Above, a youngster on the streets of Baia Mare who agreed to let me take his picture. Out of Bucharest, Romanians are even friendlier than in the capital.

Monday, 6 Apr 98
The Trip to Baia-Mare
Tarom Airlines flies out of Baneasa, a small internal-flight airport. We check in and are ushered to a bus that drives about 50 yards to the small plane. Tarom has taken efficiency to new heights: we took off without the waste of an announcement about safety procedures. Judy remarked that she had seen these flights take off with customers standing in the aisles. On one crowded flight, a young female cabin attendant sat in the lap of another for take off and landing. Oh, well, the fun begins.

We got breakfast on this flight: "sticks cu susan" and "Mini-Vienna." The sticks are unsalted bread sticks with the diameter of a ball point pen refill and with sesame seeds (susan?) stuck to them. The effect is rather like a twig with aphids. A Mini-Vienna is a wafer with cocoa cream; it is lightly crunch with a chocolate-like taste. When we return on Thursday evening, we will get the dinner meal: sticks and Mini-Vienna.

Judy told me that someone told her with the sound of admiration in his voice, "You have to admire those Romanian pilots, they really FLY the plane." This translates into "they have no radar, they just follow the road to Baia-Mare." No explanation was provided about what they do in foggy weather.

At the Baia-Mare airport, the plane hit the runway and bounced off, falling back on the runway, it bounced a smaller distance into the air and came to a running decision to stay on the tarmac: a perfect three bump landing. We were met at the airport by local officials and taken on a five minute tour of town before being deposited at the hotel.

Judy and I had lunch with a Romanian trainer and several others. I ordered Bifteck cu ou (which at least translates as Beefsteak with egg). The steak came in two pieces. I attacked the small piece quietly, sawing away patiently to separate a fragment of meat, hoping not to draw attention to myself by excessive arm motions.

I did this several times and began to wonder if I might have more luck with the bigger piece. Not so, and the piece I hacked of that slice had a rather strange flavor. So I hacked some more off the first piece and contented myself with eating the french fries (pretty standard fare at meals in Romania). When the waitress came to ask if we wanted desert, one of the Romanian trainers complained about _MY_ meal!

The waitress demanded to know what was wrong with my food and the Romanians at the table asked me if it was bad tasting, inedible or tough.

I confessed as to the toughness only, hoping to limit the impact of this discussion on US-Romania relations. A hard tone came into the waitress' voice and she said, "You should have told me and I would have brought you a sharper knife!" I nodded my head to confess my mistake.

Joe


Friday, 10 Apr 98

The Street Urchins
There are a fair number of street kids who beg on the center city boulevards. They target foreigners (who they know have money and lack sense) because the locals have seen so much of them that their hearts have hardened as their pockets have emptied.

There is one urchin in particular who haunts the blocks along Balchescue that I usually take to work. He is a cute kid about eight or nine years old and he has a winning smile. His modus operandi is the same as the rest: he walks up to you from behind and puts his hand out and says, "Hey, mister. Give me money for pizza? 500. Hey, mister." He dogs my heals, the arm of his open hand touching my arm as I walk. He adjusts his pace to mine perfectly and doesn't give up. "Please, mister, please."

Sometimes I would give him one or two 100 lei coins. Whatever, it would never be enough. "Please, mister, for food. Must eat. Pizza 500. You American?" All the time smiling with a hungry look in his eyes. His face is dirty and you really want to help. He speaks just enough English to engage you and your sympathies. That was then.

Today I was walking along Balchescue and the needful urchin appeared from behind and said, "Please, Mr., Food." All I had was a single 100 lei coin so I gave it to him. "No good! Must have more!" and he tosses the coin onto the sidewalk and continues to dog me as I walked. "Give me 5,000! Give me 10,000! Give me." "NO!" I said and repeated to his encore of "Give me!" His insistence increased until I was sorry that I had ever given him anything at all. I walked and walked, he dogged and dogged. Finally he said, "Mother fucking bastard!!" and he fell back into the crowd.

Relieved, I walked to the theater that was showing "In and Out" which I was planning to see with friends. The moving was at 7:30 which was just right. As I left the theater, I noticed a woman walking with a young boy beside her. She had a strange, eerie, rather scary look in her face that was centered around her sunken eyes and sallow skin.

I let them pass and walked behind them. As I did so, she noticed me and gave a nearly imperceptible nod to the boy. As I started walking down the street, he came up to me from behind and said, "Food. Need food. Give." My charitable instincts were a bit exhausted and I said, "No!". He dogged my heals, saying "Give, give, give!" I chanted, "No, no, no." Quite the antiphony we made. Suddenly he turned back and shouted, "Big asshole!"

I decided there were too many people on my side of the street so I crossed Balchescue mid block. As I got to the other side and weaved my way through the parked cars, I could see a girl of about 12 weaving along parallel to me trying to overtake me. "Give me money!" "NO!" I said and must have sounded like I meant it for she broke off following me and shouted, "Fuck off!"

Was this all brought to me by Easter? Does giving to street people just create a begging economy where people only know how to beg and reject other possible options? How much of an industry is this? More than just a little? How much is adults manipulating children?

A month ago, a friend of mine (who had extensive experience in Russia) wrote about my impressions the street kids and said:

"Writing about the street urchins after having dealt with them for two months would be no good because you will learn to hate the little bastards."

And I have only been here only six weeks.

Have a Happy [Catholic Easter, Protestant Easter, Jewish Passover, Orthodox Easter, Other]! Circle the category of your choice.

Joe


Saturday, April 11, 1998

The Romanian people are very polite, Western oriented, and very friendly. It is standard procedure for a man meeting a woman to kiss the back of her hand and while doing so, to look deep into her eyes. Woman love it and it doesn't seem to matter whether they are Romanian or American. When men and women meet who know each other they kiss each other on both sides of the face in a very friendly gesture.

One Romanian told me that Herodotus in reporting on the Trachi -- the tribe that lived in this region about 400 BC -- said that they "were disunited, valuing laziness and considered work humiliating." Herodotus also reported that the inhabitants of what is now southern Romania (historically called Wallachia) were "the bravest and most courageous". This Romanian failed to be complete about Herodotus' comments. Another Romanian told me that Herodotus had said of the Trachi that "they are honest -- when they don't steal."

The politeness of Romanians goes beyond person to person relations; it has a formal aspect as well: when they address each other they use the formal titles of Mr Mayor, Mrs, Miss, Mr. Doctor, etc. I found this out when our Romanian training coordinator asked me why we always insist that Romanians in our training programs have their first name on their badges when none of the participants referred to each other by their first names?

I thought about it and realized that he was probably right, that it would make more sense to give them name badges that had on them what the participants really called each other. But then, thinking more on it, thinking about how Americans feel about titles of any kind, I realized that we probably could not do that. If we did the sane thing and observed Romanian custom (When in Rome . . .), some bozo in the States would accuse us (the training team) of excessive formality.

I asked a Romanian who had spent several months in the States about this and she told me that yes, Romanians were more formal with each other than Americans were. She went on to say that "people can get too close and I think it a good thing that certain boundaries are maintained. At work, I expect to be referred to as Mrs., even by people I have known for ten years."

I said to her, "So I have been violating your cultural norms since the moment I was introduced to you?" She replied, "No, small nations do not expect big nations to understand their norms." I asked, "But what of other people I meet, they will think me rude." She said, "No, we have seen so many of your movies that we know how you refer to each other and what you mean by it." This reminded me of Thailand where you can make mistakes and the Thai's think, "He is a farong (foreigner) and cannot be expected to understand our ways." In Japan, I am told that things are different: when a foreigner violates one of the many (and, to a Westerner, obscure) customs, the Japanese think, "Barbarian!"

Joe Tries to Learn Romanian
I am studying Romania sign language. No, not the use of the hands to communicate -- although I am told that signing in Romania is different from signing in the states [I knew you wanted to know that] -- but the meaning of word that appear on shop and street signs. See how practical I have become?

This can be embarrassing. In studying signs I have noticed a lot of signs at construction sites that say "Aedificia Carpati" (pronounced A-de-fichia Carpatz) which I brutalized into "Edifice Car Parking" or, colloquially, Parking Garage (not to be confused with "garaj" which means "driveway." But I was confused how an economically distressed country could be constructing so many parking garages.

Then I managed to confuse the second word of the "Aedificia Carpati" signs with the second word of the "nu parcarti" (pronounced "new parkatz") signs that are all over Bucharest. When I learned that "Carpati" means "Carpathians" (as in the mountains by that name) I thought that Bucharest was covered with signs that said "No Carpathians" which I thought odd even for this country. I asked someone to explain this to me and he gave me that "you have two heads" look that I am becoming accustomes to so I said I will find a sign and show it to him. I did find and show and he pointed out that the sign said "nu parcati" [no parking] not "nu carpati" [no Carpathians]. I was puce with embarrassment.

A More Relaxed Way of Life
Romanians display a certain Latin indifference to time but a greater sensitivity to feelings. They give flowers as gifts frequently. You can see people -- women especially -- carrying flowers every day. There are special days to give women flowers and flowers are a regular gift. They are relatively inexpensive and, of course, beautiful.


Update on Superstitions
When you open a pack of cigarettes (80% of the people must smoke here), you take one out and put it back in up-side-down. You smoke this cigarette last and when you light it, if it lights on the side, your lover is unfaithful to you and if it lights correctly, your lover has been faithful. There are no records to indicate the number of relationships that have been broken up because someone badly lit a last cigarette under the influence of alcohol.

Religion in Romania
The Orthodox faith is very strong and was never suppressed here. The government contented itself with forcing the Uniate Catholic Church to merge with the Orthodox. That has now been undone since the revolution.

I will be going to an Easter church service next week. I am told that a regular service is four hours long and their are no seats. Everyone stands and when they get tired, they leave. So the whole thing is filled with coming and going. The service on Easter Sunday begins at 9 PM on Saturday and ends around 6 AM on Sunday. I hope to take some of it in. But not too much.

Joe


12 Apr 98

Economics
The more I learn about this country the more interesting it becomes. Life here has been so difficult for the last 15 years that the population is probably declining. I have seen figures that suggest a decline of 100,000 to 150,000 per year. This is not serious short term but could eventually become significant if the economy is not turned around. Romanians are a middle class people without money and they are reacting to privation in a classic fashion.

You may have noticed on the news that President Constantinescu dismissed his Prime Minister Victor Ciorbea. I certainly don't know the skinny on this but it was apparent that the Parliament was unhappy with the efforts at economic restructuring and they decided to take it out on the Prime Minister who was also the Mayor of Bucharest. In fact, a special clause to allow him to keep both jobs was inserted in a bill to allow local governments to set up their own treasuries (instead of using the Ministry of Finance county offices). The upshot was that the bill was rejected by one house and is now floating in some limbo in Parliament.

Romania has travelled a difficult road since 1989. The group that took over after Ceausescu was executed were just a bunch of retread Communists with no original ideas about economics and many of the old ideas about the use of state force. Many Romanians feel that they have lost years in failing to address their problems and are doomed to yet more years of suffering as the economy is reformed seriously. It is indeed true that the difficult decisions on industrial restructuring and privatization of the economy are still up in the air. Fortunately the new cabinet is basically the same as the old so it is reformist in character. But will they be any more effective than the last government?

Of course, some of these questions arise from the difficulties of running a government in a multi-party democracy where unstable coalition governments are the rule and the necessity. Election here are by proportional representation so every small group can get some seats in Parliament. Indeed, I read of one election in which 18 parties banded together to become one of 12 or so parties running. It is a little hard for an American to understand. Fortunately, I grew up in the People's Republic of Cambridge, so that helps some.

One of the destabilizing factors in recent years has been inflation. Things have been under control since I arrived [coincidence or one of the broader impacts of my visit?] but I found some data that says: "Following the implementation of a price limitation program, the annual rate of inflation averaged 142.6% in 1991-95; inflation increased to an annual average of 256.1% in 1993, but the rate slowed dramatically to 136.8% in 1994 and to 32.3% in 1995. The rate of unemployment was estimated at 6.3% of the labor force at the end of 1996." [I wonder if the unemployment figure isn't a hint about the need for further restructuring?]

The day I arrived a dollar converted to 8,200 lei and currently converts at 8,400 lei. In percents that is .98 percent per month or an annual rate of 11.7%. So the exchange rate is under control here at least for the moment. The story is not over yet, of course.

Inflation plays havoc with savings and investment patterns here. During the period of high inflation the government made interest rates on savings keep pace with inflation. Virtually all corporate and local government borrowing is from banks rather than in the non-existent bond markets, and with very short maturities and/or at variable rates. Most local government borrowing (such as it has been) has been intergovernmental and nationally guaranteed.

There is another factor. The vast majority of people here are very poor. There was an article in the paper that said that in Poland and the Czech Republic people are saving to go on a vacation. In Romania they are saving to buy new clothes. And you can bet that people who save to by clothing are not putting money in banks very much.

One of the things USAID would like to see happen here is the creation of a municipal bond market as well as other methods that would allow local governments to address their infrastructure needs for both economic development and pollution abatement.

Given what I have seen of the current status of things here, this will take time and effort.

Joe