I
had the opportunity last night to pass out the literature on Friendship
Force International and make a 10-minute presentation to the Rotary Club
of Craiova.
There appears to be solid interest.
In addition I had very strong interest in the Rotary Club
assisting us in providing computers through Bob Langford and his efforts
with Bridge Builder to Blind schools.
The club here will arrange a meeting for me with the school
superintendent and I will introduce them to Bob via e-mail.
The
wage for a university graduate teacher is $150-200 so you can appreciate
their problems.
This is a highly educated population in the cities and a 1920's
life style in the country.
Last weekend I saw only one tractor and perhaps 30 horse or oxen
drawn wagons during a trip 120 KM from here that took over two hours due
to 2 lane roads and poor road conditions.
All caused by the communist dictator who was overthrown in 1990
and then followed with corruption by elected officials since.
Sincerely,
Ed
From
Ed February 28, 2003:
The
people over here are well educated, but very poor.
A factory worker makes $200/month and a teacher $150/mo.
Bread is $0.30/loaf, sausage is .20/link and oranges are .25 each, but good Romanian wine is $3.00; I
will survive. I am in
constant conversations, when not working, about what America is really
like. Driving through the
heavy pollution this morning I realized how truly blest we are as a
nation.
Ed
From
Ed March 7, 2003
Buna
dimineata from Rumania, with the t in the second word as the ts
in cats.
May
peace be possible for all nations as this is a subject for discussion
frequently at dinner with my hosts.
The joke on the Romanian news over here is that the marines in
Romania (evidently 1000)near the black Sea had been attacked by two dogs
who infiltrated their camp; nationality of the dogs is as yet unknown.
We had a good business week with considerable
opportunities to transfer my business knowledge and operating techniques
to the General Manager and his Directors.
ELPRECO has a huge database but, they seem to have been too
concentrated on learning Oracle’s system
(big bucks spent here). It
has paid off however as they have dropped from 1500 people 5 years ago
to 600 in the factories now and have a profit.
The company was sold by the government (remember that until 1990
there was no private enterprise in the semi-communist state);
dictatorship is more accurate. Now for the twist. The
majority stockholder is a Romanian holding company that is controlled by
Broadhurst (?) Investments in NYC that manages pension money for
universities. I think this
means I am also working for Yale and Princeton.
My Romanian is slowly developing for the key phrases: Da, Nu, Buna Seara
(evening), La reverdere, multsemesc and my favorite “Vorbiti engleza”.
Even the janitress returned my greeting with a smile when I came
in this morning. By the
way, it is 8 AM now and I think there is an 8 hour time difference.
Besides the concerts on Friday night my entertainment to limited
to walking the new 5 story department store where each department is a
different company and they rent the space. And I watch TV.
Sorry Marge, but not only do I have CNN but also BBC World,
German TV, 3 Romanian stations including one that only has Romanian
singers and dancers in folk costumes which everyone tells me are seen at
parades only, German TV, Italian TV including MTV from Italy with tight
tee shirts and short short skirts, National Geographic, Discovery,
Animal Planet where the main theme seems to be animals eating other
animals, Euro/Swiss, HBO old plays although I did see parts of 6 Feet
Under one night and occasionally MSNBC at some odd hours.
It is back below freezing this morning and no one remembers it being
this cold so late in March. I
now have an electric space heater in the TV room in the apartment
($40/month rental plus utilities) as it was too cold to sit without my
jacket on. I confirmed that
teachers make $150/month and professors in the $2-300 range while civil
engineers may be up to $600 if they work for a private firm; half that
if for the government. Because
all apartments were sold to the tenants after the 1990 revolution for a
small amount of LEI and inflation has made them the only asset of value,
the college graduates are getting married at a young age so they can
afford to rent an apartment themselves.
A new dishwasher (no Maytags here as only eastern European models
are available) may cost a month’s salary so it is very tough getting
started with married life. And
we all thought we had it bad when we were first married 6, 16 or 46
years ago. The one bright
note is that mortgages have finally been introduced by 10 banks in just
the last two years. Previously
you had to inherit your granny’s flat when she died.
There are numerous office buildings, apartments and even a Roman
Catholic church in unfinished conditions due to bankruptcy or simply
stopped until more money is available from the owner of
the building.
When I arrived and changed $50 into LEI I became a millionaire since the
exchange rate was 32,500 LEI/ $1.00.
Inflation has gone up since 1990 and in the last 4 years from
13,000 LEI to this level. The largest coin is 1000 LEI and the smallest
bill is 2000 LEI or $0.06. Food
is a mixed bag, if will excuse the unintentional joke, as the bread is
very good for $.30 a loaf, cheese local is $.50 for ½ pound and a very
good Romanian wine at $5.00 is Feteasca Neagra, Dealu Mare region of
Romania and current bottle 1999. You
might check out your specialty wine shops.
It is something like Pinot Noir. Unfortunately the fruit is badly
bruised as it is trucked in here from ports further west and the roads
may not be as good as the Baja off-road race.
I assume I told some of you about my trip last
Sunday to the Danube, southern mountains of Transylvania and an active
monastery. This weekend I
hope to be gone two days to Braslov which is in the Carpathian Mountains
and close to Bran Castle and German Lutheran Saxony medieval
fort/churches. My
interpreter and her husband will take me if the weather permits.
Please forgive the length of this e-mail, but I am current with
my work load for two hours and decided to sneak this one in.
My last weekend in Romania I hope to spend in Bucharest as I have
a meeting scheduled with the director of a college for the blind
students and the hope to involve Dallas Friendship Force in providing
PC’s for them in some manner. With
love to all,
Ed
March 11, 2003
Anca, my interpreter and her husband Ion drove me
500 KM roundtrip from Craiova to Braslov for a weekend in ski resorts,
culture and 13th century buildings.
The entire trip was on two lanes roads that are full of
chuckholes requiring an average speed of 30 MPH and often stopping just
to roll the car through the hole. When
we stopped for gas, at $.85 per liter or about $3.40/gallon I went into
the store. Imagine an
upscale 7/11 that had wine, beer and all the necessary spare parts to
repair your vehicle if it breaks down enroute.
No tow trucks in this country.
One of the American exports I noticed for sale was Playboy in
Romanian; we really have to work on our national image in this country.
We stayed in a skiing village at the training lodge of NCH Holding, the
Romanian company that is majority stock holder of my company.
And NCH is controlled by Broadhurst Investments, NYC, which
invests for US pension funds. We spent 2 hours at Peles Castle, built for King Carol I.
400 stone masons and wood carvers took 39 years to build this
castle. Nixon, Ford,
Gaddaffi, Arafat and now I
have visited it. Look
this one up on the web as it is beautiful.
Also visited the 13th century city center of Braslov with a huge
gothic church called the Black Church (Biserica Neagra) because of a
fire that stained it centuries ago.
It is a Germanic Lutheran church and I hoped to attend service,
but fortunately I was late. They start at 9 AM and the doors are kept closed until 1:30
PM. We visited Bran Castle
of Dracula fame and the best part was the village outdoor shops selling
hand made goods. Enough of
the travelogue.
Random observations after 3 weeks in Romania must
include the following.
