@Simona_Halep’s win is an amazing victory and an event we’ll be remembering and talking about at least until her next Grand Slam.  Sadly, it was only hours before all those hungry to for publicity started to throw shade, claim ownership and speculate it for their own nefarious ends.

#WTA has recently confused #Romania anti-#corruption #rezist #protest with people coming out in the streets to welcome and congratulate Simona Halep in her recent Grand Slam triumph (gsp-tnr). It’s not only foreigners not getting what’s going on, but even some of those protesting.

I’ve watched (a bit late) @Simona_Halep’s win @RolandGarros and I think it’s enough of a milestone to come out of my springbernation and tell you about it.

Recently, a friend asked me to provide Romanian lessons. I directed her to Duolingo and, as I occasionally listen to Romanian eTeatru (or “teatru radiofonic”), it occurred to me that this is something worth sharing with the rest of the world.

Recently, on the WhatsApp group I share with my former classmates, one of us posted an article about Soros. I don’t know exactly why he did so – there’s a small chance he shared it because it’s such a dumb article that it’s funny, but this is a good opportunity to look at the mythology created around the boogeyman Soros. As it happens, this article would be best written in Romanian, as anyone capable to follow an article in English has already made up her mind, which is why a summary in Romanian will soon follow.

..except in Romania. Part of the reason why is that I’m not in Romania. But it’s also because so many have left the country and the population is in a precipitous decline.

I have previously echoed on this blog news about Romanians in the #diaspora. This time, we’re discovering the story of a girl born in an #Austrian refugee camp to a Romanian mother and an (absent) Italian father, who was reborn in an aboriginal village.

In Romanian, “firea”, the articulated form of the noun fire, is part of many idioms. It is also the name of the current Bucharest Mayor, who recently had to shamefully backtrack on announcing the winner for a logo contest, due to a likely case of plagiarism. This fickle-mindedness seems to be common to her entire party, PSD, struggling as it is with the conflict between its deep desire to "forget and forgive" cases of corruption and the public commitments, forced by weeks or #rezist protests to the contrary.

I just had today, on WhatsApp, a conversation with a former classmate, who posted some photos from Baile Herculane (Herculean Baths? – a touristic destination from Roman times with geothermal springs). The situation is dire. I advised her rather strongly to fight, to which she countered with the refrain I constantly hear in this situations: “you are disconnected from the Romanian reality”.

A recent “viral” video clip shows the Romanian president, Klaus Iohannis, moving the Union Jack (the UK flag), out of the way as he talks to reporters. This act of “elimination” is probably the least interesting of the ones discussed herein.

I watched it a few days ago and promised myself I’ll write down my thoughts before this forgettable creation disappears from memory. On the plus side, I identified a Romanian actress in it.

I’m becoming a Nastase hater. Can’t this guy just disappear from news altogether, or realize that we’re no longer in the 50s and the 70s are over?!

When discussing corruption, my view is that Romanian corruption is not much higher than elsewhere, when comparing apples to apples. It irks me to hear people who try to motivate their compatriots with calls to make “corruption” like and idyllic West, because in so doing, they prove they do not know much about the West (or they have misunderstood what they’ve learned), and are also selling short their own country.

This is an (Austro?-)German movie shortlisted for the Foreign Oscar and filmed in Bucharest. It’s great and rated 7.6 on IMDB, with a Metascore of 93. It is also remarkably warm and positive toward Romania.

I struggle to write about my grandma’s passing away, between expressing all I have to say, and staying within the limits of what a reader might find interesting or useful, without falling into too much drama.

Ion Tiriac, the richest former athlete in the world, had some choice words to say about the protest actions and as a result he is pilloried in the press. I can’t help feeling that he’s repeating what I’ve been saying.