Roaming in Romania

Saturday 27 May 2017

I suppose I leave just a small footprint of my passing here, but I take something of this place with me. It has been such a wonderful experience to work and live in Romania this last few months. The people have left such a sweet impression with me and I am thankful to all those who made my stay here such a pleasant one. One day I will come back!

Warmth and culture

If we look at Lewis model of Culture we find that the UK is Linear Active whilst Romania is Multi Active. Personally this model doesn't really fit with me I am hardly even close to a Linear Active person. But if I look at some of the aspects of social life in Romania I can see very much the warmth of people, people are more open with their emotions and I have noticed people are more tactile with friends than we in the UK are. I was invited to eat at the house of one of my supervisors sister. It isn't the first time since I have been here that I have been given such warm hospitality. Romania is one of the friendliest places I have visited. I have seen passionate outbursts during my work in the hospitals however, I think you would find this in any emergency unit as the pressure is intense. Just look at this amazing home cooking, ah strangers have rarely fed me so well. I really can't help but love this country from what I have experienced of it.

https://www.crossculture.com/latest-news/the-lewis-model-dimensions-of-behaviour/

A short cultural reflection.

As part of this blog I am need to make a few cultural comparisons. Here I will use Hofstede for the first one, I will try to fit this with what I have experienced here. However anything I say is entirely open to debate.
One of the main differences according to this model of culture is power distance, the UK appearing to have less than in Romania. This can really be felt in the hospital environment where the Dr is very much in the position of authority over the nurses. In the UK this is still in place to some degree and I can say Finland less so as it feels more equal there.
Uncertainty avoidance is high and indulgence low in comparison to the UK. When you think about this it makes sense, there have been many social and economic difficulties in recent Romanian history, many of the people I have met focus on the practical things such as owning their own house and raising children. In the UK well many of us can't afford a house, and it feels like we tend to focus more on short term gains and personal leasure.

https://geert-hofstede.com/romania.html

St Mina Orthodox church

St Mina Orthodox church. This church is made entirely out of wood and at first glance it appears to be quite old. However it is less than ten years. It is very striking and atmospheric something I haven't really seen the like of before. I felt very drawn to it. Orthodox Christianity is the main religion here. Romania is one of the most religious countries of Europe, this can be seen in the many churches that can be seen in any city. For me this is perhaps the closest I have come to culture shock, being from the UK which is nominally Christian, I have found it at times surprising how deeply religious people here appear to be.