Life lessons from Rango

Somehow or other, this blog keeps ticking over - thank you, dear reader. I'll return the honour by continuing posting regularly here: feel free to start commenting on posts! A little bit of feedback goes a long way.

Today's Short Post Monday. No really, it's right there on your calendar, written between the reminder to take your socks to the laundry and to tune into that quaint little blog by that South African guy.

I've been re-watching Rango, which is possibly the most disturbing animated movie since Coraline. Unlike Coraline, however, Rango has some real zingers of quotes, and I have one I want to share with you:

"No man can walk out on his own story."

Cue the 'touche' snort. If you're anything like me, you've probably bumped your head into this little principle numerous times. I have this theory that all cliches have a corresponding lesson which we only appreciate when we're in exactly the right context - at any other time, we'll just shake our head and shrug off the condensed wisdom.

Any reader here might think that I've got no life in South Africa, and that anything in Romania will be better. That's not true. In fact, despite evidence to the contrary here, things are going particularly well in South Africa for me. I've recently been promoted to be the editor of not one but two magazines, and am tackling a lot of refreshing new challenges completely unrelated to basic journalism: writing proposals, events planning, stakeholder meetings, coordinating freelancers, sourcing advertising, designing brochures etc.

This doesn't mean I don't want to move to Romania. I do, and if I get the opportunity to I intend to jump at it. Right now, however, life's just not letting me walk out of this specific story. I have projects to launch and make a success of, some lessons to learn, some money to make and - most of all - some life to live.

Maybe if you're in the same space as me at the moment, even if it's centering on something else (a relationship, let's say), this post means something extra to you. You'll get to move to that next chapter smoothly when the time is right, no need to push it. And if you're not in that space? Move along, nothing to see here ... maybe you'll be luckier with my next post.

Kirk out.

South Africa's Mea Culpa

If this blog is about moving to Romania, it's equally about moving away from South Africa. I don't claim that the problems I refer to here are specific to South Africa, but if I had to name one of the main reasons for *wanting* to leave this country it's the closed-minded hatred which the majority of the white population seems to enjoy marinating in.

We get it, ok? White people feel that the politicians don't serve their interests, feel that they're being bum-rushed out of the formal economy and are sick and tired of living in fear of criminals and implied guilt for Apartheid. Nothing I've said here is new.

However, reading the comments beneath this news story just made me die a little bit more inside when it comes to South Africa. So much anger! So much smug condemnation with zero care or empathy. More than just a smattering of outright racism, from the very race group which is trying to break free from the moral shackles of a racist history.

It brought to mind the famous Shakespeare quote:

"Out, out, brief candle! Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more: it is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing." Macbeth Quote (Act V, Scene V).

What makes average South Africans blame everything on the worst possible traits of the Government without any further investigation or circumspection? For the record, I am NOT going to claim that the ANC is the best government for the country, but I am also NOT going to condemn the government for everything from potholes to crime to hospital closures and the common cold.

Maybe it's the journalist in me. Maybe it's because I know that before any statement can be made in the public, it ought to be supported by evidence, unbiased investigation and fair comment from all sides involved. At least, that's the theory which even journalists themselves often don't satisfy, so what chance is there for average citizens living sheltered, fearful and anger-steeped lives?

My personal view is that average citizens will never know the exact motivations behind Goverment actions. In a democracy, more or less the last real chance anybody has to influence the Government is when they cast their vote. That's not to say that accountability begins and ends there - I just honestly think we'd all live happier lives if we follow the principles of the famous Serenity Prayer:

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, 

The courage to change the things I can, 

And wisdom to know the difference.

 Oh South Africa, my country of birth. Where has our collective wisdom gone? The very people criticising the ANC for crimes such as corruption and greed are espousing baseless accusations and pure hatred as fact: which is the worse crime ultimately?

I get it, I do. We as a country hate being powerless. We hate feeling that we're not in control of our own lives. We hate feeling that we're accountable for something that happened before we were born, or which we don't feel we were directly responsible for.

I don't for a minute think that the commentators on that story represent the best of South Africa's intellectual elite, or even the average citizen. The average citizen is out there, getting on with life with not a thought for the closure of a hospital far away. Entitling this story 'South Africa's Mea Culpa' is a bit strong, then, but it is accurate in that it turns the spotlight of public ire back on itself.

Life is too short to be angry about things beyond our control. It is too short to be fearful of situations we cannot know about. It is definitely too short to join in that chorus of anger and frustration and dashed dreams.

This is a message which applies equally to South Africans and you, in whichever part of the world you live. One last relevant saying: "You're either a part of the solution, or you're a part of the problem." I know it's easier to just be angry, but anger ultimately rots our own hearts and does nothing to change whatever it is we're angry about.

Maybe if all those people commenting on that story felt so strongly about it, they could have donated money to the hospital, or started a charity to raise money. But they don't, because this is just one more problem in a country full of them, and it's just one more example of something they know nothing about but which they identify as bad. And surely, if it is bad then it must be the ANC's responsibility, as they are the source of all evil. And surely, if they vent their anger in a comment however small, somebody, somewhere will care enough to do something about it.

I have done something about it. I wrote this blog post. And I've closed that story. It's all I can do for now, and I'm man enough to recognise and admit that. Certainly, adding more anger to that specific soup isn't going to make it taste any better.

To have problems like these!

Yes, money. Stop salivating: it's all Romania's! 

Things here have gotten a bit gloomy, so how about a spot of positive news? Like this story for example. The EC Commissioner for Regional Policy, Johannes Hahn, has said that Romania 'must absorb EUR 5 billion in EU funds to avoid losing them'.

Even better, there's a commitment from the EU's side that saving these funds is not in Europe's best interest, but rather that they need to be spent in a 'sustainable, intelligent, smart way'. Ok, let's forgive the man the redundant use of 'intelligent' and 'smart' in the same sentence: I always say don't look a gifthorse in the mouth, and especially not when it's offering you EUR 5 billion.

Some come on Romania: this is a national emergency! Help the Government spend all that money! Sure, it won't be easy, and your bank cards may well end up being swiped until they leave burns on your fingers, but now is the time for creative shopping at only the most expensive stores. Spare no expense: if the shop assistant tells you the item you want is on a discount, wave him away and pay double the value!

EUR 5 billion buys a hell of a lot of whatever governments tend to buy with huge handouts. You know: parks, some fresh paint for the offices and maybe a truckload or two of croissants. I definitely think that a little Romanian ingenuity will keep that money cycling around in a manner which truly is both intelligent and smart.

Here's some impressive maths if the rhetoric fails to elicit a chuckle: with a population of 21 million, that EUR 5 billion would be enough to give each and every Romanian citizen RON 1 071 (which if stats are to be believed is more than the average individual Romanian salary - RON 856). One month's salary for EVERYBODY, or a park and a spot of new tar? Hmm, I know which way I'd vote if I were Romanian.

All fear the Romgarians

Distorted reality.

I've just returned from a two-day business trip in Namibia, where I was on the launch of the new Volkswagen Amarok bakkie with the automatic transmission. Two days out of the office in a foreign country,  driving a powerful car through astounding desert scenery, and being wined and dined to the limit ... remind me why my job as an automotive journalist sucks again?

Oh yes, I can't afford buying an Amarok on my salary. Or a Nissan Murano, which is my current test vehicle for the week. Or the BMW 6-Series Gran Coupe I fell in love with on another recent test. Or ... yes, my life is in a chocolate factory where I can actually eat a couple of blocks at a time. Just enough to keep me hooked, but not enough to make me sick of it, and never a full slab to gloat over. Keeps you humble. Or just frustrated, haha.

In other news, the views on this blog almost doubled in my absence. Maybe blogging is like wine-making: it's better if you leave it alone for a while? I like to think however that I've got hordes of readers waiting in eager anticipation for my next pearls of wisdom on Romania and South Africa, and the grey bits in between  A bit like I like to think that I'll oneday drive a BMW 6-Series, maybe.

So, Romania ... have you heard about Neil Farage's personal war against allowing Romanians and Bulgarians to flood the UK? Probably trying to protect all the Pakistani, Chinese and South African emigrants already there. It's also tinged at least a little with the fear of all those Romanian gypsies (see previous blog post).

I'd read this story before leaving, and waiting for me upon arrival back at my desk was this little gem just twisting the knife deeper. For those looking for a quick summary, British anti-EU party UKIP is being very vocal in opposing the EU's responsibility to remove movement controls from Romanian and Bulgarian citizens on January 1, 2014. On the surface, the idea is that all of Romania and Bulgaria will immediately emigrate to the sunny skies of Britain, and the little island will promptly sink.

Hey, don't take it from me. In their own words:

Only in November, the Home Secretary admitted to the Daily Telegraph she was powerless, impotent to stop thousands of Romanians and Bulgarians flocking to the UK. There it is, cold as today’s snow that Britain is not in full control of it’s destiny having handed it over to the Eurocrats.

And there we have the real motivation for UKIP: they're stirring up anti-EU sentiment by criticising the the UK's apparent powerlessness to prevent those hundreds of thousands of Romgarians (let's just contract it, shall we?) from flooding in. Darn those 'Eurocrats'. They don't appreciate the sanctity of a good crumpet, and seem awfully bound to agreements made six years ago.

Maybe we shouldn't be surprised that there's a link to this blog in one of the UKIP stories - a blog with only one post incidentally - and it yields some interesting gems. Like this:

HALF the population of Romania earns £287 or less per month. They can receive a rise to £307 per month in job seekers allowance from 2014 in the UK, for not working. Even the highest paid group of professionals in Romania is better off in the UK working on minimum wage. 

This is an interesting debate, except it shows all the hallmarks of politics. These stories quoting UKIP patently don't try to speak to any Romgarians. They also don't question a huge assumption made.

Have a look at this story from the BBC, and this story from Romania. Do you spot the little flaw? In Britain, the average UK salary is £26 500 (or £2208 per month - €2661). Romanians on job-seekers allowance may well earn more than they did in Romania, but they will be earning 1/7th of the average UK salary.

The real problem with all this vocal Romgarian fear is that it assumes that Romanians and Bulgaria won't realise this. It doesn't take into account that as difficult as things are in Romania, this is where people have their families and lives. It's not like they'll be queuing up to move to the UK to be welcomed by people like Nigel Farage, and live the good life on 1/7th of the national average salary. Even if they do, chances are they'll return, and because there was less sacrifice required in order to move, logic implies they'll be quicker to return when things go sour.

For me, the deciding factor in this debate is this photo:

Nigel is really afraid the Romgarians will come catch all his fish, you see. That'd make photos like this one really difficult to take.

Romania's media landscape

From journalist to covrigi baker? 

Ok, it's time I bring some more of my own content to this blog, after a lengthy stint commenting on and republishing from the admittedly limited pool of English-language resources out there.

The best thing to remember when you're researching a new country is that it's not on Mars - it's practically just around the corner, and you can ask the people there questions.

I mentioned earlier that I'd joined a couple of expat groups online, and managed to make a very useful contact: one of the main English-language publishers in Romania. Here's a message I got from him, related to the media situation in Romania at present.

Journalists are facing very tough times, as many media papers closed down.
Being a publisher myself I also know the very tough advertising market in Romania.
A mid level journalist would make around EUR 400-500 nowadays. Most of the journalists do PR now for corporates and make almost double that amount.

For any first-time visitors here, I'm particularly interested in the Romanian media landscape because I'm a journalist in South Africa, both by trade and by education. I must admit, the publisher's response doesn't exactly fill my heart with joy.

"Tough times", weak advertising market, low salaries and journalists exiting the industry ... yeah, it's not exactly looking like a dream career in Romania. Why didn't I study something which is actually in demand, like Computer Programming (a big hit in Cluj I hear)?

Something I noted to another guy in Romania I'm chatting to is that it seems most expats landing in the country immediately start a blog, and write a book about Romania. Well, I've got a jump-start on them with my blog already here I guess, lol. I seriously don't think I need to dump another book into the market upon arrival, which would be tough to do anyway thanks to the weak advertising market alluded to above.

What to do, what to do. If you have any bright ideas for an English-speaking journalist operating in Romania, feel free to give me a shout. Alternatively, I could always just go make covrigi outside Gara de Nord - apparently that's another big hit.

Oh, as a side note: one of my best rediscoveries was the Google Translate for Chrome plug-in. Google now conveniently translates all Romanian websites into English with a single right-click on a website. Who cares if the grammar is a bit messed up? At least my reading pool has expanded dramatically while I'm still struggling with learning Romanian.

Will gypsies ever be Romanian and not only Roma?

What are this girl's hopes and dreams? To steal your wallet? 

This is a fair question to ask, and a serious one given the intense racism still held in the hearts of otherwise perfectly average Romanians against gypsies living in the country. Blamed for practically all petty crime in Romania, and often confused with Romanians when travelling overseas - thanks to the Roma connection - it's a complex knot to untie.

Acclimatizing to a new country has a number of phases: you first get off the plane and judge the country by what the airport looks like. Then you step outside and judge the country depending on how friendly your taxi driver is. Then you arrive at your apartment and judge the country based on the number of television channels you receive. And then you open your fridge and judge the country based on what you can eat.

So this process continues, right up until you start judging the country on your interactions with police officers, government officials, business owners and criminals. Maybe somewhere around this point you start noticing other minorities in the country (apart from you as an expat) and you ask yourself how well they're being treated by the majority, and what this means for the psyche of the people you're wanting to essentially become a part of.

You can't tell a South African much about racism we don't already know, that's for sure. As a white South African with my adult years post-democracy, I've had more than my fair share of introspection about race relations, analysing race as a construct at University, balancing reverse racial discrimination in the workplace (a government policy called Black Economic Empowerment) with the overwhelmingly evident need to transform an area which is still dominated by white South Africans even though we are a minority.

Maybe that's why I'm so sensitive to issues involving race, discrimination and racism in particular. I like to think, however, that regardless of my background I'd still find racism in any form despicable, and the mass stereotyping of entire groups of people into specific categories as unfair and utterly wrong. It turns out, however, it's easier to outlaw racism in countries' Constitutions than in their hearts and minds.

For anybody not familiar with the Roma, there's a decent short summary here and a lengthier Wikipedia article here. My favourite quote, however, comes from this article, where the writer puts this problem particularly succinctly: 

People make it easy for themselves by blaming the Gypsies for Romania's bad image in the world, eternally bewailing the fact that people abroad are unable to distinguish Romanians (all honourable, peaceful, diligent citizens, blessed with the virtues of their forefathers) from the gypsies, this "surrogate folk," as our stupid, racist jokes will have them. In fact the Gypsy problem in Romania results from Romania's policy towards the Gypsies, and not from the "inferiority of their race."
Perhaps one should recall from time to time the historical roots of the problem. The Romanians in Wallachia and Moldavia – alone in Europe – made the Gypsies their slaves, binding them to the soil. Torn from their nomadic way of life, the Gypsies were forced to put down roots on the land of their masters. Like the black slaves in America, free people were turned into workhorses – albeit rational ones.

This culture of 'othering' towards gypsies in Romania isn't particular to the country, either. It's certainly not something which the 'cultured West' is immune to, even when gypsies are specifically in focus. Have a look at this textbook definition of 'othering' from that great bastion of British journalism, The Sun, or this story about France's mass deportations of Roma.

To any Romanians reading this, despising somebody just because they identify themselves as a gypsy is wrong. I can give you a million reasons why this is, but no post is long enough. Oh, I don't know them, you might say. You don't know how they are. No, you're right, I don't, but I'm willing to wager that neither do you. I look at these photos of Romanian gypsies, and I don't see evil people there. Certainly, a different culture, but not so alien that it deserves the wrath one commentator expressed in a discussion thread:

Naturally I didn't let him get away with it. With every comment I fought him tooth and nail - indeed, I still am - but common sense is hard to impose on somebody who has grown up with various casual racial constructs an unquestioned part of life. However, it's not just about him - it's all of Romania, France, and even the UK (as my stories show).

It's wherever somebody is discriminated against with a complete lack of understanding. The solution is obvious: Romanians need to enter into discussions with Roma, both formal and informal. It's the only thing that worked in South Africa, in the US, in Germany ...where healing only came through true understanding. Instead of attributing all evil to gypsies, rather go speak to gypsies about what it's like being the outsiders in the country of your birth - through doing so, you'll be deconstructing the myth instead of reinforcing it.

Know your sectors

I think any immigrant's hardest job is learning a foreign language. When you bump into somebody and they start rapidly talking to you, first you have to place the context before your mind can unlock the words you may already know. Are they talking about prices, do they need help or are they giving you directions?

If you're anything like me, to unlock that context you first need to recognise some key words. Ajutor, Buna, Miercuri and Zece are some of the 'context triggers' I've learned so far ... and then I discovered this useful list of Bucharest suburbs by sector here:

http://www.bucharestlife.net/2011/02/06/doing-away-with-bucharests-six-sectors-is-a-sound-idea/

Sector 1: Dorobanţi, Băneasa, Aviaţiei, Pipera, Aviatorilor, Primăverii, Romanǎ, Victoriei, Herǎstrǎu, Bucureştii Noi, Dǎmǎroaia, Strǎuleşti, Chitila, Griviţa, 1 Mai, Pajura, Domenii

Sector 2: Pantelimon, Colentina, Iancului, Tei, Floreasca, Moşilor, Obor, Vatra Luminoasă, Fundeni, Ştefan cel Mare

Sector 3: Vitan, Dudeşti, Titan, Centrul Civic, Balta Albă, Dristor, Lipscani, Muncii, Unirii

Sector 4: Berceni, Olteniţei, Văcăreşti, Timpuri Noi, Tineretului

Sector 5: Rahova, Ferentari, Giurgiului, Cotroceni, 13 Septembrie

Sector 6: Giuleşti, Crângaşi, Drumul Taberei, Militari, Grozǎveşti, Regie, Ghencea

There's a stack of very useful 'context triggers' which will undoubtedly come up in any conversation in Bucharest. Heck, it might not be enough to get you to the address, but at least you'll be in the right suburb! Just looking through the list, an interesting question is why anybody would name a suburb after the 13th of September. Let's add that to the yet-to-be-solved list, shall we?

PS: Aah, you just have to love Wikipedia

The name comes from the main street in the area: Calea 13 Septembrie, which is named after the date of the closing battle of the 1848 Wallachian Revolution which was fought on the nearby Dealul Spirii between the Ottoman troops and the Firemen division of Bucharest. The 13th of September is the Firefighter's Day in Romania since then.

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