It's Saturday night, the end of a very slow day. I can't believe it's school time again. I woke up pretty late today and really felt like doing nothing. I will admit that I spent the whole day in front of the stupid computer but I fixed some things and organized the huge mess on my desktop. I also did some more research about U of Illinois at Urbana-Champagne where I already received an offer for a Ph.D. in Materials Chemistry. The program looks very strong, some of the research is just yummy and the financial offer is pretty good. I am really excited and so ready to move on, whether it will be Illinois, South Carolina, MIT or whatever. At this point I keep all options open.
Today I also received a call from Dr. Myrick, my mentor from South Carolina. He invited me for an official visit, so I will probably fly to Columbia, SC on the 18th of Februrary. I also e-mailed Illinois for a tentative visit schedule. Although I love travelling, I hope I won't get too many offers because I won't get anything done this semester. I am not looking forward to writing my senior thesis, but no matter how much I complain and how busy I will be, all I know is that my thesis needs to get done.
Before I decided to write this journal blurb I had so many things in my mind, but now I am blank, so I will go ahead and talk about the cleaning up project that I did in Romania.
The pictures down below are pretty explanatory. One of the first shocks I had after arriving home was the disgusting view out the kitchen window. The area around the trash dump looked more like a landfill than a backyard. Thanks to negligent people who don't care to put the trash in the dump, stray dogs who pull it out in search for food, strong winds, and negligent trash collectors the zone was a disaster. I couldn't just stand and do nothing so I wrote a letter to all the people living in my apartment block. I simply described the situation and asked everybody who cares to come down on Saturday at 12:00 pm and pick up some trash. I distributed 80 copies of my letter to the people that are immediately affected (visually and olfactory) by the mess.I figured that if out of around 160 people who read the letter at least 30 people came down and picked up trash for 5 minutes the whole area would have become spotless. You should know that in Romania implication and resposability are unknown and any sense of community is totally absent . That's why my effort was more of a sociological experiment than truly a cleaning project.
It turns out that Saturday at 12:00 sharp 10 people came out (including me, my brother and my mom). There were a couple of little kids, some guys in their fifties and an older man. We all worked for 40 minutes and filled up more than 22 giant trashbags. The improvement is quite visible in the pictures. Although a lot of people were looking out the window probably thinking "what do these freaks want?" I was really glad that we managed to get the job done. I finished my little project by writing another letter and distributing it to the same 80 mailboxes. I presented the outcome of the project and a few pieces of advice for keeping the area clean. I also e-mailed the trash company, the mayor and the press. The next day the trash company replied and appreciated my project and the newspaper had an article about it. It seems like really simple problems like keeping the backyard clean are very hard to solve in Romania because no one has any kind of initiative. I assume that my project was a surprise for many of the people, but it was an even bigger surprise for me that so few responded.
Saturday, January 22, 2005
Monday, January 10, 2005
Rezultate - "Spatele Blocului"
Iata cum s-a incheiat micul meu proiect. Pot sa spun ca sunt mai mult decit multumit. Ma asteptam sa fac doar un experiment social si acum chiar e mult mai curat in spatele blocului.
Scrisoarea de mai jos am pus-o in cutia postala a fiecaruia care a primit primul anunt. Am scris si o scrisoare deschisa adresata firmei de curatenie comunitara (Salubritas), primariei, politiei, presei, si tuturor locatarilor ingrijorati de starea de curatenie din oras. Daca o problema asa de simpla cum este curatenia nu se poate rezolva atunci ce ne facem cu saracia si coruptia. Nu am sa inteleg niciodata cum o tara cu atitea masini scumpe si oameni cu celulare se complace intr-o mizerie crasa. Se pare ca s-au sarit niste pasi de evolutie esentiali.
Inainte
Dupa
Multumim mult celor care si-au dat 40 de minute din viata pentru mai binele tuturor.
1. Cand tomberonul este plin sunati la Salubritas. Cu cat suna mai multi oameni cu atat e sansa mai mare ca cineva sa vina sa ridice gunoiul la timp.
2. Cand vedeti persoane suspecte care vin cu foarte mult gunoi din alte zone pentru ca nu vor sa-si platesca un serviciu propriu de salubritate sunati la politie. Reclamati in mod civilizat situatia, avind pregatita descrierea persoanei si numarul masinii.
3. Cand vedeti caini vagabonzi care scormonesc pentru mincare si care duc gunoiul in toate partile sunati la Salubritas. Daca se primesc zeci de telefoane intr-un timp scurt exista sanse mai mari ca sa vina cineva in timp util.
4. Participati in mod activ la sedintele de asociatie. Informati primaria si Salubritas de problema actuala. Propuneti lor sau organizati singuri crearea unei zone ingradite pentru a micsora sansa ca gunoaiele sa fie raspindite peste tot.
5. Organizati actiuni voluntare de curatare a zonei pentru ca acestea nu costa aproape nimic. Daca nu sunteti adeptul voluntariatului, platiti o suma minima oamenilor de serviciu pentru ca in afara orelor de program sa faca odata pe luna o curatenie generala a zonei din afara blocurilor. Trebuie sa intelegem ca oricit de mult sau putin ar fi platiti, e fizic imposibil pentru citiva oameni angajati la asociatie sa desfaca mizeria pe care o fac alte sute de oameni.
Scrisoarea de mai jos am pus-o in cutia postala a fiecaruia care a primit primul anunt. Am scris si o scrisoare deschisa adresata firmei de curatenie comunitara (Salubritas), primariei, politiei, presei, si tuturor locatarilor ingrijorati de starea de curatenie din oras. Daca o problema asa de simpla cum este curatenia nu se poate rezolva atunci ce ne facem cu saracia si coruptia. Nu am sa inteleg niciodata cum o tara cu atitea masini scumpe si oameni cu celulare se complace intr-o mizerie crasa. Se pare ca s-au sarit niste pasi de evolutie esentiali.
Inainte
Dupa
Simbata, 8 ianuarie, incepand cu ora 12
− 10 oameni cu virste intre 10 si 80 de ani, dar toti la fel de harnici, au lucrat timp de
− 40 de minute si au adunat cel putin
− 16 saci de 70 de litri si 5 saci de 100 de litri de gunoi
− 40 de minute si au adunat cel putin
− 16 saci de 70 de litri si 5 saci de 100 de litri de gunoi
Multumim mult celor care si-au dat 40 de minute din viata pentru mai binele tuturor.
Telefoane utile
Salubritas - 236771
Politie – 955
Caini comunitari (Salubritas) – 236772
Primarie – 210872
Salubritas - 236771
Politie – 955
Caini comunitari (Salubritas) – 236772
Primarie – 210872
Pentru pastrarea curateniei
Motto: “Daca faci nimic o sa se intimple tot nimic.”
Motto: “Daca faci nimic o sa se intimple tot nimic.”
1. Cand tomberonul este plin sunati la Salubritas. Cu cat suna mai multi oameni cu atat e sansa mai mare ca cineva sa vina sa ridice gunoiul la timp.
2. Cand vedeti persoane suspecte care vin cu foarte mult gunoi din alte zone pentru ca nu vor sa-si platesca un serviciu propriu de salubritate sunati la politie. Reclamati in mod civilizat situatia, avind pregatita descrierea persoanei si numarul masinii.
3. Cand vedeti caini vagabonzi care scormonesc pentru mincare si care duc gunoiul in toate partile sunati la Salubritas. Daca se primesc zeci de telefoane intr-un timp scurt exista sanse mai mari ca sa vina cineva in timp util.
4. Participati in mod activ la sedintele de asociatie. Informati primaria si Salubritas de problema actuala. Propuneti lor sau organizati singuri crearea unei zone ingradite pentru a micsora sansa ca gunoaiele sa fie raspindite peste tot.
5. Organizati actiuni voluntare de curatare a zonei pentru ca acestea nu costa aproape nimic. Daca nu sunteti adeptul voluntariatului, platiti o suma minima oamenilor de serviciu pentru ca in afara orelor de program sa faca odata pe luna o curatenie generala a zonei din afara blocurilor. Trebuie sa intelegem ca oricit de mult sau putin ar fi platiti, e fizic imposibil pentru citiva oameni angajati la asociatie sa desfaca mizeria pe care o fac alte sute de oameni.
versiune originala: spatele_blocului_dupa.doc
Scrisoare deschisa
Draga domn sau doamna,
Ma numesc Dragos Seghete si locuiesc pe Bd. Decebal, nr. 96, Bl. G4, Sc B, ap 30. Dupa cum se vede din documentele atasate saptamina trecuta am organizat o actiune voluntara pentru curatarea zonei din spatele blocului. Anuntul “spatele_blocului_inainte.doc” a fost pus Marti 4 ianuarie in cutia postala a tuturor apartamentelor din blocul 96, si pe usile de intrare si iesire din fiecare scara. In total au fost distribuite 80 de anunturi. Rezultatele actiunii se pot vedea in celalalt document atasat, care si el a fost distribuit tuturor locatarilor.
Va scriu aceste randuri pentru a va informa despre actiune dar si pentru a va cere ajutorul in crearea unei atmosfere de civilizatie in Piatra Neamt. Un oras mai curat este scopul comun al tuturor. Acest scop se poate atinge mult mai usor printr-o colaborare sincera si dezinteresata intre Salubritas, primarie, politie, presa si cetateni.
In speranta ca actiunea noastra nu va ramine fara ecou va multumesc anticipat.
Cu sinceritate,
Dragos Seghete
Draga domn sau doamna,
Ma numesc Dragos Seghete si locuiesc pe Bd. Decebal, nr. 96, Bl. G4, Sc B, ap 30. Dupa cum se vede din documentele atasate saptamina trecuta am organizat o actiune voluntara pentru curatarea zonei din spatele blocului. Anuntul “spatele_blocului_inainte.doc” a fost pus Marti 4 ianuarie in cutia postala a tuturor apartamentelor din blocul 96, si pe usile de intrare si iesire din fiecare scara. In total au fost distribuite 80 de anunturi. Rezultatele actiunii se pot vedea in celalalt document atasat, care si el a fost distribuit tuturor locatarilor.
Va scriu aceste randuri pentru a va informa despre actiune dar si pentru a va cere ajutorul in crearea unei atmosfere de civilizatie in Piatra Neamt. Un oras mai curat este scopul comun al tuturor. Acest scop se poate atinge mult mai usor printr-o colaborare sincera si dezinteresata intre Salubritas, primarie, politie, presa si cetateni.
In speranta ca actiunea noastra nu va ramine fara ecou va multumesc anticipat.
Cu sinceritate,
Dragos Seghete
versiune originala: scrisoare_deschisa.htm
Monday, January 03, 2005
Proiectul "Spatele Blocului"
Sunt Dragos Seghete si locuiesc in blocul 96, la scara B, et 3, ap 30. De fiecare data cind ma scol dimineata si ma uit pe geam sa vad cum e vremea ma izbeste imaginea de mai sus. Pur si simplu ma dor ochii si sufletul cind vad atita mizerie si toata ziua imi este stricata.
Am decis sa scriu acest anunt pentru ca stiu ca mai sunt oameni la fel de lezati visual si moral de cocina din spatele blocului. Mie personal imi este rusine ca stau cu gunoaiele la 20 de m de bloc si nu fac absolut nimic ca sa rezolv problema. Daca si tu te-ai saturat de privelistea de groapa de gunoi a spatelui blocului acum ai o sansa sa iti exprimi opinia. Si cred ca cel mai eficient mod de a exprima o parere este sa faci ceva concret. Asa ca:
Simbata, 8 ianuarie la ora 12:00 fix
toti cei care s-au saturat de aceasta mizerie crasa vor iesi in spatele blocului si vor ridica hirtii si gunoaie din iarba, de pe linga gunoi, din spatele gardului, de oriunde sunt si nu trebuie sa fie. Cu cit iesim mai multi cu atit terminam treaba mai repede. Orice unelte care ar putea fi de ajutor (grebla, lopata, galeata) vor fi mult apreciate.
Eu unul am sa imi dau rusinea, pasivitatea, lenea si mindria la o parte si am sa le inlocuiesc timp de citeva minute cu ridicatul de gunoaie in frigul iernii. Oricit de injositor si nedrept ar fi, eu cred ca meritam cu totii sa ne facem unul altuia cadou pentru noul an un “spatele blocului” putin mai curat.
Ne vedem sambata!
Cu speranta si respect,
Dragos Seghete
Am reprodus aici in intregime proiectul pe care l-am gindit din primele secunde dupa ce am ajuns acasa. Imaginea de mai sus explica probabil cel mai bine de ce am fost nevoit sa imi autopropun acest proiect. Scopul meu nu e sa curat spatele blocului, ci sa fac un experiment stiintific in domeniul sociologiei (banuiesc). Am facut copii la anuntul de mai jos si le-am pus in cutia postala a fiecarui apartament din blocul meu. In total 70 de apartamente. Am pus si cite un afis la intrarea din fata si spate a fiecarei scari de bloc - 8 afise. Teoretic in acest bloc locuiesc cam 2.5 persoane pe apartament, deci sa zicem 140 de persoane eligibile. Am lasat 4 zile intre data anuntului si cea in care ar trebui sa aiba loc treaba timp suficient de contemplare. Cu o zi inainte am sa incerc sa bat din usa in usa sa vedem citi confirma intentia de a veni, inca o metoda de marketing. Deocamdata sunt optimist si zic ca vor veni cel putin 10 oameni. Altii m-au dezumflat si mi-au spus ca nici chiar asa de multi, domnle ... . Vom vedea.
versiune originala: spatele_blocului_inainte.doc
Two days at my Grandparents
The last few days I visited with my grandparents and today I ran a bunch of errands. My grandparents are happy and healthy, just a little older. This time I took some pictures and I posted them on my website at http://comp.uark.edu/~dseghet in the photo section. Take a look to see the “Simple Life” - Romanian Style. You can see my Grandpa’s babies (4 cats) and my Grandma’s colorful chickens. We have a dog too, and the poor baby was terrified by the New Year’s fireworks. Without any exaggeration I think Borca, Neamt, Romania had some of the most impressive fireworks I have ever seen. The tall mountains that closely surround the valley acted as a reverberation chamber and the fact that everybody lighted all the fireworks on a 1 mile radius at the same time, made the whole thing sound like an atomic bomb. The scary part was that all that firepower (including really big fireworks) was operated by amateurs and across Romania hundreds of people were mutilated by fireworks.
Yesterday we came back to Piatra Neamt and in a surprising turn of events my dad got his driver license back. His license was supposed to be suspended for another 2 months but one of his friends came in today and gave him a paper saying that reconsidering the situation he will receive his license in the mail tomorrow. This friend of his has connections with the police and all that and although my father told him that he won’t bribe anybody, he convinced my mom that it would be nice for my dad to have his license back for his new job. So this guy new the right people and the right loopholes in the law, and just with a Xerox copy of my dad’s ID he somehow came back with that paper signed saying that the 90 days suspension was reduced to just 30 days. Ain’t corrupt Romania great? My dad is really confused now. He doesn’t know whether to be happy for having his license back, or to be sad for encouraging another act of corruption. Either way, this was the first day he got to drive the new car which you will be able to see on the website. He concluded that his new purchase was a good choice.
That’s about it here in Romanialand. I will try to keep you posted in a journal-like manner about the excitement of being back to RO. I am already more comfortable with people who don’t smile, with being surrounded and touched by random people in narrow streets and busy markets, and with shop owners that yell at you for no reason. But I am also enjoying at max the natural foods here, the real beer, and the amazing wines for a dollar, while sharing some good ol’ stories with my intentionally funny dad and my unintentionally hilarious mom.
Yesterday we came back to Piatra Neamt and in a surprising turn of events my dad got his driver license back. His license was supposed to be suspended for another 2 months but one of his friends came in today and gave him a paper saying that reconsidering the situation he will receive his license in the mail tomorrow. This friend of his has connections with the police and all that and although my father told him that he won’t bribe anybody, he convinced my mom that it would be nice for my dad to have his license back for his new job. So this guy new the right people and the right loopholes in the law, and just with a Xerox copy of my dad’s ID he somehow came back with that paper signed saying that the 90 days suspension was reduced to just 30 days. Ain’t corrupt Romania great? My dad is really confused now. He doesn’t know whether to be happy for having his license back, or to be sad for encouraging another act of corruption. Either way, this was the first day he got to drive the new car which you will be able to see on the website. He concluded that his new purchase was a good choice.
That’s about it here in Romanialand. I will try to keep you posted in a journal-like manner about the excitement of being back to RO. I am already more comfortable with people who don’t smile, with being surrounded and touched by random people in narrow streets and busy markets, and with shop owners that yell at you for no reason. But I am also enjoying at max the natural foods here, the real beer, and the amazing wines for a dollar, while sharing some good ol’ stories with my intentionally funny dad and my unintentionally hilarious mom.
Back to Romania
Because I too lazy I will take exercpts of the e-mail letters that I kept going with my friends just to freshen up this blog with the impressions of coming back to Romania.
Hello y’all from Dracula’s homeland.
This is my second day home and I am full of good stories. I am extremely excited about all the changes that I found home.
On the flight from Minneapolis to Amsterdam I set next to a guy who does mission work in Tanzania. 7 hours of flight didn’t seem long enough to hear all his interesting stories, discuss the politics of the world and share my perspective on things. From Amsterdam to Bucharest I sat next to an American gal named Jenn who decided to move to Romania. She finished college at UW - Madison and accepted a job at an American consulting firm in Bucharest. Apparently she was in love with Romania’s culture and the extravagant lifestyle that she can afford here with an OK American salary.
I won’t bore you with the excitement of being with my fam again. We have a new car, tiny on the American standards, but quite all right for Romania’s gas prices. It has a bunch of gadgets inside and it looks very trendy and europeanish. My mom drove from the airport on the way home and I can honestly say that she is the worst driver ever. The good thing is that it’s mostly lack of experience, so I hope that with time she will get better. I guess that we got home safe and that’s all that counts. Just in front of us a nasty wreck happened. A drunk driver who happened to be a known politician’s brother, smashed his Mercedes SUV on the incoming lane into a little town car killing on the spot two parents and their 14 year old daughter.
Yesterday I witnessed with all the shock and awe the lack of customer service in Romania. I was at a Restaurant-Bar-Disco (whatever that means) when I ordered a drink and out of 10 choices on the menu they only had coke and mineral water, with no choice of size or ice. After half an hour I was brought the bottle of mineral water and the waitress spilled half of it on my lap in her unnecessary attempt to pour it in the glass. I found the whole thing very amusing.
More changes I found at home where my mom did some redesigning and redecorating of the rooms. My room is bigger with less furniture and my brother’s room has a new design with a top-notch orange futon. I was truly impressed by the internet connection that I have here, which beats the crappy University connection. Today I washed the car. It cost 2$ a car wash and a guy was handwashing your car in the 32 degree weather. It took him 20 minutes to make it spotless so I gave him another 50 cents and told him Happy New Year!. He cracked a big smile.
I hope everybody has a break as exciting as mine. Have fun, don’t eat too much and Happy New Year from me and my family.
Dragos
P.S. Now you can take a look at pictures of my room and you can see our new car on my webpage at the Photos section. Enjoy!
Hello y’all from Dracula’s homeland.
This is my second day home and I am full of good stories. I am extremely excited about all the changes that I found home.
On the flight from Minneapolis to Amsterdam I set next to a guy who does mission work in Tanzania. 7 hours of flight didn’t seem long enough to hear all his interesting stories, discuss the politics of the world and share my perspective on things. From Amsterdam to Bucharest I sat next to an American gal named Jenn who decided to move to Romania. She finished college at UW - Madison and accepted a job at an American consulting firm in Bucharest. Apparently she was in love with Romania’s culture and the extravagant lifestyle that she can afford here with an OK American salary.
I won’t bore you with the excitement of being with my fam again. We have a new car, tiny on the American standards, but quite all right for Romania’s gas prices. It has a bunch of gadgets inside and it looks very trendy and europeanish. My mom drove from the airport on the way home and I can honestly say that she is the worst driver ever. The good thing is that it’s mostly lack of experience, so I hope that with time she will get better. I guess that we got home safe and that’s all that counts. Just in front of us a nasty wreck happened. A drunk driver who happened to be a known politician’s brother, smashed his Mercedes SUV on the incoming lane into a little town car killing on the spot two parents and their 14 year old daughter.
Yesterday I witnessed with all the shock and awe the lack of customer service in Romania. I was at a Restaurant-Bar-Disco (whatever that means) when I ordered a drink and out of 10 choices on the menu they only had coke and mineral water, with no choice of size or ice. After half an hour I was brought the bottle of mineral water and the waitress spilled half of it on my lap in her unnecessary attempt to pour it in the glass. I found the whole thing very amusing.
More changes I found at home where my mom did some redesigning and redecorating of the rooms. My room is bigger with less furniture and my brother’s room has a new design with a top-notch orange futon. I was truly impressed by the internet connection that I have here, which beats the crappy University connection. Today I washed the car. It cost 2$ a car wash and a guy was handwashing your car in the 32 degree weather. It took him 20 minutes to make it spotless so I gave him another 50 cents and told him Happy New Year!. He cracked a big smile.
I hope everybody has a break as exciting as mine. Have fun, don’t eat too much and Happy New Year from me and my family.
Dragos
P.S. Now you can take a look at pictures of my room and you can see our new car on my webpage at the Photos section. Enjoy!
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