Everytime somebody asks me : why did you come to Denmark? I blush and I just say: it's a long story. The truth is there are indeed a lot of things to discuss about me coming to Dk , but to cut the long story short, the reason why this question makes me feel embarressed is that I, a reasonable smart girl, moved to freaking Scandinavia because I fell in love.
So 20 years old me quited law school and flew(for the first time!) to Greater Copenhagen. I wanted to study. I asked Denmark : dearie, can I study here? and a very friendly Denmark said :"but of course. Not only you can study, but it will not be that expensive for you, 'cause we have this rule that basically says that people coming from poor countries within Europe to study get a loooooot of tax free. " wooow, Denmark, are you for real?? What kind of sorcery is this???". "Yes, dearie, but be careful, every magic comes with a cost, when a year will pass, my wicked daughter - Skat - will come and she will be cruel."
Let me tell you what Skat( the Danish tax system) does to eastern-europeans who study here. The whole year, every month, you pay less taxes because of the rule mentioned above. Then, in March-April, when they recalculate everything, they just "forget" to also add that tax-free. For every single god-damn student. When I got my tax-report, I had to pay 13.000 kroner. That is more than I make in a month. That is a lot. But what I had to do was very simple, just to add the tax free in a box. So basically the wicked Skat was telling me( and also the other mange mange people): "Here's your tax report. You have to pay shit lots of money. It is us totally "forgetting" the "students coming from poor european countries" rule. We did this to everyone. You just have to write a number in a box and we will fix you. Find the right box, the right number or just give us money you may not have". When they recalculated my tax report, I am getting back from them 5000 kroner. A "small" error of 18.000 kr. My question is: how many people ended up paying money they actually didn't have to ?? Is this error made because people working at Skat are incompetent or it's an abuse of power? Either way, how can I trust you, Denmark???
The thing is most people are afraid to speak their minds. We grew up in a country struggling to recover from the cold touch of comunism. We grew up being told that romanians are not good; making jokes about ourselves, how we are gipsies and drunkies and stupid whores. If I were to tell someone that I have known so many good people, they would tell me that they were just exceptions. The thing is - also in so called advanced countries like Denmark, good people are also exceptions. Believe it or not. In the first year of college here, I did everything I have already done in highschool. We have mind-fucking educational systems and you have to be a fucking genius to survive. The thing is advanced countries - like Dk - they know this. They know we are all hard working 'cause we have no choice. They know our children eat mathemathics on bread( just a romanian expression) and they know the stakes are higher for us : we don't take anything for granted and that makes us fight. They seem reticent when they get us in, but the thing is they need us. We are an active party of the evolution of this country. We are too shy, too well raised to speak the truth, but gipsies did come from India. Yes, indians get andry when they are being told this, but let me tell you this :I know someone who, after work, takes home with him 2 Burns and other stuff. The rule is that we can have a lot of good shit but while at work. Why does he take 2 Burns? That's just the gipsy behavior. Not saying this as an insult. If I were to find a milion kroner I wouldn't take it. I don't have to swear it, people who know me know that it is true. So If I, if many other romanians, were raised to be freaking honest, freaking hard working, if life and genetics made us smart, why should I be ashamed of being a romanian??
Comments
Post a Comment