He whose name I cannot pronounce!

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For those of you wondering why I haven't sent any blogs about this trip , well, I encountered a few problems. # 1 was my computer wasn't picking up any of the wi-fi and # 2 the wifi that was available often was very weak and very erratic. We were traveling on a boat down the Danube and reception was 'spotty' to non- existent. So please use your imaginations and imagine I am still traveling. I will send blogs some along as I get time to write them from home. I arrived back last night and I leave July 4th to go to MI to be with my kids and grandkids for a week. Thanks for your patience. One friend thought I might have been dragged into a medieval dungeon somewhere! :-)

Hello from Eastern Europe- actually Bucharest but they don't have that as a location to choose from on my blog site so I thought it would be fun to put in Transilvania. ;-) After a hectic run through the Memphis airport ( waiting over an hour at the check- in desk for my 7:30 pm flight -which made for some very tense moments), followed by a hectic ride on a people mover cart through the Amsterdam airport (due to a one hour window between flights), we arrived in Bucharest, Romania at 4:30 pm the next day. We (Val and I) met our leader, Mircea, a gnome like ( his description of himself) jovial and knowledgeable fellow. He gave us all the instructions we would need for the next few days and invited us to join the rest of the group ( around 115!) for dinner. After which we fell into bed and slept the sleep of the dead.

Romania was pretty unknown to me except for remembering Nadia Commenici( sp.?) who got the first perfect 10 in gymnastics at the Olympics years ago. So everything I learned was new. For those of you who don’t have the map of Eastern Europe handy I’ll give you some help placing it geographically. It is in south eastern central Europe on the lower Danube ( which, by the way, isn’t very blue). And is bordered by the Black Sea , Bulgaria, Serbia, Moldova, Ukraine, and Hungary. It is thought to be the site of earliest known man dating back some 600,000 years ago to the Pleistocene Era. Without going into a lot of its ancient history suffice it to say that its location has been the root of many invasions going back to the Romans, the Visigoths, Huns, Lombards, and many others. Its location placed it at the crossroads of many expansionist empires: Ottoman from Turkey; Czarist form Russia; and the Habsburg Empire. Although modern Romanian is a Romance language about 25% of its words have Slavic roots ( so my little bit of Spanish is of no use here). In 1683 Jan Sobieski’s Polish army crushed an Ottoman army besieging Vienna and Christian forces thus began the slow process of driving the Turks from Europe. Vlad the Impaler from Transylvania is known for impaling the heads of 25,000 Turks on stakes outside his castle thus his name.

The time between the two World Wars was considered to be its ‘Golden Time‘. A huge Arch de Triumph (similar to the one in Paris) was built in Bucharest in 1916. Because of two post WWl treaties Romania doubled in size. Things were going well until after WWll when their century long democratic government ended as they were occupied by the Soviet Union and forced to live under a communist regime. This led to the oppressive totalitarian regime of Nicolae Ceausescu and his wife ( who according to our guide had the brains in the family and was none too smart). After the fall of the Berlin Wall November 1989, the rest of Eastern Europe rebelled against their Communist governments and new hopes and dreams came to Eastern Europe. Along with the dreams came the struggles of forming a new system of government. Now, almost 22 years later, some are still hopeful but many feel their dreams will never be realized. The change was especially hard for older people( over 45) who were left without a job, no pension, and no opportunity to train for a new profession.

Although we in the United States think that everyone should live in a ‘free’ country for many it is an abstract concept and one that was imposed on them. For 45 years or so the people had no say in their gov’t and didn’t have to think about how to improve their lives. It is not so easy to wave a ‘freedom’ wand and expect them to be able to form a completely new way of thinking and doing. So just as we struggled as a new nation in 1776 they are struggling here. The collapse of the financial markets all over the world a few years ago basically ‘pulled the rug’ out from under many of these new countries. Foreign businesses are reluctant to invest. Old factories are outdated and there is no money to bring them up to today’s anti-polluting standards. We passed factory after factory with broken windows and rusted framework and large For Sale signs.

Today Bucharest is called the Las Vegas of Europe. It has over 10 casinos. Education is very important and Romania has a 98% rate of adult literacy. School is compulsory for grades 1-12. State Universities are very cheap- about $150 a year! That’s about the cost of a college textbook in the US! Many students from other countries study here because it is so cheap. They have set up special Universities where classes are given in English. And all of you ‘suffering’ and whining about paying $4 a gallon for gas, well, how would you like to pay more than $8! That has been the average price for years and the incomes here are a fraction of those in the US. As a result most cars are small and bought for their highest MPG. Haven’t seen a big honkin’ SUV or pick up truck yet. And, as in most European countries, the public transportation systems are excellent and cheap.

I realize this hasn’t been a ‘fun’ blog to read but since most of us know very little about this part of the world ( one of my reasons for this particular trip), I thought I’d give you some background information. The truth is I spent very little time in Romania. We had a quick bus tour of the city driving by Ceausescu’s ‘dream’ which was to build the largest office complex in the world ‘The Palace of Parliament’. It was begun in 1984 and took 20,000 workers, 700 architects and uncountable billions of $ to build. It is said to have over 1,100 room each the size of a soccer field. It is rumored to have an underground nuclear bunker but no one really knows. It now seats the Parliament and has been used as a film set, imitating the Vatican. Ironically, Ceausescu never got to use his monstrosity because he was killed before it was finished.

I’m sure we can never fully understand the mixed feelings that the people have 20+ years later about the changes that were made. Most are glad the dictator Ceausescu is dead but some have what is referred to as ‘ Communist nostalgia’. The process has been hardest for the older generation who miss all the financial stability promised them and who are too old to be retrained. The middle age people also struggle as they grew up never having a voice in determining their leaders in their entire lifetime. It is the younger people who seem to realize that they will have to work harder in order to succeed. As they strive to have a voice in their future the worldwide economic downturn has made this even more difficult for them.
Carolyn/Gunga

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