English version by Anca Șovagău
Original version in Romanian by Natalia Luncaș Ionel, available here: Căpitanul bunic Nicu
Photographer: Vlad Bodarev
He is from Onesti, not Humulesti (a well-known village in Ion Creanga’s, a Romanian famous author of stories), he was in the army and was never a primary school teacher (relates to Ion Creanga), he is not related to Ion Creanga, but surely grandad Nicu is an equally good storyteller. It’s impossible to sit with him at the same table and not laugh at least ten times.
“Stop messing and be serious!”, his wife scolds him, pointing out of the corner of her eye at their 4 years old granddaughter, who doesn’t miss a word, and grandad answers, just like Emilia Plugaru’s poem “As long as I have my granddaughter around, like a child I am as well.”
Without any sign of exaggeration, I can state that Grandad Nicu is the treasure of this project “Like Grandparents in Fairytales”. Hardly I’ve found him; harder I convinced him to participate but wow! what a legend of a man he is. Impeccably dressed in Romanian traditional costume, he welcomed us, sharpened his moustache and let’s chat! He loves to talk or travel and seeing him playing along with his granddaughter Emma you wouldn’t say that this man once was one of the toughest men in Romania.
“My name is Melinte Olteanu Nicolae, I am originally from Onesti, county Bacau, Romania, born on the 8th of April 1967. In 1989, when the Revolution happened, I enrolled in Military School. After graduation, I received the rank of Lieutenant, and I was assigned to Covasna. Is where I worked till, I retired, being promoted to the rank of Captain. I came to Ireland having big plans: to help my daughter and to teach my granddaughter to sing traditional national Romanian music. My big dream: to see her dance on a stage our beautiful Romanian traditional dances.”
After working 22 years in the army and retiring at 39 years old, Captain Nicolae Melinte Olteanu decided to go back to college (the retirement age for people working in the army is calculated differently depending on the experience accumulated). At 40 years old he became a student again and his new degree opened the doors to new opportunities. He did European projects focused on the development of professional skills among adults, working with more than 1600 people, but when his only daughter needed help, he resigned, he left his home and came to help her in the Emerald Country.
While talking, he keeps beating his hand rhythmically on the armchair and tends to tilt his head to the right, a sign that, just my guess, he doesn’t hear well with his left ear. Only towards the end of the meeting did I find out that I was right and that it is a common thing among the military to have hearing problems, especially after many years of work.
“I didn’t always have two surnames: Melinte Olteanu. I got the last one when I married my wife, as a sign of respect towards my father-in-law. He never had boys, but he is such a decent man that his name must be passed on into this world”, insists to mention grandad Nicu. His face is a continuous invitation to smile, life and cheers and I can only imagine what a wonderful life his family might have.
We either gather strength to become stronger, or we laugh.
Initially, when we arrived in Ireland it was a shock for me and my wife Anca. It is not related to the rain but to the lack of any activity. We both had full timetables in Romania and suddenly zero socializing, no friends, and missing our chats. My daughter was going through a hard time as well and we had no choice: either we gather our strength to become stronger, or we laugh”. Hmm, what kind of alternative is that, right?”
It is a must for him to travel through Ireland every weekend, he already knows the island almost like the palm of his hand, even though, according to Grandad Nicu, Romanian nature is more beautiful by far and what he loves the most in Ireland is the respect offered towards nature “. It’s great to see that people here are not frowning, they walk happily on the street as if they had no problems. For two years I drive, I have been a driver in Ireland and my heart grows every time I see the polite manner in which another driver makes space for me to step to the right, for example. In Romania, you will never get away from the beeping of other drivers and there is nothing polite while driving”.
Captain Nicolae is the kind of man that “Holograf” (a very well-known Romanian music band) sings about. Strong, kindhearted, persistent, respectful and with a lot, but a lot, of love to share for the 3 women in his life: his wife Anca, his daughter Alexandra and his granddaughter Emma; with them and for them he laughs and cries.
And he bakes bread. “Never in my life have I eaten bread from the shops, and here as well there is no way for me to taste bread from Irish shops and that’s what it is! That’s why I called my colleague, the chef, from the army and asked for the recipe and I’ve been baking bread for two years now.”
Nicu is a full-time grandfather. If, in the meantime, his wife Anca found a job out of the need to contribute to the bills, but especially for communication, Mr. Captain dedicated his time completely to Emma. “I believe I would cry if I saw her on stage so I will do my best to teach her our traditional music. Sometimes I would ‘eat’ her, and we get along very well.
One evening I pretended I was asleep and asked her to sing something to me. She started with “Sleep baby” till I told her I couldn’t sleep like this. So, I taught her “I’m a pretty girl” and even though she doesn’t understand all the words from the song as she is still a little confused with Romanian, I love her pronunciation and she melts my heart with her sweet accent.
I take her to the creche for three hours, meanwhile, I cook, bake bread, tidy the house, exercise and after that all afternoon we are back together again. Just for the record, my daughter never slept with me as this child does (the granddaughter Emma). She grabs me tightly as she is glued to my hand, she sticks to me, and I stay like that I stay still even though my hand numbs. I’ll eat her that much I love her. Cancels all the messing she might do.”
Talking about ‘nasty things’ he remembers he never was a saint being a child. He got stuck between a ram’s horns, cherries he stole, secretly went to bathe in the river, and flowers for girls he stole, and it was precisely with this bold personality he conquered Anca. His passion for everything related to music and Romanian traditions got him into the traditional dance team where he danced recently with his 56 years of age.
“I am a simple Romanian, and I don’t like pompous words. I am not ashamed of being a peasant or that I pastured cows in my youth. I even owned a sheep I trained. It was going only where I directed it. The best food in the world was my grandmother’s and I hope one day Emma will say the same about me. In the end, it was out of love for her I started to bake.”
Going back to his retirement, grandad Nicu explained that by the time the military unit he was activating got disbanded also appeared the possibility of restructuring the army. Because he was working in special conditions with a high risk of danger, 12 more years were added to the ones he had worked, summing 33 years in service in the army.
Even though he lives in Ireland now Captain Nicolae Melinte Olteanu is on alert mode ready to be called at any time.: “I am a reserve captain and if mobilization at home is needed, I go straight away. Now, when bombs go off everywhere and the war is at our countries’ borders, I won’t be able to just sit and watch.
I came here but this has nothing to do with my responsibility towards my country. Romania is the country where I was born, and I don’t think anyone will be able to replace that. For Romania, I am ready to die anytime. As I am ready to die for my girls.”
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This interview is part of the longing campaign “Like Grandparents in Fairytales” – a project initiated by Natalia Luncas Ionel in partnership with the photographer Vlad Bodarev, the Embassy of Romania in Ireland, and the non-governmental organization Romanian Community in Ireland. The purpose of this campaign is to honour all the grandparents from the diaspora, not only the 10 ones participating in our interviews and at the same time thank them for the huge impact they have on the identity of their grandchildren living in the diaspora. Being as present as possible, our grandparents reconfirm the roots of our entire nation. On the cover of this magazine, you will be able to see where the 10 grandparents we discovered this year, started their journeys and where they are today. The next objective is to “spread” on our grandparent’s map as many stories as possible.
All copyrights belong to Natalia Luncas Ionel.
