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While writing about Jihadi Jay Abdo, I had started writing about foreigners who study in Romania and half-way through I realized that this deserves a separate article. I had previously assumed (nature) that the Romanian prime-minister’s (Ponta) many scandals, some centered around his plagiarizing of his doctoral thesis will taint Romanian education and significantly decrease its appeal. Further investigation revealed that many are still interested, although it is hard to determine to what extent the scandals have caused the Romanian tuition fees to be the lowest in Europe, or that is due to other market forces. As usual, the links are listed at the end.

Now that the European results are known and Euroscepticism discussed, after a short detour through Canadian visas for Romanians, we will finally take a look at the Romanian politics.

Today I met another European woman. Originally from Spain, she told me she worked in the Czech Republic for a while as a translator. Upon learning I'm Romanian, she also felt the need to share with me that there were "a lot of Romanians" in the Czech Republic who wanted to come to Canada but couldn't, because there is no visa treaty. When I told her that there were some problems here with Czech Roma getting visa through fraud and the visa had been suspended, her reaction was to remove her Czech work experience from her resume, out of fear that “Czechs now had a bad name.”

Quickly, I just learned about a new Romanian Immigrant who had won the Visa Lottery..

One of the things I've been doing with my life lately is moving to a more “mobile lifestyle” (or “nomadic”, as a friend has described it), which includes digitizing my paper archives and moving everything online. Obviously, this involves some sort of encryption before moving stuff to the cloud, but for now, let's have a look at my old passports, which somehow makes me talk about representative democracy and its inherent corruption.

Whenever I talk to Romanians who want to come to Canada and I answer questions, I always end up being a bit upset. I find that people ask me too many simple questions they could answer themselves with Google and too few of the “important” questions. Maybe there’s a guru hiding inside of me, and here’s where I set him free.

Intrucat taman mi-a sosit cartea ei comandata de pe Amazon, m-am gandit c-a venit momentul episodului II. In primul rand, despre cum am comandat cartea pentru un total de CDN $9.72, platiti cu cartea de credit.

One contest I thought about is superscrieri (superwritings). That got me thinking of other contests, such as fiction in Canada or the US Visa Lottery.

It is almost painful to discuss the election results, chiefly because nothing is unexpected, most voters see a completely different reality than I do (or, if you will, they see the same thing but interpret it differently) and there is no way I can ever bridge this gap. Not only that, but it's virtually impossible to do so, even if I tried. I gave up trying long ago.

Ieri am avut o zi oarecum complexa. Si m-am gandit s-o impartasex cu populatia cititoare.

Tocmai cautam traducerea romaneasca a celebrei poezii If-- a lui Rudyard Kipling, si-uite-asa am dat peste "ciotul" articolului din wikipedia romaneasca. Am completat articolul cu versiunea romaneasca, si-am mai zabovit nitel, ocazie cu care am descoperit ca wikipedia romaneasca are un concurs...

I have been staying away from the news of the moment, but this recent tragedy hits extremely close to home, whichever way a member of the Toronto Romanian diaspora (including myself) chooses to define that notion.

S-a lansat o provocare deductiva. Pot oare scrie PArtretul cuiva pe baza catorva PA-uri? N-ar tre’i sa fie asa dificil, dat fiind ca nu demult ghiceam sexul din PA-uri.

I promised a reader to answer a thoughtful provocation on Herta Mueller and I finally keep (or try to) my word. I am replying to Mr Mihail Lungu in regards to how opportune and appropriate was my declared enthusiasm for her work and her Nobel.

#atatsaputut: As busy as one gets, occasionally there is the old "something wrong on the internets" feeling, and that was triggered by this Deutsche Welle free documentary about Romanian Roma kids begging on the streets of Paris as well as in the Parisian Metro (subway / tube) and how the French and Romanian authorities are dealing with it. Ca de obicei, versiunea in romana a acestui articol pe FataCarte.

It's not a lot, but “atat s-a putut”.

Iata ca m-am invrednicit si eu sa-mi pun pe hartie gandurile apropo de votul de azi. Am incercat sa citesc si cateva bloguri, dar opinia predominanta este ca trebuie sa votam nul fiindca asa, vezi Doamne, i-am pedepsi pe politicieni. Dupa cum i-am spus si lui Arhi, in comparatie cu ideea de a nu vota sau a vota nul, ideea de a-ti bea propria urina este geniala.

I recently read a longer article on Bloomberg about Romania and its lagging infrastructure - more specifically, roads and highways. Much to my surprise, all that I was reading on other blogs (or hearing from my relatives) was described and explained as facts. (blmbrg-cows) 

Chiar nu ma asteptam sa reuseasca CCR sa se achite atat de bine de sarcina neutralitatii si in acelasi timp sa raspunda legal si balansat samavolniciei USLasilor. Nu intentionez sa ma prezint la votul de referendum si recomand cu caldura oricui iubeste libertatea sa faca la fel si sa-si vada de concediu. Ai muncit mult ca sa traiesti bine, ai dreptul la un bine-meritat R&R.

Dupa ce am raspuns pe larg uneia din problemele ridicate de Alphadog (si de fapt, o problema pe care o vad si eu ca atare), reiterez argumentele sumarizate anterior si daca mai ramane timp si spatiu, adaug si cateva in plus.

Ieri a avut loc concertul Thievery Corporation in Bucuresti. Maine e concertul NightLosers in Toronto. Eu ma gandesc la fomei si despartiri.

I have met quite a few Germans lately. One of them told me about his happy road trip through Romania and the Moldovan Republic, and I thought his story is worth sharing here.