Condivido qui sul blog il manifesto che mi è stato inviato con il programma della Festa Comunista di Rosia, comune di Sovicille in provincia di Siena.

Aparent, rezistența a fost un pic prea mare și au continuat atacul dintr-o altă perspectivă. Nu vă faceți o părere greșită: cînd vine vorba de Gabriel Resources se discută despre de persoane care ar spune sau ar face absolut orice pentru a obține ceea ce vor, iar dacă sînt refuzați caută mereu alte căi de acces. Acum ei promit că vor curăța cianura de la Roșia Montană, o acțiune care ar costa statul român 30 de milioane de dolari. Imaginile cu apă poluată sînt foarte sugestive, doar au avut o mulțime de locuri de unde să le preia. Există destule exploatări miniere în lumea asta care au lăsat doar poluare și terenuri deșertice în urma lor, NU vrem încă una. Este prea frumos pentru a fi crezut că o companie minieră să facă curățenie după ce-a distrus tot, nu prea s-a întîmplat nicăieri în lume iar statul român nu este deloc interesat să se asigure că se va întîmpla așa ceva aici.

Haida-de, chiar credeți că se va întîmpla așa ceva în România? Prost să fii și tot nu ai cum… Dacă nici mulți dintre românii noștri nu curăță după ei, cu atît mai mult nu o vor face străinii, mai ales după ce și-au umplut bine buzunarele pe seama resurselor românești. Gabriel Resources este o firmă cu activitate principală exploatarea minieră, nu este o fundație de caritate.

Nu e decît o altă promisiune deșartă. Dacă le va fi permis să exploateze aurul de la Roșia Montană ne vom alege doar cu niște munți devastați, cu niște vestigii istorice distruse și vom rămîne cu ochii în soare, plîngînd după aurul pe care l-am avut și pe care ni l-au luat alții pe nimica. Iar românii nu merită așa ceva, au îndurat prea multe pentru a lăsa să se mai întîmple din nou.

Vă propun să găsim soluții pentru a-i face pe cei de la Gabriel Resources să înțeleagă că NU au ce căuta la Roșia Montana. Vă aștept comentariile aici și mesajele prin formularul de contact.

Articol preluat de aici: http://www.supravirtual.ro/stiri/Culmea_nesimtirii,_varianta_a_treia:_Gold_Corporation_sustine_ca_vor_curata_cianurile_din_Rosia_Montana

Apparently, the resistance was a little to great and they continued the attack from other perspective. Don’t get the wrong opinion: we it’s about Gabriel Resources we are talking about persons that would say or do absolutely everything to get what they want, and if they are refused they are always searching new ways of access. Now they are promising they will clean the cyanides from Roșia Montană, an action that would cost the Romanian state 30 million dollars. The images with return water are very suggestive, but they had a lot of places where to record them. There are a lot of mining operations in this world that only left behind pollution and desert lands. We do NOT want another one. It’s too beautiful to believe that a mining company could clean after they had ruined everything, it did not happen almost anywhere in this world and the Romanian state is not interested at all to assure itself that this will happen here.

Come on, do you really believe that something like this will happen in Romania? Not even the stupids could believe that. If many of our Romanians do not clean behind them, the foreigners will do less, especially after they had filled their pockets very well on the expense of Romanian resources. Gabriel Resources is a mining company, not a charity foundation.

It’s only another empty promise. If they will be let to exploit the gold from Roșia Montană we will only get some wasted mountains, some devastated historical vestiges and will remain lost, crying for the gold we had and others took from us for nothing. The Romanians does not deserve something like this, they endured too many to let this happen again.

I propose you to find solutions together to make the people from Gabriel Resources to understand that they have NOTHING to do or find in Roșia Montana. I am expecting you comments here and the messaged using the contact form.

Article posted here: http://www.supravirtual.ro/stiri/The_peak_of_stolidity,_third_variant:_Gold_Corporation_says_that_they_will_clean_the_cyanides_from_din_Rosia_Montana

Azi am observat la tembelizor (adică televizor în concepția modernă) o nouă reclamă gen Gold Corporation. Cunoscînd modul de gîndire al indivizilor ăștia, nu poate decît să fie o parte a noii campanii de momire (adică păcălire, știți voi cum, o păcălire ca a măgarului pe care îl faci să se miște unde vrei dacă îi pui în față un morcov atîrnat de un băț) a opiniei publice românești. Evident, măgarul nu va ajunge niciodată la morcovul ăla, tot așa și românul nu va ajunge niciodată la banii promiși de Gabriel Resources. E doar praf în ochii cît cepele la auzul sumei exorbitante de 4 miliarde. Nu valorează nici măcar pe hîrtia pe care scrii „patru miliarde”.

Conform reclamei, „Proiectul va aduce 4 miliarde de dolari în economia României:

- 1,8 miliarde USD – beneficii directe ale statului român, în dividende pentru Guvernul României, impozite pe salarii, redevențe și alte taxe;

- 2,2 miliarde USD – bani cheltuiți în România pentru: resurse umane, energie electrică, transport, construcții, reactivi pentru procesare, piese de schimb“.

Întrebarea care îmi vine în minte este una singură: cui îi pasă? România nu are decît de pierdut dintr-un proiect de exploatare a aurului și argintului (pentru că da, se caută și așa ceva pe acolo) la Roșia Montană, oricîte promisiuni (adică minciuni pe față, minciuni prin omisiune) fac cei de la Gabriel Resources/Gold Corporation. România ar pierde o parte din istorie, ar pierde vreo 4 munți distruși de exploatare și ar pierde bani pentru restaurarea mediului… bani despre care pot spune destul de sigur pe mine că nu îi are.

Singurii care ar avea de cîștigat de la Roșia Montană ar fi cei de la Gold Corporation, însă numai dacă îi lăsăm să cîștige. Pînă acum nu au cîștigat, iar eu zic că nu vor cîștiga niciodată, indiferent de cît de insistenți vor deveni. O fi românul răbdător, dar cînd se satură face urît. Mi-ar fi teamă să fiu în locul celor de la Gabriel Resources atunci cînd o vor încasa în freză din cauza insistențelor lor… iar în cazul respectiv s-ar aplica foarte bine o vorbă românească: „ce își face omul cu mîna lui se numește lucru manual”.

Vă propun să găsim soluții pentru a-i face pe cei de la Gabriel Resources să înțeleagă că NU au ce căuta la Roșia Montana. Vă aștept comentariile aici și mesajele prin formularul de contact.

Preluat de aici: http://www.supravirtual.ro/stiri/Culmea_nesimtirii,_varianta_a_doua_-_Rosia_Montana,_Gold_Corporation

Today I’ve noticed at the tembelizor (it means the tv from modern conception) a new Gold Corporation advertising. Knowing the way of thinking of that individuals it can only be a part of a new campaign of train (meaning fooling, you know how, a fooling like the donkey you make to move where you want if you put in his face a carrot hanged on a stick) of Romanian public opinion. Of course, the donkey will never reach that carrot, as well the Romanian will never reach to the money promised by Gabriel Resources. It’s only dust in the wide open eyes at the hearing of the exorbitant sum of 4 billion. It’s worth less than the paper you are writing “four billion”.

According to the commercial, “The project will bring 4 billion dollars in Romanian economy:

- 1,8 billion USD – direct benefits to Romanian state, in dividends to Romanian Government, taxes for salaries, dues and other taxes;

- 2,2 billion USD – money spent in Romania for: human resources, power, transport, constructions, reactive for processing, spare pieces”.

The question that’s coming in my mind is only one: who cares? Romania can only loose from a project to exploit the gold and silver (because yes, it’s been also searching something like that) in Roșia Montană, no matter how many promises (it means lies in the face, lies by omission) are making the ones from Gabriel Resources/Gold Corporation. Romania would loose a part of history, would loose about 4 mountains destroyed by the exploit and would loose money for the restoration of the environment… money about I can say rather sure that Romania does not have.

The only ones that would have something to win from Roșia Montană would be the ones from Gold Corporation, but only if we let them win. Until now they did not win, and I say they will never win, no matter how insistent will become. The Romanian guy may be patient, but when he had enough it ends messy. I would be afraid to be in the shoes from of the people at Gabriel Resources when they will be smashed because of their insistence… and in that case it would be applied very good a Romanian expression: “what toe man does/makes with his own hand it’s called manual work”.

I propose you to find solutions together to make the people from Gabriel Resources to understand that they have NOTHING to do or find in Roșia Montana. I am expecting you comments here and the messaged using the contact form.

First posted here: http://www.supravirtual.ro/stiri/The_peak_o_stolidity,_second_variant_-_Rosia_Montana,_Gold_Corporation

The nearby poster and the following text are a part of the Mindbomb campaign to save Roșia Montana as a response to the aberrant campaign for the exploit of the resources there.

“The MindBomb campaign for Roșia Montană puts the problem of the environment pollution in Romania in relation with the corruption with no face of the state and the local administrations, not in the last place of the individual, that erode from the inside the Romanian society.

12,000 posters were glued during the night of 19/20 of march on the streets of Cluj, Bucharest, Constanța, Timișoara, Arad, Bistrița, Sibiu, Alba Iulia, Deva, Baia Mare, Oradea, Târgu Mureș, Sighișoara, Petroșani, Valea Arieșului, Abrud, Câmpeni and Roșia Montană.

Through the MindBomb campaign for Roșia Montană we protest against the project of intensive mining exploitation with cyanides and against the advertisement that Gabriel Resources, the owner of Roșia Montană Gold Corporation (RMGC), is making to this extremely noxious project for Romania.

The intoxication with the propaganda for the company Gabriel Resources on the televisions and written media has as purpose to adorn the Romanians opinion of the image of Roșia Montană Gold Corporation, a company remained in the era of brutal colonialism, whom cynic politics of profit will obliterate Roșia Montană from the face of the Earth, will displace people and will erase the history of this place.

For the first time in Romania the public opinion and some public institutions stood together against a damaging business for all of us, demonstrating so that Romania is no longer the paradise of crooks.

The project for intense mining exploitation with cyanides puts in danger the LIFE in the Country of Moț, opening the path to produce the biggest ecological disaster in Eastern Europe. As so many times in recent history, the big companies, supported by the politicians, works against the people to dishonest enrich some cynic individuals. After they the flood!

We have got used not to trust in authorities after so many years, no matter if it is about the government or the presidency. We have hoped, for the same amount of years, that, in one day, the authorities will regain our lost trust. That is why we believe in the need of dialog between the civil society and administration.

We don’t want Revolution, We Want Evolution!

At the MindBomb campaign for Roșia Montană participated, in different ways (conception, debate, ideas, achievement, glue) over 300 artists, designers, architects, IT specialists, writers, students and collaborators from the cities in where the posters were glued.

DON’T LET ROȘIA MONTANĂ DIE!

The people are more important than gold!

SAVE ROȘIA MONTANĂ!

MindBomb
www.rosiamontana.org ”

Afișul alăturat și textul următor fac parte din campania Mindbomb pentru salvarea Roșia Montana ca răspuns la campania aberantă pentru exploatare resurselor de acolo.

“Campania MindBomb pentru Roșia Montană pune problema poluării mediului din România în relație cu corupția fără chip a statului și a administrațiilor locale, nu în ultimul rând a individului, care erodează din interior societatea românească.

12.000 de afișe au fost lipite în noaptea de 19 spre 20 martie pe străzile din Cluj, București, Constanța, Timișoara, Arad, Bistrița, Sibiu, Alba Iulia, Deva, Baia Mare, Oradea, Târgu Mureș, Sighișoara, Petroșani, Valea Arieșului, Abrud, Câmpeni și Roșia Montană.

Prin campania MindBomb pentru Roșia Montană protestăm împotriva proiectului de exploatare minieră intensivă cu cianuri de la Roșia Montană și împotriva publicității pe care Gabriel Resources, proprietarul Roșia Montană Gold Corporation (RMGC) o face acestui proiect extrem de nociv pentru România.

Intoxicarea cu propaganda pentru compania Gabriel Resources pe posturile de televiziune și în presa scrisă are ca scop cosmetizarea în ochii românilor a imaginii Roșia Montană Gold Corporation companie rămasă în epoca colonialismului brutal, a cărei politică cinică a profitului va rade Roșia Montană de pe fața pamântului, va strămuta oamenii și va șterge istoria acestui loc.

Pentru prima dată în România opinia publică și câteva instituții publice au făcut front comun împotriva unei afaceri păguboase pentru noi toți, demonstrând astfel că România nu mai este paradisul escrocilor.

Proiectul de exploatare minieră intensivă cu cianuri de la Roșia Montană pune în pericol VIAȚA în Țara Moților, deschizând calea producerii celui mai mare dezastru ecologic din Europa de est. Ca de atâtea ori în istoria recentă, marile companii, sprijinite de politicieni lucrează împotriva oamenilor pentru a-i îmbogăți necinstit pe câțiva indivizi cinici. După ei potopul!

Ne-am obișnuit de atâția ani să nu avem încredere în autorități, fie că e vorba de guvern sau de președinție. Tot de atâția ani, sperăm că, într-o zi, autoritățile ne vor recâștiga încrederea pierdută. De aceea credem în nevoia de dialog între societatea civilă și administrație.
Nu vrem Revoluție, Vrem Evoluție!

La campania MindBomb pentru Roșia Montană au participat, în diferite moduri (concepție, dezbateri, idei, realizare, lipire) peste 300 de artiști plastici, designeri, arhitecți, specialiști IT, scriitori, studenți și colaboratori din orașele în care au fost lipite afișele.

NU LĂSA ROȘIA MONTANĂ SĂ MOARĂ!
Oamenii sunt mai importanți decât aurul.

SALVAȚI ROȘIA MONTANĂ!

MindBomb
www.rosiamontana.org“ ]]> http://serendipitoustraveler.wordpress.com/2008/05/15/sun-may-4th-siena-day-17/ Thu, 15 May 2008 17:08:26 +0000 serendipitoustraveler http://serendipitoustraveler.wordpress.com/2008/05/15/sun-may-4th-siena-day-17/ Yesterday was my birthday!  Sadly, I didn’t have time to write anything.  It was a good day though.  After a long day that included waiting on a train for an hour, we ended the day with our first Italian meal and some genuine gelato.  For dinner, we sat outside overlooking the very center of the old town of Siena, the uniquely shaped Piazza Il Campo.  The piazza actually curved and sloped to resemble a shell.  For dessert, we sat in the twilight on the ancient brick of the piazza, watching the bustling evening crowd dwindle.

It’s overwhelming how many people are crowded into Siena.  We could barely move through the hoards.  On every narrow street, it’s as if we were walking against the grain in a herd.  I absolutely hate being in a crowd, but visiting Siena is well worth withstanding the torture.  There are a few outstanding Gothic and medieval attractions.  The three to absolutely not miss out of these are the Piazza (plaza/square) and Palazzo (palace), and above all, the Duomo (cathedral.)  The Piazza and Duomo are fine examples of the best in human capability in architecture, art, and engineering.  I can’t imagine how they tackled such a feat successfully back in the 13th century.  The paintings and architectural detail are so intricate, the Duomo is a gem.

The gelato alone makes the trip to Siena worth it.  It’s above and beyond all other ice cream because it’s oh-so-creamy and rich.  There are a ton of flavors and none that I’ve ever tried have had an artificial twang.  The flavors range from kiwi, cantaloupe and lemon, to chocolate, coffee, and hazelnut.  All the gelaterias have enticing displays of the choices with the actual fruits or nuts of each flavor on top of a mound of gelato.

It’s no understatement to say the Italians are obsessed with “la buena figura” (or beautiful face) and fashion.  There are countless high-end boutiques crammed into the small town of Siena.  Most of the people we pass on the street are dressed to the nines, much more so than the French.  Big sunglasses are hugely popular here – for men and women.  Image seems to be of utmost importance.

Back to yesterday: We met a few interesting people!  We were lucky to meet all of them.  First, two Malaysian women were sitting in our seats on the train from Visp, Switzerland to Milano, Italy.  Two Swiss guys were sitting next to them, so there was nowhere for us to sit!  So, we got out our seat reservations and proved after some contention that the two window seats were indeed ours.  The Swiss guys moved after the exchange, and we ended up sitting in their aisle seats.  We’re glad they were in our seats after all since it made for great conversation for a lot of our 2.5 hour ride.

They had many questions about us and our country, and they educated us about Malaysia.  The two of them can speak three different languages to each other: English, Malay, and Cantonese.  There are lots of Chinese Malaysians, so many of them speak Cantonese as well as their native tongue.  I guessed that one of the ladies was of Malay descent and the other Chinese.  They all learn English in school.  They described Malaysia as a country with a high standard of living.  They mentioned they get very little vacation (a week all at once is pushing it) and they work 10-12 hours a day!  Sounds like they are as bad as the Japanese, the only nation of workaholics that are worse than us.  In Malaysia, any vacation – if at all – is up to the discretion of their boss; they don’t have “vacation benefits” like many of our employers provide.  People rely heavily on personal cars since they lack a good public transportation system.  Hmmm, sound familiar?!  They were surprised to hear that the US has an equally poor transportation system.  The two women were reveling at the amazing train system in Switzerland (and much of Europe, for that matter.)  It’s like being chauffeured around, they said, since they’re so used to driving themselves everywhere.  We also noticed after crossing into Italy several big box stores with huge full parking lots!  A shame!

When we asked them what they did for a living, one of them answered, “At the UN,” in a quiet voice, after much hesitation.  Could they work with the Security Council?  They were in Geneva for a few weeks and it sounds like they will come back periodically.  Only a 14-hour flight from Malaysia with a stop in the Emirates.  I’d hate to have to do that too many times.  They were also marveling at the bright flowers in Switzerland and Italy as we crossed the border into Italy and passed several flower farms and ornate gardens surrounding ritzy Italian villas.  Apparently flowers are a novelty to them because there aren’t many flowers in Malaysia.  I thought there would be since it’s tropical, but it’s typically tropical in other ways – lush green forests and a hot, humid climate.  Malaysia has a short month-long rainy season but no more seasonal variation (seems typical for the tropics.)  They asked us about our state’s population and economy, what it’s known for.  They explained that Malaysia is known for rice, palm oil, and rubber exports.  When we mentioned it was my birthday, the two of them seem overly excited about it, like a birthday may be a bigger deal in their culture.  They were just riding to Milan for a weekend trip!

We met another person going to Milan from Switzerland for a weekend trip on the same train.  He came up to us, speaking American English with a thick southern accent.  He had heard us say we were from NC and had to say hi to us, being another NC native from Mooresville.  He had lived in Raleigh for many years, most recently in Greenville.  He had worked at a jigsaw blade factory that closed down in Greenville, so he took a transfer to a 2000-person town in the Swiss Alps!  Very near Zermatt!  His wife and toddler daughter had been with him in Switzerland for 6 months.  He explained how Zermatt was such a ritzy, impractical, overpriced place.  Well, it is a very old world-famous resort, and for good reason.  He said he went shopping for a blender there once and the cheapest he could find was 300 Swiss Franks – about $300!  It truly is a small world – he met a woman in St. Niklaus (a nearby town) who had managed a pool hall for years on Hillsborough St. in Raleigh, NC!

A couple young Italian women approached us near the Siena train/bus station, asking us in Italian if we knew how to get to the bus headed for the center of town.  They spoke a little bit of English, so we were able to get across that we weren’t sure how to get to it either.  I mentioned I had seen a sign upstairs that pointed to the bus, but we thought it must leave from the lower level since that was street level.  Corey and I were ready to hike back upstairs when one of the girls asked someone for help.  They pointed us in the direction of the parking deck, still on the lower level.  We walked out to the deck and it was still a parking area on all sides.  The girl asked someone else, and after much to-do, got us nowhere.

Finally the leading girl insisted the bus stop must be around the parking deck somehow.  We followed her since she was the Italian and we were the foreigners, after all.  She led us out of the deck and onto a one-way bus ramp coming up and away from the bus stop.  One bus passed us with a very narrow margin as we walked down the ramp in the wrong direction, especially treacherous with all our luggage.  The next bus was about to leave and the girl insisted we follow her.  That was the bus we wanted.  We already knew that all the buses went to the center, it was just a matter of catching one.  We ran down the ramp as the two girls were already climbing onto the bus (they had the benefit of no luggage.)  When we reached the bus steps, there were people crammed all the way to the edge, but we managed to barely fit ourselves and our bags after some shuffling.  Off we went with no idea where to get off the bus since it wasn’t the line we were expecting.

The girls chatted with us during the bus ride.  They were also surprised we were American.  Not sure why so many people have trouble believing that.  They were quite curious about us, and we returned the favor with many questions about them.  They seemed very interested in the fact that we were married and when we got married.  They noticed right away that we were married and thought we were honeymooning.  Those two girls weren’t the only ones to be hung up on that; the Malaysians asked the very same thing.  The girl that I talked to the most (don’t know her name) was a secretary to a notary (maybe the equivalent of a paralegal or attorney?)  The two of them were taking advantage of the four-day weekend due to International Labor Day on May 1st for a holiday in Siena from their native Turin.  They were joined by many, many other Italian tourists.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________

Today started off slowly with a lot of uncertainty about how things would go, but it worked out in the end. I woke up at 0700 to the sound of clanging plates but didn’t get out of bed until 0830…always a mistake. Anyway, we had a nice breakfast in their ‘breakfast room’ including my first taste of Nutella on this trip. We checked out at about 1030 and put our luggage in the luggage room so we could wander around for a while. Not but 5 minutes later, while inspecting a taxi fare sign, a bird (or birds) pooped directly onto both of us, we had to go back to the hotel and clean up a bit. Back on the street, we investigated the bus schedules at Piazza Gramsci and discovered that the bus does run to Rosia on Sunday, great! We bought two tickets for 3 EUR each (much better than the expected 25 EUR taxi fare) then looked for a place to eat lunch. We had no idea how the food situation was going to work out at Il Colombaio since they didn’t have food there and it is 1 km away from Rosia, which is a fairly small town. We found a cool pizzeria and sat on their 3^rd floor. The kitchen was just off of the stairs on the 2^nd floor and we could see all the cooks at work. I had a very interesting pizza with egg and spinach on it, and B had a white pizza with sparse asparagus and shrimp. Next, we found a rather impressive grocery store tucked away in the basement of an old building and bought some vegetables and snacks for whatever lies ahead. The bus left Piazza Gramsci at 1450 and it was a beautiful 15-minute ride through narrow streets and open fields to Rosia. The walk from Rosia to Il Colombaio was less peaceful, as we had to drag our luggage through town then down the narrow road to the south. The cryptic directions telling us to turn at the cypress tree in the middle of the road made sense when we saw it, as well as the Torri sign. The B&B is actually in the village of Torri. After a total of 30 minutes or so of walking, we strolled into the courtyard of Il Colombaio and were immediately greeted by Barbara, the owner. She said she was expecting us, because the lady who was on the same bus and walked to Torri ahead of us when to Il Colombaio too, and told her we were following. She showed us to our room, the ‘Lover’s Room’. Later, we sat outside under an amazing canopy of hanging flowers, watching the two black cats (one was playing with half eaten lizards) and Snoopy, the biggest dog I have ever seen, lounge under the Tuscan sun. We talked with a couple downstairs from Australia, who invited us to come to dinner with them when I told them we had no car. We ate at a nice restaurant in Brenna, not far from here. It was a lively conversation for more than two hours, and our dinner of fresh veggies and veal strips for me, and gnocchi and beans for B, was good, but not as interesting. Danielle and Nigel were particularly interested in our elections and how similar/dissimilar Australia and the US are in terms of social behavior. Overall, we are very similar as a whole. Anyway, we got back late around 2230, and crashed shortly after.

Italy Pictures

]]> http://serendipitoustraveler.wordpress.com/2008/05/14/mon-may-5th-rosia-day-18/ Wed, 14 May 2008 17:09:52 +0000 serendipitoustraveler http://serendipitoustraveler.wordpress.com/2008/05/14/mon-may-5th-rosia-day-18/ I’m writing about Sun., May 4th first since I wrote about May 3rd yesterday.  Our hostess in the B&B in Torri, a little village near Rosia, was reasonably friendly when we arrived.  She was surprised that we were walking in rather than driving.  We followed a woman who had ridden our bus and walked to the B&B from Rosia.  Looks like most people rent cars and drive to somewhat remote accommodation like this in the Tuscan region.  A large group of guests were sitting under a vine/flower canopy when we walked in.  Most of them sounded Italian; we learned later that they were all Italians enjoying their long Labor Day weekend except for one Australian couple.  The Italians left before dinnertime, and we ended up visiting with the Aussie couple before dinner.  They offered us a ride to dinner, wherever that would be, and we ended up at a nice local restaurant in Brenna, just a few km away.

Dinner was a lot fun with the two Aussies.  We had not had the opportunity to communicate with anyone for that long on our trip thus far, and it was especially nice with native English-speakers.  They were down-to-earth and open, making for good conversation.  A lot of the dinner was spent discussing travels and comparing Australia to the US (surprise, surprise.)  It sounds like the US and Australia have similar cultures in many ways.  They are equally “uptight” about nudity/the body compared to Europeans; they like their space, spreading out with houses rather than apartments and a yard when they have the opportunity.  They commented that they didn’t understand why Europeans lived so close together, often without yards and sometimes in apartments in the countryside where they have room to spread out.  Though we came to the conclusion that a closer living situation is often what they are familiar and comfortable with; they may not want to or be able to spend money on an individual house.  Aussies have the same societal trends like an affinity for large shopping centers, big box stores, personal vehicles instead of public transportation, and lots of fast food.  They aren’t as affectionate as the Italians or French – like for us, girls holding hands and guys greeting with kisses are not generally accepted behaviors.

Of course there are differences between our cultures too.  The Aussie guy was the first non-American to ever tell me he liked American pride in our country; all other foreigners have told me that they view our pride as unnecessary arrogance.  He thought that Americans were more politically aware and more likely to speak a foreign language than the average Aussie (both scary thoughts!)  Australia has less chain restaurants with more reasonable portions, though they said the portions seem to be growing, and they don’t tip in restaurants.  They don’t tip in Australia because the restaurants pay their employees a full-time wage.  The Australian guy commended a few things about the US, but he did not like our tipping system at all!  I agree that it’s ridiculous.  He pointed out that the customers are making up the balance of what the restaurant owners don’t pay their employees in tips.  The customers shouldn’t have to pay the restaurant owner’s employees for him.  Unfortunately though, Australia is generally following American trends of excess.  Big box stores are prolific – though not as big as Wal-Mart -  and fast food is popular, as well as over-development and cities of pavement.

The Aussie couple pointed out that the safety standards here in Italy on a personal level seem to be on par with Australian standards, but they are lacking in protection from other people.  They gave the example of roadwork.  Road workers have vests and hard hats, etc., for personal protection, but nothing marking the work zone for drivers – no fence, cones, arrows, etc.  They’re exposed on the road and at the mercy of drivers.  The Italians are assuming a lot more responsibility on the part of the driver/individual than in the Australia or the US.  Even the Aussies are more lax than Americans regarding motorcycles (or “scooters”) though.  Also, motorcycles in Europe are allowed to weave through traffic.  Another Australian we met was surprised that American motorcycles can’t weave around traffic and can’t just park anywhere.  She couldn’t see the point in having one then!  I don’t know if they do this in Australia, but in Europe people park their motorcycles and cars in all kinds of precarious spots that you rarely see in US barring an overcrowded event.

I’ve noticed many other safety standard contrasts in Europe.  There was no do-not-cross line where people were para-skiing (jumping off a cliff with skis and a parachute) at a French ski resort we skied at a few years ago.  Ski boundaries are notoriously poorly marked in Europe.  French and Italian drivers get dangerously close to pedestrians on the side of the road.  Europeans don’t budge when they are blocking the walkways or product shelves in stores.  High speed trains don’t stop or use horns at stations and sometimes don’t slow down much either!

There were construction guys later in Volterra dumping construction debris into a truck and they were wearing hard hats, at least.  However, as I walked by a renovation site on a main street today, a man threw scrap metal into a truck right as I walked by – almost hitting me.  There were no fences/barricades blocking the site or signifying the presence of a “construction zone” – the “zone” just blended in with the street.

To their defense, it’s got to be hard to comply with some of these American-made rules when they have such narrow streets, small spaces, and buildings that are hundreds of years old.  Today a car was passing another car as our bus was in the oncoming lane – where there was no passing lane!  In the US that wouldn’t even be possible, but here the cars are so small they can maneuver.  That car would get pulled in the US for reckless driving!

Part of this different attitude toward safety is probably a result of Europe not having the same lawsuit problem as the US.  Officially, if you burn your hand on McDonald’s coffee in the US, it’s their fault, not the individual.  We think it’s ridiculous, yet lawsuits continue.  C has a good hypothesis: One reason for so many US lawsuits is people using it as a last resort when they hurt themselves and can’t pay the massive medical bills!

Another Aussie we met the next morning reiterated a lot of what we had heard from the couple at dinner.  Rachel’s accent was actually hard to place at first, it seemed to be mixture of British and Australian, probably since her parents were British and she was currently living in England even though she was born in Australia.  Rachel was a free-spirit who had tried many professions and paths in life, the most recent being training as some kind of holistic psychotherapist.  It sounded interesting, but I never got a chance to discuss it with her.  She had traveled extensively, including several months in South America, and volunteered at numerous spots in her travels.  The most recent of these stints was at an eco-village in northern Italy.  It was fascinating to hear her take on things.

According to Rachel, the British aren’t far behind the Australians in following American trends.  I heard they are starting to use larger size appliances in Britain for one thing.  Not good news!  Rachel said she felt embarrassed for us whenever she heard Bush speak.  She also put her two cents in about Hillary Clinton: she thought it so unnecessary for Hillary to lie and exaggerate to win over voters.  I saw a little graffiti on the inside of a public bathroom door in Siena that read, “F*** Bush”; another read something like: “Bush is the worst thing to happen in my country – [signed] Britain;” and in response: “I’m ashamed of my prime minister for following Bush around – [signed] Australia.”  The three Aussies had mentioned their former prime minister being buddy-buddy with Bush.

One of the Australians explained to us briefly how the Australian election process works.  It’s roughly like our senators being elected by the people, then the party who wins majority gets to choose the prime minister within that party.  Therefore the whole government is controlled by one party, and the prime minister is not directly elected by the people.  However, the prime minister is mainly just a figurehead without the veto power that the American president has.  Plus no one contributes money to candidates and millions of dollars aren’t spent on many primary and general election campaigns.

All three Aussies said that Australians have a romantic view of the US.  They have this idea that it’s like a fairytale land with endless affluence.  I would too if all I knew of it were Hollywood movies shot in SoCal and NYC!  They had all been to the US and know it’s not at all a utopia, but it’s funny to hear our image in the eyes of their society.  Reminds me a lot of the Irish dream of America in the 50′s and 60′s.  We talked about Monte Carlo – that is my most romantic idea of excessive wealth.  They had all been there – said it’s worth a day trip

We discussed voice pitch with the Aussies among food and other random topics.  We all noticed that people tend to speak in higher voices when they speak in a foreign language, probably because they aren’t as confident.  I know my voice is deeper in English than it is in Spanish.

We agreed that sometimes you need something familiar when you are traveling in a foreign setting for a while.  Their example was craving McDonald’s.  We sought out the familiar by seeing an American movie in Sete (though we barely understood any of it since it was dubbed over in French.)

C and I were impressed that the Australian couple had a rain water collection and recycling system installed on their 10-acre property.  The rain is collected in large cisterns, purified, and provides all the household water.  The used water – I think all of it, not just gray water?? – then goes through the recycler and is used for garden irrigation.  They live outside of Melbourne, Australia, where they’ve had a water shortage and ensuing water restrictions (like no outside watering) for years.  Most Australians are probably not as aware of the problem or as willing to pay good money for such a recycling system.  They had visited the US a few times between the two of them.  On a trip to the CO River last year, they were flabbergasted that the river is drained so much by Las Vegas lawns.  They invited us to visit them someday.  I hope we can – we’d love to visit with them more and we’d love to see their home!

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This morning we got up around 0830 and had breakfast downstairs with a coupe that sounded German and another Australian woman, Rachel, who was traveling alone. She is who we followed in yesterday. I had taken a picture of the bus schedule at the bottom of the hill, so I showed her the schedule she asked about getting to Siena. Since we were going there today too, we all walked down to Rosia at about 1000. It started to drizzle along the way. We got to Rosia plenty early so we explored around for a while and then bought bus tickets at the Tobacchi shop on the main road. The bus showed up a bit late at 1210, but it came! We got off the bus near the city walls and Rachel soon parted ways with us to go into a shoe store. We pretty much made a beeline to the Duomo and got in line outside, dodging raindrops the whole time. The wait was only about 15 minutes and tickets cost a total of 20 EUR. It was money well spent because the inside of the cathedral was just as beautiful as the outside. The unusual striped columns were fascinating, and every square inch was covered in some sort of decoration, floor included. It actually held my attention for 45 minutes or so, before I was ready to move on. Next we went to the facade of the Nuovo Duomo, which was an interesting arch that you could walk across. There was going to be a whole new cathedral here but the project was canned in the 14^th century and only the front facade was built. The view of Siena and environs were very impressive from up there, it looked to be the 3^rd highest point in town. We could also see a line of rain coming from the west, so we retreated back to street level through the Duccia museum. Once the rain hit, we decided to hang out in a gelatoria, like many other people. This time we were smart, sharing one cup of three different flavors; walnut, kiwi, and berry mix. It was a great way to hang out, although we were crammed into the tiny store like sardines. Next, we went into an Internet lounge, which was a small circular room with a vaulted ceiling and 7 computers. It was only 3.28 EUR for 4 minutes of online time, not bad! It was about 1630 now, and the bus back was leaving at 1745, so we headed back towards Piazza Gramsci to look for some sandwiches to take back for dinner. We found some decent looking meat/cheese/tomato sandwiches right on the square after a long search of nearby streets in the rain. It was too late to go to the market too, so we just found the bus and got on. This time, the bus was going to Brenna and dropped us off right in Torri instead of Rosia but we were the last ones to get off. The three Australians were in the central room talking when we walked in, so we joined them for a while, and then broke out our food for dinner. It is wonderful to actually be able to communicate effectively with other people, it’s not something we have had much of as of late. Rachel was leaving in the morning so we said goodbye to her, and also talked briefly with a new couple from the Ukraine.

Italy Pictures

]]> http://serendipitoustraveler.wordpress.com/2008/05/13/tues-may-6th-rosia-day-19/ Tue, 13 May 2008 17:10:54 +0000 serendipitoustraveler http://serendipitoustraveler.wordpress.com/2008/05/13/tues-may-6th-rosia-day-19/ We had a relaxing day that began with sitting in the sun and ended with sitting in the shade as the sun dove beyond sight.  In between we meandered from our B&B to the village of Torri, then to Stigliano.  Great views abound except for the factory that we walked by on our way from Stigliano, past our B&B to the next town in the other direction, Rosia.  It’s wonderful to be able to walk from town to town (or village to village) like we did in Zermatt and the Pyrenees.  In Tuscany, each village is a treat since there are strict laws restricting new construction and encouraging renovation of existing historic buildings so that the exterior is appropriate to the architecture of the original building.

The two cats and one very large dog here have a funny friendship with one another.  The male – who is not neutered – is hyper-active, expressive, and aggressive.  He relentlessly begged for food when we tried to eat outside. He was very vocal and wouldn’t shy away no matter how loud we were;  we had to go inside since he wouldn’t stop threatening to attack for our food.  He also likes to run around chasing lizards – we’ve seen him toying with and slowly eating three tail-less lizards already – and stalk the poor female cat whom we think is his sister.  He has an odd relationship with the dog, often brushing or leaning against him.  Yesterday he was playing with a lizard under the dog’s tail.  The dog was obviously bothered but didn’t do anything about it.

Yesterday we met a Ukrainian couple on their way in to the B&B.  We intentionally went downstairs when we heard new guests arriving.  We chatted for several minutes.  Most of the time they were describing their trip thus far in other Tuscan towns.  They guy (don’t know either of their names) had spent some time in DC and Columbia, MD, so he spoke decent but heavily-accented English.  His girlfriend/wife didn’t speak as much English and constantly looked to him for help.  Neither of them seemed too confident with speaking English.  We tried to include them in our breakfast conversation with Australians this morning, but they said very little, seemed uncomfortable like they were having trouble following the conversation, and left the breakfast table very quickly.  It’s interesting that almost all the non-Italian speakers use English with their hosts to communicate.  It was the same in Switzerland and France.  I keep forgetting that people in the hospitality business speak English to talk to most foreigners – not just to accommodate native English-speakers.  This makes me feel very fortunate to be a native English-speaker and not have to struggle to communicate like the Ukrainian woman.

Tonight we have the B&B to ourselves.  I’ll miss the interaction with international travelers and the comparison of cultures and sharing our traveling stories.  I’m sure we’ll meet more travelers on our trip, but it’s a little lonely for now.  We did finally get our host to open up a little last night.  She told us she goes to Egypt a lot for vacation.  According to her, Italians get a month and a half of total vacation each year!!  She must be including holidays, which Americans don’t include in their vacation count, but that’s still incredible!  She thought it was “sad” that Americans work so much.  I have to agree…after hearing that and staying in France where people are sent home early if business is slow so they don’t exceed their mandatory 35-hr. Maximum work time per week!  If they think the US is bad, I wonder what the French and Italians would think of the long Malaysian work week and slim vacation time!

We’ve been walking along the side of the road (really on the white line) from the B&B to town, Rosia, every day.  I thought the bus incident in Siena was bad, but this walk more than rivals that.  Cars whiz by us, sometimes giving us inches of clearance.  On our first walk from Rosia to the B&B, a car passed us while another car passed that one!  I wish the trail from town to town didn’t dump us onto the main road into the biggest town around.

While grocery shopping in Rosia today, we saw people getting (and staying) in each others’ way.  It’s very rude to us as Americans, but Europeans seem used to it.  I’ve noticed it elsewhere also.  A few elderly ladies were blocking the entrance to the store and wouldn’t budge for the life of them.  A lady reached in line for an item on the shelf beside another customer and had to contort herself to reach it since the other customer was blocking her way and didn’t even flinch!  Europeans’ concept of space is not at all the same as ours; I guess we need much more personal space.  Even getting on crowded trains and buses, people are reluctant to yield the way, and in crowded streets, people walk straight into you.

Many farmers and gardeners till their land by hand.  We’ve seen people using manual tools in vineyards, olive groves, and large personal garden plots.  You never see that in the US!  Though a few days later, we would see plenty of motorized machinery and tractors on larger vineyards and farms.

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We didn’t have anything planned for today since we did Siena yesterday. We had breakfast with the Australian couple and the Ukrainian couple at 0930 and we talked with the Aussies till they had to leave around 1030. They gave us their e-mail address and we plan on contacting them when we got home. Afterwards, we went outside and replaced in the lawn chairs in the sun until sometime after the church bells in Torri rang noon. It felt great to have literally no worries and no responsibilities, and just feel the warm sun and hear the birds. We finally did something productive by walking up and into the town of Torri and checking out its very narrow streets and monastery originally built in 1075. Just outside of the north ‘gate’ there was a sign and a map for a trail linking the small towns along the main road. We decided to hike over to the next town, Stigliano, and back. We didn’t get very far before we took a ‘lunch’ break; a cobbled mix of apple, green pepper, nuts, raisins, and bread. The hike to Stigliano wasn’t too long, maybe 30-45 minutes, and with only a little up and down. It was a good hike for a day like today. The town was interesting because it had a lot of elevation change from one end to the other and had a few old towers in it, even a nice restaurant that was closed. We went to the far end of the town before turning around and going all the way back to Rosia to get some groceries for dinner. I think it was a better option than eating at a restaurant in Rosia and trying to walk back along that road at night. We got to the grocery store a few minutes before it reopened from the midday break at 1630. There was a mad dash to get inside and a couple of old people were blocking the entrance checking out the deals just inside the door. We bought some vegetables and sandwich fixins’ and barely made it out of the small grocery store with our sanity. Hopefully for the last time, we braved the side of the road back to Il Colombaio being narrowly missed by our favorite bus, #33. We had an early dinner, pretty much right we got back at 1730. We tried to eat outside but the two cats descended on us like flies, wanting a piece of the action. After cleaning up, we had dessert outside while writing in our journals and watching the sun set across the valley.

Italy Pictures

]]> http://sceptik.wordpress.com/2007/09/29/americanii-cei-dintai-teroristi/ Sat, 29 Sep 2007 22:18:25 +0000 sceptik http://sceptik.wordpress.com/2007/09/29/americanii-cei-dintai-teroristi/ Asa-zisul motiv folosit ca pretext de Georgica Tufis (Bush) pentru atacarea Irakului a fost detinerea de catre regimul lui Saddam a armelor de distrugere in masa. “Eroii” americani urmau sa descinda pe cheltuiala lor in aceasta tara pentru a rasturna ostilul guvern de la putere, guvern, regim mai bine zis, care impiedica educatia copiilor, care nu proteja familia si care, per ansamblu isi batea joc de proprii cetateni. Insa americanii au dus in Irak nu democratia invocata ci armele chimice. DA, in acest razboi, singurii care au folosit arme chimice au fost americanii. Am scris anterior despre folosirea armelor cu uraniu in Irak, arme care vor distruge lent dar sigur populatia din acea zona, precum si pe soldatii americani participanti la eveniment. Astfel de arme au mai fost folosite si in Afganistan si in Serbia asa incat nu numai cei 20 si ceva de milioane de irakieni vor fi afectati.

Tot pe question911.com gasiti un filmulet care da in vileag alta nenorocire. In Irak s-au folosit bombe cu fosfor alb. Astfel de bombe ataca NUMAI carnea, hainele si mobilierul ramand intacte! Carnea se topeste si se ajunge la ceva de genul:

sau

Iata democratia instaurata in Irak, acolo unde si noi avem trupe. Iata teroristii irakieni si pe cei… americani. Victime civile, oameni nevinovati. Daca ar fi fost inca la putere Ceausescu oare asa am fi patit si noi? Ah, noi n-avem asa de mult petrol insa avem destule alte bogatii naturale care compenseaza (vezi URANIUL nu aurul de la Rosia Montana).

Atacul cu fosfor alb s-a petrecut in timpul noptii cand oamenii dormeau. Saracii, s-au urcat in pat de buna voie dar de ridicat…

Dar mai corect ar fi sa-i acordam cuvantul Domnului Presedinte George Bush, care ne va explifica in terminologragie texana cum e cu razboiul acesta din Iraq:

Ce parere aveti? Le dam baza de la Kogalniceanu sau nu? Ni-i luam drept protectori pe americani? Cu asa prieteni nu mai ai nevoie de dusmani, vorba aia…

Cata dreptate avea Tutea cand a zis despre americani ca nu-s decat niste animale care traiesc in case si care nu fac altceva decat sa provoace haos planetar.