Life's no longer a beci

My host father, Dumitru, has asked me to remove the video Life's a Beci from my web page and from YouTube. Evidently, the internet is big enough in Moldova and in my county that people saw it at work and were teasing him. He feels that the video might tarnish his reputation, which I don't agree with. But in any case, he's embarrassed that it might be seen by other Moldovans.

I think this exemplifies two cultural differences, both young vs. old and American vs. Moldovan. Like most Americans, Moldovans in my village seem to like the idea of being seen by lots of people around the world. The differences lies in the execution; if people in my village feel that they can no longer control who's seeing them, they get nervous. So when people at work began joking with Dumitru about something he didn't realize they'd be able to see, he was uncomfortable. I can understand it. I wish he didn't feel that way, but I have to respect his wishes.

I am making the movie a private video, which can be accessed if you ask to join my list of YouTube friends. I hope that you will still watch the movie despite the extra step, but I have to respect Dumitru's wish to control his audience.

Un documentar despre Transnistria

This BBC documentary describes the situation between Moldova and the break-away region of Transnistria. I liked it overall, especially the reporter's demonstration of how porous the Transnistrian-Ukrainian border is and his day hanging out at President Vladimir Voronin's villa. It taught me a few things I didn't know, but I also have a few issues with it:

• The documentary states that unemployment is a major problem in Moldova. From my conversations, I've concluded that the problem isn't a lack of jobs, it's a lack of compensation for jobs. Because Moldovans can make $2,000 a month in a foreign country doing the same job as what would make them $60 in Moldova, people choose to leave the country rather than find work.


• The journalist says many Moldovans claim Transnistria cannot function on its own. In all of my conversations with Moldovans on the subject, I've heard the opposite; without Transnistrian factories, the rest of Moldova cannot sustain itself.

Aside from those issues, this is a good documentary that exposes Moldova to the West. Those are always welcome.

Thanks for the tip, Mircea Bordeianu.

Borat

I'm eagerly awaiting a bootleg copy of the Borat movie. We Peace Corps volunteers appreciate it on a much different level than most Americans, since this is stuff we see every day. Obviously, Borat is highly highly highly exaggerated; I'm not saying any Moldovan thinks women have smaller brains than men, nor is Moldova an incestuous breeding ground that prides itself on its prostitutes, as is Borat's version of Kazakhstan. But the little things, like how Borat will shake every man's hand in the room and kiss him on the cheeks and not even acknowledge the women in the room, or how Borat offers his driving instructor a drink, or how his suitcase falls open on the subway to let several chickens loose, remind me of things that I see in Moldova nearly every day.

Borat's "Kazakh village" was in fact filmed in Romania, so it was fun to watch the first four minutes of the film on YouTube and know what all these villagers were saying to Borat. His "wife," Oxana, didn't say what the sub-titles say, but she did say some incredibly dirty stuff.

When I was in Bucharest the other day, I talked to a college student who said she was ashamed that Borat filmed in her country. This is one of the problems with the Borat character: he's picked an easy target. American audiences are bound to laugh at how "strange" traditions are in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, but they easily forget that some of the backward views held by Borat were widely held in America as little as 50 years ago, and are held by some in America even today. Sascha Baron Cohen has the chance to take his characters into the realm that Andy Kaufman did with his, but right now there is a major difference; Kaufman didn't think twice about insulting and offending his audience, whereas Baron Cohen plays it safe and exploits people that few Americans will ever come into contact with.

So yes, I think Borat has a step or two to go developmentally before he reaches comic genius. But without a doubt, the movie is funny, and I, along with practically every volunteer I talk to in Moldova, can't wait to see more than what we've caught on YouTube.

Yakshymash.

P.S. Borat's usage of the Cyrillic alphabet has no connection with the actual usage of the letters. I was very disappointed when I knew the alphabet well enough to realize it was all a sham. Not even the spelling of Borat's name on posters is correct. The Cyrillic letter used in place of an "A" is in fact a Cyrillic "D".

Cultura moldovaneasca, si buna, si rea

I have noticed two major cultural presences in Moldova this month, and sadly, the bad one is more popular.

The bad one is Cleopatra Stratan, the three-year-old daughter of pop singer Pavel Stratan. Her song, which has the exact same backing track has her father's song, plays on Moldovan radio all day. This wouldn't be a problem if my host family didn't constantly play Moldovan pop radio. Whenever the song comes on, I have to leave the room and listen to something completely opposite, like Atari Teenage Riot. Cleopatra is headlining her own concert Sunday, with her father as the "special guest". Now there is definitely a time and a place for cute little kids singing, namely public television before 11 a.m. But for a three-year-old girl to be this popular is beyond my understanding.

My perception of Moldovan culture has been revived, however, by The Matrix dubbed in Moldovan. No, not Romanian. No, not Russian. Dubbed in Moldovan, a mix of Romanian and Russian words and phrases with the most vulgar words from both languages mixed in at every other line. The makers of the Moldovan Matrix dubbed all the lines in corny voices and replaced parts of the movie's original soundtrack with Russian dance music. They also changed a healthy amount of the plot; The Matrix is how Moldovans picture themselves in 2003, a time when Moldova occupied half the territory of Europe, and machines enslaved Moldovans because they realized that a drunk Moldovan was an excellent source of energy. Moldovans trapped in the Matrix have never tasted real wine. Some of my favorite lines from the movie:

When Morpheus talks to Neo for the first time on the cell phone and warns him about agents approaching: "Just give them a bribe and they'll let you go."

When Morpheus talks to Neo in the dojo simulation: "Hit me in the balls, but not too hard."

When Dozer says (in English), "We've got a lot of work to do," Neo and Morpheus have this conversation:
Neo: What language is he speaking?
Morpheus: I don't know.
Neo: Why doesn't he learn Romanian?
Morpheus: He's weak in the head. He doesn't even know how to read.

It's not high-class humor, but it's simple and fun. Watching it has also expanded my vocabulary of curse words in both Romanian and Russian. Now that's the kind of Moldovan culture I like.