Wonderland Family Fest leads to exodus from Romania

Posted on February 7, 2026 by Fatca Pop

Okay, maybe the title is a bit of an exaggeration.  I am sure not everyone who is leaving Romania is doing it to get away from the Wonderland family fest.  In fact, I’ve met quite a few rich people who held birthday parties at Wonderland. (I don’t know why, but they did.)

The place itself is not as bad as the 2025 “aftermovie” they chose to put on their site.  It’s as if their social media person wants them to fail.  What a questionable choice of song!  Perhaps they misheard the lyrics.  After all, a lot of people think Eurythmics are singing, “Sweet dreams are made of cheese…”

But, if you’re having a bunch of dancers smiling at the camera, you don’t choose a song with lyrics like, “some of them want to use you… some of them want to abuse you… some of them want to be …”  No!  Do not use that song for a family gathering.  It is just so wrong.

Hopefully, the reason they chose that song is because their English is terrible.  Either way, we can not recommend Wonderland to our readers, even if they claim in one banner that it is the largest festival in Europe.  At least you should know enough Romanian to say, “cântecul asta e gresit.” Or “versurile acelea sunt greșite.”

It’s weird though.  The aftermovie for the first edition has people swimming in the pool, looking at dinosaurs, sky diving, ferris wheels, facepainting, archery, a little bit of innocent dancing, a lot of entertainers on stage, a bonfire, fireworks, and the song even says, “Family Fest.”  “Ne jucăm, și cântăm.”  We play and sing.

Okay, if I have to go, I might stay in the pool, or with the dinosaurs, away from the Annie Lennox songs and the film editor who chose that song.  Far away from the editor who chose that song.

The second edition looks like an imitation of Carnival and a music festival, and some rapper’s “white party.”  Why did they have to use that song?

If you want to know the dates to avoid Wonderland, the festival runs from 31 July, to the 2nd of August.

They haven’t yet published this year’s activities, but in past years, the fun activities listed above were mostly at additional charges, yet free activities included things like ukulele lessons.  Ukulele is not a Romanian word, but what if you wanted to say “the ukuleles” in Romanian?  Unfortunately, in official Romanian, Ukulele has no plural.  But, the ukulele is ukulelele!  If I were on the language board, I would make the plural definitive (the ukuleles) ukulelelele.

If you are interested in going, it will probably be expensive.  You’ll probably have to pay for something.  So, perhaps you should start saving up now.  (And if they ask you to sign a release to be in their next music video, ask what song they’ll be using.)

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Seven hour movie with English subtitles

Posted on February 6, 2026 by eReporter

Cinema Arta will be showing a seven and a half hour film (450 minutes) on Sunday 15th of February in the honor of the director Bela Tarr.  

Bela Tarr is a famous Hungarian director, in fact there was a retrospective of his films at last year’s TIFF (Transylvania International Film Festival.)  He died in January 2026.

Sátántangó is set at the end of the communist era.  According to Cinema Arta, it’s about a rural community who lives on an “abandoned farm.”  Well, if they live on it, it’s not abandoned, right?  Or, maybe they occupied it after it was abandoned.  Irimiás, a charlatan, exploits the countrymen’s dreams to manipulate them.

As the film is in Hungarian, the sound is expected to be better than films in some foreign languages.  (Hopefully, they will have a projectionist who speaks Hungarian.)

The film is inspired by a book by Nobel prize winner László Krasznahorkai.

The blog “Big Other” had a tribute to Belá Tarr, with quotes written in the director’s own words. 

“Our life is happening in two dimensions: one is space, and the other is time. And that’s why I don’t like to go to the cinema, because filmmakers, or let’s say this capitalist film business, ignore time and space. They are just listening for the storytelling. What does this mean, the ‘storytelling’? When you live your life, you are doing the same things every day, almost.”

“When I started to make movies, my goal became more and more to show a kind of totality, something which shows our life in a simple way. I don’t think our life is too exceptional. It’s just going.”

Tarr went on to quote Andy Warhol’s famous, “fifteen minutes of fame” before saying that David Bowie was “more generous” in saying that “We can be heros for one day.”

Well, Belá Tarr and his characters can be stars for at least seven hours, if you sit through and watch his film.  But why is the film so long?  “The length of a movie all depends on what you want to say,” Tarr said, according to Big Other.

If you read more, you see what to expect.  Bela Tarr is not a conventional filmmaker, he doesn’t care about stories, or at least he doesn’t think there are new stories.  He claimed that real filmmakers have their own style, and own language, and urged young filmmakers to be more radical than he was.

The film is in Hungarian, but there are English and Romanian subtitles.  Tickets cost 35 lei.

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Romania’s pollution is getting worse, and so is obesity

Posted on February 6, 2026 by Fatca Pop

When we read the weather reports, noticed that the air quality in Cluj-Napoca was going down.  Then we read a blog for a Romanian travel expert who confirmed our fears.

For obesity, we haven’t observed the data as much.  Rather, an article written by Tia Sîrca for Făclia de Cluj told us that “in Romania about four million adults are affected by obesity.”

These are not just Romanian trends.  It seems a cloud of poor to dangerous air quality is forming around a line from Bucharest up to Amsterdam.

Places with unhealthy air quality include – Athens, Bucharest, Sofia (Bulgaria), Berlin, Amsterdam!, Belgrade, Bratislava

Other places in Europe with Poor air quality – Budapest, Vienna, Riga (but, with Vilnius, just on the border of poor, almost fair), Cluj Napoca, (57, 43, 25) , Prague (worse than Cluj), Munich, London, Moscow

Places in Europe with Fair or better air quality – Tallinn, Madrid, Rome, Paris, Brussels, Oslo, Warsaw (reaching poor at around 10 am with numbers like 54, 26, 21), Dublin, Kiev, Stockholm, Ljubljana

So, we can see there are places in Europe with better air quality than Cluj, and there are also places with worse.

What causes obesity and pollution at the same time?  There are several factors.

If you actually want to be morbidly obese and surrounded by unbreathable air, perhaps suffocating to death like they do in a third world country, there are a few things you can do.

One, eating plastic packaged processed foods.

The more processed foods are, the worse they tend to be for you.  This includes fast food, food at many restaurants, and packaged food found at supermarkets.  Most people know it includes the packaged food at supermarkets, but don’t stop to think that restaurant food is also processed and made of processed ingredients.

White pasta?  Pizza dough?  Hamburgers?  While the elements might grow on trees or be raised on farms, none of these slightly resemble the original items.  The ingredients are bleached, stored, salted, sweetened, and go through all kinds of other processes before they reach your plate.  The restaurant edition is seldom made of whole ingredients, instead it is often made of processed stuff that is easier to transport and store than the ingredients you would use if you were cooking for yourself at home.

Also, many of these foods (and packaging) are bad for the environment, and contribute to poor air quality.

Two, driving instead of walking

I don’t blame people for driving on days when the ice makes it slippery to walk.  But we do see people who drive very short distances.  I even heard a teacher once recommed going for drives as a chance to connect with children.  Why not walks?

People who talk about driving like it is a good thing are more likely to be obese than those who walk to the shop or take the bus to work.

That doesn’t mean everyone needs to stop driving, but we can limit the amount of time we drive it will be better for the environment and for our health.  (And it will speed up traffic for those times when it does make sense to drive.)

Illegal burning of trash

This directly poisons the environment (obviously making air quality worse), and it also makes the air smell so bad that people tend not to leave their homes (contributing to obesity).   Getting sick from bad air contributes to obesity.

I think most people have tried burning plastic once in their lives, but transporting trash from one country to another just to have it disposed of illegally contributes to the cloud that hurts us all.  I mean, if Dutch trash is burnt in Romania, it comes back to them.  They might as well spend more money processing it in Holland (perhaps there could be a trash exception to Schengen and freedom of movement of goods, where trash and antique cultural items still have to pass through customs.)

Four, get fat by using artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence burns fewer calories than talking to real people or doing your own research.  It is usually done at home.  Using the brain uses calories, that is why so many chess players are thin despite eating normally.  Doing work at home, on your phone, burns fewer calories than driving to the library and lifting heavy books, right?  You might think, well, buring fewer calories means less carbon… not entirely.  It means the carbon is burnt by computers instead of humans, by far away databases instead of at home.  It also, of course, means more obesity.

Well, the actual factories where the databases are housed are in most cases terrible for the envirnoment.  If you want to know more, it is glossed over at a documentary that showed at TIFF in 2025 (In The Belly of AI, Henri Poulain), and they are also documented on the Youtube Channel More Perfect Union.

Five, if you want to be really unhealthy, blindly follow the advice of artificial intelligence…

Okay, Artificial Intelligence searches the internet and finds the best advice, right?  Not always,  It’s political advice tends to be bad for the environment.  It’s health advice tends to be uninformed.  And by using it instead of using common sense and your own research, your brain weakens, and you tend to believe things that hurt you and make you sick.

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The genius system of Romanian queueing

Posted on February 5, 2026 by Fatca Pop

If you immigrated to Cluj in the past couple of years, you might be disappointed that the immigration service is in a cold and wet garage, and that you wait outside the doors on top of a couple of parking spaces.  People stand and wander outside what seems like a former storage closet, sometimes forming a line, sometimes haphazardly waiting their turn.  Who was first?  Who knows.  You might end up waiting there for hours, only to find the place closed.  When it closes, you might hear someone shout, with a mix of a British and Australian accent most likely, “we’ve been waiting hours!” You’ll be told to go away unless you have a program, or appointment.

Hunters and gatherers might be used to this.  It is like fishing in a cold basement, sometimes you stand there uncomfortably for a long time, staring into a blank nothingness, and catch nothing but a cold.

Other times, waiting in the cold is worth it.  If you get there early enough, you might get seen.

But if you go to CAS or ANAF, you will experience a more ordered experience.  after you press a button, you will receive a ticket.  Then, when your number is called, you will be seen.  (Well, theoretically.  Sometimes, those at the end of the line are told to come back the next day.)

C.A.S. CLUJ NAPOCA
Bon Nr: FP99
VALIDAREA CALITATI DE ASIGURA
Urmariti ghiseul: 1,2,3
Persoane inainte dvs: 98
2026/02/03 09:10:10
Va rugam asteptati-va randul!

The first line of your ticket will say where you are waiting.  C.A.S. Cluj-Napoca.  ANAF (followed by the department).

The next area will have your number.  Bon nr: V099

Then, a line with a few more hints about why you’re there, so if you ever show your ticket to someone, they can see you are in the right line.  (In theory.  In practice, I have never been askd for my ticket because most people are honest.  However, if you are dishonest and cut in line, you will ruin it for everyone and might end up on a missing poster in your home country.)

Then, there is even an indication of which “ghiseul” you will be seen at.  It might be 8,9,10 or 1,2,3.  I remember staring for hours for similar numbers, hoping to predict which window I would be seen at.  Only after about a dozen times of waiting in these lines did I realise the ticket told me… so I should have known where to wait.

Then, my favorite line, “Persoane inainte dvs.”  People in front of you.  Of course, this doesn’t change dynamically, it is the people who are waiting in front of you at the time you take the ticket.  Can’t you figure this out from the number of the ticket?  Not always.  Sometimes the three hundreds and the five hundreds will be seen on the same window, but the four hundreds and the six hundreds at another.  (The first digit of your ticket number gives a clue to wait your query is about, for the person at the window.)

Then there is a date and a time that you took the ticket.  Just in case you drop your ticket, and mix it up with an old one.

Finally, there is a polite request.  “Va rugam asteptati-va randul!”  Please wait in line!

Here’s a tip though, they never seem to read the number out loud.  There isn’t even a polite ding when the number changes.  You just need to keep your eyes on the board, to see if your number shows up.

Of course, you can do many things online these days, so there isn’t always a reason to wait in line.  But, if you do need to pick something up from a window, look for the machine that gives out the tickets.  (They used to have one at immigration when it was inside the building and not in the parking lot, but anyway.)  And appreciate the little pieces of information it gives.

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Scam ATMs are in Cluj

Posted on February 2, 2026 by Fatca Pop

The famous Euronet ATM machines, featured on “The Honest Guide” of Prague, have been spotted in a mall in Cluj.  Areound the same time we found that machine, police saw someone wanted for murder in France.    Fortunately, police picked up the individual wanted for murder.  However, the scam ATM is still operating.

Basically, Euronet ATM can charge between 13 and 18 percent more than an exchange office.  A mediocre exchange office.  It pretends like it’s a better deal, but I guess that’s only if you are Monty Brewster from Brewster’s Millions.  

Why do people use the Euronet ATM?  Ignorance.  I mean, I guess it could be worse, it could be one of those ATMs that is rigged to steal your card and your pin.  But, almost any other ATM in Cluj (or Prague) will give you a better rate.

It is advisable to use an ATM from a Romanian bank (or an international bank that operates in Romania).  Most vendors these days accept card payments anyway (apart from a few market traders or kiosk sellers, and they will only accept payment in lei.)

So, yes, avoid Euronet ATMs.  Use one of the other ATMs nearby, by BCR, BRD, LibraBank, First bank, Unicredit, Raiffeissen, Intesa SanPaolo, Banca Transilvania, or if you can find one, Alpha Bank of ING bank.

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Palestine and sci-fi film festivals to have English subtitles

Posted on February 2, 2026 by eReporter

Looking for a film to watch this weekend, we noticed something. The “Seri de film Palestinien” says that the films are English subtitled.  (So did the “Introspectiv sci-fi”, but those films have ended or sold out.)

(All the following films will be showing at Cinema Victoria in Cluj city center).

Now, the films for the Mind Days films did not have English subtitles.  (Sure, a few of them were in English, but Mind Days is an English title, right?)

So, if you want to see the films, and can’t yet read Romanian (or Arabic) well enough to understand it, don’t worry.  We don’t know yet whether there will be any Romanian subtitles.

The Voice of Hind Rajab will show on the 5th of February at 8 pm.  (Regular ticket price, 28 lei).  It shows Red Cross volunteers trying to respond to an emergency call by a little girl.

Once upon a time in Gaza will show on the 6th of February at 8 pm.  This is a story about people making a movie, the first action movie in Gaza.  It seems more light hearted.  A film about filmmakers, sigh, not again.  No, but this one isn’t just about dreamers making films, it’s making films in a more difficult situation.  And it’s easier to relate to than most filmmaker films, in this case it’s not just some weird guy who doesn’t want a normal job.

And on Saturday the 7th of February, also at 8pm, Cinema Victoria will be showing All That’s left of you.  This is the story of generations trying to cope with displacement and harrassment.  If you go to the trailer’s page on YouTube, and look at the comments, you will find many viewers who claim to have seen the film, and give it praise.  They saw it in Sundance, or in Chicago, or in the Sydney film festival in Australia, or the Chennai International film festival in India, calling it “the most important film of the year.”

Also at Cinema Victoria, there seems to be a return of classic films. 

On the tenth of February, you can see 2001: A Space Odysey (made back in 1968, when 2001 was science fiction.)  Andrei Tarkovsky called that film “phoney” and I can’t help but agree with him.  Kubrik is generally overrated, but 2001 might be his most overrated work.

Who is Tarkovsky?  The director of Solaris, which you can see on Tuesday the 3rd of February, at 7.30 pm.  The sci-fi retrospective films will also have English subtitles.  Unfortunately, tickets for Solaris have sold out.

My Dinner with Andre will be showing on the 4th of February at 3pm.  Jurrasic Park, yes the first one, will be showing at 8pm on tusday the 17th of February.  Slumdog Millionaire will show on the sixth of March. 

(Persepolis is in French.  It will probably only have Romanian subtitles, but yes, it is the classic film from a couple of decades back.  And there is a retrospective film festival with Italian and French movies, also probably only Romanian subtitles. )

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Mind Days, review

Posted on January 31, 2026 by eReporter

To think of Mind Days, one should compare it to other film festivals in Cluj.

I remember the 2021 edition of TIFF film festival.  There was an autobiographical film where the filmmaker interviewed her father and his struggle with mental illness called “We against ourselves.”  Some statement by one of the individuals in the film was critical of how some psychotherapy doesn’t take new research into account.

The questions were horrendous.  Rather than sympathy and a desire to improve, there was an audience member, perhaps a psychology student, who attacked the film for being unfair to psychiatrists.  Unfortunately, our intrepid reporter who recorded this incident didn’t come up with a better question, no one did.

Even questioning that you might be doing something wrong is considered unfair?  Well, if I needed a psychiatrist, I don’t think I’d look in Cluj.

However, the “Festivalul Internațional de Psihanaliză și Film” or International festival of psychoanalysis and Film, was much better.  A couple of years ago they had a French film called “Un divan à Tunis”, literally “a Couch in Tunis.”  (As usual, the English translation was mediocre.  Arab Blues?  Sounds like a musical or something.)  This film was fun, and so was the audience.  I hardly ever heard that much laughing in a movie theatre in Romania.

A Couch In Tunis (I want to improve the title, indulge me) tells the story of a Tunisian who grew up and studied in France, returning to her family home of Tunisia to start a business.  Why Tunisia?  I don’t know, maybe she wasn’t a citizen and got deported, maybe there were some very toxic people in France to get away from… the movie gives some kind of explanation, but it doesn’t matter.

When she deals with paperwork in trying to get her psychology practice legal, I am sure the local audience could relate.  The patients, not used to psychiatry, have all kinds of funny problems, and a few serious ones.  It is a struggle of one woman against the world, and it is an adventure.

The films at Mind Days are all pretty depressing.  Most deal with death, or someone who has extreme forms of illness, as the main theme covered throughout the film.  We do have films in a variety of languages, so we tried one in Dutch, Zee van Tijd.  It was advertised as being “See of Time.”

We won’t discuss the Romanian system of subtitling here.  It was pretty accurate, there were times when I wondered if the subtitles were from an English version rather than the Dutch, but the titles kept the story moving.  (Mevrouw is basically Doamnă, not milady.  We say Mevrouw Peters to mean Mrs Peters.  Meneer, is Domnul.  Or, mister, in English.  Not “sir.”  It doesn’t imply you are in the middle ages or have a title, these are words you use every day at the supermarket in Holland and Belgium.)

After the film, the questions were a bit fun.  Not as fun as some of the cringe comments in the TIFF festival (where we learned from the adept way some directors’ responded).  Not as fun as they could be, seeing the filmmakers were not there.  But it was fun to see people criticise the characters.  “The inlaws are complicit.”  And make sweeping generalisations about the ways that men and women deal with grief.

The questions were a bit pointed.  In a way, a psychologist asked the audience questions, pointing the direction of the discussion.  So, I didn’t get to bring up my point about the inexistence of “milady” in the original Dutch.  But, people commented on the film as if that is some kind of normal way to react.

I expect some people enjoy this, it is kind of like a open university lecture.  It reminds me of the discussions we had in language classes, of films we watched to study language and culture at university (except with much older people doing the discussing.)

The festival continues for the rest of the weekend.

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Georgina Lonbonț returns to Cluj, 4 April 2026, at BT arena

Posted on January 31, 2026 by eReporter

Georgina Lobonț will appear at Cluj Arena on 4th Only 3 percent of tickets are left.  Tickets range from 690 lei to 1384 lei.  Sometimes you might find them on sale for 582 lei.  (But with only 3 percent left, you might be lucky to get a ticket at all.)

The ticketing system is pretty cool.  Unlike those in film festivals and sporting events, when you buy tickets for the Lobonț concert, they are automatically placed together.  You can try it at the concerts50/stubhub website.  But I guess you might have a little less control over where you sit.

Here is a video from a previous concert.

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Transilvania Open 2026 schedule

Posted on January 31, 2026 by Fatca Pop

The Transilvania Open, considered by Faclia de Cluj to be the most important tennis match in Romaia, began at the BT Arena in Cluj today, 31 January, at 11 am.  8 singles qualifiers.

Tickets for some matches in the first two days were free. But they were sold out quickly!

Tomorrow, 1 February, there will be another 4 singles qualifiers, starting at 11 am. 

And then, there will be some more free tickets for the first-round main-draw matches on the same day.  (Four singles, two doubles).

At 3.30 pm will be the daytimes session, and at 6pm will be the evening session.  (They hope to have at least 2 matches then. 

okay, for the rest of the week, you’ll have to pay.  A normal session ticket costs about 65 lei plus administrative and ticketing fees per seat.  The semifinal costs 110 lei plus fees.  The final costs 190 lei plus fees.  A the time of writing, most seats have already been occupied.

From Monday – Wednesday, 2,3,4 February

In the main-draw, there will be 20 singles matches, 10 double matches.
 The day sessions will start at 11 am and the evening sessions at 6pm.  With a minimum of two matches per session (if I understand correctly).

Thursday, 5th of February.

Quarter finals.

2pm – day session.  2 singles matches and one doubles match.

6pm – evening session – two singles matches.

Friday, 6 February

Semifinal

3pm – day session, one doubles match (1 meci la dublu)

5pm, evening session, 2 doubles matches. (2 mecuri la dublu).

Saturday, 7th of February

2 pm, doubles final

4:30 pm – singles final.

It is said that the trophies (or at least one of the trophies) will be handed out by none other than Simona Halep.

List of singles competitors:

  • Anna Bondar
  • Lucia Bronzetti
  • Jaqueline Cristian
  • Sorana Cîrstea
  • Elisabetta Cocciaretto
  • Olga Danilovic
  • Veronika Erjavec
  • Varvara Gracheva
  • Kaja Juvan
  • Petra Marcinko
  • Oleksandra Oliynykova
  • Camila Osorio
  • Anastasia Potapova
  • Kamilla Rakhimova
  • Emma Răducanu
  • Elena-Gabriela Ruse
  • Antonia Ruzic
  • Ella Seidel
  • Mayar Sherif
  • Sara Sorribes Tormo
  • Donna Vekic
  • Xinyu Wang
  • Anastasia Zakharova

 

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More Nestle products taken from the market

Posted on January 30, 2026 by Fatca Pop

You might have heard of cereulide.  Cereulide is a toxin that recently was found leaked in baby products.  Some sourses  said to come from an acid that was brought in from a supplier in China, others warn that it is not known where in the supply chain the toxin came from.  This toxin cereulide can cause nausia, vomiting, and it is being investigated whether cereulide contamination may be linked to the death of two infants.

Cereulide is extremely heat resistent, so it could still be present even if the formula is boiled.

Apparently, customers of Auchan were emailed last month, on the 12th of December, of a recall of certain Nestle branded baby formulas, in the NAN range.  

Later, this month, hundreds products have been added to the recall list.   According to Foodwatch, “NestleNestlé had reported the contamination to the Dutch authorities on December 9,” to the Dutch Authorities.   Not much was done, but three days later, Auchan did email their customers in Cluj about the recall of three products.  In addition to the three that were removed, “over 800 baby food products in 60 countries” have been added to the list.  (It should be noted that, some products may carry different names in different markets, or may only be offered in one market). https://www.foodwatch.org/en/massive-nestle-baby-food-recall-1

Other campaigns of Foodwatch include an objection to the CETA trade agreement (and the way it weakens democracy and weakens food quality), and corporate sponsorship of European Union institutions.  Foodwatch complained when Romania’s EU presidency was sponsored by Coca Cola in 2019.  Then, in 2020, Germany assured that corporate sponsorship of EU institutions would end.  However, this year, in 2026, Cyprus has accepted sponsorship by Coca Cola.

Products from Danon have also been recalled.   Perhaps other companies will follow.

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