I’ve been following the recent events in Romania with a mix of emotions. If I were to look at it chronologically, I guess it would be as follows:

  • sadness and disbelief at the fire incident
  • grief, followed by amazement at the solidarity that people showed – in the country, as well as outside
  • a bit of cynicism at the initial desires of the people – don;t get me wrong, I think ending corruption is always the way, but I could not stop wondering: “Are we ready for this?”. Because ending corruption (and here I will resume myself just to the measures regarding functioning of clubs, venues etc.) means also that a lot of our favorite clubs, pubs and hang out places would actually need to be closed down. Or that prices for drinks and things in the same places would need to go up to cover for the cost of actually obeying health & safety standards. Or that we will also need to start obeying rules…not smoking indoors, not gathering in unsafe places etc. And I was just doubtful whether we really realise what we are signing ourselves up for. If we realise that this implies changes in our behavior too, not just in ”their” behavior.
  • feeling impressed that things are continuing!! and escalating!
  • immense surprise (and joy!!) that Ponta resigned; followed by the feeling of fear…that people will just be happy with that, and everything will stop.
  • feeling more and more impressed with the sequel of events! With the dedication of people (and my friends) to get out there and be involved.
  • feeling that you’re missing out on something important. I’ve never been too nationalistic (or so I thought), nor too against my country (you have those people also). And there haven’t been many occasions when I thought “I would have loved to be in Romania for this”. But I think this period was one moment that I would have liked to share with the people. Part of me is curious what (if anything) I would have done about it.

SO now I just sit and read the news. That is also a weird experience, because there’s so many articles, so many views, so many social media comments. It’s like a puzzle that feels very distant but yet so easy to relate to somehow. Not to mention that, amazingly enough, Romania’s issues are actually related also in Malaysian newspapers…I find that funny 🙂 All of a sudden, more people know stuff about Romania 🙂