I could see on their face that they are Romanians!

If your little girl wants to try anything from here (jumping mattresses, Mary Go Rounds, the small train, the Boat of Pirates….) please, let her go! She goes for free! (Her mom can join her, as well). We’ve never charged Romanians, wheever we were…you’re ours, common!

It’s not hard to recognize us as being Romanians… especially for a Romanian guy…we look more sad and concerned than all the other people…

I graduated a Psychology college. I wanted to become a teacher but the salary was 600ron/150E per month and the transportation was not covered…how could I managed to live with that money? So, here I am, driving a truck in Sweden…but not for a Swedish salary…

We’ve been here (Sweden) for a month. We’ve been hired through a Romanian company for 6 months…we are working so hard; we can hardly sleep for 4-5 hours in the night…and they pay us so bad; we cannot compare our salaries to the Swedish ones. But it’s better than staying home (Romania), working for almost nothing.

It takes 10 hours to put up or down a “thing” like this (huge Mary Go Round type machines for the temporary fun parks). We are a team of 16 people…there are 4 Polish guys and the rest are Romanians…we spend 3-4 days in a place and then we have to move to another place…it’s tiring!




Ironically and tragically in the same time, I’m writing this post in the first day of massive strikes in Romania. It’s very hard for us to think of what’s going on back home; it’s hard not because of the distance, but of the difference between the ways the two countries/governments (Romanian and Swedish) are treating their people. The difference is also between the ways the two peoples ask for respect and gain their self respect…I’m getting very pessimistic when I consider the option of going back to Romania after Kopparbo…I only wish to visit Romania, maybe to spend vacations there…

The paragraphs above are pieces of the conversation we (mostly Vali, because I was in the Doggy train) had with 5 Romanians working for a Swedish company in a park of fun we visited last weekend…They were hired through a Romanian company, therefore they are not paid very good. They will work in Sweden until the end of October…

We were very happy to meet these guys…Bubu felt strange hearing Romanian language spoken by other people than us in Sweden. She said ‘Mommy, it’s very weird to hear this language in Sweden!’ ‘Well, they are Romanians like we are, Bubu, and they speak Romanian’. They were happy to meet us, as well. They were interested in our experience, of course (how did we get here, what do we work, how much do we make). Unlike us, they were by themselves, missing their families. There was one sad guy looking after Bubu all the time because he has a little girl, as well, but he couldn’t take her in Sweden. Oh, how lucky we are…

Yes, Vali felt them as being Romanians. He first went by himself to look around the place (Bubu and I were busy in another park…) He came back saying that there are Romanians working for the Mary go Round machines. ‘Have you talked to them?’ ‘No, but I could see on their faces…’ As they said, Romanians look tired and sad among the other nationalities…no wonder why we left Romania, no wonder why people are protesting back home, no wonder why we lack self respect and energy to ask for respect from our leaders…

Yes, we feel so good here that I only want to visit Romania!


posted by Monica

"I don't want to win, i don't want to lose"

...this is a line from the lyrics of the song that will represent this year Sweden to the Eurovision Song Contest. The song is called "This is my life" and is played by an almost unknown (till now) young singer named Anna Bergendahl. I began to learn to appreciate the song and i kind of like it a lot.

I find in the line that i use in the title of this post, so much from the identity of the swedes and their way of seeing life: nothing should strike or bother you, nothing must be extraordinary, keep things simple and do not change too much unless is really needed.

And not too much work, not too much food, not too much noise...keep things moderated.


Like we spent our first wek here:
- We did quite a lot of work at Kopparbo, but not hard or under pressure,
- we visited some places in the sourrounding,and we saw a beavers' house, foxes, rabbits and about ten musses. (elks)
- saw a scout contest in Borlänge, from the group called Stora Tunna and met Hampus and Gustav, volunteers from last year
- we did SH shoppings in Falun ( i have now a Sverige T-shirt)
-and most important for us, we have our first accound in a swedish bank (we are so proud of this)
-And Bubu played a little in the parks, Monica got to practice more driving.







So, nothing extraordinary, but things that makes us feel good, simple happy and protected. We did not win, we did not lose...we experienced and learned more.

Did i make you courious to listen to the song that represents Sweden at Eurovision contest? Do it, i am sure you will like it...and vote for it!

Kopparbo/Sweden-new start, same good old times

It's been more than 7 months since we left Kopparbo and Sweden with the thought and hope to come back...and God helped us and here we are again. For a new start, a new experience, same whishes.

It was a long and exhausting trip, more than 30 hours from our home town, to Budapest and after that to Goteborg and finally to Kopparbo. But we made it safe and sound and we got late at the camp site.

Because of this trip i did not have the time and energy to see myself and my girls at Kopparbo, so i had no expectations. We left behind our beloved families to which we got so close in the last months, our native places and head to NORTH.
We knew how it should be, but never expected to be that easy. We felt that we were away only for few days...and we are coming back to a great place that we would call it home.

Everything stayed the same: the kindness of random people, the joy and simple happiness of everyone from Kopparbo, Kimmens' and Lars Eric's fatherhood, Annelie's friendship, the beauty of the whole place.

We got back in bussiness right away, as it was the opening of the camp, so together with other twenty people we set up the place which is now ready for visitors. We carried boats to the lake, set up new holds on the climbing towers, set up the pioneers' track, fixed almost everything....only in two days. A lot to do, a work that makes you tired but happy-tired.



...You know, usually they say about movies that continue a first succesful part (like "reloaded", or "returns") that they are never as good as the first one. We are convinced this won't be the case for us. We are happy to be here, and play the main role in this movie which is our life. We even got new lines to speak out, so i plan to learn "bra svenska", learn to drive the tractor, never be late for breakfast and prepare at least one meal. Monica is determined to drive the bus, speak more swedish and cut the grass... for Bubu, everything can stay the same: much fun everywhere.

So, we are here to work as best as we can, have fun and make a great experience and we plan that this second movie to be better than the one from last year.

So, do not miss this movie, it will be a success!