Femeia Romana

Well, it has been a long time since I wrote something in this blog, but I have been traveling and then ... the minutes just slipped through my fingers, and so did the days, the weeks...
Now I am back!
Some of you have been asking me what I have been reading these days. For the most part it has been a pretty poli-sci, history, political mythology kind of business. There is some fiction on my nightstand, but I will get back to that in a later post. Now I wanted to mention that even though these days I'm into history textbooks a lot, the reading is not always that boring! There are some surprises, for example this description of a Transylvanian Romanian woman, circa 1785: "Româncele sunt supuse, prietenoase, îndatoritoare, si foarte harnice. Femeia munceste la câmp, vede de copii si de casa, toarce si tese pentru nevoile casei si pentru vînzare, îsi întocmeste si-si curata ea însasi îmbracamintea, creste pasari, duce sau mâna pasarile la tirg la vânzare, toarce din furca in timp ce merge cu caruta sau merge pe jos". (Christophor Scipp)
A translation with some degree of accuracy would say that the typical Romanian woman is obedient, friendly, dutiful, and very dilligent. The woman works in the field, takes care of children and the home, spins and weaves for the household and for sale, she makes and cleans her own garments, raises fowl, carries them to the market for sale, and while she walks she spins her yarn". Talk about multi-tasking!