Expat In Romania

The text below was initially written as a response to an email. I was asked whether a newcomer to Romania could manage life here given the ongoing political and economic downturn. Let's make one thing clear. What is happening in Romania now stems from decades of unchecked corruption and the mass embezzlement of state funds orchestrated by  an organized crime syndicate . The PSD is by far the main culprit in the scheme, but Romania's political and bureaucratic class at large have consistently played a role. This would be a very pessimistic post if it weren't for the fact that  "the owner has noticed" . .............................................................. There is a significant chance the PSD will just disappear some day. Maybe not with the next election cycle in 2020, but I'd be surprised if they continue to exist, or to field any candidates, after 2025. If it isn't a sudden defeat (a black swan event), they will die the slow death of irre...

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...

We were celebrating a friend's birthday in a rented log cabin on the banks of Lake Tarnita when I met Steve (not his real name). Steve was well dressed, in dark coloured slacks and a white button up shirt with cufflinks. It's only worthy of mention because I found it overly formal for a cabin get-together where the principal activities were eating, drinking, and karaoke, but to each his own. He'd kept to himself most of the evening, but then he came by the kitchen-counter/bar where I'd gotten comfortable with a bottle of Ballantine's and we got to talking, initially about travel. "If I could live anywhere in the world I'd move to Costa Rica." Steve said. "Why there?" "Nice, peaceful country. The weather's perfect. And it's far away from here." "And you'd leave Romania for good?" I asked. "Oh yeah, this country is done for." "How about the future?" I asked, just to be philosophical. ...

It is not enough that Romania's politicians are smug, incompetent, and generally reprehensible, but their pathetic lack of self-awareness also feeds a seemingly overpowering impulse for outrageous narcissism. It's as if they were saying, "Step aside, Trump, let us show you how it's done." The phenomenon can be summed up in the wisdom of an old Romanian proverb, 'Prostul nu e prost destul, daca nu e si fudul' . It basically means, "a fool is not enough a fool,  if he's not a blowhard too." Which brings me to the matter at hand. I've never directly addressed Romania's plagiarism scandals. In part, maybe, because if that was the worst thing our politicians were doing to this country, I wouldn't have other things to write about. But also because I always saw it as symptomatic of a more deeply rooted cultural issue. For added context, for non-Romanian readers, think of the Asian parents stereotype. From an early age kids are ...

I don't write during the weekend (or at least, I don't publish) and by the time Monday comes around, we'll most likely have a good idea of Sunday's parliamentary election results. They won't be the official, 100%, definitive results because the losing party will claim fraud and the winning party will also claim fraud. After an official 'investigation' the winning party will be declared the winning party and the losers will continue their whining. Like the fake promises, the outcome is also scripted, I guess I just happened to get an advance copy. Let's be serious. The only winners will be the hobos who get a seat in Parliament. The newly elected Deputati (MPs) will be very interested in making the country better -for themselves and for their friends. Maybe amongst them are a handful of young idealists, I don't know who they are, but I wish them well. Instead of going on and on about how selfish, short-sighted, and spineless our politicians are, I...

I remained quiet about the referendum that took place last night on purpose. As some of this blog's readers have noted, it's hard to establish dialogue when discussing politics in Romania; it turns into very poisonous polemic quickly and people can't even agree to disagree. If I had talked about voting 'NO', I'd be labelled a pro-Basescu loyalist. If I'd pushed for a 'YES', it would've meant that the rule of law means nothing to me and I support the political coup d'etat that took place. Taking a position and going back and forth on the issues would've been pointless once I made myself known as an affirmed supporter of one camp or the other. Now that what's done is done, I can tell you that I didn't vote and also why I didn't. The first thing you need to realize about this referendum is that it didn't need to take place. Whether you voted or not and whichever side you support, the referendum did not need to take pla...