Misguided Eastern Pride and Vanity of Quickly Joining the West
On the overnight bus from Chisinau to Bucharest, the traveler started talking to a Romanian who went to visit (unsuccessfully) his love interest in Moldova. Quickly, revealing his frustration that the girl's father was against his (second) meetup with the girl, he went on a tirade against the Moldovans, who he describes as "pretty empty in the head because they are still communist over there." He went on to describe Moldova as a country "that has nothing positive except beautiful women." Yes, he is a little bit biased with heightened emotional tensions, but his sentiment, at least here in Romania, is surprisingly common.
To be specific, it is a sentiment of "we" against "them," a wholehearted attempt for locals here to separate themselves from the other former Soviet bloc countries up north, even though technically, Romanians and Moldovans practically share the same language, culture, and are of the same genetic makeup. Part of the sentiment, of course, is justified. After seeing the truly shoddy trains and buses of Ukraine and Moldova, the infrastructure here is not nearly as bad in comparison. And with Latin (rather than only Cyrillic up north) alphabet in use, and more people speaking English, the place does fill a bit more Western.
But a slightly more Western outlook still does not put sense into the sheer exaggeration locals command to display great effort in "looking to the West." One great instance is how all major hotels, travel agencies, and large department stores quote prices in Euros rather than Romanian lei. The traveler, in desperation of looking for a lodging at midnight, went to a three-star hotel to ask for the price, and was shocked to hear "61" from the receptionist. Only when he was ready to pay for the exceedingly cheap night did the receptionist start converting the price into the local currency, to the traveler's dismaying realization.
Perhaps the effort is in part done to attract more Western tourists. After all, three star hotel for 61 Euros is incredibly cheap compared to Western Europe, where a dorm bed can cost 25-30 Euros even during winter time. Catering to the bargain-hunting mind of the Western travelers, quoting prices in Euros may be a good strategy. But whats interesting is that the same people quoting prices in Euros to the Westerners are actually doing the same to the Romanians as well. With Romania not scheduled to adopt the Euro for at least 3 or 4 years, there simply does not seem to be a point to get the locals reading for the "Euro mentality"...
Indeed, the only feasible reason locals do this is to make sure everyone, locals and foreigners alike, naturally understand that Romania, even as a part of the former Soviet bloc, is different from other former Soviet countries. The people here are intent to brainwash themselves into thinking that Romania is physically Western, Romanian people are liberal-minded, and the other parts of Eastern Europe (barring oddities like Slovenia) are definitely up to "Romanian speed" when it comes to catching up with the West mentally and physically.
But walking through the chaotic streets of Bucharest clogged with excess number of cars and not enough protection of pedestrians, the traveler has to say that not only has Romania not caught up with the West in terms of mentality, but the very enthusiasm of Romanians to identify themselves as "closer to the West" betrays that they still lag behind the Westerners in terms of understanding the reality. Romania, after all, has decidedly mixed culture, like other parts of former Soviet bloc, with distinctly obvious communistic idiosyncrasies.
And her people's understanding of Western modernization still remains highly materialistic as seen by excessive car ownership and copying completely misinterpreted and misunderstood "Western" lifestyles (I have never seen a higher concentration of McDonald's, KFC, and Burger King in Europe than here in Bucharest) while the West has already moved much beyond that to focus on getting in touch with her traditional roots to find new inspirations for the next phase of modernity.
Yes, decades of communist rule in Eastern Europe has had a very traumatic effect on the local population, especially here in Romania, where dictator Ceausescu had no qualms about destroying Romanian cultural traditions. However, at some point, Eastern Europeans have to realize that their Soviet past is an integral part of their respective identities, just as their ancient and medieval traditions are. The Soviet influence can be suppressed superficially, but can never be destroyed. Until they are comfortable with this fact, they will always be vainly displaying their "Western-ness" by bashing fellow Eastern countries and quoting prices in Euros.
To be specific, it is a sentiment of "we" against "them," a wholehearted attempt for locals here to separate themselves from the other former Soviet bloc countries up north, even though technically, Romanians and Moldovans practically share the same language, culture, and are of the same genetic makeup. Part of the sentiment, of course, is justified. After seeing the truly shoddy trains and buses of Ukraine and Moldova, the infrastructure here is not nearly as bad in comparison. And with Latin (rather than only Cyrillic up north) alphabet in use, and more people speaking English, the place does fill a bit more Western.
But a slightly more Western outlook still does not put sense into the sheer exaggeration locals command to display great effort in "looking to the West." One great instance is how all major hotels, travel agencies, and large department stores quote prices in Euros rather than Romanian lei. The traveler, in desperation of looking for a lodging at midnight, went to a three-star hotel to ask for the price, and was shocked to hear "61" from the receptionist. Only when he was ready to pay for the exceedingly cheap night did the receptionist start converting the price into the local currency, to the traveler's dismaying realization.
Perhaps the effort is in part done to attract more Western tourists. After all, three star hotel for 61 Euros is incredibly cheap compared to Western Europe, where a dorm bed can cost 25-30 Euros even during winter time. Catering to the bargain-hunting mind of the Western travelers, quoting prices in Euros may be a good strategy. But whats interesting is that the same people quoting prices in Euros to the Westerners are actually doing the same to the Romanians as well. With Romania not scheduled to adopt the Euro for at least 3 or 4 years, there simply does not seem to be a point to get the locals reading for the "Euro mentality"...
Indeed, the only feasible reason locals do this is to make sure everyone, locals and foreigners alike, naturally understand that Romania, even as a part of the former Soviet bloc, is different from other former Soviet countries. The people here are intent to brainwash themselves into thinking that Romania is physically Western, Romanian people are liberal-minded, and the other parts of Eastern Europe (barring oddities like Slovenia) are definitely up to "Romanian speed" when it comes to catching up with the West mentally and physically.
But walking through the chaotic streets of Bucharest clogged with excess number of cars and not enough protection of pedestrians, the traveler has to say that not only has Romania not caught up with the West in terms of mentality, but the very enthusiasm of Romanians to identify themselves as "closer to the West" betrays that they still lag behind the Westerners in terms of understanding the reality. Romania, after all, has decidedly mixed culture, like other parts of former Soviet bloc, with distinctly obvious communistic idiosyncrasies.
And her people's understanding of Western modernization still remains highly materialistic as seen by excessive car ownership and copying completely misinterpreted and misunderstood "Western" lifestyles (I have never seen a higher concentration of McDonald's, KFC, and Burger King in Europe than here in Bucharest) while the West has already moved much beyond that to focus on getting in touch with her traditional roots to find new inspirations for the next phase of modernity.
Yes, decades of communist rule in Eastern Europe has had a very traumatic effect on the local population, especially here in Romania, where dictator Ceausescu had no qualms about destroying Romanian cultural traditions. However, at some point, Eastern Europeans have to realize that their Soviet past is an integral part of their respective identities, just as their ancient and medieval traditions are. The Soviet influence can be suppressed superficially, but can never be destroyed. Until they are comfortable with this fact, they will always be vainly displaying their "Western-ness" by bashing fellow Eastern countries and quoting prices in Euros.
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