September 04, 2006
The Wall
It's good to be back.
Claudia has gone into some detail over on the other blog, so I needn't repeat it. Let's just say I agree. Bucharest has come a long way; it has a long way yet to go, but it's moving fast.
But here's an odd thing. The last couple of days have left us feeling very positive about Romania. I'm even cautiously optimistic about Romania joining the EU in January. (Not that they will join -- I'm almost certain of that -- but that it will work out okay, at least in the short-to-medium term.)
But not one Romanian I've talked to shares this optimism. Or any optimism at all. The wall of cynicism and pessimism remains unbroken.
Given Romania's recent history... no, wait, given pretty much all of Romania's history... this is understandable. But it does get a bit annoying sometimes.
The economy is plugging along, unemployment is falling, inflation is coming down. If you don't like the current government, you'll probably have a chance to vote them out soon. And y'all are joining the EU!
Is there no enthusiasm out there at all?
Posted by douglas at September 4, 2006 07:10 PMI have no explanation about Romanian pessimism.
I do, however, have a question. Is it that hard for a highly skilled English-speaking expat to get a fairly well-paying job in Romania? I ask because I know that in, say, Mexico or Brazil it would not be particularly difficult for a person of your qualifications to find a decently-remunerated skilled job as a consultant or adjunct academic. Why the trouble in Romania?
Posted by: Noel Maurer at September 4, 2006 11:47 PMI guess the optimism regarding the EU is not missing, it's just getting back to normal. It's been close to an abnormal high in the last year, so finally we are calming down, having some fears about the future(western competitors for home-grown businesses, plenty of weird and expensive regulations in all industries, higher prices, etc...) ; however, all in all, people are still overoptimistic, imho
Posted by: Alex at September 5, 2006 10:02 AMWell, yes, it's difficult.
It's not as if Doug is the only one, and he's expensive. Life is not cheap here in Romania, schools are costly, housing prices are climbing ever higher. So we could not take much of a pay cut.
And there is the additional wrinkle that he has only started a CoP position half a year ago from which he can't really run away quite yet.
It's all dreaming. It's also hard to see how happy the kids are here and to know that we have to take this away from them in just three days.
Posted by: claudia at September 6, 2006 10:03 AMI am sorry to hear that, Claudia. Rarely have I seen someone fall in love so ... honestly ... with a new country. I suppose I've got this idea in my head that there has to be a way to make it happen.
Posted by: Noel Maurer at September 8, 2006 01:03 AM