Category: Inside Romania

If you travel through Romanian villages, sometimes you come across small huts, crudely whitewashed, which may seem abandoned, but which are still homes to the elders of the village. Many times they have no children or grandchildren to rely on, but they do have plenty of stories. In such an area, close to the town of Onesti, in eastern Romania, no less than 196 houses were consumed by fire last year, and in half of those cases the cause was clogged chimneys that were neglected. Considering the situation, two associations, Zi de bine and SufletESTI had an initiative to sweep chimneys and provide firewood to homes of elderly people in remote villages, under the slogan The Hearth Kept Warm.

Claudia Udrescu, from the communication team with the Zi de bine Association, told us about it:

“ The Hearth Kept Warm is the project we started in December, and the name leads you to think of your grandparents, because we are taking care of 31 grandparents in villages around Onesti. As part of the project, we are sweeping and securing chimneys from their homes, who have almost no help from anyone, after which we provide them with firewood, to help them weather this winter, which will be cold, as usual. Also, right now we are in full economic crisis and a firewood crisis. After which we return after about two weeks to bring them some food, because they need to have some reserves in their pantry for this complicated winter.”

When thinking of their countryside grandparents, people remember the gentle people who told them stories to tuck them in, at the light shed by the flames in the hearth. For many adults nowadays, their grandparents home means a house with a porch, with rose bushes, a dog, and a warm hearth. Time has passed, and some things have changed. What is left, though, are the old people still in those homes, waiting for someone to step in and help. Here is what Claudia Udrescu said:

“ The Hearth Kept Warm is a project we started with Mihai Zarzu. Mihai is the man who is at the core of the SufletESTI Association. Last year, Mihai started sweeping the chimneys of elderly people, the grandparents that he got to know through other actions. He started doing this because in the countryside we have many fires which are unfortunately caused by improperly swept chimneys, or defective ones. So this year we joined his association and a team of real chimney sweeps. It was great watching them in action in the field. We made a promise to sweep chimneys and provide firewood to help them through the winter, and to help them avoid chimney caused fires. The number of these fires has been on the rise, unfortunately. The problem here is that people are poor, and they put in the hearth and light on fire all kinds of refuse. We have a vicious circle, because then the chimneys get clogged, and the danger of fires is highest during the night, when people huddle at home to get warm.”

Winters are heavy in this area, and the sky is often very clear and full of stars, the sign that what follows would be a deep freeze. Claudia Udrescu told us:

“The grandparents we reach out to with this project have different life stories, have a pension or not, often they have very small pensions, about 1,000 lei per month, what is a farming pension, because they used to work in communist cooperatives. Some did not work, they just grew their own food. They either dont have children, or they have children who live far away, each has their own life stories, and all are living their old years with a lot of dignity.”

The plan is to provide the elderly with firewood to last them a year. We found that the oldest grandma aided by the good people at the two associations this month has already turned 93. The volunteers want these aging people to feel warmth, love, and gratitude, although they are not their direct relatives, as Claudia Udrescu told us:

“These people from a few villages in Moldavia that we are telling you about, that we take care of as part of the The Hearth Kept Warm project, remind us of our grandparents, because many of us are already at the age when we have none left. In this way, we are making them our grandparents, even if they are not. We invite everyone to join us in this campaign, you can find all the details on the website bine.ro, and we would be very grateful. We just want to have healthy grandparents next year too. We want them to light their hearth fires in safety, and to get through the winter healthy.”

If your birthday falls in December, you can actually donate it to this project. If not, you can still help, donating directly on the web page zidebine.galantom.ro/fundraising.

The first day of December marks Romanias national day. We went to a school in Falticeni, where the students have been celebrating under the guidance of a driven teacher.

Sabina Dulgheriu, the teacher we went to, teaches at the Ion Irimescu Gymnasium in Falticeni, and she told us how she celebrated the national day with her students ahead of time:

“Even if kids are not in school on the national day, December 1st, because it is a holiday, we never missed the celebration, and each year we have organized all sorts of activities one or two days ahead of time, so that children can feel, love, taste, and rejoice in being Romanian.”

Sabina Dulgheriu told us that she tries each and every time to get the students excited and emotional with activities dedicated to December 1st, but also teach them new things, to get them joyful about being Romanian:

“The emotion of this event is felt differently in school, and I think it is more intense, because the main actors in the activities dedicated to National Day are the kids themselves. When you get involved actively and commit to these workshops and lessons around December 1st, any emotion and feeling doubles. Which is why I, as a teacher, am eager to celebrate with my students Romanias Day in school.”

Sabina Dulgheriu added:

“For the last 5 or 6 years I have been organizing, along with my students, around the national day, an exhibition of antique objects. As an aside, I would like to tell you that not even the pandemic prevented us from holding this event, which we did online. My greatest joy was to see how, from one year to the next, children bring to the exhibition more and more antiques, valuable objects, and, even more than that, they know the stories behind them. It is fascinating to listen to an 8 year-old child tell the story of the gas lamp that lit their grandparents room during long winter nights, or that of the vat where parents made homemade cheese, or the bread making tub. This proved to me that these childrens parents are deeply Romanian. I want to specify that most parents are really young. As far as Im concerned, this should make us hopeful in terms of not losing our beauty and our values and traditions.”

Looking back to her own childhood, Sabina Dulgheriu encourages all children to value Romanian traditions. Which is why she organizes for the national day the exhibition called Fond of Romania, which this year brought together over 100 exhibits:

“The classroom could barely contain these objects, and we had some that were over 100 years old. We had very old peasant shirts, a very old bread making vat, we had various household objects crafted out of wood, and we also had some components of a weaving loom, which could not fit in the classroom whole. We also had a very old scarf made from pure silk. I was quite surprised by what the kids brought in. In addition to this exhibition, which was the initial activity, this year we brought along a local artist, Ms. Mihaela Ursache, who guided the children in putting their personal touch on the objects, such as a fridge magnet in the shape of Romania.”

As such, Sabina Dulgheriu followed through with her mission:

“I am a teacher who manages to reach childrens souls. For instance, I asked them what delighted them the most in the two days we set aside for celebrating Romanias day, and they said that they liked the fact that they could come to school in traditional costumes for two days, instead of their uniforms. They liked the fact that they could think freely, they liked that we rearranged the desks in the classroom, they loved that they had guests, and they liked and enjoyed being true Romanians. I would like to wish the best to all Romanians, and I wish for its story to continue at its best.”

To top it all off, the children ran in a Master Chef Romania contest, showing up with cookies and baked goods made according to their grandmas recipe, and of course every kid was a winner.

Even though the winter holidays may seem still far away, the Romanian Comic Opera for Children of Bucharest is ready to open its traditional fair Christmas Story, in the courtyard of their building. And even though winter in the big city will not be blessed by snow this year, and the little ones are deprived of playing in the snow, there are still places that rewrite stories of years past, with even more charm.

Soprano Felicia Filip, manager with the Romanian Comic Opera for Children, told us about what is under preparation:

“We have season surprises, which the children expect. We have events between November 25 and December 29, with a wide variety of activities. We have a skating rink, we have a small train, we have a carousel, and we have a small sledding hill, exclusively for children of all ages. All other venues can be used by the guardians of the children too, meaning the skating rink, the train, and the carousel. They are open to parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, friends, and so on. Moreover, on December 5, on our skating rink we start organizing skating competitions for the kids. Then, one of the unique activities will be the sled flight for the our more daring visitors, who enjoy heights, literally and figuratively.

And, as there can be no holidays without Father Christmas, he has it on his list to make a stopover. Here is Felicia Filip:

“Starting on December 2, Father Christmas himself will come by the fair. We have him in his own Christmas house, to meet all the children to meet the children who want to see him, and to submit to him their Christmas wishes in person. As a first, the northern region of Maramures will be presented at the fair, with workshops held by traditional craftsmen, and, of course, with the unequaled Maramures dishes and foods. This is the first program under which a Romanian tourism objective is presented at the Christmas Fair, held in conjunction with Maramures County Council, and the organization that manages the county as a tourist destination. In addition, this Christmas fair of hours is one of presents and treats. This means that visitors can seek inspired gifts, traditional foods, and our Fairy Tale Inn is a place for family meals.

The atmosphere would not be complete without music. Back at the microphone is Felicia Filip:

“There is one more surprise, the carolers’ stage, where we will have shows put on by the childrens’ choirs part of the national program Cantus Mundi. Imagine this fair filled with the wonderful voices of these kids! We can also say that we will have the workshop of the elves. They are for children who want to manifest their creativity, in order to make globes, decorations, wreaths, felt toys, all kinds of other toys, or decorations for the Christmas tree. Then we have Father Christmas’ bookstore. That is because, after you bought things, and built things, after making these gifts, we can go to the factory for wrapping all these gifts, we take photos and put them up there.

The Romanian Comic Opera for Children has very successful shows around the year, and the end of the year is no exception. Here is Felicia Filip:

“During this time, we have 121 shows and 25 nights of the elves, up until the end of the year. Our shows are already on sale, and already our dear audience is complaining that they want more seats, more shows. We have already supplanted the shows, and it’s still not enough. With these 121 shows and 6 different show titles, we expect over 15,000 in audience. We are talking about The Nutcracker, or Bubu and the Seasons, or Venice Night, the show that will run between Christmas and New Year’s Eve. Up until then we will have A Christmas Tale, bringing together all the beloved artists and crew of the Opera for Children.

This wonderful program, which has brought joy to so many for so many years, has its own Facebook page, and can be checked out on the Opera’s website. Opera manager Felicia Filip extended and invitation:

“We thank you, we love you, and we eagerly expect you to enjoy together the Christmas Fair put up by the Romanian Comic Opera for Children.

In Israel, there is the habit of planting trees in memory of the dead. In Britain, families can dedicate a memorial bench to a loved one who has died. Many families like the idea of placing a memorial bench in a public place, such as a spot the loved one or family has a special connection with. In Romania, a project dubbed “Rooted in memory, developed by “Zi de bine community centre has been initiated recently. Claudia Udrescu, who works for the centre, told us more about it: “Rooted in memory was born out of the need to speak openly about mourning. Melania Medeleanu, the founder of the community centre, once had a talk with a person who had lost her loved ones in a terrible car accident. That certain person tried to talk about the loss she suffered but the only answer she got was “it will pass, “time heals all wounds, “be strong, “dont cry. In fact, all that she needed was to talk about her grief, to talk about those who died as a way of keeping their memory alive. She kept trying to talk about it until she couldnt do it anymore because there was no one to listen to her. Nobody called her anymore. Then there was that idea in the film “Coco, according to which we exist only as long as somebody remembers us. So we tried to find a way to make people live forever, somewhere. This is how the idea of the website came up, plantatiinamintire.ro, telling the story of the loved ones who died. There are very touching and beautiful stories. I invite you to read them. Then we had the idea of the tree, which is a symbol of life. A tree can even be hugged, so every tree tells the story of the person who died, with the help of a QR code attached to it.

Thus, a first park with memories was created in early November. Claudia Udrescu: “We opened the first park of longing in Romania in Lugoj, on November 5. It is a park which, seen from above, has the shape of the infinity, and where 100 white birches tell their stories of longing. There is a Ginkgo Biloba in the middle, the symbol of life. There are 11 love birches in Lugoj, and as many stories. I was there with dozens of people who came to attach a tag with the QR code, and which connects, as I said, the tree to the story of the loved one who is no longer with us. This brings the mourning persons comfort because the stories of the ones they lost are shared with others.

Rooted in memory is a very special project for many, as Claudia Udrescu tells us: Due to this park, sufferance and mourning are turned into life. People came from Brașov, Craiova, Timișoara, or București. One of theme even hugged the three, the birch of longing. People talk to each other, sitting on the memory benches; they call relatives and friends from abroad, because most of the people who arranged the planting are living abroad. I invite you to read the stories on the website, written with a lot of pain and also with love, because there is nothing stronger than the love these stories were written with, the love each word was chosen with. We know how hard it is to write them down and we are grateful for that.

This was only the first stage of the project, as Claudia Udrescu tells us: What we want is to spread this memory root across the entire country. It is important to us that such project be conducted jointly with local authorities, because we come and plant the trees, but local authorities must take care of the park on the long term, keep it alive. This is not a regular park, it is a park where every tree means a person, someone who is no longer with us but who matters. Another two parks will soon be opened in Bucharest and Oradea. We will gladly go wherever local authorities are open to the idea, because we really need such project. We need such special, almost sacred place, if I dare say so, where to whisper our love and longing and have an echo. (EE)

During WWI, famous composer and violinist George Enescu was touring the country, giving the gift of his music to the wounded and the sick. In the modern version of this tour, the tour gives the gift of music to people who dont usually have access to such shows, mostly in Romanian villages. This tour brings together two acclaimed musicians, violinist Gabriel Croitoru and pianist Horia Mihail, for Enescus Violin tour. After 10 years of crisscrossing the country, Gabriel Croitoru invited his daughter, Simina, to share in bringing classical music to Romanian villages, but also to stages in big cities around the country. At the end of the grand tour, on the stage of the Athenaeum in Bucharest, they will be joined by pianist Horia Mihail.

The tour this year started with two villages in Bistrita-Nasaud County. During a break from rehearsal, violinist Gabriel Croitoru spoke to us:

“Here we are, at the tenth edition of the Enescus Violin tour of villages. Along these 10 years, we made it happen. This fabulous instrument, the Guarneri violin that used to belong to Maestro Enescu, went from place to place, in schools, in parks, in places where classical music is virtually unknown. This is the idea, to spread around this genre of music among people who dont have the opportunity or the possibility of reaching a concert hall. Along these 10 years, I was accompanied each time by my friend, solo pianist for Radio Romania, Mr. Horia Mihail. This year, we will only be meeting in Bucharest. For the rest of the tour, which will hit several villages and Bistrita County and Arad County, I will be accompanied by my daughter, Simina Croitoru, because it is more feasible, because we dont have pianos in all the places where we will be holding these concerts.”

The famous Guarneri violin, known as the Cathedral, due to its imposing sound, was made in 1731, and was made by Antonio Guarnieri del Gesu, one of the greatest instrument makers. The violin was purchased by George Enescu himself with his own funds, as the great Romanian composer and instrumentalist preferred the Guarnieri to a Stradivarius. After Enescu passed away, no other violinist played the violin until 2008. That year, the magnificent instrument was restored to the stage, being granted, as a result of a competition, to Gabriel Croitoru. Before being played again, the Guarnieri was cared for by luthier Pavel Onoaie from Cluj, who ensured that the instrument did not lose any of its qualities.

We asked Gabriel Croitoru about the reception they get from villagers:

“We are received with open arms, in most places. I remember one time that a priest told me that we are like the archangels Michael and Gabriel, and that we are eagerly awaited thee. Generally, localities are in line with the attitude of the local mayor. If the mayor lobbies for such artistic manifestations, then any other activity is put on hold, and people flock to the event. Generally speaking, the priest and the local teachers bring the children to these recitals. We have wonderful memories from these tours, and I believe that what we do brings souls together, irrespective of the musical education of whoever comes to listen to us.”

Gabriel Croitoru continued:

“I am absolutely convinced that at least a part of them got a taste for our musical genre, and that any time they will have the opportunity, they will go to a concert hall, or even go to their local culture houses, most of the time restored with European money. But, as I was saying, people are not familiar with our genre, and when someone comes around to show them that, here, there is a different way to enjoy music, they have an extraordinary revelation. People say: Oh, Lord, I have never heard something like this, but I will be going back to it. I have not had the opportunity to check if that happened, but I have had the joy of meeting once again people in places where we had been before.”

We wanted to wish success to the musicians in this edition of the tour. Gabriel Croitoru assured us that they will have a lot of joy in this tour, and said:

“Many times, we set up these concerts as if they were lessons. We tell stories about the composers, the works we play, a little of each piece, we make it so that they dont feel like they are in an unknown universe. On the contrary, we want to facilitate access for them, and we are trying to familiarize them with as much information as we can.”

The tour will end with an extraordinary recital at the Romanian Athenaeum in Bucharest on November 19, where the two violinists will be joined by pianist Horia Mihail.

Viitor Plus association was founded 16 years ago and aims to contribute in a concrete way to the protection of the environment in Romania and to everything related to sustainable development, by means of citizen involvement. In the meantime, the association has become one of the most active players in the field of environmental protection. Its president Teia Ciulacu tells us more about the projects run and the efforts to raise peoples awareness:

“We have developed a number of initiatives in which people of different ages can get involved and help in concrete ways and we sketched various solutions as models for the authorities and companies and which we hope at some point would be developed on a wider scale. Our forestation project Adopt a Tree focuses on the southern part of Romania, where there is a lot of degraded land and where farmland and inhabited areas are in dire need of protection via green verges. For the last 14 years we have been warning that it is important to invest in forestation, especially in the context of climate change and in order to adjust to what is already happening and to what will come in the future. Forests are a natural and convenient solution, only requiring a few years of hard work to grow a forest. We take care of the whole process, including identifying the land on the property owned by the local communities, which means the forest will remain in their possession. We also raise the needed funds from private sources, either private donors, and everyone can donate, just go to our website, or companies via sponsoring. We plant as many trees as we can afford to buy with the money we raised.”

Our interlocutor told us that people are very open to the idea of planting new trees, because it gives them the opportunity to go outdoors, be in contact with nature and, also leave something behind. As far as the association is concerned, however, the approach is very practical:

“We take care of the forests in the long term, from designing the technical project, with the help of forestry engineers, to tree planting, weeding and replanting, all of which goes on for a few years. Where possible, we also involve volunteers in these activities, as part of the projects educational component. After a days work at the office, going out into the field to look after the trees and seeing how fragile the young ones are and how long it takes for them to grow strong and become a forest, your world view changes. This direct contact allows for stronger awareness than if we see it on television or on social media.”

We asked Teia Ciulacu, the president of Viitor Plus association, who usually volunteers for these tree planting activities?

“Its mainly the people who also volunteer for the whole campaign, which allows for a more organised approach. Volunteering is not just about offering to do something in your free time, on a Saturday. Its also about covering the cost of transport, meals and tools. So we prefer to work with businesses which take care of these costs and encourage their employees to volunteer. Its a win-win situation. Since we first started the project, weve been working with over 20,000 volunteers who have taken part in these activities.”

Apart from actual tree-planting, the association also launched a campaign called Adopt a Tree aimed at raising funds. Those who adopt a tree receive a personalised adoption certificate. When the Covid pandemic started and socialising was restricted, the association came up with another idea. Teia Ciulacu explains:

“Since the outbreak of the pandemic, we created a new concept of remote planting because we were not able to gather hundreds of people in the field like we used to. We asked ourselves how we could bring the forest into peoples homes and began to deliver by courier saplings of species that are most common in Romania in different geographical areas. We simply sent them to peoples homes, especially to pupils and schools. We ran a very big campaign last spring as part of which over 100 schools planted 6,000 saplings, most of them in the school courtyard. It was a very successful and popular initiative.”

We also found out that a non-polluting service using bikes and electric cars to collect recyclable waste is available in Bucharest and that a recycling map is available online at the initiative of Viitor Plus association. The map provides details about the materials that can be recycled and where they are deposited, as well as the location of over 1,700 waste collection points.

Today we have for you the story of the river Dambovita, Bucharests green artery, a vibrant public space where people can enjoy the water, the fauna, the flora, and the community. This was the reason for which a project was created to turn the river into a conduit for communication between neighborhoods, people, and ideas.

We invited Valentin Talaba, communication manager for Nod Makerspace, the association running a special event, to tell us about it:

“If we look at the big cities of Europe, such as Berlin, which has the Spree, Paris, which has the Seine and the Saint Martin Canal, London, which has the Thames, we see that Bucharest also has a river running through, but its potential is rather wasted. Many Bucharesters dont even notice that we have a river. That is when I got the idea: “Why dont we connect the two sectors of the city it crosses, Sector 3 and 4, and to use this opportunity offered by water to bring together two communities, and create some cultural and educational activities for the little ones, and for the big ones, and to get together in a very pleasant place.”

We asked Valentin Talaba what happened at the Dambovita Delivery event:

“We had over 30 activities, starting with childrens workshops, then cultural activities, discussions about literature, then music concerts, and food court events. In addition, the most important was the boat ride from the National Library to the Mihai Bravu square, showing how important it is to have a navigable river crossing the city, with its little dams, where we created these pontoons to get to the other side of the river. In addition, we had collaborative art activities, such as creating a rainbow from sewing thread across the river. We refurbished the Abattoir Bridge, and we worked on the concrete sides of the river to give it more color and freshness. I think the most important thing is that people understood that they can enjoy the city in different ways, that they can enjoy it without necessarily spending money, just by taking part of activities, connecting with themselves, and connecting with the communities they are a part of.”

The event had an announcement in order to lure there people with ideas for projects. It reads: “If you have a project idea that can change the Dambovita river, tell us about it! We are seeking art interventions, civic initiatives, educational projects, and interactive workshops to revive the space around the river.”

Alina Tofan, an eco-performer, was present with the installation Plastic Womb, and she told us about it:

“We, the Plastic Art Performance Collective, meaning me and my friend Georghiana Vlahbei, took part in this edition of the Dambovita Delivery with an eco-performance and object installation, which was supposed to be an alarm regarding the plastic pollution in running waters, and the effect that plastics have on river ecosystem. The feedback was very good, especially from the organizers, because they gave us the opportunity to present this work. It was made together with designer Teo Radulescu. People were curious, we provided a QR code that allowed them to listen to the story of our installation. It was called Plastic Womb, because sadly this is close to the image that river ecosystems leaves in our mind. Our work was a manifesto, and an attempt to raise awareness and cause involvement from civil society.”

Valentin Talaba told us about the future plans for consolidating the connection between people of the city and the river that runs through it:

“We will continue to organize in the future the Dambovita Delivery, and, at the same time, we are starting discussions about the quality of the river and the direction that a city can take by using this important resource.”

Some temporary solutions were proposed, such as shows, discussions, exhibitions, and art interventions, but also permanent ones, proposals for reconfiguration submitted to the authorities. What are still needed are proposals for urban activation, meaning projects to convert and restore urban furnishings, art intervention projects, which revive public spaces around the river, but also projects in support of communities, bridging gaps between people. All this is for the purpose of raising awareness that there is a river crossing the city, and that it is a boon for its citizens.

The song is Time Time, a song that parodies the music of the 2000s, interpreted by the band Three Fingers, made up of Squeezie and two friends. The video got over 9 million views on YouTube five days since the launch, while the CD single sold almost 40,000 copies within 48 hours.

The 25 year-old Squeezie, real name Lucas Haucahrd, has over 16 million subscribers on his YouTube channel. He became famous starting with funny videos, reaction videos on various latest events, and music videos made with friends of his.

We spoke with sociologist Bogdan Voicu, from the Romanian Academy’s Institute for Quality of Life Research. We asked him about the influence that this song may have on Romania’s image:

“We are talking about a language that is little known outside Romania, one which sounds strange. The words in the song were carefully picked, in the spirit of the band O-zone, because that is where it all started, with a hit song that became very popular. In addition, at the time it came out, it was incredibly popular in discotheques in Spain and Italy, which were not actually popularizing O-zone, but Haiducii, and where we had an entire generation of expat Romanians, dancing on those beats. This allowed it very good penetration, making great propaganda for the Romanian language.

And now Westerners can easily utter ‘sunt fericit ca mananc un pepene fara samburi’ (I am happy to eat a seedless watermelon’). Bogdan Voicu commented:

“It is the case for the other words, which have almost no sense. It is an almost Dada text, what the French vlogger put out, which in fact is an imitation of what O-zone did, preserving the same kind of beat, which still sells well today. In fact, we have a perfect validation of the fact that the melody behind the O-zone song was strong, bringing to the fore a new generation of listeners and getting them dancing.

We asked Bogdan Voicu if what is happening is a good think, a bad thing, or indifferent.

“It is great for O-zone. For Romania, it is fantastic, and at the same time, it is a massive slap in the face for successive Romanian governments, who have not managed to use such small things to promote, which would lead to a rising interest in this country. I mean, we could have simply had this type of a song being promoted. Or 40 such songs, promoted cheaply, where if one of them got into the top charts, like the O-zone song, which is now a cover by Three Fingers, it would have been fantastic. In fact, all the hype around this story that started last November ended up sending the song to the top charts in several European countries. It did have to with the popularity of the vlogger who put it out there. It also had to do with all the comments, replies, with getting dissected in other videos available on YouTube, TikTok, and other such media. Which means that we have a case of multiplication, bring the Romanian language to the fore. The fact that Romanian is brought to the fore is implicitly propaganda in favor of our country.

Bogdan Voicu lived several years in Western countries, so we asked him if there are moments when one might feel embarrassed when you say that you’re from Romania:

“Well, it depends where you are. I remember that I was in the US in the ’90s, and when asked where I was from, I answered Romania. Then Americans, mostly the students I was interacting with, said ‘Romania, that’s in Europe, Europe is different’. And that was about it. Whether I was from Romania or France, it was all the same. So, from this point of view, I think it was a blessing that my interlocutor didn’t know the difference, Romania or France. At the same time, around that same period of time, I went to France. I remember I was at a bus station in Strasbourg, and a local asked me something about the bus line. I told her I didn’t know, because I wasn’t a local, so she asked me where I was from. I said Romania, and she said ‘That’s the former Yugoslavia’. Well, that was not good at all! Nowadays, I don’t think it’s that important for people to know about Romania, or what Stephen the Great did, when all is said and done. What is important is for the country to fare well, to attract tourists, and have a positive image. I was told by a German journalist that a certain Romanian European commissioner was very good, and then told by the same journalist that another one is a disaster. But these are natural things. They happen everywhere. Any kind of politician, actor, or personality of any kind from a given country can have a better or worse image, affecting the image of the country. We are affected a bit more, because we are lesser known; when we are better known, it won’t matter so much what one or another personality does, because we would be known as a nation.

Right now, it seems that, beyond the Ceausescu dictators or Nadia Comaneci, the West is now aware of O-zone, and now Three Fingers provide free Romanian lessons online. As the song says: ‘Viitorul e grozav!’ (The future is great!)