Surviving Guide for Expats
An orientation seminar took place yesterday at the US Embassy in Bucharest for American researchers and professors who have come in Romania for various projects. Should you have a look at how issues have been raised, you would say that living in Romania is like an episode of Survivor or Amazing Race, without the million dollar prize.It is funny to see what problems have identified those living here for a while now and how they presented them. First of all, the problems are of the kind that require, before a solution, sheer defence: stray dogs, pickpockets, thieves, homeless children, bad roads, birdflue...
From the survival guide: "Do not be afraid to hit the homeless children", "Be sure to have some spare biscuits in your bag for the stray dogs" "It is better not to leave home at night" "Make sure to have your antiflue shot to avoid being the missing link between human flue and bird flue", "Travel by train or airplane".
This is perfectly true. We have the drivers of hell, bad roads and stray dogs.
Apart fom that, there are not many capitals in which it is perfectly ok to walk around during nightime. "There are many things happening after midnight". Well, I, for one, have a very unpleasant memory from the Vienna subway and the people in it, at a very decent hour in the evening. And speaking of security, here's a place where "things happen" in full daylight.
And then: "Don't exchange money on the street, you might become the victims of conmen" - where in the world is it safe to exchange money ... on the streets?
"You are moving targets! Some guy may come up to you and say: I'm from the Militia! Where is your passport?" whilst you, as a law-abiding citizen, give it to him, without further questions. :) Here, "militia men" wear a uniform of a badge which give them the rights to legitimate someone. If not, you're not giving your passport to anyone. As simple as that.
On the other hand the issue of moving targets is of a very delicate nature for the Americans themselves, so we'd better not just invent problems.
Anyway, it is indeed shameful for us that - even though this is the millionth group of Americans visiting us since the revolution, our problems remained ever the same. We build something in one place and tear down in another. That's pretty much all about us.
