[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.
