Expat In Romania

It's no secret that foreigners in Romania tend to have a much better opinion of the country than its native inhabitants. This, of course, goes for almost anywhere else, but it really stands out in Romania. It's easy to say that it's the novelty that attracts foreigners here. When you visit a new country, your senses are assaulted by new experiences and the more unpleasant bits of a trip get washed away by the euphoria of discovery. This doesn't explain what makes people stay though. My experience, and that of others who've made the move to Romania, is that the initial appreciation doesn't need to depreciate as long as you follow these four simple rules. 1. Look at solutions, not just the problem - We all know that Complaining (with a capital C, yes) is a beloved pastime in Romania. It's normal to complain, humans do it all the time and it can be therapeutic. The secret to effective complaining is in splitting the discussion into the bitching session and ...

Our compartment was full –it shouldn't have been since we had two of the seats. But two kids were sleeping on four of the eight seats. The family shuffled around to make some space for us. After putting our luggage away and playing musical chairs with other people in the compartment, one of the ladies said, “It’s hard travelling with kids.” “Harder for us than for them” I said, remembering when I rode the train as a kid it was always a bit of an adventure. Then the guy, who I assumed was the dad, said to the still sleeping boy, “It’s only going to get harder from here, sonny, only going to get harder” I doubt that the kid heard, or registered it, he was still sleeping. But it got me thinking. This is a far cry from the way people talk to kids in Canada. Where, ‘everything is going to be okay’ all the time. This is a harsh place to grow up; you’re not one of the lucky few to be born into a relatively well-to-do family, it is always going to get harder. Nobody here has...

I've already written a bit about my hopes and dreams for this country. I truly believe that a lot of it has to do with each and every one of us who lives here, if only from the point of view that we are many and 'they' are few. But it's starting to look like a Zombie infestation. Ordinary Romanians, kids even, are infected with the "fuck this country, I'm just gonna make money any way I can" bug. The biggest irony is that if every Romanian were to magically become a billionaire overnight, I'd be willing to bet my billion that the country would be just as messed up this time next year - maybe worse. On my last trip to Bucharest, I started a conversation with my seat neighbours, a group of high school kids around seventeen or eighteen. I asked them what they think of Romania politically and what they would do to help change it. The girls were shy, but the dude with them, a really extroverted clown, started telling me that he doesn't give a shit abo...