Strange feelings, being once again in the places where I grow up. It is and interesting mix of old and new, mingling together, in some outwordly harmony. I just got my phone repaired by an IT engineer, not the one that is just exchanging the pieces, but one of those that can open a phone and literally repair the microprocessors and other stuff inside of it. Just had a problem with charging, so, for the equivalent of $10, I got the pins replaces inside my phone charging port. Old school.
I went to look for a jacket, and once again, some classic cuts, and some new stuff, I just stepped inside one shop sporting some classical fashion, and I did find some decent jacket. Looking around, I feel a bit like in some dystopian steampunk paradise (or hell, depending who you ask).
But somehow, my connection with these places is broken, I feel out of the place now, even if I tend to know the people around, and try try to find my long lost childhood. Everything is changed, and not for the better. There are no first world issues in here, everything is written in black and white. People are either really, really rich, or struggling to survive. There is no real middle class. . And somehow going under the radar, there are the really poor people, barely surviving from one month to another, with no real change to a better life. At least some things improved, thanks to the EU, or despite of them. We use to have people who worked in agriculture their whole life, with a pension of $1 or $2. No joke! Five years ago, I believe, they introduced a minimum pension of $126, which may even be more of that now (I did not check). I did mention EU, but this is something different, as in here, in Romania, the politicians tend to say that they did some popular changes, even if it was just directed by Bruxelles, and tell people that EU asked for some regulations, when they want them done, even if Bruxelles never mentioned nothing about, as EU did, EU said, is just a way to propose and follow their own interest. It is something that you never heard before, maybe only close to what they do in Bulgaria.
Other than that, you can see huge discrepancies that you may only find in the Eastern Europe, one having a care more expensive than a house, but still paying rent in a small flat, one buying a phone costing the equivalent of one year of minimum wage, and some good ones, like small cafe where you can eat a decent meal costing less that you will pay for the ingredients to cook from scratch at home. This is a bag of oranges, or half of them, after I paid the equivalent of £1.20. In UK, for a slightly bigger price, I can get 5 small oranges. Just saying it.
And yet, it seems that the good exceeds the bad, and most of the times, I feel good going home, and getting close to my roots. Even if I need to keep the window closed to not get the draft (sa nu te ia curentul). Not trying to be too much of a contrarian, but the food here is tasting different, it is always one of the best tastes that I could try. I am a sucker for the good Romanian foon, in all the forms. And the air is better, at least in my mind, especially in the countryside, or up in the mountains. If you ever went there, you know what I mean. Some cultures are meant to clash. Right?
(courtesy of reddit.com - https://bitchwithwifi.wordpress.com/2014/10/08/meme-superman-changes-in-the-tardis/)
In a way, I presume, every country may have their good and bad sides. It is just that this is not so obvious for outsiders.
That's all for now, a drink with my friends is waiting for me soon. See you tomorrow,
George
