First Romanian shop in Lisbon

I recently found the site of the first Romanian shop in Lisbon www.alecsmagazin.com. We passed by today and bought a few things that we didn't have for some time now :-). The shop has a reasonable range of products and the prices are ok too. We'll go back for sure ;-)

Funny street name

I was searching today on Google Maps a location in the area of Odivelas (a little town next to Lisbon). I found what I was looking for, but I also saw another street with a name which may be funny - but just for who understands Romanian :))

Work related mentalities

It can be interesting to observe the mentalities in different countries towards work and the relation with the company. How and what makes the people have a certain atitude towards work? The education? The fact that they don't know that it can be different? That they got used to like that? Maybe a mix of these.

There is a definite difference between this mentality in some Portuguese companies (if not in the majority) and in the foreign ones that are based in Portugal. I can sadly recognize in the first, one that exists also in Romania. The one in which the employee must be a kind of modern slave, that should sacrifice everything for the company, his time, personal life and energy, and without asking too much in return; obviously we can't speak here about respect for the person. This would be - let's say understandable - from the part of the company. But it is strange and honestly -sad - to see that the employees are not only accepting it, but are perpetuating it, as if it would be normal and ok. Why? Desperation for keeping a job? Maybe at some of them; but there are many that are going on like this for years. I suppose they hadn't had the chance to know a different way.

In contrast, in a foreign company there is a different way, a more respectful atitude for the people, a smarter way, I would say.

I am not saying that there is a perfect company; each has its pluses and minuses. But personally I believe, thinking at long term, that fairness and respect for the individual are key factors.

A new chapter

So, yes, Portugal it will be :-); Lisbon particularly, as we were planning. We'll soon go back to the sunny land and start an exciting new chapter!



Can't wait! ;-)

Great news from Portugal!!!

Finally great news in a long time - from Portugal!

The working restrictions for the Romanians are off! Now we can freely work in Portugal!

Now we can realistically think of going back to our favourite city, the place where we felt home - Lisbon.

ATÉ BREVE!

Here is the announcement from the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs about the opening of the Portuguese labour market.

London

As there were some free days between Christmas and the New Year, we went to visit London. From all the times of the year, we chose the coldest one :D, it was freezing.. I must say that I'll try to avoid that in the future, when visiting ;-) But anyway, it was not bad.

As being the holidays, the city was more crowded than usual. Indeed it has some great attractions, but in the rest I didn't find it so impressive, as I would of expected...Lisbon is still my favourite :D

We stayed in a well located hotel, near to Victoria tube line, so it was easy to move around - we exclusively used the tube, as it was easy to get anywhere faster and cheaper; the transport is pretty expensive in London.

Oh, and near to the hotel there was a Portuguese restaurant...it was such a nice atmosphere and great food, just like in Portugal; we also had some pastéis de nata, of course...I missed them :P

Here are some of the places that we visited:

Buckingham Palace

Queen Victoria's statue in front of Buckingham Palace

Big Ben

view from London Bridge - over the Thames and the famous Tower Bridge

Tower Bridge

inside Tower of London

inside Tower of London; view over White Tower

We couldn't miss Madame Tussauds; it was so annoyingly crowded though...Not easy to get to the celebrities, even wax ones :P

Madame Tussauds

with José :P

this guy had the hair almost like Einstein :))

scary Vlad, one of the few Romanian celebrities :P

The Houses of Parliament with Big Ben

Westminster Abbey

London Eye

Trafalgar Square

Covent Garden

in Covent Garden

St. Paul's Cathedral

A great thing in London is that the museums have generally free entry; at least this compensates the other pretty expensive attractions. There are many "not to be missed" museums, yet we didn't see all of them, we would of needed a week only for the British Museum. Anyway, we saw the most important pieces.

British Museum

inside British Museum

Natural History Museum

dinosaur (Natural History Museum)

at the Natural History Museum

More pictures from London and Madame Tussauds

Restriction on voting

As on the 30th of November there are parlamentary elections in Romania, I looked for the places where you can vote in UK.

So far, if you were abroad, either for visiting or for a longer period of time, you could vote in the country you happened to be, at the Romanian Embassy or other places specially organised for this purpose. All you should have was your ID. But not from now on! Like all the restrictions that the Romanians have to face abroad were not enough, they have been imposed another one! This time by their own government: the restriction on voting.

Yes, now, as a Romanian abroad, you need other proofs, beside your ID, to vote. A proof of being a Romanian over 18 is not enough! Now you need working permits, permanent residence and other things like that. For example, for voting in UK, you would need one of these:

1. proof of permanent residence
2. blue registration certificate, regarding the access on the labour market
3. yellow registration certificate, regarding the right of being self-employed, of student with the right of working part time, of self-suficient person
4. accession worker card (which supposes having a work permit)
5. the document that certifies the registration at the local authorities regarding the local taxes
6. renting contract registered at the local authorities
7. National Insurance Number/Health Registration Number
8. a full UK driving licence

The election law has been changed (new election rules) to restrict the right to vote also of some of the Romanians abroad. That is a big disgrace coming from the goverment of their own country. I am disgusted! Shame!

Fonejacker

I've discovered 2 weeks ago, on Channel 4, a hilarious show - Fonejacker; one guy - who can switch to a bunch of different accents - is giving prank-calls to people..But, better watch it! ;-)

Here are some that I like:


Terry Tibbs - Maserati 3200


Internet Service Providings


Rapper


Monies

The handing in of the petition at 10 Downing Street and the first reply

The petition of the Romanians in the UK had been handed in at 10 Downing Street, the residence of the British prime minister.

Cristina Irimie, chief editor of the London based Romanian newspaper "Roman in UK", accompanied by a British member of parliament - the conservative Greg Hands - handed in on the 15th of October the petition "Romanians in the UK - Equal citizens of the European Union! We ask the British Goverment to abolish the restrictions!" with its 4257 signatures.



At the handing of the petition were also present other Romanian promoters of the campaign - journalists, editors.

On the 24th of October a first reply was received from Gordon Brown's Direct Communications Office in regards to the petition. At the prime minister's request, the petition and the letter were passed to the UK Border Agency so that they are aware and may reply to the detailed points raised in the letter.

Altough I am sceptical about their final decision of opening the labour market for the Romanians, I hope that this petition will somehow have an impact.

End the restrictions on Romanian workers in the UK!

As this autumn the British Government will debate and decide the future of the current restrictions imposed on the labour market to the Romanian workers, the newspaper "Roman in UK" ("Romanian in the UK") and the websites www.romaninuk.net and www.romani.co.uk have launched the campaign "Romanians in the UK - Equal citizens of the European Union! We ask the British Goverment to abolish the restrictions!".

The campaign will take place from 2nd of September - 15th of October 2008 and will include promoting a petition amongst the Romanian communities and its supporters and handing in the petition at 10 Downing Street, the residence of the British prime minister. Also there will be dialogues with representatives of the British parliament in aim of attracting their support for the removal of the restrictions.

Do you support this? Then you can sign the online petition on http://www.gopetition.com/online/21602.html!

Update

Finally UK did not open its labour market for the Romanians, the restrictions will last for another 3 years.