How The Idea Popped Up

Early July, Amsterdam. After five months away from home, I was preparing to come back to Bucharest. So I declared the "bucket list" open, and asked my friends what do they want me to bring them as presents. Weed, hemps, rolling paper, dildos, poppers... nothing new, nothing surprising. Except from one thing, and that demand came from Marius ( a mid-thirty married guy; Likes: drinking, gambling, fishing, wasting time; Dislikes: his married man condition). He wanted one thing: a genuine Holland tullip bulb! That is what I call "a surprise"! Mid-July, Schiphol airport. While boarding on my plane back home, I realised that I have an 11 kilos bag only for presents! (No, I didn't bring any hemps at all...) And I realised some things will never change: the Romanian obsession to bring loads of presents while going abroad, the unusual presents' demands, the "West-European wannabe" Romanian attitude, and the believe that similar products are much better if bought from abroad (Marlboro cigarettes, Coca-Cola, Levi's jeans, etc.... stuffs that people used to see during Ceausescu only in Western magazines' ads). Going abroad is the shortest way to have access to all these products, and thus to live a better life. To get rich. To be somebody. To earn easy money. To buy yourself a luxury car, the way you deserve. All the Romanians who left their country are filthy rich. They all drive Mercedes, BMW, Audi, VW Touareg... if you don't have one, when you're coming back home, you're a sucker. If you don't wear genuine Italian designer clothes and spend hundreds euros daily, you're nothing. And if you still speak Romanian correctly, without being an "up-nose" and a poser... then, why did you left Romania??? Almost all Romanians who go working abroad have all these in mind, while leaving. There are also a long bucket list, and a longer "to-pose-with" list to be accomplished when coming back in Romania. If something's missing... others dreams were blown away, and the tragedy begins.