living like a local: Romania: it's a wrap!

Saturday, May 2, 2009

Romania: it's a wrap!

I feel as though I should do a wrap-up-Romania blog, and answer some of the questions I’m getting: Did you like living there? What was it like? Would you go back? Etc. etc. So, here it is. I’m going to start with what I liked about living there and then move on to some of the, ahem, ummm challenges of living in a still-developing Eastern European country.

The thing I liked the most has absolutely nothing to do with anything Romanian, and that’s the fact that there was a big and fabulous group of Canadians there. It was so awesome having Tammy and Jim, Jen and Rowan and Stelio and Val there. It would have definitely been a much different experience without these people - especially Tammy; I don’t know how many times we said to each other, "Thank GOD you’re here!" – it would have been horrible without her there! Okay, and now on to things that I liked about Romania, more specifically Constanta. The weather was good, and I like being by the sea; people were, for the most part (at least once you talked to them), friendly and helpful. It was great that people spoke English, and that people wanted to speak English – I was definitely surprised at how well how many people spoke the language, and it helped us out a lot. I liked that it was cheap – the Euro goes a long way in many places, but a really long way in Romania; we could have a nice meal at a nice restaurant for no more than $30 or $40, and that’s including appetizers, entrees, wine… and sometimes dessert (yum). I really liked where we lived, as I could walk everywhere – to the grocery store, the gym, the sport hall and the mall. I also loved the gym, and loved being able to teach yoga; people there were so friendly and kind, and it was great to get some experience and confidence as an instructor. What else did I love… hmmm… Okay, now that I have to think about it maybe I should move on to what I did not like about the place.

The top spot on the list goes to two things, which both reflect attitudes unfortunately shared by many: self-importance, disrespect and disregard for others. The littering and the driving were my two least favourite things about living in Romania. People have very little respect/regard for public spaces; parks, streets, sidewalks and any area not privately owned or maintained is littered with garbage. It’s disgusting. There’s an attitude (I think) that people more lowly than those who litter – street cleaners, cleaner-uppers – will tidy up after them… and somehow, that’s okay. Also – the way people drive there is really unbelievable. People do whatever suits them, and if that involves driving on the wrong side of the road, running lights, creating new lanes in oncoming traffic to jump the queue of cars waiting for a light, that’s okay! This attitude of self-importance – rules don’t apply to me because I’m driving a Mercedes/Audi/Rover/whatever – is despicable, and I hate it. I can’t say I liked the roads or the sidewalks – I’ve talked about this already so no need to elaborate. I didn’t really like Romanian food, besides papanash of course! And Romanian drink? I never tried the Palinka or Ţuică , but heard that it was gross anyways. I didn’t like the situation with the stray dogs, and the fact that the whole idea of animal welfare is, well, non-existent is also horrible, and horribly unacceptable. I didn’t like all of the smoking, but hey, that’s Europe.

Anyways, like I said, what I hated most was the selfish, arrogant attitude shared by most – but not all – Romanians. In general, it seems like a country struggling to grow into it’s new capitalist shoes; people have money now, and status symbols (the car you drive, the sunglasses you wear) are more important than having a clean city park, or safe sidewalks for pedestrians and baby strollers. The government, of course, is struggling too – struggling to (successfully and transparently) provide infrastructure and services to the public. Corruption is rampant, and progress is slow. But, in any case, things are getting better, and as long as slowly is followed by surely… the quality of life will improve. I’ll leave you with a few classic Romanian pics…