Category: Lifestyle
Despite Violence, Romanian opens Cultural Center
Posted Thursday, June 04, 2009 by Jhane Reifsteck
La Strada is a little piece of Romania in Rome. Adrian Nichifor opened the commerce and cultural center in March of this year—the first of its kind in Rome. The center brings Romanian products to the Romanian immigrant community in Rome, a little touch of home. Romanians can buy things ranging from Romanian groceries to wedding dresses to books . The Center is also a place for Romanian’s to gather, and where Romanian children can learn the language of their homeland. While his business appears successful, life in Italy hasn’t always been easy for Nichifor. Just this past January, a bomb was planted in his grocery store.
Nichifor believes the bomb was retaliation by Italians for the rape of an Italian girl by four Romanian boys. He believes that the chance of more violence is low. Sometimes, it seems Romanians are second class citizens in Italy.
Nichifor is one of the two million Romanians living and working in Italy. He immigrated to Italy from Bucharest, where his parents currently reside. He believes that opening a business is his destiny and that being an immigrant is just part of his life, and the lives of the other millions of Romanians that emigrate out of the country. He plans to return to Romania one day.
Mihaela. . . Romania’s “Girl Next Door”?
Posted Friday, May 29, 2009 by Shaina Humphries
Meet Mihaela.
But don’t call her that. Everyone calls her Michou. (Mee-Shoe).
She’s 20 years old, lives on her own in a big city, and she’s very close to her mother (who lives in another country). She’s a college student, a working journalist, and the nighttime caretaker for seven orphans.
She’s your average girl-next-door, right?
Okay. . . Maybe not the girl next door in our hometowns, but in Romania, this is a normal girl.
Click below to learn more about her.
Michou was an extremely big help to me during my time in Bucharest. As we worked together, I learned more about her, and decided that she was just too interesting a person NOT to write about.
She was born and raised in the district of Piatra Neamt, in Moldova, Romania. Like so many 21st century teenagers, her parents had split up. But unlike most, Michou did not live with ether of her parents. For some of her childhood, she was living with her grandparents on her mother’s side. Her mother actually lives in Italy, where she works taking care of an elderly woman with Alzheimer’s disease. She does this so she can make money (more than she would in Romania), and then send it back to Michou. She has one older brother but they’re not as close as she would like them to be, as he was raised by their grandparents on their father’s side.
A year ago, at age 19, Michou went to the big city of Bucharest, in order to attend the University of Bucharest’s College of Journalism and Public Relations.
Back in her hometown, she had spent some time working with children in orphanages. She had a friend that she knew through her work, and that friend set Michou up with a place to stay in Bucharest. She stayed in a church for a short time while she took exams to be admitted to the University.
Unfortunately, Michou felt unprepared for the University, and she didn’t get in.
That is definitely not the end of her story.
She was going to go back to her hometown, where her father and brother still live, but she decided to take a chance and stay in Bucharest. She began attending the University of Spiru Haret, a private university that she thought was a good school, and affordable for her.
The church where she lived was no longer able to host her anymore, so she ended up having no place to stay.
She found one opportunity, where she lived with an older woman for about a week, but that proved to not be a good fit for her.
Luckily, a friend gave her the contact information of an orphanage in Bucharest that was looking to hire. They needed someone who was
1.) Eager to work with children
and
2.) Would be able to live there with them.
Check. And. . . Check.
She interviewed for the position and was hired.
At the Centre Stantul Marcelin Champagnat, Michou works nights, and is responsible for the care of six children. So, she stays with them, monitors them while playing, keeps up with their school work, makes sure that they are bathed, mediates any conflicts, disciplines them, cares for them when they’re sick, and puts them to bed.
THEN, she wakes the older kids up at 6:30 a.m., makes them breakfast, gets them ready for school, and sends them off. Then she does the same for the younger children, but actually takes them to school everyday to ensure they arrive safely.
Spending so much time with these children, Michou has built a deep relationship with “her” kids. These children have been through some very tough times, so she tries to compensate for the relationships most have them have never experienced.
“You’re dealing with kids who have nothing. They don’t have a family like I have. I know if something happens to me, I can call my mom. No matter what. She loves me. She will always be there for me, Same with my brother and father. So everyday, I try to make them understand that they can come to me with anything. Good things, bad things. . . Their joys or their problems, anything! They can share that with me. Because I love them.”
As you can imagine, with a job like this, Michou is not exactly living the life of an carefree college student. But she says it doesn’t bother her.
“Because of my job, I have to make sacrifices. But it’s okay. I have really found a family there.”
Michou stays focused, spending most of her time when she’s not with the kids from the orphanage at school and working as a journalist. She has had some training with the Center for Independent Journalism in Bucharest, but works mostly for an online publication. There, her boss is a former teacher of hers.
In the past year, she almost quit journalism. There are a few things about it that she doesn’t like. Once, she was working on a story about a Roma student in Bucharest. After being interviewed by Michou, the student asked if Michou would send the story to her, so she could read it before it was published.
Michou’s boss was not too happy, and told her that it was unethical and that she shouldn’t have let the student read the story.
Michou’s response:
“I am human. I must treat the people I interact with. . . with humanity! This is MY ethic.”
Obviously, Muchou did not give up on journalism. Though it gets very difficult at times, she says you just have to keep trying, then try again. She’s begun to get better and faster with her writing, so she’s feeling more optimistic about the job now.
Today, she’s still living in Bucharest, and although is has become used to the big city life (for the most part) she admits that it is sometimes very lonely being in a city where she has never known anybody.
As Michou and I sat on the street and drank a couple of bottles of juice for our interview, she said with a laugh, “Sometimes you want to get a juice with someone, right? But instead. . . you buy a bottle of juice and drink it by yourself on the street.”
In the near future, Michou says she’d like to meet a few more friends in Bucharest, and “financial independence, of course.”
When I was almost finished with our interview, I asked her one of those standard “where do you hope you’ll be in the future/what do you want out of life” type of questions. . .
Here’s what she said.
“I know what I’m going to do tomorrow. And the day after that. Nothing more. I don’t ever plan for the future, because I don’t know what will happen. When I look back though. . . I just want to be able to say I helped people. A lot of people. Or maybe just ten people. Like Martin Luther King. . . people like that helped, and they never expected or wanted any fame from it. That’s what I want.”
Crossing the Little Somes
Posted Friday, May 29, 2009 by Karis Morrall
On our way to a Roma community in Gherla, we crossed a small river via ferry. Once we reached the other bank, our boat immediately turned around and headed back. As it turned out, we hadn’t actually needed to cross the river. Our hosts just knew that we would be amused. How’s that for Romanian hospitality?
Why Should Romanians Care about EU Elections?
Posted Wednesday, May 27, 2009 by Pamela Nisivaco
On June 7, 2009 Romania will vote for the first time in the European Union Parliamentary elections. It is common knowledge, however, that these elections are unimportant not just in Romania, but throughout Europe. According to Adrian Avarvarei, president of the European Socialist Activists (PES) in Cluj, only about 30 percent of voters actually turn out for the EU elections. Obviously the presidential election coming up in the fall in Romania is what most Romanians will be concerned about, but Avarvarei explains why the EU elections are becoming more and more important for member states, as well as the whole of Europe. Watch the video to learn more and click on the link below to read how political parties are attempting to attract the youth vote in Romania.
Campaigns like MTV’s “Rock the Vote” in the U.S. have created a much higher turnout rate for young voters during election season. Romania has caught on to the importance of attracting this group of people by holding rallies that include loud popular music, break dancing and BMX experts performing tricks.
The interesting thing is that these participants, all clad in matching red t-shirts that read, “You Decide” in Romanian, are not all members of the European Socialist Activists organization. Many of them do not identify with a specific political party in Romania at all. Most, such as the BMX riders, are paid to attend these rallies and perform. In the U.S., celebrities are generally used to attract the youth vote.
The rally is not held in just one specific area either. My partner and I ran into one on a main street in Cluj, but soon after sitting down at an outdoor cafe on a popular side street, a crowd of red came flooding in our direction. They quickly set up their speakers and began playing music and dancing. The emcee requested that the gathering crowd join in the dancing. Soon, 20-30 people on a small street in Cluj were dancing to the “Macarina,” “YMCA” and even “Cotton Eye Joe.”
My journalism partner in Cluj, Iowana, explained how much young people enjoy American performers, such as Akon, Usher and Madonna, only to name a few. When I asked Iowana if she planned to vote in the European elections on June 7 she said yes, but was unsure which political party she would support in her voting.
Encouraging Participation in EU Parliamentary Elections:
Encouraging Participation in EU Parliamentary Elections
Romania’s Alcohol Laws
Posted Wednesday, May 27, 2009 by Jhane Reifsteck
Beer in Romania often costs less than the bottled water at restaurants and bars. That may have some effect on the amount of alcohol consumed in Romania, but according to my student counterpart here in Cluj, Bianca Turcus, the laws seem pretty similar to those in the United States.
Drinking and driving is illegal and also serving alcohol to minors is against the law. There is no minimum drinking age, but the purchase age is eighteen. However, we haven’t seen anyone asked for identification or proof of age when purchasing alcohol. Turcus mentioned that in order to make more money, a club in Cluj started a teen night. The city ended up not allowing the club to do this.
The drinking laws regarding driving seem to be better enforced. The driver that took us to the vineyard last week told us that he does not even drink when he’s off work because he can’t have any alcohol in his system. That’s probably a good thing. It’s easy to imaging how out of control a driver would be on the Romanian roads if they had alcohol in their system. Romania has one of the highest number of deaths resulting from car accidents in Europe. According to Eurostat, Romania has 130 deaths per million people, and the other countries topping the list are from Eastern Europe as well. Malta and the Netherlands had the lowest rates with 29 and 43 deaths per million.
Other people I’ve talked to have said that it is considered okay to have a drink during the work day or for business men and politicians to keep bottles of alcohol in their desks. You would think that in a country where beer is cheap and people appear to be laid back about drinking, there would be more problems. However, we have yet to see or hear of any real issues with violence or fatalities from alcohol consumption or abuse.
Taking A Roman(ian) Holiday
Posted Tuesday, May 26, 2009 by Pamela Nisivaco
Is the sun better for you in the mountains of Romania or by the sea? Click on the link below to learn about where many Romanians take holidays, both long and short, away from the congestion and pollution of the city. Here they like to bathe in the sunlight.
On our way to Brasov on Sunday, May 24 we were all surprised to see many Romanians pulled over on the side of the mountain roads. Most of the people had set up small camps and were laying in the afternoon sun, usually in their undergarments. It is in these mountains that Romanians believe the sun is better for them because there is no reflection off the water like when they go to the seashore. According to our tour guide, Luiza, this sunlight helps build up the skin’s resistance and provides vitamin D for bone health.
Luiza explained that the mountains and seaside of Romania are very popular places for people in the cities to go on holiday, whether for a weekend trip or longer in the summer. The areas people had staked out were not necessarily camp sites, but merely fields at the foot of the mountains where the Romanians simply pulled their cars over and set up a little area for themselves.
I was amazed by how many people there were doing this. Some even had small barbecues lit to cook food. Luiza explained that on the way home from Brasov the trip would be much longer than on the way to Brasov because all the people we saw on the side of the mountain road would be headed home after the weekend to go back to work on Monday.
Stray Situation
Posted Tuesday, May 26, 2009 by Bruce Harrison
Bucharest has one of the largest populations of stray dogs in the world.
View this slide show.
Early this morning the group arrived in Cluj by train, an eight hour ride northwest of Bucharest. As the train moved out of the city and into the country, a visible reminder of Bucharest was still present: stray dogs.
The stray dog population in Bucharest is around 200,000; a human to dog ratio of 10 to 1. In the 1980’s Nicolae Ceausescu had parts of the city torn down for building projects and many dogs were released into the streets. More than two decades later and the situation has grown out of control. The city has taken measures to control the number of strays but little progress is evident. I saw many homeless dogs missing limbs and others showing little signs of life.
A Bucharest University student told me that most attacks occur when people cross packs of territorial dogs. He was attacked by a pack of homeless dogs last year and managed to escape with only a bitten rear. He advised me against feeding them and said leaving the strays alone is the smartest thing to do. Good advice when you’re dealing with stray dogs anywhere in the world.
Stray Dogs of Bucharest Slideshow:
Stray Dogs of Bucharest Slideshow
Bucharest Gay Festival Aftermath
Posted Sunday, May 24, 2009 by Luke Cleary
The conclusion to our coverage of the 2009 GayFest March in Bucharest. Within: video highlighting the extensive security detail and an image slideshow.
Security was tight for the GayFest March this weekend, and with good reason. Bucharest Police had concerns about the rally after a week of anti-gay demonstrations in various parts of the city. Many Romanians frown upon homosexuality, and the 2006 march was met with violence. The 200 to 300 hundred participants in this year’s GayFest were surrounded by hundreds of police, some dressed in riot gear. K-9 units and horse-mounted police dotted the perimeter, while motorcycle cops rode in and out of the crowd
Just a few snapshots of the GayFest Parade. While flags and signs were present during the speeches and march, at the end of the march the participants rushed to put away these items. People were also encouraged to leave in groups and get rid of gay pride symbols before leaving due to the threat of violence from protesters.
Life in the Romanian Countryside
Posted Saturday, May 23, 2009 by Jhane Reifsteck
The gap between the rural areas in Romania and Bucharest is easily visible. Yesterday, I traveled with John Paul to a vineyard in rural Romania in the Delau Mare region. Some differences were obvious right away, like the vast fields of oats, rape seed, and corn in the place of large buildings and congested traffic. Also, instead of swerving past cars and people in the busy Bucharest streets, our driver was trying to avoid carts and potholes.
After talking with a Peace Corps Volunteer, Kenny Dunn, the villagers’ mentality is completely different than that of urban dwellers. Much of the land is divided into strips about equal to two acres. This is the land that was given back to the people after the fall of communism. Each of the land owners plants, plows, and hoes the fields by hand or with horses. Dunn mentioned that many villager said they wouldn’t know what to do with their time if they didn’t have to devote time to farming.
We only saw small glimpses of mechanization… A few tractors, and one grape picker. The viticulturist at the vineyard, Vali, told me that they used to employ villagers to harvest the grapes, however, the grape picker made the process more efficient. We did happen to see a competing vineyard employing people to help tie the grapes to the guide wires.
Villages in rural Romania look completely different than Bucharest. The streets were small and the houses and buildings looked very modest. The narrow roads were often made smaller by the horse drawn carts loaded with hay, or being used for transportation. Many of the farm land surrounding the villages were scattered with people walking rows of corn, with their cars and carts parked on the edge of the field. Often times, there appeared to be for to six people working in each field with usually only one horse.
The trip was very enlightening. I was able to get a sense of the conditions in rural Romania. I won’t say that villagers are unhappy, though. Dunn mentioned that villagers are content with the way that they’ve been living for the past century, and are hesitant to move away from their traditions.
Anti-Gay Protest in Bucharest
Posted Saturday, May 23, 2009 by Shaina Humphries
Yesterday’s Anti-Gay Parade in the center of Bucharest was in protest of the “GayFest” Gay-Pride Parade that will be taking place today at 5:00pm.
I’ve seen first hand that Romania is an extremely anti-gay country. Although homosexuality was decriminalized here in 2001, it is still unaccepted and even not tolerated by the majority of Romanians.
In 2005, the mayor of Bucharest (at that time) Adrieau Videanu, actually banned pro-homosexuality marches and parades. However, President Basescu intervened and convinced Mayor Videanu to reverse his decision.
In 2006, GayFest took place on June 3rd. Here’s what happened:
“More than a thousand protesters throw eggs, stones and plastic bottles. Around 60 people try to break through police lines to attack the marchers. The counter-demonstrators then turn their fury at the police and around 50 people are detained. After the march ends and police protection is over, six participants are attacked and beaten.” (from the UK’s Lesbian and Gay Foundation).
In an attempt to prevent another outcome like that, there will be teams of riot police at the parade tonight.
You can see the ant-gay protest that I (accidentally) walked right into yesterday. According to Bruce, there was another demonstration this morning by a national anti-homosexual organization. They have uniforms and everything! He wasn’t able to catch the name of the group, but perhaps it was the right-wing Christian group, “New Right”. They were the ones that filed a legal complaint and tried to have GayFest banned in 2006, claiming it was “obscene and anti-social”.
See also: Video of Anti-Gay Protestors marching.
A few of us will be attending the Gay Pride Parade today and of course, we’ll have plenty of video and pictures of the event!
The event promises to be very chaotic. Let’s hope the riot police can keep the event under control, and that all of us Revealing Romania people make it out of there safely!!
Stay tuned…..
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