Job Discussion Forums

[Dancebiscuits]

Hello all,
I've been offered one job in Bucharest and one in Istanbul. Both are fine for salary and accommodation and Ts&Cs so I wanted to ask your opinions on which is likely to suit me more to live in. I've been to Istanbul a few times for the weekend and love it, never to Romania.

My interests are, I suppose:
Vegetarian food - good markets and food shops and restaurants
A language that won't take me centuries to learn
Religious kitsch, flea markets, affordable and interesting clothes shopping (designer is way off the cards)
Cemeteries, crypts, bazaars and pubs
Castles, mountains, seaside, forests and modern art
Affordable motoring
Gigs in pubs and clubs - live music, dance performance, DJs and so on.

I'll also need affordable language lessons and I guess an English-speaking expat scene of some sort would be nice too, especially while I'm new

It's a toughie isn't it? Opinions welcome and thank you in advance. I'll be pearoasting this on the other relevant forums. Oh yeah, I'm British, female, no kids.

[scot47]

For me Istanbul, but I am not a female. Bucharest is certainly a lot cheaper and Romanian is easier to learn than Turkish. As a Bulgarophile I am suspicious of boith Romanians and Turks but would, after som ethgought go for life in Istanbul.

[miss smarty]

Hello,
I have taught in both places and I must say Romania would be a better choice. You are very fortunate to have an opportunity to teach in Bucharest! The Romanians are kind, honest, and helpful-unlike the Turks who try and rip you off every chance they get. The children in Romania that I taught are better behaved and have more respect. The children I have taught in Istanbul are spoiled brats who have made my stay in Istanbul a living hell.

Also, I am a female and a vegetarian. The food in Istanbul is revolting and I have lost 10 kilograms since I moved here. There is a lot of meat in both cusines though and the food is not great in either.

GO ROMANIA!!!!!!!

[johncoan]

[Dedicated]

I have to agree wholeheartedly with johncoan on this. I don't know where miss smarty has been eating !

[spiral78]

Another fan of Turkish food here.

[Sashadroogie]

It is funny how various cultures get stigmatised. Turks as rip-off merchants, Romanians as potential pick-pocket / immigrant threats. The truth is that both cultures offer something really interesting and either city would be well worth going to to live and work in. As the OP said, tough choice : ) But at least both are a winner.

[Dancebiscuits]

Thanks all - I was asking for opinions so everybody's are very welcome.

Have to say though, I've really enjoyed Turkish food when I've been in the past, but never tried Romanian cuisine. I gather from another poster that many Romanians observe vegetarian diets during some religious festivals so there's actually quite a lot of meat-substitute food (veggie sausage, tofu etc) available. Not my favourites but certainly useful.

Also, as I'll be living there, I'll be cooking for myself a lot of the time so it helps to know if either city has good produce markets and affordable supermarkets, as well as veggie options in restaurants.

[miss smarty]

In my defense, I spent two years teaching in France and another year in Italy before I moved to Istanbul. So I was rather spoiled living in those places

Istanbul does have a website called yemeksepeti.com which I think means food basket. Anyways you can order whatever you want and have it delievered to your house. Mcdonalds, Dominos, Sushi- you name it......Gourmet Burger does have a vegetarian selection which sells Falafel burgers. There is also the Falafel House in Taksim but I am no sure if it is open anymore since they are reconstructing the metro and the area is being remodeled.

I'm sure you will find something

[sparks]

On my first work trip to Romania I was offered mici as a showcase dish for Romanian cuisine. Greasy meatrolls, yep, that pretty much sums up my opinion of Romania

[kevinpcullen]

I'm curious, how were you able to find work in Romania from outside the country? I'd really like to work in Romania myself but haven't had much luck researching the job market.

[Dancebiscuits]

It was just advertised on a TEFL jobs website. I very seldom see positions in Romania turn up though, and I follow 4 or 5 EU-based job sites.

[scot47]

Linguistically, Turkish is a challenge, whereas for anyone who has already acquired a Romance language, Romanian is a walk in the park !

[Sashadroogie]

Turkish is supremely logical. Only one exception in the whole language.

[jonniboy]

I spent a month backpacking round Romania and it's a country of amazing landscapes and contrasts and the nonsense in the west about Romanians being gypsies and thieves couldn't be further from the truth IMHO.

Unfortunately I have to say, I really didn't like Bucharest, along with Warsaw, it is, for me, the drabbest capital city in Europe. The communists, according to many accounts, tore down some of the nicer old buildings and replaced them with the worst of commie architecture, apparently taking Pyongyang (!) as a model.

I self taught myself some Romanian before going there. If you've done Latin at school or learnt any romance languages it's not that difficult. However it is without doubt the most difficult of the romance languages, having features the others don't have: a more complicated system of plurals, post fixed definite articles and being the only one with three genders and noun cases.

I've visited Istanbul, it struck me overall as being a far more interesting city and my veggie friend has travelled there a few times without any problems.