Brasov with the mountains coming closer, leaning down, threatening to swallow you.
Calin is from Brasov, but he studies art in Timisoara. That’s where I met him. He asked me how I liked Brasov, and I told him that the tall mountains surrounding the city were frightening me a bit. “It’s probably not a good idea to go there if you have paranoid tendencies”, I said. He looked at me with disbelief. “But the mountains are the best thing about Brasov!”
I didn’t find peace in Brasov. The famous Black Church charges 4 lei for entering. Brasov has chain stores, park benches in the town square, an anti-communist memorial in a roundabout and a handful of cafes where the young people can hang out. Two street buskers dressed up in Indian costumes were playing in front of the Primaria. They looked rather cold. I hurried past to find a post box.
One thing I found very interesting though, was the way of life of our couchsurfing hosts there. Andreea and Bogdan. Both very intelligent, slightly elitist, well spoken, highly educated and from resourceful families. In other words, they seemed to have every possibility at hand. But still, they seemed to lack some ambitions, a will to pursue the future. I’m still wondering if it might be humbleness, and that I’m mistaking it for something else. I hope I was wrong.
I’ve met so many young, progressive Romanians who plan to flee the country as soon as they have the possibility. They tell me that there’s no future for them here. It depresses me a little bit, for these are the very people who can build the country, and make it the good place they wish they could be in.
Bogdan is a young man from Arad. I met him and his friend in Papillion bar in Timisoara. This bar has a reputation for being very smokey (true) and that lots of artists and writer hang out there (yet to be confirmed). I launched the subject, and Bogdan declared that what is wrong in Romania are the values. “If you want to be an important person you have to make lots of money and drive an expensive car. There’s no place for intellectuals here. In France for instance, the ministers can drive their scooters to Parliament, and nobody will react to it.” I showed him my newly obtained CD’s of Alexandriu Andres and Ada Milea. He nodded, smiled, and added: “I think maybe two percent of Romanians are listening to this kind of music”.
