Europeans in the US

[Deina 8]

Central Europe . . . hmmm

Nothing as exciting as a guessing game on Saturday morning.

Okay, I go first: you are from the dark side, Romania or Bulgaria or Hungary perhaps?

Excuse me but have you ever been in Romania to call it dark side??? And if then where in Romania???

[Deina 8]

I agree with you somewhat. As I said, Romania is not a perfect country, but why shouldn't you take pride in the bright side of it and allow people to talk about the bad things only? This is what we, as Romanians, want people to know us by? When somebody asks you where you are from, what are you going to say?

ROMANIA

I am one of the very proud romanian but I realized when I first moved here! I lived before moving here in Germany and it is like my second home country but since I'm here I miss Romania more than anything...

I live in L.A and I meet a lot of peoples that have visit or live in Romania and they all love it ! Romania is beautiful, Hungary is very beautiful too about Bulgaria I don't know - cause I never been there.... America is also beautiful but it's kinda boring here around Holidays with no traditions - In this time then I really miss Romania!

[silvana.toma 15]

Excuse me but have you ever been in Romania to call it dark side??? And if then where in Romania???

i think he was jocking more than anything else, but for those of you who haven't been in romania in a long time let me give you a summary of happened in the last 5 years, a more realistic aproach of the land of choice called romania:

We elected a drunk worthless, greedy president who brought us further back than the comunism ever did

Then we elected him again, like the first rape wasn't enough, so he raped us again, meaning they stole too much money and they couldn't cover it so they had to cut salaries(25%), pensions(15%), kids alimony, and the list goes on and on. Romania is the only country in europe with such low salaries, and on top of that they cut them again

Because of that, old people could not afford to buy their medicine, people could not afford to heat their homes in the winter, not to mention the most people could not buy proper food.

The median income in a romanian family is around 500 us dollars and that is if mom and dad both work, everything from clothing to food is AS if not more expensive than US.

SO...yes...i believe romanian people live in dark times. For the people who live here in us and go home every now and then, of course romania is bright, but when you actually live there and every day you wonder where will you get the money to pay bills and feed your kids...it's not a hunky dory situation. Most retired people in romania eat bread beans and potatoes, as they can not afford anything else...

I am not questioning or puting you guys down for beeing patriots, it's actually a good thing that you can still be so pasionate about it after the fact that your own country couldn't give you a decent life.

Let's be honest how many of you would return to romania to live there?

I know it sounds horrible what i am saying right now, i might even slap myself later, but it's the truth, the very sad inconvenient truth.

[Deina 8]

i think he was jocking more than anything else, but for those of you who haven't been in romania in a long time let me give you a summary of happened in the last 5 years, a more realistic aproach of the land of choice called romania:

We elected a drunk worthless, greedy president who brought us further back than the comunism ever did

Then we elected him again, like the first rape wasn't enough, so he raped us again, meaning they stole too much money and they couldn't cover it so they had to cut salaries(25%), pensions(15%), kids alimony, and the list goes on and on. Romania is the only country in europe with such low salaries, and on top of that they cut them again

Because of that, old people could not afford to buy their medicine, people could not afford to heat their homes in the winter, not to mention the most people could not buy proper food.

The median income in a romanian family is around 500 us dollars and that is if mom and dad both work, everything from clothing to food is AS if not more expensive than US.

SO...yes...i believe romanian people live in dark times. For the people who live here in us and go home every now and then, of course romania is bright, but when you actually live there and every day you wonder where will you get the money to pay bills and feed your kids...it's not a hunky dory situation. Most retired people in romania eat bread beans and potatoes, as they can not afford anything else...

I am not questioning or puting you guys down for beeing patriots, it's actually a good thing that you can still be so pasionate about it after the fact that your own country couldn't give you a decent life.

Let's be honest how many of you would return to romania to live there?

I know it sounds horrible what i am saying right now, i might even slap myself later, but it's the truth, the very sad inconvenient truth.

Well... then you should open your eyes around the world - and while we are living in US let's start with this: the economy, healthcare, salaries are also not part from the american dream anymore NOW it is american nightmare! People die of hunger every corner of the world !! Would you try to change that?? I will die trying making my life and life of others better. Who knows where the steps of my life will bring me but I know that if that will be Romania I will be very happy!! I prefer to live in US just because my husband's job is in the entertainment industry and together we are donate a lot of time helping others and beeing here will help me - helping Romania.

[silvana.toma 15]

Well... then you should open your eyes around the world - and while we are living in US let's start with this: the economy, healthcare, salaries are also not part from the american dream anymore NOW it is american nightmare! People die of hunger every corner of the world !! Would you try to change that?? I will die trying making my life and life of others better. Who knows where the steps of my life will bring me but I know that if that will be Romania I will be very happy!! I prefer to live in US just because my husband's job is in the entertainment industry and together we are donate a lot of time helping others and beeing here will help me - helping Romania.

oh...actually my eyes are pretty open, but we are not talking about romania vs usa.

I think it's great you are helping your country, but that wasn't the point of the conversation. Yes people die of hunger everywhere in the world, in some places they do because they are lazy, and in some places they do because the society is build that way...almost primitive where only the strong survive...

You say that you will be happy to live in romania, but be careful what you wish for, it might actually happen.

So everyone keeps on saying ...american dream not so much of a dream, they all ###### and moan, is that the reason why still to this day everyone is trying to imigrate in this country?

USA might not be a perfect place, but at least if you are hard working you have something to show for, where in romania no matter how many 90 hours a week you are working you still struggle.

This is only my point of view, we don't need to agree, we are all different with different ideeas. I respect yours, even if i don't necesarely agree with it

[HappyRs 8]

It's amazing how Americans can take pride in their country despite all the shortcomings (and, boy, they are many!)... while Romanians are the first ones to throw the stone and point the finger to their own country and nation. Anyway, let's keep politics and personal opinions out of this (I am one of those who voted for the "drunken" sailor or whatever --the best president we've had so far in my opinion, so I'm not gonna discuss this further).

Back to the topic of this thread... I was never one of those who could not wait to leave their countries to get to the "land of promise" bla bla... I was never in love with America, American dream etc... I had my prejudices coming here, I had my concerns... Do I love it here? No. Do I miss home? Absolutely! I was surely not impressed to see more homeless people than I had ever seen, drug addicts...

There are good and bad parts about moving here...I suppose you all experience this. We just have to make the best of it.

[Deina 8]

oh...actually my eyes are pretty open, but we are not talking about romania vs usa.

I think it's great you are helping your country, but that wasn't the point of the conversation. Yes people die of hunger everywhere in the world, in some places they do because they are lazy, and in some places they do because the society is build that way...almost primitive where only the strong survive...

You say that you will be happy to live in romania, but be careful what you wish for, it might actually happen.

So everyone keeps on saying ...american dream not so much of a dream, they all ###### and moan, is that the reason why still to this day everyone is trying to imigrate in this country?

USA might not be a perfect place, but at least if you are hard working you have something to show for, where in romania no matter how many 90 hours a week you are working you still struggle.

This is only my point of view, we don't need to agree, we are all different with different ideeas. I respect yours, even if i don't necesarely agree with it

Ok, so we are agree now that is dark everywhere for different reasons... and this was not my point of view you start to show the "dark times" of Romania...

I only defend my home country that I love as it is and I do agree with you on the country's problems, but for someone to call Romania dark side of Europe it is very disrespectful!!! Thanks for your advice but I am not frightened about living in Romania and don't misinterpreting me and twisting my words - my exact words were: Who knows where the steps of my life will bring me but I know that if that will be Romania I will be very happy!! If my husband is by my side I will be happy everywhere. I am glad to know that you are also one of the lucky one and you feel safe and love here and I wish you all the best.

[HappyRs 8]

Who knows where the steps of my life will bring me but I know that if that will be Romania I will be very happy!! If my husband is by my side I will be happy everywhere.

[silvana.toma 15]

It's amazing how Americans can take pride in their country despite all the shortcomings (and, boy, they are many!)... while Romanians are the first ones to throw the stone and point the finger to their own country and nation. Anyway, let's keep politics and personal opinions out of this (I am one of those who voted for the "drunken" sailor or whatever --the best president we've had so far in my opinion, so I'm not gonna discuss this further).

Back to the topic of this thread... I was never one of those who could not wait to leave their countries to get to the "land of promise" bla bla... I was never in love with America, American dream etc... I had my prejudices coming here, I had my concerns... Do I love it here? No. Do I miss home? Absolutely! I was surely not impressed to see more homeless people than I had ever seen, drug addicts...

There are good and bad parts about moving here...I suppose you all experience this. We just have to make the best of it.

Wow...why are you here then? I just don't get it. If you are so dissapointed with this country and excercise patriotism so much... what are you doing here?

is america perfect? Hec no, there is some dark stuff here too, there is dark stuff in every corner of the world.

wow...again....when was the last time you were home? do you have anyone home? how are they doing with all the cuts and unemployment? To say the drunken guy who used his power to get everbody in their mother in the politics(daughter-who can't even speak romanian language yet she represents romania at the EU, then the minister of tourism-his mistress, and i can go on and on)then he stole money to buy villas in monte carlo,buy her other daughter a million dollar condo, got elected because he promised the teachers a 50% raise that obviously never happened, got elected the second time because he stole votes. Last year 90% of the people went on strike, and few comit suicide because of the new cuts 25% of $200 salaries.

Seriously Happy RS, you have to review your history...because of people like you we are in the big doo doo.

90% of people in romania want our current president dead, and you are telling me he is the best president romania ever had? I don;t want to call you ignorand because i'm sure you are not, but you have to get informed before you make such coments. And i said 90% because the rest of 10% are rich people who got rich because of the current president.

And one last thing, people if you hate beeing here, nobody is holding you here by force...i'm just saying...

[silvana.toma 15]

And before i get more country loving people to rail up against me let me make a disclosure. I love my country, i love sarmale, and the sights. BUt love has nothing to do with beeing realistic about current events.

Just an example: Young people have no future in romania, talk to your friends and ask them how they like their $300 salaries, when a pair of jeans starts at $50. You can be unrealistic all you want, but you know i am right.

It's so easy for us to be patriots, because it's not us who have to deal with the shortcomings of the country.

That's just the financial and political part, but then we also have the fact that some of us are not raised well, like for example when i go home, and i have a straight flight from NY to RO, God save me, everyone is squeezing in, like the plane will leave without them or they get a prize for geting in their seat first. Then they fight about the luggage, what luggage suposed to go where, last time our flight had a 30 min delay because my fellow citizens had to fight about where their luggage went. And i don't want to talk about garbage they left on the floor, etc etc, or when they go camping all the garbage remains there...everywhere...

And when you think you have tough times here, just think about all the people in romania who would do anything to have your problems.

Ok...so for the country loving people...please let;s just agree to disagree. we don;t need to agree on everything.

[silvana.toma 15]

Oh...and i think i know why they were fighting what luggage goes where...i think it's because they had green onion(praz)in their luggage and they didn't want anyone to steal it

ok romanian people will get the joke(unless they are too upset with me), it's from an old romanian movie.

Edited April 28, 2011 by silvana.toma

[silvana.toma 15]

Wow...why are you here then? I just don't get it. If you are so dissapointed with this country and excercise patriotism so much... what are you doing here?

is america perfect? Hec no, there is some dark stuff here too, there is dark stuff in every corner of the world.

wow...again....when was the last time you were home? do you have anyone home? how are they doing with all the cuts and unemployment? To say the drunken guy who used his power to get everbody in their mother in the politics(daughter-who can't even speak romanian language yet she represents romania at the EU, then the minister of tourism-his mistress, and i can go on and on)then he stole money to buy villas in monte carlo,buy her other daughter a million dollar condo, got elected because he promised the teachers a 50% raise that obviously never happened, got elected the second time because he stole votes. Last year 90% of the people went on strike, and few comit suicide because of the new cuts 25% of $200 salaries.

Seriously Happy RS, you have to review your history...because of people like you we are in the big doo doo.

90% of people in romania want our current president dead, and you are telling me he is the best president romania ever had? I don;t want to call you ignorand because i'm sure you are not, but you have to get informed before you make such coments. And i said 90% because the rest of 10% are rich people who got rich because of the current president.

And one last thing, people if you hate beeing here, nobody is holding you here by force...i'm just saying...

Correction:ignorant, with a t, not a d

[Deina 8]

I think you should apply for U.S presidency

Seriously, nobody disagree with you but you write novels about Romanian dark stuffs and in between you throw in a phrase about America is not perfect either..

at least when Romania is in financial crisis is not pulling the others countrys down!! And to say about a country that is dark without to develop the word "dark" so like just Bob it is not nice

You say you love Romania... but how can you love a country without to be proud of?? You are missing the point!! The problems that are facing romanian don't make Romania less beautiful from geographic point of view, culture, etc - I would also be able to get into details of americans issues but my pleasure of living here is not limited to countrys issues or the luck that I have to live in the promised land. I feel love for US too, don't get me wrong but to let a stranger put my country of origin in a bad light is like speaking bad about my ancestors. And living here for some of us is not because we are runing from the hard living day after day in Romania!!! Love is like the wind you don't know where you STOP!! I do not want to offend you or to be indiscreet but how you was advised me for free I also feel like recommend you that you should take a deep look into your heart, WHY you are here??? I doubt that because of love, cause' the way you talk about Romanian dark times you should not even like the cabbage(sarmale). Please do not feel challenged everyone is entitled to an explanation

[silvana.toma 15]

You know deina....it's one thing to express your feelings towards an ideea, or belief, and it's very different to imply something so dirty, especially since you don't even know me.

And for the record, just so you can sleep tonight, no, i didn't marry my husband because he is a us citizen. I just happen to believe and like the choices i made, at least it's better than beeing here and bit##ing and moaning about it.

[HappyRs 8]

Wow...why are you here then? I just don't get it. If you are so dissapointed with this country and excercise patriotism so much... what are you doing here?

is america perfect? Hec no, there is some dark stuff here too, there is dark stuff in every corner of the world.

wow...again....when was the last time you were home? do you have anyone home? how are they doing with all the cuts and unemployment? To say the drunken guy who used his power to get everbody in their mother in the politics(daughter-who can't even speak romanian language yet she represents romania at the EU, then the minister of tourism-his mistress, and i can go on and on)then he stole money to buy villas in monte carlo,buy her other daughter a million dollar condo, got elected because he promised the teachers a 50% raise that obviously never happened, got elected the second time because he stole votes. Last year 90% of the people went on strike, and few comit suicide because of the new cuts 25% of $200 salaries.

Seriously Happy RS, you have to review your history...because of people like you we are in the big doo doo.

90% of people in romania want our current president dead, and you are telling me he is the best president romania ever had? I don;t want to call you ignorand because i'm sure you are not, but you have to get informed before you make such coments. And i said 90% because the rest of 10% are rich people who got rich because of the current president.

And one last thing, people if you hate beeing here, nobody is holding you here by force...i'm just saying...

I know everything going on in Romania...more than you probably do. Yes, there are cuts...and yes there are is unemployment, but the measures that where implemented in Romania 12 months ago are just now implemented here in the US (see budget cuts and spending etc.). I think you have a lot of guts to ask me all that you do, especially since you know nothing about me...and if I told you that I know what it's like to work hard for everything you have...or what is like to have a mother (who has a history with strokes) who has to live with a pension in Romania, maybe (just maybe) you'd cut the sarcasm. I doubt you had any of my experiences. I studied history in college...so I might know a few things about empty speeches, promises and demagogy in politics. I might also be tired of hearing people complaining about what Romania doesn't offer them, which makes me think of the famous "Don't ask what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country" (JFK, Fyi). To fulfill your curiosity, I'm here cuz I'm madly in love with my husband, not with America.

This topic is closed for me, as i think you've gone kinda far and the OP is sick of the monopoly Romanians formed on his thread. Enjoy your life here.