Lately, I’ve had my mind on my neighbor down the road, but that doesn’t mean that I’ve forgotten about good old Unicorn City. Ah yes, my pet name for dear, sweet Cluj-Napoca, a charming city that is, unfortunately, a little too full of its own shit. How many times have I written about this before, for goodness’ sake? Shameless Cluj-Napoca, the second-largest city in Romania, … Continue reading Garbage Fire
You know, I’ve met Emil Boc several times, the (apparently) permanent mayor of Cluj-Napoca. He’s a nice guy and quite charming. But he’s an old Communist bootlick and one of the most racist anti-Gypsy politicians in the country, and that’s saying something. Yesterday, I couldn’t help but note that the Pata Rat garbage dump, described by its residents as hell on Earth, something that I … Continue reading We Don’t Need No Water
If you’ve been a fan of this site for a long time, you know that I call my former town of Cluj-Napoca Unicorn City. Here is yet more proof of why it keeps on deserving that nickname: Cluj-Napoca’s Avram Iancu International Airport is the first airport in Romania that hosts a free library. The library, which was opened on Thursday, June 30, and offers tens … Continue reading Fahrenheit 451
I wrote about it in 2012, in 2013, in 2014 and countless other times, but it’s finally good to hear that longtime expat Rupert Wolfe Murray finally gets it too: For many years I thought I knew the answer to the problems faced by the Romani Gypsies: education. If we could just make school more appealing to this population their situation of marginalisation would gradually … Continue reading Volte-face
All Things Romania 