Expat In Romania

The first version of this post was published not long after I moved to Romania, when the political battles in the country resembled mafia clan wars - minus the restaurant drive-bys. (You can find it here ). The same types of unscrupulous bosses laying claim to and fighting for fiefdoms while their lieutenants (ministers or deputies in parliament) run the day to day management, right down to the associates (bureaucrats) who may not be 'in' the system, per se , but who facilitate and gladly take favours when they're given. This is not such an original analogy, if you're looking at the situation objectively, but people here don't quite see it because, even if the government is run by a criminal organization, the ordinary citizen is ignorant as to how organized crime works. Many Romanians are are also ignorant about the way democracy works. Or, if you think about it, how business and economics work. Let's just say we're on a learning curve. But, if we're...

A country is a platform. This was obvious to my friend when he called me last week and asked what I was doing. "I was just talking to the missus about how a country is a platform." "Yeah, it is" he said, like it's old news. He's a startup guy, he knows the deal. But the missus had just been saying how it was easy for me to say because I work in the world of tech and only techies will get the analogy. I said to her, "I got news for you, we all live in the world of tech." You don't have to work for a tech company to post or to view YouTube videos. You don't need to know anything about tech to get a ride with Uber, or to book an apartment on AirBnB. Amazon has over 200 million customers most of whom don't work in tech. Wikipedia is read by students, teachers, and any shape of curious person there is. Don't get me started on Twitter, Facebook, Google, or, while I'm at it, the internet as a whole. Few tech products are ...

Everything's back to normal, Base's back again for the fourth time. Won two elections and survived two impeachment referendums. You gotta give the man some credit. "Thank you for not voting"  Before you take this endorsement too seriously, just know I'm not trying to incite any ill-will, just to establish a dialogue. Basically, I'm trying to figure out why so many Romanians are so set on this 'Jos Basescu!' thing. And believe me when I say I'm not asking because I think he makes a great president of Romania and that he's a great leader who deserves to be there. I'm asking in light of the reason this whole referendum scandal has come about to begin with, and the alternative that we are/were facing. Here's how I see it. I came here hating them all, they're a bunch of hyenas feeding off a carcass as far as I'm concerned. It doesn't matter what colours they wear and  on which side of the political spectrum they are sitt...

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...

A little joke I like to tell people is that the reason there is no organized crime in Romania is because Romanians can't get organized, ha-ha-ha. It's funny because it's true. The reality though is that it's only a half-truth. If you look at many of the issues plaguing this beautiful country, you'll find that most people with any sort of authority couldn't be trusted to watch a two year old sleeping without somehow messing it up. On the other hand, even if they don't gun each other down in the streets, extort shopkeepers, or provide gambling, prostitution, and loan 'services', the mafia here is your traditional parasitical entity; gouging and stripping away at its victim(s) without mercy. This has become no more apparent than in 2012, particularly during the last couple of months where the escalating turf war has been making daily headlines as the rivaling factions battle it out in Parliament, in the Courts, and through their respective media o...