I'm strongly considering Teaching English Abroad in Romania! As this is a country Rick has not done any writing or video of, and since It's not Slavic in culture, it seems a mystery wrapped in an enigma!! Has anyone spent extended time in Romania? What can you tell me about some special social taboos that are related to the country? There's also a University in the Black Sea port city of Constanta which has shown serious interest in me. Has anyone been to Constanta out there? Thank you all for your help!!
Posted by
Ann Arbor, Mi
3696 posts
I have not spent any extended time there, but I did travel there a few years ago. I loved it and found it very intriguing and beautiful. I landed in Bucharest and took a car trip through the country. Constanta is definitely your large port city. There were some interesting and beautiful areas and your typical big city areas. I found the people to be extremely friendly (they thought I was German... guess because of my Birkenstocks) In the countryside it was such a mix of the farmers with their horse and carts and the cars sharing the small roads. In some smaller towns the large grey apartment buildings are what appear to be the leftovers of the communist regime...they greatly contrast the colorful and delightful fences that surround the other homes. They have a habit of sitting on benches that are alongside the road and outside of the fences of their homes...and sometimes the cow joined them. Transylvania area is lovely and looks like Austria. Brasov was more progressive and felt like most college towns in Europe. It was also so reasonably priced. I was also told the stories about the bands of wild dogs and thought it was myth, but it was not. As the story goes, apparently when the communists ruled, the people were not allowed to have dogs, so now they are a sign of freedom and the dogs have banded together and run in packs. We saw many packs of these dogs... all breeds hanging out together and they are not picked up by any dog catchers. The downside is they really do bark all night long in many areas. Never did check and see if this little story is really true, but we did experience the barking! I am a photographer and I loved it.
Posted by
San Francisco
15022 posts
"...a mystery wrapped in an enigma" applied to Russia in Churchill's words. I suppose you could apply that description to Romania too, since in the anglophone view it was considered backwater. Maybe you might have a better chance of getting a position for teaching English in Hungary, which a good friend of mine did through Berlitz, but then he was an EU citizen.