S.O.R Birdlife Romania

S.O.R. Birdlife

S.O.R. Birdlife

Many of you wish to know exactly what it is we are doing here in Romania. I thought that I’d use this blog entry to give you an idea of what Nancy does for her organization. First, for those who’ve not had the full history of us, we are Peace Corps volunteers stationed at two separate NGOs in the area of Cluj, Romania. The Peace Corps is very sensitive about publicity for a variety of reasons, our safety being one and it is strongly suggested that we not reference our site or the Corps in web postings. This, I suppose, is a wise policy and in the past I’ve tried to limit the times I’ve mentioned the P.C. But in order to explain what we do, it is necessary to explain a little of the selection process and why we work for our organizations.

Nancy and I are both Community Economic Development sector volunteers. That means our primary goal is not teaching, as about half of our volunteer colleagues do, nor do we work with government agencies, but rather with non profit organizations to stimulate economic development. I work for the Association of Organic Farmers of Romania. Nancy works with Societatea Ornitologica Romana – Birdlife Romania. It is the equivalent and associated with the Audubon Society in the United States.

It seems sort of universal with all C.E.D. volunteers that our organizations don’t know exactly what to do with this free help that they’ve asked for and been given, but one thing that Nancy and I both do is help clean up the written English used in communicating with non Romanians. Both of our organizations have people that speak excellent English but the written English is much rougher because prepositions, for example, do not translate directly. As I know that my poor attempts at writing in Romanian causes laughter in my office, some of the English that is often presented leaves a native English speaker scratching his head in wonder.

We also work on helping our organizations prepare grant applications. Some of these need to be submitted in English. Nancy’s main work with the bird society though is helping establish a commercial division. As I’ve mentioned in a previous blog posting the birds in Romania are not familiar with feeders and bird boxes. This year, Birdlife Romania has a web site and ordering information allowing purchase of such things. And there are bird pins for sale. These are inexpensive – we’ve used them as token gifts – and quite attractive. The site is available in both Romanian and English – Nancy is responsible for the English version. http://www.shopsor.ro/ One problem with the concept though is that Romanians are not comfortable with the use of credit or debit cards and no one accepts a check. This is a cash society so it makes web transactions a little difficult. There is a type of C.O.D. process through the post office that is used, but the idea of calling in your VISA card number hasn’t arrived here yet

Both of us also work with foreign contacts. Later in March a representative of the British affiliate of the Audubon and Birdlife Romania is coming to Cluj for a visit. Nancy has been instrumental in promoting that contact. This person is a chief fund raiser for the bird societies international and should be able to offer valuable insights.

Sometimes we wonder if we make an impact, but by listing a few of the things the we’ve been involved with it seems that we’ve been busy. In the future I’ll do an entry of my work with the organic farmers.

The Romanian Look

The Romanian Look

One cultural difference between Romania and home that I’ve noticed in the past eight months is the way people look at each other. It is very unusual for a Romanian to look at you when you walk past. We in America would by nature look at people as we walk and if we catch their eye looking back we’d nod our head in greeting. It is not considered rude or improper. I suppose it has something to do with the American mystic of confidence. ‘I’m good enough to look anyone in the face, and if they wish to return my look, that’s fine, too.’

In Romania it is different. People avoid eye contact with strangers. To avoid eye contact they look at their feet. I believe it is out of politeness and a sense of privacy that they do this. They probably feel that I am intruding when I look at them face on; invading their privacy. Friends greet each other, just as they do anywhere else, except with more handshaking, but strangers never look at each other.

I am not sure why this is so, but perhaps it comes from living in the block apartments where you neighbors are so close by. It is sort of an unwritten guide, don’t ask, don’t tell. Perhaps it comes from the days of Communism when every third person was employed by the state to inform on his neighbors.

To give a feel for what I am speaking of we have the same sort of taboo when we are in automobiles in the United States. When forced to stop at a stop light, do you look over to the car next to you to see what that driver is doing? If they return your look, you glance away, for in our cars we demand our privacy. It is similar in Romania, but the car is not required.

I have the habit should I catch an individual accidentally making eye contact as I stroll of saying “Buna Ziua, Good Morning”. Almost invariably my saying it catches the person off guard. Most times they managed to return my well wishes, sometimes just mumbled, other times I get more than I asked for because whole sentences come out of which I can grasp very little. My language skills are very slowly getting better but only if I can anticipate in advance. It is a rare and pleasant day when someone unknown to me, says ‘good morning’ first. I hope it is as pleasant a surprise when I say it. I think not, probably making them more uneasy then anything, but I’ll continue to spread my American good cheer as best that I can.