A few days ago, on a Midwestern US university website:
Internet access brings Romanians new freedoms (article about a research mission led by Ball State Anthropology Department who took a student team to rural Romania to examine the impact of free Internet access in several small villages):
Installing computers with Internet access in Romanian public libraries was designed to support positive social change in this underdeveloped eastern European nation, but it's also spurred online dating, comparison shopping and social networking, says an analysis by Ball State University. (...) "The Internet has the potential to bring most of Romania into the 21st century," Nyce added. "Right now, it is mainly an agrarian society that, for our students, resembles the rural U.S. around 1910. It will be interesting to see how the country transforms in the next decade as information technology and e-commerce becomes more prevalent."
After back and forth emailing with the authors and reasonable arguments, the article changed its tone. However, hasty generalizations and stereotypes will always make the headlines... Where is the true Romanian spirit among these?
joi, 28 octombrie 2010
luni, 25 octombrie 2010
Bad bag!
Yes, I am guilty, I know! I haven't written for a while and when I used to do it, I did it in Romanian. I am now changing the gear to English, as an answer to the friends here in the US who wanted to be able to read me - their Romanian improved, but I don't want to push it :)
Now what made me finally write? A bad bag. In Muncie, Indiana.
Before I came here, one of the friends I had in the US told me that small towns are a safe place: "you can leave your bag in a park and find it untouched the next day." If I would ask my friend today what can happen with my bag if I leave it unattended around here, she'll probably say: "nobody will take it. They'll just blow it up...":
"Traffic at McGalliard Road was stopped around noon for about half an hour after police received a call to inspect a mysterious package at a gas station on the intersection of McGalliard and Oakwood Avenue. McGalliard was blocked from Tillotson to Rosewood avenues, and Oakwood Avenue was blocked from Woodmont to Royale drives. Stg. Bruce Qualles from the Muncie Police Department said the store clerk discovered a brown leather brief case at the station and called the police. The county bomb squad arrived 15 minutes later. The package was detonated at 1:25 p.m. and police proceeded to reopen the road."
Poor person who came back for the bag/brief case two hours later!
Now what made me finally write? A bad bag. In Muncie, Indiana.
Before I came here, one of the friends I had in the US told me that small towns are a safe place: "you can leave your bag in a park and find it untouched the next day." If I would ask my friend today what can happen with my bag if I leave it unattended around here, she'll probably say: "nobody will take it. They'll just blow it up...":
"Traffic at McGalliard Road was stopped around noon for about half an hour after police received a call to inspect a mysterious package at a gas station on the intersection of McGalliard and Oakwood Avenue. McGalliard was blocked from Tillotson to Rosewood avenues, and Oakwood Avenue was blocked from Woodmont to Royale drives. Stg. Bruce Qualles from the Muncie Police Department said the store clerk discovered a brown leather brief case at the station and called the police. The county bomb squad arrived 15 minutes later. The package was detonated at 1:25 p.m. and police proceeded to reopen the road."
Poor person who came back for the bag/brief case two hours later!
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