Romanian people are trying to leave - why should you come?

Would you like to meet Romanian people? This society is open and mixed as any.

If you take a translator with you, and you tour Bucharest, you will find poor people everywhere. If you chat to the old, you will find they lived good, perfectly respectable lives, until they reached pension age and were forced to beg for money and bread on windy streets. They have stories that will make you cry. The families should take care of them - for those with no family, life in Romania is incredibly tough.

Chat to the youth of this nation and you will find a nation of highly qualified professionals with their bags packed by the door, just waiting for the right foreign opportunity to present itself. Already 10% of the Romanian medical staff has left with another 60% wanting to follow. I have chatted to Romanian workers abroad that found French workers so lazy and so found well-paid manual jobs. Now only barriers to non-skilled workers prevent another mass loss of people.

There is a prediction that there will be a 25% drop in the population over the next 50 years due to emigration. Romanians abroad are odd. There is a large Canadian - Romanian population - supposedly a little snobbish of their Romanian folk back home who never made the leap, yet they try their best to marry other Romanians.

Those Romanian people that move abroad go into two camps - they either never adapt and nothing is as good as Romania and within a year are back, but now with ex-pat experience, making it easier to find a better job. These are my kind of Romanians.

The second also hate being abroad - Romanians all hate living abroad, hence their complete lack of colonies. These will do down Romania as often as possible as a means to justify not living in Romania. These become the super rich, but lose their soul and the feeling they belong anywhere. Any books written by these folks will paint such a black negative image of Romania that you would never come and check it out for yourself. These are the only books about Romania I ever have burnt.

This leaves the bulk of the nation. They have no plans of leaving, as their roots have grown too deep into Romania’s past, yet they know the future is not too bright. Those that can will be supported by their overseas relatives, the less lucky by generous passing strangers. The original logic of 1 child, educated super well, is coming back to haunt them. In addition, the dutiful child is now finding the responsibility of caring for 2 aging generations a heavy load to bear. The more that leave, the bigger the burden on those that remain.

Romanians take there loads better than most nations and old age care homes are still a rare luxury here rather a state provided norm. The old still have their place in society and the grandparents are still main care providers for grandchildren.

The low wages are accepted as normal. Companies use the crisis as a reason to cut staff, freeze wages and still expect improved productivity. The state workers understood the whole state was on point of collapse - and they had to make sacrifices to pay for it. Cutting money to their crumbling health service has just increased its demise.

Oddly corruption payments to doctors and general food price increases have not followed the trends of cuts. Likewise transport costs continue to rise.

Despite all these troubles, you will still be made to feel by your Romanian friends that these are the boom years - no expense will be spared for your comfort, the huge sacrifices they will make will come from a less public part of their lives - and you will be the last to know about it.

So please kindly refrain from telling them `Romania is so cheap! ` as the chances are most of your real costs are being borne by the family’s finances and not by you.

How do you find the Romanian people? Do you find them warm or more of a fiery nature? Do you know any that have left? Why did they go?

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