I'm often asked by friends and also by some people who think I'm a prick, 'hows Romania?', 'what's it like?' and 'who the f*ck would let you in their country?'. The last question aside, I thought this would be a good time try and answer. I'm hoping Serj will act as my Romanian moderator, he can jump in and defend the nation of his birth if he feels at any point I'm being unfair or just don't know what I'm talking about, which is a good 85% of the time. So without further adieu, lets get anthropological:
*Without wanting to put everyone in one box, from my experience, Romanians are (very) welcoming, passionate, proud of their country (on the whole) and generally optimistic for the future. They have a great sense of fun.
*They live by the mantra of Ol' Fiddy Cent, you have money flaunt it, a lot. In the massive clubs in affluent Doriband where Bucharest's young and beautiful strut around ensuring they get seen by the right people not having fun, there are rows and rows of super cars. This is also true of people with less money. Some guys (and it tends to be guys) would rather drive a Mercedes than pay their bills. An English guy told me he worked with a guy who wore expensive designer clothes but when he went to his flat for a drink found it was empty except for a bed.
*This maybe a little unfair coming from me as my attempts to learn to drive descended into farce long ago (6 tests and counting), but drivers here are out of their mind. A red light means, 'go on then six more', zebra crossings may as well not exist and seat belts are for losers. There are no car parks in Bucharest and thus people park their cars wherever they can find an empty piece of pavement/grass. As the pavement acts as a car park this means people drive on the pavement. Some are a little too enthusiastic with their speed and most will look at you the humble pedestrian as though you are being highly unreasonable/crazy for doing something as silly as walk on the pavement.
*The Metro is amazing, even more amazing than teletext and I don't say that lightly. Sure you sometimes have to wait for ages, parts of the city are completely inaccessible and the drivers are liable to break heavily without warning sending passengers flying across the carriage, but thats all part of the fun.
*Theres always more room for one more on the bus/ in the lift/ going through a doorway. It gets excessive when you see guys take a running jump to force themselves onto the bus.
*The mullet remains neither big nor clever.
*I've learnt I'm a dog racist. I like English dogs, but not Romanian dogs (Brimo being an exception). The "Community Dogs" that live in the streets generally leave you alone but every now and again you come across a bad arse dog who wants to ruin your day.
*Corruption is a way of life, its really not subtle, its how they all get their driving licenses. The Transparency International Scale (1-10, 10 being squeaky clean, 1 being highly corrupt) gives Romania a score of 3.7, which is equal with Ghana and below Cuba, Kuwait and Qatar.... sleazy.
*Romanian women are dangerously attractive
*Everyone appears to like Bon Jovi, which is unsettling.
*NEVER bad mouth Georghe Hagi
*Bucharest is nicer than people give it credit for. Theres plenty to do, the way of life is good as is the pace, quick without being stupid.
Its a really interesting if sometimes baffling place, and I know I have a lot more to learn. So get yourself on a plane.
1 comment:
That’s a pretty accurate description, no need to put on my shiny armor on and come to the rescue of Romania :P. I wonder what you will think about Bucharest after you will visit some other places in Romania, we really must do something about that ;)
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