Expat In Romania

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...

That's it. I've had it. I keep promoting Romania as a 'Land of Opportunity'. I write about the businesses that can flourish here . I keep saying, " Be the change " and, " Yes it can be done, even in Romania. " And, well, I'm not entirely wrong, but I'm more wrong than I'm right. Opportunity here is limited to an immature and uneducated market. You can have the best idea but once you put it in practice it'll likely come crashing down -you're just too early for this market, bub. You can be the change, but you'll be pretty lonely. Finally, even if you start a new business, it won't flourish. I know I sound bitter, wanna know why? I have a friend who's the co-founder of a promising startup. Over the weekend a client messaged him saying their bank was refusing to make transfers to a Romanian bank; too high risk, they said. He now has to scramble to add PayPal support to his product. I asked him what he's planni...

There are things I like a lot about America. The business values, a mentality that encourages the entrepreneurial spirit in everyone, the never-give-up, can-do attitude that people have whether they're competing for a championship or trying to bake a pie. And hamburgers, and steak. Probably some other things too, but these are the big ones. The list about things I don't like is much longer, but on top of that list sits the unique animal that you will find everywhere in America; The Phony. Maybe there's a reason Catcher in the Rye is one of my favourite books, Holden really knew what he was talking about. The Phony is the person who shakes your hand and smiles at you and then the moment you turn your back tells somebody else that they hate your guts.The Phony is the person who says they're on your side and is the first to leave when the going gets tough. The Phony is the person who calls himself a friend but is only ever around for the parties, never for the funerals. ...

This weekend I found out I'm bipolar. I don't know if it's the kind of thing people generally self-diagnose, but it is what it is. All of Saturday I ate American. I was excited about it. The local grocery store promotes a different world cuisine each week and last week was American Week. I bought beef burgers, burger buns, pancake mix, Caesar dressing, and some sort of wing sauce. These are all things I haven't eaten in a while -either because they don't really exist here or when they do, it's some sort of a bootleg version of the dish. I'm in the nightmare situation where 'a good burger' in this city is found at McDonald's. Anyway, I made the pancakes for breakfast and we ate them with butter and maple syrup (an earlier souvenir from Canada), and then at night it was burger time. Yum!  I guess the eating is one thing, but there was also something akin to the pleasure one gets from visiting an old friend. In fact, I was excited to be able to ...