For a while it was pretty clear to me that my life in Vancouver was gettin pretty unhealthy - too much abuse of anything that's not good, from there the possibility of a healthy relationship diminished, from there I wasn't feeling happy and so on. From Thursday to Sunday morning I was a bit too happy and from Sunday afternoon 'til the following Thursday... not that good.
The decision was very simple - move from Vancouver. And I did. To fucking Germany. For most Canadians Germany seems the bumhole of the univers. For a Romanian is worse, given our latin bullshit. But the circumstances and my rehab took me through Germany, which was not that bad afterall. It made me appreciate the rest much more.
At the end of the day I'm in Romania - a family man, with a lovely and loving wife, which I love to death (she will read this, but it's true). I kept the thought that I moved back home because of all of the above. But one day I came upon a couple of sentences which changed all that. There's room for comment, but I agree with them. It goes something like this:
"... emigration is an enormous mistake. The biggest anyone can make in their life. The loss of home always leaves a hole that never fills."
That's it. A lot of you saw it and even told me at times - 'why don't you go back?". Actually it had a 'then' a the end - "Why don't you fucking go back then??".
Well, I needed a smarter emigrant to show me later on in life that in fact I followed my instincts. By the way, I recommend every word that Rohinton Mistry writes.
Since we are on the subject of emigration or immigration, which for obvious reasons it's important to Mistry and I, I stumbled on another bit on the subject. This time is by Yann Martel, another Canadian of sorts. It starts with why and fits my title:
"Why do people move? What makes them uproot and leave everything they've known for a great unknown beyond the horizon? Why climb this mount Everest of formalities that makes you feel like a beggar? Why enter this jungle of foreigners where everything is new, strange, difficult? The answer is the same all over the world: people move in the hope for a better life"
Well, I guess I initially left because I hoped a better life. And I got it.. I got an unexpected university degree thanks to C.A.B., I learned a new language (more or less), I got a new life, I got new and amazing friends - I got everything I wanted. But I got a bit more, which I quickly covered above.
But let's get real and cut the shit. It was all fine in Bucharest back in 91.. I left to follow my dad and to get away from an ex-communist system and chase the western dream, which was represented by Madonna (and George Michael). But instead of Madonna, Shania Twain showed up. When 10 years later Nelly Furtado made it big I had to get the fuck out of town.
She had a concert in Bucharest a couple of weeks ago. I didn't go.
