Romania revisited

I wrote this article in the first week of september. My editor asked me to write down my first impressions. Well, here they are. To be published in the Brasov Visitor ( www.brasov-visitor.ro )

When do you know you are in Romania? Obviously there are numerous answers on this question, but one of them might be found in the following scene.

The coach coming from Amsterdam and heading for Bucureşti makes a stop at the coach-station in Lugoj. 10 minutes break. After 20 minutes the bus-driver asks whether everyone is on board. “Da!” All passengers are delighted to join this game. It has been played throughout the whole journey and it’s getting better every time. This time however one person has to be the spoilsport. “Nu!” “Nu?” A fierce discussion between all the passengers sets in. “Somebody was sitting here.” “Are you sure?” “I haven’t seen anyone.” “I did, but I think that man just had to leave in Lugoj.” “I say, we are waiting now for 10 minutes, why don’t we just leave.” “Yes, but that man, we can’t just leave him behind…” “Pff, bad luck, it’s his own fault.” By this time the second bus-driver joins in. “Ok, which joker told us somebody is missing?” “I’m sure, that….” “Was it an old man, wearing a blue shirt?” “Yes, that’s him!” “Are you still sleeping?! That man did get off in Arad.” “…” The coach is being filled with laughter and is ready for departure now. Suddenly a man is running from the toilets towards the bus. It’s the third bus-driver. “ You see, I was right, somebody was missing, the bus-driver!”

Is it possible to have a first impression when you have been in a country on previous occasions? Of course not, if you define a first impression of Romania as ‘nice medieval towns’, ‘communist blocks’, ‘gypsies’, and ‘horse and cart’. But every time one gets the chance to look behind the beaten tracks, every time there’s an opportunity to have a closer look on society, can be regarded as a new discovery, a new ‘first impression’. Brasov is a city full of history; it wears both the jewels as well as the scars of it. It has the beauty of its natural surroundings, the presence of Tampa Hill, but above all it’s as well just a ‘normal’ city, where people go out to work, children have their small conflicts while playing soccer, and where old men are playing backgammon in the park. Where the rumors and the gossips of the neighborhood are the backbone of daily life, and where passers-by can burst into a heated discussion amongst each other.

Second example, same coach. Brasov is coming closer and we’re surrounded by the Transylvanian hills. A man starts talking to me. "Are you Dutch? Me too. But I was born in Romania. This is my country, and I love it. Why is everybody telling me that it’s backward? Unlike in the West, people here are still able to have real emotions." At the next stop - 30 minutes this time - we confirm our newfound friendship with a beer and some mici (sausages made of minced meat and lots of garlic). With some genuine manele (Romanian popular music, you know it when you hear it) on the background of course.

This is not my first time in Romania, nor my second and not even my third. And every time I visit the country, it still manages to surprise me. A few years ago I was touched by the charm of hospitality in the countryside of Maramures, I found it in Cluj and in Oradea, there was even a spark of it in Bucureşti and it revived upon my arrival in Brasov. I finally have to admit that I missed the taste of branza (cheese) in the morning. The first sip of homemade wine brings back memories and as soon as the family photo-album is taken from the cupboard I feel at home again.

Every visit to Romania is different, obviously. As a country in ‘transition’ (I don’t like the word ‘transition’. It implies that a country will be ‘finished’ one day.) it has a great deal of dynamics. Just as Brasov is a ‘normal’ city, Romania is quite a ‘normal’ country. With al its peculiarities, both ‘good’ (or even extraordinary) and ‘bad’. With every visit, you’ll get used to some of them, or you discover new ones. And the ones you’ll never get used you, you start calling ‘typical Romanian’.