Romania, Day 8

The Roma population of Romanian is very vulnerable, suffering from poverty, discrimination, and marginalisation. The term "gypsy" is a very negative and derogatory term, as "cracker" or "nigger" would be in the US. Roma means "I am Rome." There is no word for gypsy in the Roma language. We attended a lecture facilitated by the director of the Resource Centre for Roma Communities. I became quite disgruntled when discussing the settlement of Roma nomadic families. I asked the director if the government or agency would consider delivering services directly to the families in order to preserve their traditions and lifestyles as a nomadic people. I was a bit angry that it has been decided that it is in the best interest of the Roma to settle. I disagree, especially after my research on forced settlement of Tibetan nomads. I'm not quite sure that the Romanian social services system is ready for such a controversial opinion.

During the lecture, we were serenaded by many different animals, including a rooster and a dog. I love the coffee here. We were served traditional Romanian coffee. The cafe is very strong, but served in quite small cups. I have taken to drinking my Romanian coffee black, without zahar (sugar) and with lapte (milk). I do miss my Wawa 24oz regular or organic brazilian coffee with fat free lactose free vanilla creamer. I am also missing waking up with Bastet curled up next to me, and Moon on my head. KC - I am so sorry that Bastet woke you up and kept you up with his meowing last night.

Our group had some free time this afternoon before a dinner meeting, so we decided to spend the afternoon at Parcul Cavalgia. We had some fun on the exercise equipment and on the paddle boats. It was so much fun and Romanians were cheering us on!

Unfortunately, the boat I was on starting to flood! We were a bit worried that we might end up in a premature bath. Luckily, we did survive. Dinner was spent at Chios Teresa with a bottle of Murfatlar Cabernet Sauvignon and listening to a question and answer session with one of the European directors at World Vision.  I ate a Greek salad, my 3rd salad in Romania - it seems like Brasov remains the ruler of the best salad in Romania. Mallory and I spoke about going back just for our Pizza Roma salads:

Brasov - possibly the best salad in Romania

The rest of the evening was spent on the Universitatii sports grounds. I ran about 3.5 miles around the track while a group of us played football in the centre. There were so many people out running on the track. It was great to see so many active people - lots of young couples. I never see that many people out at a trackfield in the states. Romanians are much more active than Americans. I ended the evening by playing a game of football tennis with another Rutgers student and 4 quite gorgeous Romanian guys. They barely spoke English so it was a rather quiet game except for much laughing and giggling. I left the field quite content and covered head to toe in Romanian soil.