I know a sex slave

I know a sex slave. I didn't think I ever would, but now I do. Please read the following text.

For two weeks, she was locked inside an apartment here in Bucuresti, and her kidnappers brought her 3-4 clients every day, all of whom she had to have sex with. With a condom, luckily. She didn't get any of the money, as far as I know.

SMALL TOWN GIRL
Originally she's from a small town, and came to Bucuresti to try and study after high school. I met her here, and we kept in touch. After some time she started doing adult videochat, and that ended in her boss forcing her to have sex with a male colleague to make money she supposedly owed him, for renting a room in the apartment the webcam studio was in.

After a week of this, she managed to get away from the situation and got out of the city. Some time later she came back, and was determined never to do video chat again. However, not knowing anything else she could do, she started doing erotic massage. Not sex, just massage.

THE LOCK UP
Then, after a few weeks of that, the bosses told her she would start doing the massage alone, in a room in an apartment. She agreed to this, and this is when they started locking her up in the apartment and told her she was going to have sex with the clients from now on, or else they would hurt her. If she tried to run, they would find her and do bad things to her.

She then was a sex slave for almost two weeks, until she got lucky and was saved by a client she had met. He liked her and brought her to another city in Romania. So she's out of the situation, but these people probably have more girls like her locked up in other apartments, and in the same situation.

TYPICAL VICTIM
How did she get herself into all of this? She's young and a very volatile person, and probably easy to threat or manipulate. She's not stupid, just a normal girl in a weak position. This is exactly the type of girl these kidnappers and trafickers look for, and this is a textbook example of how someone might become a sex slave.

Now she hopes to get a normal life, and if anything new happens with her I'll update this post.

*** UPDATE ***

I talked to her a while ago, and she said that after she moved to another city, the guy who "saved" her turned out to be not so nice, so she left him and started doing luxury prostitution by herself. That went on for a while until one of the clients fell in love with her, convinced her to stop, and now they are married.

NATO Summit 2008 an April Fools joke

The 2008 NATO summit in Bucuresti, first to fourth of April, now turns out to have been nothing more than an April Fools joke, put together by the Romanian authorities.

The official website, the road blocks, the extremely high level of security, all the conferences, Bush and Putin both being in Bucuresti at the same time -- it was all just a very expensive April Fools joke that in the end cost the tax payers more than 24 million euros.

When asked if the April Fools joke also had functioned as a 'proper' NATO summit, president Băsescu said, "Well, NATO might have seen this as a summit, but us, the romanian politicians, are very happy about pulling off the most expensive April Fools joke ever, which will also have secured itself an entry in the Guinness book of World Records."

A female reporter later asked Băsescu if there would be an official report as to where all the money went, and the president replied, "Little baby girl -- look at my houses, my cars, my wardrobe, my mistresses... Are you joking with me?"

Why the "why?"

If you ask them a simple question, a LOT of Romanians have a tendency to add a "why?" to the end of their answers.

Like this:
- Hey Cristina, long time no see! How have you been?
- I've been OK. Why?

Or:
- So is that your friend?
- Yes. Why?

Or:
- Did you walk all the way here?
- No, I took a taxi. Why?

My friend Sinziana has this theory:
* Romanians ask "Why?" to find out the true meaning of the question - that there might be something more to the question than what was asked. Or that conversations often start with questions that are very general or open, and the "Why?" after an answer is a reflex, a normal way to continue the conversation.

This could imply that Romanians are actually not used to simple questions which are just that, they might be more used to all questions having a hidden meaning behind them. On the other hand it can also just mean that it's a normal way to converse, and the "Why?" is merely a vehicle.

Iulia, another friend, said this:
* This is just how Romanians are. Germans have a way of being (cold), and Romanians just have this way of speaking, it's in the culture. In Romania, most of the time, a question is more than just a question. "Why?" is both a way to find out the real intention of the question, and also it can be a way to talk out more about the subject.

Myself, I have a small theory that these verbal mechanisms (questions with hidden meanings and "Why?") might be an effect of communism, where the lack of free speech probably had people wanting to find out the true intentions of questions. And before 1989 you had to be a bit careful about what you said, because in Ceauşescu's Romania the country was full of informants that would turn you in if you said something "dangerous".

So this must have had a huge psychological effect on people then. And those people are the parents of today's young people, so even young people now have been influenced by their parents and are probably carrying around fragments of a pre-1989 mindset. And thus "Why?" is still being used.

Just a thought. :)

Hey, where's my change?

Often, when I go to KFC to buy a 5 piece chicken strip meal (which costs 9.90 RON), I give the cashier a 10 RON note and after a few seconds of hope, I realize that I'm not going to get my 10 bani coin back (bani are like cents). Why does this happen?

Hmm, I have no idea but this is a strange fact about Romania - they often don't give you back correct change. It's not always a loss to you either - give or take 10 to 20 bani above or below the actual price of the item, vendors often think it's just easier to "not worry about it".

But ... hey wait.. how do you say in Romanian, "I'm worried about it"? :(

Bryan

Attack of the foreigners

If I had a RON for everytime I've been asked "So, why Romania?", I'd basically still be a poor westerner living in Romania, but at least it would help pay for the ever increasing prices in this beautifully strange country.

Many times accompanied with a subtly accusitive smile, this question "Why Romania?" always leaves me with one basic feeling -- the feeling that I need to provide a good answer. So the real question is - what's the right answer? Why are all these foreigners here? What do they want? And will they leave? :)

Well, the quick answer to this question is "why not Romania?" Besides, it's a beautiful country filled with an intelligent and proud people, working hard and pushing Romania forward in new ways. Yes, there are negative aspects of Romania - as there are in all countries -but in the end, what I see is an honest and loving people that are slowly but surely trying to change Romania for the better.

Bryan