Brad Spurgeon's Blog

TALMACIU, Romania

Tuesday, 2 July:

2:30 AM: Arrived in Cluj-Napoca, the capital of Transylvania. Expected at least one vampire sighting, saw none.

10:30 AM:  Awoke, went to pharmacy for eye infection that looked like vampire bite. At pharmacy, pleasant Romanian able to speak English sold me magic garlic bullet – also contained cortisone and antibiotic – mercifully given me despite it requiring a doctor’s prescription.

11:00 AM:  Went to fruit market to buy lemons, spinach and cloves of garlic.

1:00 PM:  Returned to apartment to work all afternoon on various writing projects, along with Ornella, who is writing an article for an Italian magazine (not about vampires).

7:00 PM: After eating local food made by mother of our host – chicken soup for the soul made from her very own chicken (not killed by a vampire) -, took a walk around Cluj after several applications of garlic gel on eye infection.  Saw many different quarters of university town, from typical public places with bars spilling out under awning-covered tables onto the sidewalks to rapidly flowing, violent river at edge of town to canal that looked like a perfect setting for Dracula to make an attack and lure is into unknown territory. Noticed scary looking metal spike on side of the bridge where Ornella and I both looked at each other and think about Vlad the Impaler.

Saw national theater with Hungarian words in name; national opera; another national theater; a few cool bars reminiscent of Budapest kerts (or beer gardens); noticed barbed wire and old communist era signs in several places.

8:30 PM:  Went out for a glass of wine and chocolate brownie at Charlie’s, a bar with the image of Charlie Chaplin.  First had a local white, then had a local red.  Thought I saw vampire and accidentally spilled Ornella’s wine all over her with overly abrupt hand and arm movement.  Fortunately was the white wine or vampire might have mistaken it for blood.

Found whole city to look like Budapest 20 years ago when first went to that East European country.  Expressed surprise to host on seeing no Roma, or Gypsies, anywhere as I see them on a daily basis in Paris.  Host laughed at me, as she had at every mention of vampires or Dracula.

Wednesday:

10:37 AM:  Woke up after bad night sleep and early morning storm worthy of a vampire (learned later that hail stones the size of golf balls fell on the location of our home for the next week and a half, in Talmaciu). Prepare to go to Talmaciu, to factory that is to be our home for next week and a half.

12:30 PM:  Met at the airport by driver of the Fabrique RE-Évolution / FREE / France Roumanie Europe Ensemble – who is in fact not a driver but is the lighting man for the Fabrique.  Drive for three hours plus lunch break to Talmaciu and the Fabrique RE-Évolution / FREE / France Roumanie Europe Ensemble.

4:30 PM:  Arrive at Fabrique RE-Évolution / FREE / France Roumanie Europe Ensemble to find no gypsies.  Look on Wikipedia and find that population of Talmaciu is only just over 3 percent gypsy.  Find no vampires either. Despite certain parts of factory looking like good homes for vampires (or Roma, or Gypsies).

7:00 PM:  Attend first conference at fabrique, featuring former minister of culture for Romania, and former boss of the Romanian Culture Center in NYC, and former a lot of things.  Learn much about what it was to live under communism.  Learn even more about what it is to have lived under communism and then in 1989 to face freedom.  Hear no word about vampires – except in form of former communist padres – and nothing about Roma, or Gypsies.

12:30 AM:  Begin to jam in dining area of Fabrique RE-Évolution / FREE / France Roumanie Europe Ensemble with musicians.  Have time of life playing music and watching two musicians clown around with the music.

2:00 AM:  Go to bed, closing windows at first tight against vampires, then opening windows but put mosquito repellent against vampires.  (And copious mosquitoes present.)

Thursday:

11:00 AM:  Awake in sunlight, having survived no vampire attack.

2:00 PM:  Take bus to Sibiu, local big town, capital of the county.  Find typical architecture of the region, mix of Romanian, Hungarian and German styles.  Tried to meet Rocco, man of more than 250 guitar collection. Rocco answers phone, says he is many kilometres away in another town. Leaves me with no guitar – because Wizzair wanted me to pay for an extra seat for my guitar, so I did not take it.  (Devise inspirational, brilliant, advertising campaign for Wizzair (also known as Wizz):  “Next time you go on vacation, take a wizz!”)

3:00 PM:   Find one of two music stores in Sibiu, go there and ask to try cheapest guitar that exists.  Play Emerald green “Flame” guitar costing 60 euros.  Find it more than serviceable, not bad at all. Buy guitar, strap and Fender strings for total of 74 euros.  In store meet elderly, white-haired man with strong accent in English, says he is from Denmark but lives in Sibiu.  Has guitar on back.  After leaving store, elderly man approaches again in street.  Says he owns 250 guitars.  Ask him if he knows Rocco. Says yes, adds, “Rocco has 2,500 guitars.”  Danish man tells me he himself gives guitars away; makes me think 74 euros was thrown in waste.

3:30 PM:  Look for second music store in Sibiu for small percussion instruments for Ornella’s workshop, meet up with strange Danish man again.  Says he knows all of the music bars and music restaurants in the city. Suggests I busk in street to earn back 74 euros.  Ask him if he knows the other music store in Sibiu, show him on map, he does not.  But knows others.

4:00 PM:  Eat lunch at restaurant in outdoor awning-covered terrace on main square.  Wait half an hour for food despite no other clients present – or practically none.   Eat quickly, find second music store in Sibiu and second cheapo guitar of same price as new Flame.  Second guitar piece of garbage – despite visually better.  Find percussion instruments for Ornella’s workshop – a tambourine-like drum but without the symbols, and also a tambourine-like loop with the symbols but without the drum skin … leads me to think second music store in Sibiu is trying to make us pay twice as much for same effect in two pieces as if we had just a classic tambourine.

5:30 PM:  Go to main bus and train station of Sibiu to catch bus back to Talmaciu as instructed by host.  Learn at main bus and train station of Sibiu that there are no more buses back to Talmaciu.  Young man approaches – later tells me he saw me playing guitar and singing to locals on the parking lot of bus and train station of Sibiu – speaks in perfect Australian English offering a ride somewhere as we appear in distress.  We tell him we are going to Talmaciu and he says he is passing by that way exactly and offers us a ride.  In his van I learn he is son of a Baptist missionary in Romania.  My family has long line of Baptist missionaries in India, and is directly linked to a famous Baptist preacher named C.H. Spurgeon.  He knows my name and is surprised.  Nice coincidence.

7:00 PM:  Listen to conference on Hamlet at Fabrique given by an American English professor.  Speak to the professor and find he lived in the same building as two of my former newspaper colleagues in Paris.  Nice coincidence.  No sighting of Roma, or Gypsies, but suspect man who directs factory is Roma, or Gypsy, as he brought to conference most interested and interesting spectators:  Two Goanna “monitor” lizards from Australia.  (See photo.)  Goannas listening to Hamlet, Cioran and Pessoa.

00:00 PM:  Meet clown musician of night before going to another jam and offers us to join.  I say, “No,” too much work at conference next day.

Friday:

8:15 AM:  Awake in Romanofir factory in Talmaciu, site of FREE.  Feel fine, despite rooster crowing for 1 hour and sun flowing in window with no curtains.

9:00 AM:  Start workshop – more or less – in incredible old theatre in factory.   Theatre built as cinema, but with huge stage, lights, red seats for hundreds.  Rundown after years without use.   Building full of nooks and crannies and perfect place for Vampires or Roma, or Gypsies.  No sightings, however, except maybe in projection room a reel of Dracula films. (Just joking.)

6:00 PM:  Workshop ends.  Shower, drink beer, seek dinner.

8:30 PM:  Join members of workshop at their tents, play “Mad World” with Flame guitar.  Informed halfway through song that sheep and goats in adjacent field run around like mad over music.  Approach the animals, but only the three horned leaders come to check me out – and fend me off – as sheep hide in field behind.  No sightings of vampires. Or Roma, or Gypsies.  Continue to play music and listen to workshop participants play music with my new Flame – very good singer and player present among them.  Makes me want to quit.  (Well, ok, no, but you get the idea.)

10:00 PM:  Attend concert of man playing flutes and cornemeuse and Lo Schuh, organizer of Fabrique singing and chanting and reciting to the music.  No sighting of gypsies or vampires, but shadow of Lo Schuh from spotlight on wall of building next-door looking like Dracula, as Lo Schuh wears exotic Dracula-like clothing.

10:30 PM:  Return to campsite, start thinking about vampires and Roma, or Gypsies in moon-flooded night. Romanians at campsite, participants in workshop, talk about how world outside has preconceptions of Romania, especially Transylvania, as land of Vampires and Roma, or Gypsies.  Leap from my chair now aware they are aware of this stereotyping.  Also learn that minority of Roma, or Gypsies badly treated by majority of Romanians.  So Roma, or Gypsies in their mind same as in our mind in the West.

00:00 PM:  Go to bed thinking how stupid I am to reduce Romania to Vampires and Roma, or Gypsies. Then remember moment on the way to listen to Lo Schuh when what seemed like a Vampire bat flew past my head and head of Romanian host.  Host agreed it must have been vampire bat.  Fall asleep anyway, no problems.

Saturday:

8:15 AM:  Awake. Feel fine, despite rooster crowing for 1 hour at least and sun flowing in window with no curtains.  No vampire bats. No Roma, or Gypsies.  Forget all troubles.  Do workshop, day ends well.  Feel liberated to no longer have preconceptions about Roma, or Gypsies and Vampires in Romania.  Have discovered amazing country, like so many in so many ways of those visited elsewhere in the world.  Always people.  Just people.  Not Roma, or Gypsies, no vampires.

More to come in coming days, including explanation of discovery of cloves of garlic in Romanian woodshed pictured in first photo of diary … too busy to keep up beyond Saturday, but new week to deliver new adventures….