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The Buds
Brother Doug and The Team We’ve already come to have a deeper appreciation for our country. Several significant, non-planned events today made us rethink our lives in America.
First, a little about Romania. Briefly, Romania was under the Communist rule of Nicolae Ceausescu until 1989. He was the people’s ruler until his latter years—people were starving and without much. After a revolt, Ceausescu fled Bucharest, but was tracked down and killed on Christmas Day, 1989. So Romania has been a “free” country only 18 years. Because
The Team has never been to a young, democratic country, we have been totally amazed. As my brother says, “This is the Wild West.”
Things that amazed us today: The driving situation! In 1989, there were
2 gasoline stations in the whole city of Bucharest (population about 1.5 million then). There just weren’t automobiles to speak of—that was in 1989! Things we take for granted—cities have parking places. Bucharest was a large city with no need for parking because there were virtually no cars then. Now, many, many cars—BUT NO PARKING PLACES. So, they just park their cars anywhere…mainly ½ on the sidewalk and ½ in the road. There is no rhyme or reason to their
Is This up to Code?
Notice the wiring. Sometimes 15 strands between poles. driving OR parking. It’s crazy. It’s like everything is exploding economically but it would take years to build an infrastructure to accommodate the growth. We were going down a street with million dollar houses, worn out roads, and a horse-drawn buggy goes past us.
Feast or famine! Little old ladies begging. Apparently, Communism didn’t set up pension plans for its workers and after Communism fell, there’s nothing set up to take care of the old. We were eating in a restaurant and a little old lady dressed as you would expect in her Russian-looking attire came up and just stared at me. I was uncomfortable and turned away. I looked back and she was just standing there looking pitiful. I asked my brother, who couldn’t see her, what this little lady wanted and he told me why many old people beg. It was so sad! Then there are the stories of these little old ladies raising their grandchildren…. Tore my heart out. Praise God for the USA!
Freedom—or lack of! My brother’s flat where we are staying is across the street from the ex-President’s residence. Of course, there is an iron fence around the residence with guards by
Parking?
Just find a spot the fence. Matt, the photographer, continually has his camera in hand, snapping away. As we drove up the street to park, Matt took a picture of the guard station through the window of the car. When we stopped the car and started to get out, my brother saw 2 of the guards walking toward the car. Of course, I panicked! They got Matt out of the car and in their broken English were asking why he took the picture. Matt said he didn’t get a good shot and had already deleted it. I don’t think they understood what he was saying. So they asked again and were pointing toward the guard station. Matt showed them it was deleted on his camera. Finally, we figured out they were not asking him about taking it but were telling him no pictures. That was so scary. They were tall and square jawed, just like on the movies of the KGB. I think Matt wet his pants.
Freedom again—or lack of! Doug wanted to show us an open market where many people buy fruit, veggies, cheese, etc. -a great photo opportunity for Matt the photographer. It was in a very low-lit building, nothing
Just About One Inch
The bus wanted over so he just started moving over! like Wal-Mart. Guards are everywhere. One came up to Matt and told him no pictures. We wanted to scream. Doug said it is still that oppressed mindset. The people were oppressed for so many years, many of these non-military guards still want to throw their power around. This fruit stand guard was such. The ex-President compound guards were the real thing though. I had visions of
The Matt and Mom Team behind bars in a dark, dank Communism Era jail cell. For a brief moment, I asked myself, "What about Cooper????"
The People’s Palace. We’ve never seen anything like it. It is the second largest building in the world, behind the Pentagon. It was being built under Ceausescu’s rule but he was killed before it was finished. It is worth reading about on Wikepedia.
The People's Palace One of Doug’s engineers worked on the Palace as a 16-year-old. It was an expectation for young people to commit to 2 years of labor on the building in return for 2 meals a day. The building was built in 5 years by working 3 shifts a day, 20,000 workers per shift. Under Ceausescu’s early rule, the people were dedicated. It is an unbelievably
A 4-Wheeler?
They are street legal. Maybe they are rednecks too. massive building, which
The Team will tour tomorrow. Tonight we just viewed it from the outside. We will blog tomorrow on that experience.
Tomorrow is a trip to the glass blowing factory & art district
(I am taking no money) and a tour of the People’s Palace. For now, enjoy the pictures of our experiences of today. (Click on a picture to enlarge it.)
Enjoying the Experience,
The Matt and Mom Team Bonding Excursion
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ron hebert
non-member comment
can't keep my mouth shut
Your observations are clarifying and your emotions are touching. I find it interesting that so many of the American "left" idolize the culture that you are experiencing. They wish for the country that you praise God for, would "progress" into such a state. Keep up the good work and have much fun. Those Romanian men really work fast, no? Less than 24 hours in the country and some old geezer has his arm around you! Don't kid yourself. Those guys LOVE American gals!