How come no one ever talks about Eastern Europe?

[BECLAZONE]

Originally Posted by SiIj

Seriously... I never hear people talk about Eastern Europe. Nothing about Ukraine, Romania, Poland, Hungary, Belarus, etc, online or in real life. Are these bad countries to live in? I've read they are second world.

They've all been moved to Europe, well, most of them!

[sparkk2chane]

Originally Posted by yodel

OMG right? At the time, I was told that $50 was approx. the average monthly salary in Romania. I was not at all bothered paying it--to me it was nothing (particularly coming from NYC), In fact, my internship was with a Romanian company - I had expected it to be unpaid, but they insisted on paying me the equivalent of about $50 a month and I felt terrible taking it.

Do you know what types of salaries people in Romania make now, and how much rentals go for there now? It's crazy how much the world has changed in those 17 years. I dont know of anywhere you could go with less than $100 US dollars/month now and live a great quality of life. If such a place exists, I'd really like to know where it is, because I'd be on that plane in a minute.

I can only speak for Bucharest, but the other cities are cheaper for the most part, so you can do the math.
Salaries can go everywhere from 250 Dollars (yes!!!) to ...whatever top exectives make - they have European salaries, and since I am not one of them I am not sure how much they make. The average person (college educated, living in an apartment, goint to movies, taking vacations abroad and so on), I would say makes anywhere from 800 Dollars to 1500 Dollars. I could be a little off with the numbers, since we mostly convert in Euros nowdays.

Rent starts at about 150 for a studio apartment, but you can just as well pay 1500 in a residential area.
Some people are poor, some are extremely rich, most are just normal people trying to hang in there, just like it happens in the rest of the world, but with different numbers.
You can buy a nice 2 bedroom ap. in a nice area in the city for about 70.000 Dollars, but there are also the mansions that cost almost as much as they do in the West.

I have no idea where you can still live with 100 Dollars a month; if you want a great quality of life, too, then forget about it. In Romania, if you don't have a mortgage or rent, you can live well on 700 Dollars/ month. If you have those, I would say 1000 Dollars.

[Mikkarter]

Originally Posted by BIMBAM

I learned to speak Czech so I could travel in that beautiful country for awhile. I've also been to Slovakia. I didn't become fluent, but I learned it to a pretty good level for being self taught in Canada from a library book + free internet sites. I did pretty well there and could have basic conversations with locals, although it was tough to get an ear for it having never been to the Czech Republic ever before. When in Canada, I tried to get an ear by watching youtube videos, but it only took me so far. I was lucky in that so many more Czechs than I expected were able to speak English, even in small, rural towns! This was a surprise to me as the country was behind the iron curtain so long and in my home province of Quebec most people don't speak English very well outside of Montreal and Gatineau.

I am glad you learned to speak Czech. But this is a thread about Eastern Europe. Do you really think that country whose capital is west of Vienna or Helsinki, is a part of Eastern Europe?!