The First of March; and life on tour

1 March, 2010. Universitatea de Nord din Baia Mare, camera șase, cāminul trei.

Happy First of March to everyone. March 1st is celebrated by Romanians, in sense, as the cultural beginning of Spring. And the weather over the last week has certainly supported this sense. Winter would appear to be nearing an end quickly in these parts....

I began my "Canadian Leadership Lecture Tour" last week.... 
 [With apologies to Bob Seger...] 


On a long and lonesome railway,
East of Oradea
You can listen to the engines
Moanin' out it's one old song
You can think about the woman,
Or the girl in class the night before
But your thoughts will soon be wanderin',
The way they always do
When you're ridin' 16 hours,
And there's nothin' much to do
And you don't feel much like writin',
You just wish the trip was through.... 
 
Here I am, on the rails again,
There I am, up front the class,
There I go, playin' lecturer again,
There I go, turn the page.

Seriously, I'm no rock star. But maybe I can now begin to understand some of the emotional/social ups and downs of touring. 'Cause dang, train trips through Romania are long and lonesome!!  :-) 

I completed my first lecture dates (gigs, if you will) last week in Bucuresti (Bucharest) at the Embassy of Canada and the University of Bucharest. I consider both to have been a success, particularly my talk at the Embassy, which was attended by members of the NGO community who work with Romani (Gypsy) populations and the assistant to at least one Parliamentarian. I spoke on "Native-Newcomer Relations" in Canada, focusing on the historical and contemporary experiences of assimilation, integration, and accommodation. Although the historical experiences of Native people in Canada and Romani people in Romania are very, very different, their contemporary treatment and situation are much the same.  I learned a lot through the course of preparing this talk and from the responses of my audience. I was pleased to learn that Embassy staff also considered my talk a "success."  My audience at the University was more informal, consisting mainly of graduate students with an interest in Canadian Studies. I spoke with them on the subject of "Romanian-Canadian Relations."

Bucharest itself was a welcome change of scenery for me (until now I have been confined in my Romanian experiences largely to Baia Mare and the Maramures region). Although I did not have a lot of free time, I was able to maximize the little I had with the help of some very hospitable locals (thank-you to Marilena D. for putting me in touch with Raluca S. and Ramona D., and to Professor Bottez for securing the help of Andreea-Catrinela L.). Each helped me to see and understand a little of Bucharest, for which I am very grateful.  In terms of typical tourist stuff, I hit the "must sees": the Palace of Parliament, and parts of the Old City. Bucharest is somewhat reminiscent of Paris, a major exception being the hoards of stray dogs (a factor throughout Romania, but particularly prevalent in Bucharest). The strays don't appear to be at all dangerous, and in fact I was struck by their above-average canine intelligence. I guess if you're a dog in the big city, only the smartest will survive -- I laughed out loud at one particular stray that was clever enough to use the pedestrian underpass at a busy intersection... how many pet dogs would think of that on their own?!

On my trip down and back to Bucharest (from Baia Mare, by train) I had lots of time to think and observe. Traveling through the centre of Romania, north to south (and back again), by train is an interesting experience, as I could observe the varied landscapes and geography of the country.  One unfortunate commonality throughout this (otherwise beautiful) varied landscape, is the over abundance of strewn garbage and plastic bottles that clearly plague this country.  Romania, from my point of view, has a very serious litter and waste problem on their hands -- particularly the plastic bottles, the predominance of which simply blow my mind.  Find a way to make money off of carelessly discarded plastic bottles in this country, and you will very, very quickly be a very, very rich person. This is a problem that needs to be addressed seriously. And fast. Plastic, after all, isn't going anywhere fast, and the number of discarded bottles here appears to be growing by the minute. I wish I'd taken some photos to get the point across of just how prevalent these bottles are.  It's a real shame.

I depart for Iaşi in the morning, again by train. 
Here I go, turn the page.