14-16 May 2009, Braşov, Transylvania

[A bit back dated...]

I got to Braşov on the evening of the 14^th after taking a train up from Bucharest. While still in Bucharest I made arrangements online to Couchsurf with Anca, a local journalist in Braşov who shares a flat with her sister in the center of the old town. However, apparently the CS request was made for the 15^th and 16th, which means that I ended up showing up a day earlier than expected. Luckily Anca didn't mind too much and welcomed me into her home.

The next day I was pretty much on my own as Anca and her sister both had to work. When I first set out, I was on a mission to buy a new bag. Since leaving Ireland I had been using a cheap bag that I bought there as a carry-on for airplanes and as a day bag to tote things around with, but by the time I was ready to leave Bucharest, that bag had already pretty much had it. I got the not-so-clever idea to just replace it with another cheap bag that I bought at one of the luggage stalls inside the Gara du Nord Metro stop in Bucharest. However, “cheap” in Ireland and “cheap” in Romania are two different things and the bag I bought started falling apart even before I put anything in it. I didn't really have the time to go buy another one in Bucharest and catch my train, so I went ahead and used it anyway. By the time time the thing was packed, virtually every strap on the thing had popped off and I had to hold it together with two belts and a couple emergency bungie cords. Plainly this wouldn't do. So I set out to find a place to buy a new bag and found an Intersport (a chain of large sporting goods stores in Romania which tend to sell quality name-brand merchandise at decent prices) and invested in a very good small bag. It was 179 RON, but should last indefinitely.

After this, I brought it back to Anca's house and set off to do the touristy stuff in the old city. Braşov is actually a pretty big town, or small city of about 300,000 people, but most of the old medieval city still survives largely untouched – the medieval walls and fortifications, the tiny cobble-stone lanes, and so on – and is very picturesque. Most of the modern city was constructed between 1950 and 1960, when Romania was still firmly pro-Soviet and Braşov was temporarily named Oraşul Stalin. During this period, the government engaged in forced urbanization – pulling in thousands of rural farmers from the country-side and dumping them there to work in factories – but they left most of the old city alone.

The old city was initially founded by the crusading Teutonic Knights and evolved into a German (Saxon) mercantile colony by the 13^th century by the name of Kronstadt. The Germans lived inside the walls, whereas the Romanians lived outside in the Schei quarter, which still has a very unique look and feel quite distinctive from the German town inside the walls. Most of the town's fifteenth century walls – built to defend against Turkish attacks – remain standing and can be seen in some of my photographs. I also took the funicolore (cable car, or incline) up Mount Tâmpa, the small hill/mountain overlooking the old city. This is where the famous Hollywood-style “Brasov” sign is and from the top you can walk to the sign where there is an observation deck. This is where I took the “high up” photographs of Braşov.

[Between 1950 and 1960, during the Oraşul Stalin period and long before the modern sign was built, the name “Oraşul Stalin” was etched into the side of the mountain by means of artistic deforestation.]

[One thing I was wondering while I was exploring the old town is why they built it in the valley instead of on top of Mount Tâmpa, which would plainly be a better position to defend. Later I learned that the original settlement had indeed been built on top of Mount Tâmpa, but in 1458 Vlad Ţepeş (the real “Dracula”) attacked it and had the original settlement completely dismantled and relocated into the valley in 1460. And, true to form, he impaled some 40 German merchants in the process.]

Braşov has a very different feel than Bucharest. Whatever was left of medieval Bucharest was pretty much destroyed first by the Romanian monarchy starting in the nineteenth century and lasting until World War II who sought to “modernize” their capital, then by the Stalinists who sought to remake the capital with their vision, and finally in the post-Stalinist period with modern developers snatching up and developing whatever they can. This is what gives Bucharest its unique feel: part nineteenth-century monarchical (copying the styles prevalent then in Europe), part twentieth-century Stalinist, and part twenty-first century ultra-modern capitalist. The old town of Braşov has none of this, it is very much still a medieval town, though functional today.

It isn't just the town itself that is radically different. The people look different as well; the difference between Wallachia, which is almost exclusively Romanian and Transylvania, which is a complex mix of Romanians, Hungarians, and Germans. Braşov has, for example, a lot more natural blonds which means I don't stick out as dramatically as I do in Bucharest. There are also a lot more big breasted women here, in fact almost all the women here have big tits; I imagine flat-chested women in Braşov have all sorts of complexes about it. Of course, like everywhere in Romania, there are also a noticeable number of Roma (gypsies) as well though they seem better off here than the ones you see in the center of Bucharest. Even the pigeons look different here: in Bucharest they look like pigeons everywhere (Denver, London, where ever), whereas in Braşov they look smaller, darker, and more uniform (and yes, they are pigeons).

After walking around all day and tiring myself out (Braşov is very hilly, so walking it extensively is very tiring) and getting the worst sunburn I've had since I visited Mom in Chattanooga back in September, I decided to take a load off. I just sat down at a little street cafe in Braşov's main thoroughfare and started drinking beer, people watching, and writing in my journal. I decided to do a little stream-of-consciousness thing, just jotting down random thoughts and flash observations, and here they are (though I have edited out some random thoughts, mostly about cute girls and elaborated on a few so people reading this blog know what I am talking about):

A whole lot of girls with big tits here – [I saw] the first overt Neo-Nazi skinhead I have seen since I've been in Romania – [Braşov is] bigger than I expected, but much smaller than Bucharest – [there is] a better mix of young and old here than in the center of Bucharest – prices are noticeably cheaper [in Braşov] – white trash is everywhere: here is a very rough looking woman, wearing a green fluorescent tank-top, who is VERY pregnant lighting a cigarette – [there are] a lot more ugly women here than in Bucharest – a lot more people with tattoos – these quaint little medieval streets must really suck when it rains – I stand out here a little bit, but not like in Bucharest – I am one of four guys sitting by themselves at this cafe drinking beer, though I am he only one writing – there are a lot of German tourists here - a LOT of girls here with big tits – I just ignored a very well dressed guy begging for change – I have just seen the second Segway [the weird two-wheeled mechanized things you stand on and drive around] drive by – it is utterly impossible to guess the age of some of these girls/women – some sort of crazy person is walking down the street screaming “Hallelujah!” making weird noises and dancing around while ranting in Romanian like a lunatic, at least the US doesn't have a monopoly on this kind of thing – I have been, and still am, smoking way too much – [despite it being very hot] a group of Japanese tourists just went by and all of them were wearing heavy jackets, do they sweat or what? - a lot more fat people here than in Bucharest – a lot of people wearing British Premier League shirts & jerseys – quite a few American tourists too - ...

After having a few more beers, it was time to go. Anca had invited me to join her and some friends to go to an international film festival that was happening over the weekend. On this night there were two movies, the first was a Romanian one and the second was an Irish one. I missed the first one but made it the the second one (an Irish film about some musical project that brought Irish Traveler musicians to Mali to play a benefit for NGOs trying to save the Niger River). Along the way to the film festival I bumped into a couple friends from Bucharest, people who were at Goa Festival, which was a bit weird. As it turned out, Anca only stayed at the film festival through the first movie and then left, so we completely missed each other.

As you may know, I like to check out the Irish pub (or failing that, the English one) in whatever city I am in as the pub tends to be a little Western oasis in Eastern Europe where English is accepted, where you're likely to meet other English-speakers (both locals and foreigners) and probably football on television. There is always an Irish or English pub in any city of decent size. I found six (and I know there are more) in Bucharest, one in Constantia, one in Chisinau, and so on. Earlier in the day I passed by Braşov's Irish pub – Kilkenny's – but it was closed for renovation.

After leaving the film festival, I saw “The Auld Scots Pub” directly across the street (Str. Johan Goth, Nr. 2, - at the corner of Str. Johan Goth & Str. A. Hirscher - Braşov, Transilvania, Romania) and this place turned out to be great. Good food, reasonably priced beer, good music, football on the television, excellent service and a great mix of people. This is probably the best pub I have been to in Romania or Moldova. So I got some dinner and started drinking again.

In the process I met a very drunk Dutch guy who was on a mission to get much more drunk and then go clubbing. He had great English and since we were both out to get drunk, we joined forces. After having a few more at the pub, we tracked down where the biggest nightclub was and set off for it. In the process we met up with two South African Jewish guys who were also looking for a place to go, so they joined us as well. We went to a club called Caşo, which was obviously a major club - the place was huge and very well done - but for whatever reason, this night there were no people there. We spent a couple hours there, but finally I just got bored as the place was virtually empty and the only unattached girls were the paid stage dancers.

I left those people at the club and went back to Anca's house and spent the rest of the night hanging out with her, her sister, and three of their friends which was fun. We all finally went to bed at about 6:30 in the morning. It had been a long day.

I woke up at about 2:30 in the afternoon on the 16^th, like everyone else, but this pretty much ruined my original plan to go out to Bran Castle, the most famous of the “fake” Dracula castles in Romania. It is a real castle, but has nothing whatsoever to do with either Vlad Ţepeş (the real “Dracula”) or with Bram Stoker's novel. It was just marketed well. The Romanian courts just gave the castle to Dominic von Hapsburg, the heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary (a New York-based architect), but not the stuff inside the castle, so right now it is mostly a barren shell of a castle as the Romanian authorities have removed all the old stuff, but the Hapsburg hasn't put in any new stuff yet. Further, the castle is only open until 4:00 PM, so I would not have made it anyway. I still did a little more touring around, I found and photographed the synagogue and a few other odds and ends and then went back to the Scottish pub.

I started watching Premier League football (soccer) as a social thing; everyone in Europe loves football, so it gave me something to chat about at the bar. However, oddly enough – like hockey – I have become a real fan now. Although it became fairly obvious that Chelsea wouldn't win, I was still hoping that Liverpool would beat out Manchester United, as I REALLY don't like them at all. Anyway, on the 16th, I watched the Everton vs. West Ham. game at the pub and had a good time. Interestingly enough, unlike at the street cafe where I was the only one writing, at the pub I was one of three people sitting around writing.

After leaving the pub I went to an Internet cafe to make my arrangements for Sighişoara (next blog) and met up with Anca, Bogdan, Ileana and her boyfriend (I forget his name) and we went back to the film festival. On this day it was a very depressing German movie. On that evening (the 16th), the various museums were having an “open night” so I got to go inside the White Tower (which is allegedly haunted as this is both where the city fathers used to meet but also served as the town torture center for prisoners as well). We went around a bit and then went back to Anca's place. Since I was leaving the next morning, I had a couple beers with everyone and called it a night.

26 MARCH 2009: A prediction about the US economy

The other day I was asked:

"Shit keeps going down here. Nothing is getting better. Life is becoming miserable. I remember your predictions back in 2005. So what's your prediction for the next year or for America's future."

This is a topic that has come up many times, both here in Romania and from friends back in the states. I was going to write a little essay on the topic, discussing it all in better detail, but never got around to doing so. However, I rather liked my "quick" response to the question above and thought I'd share it on my blog. Feel free to comment or generally make fun of my ideas here... :)

My response to the question above:

"As for the economy, the mess is everywhere of course, but for most of the world it is just another normal recession, those that come and go every few years. However, for the U.S. this is a major “re-adjustment” and nothing will be the same afterwards as US has to get accustomed to living within its means; and those means aren't near as high as many Americans think, so it will be an unpleasant experience. The US has not seen the bottom of this yet, not even close.

In the private sector, the next bubble waiting to pop is the commercial real estate market, i.e. office buildings, store fronts, shopping and strip malls, &c. Before the crisis, more savvy investors didn't invest in residential real estate as investment property, but in commercial property, but they could not have seen how much of a mess the housing real estate would cause. So now that the economy has taken a dramatic downward turn, new businesses aren't starting, small businesses are going under, and large businesses are reducing their operations; meaning that there is no longer a market for all this commercial real estate that has been developed. Now the owners of the commercial real estate are having to pay their bank loans out of their own pockets which even wealthy people can't afford to do for too long. The hope is that the “stimulus” will lead to a bounce back for small and medium range business, BUT the banks still aren't lending for new start-ups and existing businesses are remaining very cautious, so this probably isn't going to pan out. The result: “pop” goes the next bubble which will launch a whole new spiral of action and reaction.

However, of far more importance to the overall global economy and to the US and its ability to maintain the empire is the currency situation. Basically the same Catch-22 that the US had to deal with in 2006, when they started the lowering the interest rate, is still in play now; but the stakes have gone up enormously. Essentially the US is broke, and has been for a long time, the country as a whole – from individual citizens to the Federal government – owe vastly more money then they can hope to make anytime soon. Therefore if the US wants to maintain the status quo or launch new initiatives that cost money, they have to borrow this money. For the government, this basically developed under Reagan & Bush I. What Clinton did to stave off disaster was adopt fiscally prudent measures: balancing the budget, reducing spending, and so on. This encouraged lenders – both domestic institutional investors and international investors – to continue lending. Baby Bush took advantage of this and shot it all to hell, borrowing vastly more than all US governments prior to his combined and essentially channeling all this money off to his friends: Halliburton, Bectel, &c. While this really pissed off the lenders, it also basically tied his successor's hands. The ONLY responsible option Obama had was to follow the Clinton model of financial responsibility in order to assuage the lenders.

Then came the collapse of the residential housing market (thanks to Bush's anti-regulation policies coupled with Republican deregulation in the Congress), the CDOs that bundled all the bad mortgages, and CDSs which insured the CDOs (re: AIG). The crisis meant that Obama had two choices; he could move to help mitigate the effects inside the US (his constituency) or he could move to placate the investors (which enable continued operations of the government and country). He chose to mitigate the domestic effects at the expense of the investors: the stimulus package, continuing Bush's policy of bailing out the banks and insurance companies (and even car companies, which makes no financial sense whatsoever) and so on. To do this, not only could he not follow the Clinton model of fiscal responsibility, quite the opposite, he had to act enormously irresponsible as far as the investors are concerned by following Bush's strategy of massive borrowing.

Well the investors have had it now. With the huge new flood of US Treasuries (gov't debt) being dumped on the market and with interest rates so low; US debt is not only no longer a safe store of value, it is in fact a losing investment because the yield doesn't even cover the natural inflation. To buy US Treasuries is now to throw away money and so people have stopped buying them. This is why you saw the Fed step in last week and buy $300 Billion in US Treasuries, because no one else wants them. However, the Fed by itself doesn't really have the money to do this, so where does it come from? The printing presses, i.e. increasing the money supply, inflation. This in turn devalues the dollar (the day the Fed announced it was buying the Treasuries, the dollar suffered one of its biggest single day drops in years). China and a UN working group in Brussels are already calling for dropping the dollar as the global reserve currency (i.e. the basis of the Bretton Woods II system and the ONLY reason the US has been allowed to live so far above its actual means).

The government still has essentially the same two choices it had before, but now the stakes have gone up dramatically. On the one hand the government can placate investors – both foreign and domestic – by significantly raising interest rates, thereby making the return on US Treasuries a worthy investment and encouraging a huge influx of foreign capital which then fuels the US economy and empowers the government. However, keep in mind that the entire US is also in debt, so increasing interest rates means that your mortgage, your car payment, your credit card bill, and all other debt payments will dramatically increase as well; inevitably resulting in a lot of domestic turmoil (bankruptcies, unemployment, homelessness) and thus political pressure which will lead to Congress (even if there is a Democratic majority) turning against the White House and demanding lower interest rates and probably getting them. [This is basically what Reagan did in 1982, increasing the interest rate and decreasing the money supply, and though it worked, it caused an enormous amount of suffering for poorer Americans; but the situation is VERY different today and the results would be much more dramatic.]

On the other hand, the government can keep interest rates low to placate the American public, but this means that the foreign investors will simply dump the US. The US loses its status as sovereign over the global reserve currency (a fundamental pillar of the empire), it loses its global financial clout and all that entails, and most importantly the government runs out of money. However governments always have an answer to this, specifically they can print more money, i.e. increase the money supply. Since all US debt is denominated in US dollars, inflation would actually be helpful as by decreasing the value of the dollar you decrease the real value of the dollar denominated debt. This is the option I think they will choose.

The “spark” to really get this trend moving will be a recovery in some other relatively stable market somewhere in the world that looks desirable to investors. The one thing that has somewhat held this process in check is that US Treasuries still have the reputation of being a relatively safe “refuge” in times of financial uncertainty. Institutional investors, looking for a “safe” place to put their money – even if there isn't much of a return – still view US Treasuries as such a place. Anyone following the recent Treasuries auctions will notice that virtually all the purchases (excluding the Chinese who have ulterior motives) are now in extremely short-term instruments; which is why the Fed had to step in to purchase allegedly “benchmark” ten year notes. No one wants their money locked into dollars for very long.

It is important to note that I am NOT predicting hyper-inflation, like Zimbabwe or the Weimar Republic. The US dollar will always be worth something but it will have to adjust from the being the world's primary reserve currency to just one more benchmark currency, like the Euro, the Pound, the Yen, the yuan, &c. Nevertheless, assuming they do not significantly raise interest rates, it is virtually inevitable that there will be a global “dollar dump” whereby many of the excess dollars held in reserve banks around the world will be dropped (not all, as the dollar will remain one element within a basket of currencies) which will couple with the Fed's increased money production leading to strong inflationary pressure. Nevertheless, the Fed can remove money from the money supply as well, so while I think inflation at somewhere between ten to twenty percent is a given (think of 1979 for example), hyper-inflation isn't in the cards anytime soon.

One big difference domestically between the coming inflation and the last time the US had inflation in this range (the late 1970's) is that today most of America's manufacturing base is gone and virtually everything except food is imported. This reality means that dollar devaluation will have a direct domestic effect in that the cost of most imported goods will rise (the exception being industries that are strictly denominated in dollars, commercial aircraft and many military industries for example). Nevertheless, dramatic price increases within the US for many goods will again lead to domestic political pressure, though probably not on the same level as increasing the rates of debt servicing mentioned previously.

So either way, the US is going to be facing quite a rough patch for the next few years the worst of which has not hit yet and will have to adjust to living somewhat closer to its actual means. This will inevitably be a painful process.

Well, you asked... :)"

24 MARCH 2009: Yet another new plan...

I know it has been a little while since I last posted anything here, but to be honest, not a lot has changed. Essentially I spend half my time out partying with people and drunk and the other half thinking about the fact that I am spending too much time partying and drunk. All the while making no money whatsoever; so obviously this situation is completely unsustainable.

In my last post I suggested that I might go to the UK – where I know the language – and give some of my entrepreneurial ideas a go there. Realistically though this is a horrible idea just because everything is so much more expensive there. Even living like a total bum in the middle of nowhere (an idea I loathe, knowing how little care for the idea of living in the country or small towns), the money just wouldn't go very far at all. This means I would have to work something out extremely quick; and while this is possible, it would also be a big gamble.

Instead I have opted to take an alternative route, one that I have been thinking about since long before I left the States. That is, to get a British Council recognized TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) International Diploma. Denver actually had one of the few language schools in the States offering the CELTA (the Cambridge University TEFL) and I got all the information and all. However, they didn't have courses that worked with my schedule (leaving the US at the end of August 2008) so I opted not to get the certification as this would have caused a major – and costly – delay in my primary plan. Once I got to Europe, I would think about it now and then, but was having too much fun on my extremely protracted holiday to be bothered (bear in mind, I haven't worked since July 31, 2008).

Anyway, I have now decided it is time to get this done. I still have the money and have found an extremely reputable school in the Czech Republic that is offering a class cycle I can work with. Further, they offer extensive job placement assistance (currently all of their graduates are employed), university recognition (i.e. their courses are recognized as credits towards further education in a myriad of universities around the world), Czech (therefore EU) & Chinese government recognition, and can provide work permits for graduates teaching in the Czech Republic or Slovakia (both EU member states). It will cost me a decent amount of money, but not enough to sink me yet and opens up an entirely new range of opportunities. [Yes, I know that theoretically you can get TEFL jobs without proper certification, but this is very difficult in Europe and to be honest, despite having a decent grasp of the language, I don't really know anything about teaching it to others.]

Today I paid my initial deposit (a fair amount of money in its own right), so I am pretty much “locked in” to this option now. This is probably a good thing since I have had a bitch of a time making up my mind about any possible option up until now; total freedom to go in any direction can be quite daunting. I'll have a lot of online work to do before hand, but the actual classes (and thus my relocation) begin in May and end in June. By all accounts it is a very intensive process, so I'll have to get myself back into the mindset of having some sort of daily structure and the like.

To be honest, it feels nice to have finally made a decision and locked myself into it; I actually have some idea where I will be and what I will be doing in a couple of months. Frankly I'm pretty confident that I can be a decent English teacher for people wanting to learn the language.

Of course this means I still have have about a month and a half of free time. I suspect I'll stay here in Bucharest, but now that it is getting warm I'll probably spend more time exploring around the rest of the country, and probably Moldova and Ukraine as well. Further, I can still work on my other little business ideas and perhaps I'll work something out that I can do on the side. Otherwise, I can still live here without going through too much money until it is time to go to the Czech Republic.

So there it is, my new plan and one that it will cost me a lot of money to get out of at this point.

Otherwise, there isn't a whole lot more to report. I've still been going out a LOT and exploring Bucharest in much greater detail. The other night I was hanging out with some of my Romanian friends for St. Patrick's Day and it seems I know more about cool little places to go than even many people who live here now; at least here in the center of the city. I am, in fact, getting know the city very well and still like it a lot. :)

As for further travel, I think the next place on the list will be Braşov and Sighişoara. We'll see.

10 MARCH 2009: My belated blog about Ireland, London & plans...

First, a quick excuse for the delay in posting this blog. Once I got back from London, it was time to help my friend here move his hostel two blocks down B-dul Regina Elisabeta. This took a couple of days and seriously highlighted what bad shape I am in. After this I took a couple of days to just be drunk and irresponsible, thus the delay.

Anyway, my original intention was to go visit Paul, Diatou, and the kids for a couple of weeks, change passports, and then come back here. However, by the time I was ready to leave this had changed to visiting the family for about a week, taking a cheap flight to where ever, spending a week there, and then coming back here.

As it turned out, Diatou and the kids went to Sweden and Paul made arrangements with some of his friends to go to London about a week after my arrival. So after getting stuck in Dublin for a night I stayed with Paul for a few days, took care of the things I needed to do there and then we were off to London.

Thanks to the collapse of the British Pound, London was a bit cheaper than it was the last time I was there - again with Paul - about three years ago. Nevertheless, London being one of the world's great cities was still pretty expensive for someone accustomed to Bucharest prices.

The first night in London involved Paul, three of his friends from work (all of whom were decent company) and myself. Being that it was a Wednesday night, many of the clubs were either not open or were closing early. Instead of the original idea of hitting the SoHo clubs, we ended up in Piccadilly Circus and after checking out one other club we ended up in "Metra," the same club Paul and I went to last time.

At this place, Paul and his mates did not hook up at all and I only hooked up with an unattractive girl (but she was unique in that she was the only deaf girl I have ever picked up and made out with). Not surprisingly, everyone decided to leave soon enough.

The problem was that most places weren't too keen on letting in a group of five guys. So after wondering about a bit and getting turned away from a couple of places, Paul's friends decided we should go to a strip club; the one place that stays open all night and welcomes groups of guys with money in their pockets.

So off to the strip club we went. What was readily apparent was that it was a slow night at the club. When we walked in there was all of two other guys in the place and literally 40 strippers looking to make some cash. So they swarmed us in a way that would be hard to describe in a blog. There was some sort of rule where they were not allowed to sit with us until we ordered drinks. After some deliberation we bought a grossly overpriced bottle of vodka and the second the bottle touched the table we each had at least two strippers on our laps and the night began.

To give credit where credit is due, these girls did their job very well; we all went away feeling good and with empty pockets. I met a couple Romanian girls there who were in London to make some money, but I only bought personal dances from an American and a British girl. Everyone had their preferences and went away happy.

After leaving the club we bought some more liquor and went back to the hotel. The plan was to stay awake through the night as Paul and his friends had an agenda (shopping in the now cheap London) and then a fairly early flight. As it turned out, I was the only one to stay awake (thanks to ephedrine). The next morning we went to my hostel (as I was staying in London for two more nights) to drop off my stuff and went to some shithole for breakfast.

Paul and friends went to go take care of their shopping, but I was exhausted and went back to my hostel. The idea was to sleep for a while and then go back out on Thursday night. But I couldn't do it. After showering and laying for about an hour unable to sleep (thanks to ephedrine), I got back up and decided to go explore London, doing all the touristy (see all the photos) that I never got around to doing previously.

In the process I also walked into and temporarily joined a Tamil protest against the Sri Lankan government (a very just cause) and came across two separate groups of pro-Palestinian activists (I donated a few Pounds & picked up some literature). I also stumbled across the Socialist Bookshop, where I bought a couple small booklets about post-Trotsky Trotskyism (a current interest of mine).

After a long day of walking around London on zero sleep I was completely exhausted and slept for 14 hours. Once I got up and ready I spent a bit more time exploring (and photographing) London and went back. The hostel was connected to a bar (Belushi's) and I ended up drinking all night with the hostel people and hooking up with a cute - but weird - Dutch girl. Only getting a bit of sleep, soon it was time to head back to Bucharest.

As noted previously, after getting back it was time to help my friend move his business and I have done very little since. Now I am getting back to work.

The fact is that I am still not making money and this is getting to be a problem. I am not broke or desperate yet, but my current lifestyle is completely unsustainable. The primary problem - the primary stumbling block I keep running into at every turn - here in Romania is the language barrier. Every idea I have to make money ultimately comes down to being literate and fluent in Romanian and I am VERY far from being either. There are ways around this of course, like having a reliable Romanian partner, but this hasn't really worked out to my satisfaction.

I have not completely given up, in fact I intend to really throw myself into what ideas and opportunities I do have right now. However, if I don't have something relatively tangible going by the first week of April, I think I am going to make a radical change.

My money is still in Euros and now that that British currency has collapsed the UK is no longer cost prohibitive for me. More importantly, I know the language and can make my own arrangements with no middlemen, translations, or multi-lingual interpretations required. All said, getting legal residency in Romania isn't much easier than doing it in the UK (both are very difficult), but at least there I can function without the language barrier and with a bit more cultural insight. Further, I get more time on a single visa - six months instead of three - per visit per passport. If I am going to be illegal and operating through a domestic company to handle all my affairs - my plan here - I can do this in the UK as well, and with less difficulty. London, of course, is still way too expensive but the UK is a big place and I suspect the money will go far enough in Scotland or Wales for me to start generating some independently.

With the collapse of the British currency and the incontestable fact that the recession there still has some way to go before it bottoms out; the UK might be a better bet. Especially since I will be able to directly make my own arrangements with people without stumbling over every word and its effective meaning. If I can actually talk to people, understand what they say (and mean) in response, and can read & write the legal language, I think I stand a much better chance of being successful.

So, though I haven't given up on this place yet - and yes, I still love Romania - I do think if I don't have better prospects by the end of this month I am going to try the UK. The money won't go as far, but hopefully far enough for me to set up alternative revenue streams. We'll See.

11 FEB 2009: Art Openings, Melotron, & Chişinău

It has been a little while since my last blog and I have received a few little notes asking what I've been up to, so here goes...

... the quick answer being, not much. My overall situation is still pretty much the same as it was the last time I blogged. After a couple weeks back in the hostel, I moved in with the owner for a few days and now I have a new single room near Amzei. The new place is a vast improvement over my previous single room: the price is reasonable, I have full internet access 24/7, it is clean and
centrally located.

I am still not actually making any money, but this is mostly my own fault as I've been being lazy and irresponsible. My two little side projects for making some money online are still in the works, however the best opportunity on the table right now is going into the hostel business up north in Braşov. In that this is essentially an extension of a pre-existing successful business it should work out okay. This will be me, another American guy, and two Romanian guys, including the owner of the hostel in Bucharest. There is a lot to do here, but we're all leaving Bucharest until the start of March, so this is when we'll get to work on this in earnest.

The scheme to get long-term residency here didn't work out and although there are options available, they will cost money. In the interim (between now and making enough money to take care of things better) however, I have worked out an alternative scheme that should allow me to stay here legally without having a problem.

Otherwise, I've just been going out a lot, drinking, and leading a grossly irresponsible lifestyle. I am still pretty much in holiday/vacation mode, but that should ending once I get back here at the start of March. I'm still doing the Goa thing as well and have been hooking up with some very good stuff to go with that, so obviously I'm still happy.

The other day I went to an art opening for Paul Radulescu - http://www.paulradulescu.net/ - with a German girl that was staying at the hostel. This is the second opening I've attended since I came here, the first being a photography exhibit about the street kids here in Bucharest with a
group of French girls, also from the hostel.

I also went to my first concert here in Bucharest, Melotron - http://www.melotron.de/ - who I have been a fan of for some time. Going to the venue early to get tickets – my American friend here also went – I got to meet the band which was very cool. Apparently they were supposed to play in Denver back in December but were unable to get the proper visas, so we joked about me having to fly all the way to Romania to get to see them. In the same vein, I'll be going to a similar show on February
14, DarkFest Romania:

Obviously, contrary to my earlier comments, I found the Bucharest Goth/EBM scene: http://www.lux-noctis.ro

Last Wednesday, my friend Calin and I decided to go visit Chişinău, Moldova and stayed until Saturday. We took a thirteen hour sleeper train going there which turned out to be a lot of fun. Calin met a Moldovan friend of his on the same train (an actor and fellow Goa enthusiast) and we ended up drinking all night in the restaurant/bar car. We also met a few other people who hung out as well, including a couple Dutch guys who were staying in the same hostel that we were. We arrived early in the morning and went and dropped our stuff off at the hostel and walked around a bit.

Despite the impression that Moldova is just a detached part of Romania, in reality it is a VERY different place. Moldova was, of course, a constituent republic of the old Soviet Union and this is very apparent. Virtually everyone there still speaks Russian – though most have at least some Romanian as well – and the whole feel of the place is different. The people are more direct, but usually in a friendly way, and the women are absolutely stunning.

Calin and the two dutch guys were mostly just about clubbing, so this is mostly what we did. After walking around the center a bit and getting a meal, we went back to the hostel and took a nap. It was hard to sleep on the train as we crossed the border at about 4:00 in the morning and had to endure two passport inspections (Romania on the way out, Moldova on the way in) and all the racket of changing the wheel carriages on the train, since the Soviet rail lines are wider than the European ones (a measure taken to upset European invaders).

The first night we went to a club spinning retro – half western, half eastern – which was great. The Moldovans party better than the Romanians in Bucharest. I personally didn't do very well with the women – entirely my own fault – but had a lot of fun anyway. I left earlier than the others went to sleep earlier. This allowed me to wake up earlier and set out on my own to explore more of the city. Clubbing is fine and all, but when visiting a new city in a new country I do actually want to see more than just the night clubs. The day was lovely and I spent several hours just wondering around checking out the place, this is where the photos came from. I did get stopped by a cop – all decked out in very Soviet looking gear – but he was just bumming a cigarette from me, so nothing to worry about. According to Lonely Planet, the cops there still extort bribes from people there often – especially drivers - but luckily that wasn't the case.

After going back and taking a nap, it was time to go back out again. I hooked up with Calin and the Dutch guys and we went to the Irish pub in Chişinău for dinner. While there we ended up bumping into a large group of Americans, mostly Peace Corp volunteers, which was about the only other foreigners we met there. After which it was back out to the clubs. the second club wasn't as good as the first one, but it was still pretty good, I met a few girls and had a pretty good time.

The next morning we all left, this time taking a 10 hour minibus ride back to Bucharest. The bus was both quicker and cheaper, but the train was much more comfortable. I DEFINITLY intend to go back to Chişinău, though next time I am going to try to go via CouchSurfing, so I can meet more local people and hopefully get to see more of the city.

Anyway, my future plans have changed a little bit. Instead of going to Dohab in the Sinai (Egypt) I am now going directly back to Ireland on Feb. 17 to visit Paul & Diatou and take care of some things I need to do there. I'll probably only visit for about a week and then I'll just fly to where ever is cheap for about a week and then it is back to Bucharest and getting to work.

So far, so good!

It was a gray and rainy day...

[Now that ranks right up there with “A dark and stormy night...”] ... when my friend Daniel and I decided to go visit Constanta on the Black Sea coast. For a history buff, Constanta is great: as the Greek city of Tomis, Jason and the Argonauts fled here and it is here where Augustus exiled Ovid (where he eventually died, his tomb being on a small island off the coast that we didn't visit) after the conspiracy was discovered. Later, Emperor Constantine rebuilt and heavily fortified the city as part of the external defense of his new city of Constantinople, renaming it after his sister, thus “Constanta.”

We took the bus from Bucharest which was a fairly bleak experience. Think of the-middle-of-nowhere Kansas or Nebraska in the winter: flat, gray, fallow fields as far as the eye can see only occasionally broken up by the sight of a patch of trees, a grain silo, or some high-tension power lines. Luckily though, the trip only took about three hours, so it wasn't quite as bad as driving through Kansas.

When we arrived we only had about three to four hours of sunlight left and I was on a mission to see what I could before it got dark. So from the bus station we walked directly down the B-dul Ferdinand to the Black Sea and then spent the rest of daylight exploring the old quarter of the city. I particularly liked the monument to Ovid and the mosque (the largest mosque in Romania and the seat of the Mufti of Romania). Like Bucharest, it was an odd and eclectic mix of old and new, interspersed with the ubiquitous Stalinist housing blocks.

One thing that struck me as odd about it was the lack of development. The coast to both the north and south of Constanta is dominated by large beach resorts which are booming non-stop during the summer and have been the beneficiaries of a LOT of western investment. Constanta is the primary transit link to all these resorts, so one would think that the city center would reflect this. However, in the old quarter at least, there are many derelict buildings (even right on the sea side), the side walks are horrible (I mean really horrible, to the point of being dangerous), and there was a general sense of neglect. Odder still, several of the derelict buildings are formidable structures that were obviously not built later than the 1960s and probably even later; so they weren't just ancient wrecks. A friend had asked me to look into investment opportunities on the coast and I responded by saying that this wasn't likely since so much western investment had already flooded into the area, but apparently this money mostly went to the resorts and not so much to the city; so it would seem I was wrong, there probably is a lot of room for investment within Constanta itself.

My friend Daniel, not being a history buff and being a great lover of Italy (which has a better climate in January and greater antiquity as it never fell into the hands of Stalinist urban planners) was not particularly impressed and was probably a bit annoyed at me running around everywhere. The highlight for him was a walk we took along the beach.

As it began to get dark we stopped at a sport bar/restaurant called “Champs” and had a few pints and then made a mad dash to the bus station where we caught the return bus at the very last possible moment.

One of the problems Romania has is with stray dogs. Ceausescu's forced urbanization efforts resulted in thousands of dogs – originally pets and guard dogs – being abandoned and now they are everywhere. In the center of Bucharest they have put forth a conscious effort to get rid of many of these dogs, but elsewhere – including near Gara du Nord, the main train station, where I have been staying – packs of wild dogs are all over the place. These strays are completely wild, and this time of year are cold and hungry (therefore a bit touchy), and they do bite people. The most famous story is of a Japanese man who was bitten getting off a bus and somehow the dog got an important artery and the man died. While that obviously isn't common, getting bitten by these dogs apparently is, especially late at night in the little side alleys.

About a week ago, I was stumbling home about half drunk from the bar at about 3:00 AM and going through a little side alley that is a short cut to the place I was staying and ran into a pack of dogs. They all started barking and growling and bearing their teeth, i.e. they were getting ready to bite me. Not knowing what else to do, I just started growling back at them as I walked and this seemed to work; they backed off though they continued surrounding me and barking. I made it back safe and sound. During our walk along the beach in Constanta, we also ran into a pack of wild dogs that started barking and the like, but these seemed less aggressive than the ones I bumped into in the alley way, they seemed more surprised to see us than angry about it. Daniel saw my hesitation once we were surrounded by the dogs (memories of my earlier experience still fresh) and didn't know what to make of it until I explained (and no, I didn't growl at them this second time).

Anyway, I enjoyed Constanta and intend to go back sometime to visit the museums and Greco-Roman ruins more comprehensively.

In other news, my initial Ebay scheme didn't work out very well, but that is okay; I'll try to work it out. In the meantime, I have a new scheme that should cover my day-to-day expenses well enough and will hopefully have that in place quickly. For the overall business and resettlement planning, I have not made a lot of headway largely because this room I am at doesn't have internet and this is vital for almost everything I need to do here. Therefore, in part to save money and in part because there is constant internet access, I am going to move back to the hostel I was staying at before I got this room. Not to mention I am friends with the owner of the hostel and if I have to spend money on housing I would rather it go to someone I know and like than to others. There is the possibility of getting a room with a couple friends here, but that is just a possibility and in the meantime, I think the hostel would be more conductive to getting things done. If nothing else, the hostel is closer to the center so there is less of a chance of dog attack as I stumble around through dark alleys in the dark and drunk. :)

If you look online you can see that it has been quite cold here recently, but what is odd is that I think my reaction to this was at least in part just psychological. When it first got cold, I was quite miserable with it, however the other day I looked online at the temperatures in Denver and it was even colder there (lower highs and lower lows), meaning even if I had stayed at home I still would be in the same cold. After making this discovery the cold here didn't seem so bad and hasn't ever since. Go figure. I suspect it has something to do with my own preconceived notions; when I think of Eastern Europe, I think it must be absurdly cold in winter (and it is further north, look at Kiev or Moscow) and this preconceived idea made the cold here seem worse than it really was. Therefore once I put it in context, it didn't seem as bad.

The gear that I bought, mostly in Ireland, before setting out has also been quite good, money well spent. The boots are brilliant and although the rain pants and sailing coat lack insulation, they are waterproof and warm up quickly as an outer layer, so it hasn't been too bad. What sucks is that I have this constant backpacker look instead of being my usual reasonably well dressed self. It was worse in Italy where everyone was very stylish, but even here most people are reasonably well dressed as well – especially the women – so I hate having the whole backpacker look all the time. However, until I stabilize my financial situation and start generating at least some income, I can't really go buying clothes (even harder since I know I have two large chests of decent clothes sitting in Ireland waiting for me).

As of right now, and knowing this could change at anytime, the basic plan is to stay here through mid to late February (leaving a little leeway on my 90 day limit), then go someplace very warm and cheap where I can defrost for about a week. I am thinking that would like to visit Sharm el-Shaykh in the Sinai or maybe northern Lebanon. After this, I intend to go visit Paul & Diatou in Ireland for a couple weeks (I do miss them, and good Senegalese spicy rice, there is nothing hot & spicy here at all) and then either head to Chisinau, Moldova – where I can stay in a Romanian-speaking environment – or to Turkey until it is good for me return to Romania. It also seems that some good friends from the States might be going to Oslo in July and I still want to go and visit Svalbard which involves catching a flight from Oslo, so I may be there briefly in the summer. There is also the possibility that once I leave here I may go and volunteer in Palestine; I've already asked a couple people about volunteer opportunities and it seems there are plenty but this is a more remote possibility.

Despite wild dogs, an overpriced room, and worries over making some money; I still like Bucharest a lot and am still convinced this is the right place to be to get my EU residency. Even with bad days I still wake up in the morning without thinking there is any place I'd rather be and as I poke my head out the window of my little room to smoke a cigarette occasionally I still have the thought: “I am in fucking Bucharest and this is cool!”

Salaam – Peace – Shalom, John in Bucharest

P.S. If you have the opportunity, please post a comment online, donate a few dollars to UNRWA, say a prayer, or do something on behalf of the people being mass murdered in Gaza.

A few comments about Bucureşti

It has been a while since I posted a blog, so I think it is time to share a few more observations about the city that I've been in for about a month now.

First and foremost, keep in mind that these are just my observations and that my experience here is very limited. To date, I've only been in Bucharest, no where else in the country; though after New Years I want to go up to Brasov. Further, the people I have been associating with are no, by any definition, your "average" Romanians. Basically the people I've primarily associated fall into three general groups: young, university-educated Romanians that I met through CouchSurfing; people I met through the hostel I was at that include many other foreigners and a few well-traveled and worldly Romanians; and the people I met at the British/Irish expat bars, most of whom are older, professional and view Romanian society from a strictly outsider perspective (and a few Romanians who happen to like associating with this crowd). So obviously my observations are bound to be biased and grossly incomplete.

When I first got here, it was just before National Day, December 1, (think of our July 4) so my initial impression was of national flags hanging from every open place and serious nationalism. Though this initial impression was mistaken, being just a matter of my timing, most Romanians do seem fairly nationalist in outlook. This does not seem to translate into anti-foreign sentiment – in fact most Romanians I've met seem happy when Westerners at least take an active interest in their country and culture – but finds expression in a general disdain for national minorities (the Hungarians in the north that refuse to learn Romanian & the Gypsies especially). I've never been to the north and know nothing about the Hungarians. As for the Gypsies, I firmly reject the notion that everyone that belongs to a particular group must by definition be the same; nevertheless I do grant that I can understand the anti-Gypsy sentiment. This is just because at least here in Bucharest the only Gypsies you see are the beggars, prostitutes, pimps, and con men that are undeniably out to rip you off one way or another. In a way it almost makes me want to volunteer with one of the NGOs that work with the Roma (the proper name for the Gypsy people) just to see how "the other half" of this community lives. All of this notwithstanding, realistically I avoid the Gypsies on the street just as vigorously as most Romanians do.

Romanians here tend to take a lot of pride in their country and its accomplishments and like to show foreigners the highlights; but at the same time they are by far the harshest critics of the place. If you were to just listen to Romanians talk about the city of Bucharest in particular, you would think it was the worst place in the world; but realistically none of the problems they point out are unique to here and Bucharest certainly isn't as bad a place as say Mexico City or even Detroit. In a way I suspect this harsh criticism is almost preemptive: "I know you are going to be critical, so I'll be more critical before you can say a word; that way we don't have to talk about it." Fair enough, but it also gets somewhat oppressive after a while; as far as I can tell (and again, perhaps I am horribly wrong here) the place just isn't that bad. The actual problems cited – government corruption, bad contractors never getting anything done, the infrastructure being too weak to support the population, crazy traffic, taxi drivers out to rip you off, and so on – just are not unique to Bucharest at all. Perhaps in some instances the problems are more pronounced here than in many others places, but not unique.

By EU standards, the country is still quite poor and the average wage is something like €200.00 per month. Further there is a very clear wealth divide between the "haves" and "have nots" with only a limited middle class. The country has fallen prey to a lot of Western speculators, which has only undermined over all confidence in Romania's ability to function within the EU framework. There is also a quite understandable (in view of historical circumstances) lack of a solid "work ethic." By this I don't mean to suggest that they are lazy or anything like this, it is just they don't seem to have much appreciation for many work-related matters that are simply absolute necessities in many Western places: showing up to work on time (or at all), actually getting the job done, the idea of customer service as a device for keeping your business (and thus your job) up and running against the competition, and so on. In view of the Stalinist past here – which isn't all that long ago – all of this is understandable and I also think it will all fade away as all these young, university-educated young people take over the place in the next decade or so.

Despite the very real problems, I am also very optimistic about how things will improve here.

In the near term, I think the global recession and chaos in the financial markets will help Romania. Since much of the financial sector here is dominated by foreign institutions, many of the domestic institutions weren't really tied into the financial mess in the West and are in reasonable shape. In the West, the big money is now looking for places to invest in tangibles since the financial markets are inevitably going to be extremely volatile for some time to come and Romania (with its EU membership) looks like a good option in many respects. Further, much of the "brain drain" Romania suffered – its best and brightest fleeing abroad for higher wages – is likely to reverse now that times are tough (and getting tougher) in the West and they have the option of returning home with their Western money in hand and doing very well for themselves here. Finally, the EU has made it clear that it will be investing a lot here – especially in infrastructure and governance (think anti-corruption & best practices) – to get the place up to standard by the time Romania is scheduled to fully integrate into the Schengen Zone in 2011. In fact, i know from the expat places the EU is already doing this and a lot more will be coming. Look at the wonders the EU did for Ireland; Romania is on the short list to be the next major beneficiary.

In the long term, people here really want things to improve and these young university graduates – most of whom are presently under 24 or so – are the ones who are going to make this happen. They were born and raised in the post-Stalinist era, they take seriously the notion that they can accomplish whatever they want, and in a way it almost seems like they want to show their parents that another world is indeed possible, at least here. There is a degree of energy and enthusiasm about these kids that I just don't see in the States or elsewhere and I think this will pay off in the end. They're still 20 years off taking over the place, but I think they're changing it already and I think they'll continue to do so.

So where do I fit into all of this? Frankly, at this point I don't. Nevertheless I am optimistic about the future of this place and honestly believe that the country is just too populous, too large, and too important within the framework of the EU to fail; and rest assured almost every Romanian will laugh in your face if you say this to them BUT seem to like to hear it anyway. I see – perhaps foolishly – Bucharest as an ocean of energy and vibrancy, my goal is to catch a wave on it that I can ride through getting my legal EU permanent residency. Unlike places in the West, there is still a lot of opportunity for the creative entrepreneur here, many niches that haven't been filled. I am exploring these niches to see what, if anything I can do.

Perhaps everything I wrote here is completely wrong and I'll take it all back at some point in the future, but this is how I see things here now.