Comments on: On being Romanian

By: Visio

Visio — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 22:29:14 +0000

Hello blog owner,
If you wouldn;t be a woman i would tell you this: “Du-te-n pizda matii!”, but you would say that we romanians are reacting like that to all the negative comments people are making about us (or “constructive”).
If you were so unlucky to marry a romanian dude why are you extrapolating his family behaviour to a nation of 22 milions? I can say the same thing about a red-neck nation lead by a guy called Bush. The stupidity percentage is constant in every country so stop eating McDonalds every day!

By: Luci

Luci — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 02:41:52 +0000

Hi Claudia. I’m Romanian and i have lived there for 11 years. I don’t remember a lot but i dont think that Romanians are as bad as you make them. When i read it, i was a bit furious and affended, but as i read furthor on, i kind of agreed some with your comments and some not. Not all Romanians are the same. I am not coppetative and i’m not judgemental or backsttaber or whatever you all wrote. Everyone is different and every country has thier own believes and values and traditions.. I lived there and i live here.. i dont see much of a difference. Everyone is prety much the same.. And personally you sound racist, doesnt that make you a horrible person. In some way i believe that this is even iligal for you to write, but i guess it makes others reflect in what you are saying. You make Romanians sound so bad, like they are evil. Not all of them are selfis and unhelpful.. a lot of them are realy nice to others, espeacialy the younger population..They have good hearts. I agree with you in a lot of things what you said but i just think you viewed every Romanian that way, and not every romanian is that way. What about other countries, like Russa and Ukrainia, or Asia, You cant just talk about only one country when you dont know the rest of the world. My point is that i’m a little angry.just because you said only Romanians are like that but what i think is most likely everyone can be that way. All over the world. I’m Romanian and really i am not like that if you would get to know me. I think what you need to do is spend some time with some Romanians and really get to know them then come back and write more. I forgot to mention what i agree with you. I think a lot of the Romanians that are the way you described them to are the older generation that were born and live in Romania, but i think that the younger generation a lot of them are not like that. By the way, i am not a lier, i tend to be onest and blunt with people. I am not a thief, i dont steal, i buy what i want to buy and if i cant afford it then i will waint untill i can. One last thing to the people that dont like Romanians. Do you guys give them a chance to become friends with Romanians?, because i know i lot of the Romanians give others a chance.

By: pappy

pappy — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 04:53:06 +0000

sorry claudia,
my comment was meant for the numbnuts that wrote the “On being Romanian”
pappy

By: pappy

pappy — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 04:48:12 +0000

Claudia,
Look what you’ve started! What you’ve experienced, at the time you wrote your rant, is called DEPRESSION! I hope you’re feeling better now. I suppose this entire exercise is therapeutical… If that’s the case, so be it, but if you, even remotely, thought that your statements were objective, sweetie, you’ve missed the mark. Yeah, I’m Romanian. I’ve lived the hard life: line-up for gas, potatoes, eggs, MILK, etc., but I wouldn’t be where I am today (in Canada, working in law-enforcement, wife and kids), without the strong work ethic (working in the corn fields without any money - forced by the system), without the perseverance (fighting for my dreams), without my convictions… Look, I can talk on and on about the hardships that most of us endured under the crazy regime, but you and I survived. Is that all you got out of it; if that’s all, damn girl, get a shrink. I choose to capitalize on these traits I’ve acquired during the hard times in Romania. Romania and its people are worth knowing. Enjoy life and don’t live in the past. Use your energy to change the things that you can (you and your environment), and stop mourning: it’s PITIFUL!

pappy

By: anonymous

anonymous — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 01:18:19 +0000

I am Romanian living abroad who has traveled extensively and lived a few different western countries.

I find the comments of the OP to be prejudiced in the extreme. It would be nice if the OP could distinguish culture shock and personal resentments from smearing an entire people.

Frankly this sort of idiocy seems characteristic of many westerners, whose prejudice mostly stems from lack of experience with foreign peoples.

By: anonymous

anonymous — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 23:22:07 +0000

Reply to the blogs posted by the two idiotic Hungarians: do your homework & read up on history and see that way, way before your beloved Attila the Hun settled in Panonia (what is Hungary nowadays) that territory AND Transylvania BELONGED TO THE DACIANS, who are the ancestors for the Romanian people. So in fact, you are on OUR territory!!!!!! SO SHUT UP!

Claudia, I am a Romanian living in the US for about 13 years now. While I noticed some of the things that were mentioned by you and others who have posted on this blog, remember that these are traits that are shared by other nationalities not just us Romanians, I’ve seen this in Arabic people, in Spanish, etc. Perhaps this is just human nature that expresses itself in this way as a result of the fight for survival that was engrained in us since the beginning of time- I mean look at our history and all we’ve gone thru… So why not start the change one person at a time and build a PROUD people i.e. like so many other ethnic groups do even though they’re NOT American, they’re not perfect! Why not focus on teh good things ROmania has to offer- hospitability, culture, richness of folklore, etc. How long are we going to denagrate our own image over and over again. If you do tell a story why not give a voice to both sides- good and bad?? Just a thought..

By: doubledo@freemail.hu

doubledo@freemail.hu — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 06:53:53 +0000

De multi ani duc o “lupta” continua de a atrage atentia asupra lucrurilor bune din Romania. Presupun ca atitudinea mea e opusa atitudinii tale. Obiectivitatea e probabil undeva in mijloc.
doubledo@freemail.hu

By: Julian

Julian — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 21:28:14 +0000

Hello Claudia!
I’m a Brazilian living abroad and came across your post because I’m travelling to Romania in two days and I’ve been reading a lot about your country.
I thought this post was very intriguing to say the least.
I have read a lot of good things about the Romanians, mostly coming from fellow Brazilians. I have also stumble through some bad things.
I even read today somewhere that Romania was, culturally, one of the closest countries to Brazil. If that was supposed to be good or bad I don’t know. We also have the tendency to criticize ourselves a lot.
After reading your post I wasn’t put off, on the contrary, I’m now more hipped than ever to get there, experience what it seems to be a very complex culture and form my own opinion about your countrymen.

By: István

István — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 13:38:52 +0000

Romanians are stupid.The article is right.I am Hungarian and I live in the BLOODY ROMANIA and it sucks.Romanians have stolen Transylvania the are shameless bloody thiefs !!!

By: janice

janice — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 18:26:41 +0000

Hi, I’ve been married to a Romanian for 20 years. When he is nice, he is very very nice, when he is not he is HORRID. I lived in Romania for 8 years. The people are nice when you don’t have to be too involved with them. Yeah, great, nice holidays, nice chats etc. But when money or anything else is involved, we are talking NAIVE. Yes, I am angry at the things I faced there - its not easy to have friends when they want to ‘profit’ from knowing foreigners - but I am also just tired of having to deal with bad behaviour.

However, this is not just a Romanian thing. Eastern Europe in general is a bit like this. The men are macho. The women have to get on with things. The men want to dominate, the women try to permit this - to keep the peace. They are understanding in a way.

I love Romania. I love the people in a way if you can keep to superficial friendships which don’t involve any expectations on either part. But there is one thing which characterises the Romanian psyche, it is an old saying about the fate of a goat and goes a little like this. If your goat dies, you hope that the neighbour’s goat dies too. This is a major characteristic in the country. People cannot be happy for each other. However, this is life under communism - would we have been any better.

Nevertheless, Romanian men are an absolute pain in the neck!!!!