I got a sobering lesson on how secure my car and its contents aren’t last night. A friend of a friend was over, who also owns a Dacia 1310. He recently lost or broke the key to his trunk and needed to get something out of it, so he asked…

Give a Man a  Bucket… Buckets are a big accessory in rural Romania.  Everyone carries one; children, men, grannies, like a countryside handbag. I would assume they are for hauling water from the well if they weren’t usually empty, so I’m not entirely sure why they’re such an ubiquitous item….

I made it back from Dobrogea (Black Sea coast) in one piece.  The car only broke once and cost me US$35 to fix, but it set me back by four hours while they dismantled half the engine just to rewire a few bits. I managed to get out of Iasi…

I’m a firm believer in Method Travel Writing as a means to bond with a destination. Similar to the Method Acting technique, one needs to immerse oneself in the destination, live like the locals, eat what they eat, hang out with them, in a sense, become one.  “When in Rome”…

I don’t want this blog to become consumed with the ordeal of my car purchase, or everything else in Romania that is pissing me off come to that, but I can’t keep quiet on the events of yesterday.  I was one step, one step, away from finally being able to…

After numerous consecutive weeks of freakish cold and snowy greyness, the likes of which would have made the hardest Viking sob, Iasi is going through a week-long bout of unseasonable warmth.  The sun is out, the snow and ice are all but gone and I have the windows open.  Though…

If you were thinking that buying a car in Romania is a weeks-long ordeal of vague paper-intensive obligations and expensive bureaucratic appeasement, then I compliment you on your astuteness.  I bought my car two weeks ago and I’m still nowhere near officially completing the transaction.  Once you have the car,…

Canvassing the region of Moldavia, February 10th through the 13th. I got back from a short, but intense research trip around the region of Moldavia Monday night.  Four very, very trying days.  It was deathly cold, and I’m from Minnesota, so I know what genuine deathly cold feels like.  There…

Dear readers, Please note the date of this post. The information was accurate (by my estimation of the situation) at the time of posting. I’m well aware that much of it is no longer true. Snapshot social commentary nearly always loses relevance and accuracy over time. Things change. That’s how…