Polish national football team has recently won three-nil
against Romania in 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification match. Polish players gave
us a great gift on National Independence Day. In this article I would like to give
you a short overview of our latest rivals’ country.
Basic info
Romania is believed to be one of the poorest countries in the EU. Such a conviction is not far from the truth,
however it is considered a developing country. Actually, Romania is the fastest
growing economy in the EU. The capital of Romania is Bucharest - the largest
city which has a population of around 2 million of inhabitants. It is a common
stereotype that Romanians and gypsies are the same group of people, but this is
not true. It is important not to confuse these two, the former do not really
like that, because as you probably know gypsies are associated with some other
pejorative stereotypes.
Weather
In the winter there could be really cold in some regions of Romania –
sometimes the temperature is as low as -20 degrees Celsius. The summer in
contrast is usually hot, 35-40 degrees Celsius is not uncommon. However, you
have to be careful, sometimes during one rainy night the temperature could halve.
Food
Romanian cuisine is based mainly on pork. One of the popular dishes is
“ciorbă de burtă,“ which is a kind of tripe soup
(Polish “flaczki” soup). Another one is
“sarmale” – Romanian cabbage rolls – which are made with sour cabbage filled
with minced pork or/and beef mixed with rice (sounds familiar?). “Mămăliga” is
not a dish itself, it is served as a substitute for bread or mashed potatoes. It is
made from yellow maize flour.
Cityscape of Bucharest
Most of the street are
very narrow, they are not designed for traffic of vehicles. One of the big
problems in Bucharest is lack of parking places – as a result cars are usually
parked on pavements. There can be observed many neglected buildings in various
districts. It appears to be common among Romanians not to invest in real
estate. By way of illustration, you can often see expensive, luxuries cars parked in front of a small
house that needs major refurbishment. Meanwhile, the most popular car on the
streets is Dacia Logan, it has a market share of about 9,7% (!).
Have
you seen the match mentioned above? If so, how did you like it?
Have you ever been to any country or place you have mixed feelings about?
Sources:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2016/07/27/romania-did-this-and-now-its-among-the-fastest-growers-in-europe/#584162757078
http://www.romania-insider.com/dacias-market-share-romania-10-7-points/
http://www.romania-insider.com/dacias-market-share-romania-10-7-points/
Comments
I have a few very good friends from Romania, so I'm sure it's a nice place to visit eventually, but I haven't been there yet. Thanks for interesting article! :)
In my life I have visited Spain several times and I must admit, that it's my favorite place. I know Spanish a little and I'm very interested in Spanish culture. To be honest if I were to chose any country to live, I would pick Spain.
This country is full of contrasts. There are regions where peace and silence is valued, but also there are places where people keep on partying, singing and having fun. But I think that in almost every country we can find this kind of contrasts, even in Poland.
I cannot but agree with you that in almost every country we can find this kind of contrasts. The only difference is that in some of them these contrasts are sharper and thus more noticeable.
When talking about people, I can say that they take a very good care of their looks and image. Even if they may not be very wealthy, the looks is basically flawless. This is what I have noticed there. Romania is also beautiful regarding nature, so I can recommend to have a visit there and take a tour around the country, including the seaside of course and Konstanca.
Regarding what you said about the people, imagine my surprise when I first saw street vendor dressed in a snow-white suit. It was 35 degrees and he was selling his goods (fruits, vegetables), business as usual.
Also I have heard that lots of companies are opening their branches or daughter companies there too. It will allow the country to grow and get stronger. I have also heard that the government and tax authorities have had really big problems with VAT there, therefore they have started taking procedures in order for the companies not to make tax frauds. Time will show if taking this into action will still make the country attractive to abroad investors.
The greatest moment of the match was:
11 minute, on 11th of November, player Kamil Grosicki with number 11 scored first goal for us - and a beautiful one.
Grosicki showed us that he knows how to turn on turbo speed (that's why he's called Turbo Grosik :) and the proper way to celebrate our Independence Day.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DkQ0Y8Wgw6U
There should me more goals in that match, actions were just perfect.
I'm still waiting what FIFA will do about the Romanian team and how big the penalty will be for them.
It has many problems that occur in post Communistic states, like corruption, nepotism, mafia-like political connections and huge problem with Romanian church that has almost absolute power. What the best for emerging economy is to reduce the distance between the poor and the upper class. Highest percent of population should be in medium class income.