"Borrowing the American Dream"

The essay below was written by Anamaria Todor. She is an American Studies student and wrote this essay as part of a final project for my class. I found this piece to be extremely complex and enlightening – and I’m hoping you can learn something about Romanian society from her perspective. Oh, and her flawless English doesn’t exactly detract from the essay either. Her e-mail address is anna_todor@clicknet.ro and she said she doesn’t mind if people contact her with questions. :)

Borrowing the American Dream

At a first glance, the Romanian and American societies seem to have nothing in common. The first belongs to a country with a slowly emerging economy, while the second is over-saturated with both economical and technological development. Still, I urge you to take a closer look. You will soon discover that Romanians share a distorted version of John Locke’s opinion that “in the beginning, all the world was America” (Hochschild, Jennifer – “Facing up the American Dream: Race, Class and Soul of the Nation”). At least culturally, for Romanians, all people still belong to this untamed American Paradise. Romania may never have been America, but Romanians were Americans too. People of Romanian ethnicity believe this to such an extent that they take the right to be the owner of their personal American dream.

Is this irony or just the direct consequence of an erroneous advertising strategy? Analyzing Romanian society from the historical point of view will underline the following conclusion: Romanians still psychologically live in the shadow of the communist threat. A contrast arises between the image of a country still trying to shake off the communist nightmare and the vibrant American dream. Why endure an opportunity purgatory when you can “work hard and play by the rules” in order to “be given a chance to go as far as your God-given ability will take you?” (President Bill Clinton, speech of Democratic Leadership Council,1993; Hochschild, Jennifer – “Facing up the American Dream: Race, Class and Soul of the Nation”). Taking this portrait of the American Dream even further, Romanians omit what Jennifer Hochschild described as the absolute side of pursuing the Dream: “reaching some threshold of well-being” or “a chance for self-respect”. To Romanians, the Dream is mostly a relative concept by excellence, implying not only to reach over the living standards of others but also to leave the others behind. It’s tight competition, that can’t function in an abstract context. It’s literally walking over dead bodies.

You may already wonder why I keep calling it the American Dream and not the Romanian dream or something similar. This is because Romanians don’t really have a national dream. They have chosen to borrow other cultural trends (and indeed it all became a “trend”), go to other countries –especially the USA- and loose their own cultural identity. Let us delve deeper into details.

Due to the Democratic revolution of 1989 Romania should be a country of all opportunities, a new ground. It’s all about clearing away the past and starting a new future. In fact, the Romanian society doesn’t have some of the serious problems of the American one. Let’s take healthcare into consideration. According to Publicagenda.com (“Overview: Health care”), the American society is based on the managed care system, which means that the health care of most people is managed by private companies, or HMOs (health maintenance organizations). The state only covers the elderly through a program known as Medicare and an estimate of 40 million poor people through the Medicaid program. This leads to poor quality and a low range of services, as HMOs try to limit the expenses by imposing certain conditions to the patients: visiting a certain doctor or hospital, buying cheap drugs, for example. Romania, on the other hand, is closer to achieving the well known concept of universal healthcare. The state covers most health care expenses, it gives full coverage to children, old people, the employed and –in less complex cases- even the unemployed at the cost of bigger income taxes. The technological burst has left Romanian medical facilities behind though. Full health coverage renders the state incapable of supplying hospitals with top-tech medical apparatus and sometimes even with vital medicine. As a direct consequence, patients have an unwritten “Bill of rights” in Romania, which is not strengthened by law though. Practically, a patient is free to visit the medical institution he or she likes and can sew anyone from the doctor he is unsatisfied with to the Healthcare Ministry or the State. In the United States, “at least 40 states has passed some versions of” this “Bill of rights”, “but the Congress is still considering national legislation” and “managed-care firms are generally immune from being sued for their decisions” (Publicagenda.com - “Overview: Health care”).

Though the system is not perfect, Romania has never faced such a huge healthcare crisis as the States have. Moreover, it was never a national issue, to affect Presidential Elections (see the New York Times’ “It was Clinton vs. Obama on Health care” article). This is just one small example to prove that the situation is not so grim in Romania. Still, people here choose to swallow up their national spirit and add up to the USA immigration problem. Www.census.org statistics point out that over 367,310 Americans are of Romanian ancestry. Immigration, manifested in huge population movements into America from over the Ocean or from South America, menaces the economical balance of the country, especially in its illegal form. More and more Americans are raising the “unfairness” argument, which states a strong belief that “illegal immigrants use more in public services than they contribute in the local taxes” and “get a better deal from the government than legal citizens” (Kronholz, June. “Stoking the Immigration Fire”. Wall Street Journal, 2007). Immigrants are also seen as culturally overwhelming and as jobs stealers. They offer to work for lower wages and sometimes surpass the employer’s expectations. For example, some Romanians that illegally travel to the USA are quite skilled in their field of domain.

In the end, why are Romanians slowly fading away into the USA cultural mosaic? It may be their desire to forget an unwanted past or their hope for a better living. Or their refusal to see reality from an outer perspective. Or maybe just the colorful postcards, or the blinking text of Internet ads. Can’t we all borrow dreams?

a note on teaching

Well dear friends, in case you haven't noticed, I've neglected to tell you about my teaching experiences here in the grand Romania.

While I'd like to claim that this is a simple oversight to be blamed on my fascination with all other parts of life - alas that is not true.

The thing is, I am teaching first year university students. Five times a week, I walk into a classroom of 30 or more students just a few years younger than me who are paying to learn from me. They are there to learn English and to learn about the United States.

Do I feel qualified? Of course not. And you can understand why...in the United States, this would never happen. I am simply a college graduate, not even qualified for a managerial position at The Gap (which doesn't matter, cause we ain't got no Gaps in Romania). And yet, here across the woods in Transilvania, that's not a problem.

Yes, higher education in Romania is different. I've heard from other teachers (REAL professors included) that cheating, copying, plagiarism is rampant - even among graduate students. But I would hesitate to accept that all Romanian universities are like mine, that all college students are like mine.

I've gathered that the mechanical engineering department, the forestry department, even math and chemistry are very good here. And it's not that the Faculty of Letters is bad...I am just trying to justify the fact that here, I am not just a teaching assistant - I am considered a teacher in my own right.

I guess I can explain my lack of posts on teaching by telling you that I'm a little embarrassed that I'm teaching university classes. My teaching duties include writing my own curriculum and syllabus, making up a course name even. No one checks in on what I'm teaching or how the students are progressing. I feel overwhelmed by my understanding of this sort of responsibility - as I've said, in the States (and at many other universities, even in Romania) I would never be invited to this. All I have to my name is a B.A. in Sociology - not even a minor in American Studies or TEFL.

But right now, I'm a little more confident. I've been reading over the final essays of my students, and I've gotta say, I'm feeling a bit proud of them. It's hard to say whether it has more to do with me or with them (does it matter?), but it seems like they've actually learned something in the past four months.

I remember my first night in Romania, I confessed to Cynthia (a Fulbrighter who trains Romanian teachers of English) that I felt incredibly unqualified. I felt like someone had made a mistake, that I should not be allowed to stand in front of a college classroom. She told me to take advantage of the opportunity - yeah, it would never happen in America, but nevertheless I had the chance to teach university students. So I should make the most of it.

Anyway, now that I'm feeling a little more confident, I plan to write a little more about classroom-related business, including highlights from these excellent final essays I am reading.

"Delta" sounds like "Devil"

Can I just say - Delta Airlines, you are not cool.

For those of you who heard of the difficulties I had getting to Romania, you know why I would begin to have problems with Delta Airlines. It's gotten worse now that I've received a response from their "Customer Care" department. At this point, I've learned that:

1. Delta employees resemble robots in their ability to process information (the kind of robots that are STUPID),
2. Delta employees do not know how to read,
3. I hate Delta Airlines.

Stay tuned.*

*And if you happen to be someone who flew to Romania on Delta, can we talk?

P.S. Flying back from Turkey, my Tarom Airlines flight to Bucharest was 21 hours delayed. We had to wait around at the Istanbul airport (and people can smoke inside this airport) for 14 hours as they pushed our flight back hour by hour. It was excruciating and draining and I was tired.

BUT if asked to compare experiences with Tarom with experiences with Delta, I would describe Tarom as LOVE and Delta as the farthest thing from. I hate Delta Airlines.

Wrapping up Christmas in Romania

Now that the holidays have come and gone, I can share a few observations on Romanian celebrations. The whole Christmas season was overflowing with a recognizable feeling for me. Elements of Christmas here seem to resemble Christmas in the U.S. in some visible ways – and from what I understand, a lot of these traditions are relatively new in Romania. I’ve spent Christmas in the Netherlands and in Australia, and from my experience my Christmas here felt most like Christmas in the States. At the same time, there's an underlying format for Christmas that is Romania's own.

First of all, when it comes to commercialization of the holiday season…well, I’ll just say that Romanians like to shop. Each time I went shopping in December, the big stores were packed. Chocolate is certainly incredibly popular. Aisle upon aisle of Christmas chocolates, disappearing surprisingly quickly. Christmas decorations are also big – heinous tinsel possibly topping the list. Artificial trees are big (I think this is because cut trees aren’t kept in water, so they go brown pretty quickly – and they’re also really expensive), as are tree decorations, and the most annoying: the singing lights. Stockings are available but left on the shelves as most people don’t know what they would do with them.

Santa Claus is hilarious. In one day, a person could easily come across 10 different Santa Clauses. They are really poorly costumed – usually it’s 19 or 20 year old guys with no facial hair, wearing white polyester beards with white elastic bands stretching across their bare skin, behind their heads. It’s not surprising that the only kids visiting Santa are two years old and too afraid to look him in the eye. The phenomenon of Milka Santa Claus is rather scary. Basically, Milka (the chocolate company) sponsors the main Santa Claus in town. Instead of giving candy canes to kids, he gives them little Milka bars. Santa’s helpers hold hands with the kids and they sing songs about Milka. Kids are screaming “Milka! Milka!” before Santa shows up in the morning. It’s interesting.

The Christmas celebrations start on Dec. 6, which is Saint Nicolas Day. It seems debatable, but the Christmas season lasts for about a month, though some of my neighbors still have their Christmas lights on. In Brasov, we had the huge “Grand Illumination” type lighting of the tree on the sixth, followed by several days of carol singers performing. As Christmas got closer, carolers came to people’s doors and sang, and I heard them especially on the train (I also spent a lot of time on the train during those days).

Dec. 25 is not the only “Christmas.” Carolers kept singing for several days (I left the country on the Dec. 28 so I don’t know how long it lasted, but they were still singing then). The Christmas tree isn’t even decorated until the evening of the Dec. 24, so there has to be a lot of celebration after that. Most people spend these days at home with their parents/families. In Bucharest, the city was basically abandoned as everyone went home to their villages. In Brasov, a lot of people who I talked with said they spent these days going from house to house of relatives – one day’s feast at their house, the next day at their grandmother’s, then their uncle’s. So, that definitely sounded familiar.

At family get-togethers, dads bring out their home-made wine and mothers bake traditional pies and cakes from their village recipes. This is actually really interesting – in a discussion about Romanian traditions with a group of Romanians, they all disagreed when it came to Christmas cakes, because all of their mothers are from different villages, so they weren’t familiar with the cakes that their friends have at Christmas.

Overall, the main focus of Christmas isn’t religious, although most people consider themselves Orthodox. Going to church isn’t necessarily a part of celebrating Christmas. Instead, it’s about spending time with family. Gift giving is a tradition for some families, but usually it’s a matter of giving one gift to everyone, like a cell phone for your parents. Of course, some people use Christmas as a vacation, and head to the mountains with their friends instead of going home. A lot of restaurants and cafes are open, but when we were at them we saw mostly young professionals rather than families.

The biggest difference I felt? Saying "Christmas" instead of "the holidays." We had "Christmas Break" instead of "Winter Break." Not that exciting really, but it did remind me of the plurality you don't see here, even in a region full of ethnic diversity (Romanians, Hungarians, Germans, etc.)

I’ve gotta say though, I’m glad Christmas is over. It makes it seem like it’s almost spring!

Venturing out of Romania

Seeing as I'm living just over an hour's flying time from Istanbul, I decided to spend New Year's and the surrounding days in Turkey. I've heard from a number of people that Istanbul is their favorite city in the world, and it's not hard to see why. Even in cold December and January, the sun still kisses the streets all over the city, drawing out that contrast between the blue Bosphorous and Golden Horn and the slightly lighter Sea of Marmara on the one hand, and the yellows, oranges, pinks, and reds of everything else.

We were there for several days, so we started out seeing the big sites - the Aya Sofia, Bisilica Cistern, and though we saved the Blue Mosque for a later day we saw that too. We meandered through the Grand Bazaar and the Spice Bazaar, though just outside that area was my favorite spot, since that's where I got pistachios, fresh ground coffee, and a mini garlic grater. We did a day cruise on the Bosphorous so we could get a glimpse of the Black Sea (which is beautifully blue). I had some fish while dozens of stray cats clamored around me one afternoon, and another night ate french fries at 7 Kat overlooking the city from the top floor of a building on top of a hill.

New Year's itself was pretty awesome, although we didn't really take part in any organized celebration. Opting out of the 100 euro cover for most parties and restaurants, we ended up eating at some crappy overpriced cafeteria-style joint. The food was cold - mine was a mash of potatoes and zucchini, I think. Anyway, most meals were much better. But New Year's is apparently high season in Istanbul so I can't complain.

Midnight was awesome. We went to the roof terrace of a hotel right by the Blue Mosque, from where we could see the Sea of Marmara, the Aya Sofia, the Asia side of the city, and across the Golden Horn. As the New Year approached, fireworks started going off in every direction. We saw little bursts of light way off in the distance in addition to the loud bangs that belonged to fireworks set off by the bars below - too close for us to see. The only sad part was that the big fireworks over the Bosphorous were blocked by the Aya Sofia. But otherwise, it was all very fun, and I fell asleep shortly thereafter (I think shivering in the cold on the roof terrace wore me out).

Being in Istanbul made me a little bit sad. I've been having a decent time in Romania, but once I was around all the excitement in Istanbul I realized that I'm missing out on a lot by being in a little country like Romania. Maybe I'm starting to feel like some Romanians, who don't understand why someone would choose to come to their country and who just want to get out and to a country that is more significant. That's a little harsh, of course: I do like Romania, I think it's a good place for me to be this year and I really enjoy the things I do here and the people I'm befriending. I think though that Istanbul was a reminder that there is a lot more out there that I want to experience! And, that I am looking forward to getting back to the United States - 6 months from now - and settling into life a little more.

Train Ride through Mountains

Pieces of Bucharest

Outside of Class

Since I’m teaching American Studies, most of my conversations with my students are about the U.S. I occasionally learn something about Romania (like bribes for surgeons or free dentist visits till age 18). But I want to get to know the students better, so I’ve started inviting to my house in small groups. A few weeks ago, I had 8 girls over, all of whom I’d talked to outside of class before. So I knew some things about each one already. But it was interesting to be with them in a group, since they have their cliques but don’t know the others very well.

Sitting around my apartment for about 3 hours, they really liked the tortilla chips but barely touched the salsa. They said the veg curry looked like a Romanian dish but didn’t taste like one. And they ate a lot of chocolate and drank pink champagne (it’s for kids, kind of like sparkling cider. Except it’s pink and quite common). We talked about music in the states and what they liked and didn’t like. Likes: Bob Dylan for some, pop singers who I can’t remember for others. They talked about Romanian bands and Christmas songs, and I learned a lot about the village where one of them is from. She is going to take me there some weekend. They have horses and her dad works for the mayor, so it should be a good time.

Today just two students (instead of the 6 or 7 I was expecting) showed up. We had a long conversation about the U.S. and consumption. One of the two, Ruxie, spent last year working as an aupair in New Jersey. So we talked about customer service and how ridiculous it can be. She told me about some of her Romanian friends there who were shocked by Costco’s return policy, so they bought a cake, ate half of it, then took it back and said they didn’t like it. So Costco gave them a new one.

We also talked about Romania. It hurts to hear that intelligent young people have no interest in politics or even in Romania. They don’t see any future for themselves here, even if they aren’t excited about leaving their home. To me, it’s as simple as just start a social movement – there are enough of you young people to reform politics. To them, “one flower doesn’t make springtime.” And it’s hard to do something so idealistic when they don’t have any money in the first place.

Jingle Bells

Two and a half weeks ago, the first big batch of snow came. The same day came the snowflake lights which promised to light Republicii in the early December (at that point November) nights. But, no light. They stayed unlit. Just empty promises hanging over the street. The same Monday, a giant tree appeared in the square. A week later I watched the decorators hang the red and gold bows. I even thought the tree would fall over in last Monday’s wind but it made it through (unless it toppled and was restored while I was sleeping).

The signs of Sfantul Nicolae first hit me on 5 December. People stuffed into shops carrying twigs, buying Kinder Surprises. The twigs are like coal – they are for kids who have been bad. But everyone buys it anyway. I bought one (it’s just a branch spray-painted silver) because I felt a little left out, knowing that Sfantul Nicolae wasn’t coming to visit my house.

On 6 December, the entire child population of Brasov showed up with parents in tow to watch the tree light up. It was snowing, so it was freezing and my feet were wet, but being in the middle of a thousand people kept me warm, as did the vin fiert we bought. The whole event was actually quite fun – the mayor spoke, reminding us that Brasov is a fairytale city (not hard to believe in the snow). Then we counted down zece, noua, opt, sapte, sase, cinci, patru, trei, doi, unu. And lights. It was lovely. Kids sang. There were more fireworks (which I missed again). And my feet were really cold.

windy winter

The weather here is infecting me with memories. For the first time since I've been here, it's a windy windy 48 degrees. It's so warm compared to most days, sure. But it's the wind that's getting to me. It's the kind of wind you feel when sitting in Boulevard Park on a summer night, as it blows in off Bellingham Bay. It's pretty exciting.

But aside from the exceptional autumn-like weather tonight, it's been feeling a lot like Christmas around here. For some reason, I've been falling into all the traps of a commercialized Christmas. If I had anyone to buy presents for, I probably would. It's that bad. There have been so many holidays lately, going all the way back to Halloween. First 15 November and Thanksgiving, then Unification Day (this past Saturday), which meant more fireworks. Thursday is Saint Nicolas Day. I'm looking forward to that because all of the lights that have been going up around Brasov over the past 2 weeks will finally be lit up. It's like Grand Illumination in CW. Carol singers and the like. And the giant Christmas tree in the square will light up too (although, I was watching it this evening and I'm not so sure that it's going to make it through tonight's wind.

So, although I get upset every day when I wake up and the ground isn't covered in snow, a night like this is one that I can handle. Wind. Lovely.