The Flying Romanian / Romanul Zburator

If you're reading this post you're either Romanian and you already know what that means or you're not and simply curious about how that could be. Or that you’re nostalgic about your holidays period. I've just (2 weeks ago) come back from 3 weeks in Romania, the longest holidays I've spent there since my college years.   Out of these, 1 week was spent on the road: getting there, leaving and   travelling from one place to another. For those who know the country a bit, my family doesn't leave in the capital nor in a highly touristic place: as I like to say, they're 250km away from everything (the mountains, the sea, Bucharest - the capital). Therefore based on my "broad" experience of travelling to and within Romania, I wanted to share some tips with you, Romanians and/or curious about travelling to Romania: 1/ don't trust Google maps for taking you from one place to another. They didn't even seem to have noticed the best roa...

Just before a long awaited summer break, I would like to address the topic of the “Good” Romanian. Who are they ? Do they exist or are they a myth ? What does it take to consider oneself a “good” Romanian? Can one still be a “Good” Romanian without a Romanian identity card ? I imagine that if I wanted to write about it is that these are all questions that I was asking myself at a certain point. So let’s dive in… What's being a "good" Romanian? Depending who answers this question. I would say there are 3 valid definitions currently in circulation: A good Romanian, for some people, would be the one who doesn't leave his country. Those who leave are traitors or cowards, or can't make it on their own in Romania – even though they are an important source of revenue For others, it is someone who respects traditions, who goes to church and does what is being told, by whatever authority in place (father, church, or any chef or rich person available..). ...

Every group of people reunited in the borders of a country have a founding scene , coming with their founding figures. For some it is a fight against social injustice, irradiated by knowledge (France), for others it is taking their destiny in one's hand and renovating whatever was considered "normal" until then (United States).  For Romanians, it's all about resistance and resilience . Not active resistance, but passive, ironical, coming from the strong belief that "they have always been there and they will always be there", like in the times when Romans invaded "their" piece of land, when the Huns and the Mongols came by as well - leaving behind a new bloodline, when the Turks appeared, etc.  Don't get me wrong, some peopleactively fought against all those invasions . But the masses knew they had to protect themselves inwardly in order to ensure a future. Therefore these people are ones of the most stoic and resilient I have ever met...

If you're living in another country than the one you were born into, then you might face a dilemma: should people call you by your given name or by the name you have chosen (or not!) to use? Of course, your parents meant well when they gave you their parents' name, but they could have never predicted you were also supposed to travel one day. That is understandable, because when you were born only some people could travel, and in very rare cases it was your parents (unless it was inside the country or in URSS, now Russia). But - oh surprise ! - like only history can have, you have travelled abroad for your studies. And if you're reading this blog, you are travelling now for your work or just because you can, and in some cases you even live in another country than the one you were born in. So supposing your personality stays in a name, you may have changed multiple personas by now. Let's take my first name as an example. One can't find more common name...

Going back to the roots of this blog, and the list of Romanians present in France ( do you remember it? ), I will talk today about the “intellectual worker”(or modern worker).  As I was mentioning then, “the intellectual worker” is probably working in La Défense, like most “white collar” workers in France. The majority work in IT or engineering. What’s interesting about this category is its invisibility . Unlike others that “normal” people could cross in the streets of Paris, like Romanian sexual workers, beggars, thieves or construction workers, n o one remembers having crossed the path of a lot of Romanian white collars working in France . However, when I say that I’m Romanian, almost everyone in my friends circle can name at least 1 or 2 Romanians (mostly women) belonging to this category. Which means that they are more invisible than numerous. Why ? Several reasons to that : First of all, they are nor easily identifiable nor easily “taggable”. They look li...

Exile is embedded in Romanian history and soul, as described in the intro for this blog . Whether we left or we stayed, we are all impregnated of it.   Future generations will have it in their genes .   This is why is so important to know our past - to exorcise our past.. But exile was and still is a way for certain people to fulfil their destiny, to use their particular experience in order to feel the universal soul of humankind. If one thinks of famous European thinkers or artists with Romanian origins, Cioran, Eliade, Princess Bibesco, Anna de Noailles, just to name a few (with parity in mind), they spoke to many because they melted their origins into the universal mold. For a visual representation, take Brancusi. His " Bird in space " is the essence of The Bird. It is how a peasant sees a bird up above in the air, a flash of winged flesh and in the same time the idea of Bird flying away. In some people, exile brings exactly this out: their universal so...

Do you know what the social elevator is ? In France this expression is used a lot when speaking about elevating one's social position , extracting them out of their social environment and "elevating" them towards a higher social status, if not the highest (one can't make an aristocrat out of a farmer’ boy), at least higher than their parents. During the post-war era, the social elevator was functioning really well. Everybody was called to "elevate" the country, or to rebuild it, and one could only live better than their parents. But now ? At least since 10 years, but numbers say since the ‘90s, it seems that the social elevator is not functioning well, or is even broken. For a Romanian, the social elevator does not mean anything. Besides, in the 80s in Romania, all elevators were always broken anyways.. as they were not functioning in the way would have normally functioned in “normal” times. So, going back to the French social elevator : if...