The Flying Romanian / Romanul Zburator

Before getting into the different categories of Romanians - and we'll start with the most visible ones, don't worry - I would like to talk about a topic which is very much taboo in the country I live now, which is France. Money.  Yes - people don't speak about money here in France, or if they do it is seen as quite vulgar. (No wonder the guys from ABBA were not French :)  Either one has it, and one doesn't have to say it, because the way one dresses, talks, their friends, their jobs etc. speak for themselves. Either one hasn’t, and the same applies . Therefore no one is forced to talk about money. So when, as a Romanian, one arrives in a society like this, it is very strange. Why? Because in Romania money is part of the everyday life , and one has to show it - via a big belly if you're a man over 50 or by being very fit if you're in your 30s, or expensive clothes, bags, etc. if you're a woman) or to endure not having it.  Havi...

In France, if you’re a Romanian meeting new people, you will sometimes (more often than not) experience the following conversation : Speaker 1 : “So where do you come from ? (curious) You have a small accent…(it reads : ha ! you wanted to pass unnoticed but I did notice that you are actually a foreigner!)” Romanian speaker : (hesitant already) Romania. (Or originally from Romania). Speaker 1 : "Ah ! ok." And then ? Nothing. Speaker 1 either moves to another person (it is is perfectly acceptable in France to move on to another person if the first one annoys you or has a not-so-interesting conversation) or, if interested, tries to remember something positive they (or their friends, or they family) know about Romania. So this blog is also meant for those “Speakers 1”, who would like to relate with Romanian people but don’t know how to do it when what they have in their minds all along is red alarm signs screaming : oh no ! Romanian ? But wait, there are ...

This blog is about exile (voluntary and involontary).  About being away from your roots, your family. About leaving and (never ?) going back.  Since the dawn of time, more or less large parts of a population have been displaced, at the mercy of natural disasters, wars, laws and edicts, calls from the sea etc. The reasons for leaving one's country can be multiple, and the life one led before and after could be very similar or very different. In any case, emigration is an experience common to many people, experiencing the same stages of (in) adaptation. It is almost 10 years since I live abroad (in France, in my case), and I wanted to explore this very disparate community I am part of: the group of Romanian women and men who left their country at a certain point and who came back or are still living abroad. With that being said, I do not exclude, in this quest, going towards much more general considerations on what is exile, (in)adaptation to the host culture(s), re...