SCENE: Standing on a street corner in downtown Cluj-Napoca at around 8 o’clock at night. BUDDY #1: Oh my god, look over there. It’s Piki. BUDDY #2: Yeah, Piki the officially crazy guy of Floresti. Me: Why is he the officially crazy guy of Floresti? BUDDY #1: Because everyone in that village knows that his wife is a (literal) cow. He has sex with her. … Continue reading Piki, Nebunul Oficial de Floresti
…the soda and water bottles in your house actually contain homemade wine and liquor. Continue reading You Know You’re Romanian When…
I got a request to write something light and funny for the end of the year but that isn’t how it works. As Bill Hicks once said, the audience never respects the artist – they always treat you like a jukebox, where you put in a coin and order up what you want. That’s why there are four different “50 Shades Of…” books translated into … Continue reading The Ballad of Bambino Party
A close examination of my life reveals that is fractally weird, meaning that it’s strange and inexplicable on every scale of resolution. I get asked quite often why I choose to live in Romania and the real secret is that this country is just as fractally weird as I am. Case in point is the condition of any given sidewalk in an urban area in … Continue reading Sidewalk Socialism
As I write this, my heating system is chugging along, dispelling the cold and dark outside and I see that snow is once again falling on the streets of this little town I have come to call home. And so I am taking a little break from my normal activities to pause and reflect on what a strange and wonderful year this has been. Some … Continue reading A Year of Days
All Things Romania 