Advent.

We haven't written in a while, though I have composed a whole set of blog posts in my head while walking through Lupeni, of course... they just vanish when I try to write them down.  So in lieu of some sort of profound reflections about our life in Romania right now, let me just post a few pictures.  Of our Christmas decorations.

Now, in my defense, we have never gotten to decorate for Christmas before.  This is our third Christmas as a married couple, but so far, nothin'.  The first year we were packing up to move to Romania, and anything that couldn't fit into four large suitcases was already boxed and in our parents' basements... including decorations.  I think I remember drawing a Christmas tree on a piece of paper and taping it to the wall that year.  And sticking a few fallen pine boughs in a vase.  But that was it.  Other things -- packing, namely, but more importantly soaking in our last few weeks in the States with family and friends -- seemed more important.  And they were.

Last year, we went back to the U.S. at the end of November, missing Advent in Romania entirely, returning on January 2, just in time to watch the rest of town take down their decorations.  We got our fill of beautiful and festive staying with family and friends for the season in the States, but our own apartment stayed the same.

So this year, we're not leaving Romania until December 15, which means we're here for half of Advent.  And I am determined to not miss it.  So today, on this first Sunday of Advent, Jack and I put up our tiny assortment of, um, decorations.  (Not much has changed from year 1, actually...).  We have a Nativity set I received as a gift after doing an IMPACT training in Haiti.  (We conveniently placed our star-shaped lantern overhead like a big red paper "star of Bethlehem...")  We have a homemade Advent wreath with four candles from the supermarket taped to a plate, entwined with fallen pine branches, which I collected from the debris of a recent logging operation near the ropes course on Straja.  The rest of the fallen pine branches have been stuffed into the dirt of a pot once holding lettuce plants (now dead), and form a makeshift Christmas tree.  We had to use sticks to hold them up, and the decorations are limited to 1 string of lights, a piece of red string, a handmade paper star, and a few gaudy silver earrings.  The earrings were brought to me a few weeks ago by the girls from girls' group -- they were part of a recent charitable shipment of used clothing from Iceland, which was given to members of our church -- who (oops!) don't wear earrings because it is frowned upon in this branch of Pentecostalism.  I still wear earrings (though not usually to church) so the girls figured I might be able to use the collection, unwanted by the rest of the church ladies.  The dangliest, gaudiest ones now adorn our tree.

So... yeah.  It might not be classy, but it's cozy.  And I love it.

 The Nativity under the guiding star.  And lights in the avocado plant, yes.

  The coolest Nativity ever -- with a coconut for a stable!  Thanks, IMPACT Haiti.

 Our Advent wreath, in front of our Christmas... tree... bush... thing.

We were interrupted from decorating by fireworks directly across the street, launched from the park there.  (You can faintly see the smokestack and the church on the left of this picture.)  It was a great surprise, presumably for tomorrow -- December 1 is Romania's equivalent of July 4.

 And here is the lovely tree.  Hee hee.  :)

The results are in.

So, as many of you know from reading our slightly election-obsessed blog, the Romanian presidential run-off happened on Sunday.  And on Monday morning, to our surprise, we woke to find the results: Klaus Iohannis the winner, Victor Ponta a gracious loser.

We were giddy.

Not because Iohannis is so great, really.  As this article points out masterfully (seriously, read it!), his electoral platform is largely focused on continued economic growth and liberalization, trying to help Romania move more closely into the European Union and the capitalist systems that guide it, with few social programs addressing the poor -- of which Romania has many.  He won't be a perfect president, and perhaps not even a very good one.  But still, we were glad.

Why?  Because it felt like even more than Iohannis, the Romanian people won this election.  They won it through street protests and Facebook posts, through get-out-the-vote campaigns and public advocacy.  Through hours of standing line for the thousands who live and vote abroad, and through long chilly public marches in big cities around the country.  The voice of active citizens was raised in this election, voter turnout jumped to about 60%, and that is something great.  Sure, it is less satisfying to be protesting simply in opposition of something known to be bad, without a great alternative to be for.  And yet, it still is a victory, and one that makes me proud of the budding democracy we currently call home.

There are plenty of other undercurrents that darken this scene -- the divide between middle-class and educated Romanians and the poorer, less-educated parts of the country being the primary one (again, read this article!).  Social media comments in this vein have been somewhat ugly lately, particularly one I recently saw directed at the Jiu Valley (where every city voted for Ponta, although pretty much the rest of Transylvania voted for Iohannis).  The writer accused people in the Jiu Valley of being hicks, backwards and dumb, not deserving to be considered part of Transylvania.  And that's ugly, and unfair, and stings a bit -- even though perhaps some of it has glimpses of truth, in the fact that education levels are generally lower here, and votes are more easily bought by a sack of potatoes when your family is hungry, as plenty of families here are.  But it's also not true, judging by the thoughtfulness of our friends here, and by the other comments from people in Lupeni who reacted to an online photo of the mayor passing out bags of food in exchange for a Ponta vote with cries of "Shame!" and "We've voted out Ponta, now let's vote out Resmeriţa (Lupeni's mayor)!"

It's an ugly mix, and there are many factors at play, so none of this can be simplified to an easy right or wrong.  But what is right, and what does make me smile, is to see Romanians voting, speaking up on behalf of what they believe, working together to bring about change.  So now we pray for continued solidarity, for grace and real listening and cooperation, and for the hard work of democracy to be done well.

Election update.

If you’re sick of hearing about the HUGE CHANGES after the US midterm elections, why not indulge your secret interest in a different country’s elections? Say, Romania’s? You know you want to.

Anyways. The first round of elections is over for now! We only had to look at candidates’ faces for a month before this election (sorry, US residents). The Monday after the election, the posters came down—at least the ones whose candidates didn’t make it to the RUNOFF.

So, on the 2^nd, Victor Ponta won 40.44% of the vote and Klaus Iohannis won 30.37%. The next four candidates won 5-3% each.  In case you didn’t read Kelly’s previous post, Ponta is the current prime minister and the leader of the Social Democrats Party (PSD), which is the old Romanian Communist Party.  Iohannis is ethnically German and the current mayor of Sibiu, one of Romania’s coolest cities (in our opinion).  In Lupeni, Ponta won 55%, and Iohannis 15.43% (the mayor is in Ponta's party and they like to do these somber marches through the city at election time).  In our county, Hunedoara, Ponta won 43.59% and Iohannis 31.64%.  Hunedoara was the only county in Transylvania where Ponta won the vote.

What we hear about Ponta is that he buys votes (take a picture of your ballot with a vote for him and his party sends you 50 lei), plagiarized 85 pages of his doctoral thesis, and that his gang controls governmental decisions through money and threats.  One of our friends keeps posting these sorts of incriminating things on facebook.  Her latest was a letter written by some local Orthodox priests that was posted around cities south of Bucharest asking voters to “vote with God in their hearts and minds… for Victor Ponta, because only he supports the church, not the ‘lifta străină,’ Iohannis!”  Apparently “lifta străină” is a fairly negative Orthodox term for someone of another faith.  Kind of like saying, “Don’t vote for that Lutheran dog who also happens to be a foreigner, Iohannis."  Great stuff.

What we’ve heard about Iohannis is that he’s German, so that's an interesting twist (Romania has a history of pretty good kings from Germany), but that he owns 6 houses that he says he bought using money he made by tutoring (he’s also a physics teacher), not by stealing government money.  When asked why no other teacher makes enough money to buy 6 houses, he apparently responded, “Tough luck.”  Uh-oh.

Most of our friends voted for Iohannis because they think he represents a change in the status quo and that even if he’s not a perfect candidate, he’s better than Ponta and the PSD.  But they think Ponta will win.  He has the Orthodox church’s support, he has the poor voters’ support, and a majority in Parliament.  Iohannis has the young, educated vote and an optimistic campaign (his slogans: “Yes, we can!” and “A Romania of things well done.”)

We were just in Timișoara, the university city where the revolution of 1989 began, and saw a demonstration against Ponta.  It was a bit crazy to see a crowd standing in front of the opera house yelling "Jos Ponta, jos Ponta!" (down with Ponta), in the same place where even more people had yelled, "Jos Ceaușescu!" 25 years before.  A guy asked me if I knew what was going on, and when I told him that I didn't really want Ponta to be president, he asked me to say it on his video camera.  I don't have a vote here, but I guess I was given a voice. 

The runoff is scheduled for this Sunday.  We’ll see how it goes.  Apparently a lot of Romanians living in London and Paris had to stand in line for hours to vote at the embassy.  Many people speculate that the PSD made it hard for the Romanian diaspora to vote since they’re sure they won’t vote for them.  Ponta’s response was that only a few hundred thousand voted anyways, so it’s not a big deal. 

As my mom and I were emailing about the election, she wrote, “In some ways politics are not much different here.  Politicians "buy" votes with promises instead of cash.  Political parties try to make voting more difficult or restrictive with 'rules' to prevent voter fraud.  All this can have both a good and a bad side.  Like most things in life... our greatest strength can also be our greatest weakness.”  Well said, mom.

Mainly, we’re praying for a free and fair election, that even though many factors are being used to influence Romania to vote one way or another, that Romania would vote for the candidate they think will govern them well.  I think that an underlying sentiment is something along the lines of, “We’ve survived a lot of rotten governments, but we’re still Romanians, and we’re still alive and kicking.”

We’ll keep you updated.