Bucharest, Romania

Daniela, a young 20s something Bulgarian with a degree in economics and statistics, fluent in English, sat next to me on the flight from Frankfurt to Bucharest. Here’s my account of what she had to say:

Daniela: "I’m returning from Norway for some vacation time at home. It’s always raining in Norway. I was there looking for a job in the Government, but they told me my Norwegian wasn’t good enough so I need to work on it some more. I need to find a job in Norway because the pay is better there. In Bulgaria, the pay is terrible and there aren’t as many job opportunities. Since the wall came down, the situation in Bulgaria has gotten worse. There’s no respect for authority. People feel they can do whatever they want. There’s a lot of corruption. We have a dog problem. Actually it’s not a dog problem; it’s a people problem. People get dogs that they can’t take care of, let them loose, and then they run wild. I volunteer to get dogs fixed, but it’s an uphill battle because more and more people are letting their dogs free."

Peter, a young man in his 30s, speaking halting English and looking like he hadn’t taken a bath in a month, helped me get from the airport into the city, a trip that exposed the sad and backward conditions of this country. Here’s my account of what he had to say:

Stray Dog in Bucharest

Peter: "I’m returning from Scotland. I got a job there picking up used clothing, but didn’t get paid. The agency that got me the job said they couldn’t do anything about it. The only reason I’m able to get home is because I have a credit card. There are some jobs in Romania but they don’t pay anything. The situation here isn’t any better now than it was before Nicolae Ceauşescu. I come from a town 400 kilometers from Bucharest. I’m actually Hungarian. I have a Hungarian passport and a Romanian ID. A Hungarian passport is better than a Romanian one. It gets you into far more countries. There are two million Hungarians living in Romania. We should be a part of Hungary as we were before 1945. Like Bulgaria we have a dog problem too. A few years ago they tried to get rid of the dogs, but Brigit Bardot stepped in with her animal rights group and put a halt to it. Now we have dogs everywhere."