THE REAL POWER OF ROMANIA

We went to Sibiu this weekend.

The trip was primarily to meet members of Sibiu Ballet Company, who would like to do something to help support the Special Needs Centre that we work at, or even to do a performance to raise some money for them. They are really lovely people and we had a great time with them.

While we were there though we also had a little time to relax.

When we have had city breaks in the past, relaxation during the day happened by finding cafes frequented by the locals, not the tourist ones, and sitting in them and just to watch the world go by.

That's exactly what we did in Sibiu. We found a cafe overlooking the beautiful main town square, went in and sat down at a table in the window. We drank great coffee, chatted, and watched the world go by as people went about their business in the square in front of us.

As usual we talked about the people we could see and speculated occasionally about what they might be doing or where they might be going.

After a few minutes a pair of street sweepers came into view, a middle-aged woman and an older man. They were both dressed in dark coloured waterproof jackets and trousers with high visibility bands around the arms and legs. The woman was brushing hard at the cobbles, really having to make an effort to get the dirt and cigarette butts out form the cracks between them. All she had to work with was a Besom Broom, you know like the famous 'witches broomstick', which seemed to make the work twice as hard as it needed to be, but she just kept on going without resting, really working the broom into the cracks between the cobbles.

Road sweepers throughout Romania use these brooms, but most are sweeping tarmac or smooth paving, not ancient cobbles.

As I watched I thought about the road sweeping machines that they use in other 'better developed' cities in the world and wished that this poor lady could have one. Then I realised though, that if the city of Sibiu did have one, she would probably be out of a job and it would be the man she was 'working' with  who would probably be driving the machine around the square and making a nuisance of himself among the many pedestrians.

Piata Mare, Sibiu

His task this day seemed at first to be one of just leaning on a floor brush next to a wheelie bin, and watching as the woman swept and swept at the rough paving, occasionally making a comment or pointing at something she had missed. He stood watching her for about ten minutes, then suddenly he leaped into action. He took a shovel from his wheelie bin, swept the pile of dog-ends and litter that the lady had made up into the shovel and then almost ceremonially emptied the shovel into the wheelie bin before tapping it on the side and then throwing it and the brush inside. He then strode off, at pace, pushing the wheelie bin towards the other side of the square.

I craned my neck around to look out of the corner of the window and I could see that another lady was on the other side of the square brushing just as vigorously at the cobbles over there. Once the man arrived next to her, he took his brush from the bin, leaned on it and stood watching her, just as he had been doing when I first saw him.

Another lady, completely different place, same hard
work, similar broom.

I looked back at the first woman and she was still working her broom furiously, making neat piles of rubbish, and I suspected that she might be trying to get far enough ahead of her task so that the man didn't have any time just to stand and watch whenever he returned.

As she brushed I saw a young man walk past her and then casually discard a cigarette end onto the paving where she had already brushed, not even glancing at the woman, or caring that she was working so hard.

It was then that it struck me that this really is a never-ending task for these ladies, and a task that would never be finished.

As a story I think this is also indicative of Romanian life generally. there are so many fit and healthy old ladies in our village, in their 80's and 90's they always greet us with a cheeky grin, a happy hello, and often a risque comment too! They are so full of life. The women are on their own, they are all widows, there are no men of similar ages.

It was Ali who pointed it out, and stressed that it is no surprise. After all it is usually the women who do all of the hard physical work, spending all day bent over, planting or picking or weeding in the fields, and then return home at the end of a long hard day to cook, wash, clean and raise their children.

They live a life that has kept them a lot fitter.

The men tend to supervise, just as the male road sweeper was doing.

Either that or they spend their time in local bars smoking, drinking coffee, beer or Tuica 'doing business,' or just talking about what needs to be done at any particular time of year. They might even discuss the big issues of the day, and of course, all will have an answer to them that no-one else has thought of.

Even the younger women who work long hours in bars, cafes or offices in the City have to return home to do the cooking, cleaning, etc., so modern day life hasn't changed things greatly.

So it's no wonder that it is the ladies who have the longevity, they have been kept fit all their lives by the amount of work they have to do, whilst the men live  a far less healthy existence.

It is the women of Romania who are the power houses, who break their backs to try and ensure that their children, and their men, are fed, clean and presentable, and women have lived this lifestyle here for hundreds if not thousands of years.

The same is true in other less-developed parts of the world too, and I know that I am generalising and that this isn't true of all men and women, but from my observations of everyday Romanian life, it is the way the great majority of women live.

It's the woman who are the real power.

Steve

www.volunteerromania.co.uk

THAT'S WHAT IT'S REALLY ALL ABOUT

It really is the little things in life that can lift your spirits the highest isn't it?
Sometimes those little things can come from the most unexpected sources and happen in the most unexpected places too.
To be honest, times are a little tough for us at the moment and occasionally it is difficult to keep smiling
We have spent almost the whole of last week on our computers night and day just trying to spread the word abut Romania, and yes, to be honest, trying to drum up some business which has been really slow this year.
So, having been in the house all that time, last night we scraped together some change (and it really was that!) and went down to the bar for just one drink each (total cost for two beers and one tuica is about £1.10, so honestly it wasn't too frivolous of us was it?)
After a slow amble down the road, we got our drinks and sat down with about a dozen friends who were already there.
A short while later, Momo arrived. 

A sneaky picture that we took of Momo last winter

Now, what can I say about Momo? He is a man I have enormous respect for. He has a severe curvature of the spine which bends him over all of the time, and makes it difficult for him to walk. He has a speech impediment which makes it very difficult to understand him, and to be honest, he is a little smelly so he is made to sit apart from the others in our local bar. This man though, walked all of the way from the other side of old Yugoslavia to get back home. (That's a walk of over 900 km, through some pretty inhospitable country) Doing it he lived on nothing but nuts and berries he could pick from the side of the road. His strength and determination are an example to everyone of how to overcome personal adversity to be where you want to be.
(I learnt this morning that Momo is actually 84 years old, I can only respect him so much more now)
He lives on a small pension, and every day he goes into Deva to collect yesterdays dry bread from shops and restaurants, which he uses to feed the stray dogs he meets on the way home. They know him and they wait to get their daily bread from him, always wagging their tails in delight to see him.
When he feeds them he always says, "Please don't bite me", as if they would.
For a couple of months now Momo has been playing a game with us, giving our friend John the free children's toys he gets out of a snack packet. Now John is in his mid 20's and we aren't really sure what made Momo start doing it, but he always gives those toys with a  smile and a little giggle and it has been a real delight for us to have this connection with him.
Last night Momo decided to give me the toy for a change, laughing loudly while he did so. It was a white plastic lollipop shaped toy that when you switch it on it flashes alternatively red and blue, a little like a light on top of a police car.
We joked that we should use it in our car to clear the way when we are in a hurry.
As we sat enjoying our drinks slowly, the evening wore on and it became darker and darker, so obviously the lights in the toy could be seen more and more clearly.
I switched it off and left it on the table in front of me.
As we sat talking a few more people came into the bar to sit on the terrace, including a two year old boy, Alex, and his grandmother Rodica. Alex is a lovely boy, full of smiles, and he and his grandmother sat next to us while he drank his fizzy orange drink.
Alison was talking to Rodica and playing with Alex, and I looked at the toy on the table and thought that it was wasted on me, so I lifted it up and handed it to Alex, switching it back on as I did so.
"Vrai?"......("would you like it?")
Alex's face lit up brightly, just like someone had also flicked a switch on inside him, just as I had done with the toy. He had an enormous grin on his face as he reached out to take it from me. Alex spent the best part of the next hour playing with that toy, smiling and laughing.
Momo had left before Alex arrived, but I wish he could also have seen the delight that Alex took in having that simple toy and watching it's flashing lights, he would have loved to see it.
We walked back up the road to home with Alex and Rodica, and we were all smiling and laughing all of the way.
What had started out as being a 'low' time for us yesterday evening turned into a real highlight, typical of the magic that is Romania, and is the village and the people of the village.

We also have to say thank you to another good friend, Sebby who bought us a couple more drinks while we were there, returning a favour we had done him some time ago.

That hour or so in the bar though did so much to lift our spirits and to remind us what life here is really about. It's about the people,and the children, and the smiles on their faces, which are so infectious. They are smiles that you carry home with you in your heart and they are smiles that sustain you through the night.

Steve

www.holiday-romania.co.uk
www.volunteerromania.eu

APPLES

I understand that Britain is suffering from a shortage of apples this year.

Well it isn't true in our garden here in Romania, we have an abundance of apples from 3 old trees that have hardly ever given fruit before.

Our poor apple tree, so weighed down by fruit that it's branches broke

Ironically, we have always planned to make cider for ourselves, because you can'y buy cider here in Romania, so (because of the lack of fruit from the old trees in previous years) we planted five new apple trees in Spring. I think the older trees must have realized and got the hump, because they have given us so much fruit this year we aren't sure what to do with it all.
Anyway, today has been all about collecting the apples. We have already eaten a fair number directly from the tree so today is about collecting those that are left before any bad weather sets in.
I think we have, as a rough estimate, about 1 Ton of apples to collect, in three different varieties.
It would take an expert to identify each type of tree and I am no expert, but one tree gives relatively large red/green sweet apples, one gives small green sweet apples, the other gives small green sharp apples.  
I have done some internet research and I think that these would make a nice mixture of apples to make cider with, which we are definitely going to do.

Two older trees still waiting to be picked

Unfortunately we don't have all of the right equipment to make cider in large quantities, so we are going to adopt a simple American method using kitchen equipment to make a couple of batches.
I know, I know, we are Philistines. British, from the home of the best ciders in the world, with all of these apples and we are going to use an American recipe???. This time though it is a matter of 'needs must'.
Homemade wine as well as a home made spirit called Tuica are very popular in Romania, and as a result the equipment needed to produce large quantities of home made booze is relatively cheap.

Just some of the apples picked so far

Fruit pulper's, fruit presses, large barrel's, demi-john's in all sizes, botlles, corks, airlocks, are all readily available, however I'm afraid that we just don't have the money to buy everything we need this year, so we are stuck with the kitchen appliance method.

Using this method though there is no way we will make use of all of the apples we have, so, rather than letting them go to waste we have offered them to our friends in the village, and it turns out that they can make a version of Tuica from them.
Now Tuica (pronounced Tsweeka) is a home made hooch, normally made from Plums. It's a sort of strong plum vodka, normally made to be about 40% proof, but can occasionally be as strong as 70-80% proof. It's powerful stuff, but it is absolutely delicious, if something of an acquired taste. 
If you can't make it for yourself (and let's face it, not everyone has a Still at home do they?), a 100ml measure of it can be bought from the local bar for 2 Lei.
Time for an amount and cost comparison I think.
A standard single measure of spirit in Britain is 25 ml, so 100 ml is the same as 4 single measures in Britain, i.e 2 doubles.
Now a cheap shot of Whisky, say, in a pub in Britain costs I believe in the order of £2.50 in bars in and around London (I know it is variable across Britain but this is just a comparison exercise after all), so four Whiskies (i.e 100 ml) would costs around £10.
Well 100 ml of Tuica in village bars costs 2 Lei, roughly the equivalent of 40p!!!!!
Is it a surprise that it is  a popular drink amongst the workers in the villages?

Now don't get Tuica confused with the poisonous stuff they are finding at the moment in other Eastern European countries.
That is a blend of industrial alcohols that the makers know are poisonous, they just don't care about it.
Tuica is made at home by experts and is checked by experts, and a duty is paid on it before consumption, and it is safe. After all, the guys who make it want to drink it too, so they are going to make sure it is good.
The making of Tuica is a social occasion and can go on for two or three days, during which much of last years brew will be tried. The plums, once nicely matured and soft (and as I have said sometimes apples) go into a large barrel to be heated and they are stirred for hours, sometimes days, depending upon the size of the barrel. Effectively this does all of the pulping and pressing for you as well as reducing the water content of the juice and taking out a lot of the poisons that might be there. Only when the resident 'expert says it is ready is the fire put out and the juice extracted and strained to leave the pulp behind.
The juices are then distilled, once, twice, three times, until an acceptable clear spirit is obtained and Tuica is produced.
I am giving a very rough description of the method of production , because, so far I haven't witnessed it personally. With 1 Ton of apples to give away though, I am hoping that I will be part of it this year, and I will write again when I have been.
I will also let everyone know how the cider goes. The recipe looks very simple, so lets's hope it works!!

Steve


www.holiday-romania.co.uk
www.volunteerromania.eu