slightly north of the town center, for lunch. Then back to the hotel where I put my feet up on the balcony for about an hour, before it was time to leave. I greatly enjoyed my time in Ruse. It is a manageable city with great ambiance. I am looking forward to exploring Bulgaria further in a few weeks. This also was an example of how the Eastern European nations are not integrating well with the EU. I had a minor scare on the way to Ruse. At Grigiu, the Romanian Town near the border, the train stopped and customs officer got on board. One took my passport and then left the train with it. I found myself rather worried that he would not come back. Fortunately he did, and I found out that they are entering your information into the system. The train then crawls on to Ruse where the Bulgarians stamp your passport, and take down your passport number and name. As a result of my weekend trip I accumulated 4 new stamps in my passport. This may not seem unusual, except for the fact that both Romania and Bulgaria are EU members. You can now pass between most EU nations without having to pass through customs, or even stop at the border at all.

Passports and European Integration

Many Eastern European nations, however, have flown in the face of EU integration and maintained their own border security. This was also the case when I flew between Poland and the Czech Republic, two other member nations, a few years ago. This further supports my theory that many such nation are actually in the EU mainly for trade perks and access to EU funding, but are uncomfortable to entrusting their own nation to a organization founded by western European powers which have a history of conquering them. They seem to feel that by integrating too much they will loose some of their identity and control over their country. Personally, I can totally see this as a reasonable danger of integration, with the union dominated by economic powers such as Germany and Britain. While some Eastern European nation have continued to grow, unaffected by the economic crises, they have a few years to go still before they stand on equal footing with the west. Until then they will have continue to protect their own interests first. On the way back, the Romanian customs officer came for my passport, I smiled at him and handed it over. May they continue to stamp them at the border for years to come.

Visa Issues

I’m sitting here, watching Hilary Clinton, make excuses on Romanian television, as to why the refusal rate for American visas is so high. Romania is full member of the EU, in which most all other countries qualify for a visa treaty. The U.S. , however, is refusing to extend this accommodation to Romania, where the refusal rate remains around 25%. Put simply, Romanians view this as discrimination. I am not entirely sure that they are wrong. It makes sense, they are an EU member and should receive the same treatment as it’s other member states. This has been a point of contention for a while, and stands to get worse in the future if nothing changes.
It seems that Romania is less than thrilled with the current regime in America. They were one of the first governments to back the US in the War in Iraq and, at a time when many government are withdrawing their support of the War on Terror, Romania is preparing to send another 1,000 troops. This attitude seems to extends to other parts of south eastern Europe as well. Kosovo recently named a street after 'W'.

The Real Bohemians

If you think gypsies, referred to in the west as Bohemians, are actually from the region of the same name in The Czech Republic, you’re wrong. They are actually called the Roma and originate in Romania. While Roma make up about 10% of the country’s population, they are often looked down upon by the Dacians, which are the main ethnic group. One of my co-workers outright told me that all danger of getting robbed in Romania is because of “these gypsies” (of course, no Dacians would ever do something like that). This attitude also seems to be prevalent throughout the country. In Mamia, I watched as a group of Roma was shooed away at the door of a restaurant. The rural areas are more extreme. It is apparently common for schools to be segregated, if Roma children are allowed to attend. Employment is also hard to come by if you are a Roma. That being said, the Roma appear disinterested in helping themselves. They often fail to register the birth of their children, or have them attend school at all. They appear to be perfectly happy to walk down the street in bright clothing while singing. Even for those interested in their situation, it can be hard to understand who is at fault. One of the Texan professors last Friday asked rather ignorantly, “How ‘bout dem gypsies?”. No one had a good answer for her.

Fatalism and The End of Protesting

I was told that all government workers would be striking on Monday and Tuesday. However, as I previously said, the public transit was running on Monday, and Tuesday as well. When I asked what happened with the strike at the office, Maria told me that an NGO asked them to cancel it and for the most part, the unions agreed. From this point on she believes that they will simply accept the salary and pension cuts, and suffer silently. She also made it very clear that this scenario is just another “funny way of Romanian protesting”. Dacian culture is a mélange of Latin and Slavic outlooks, and the tendency of Romanians toward fatalism, as opposed to idealism, is very Slavic. I also find it wonderfully refreshing. Apparently, one of Romanians greatest folk tales is about a man who learns he is going to be killed and spends the rest of life planning his own funeral, instead of trying to avoid his demise. In this same vain, it seems that the unions have chosen, after over half a month of protesting, to simply accept their fate and suffer gloriously.