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Life in RomaniaI would like to introduce you to my life in Romania. I have several old properties scattered about the country, and a Bucharest apartment. I go every weekend to the countryside, where my grandparents live.
There are also lots of apple and plum trees, which are made into Romanian clear plum brandy - which goes surprisingly well when you eat the different cabbage dishes. The house has gutters, so we can collect the rainwater and use this for washing up, water for the animals or watering the plants.
When I arrived at this house about 6 years ago, technology had not reached here. It had an old radio and the television had only one state channel. life in Romania here seemed to be as it was 50 or 100 years ago. Inside it has been greatly improved, and now grandma has satallite TV with about 100 channels - and she now enjoys watching the latest Romanian news late into the night. The Internet was only recently added, as this was so that I could build this site while here. There are two bedrooms. Each has its own wood burning heater, which keeps thing warm in Winter. In the back is the food store, and a spare room. We don't often use this extra room, as its ceiling is very low. We also have a separate room for the kitchen. Here is where grandpa likes to sleep near the wood burning kitchen stove.
The Romanian garden is very important. We have improved it, by adding solar lamps. Romanians are very proud of their gardens. There are fruit trees, strawberry plants and some annual plants. Life in Romania is made easier by having our own organic crop, rather than needing to go to the market in town. We also have a large vegetable garden for beans, tomatoes and herbs for the kitchen.
We have no running water on the property, so we use an outside toilet, which does not need to use any water. All my father in law did, was to did a deep hole, and then build a little shed over it. I spend a great deal of time looking down the hole and under the lid, as I have yet to believe that a spider won't bite my sensitive parts. In front of the outside toilet is the place we leave the cow dung. I had the bright idea of adding some pumpkin seeds. Romanians eat lots of pumpkin seeds as a snack, so my grandmother gave me another 1/2 kg of seeds to add... we now have all sorts of different marrows (green and white) and pumpkins (yellow and orange) growning there. They have fed us all summer.
This is where we store all the wood. Every Spring we have a couple of trees delivered. We then use a chain saw and then axes to make them into smal pieces - ideal for the wood burning stoves. Romanians are also keen on cooking outside, so we also use the wood to cook meat on the barbeque. Life in Romania would not be the same without some roasted pork chops. Of course you also need a beer in your hand while cooking for it to all cook properly - so I am told!
Here are one of our barns. We have two barns and lots of Romanian haystacks scattered across our land. Getting the grass ready for Winter. I worked all of today, shifting, turning and collecting in the grass into small piles. Grandmother made them into larger piles. Then they are carefully constructed into haystays. Their beautiful shape, plus a piece of plastic on top seems to keep them dry. My wife, as a child was playing with matches and - yep - you've guessed it - her granny had one less stack in the middle of a very hard winter! She wasn't in anyones good books for a while!
Others use the lake to catch really small fish. It is full of life, including frogs and the occasional snake. We also have to leave the farm to collect fresh water. We sometimes use a well near us, or we go into the valley and fill up as many 5 litre water barrels as our car can carry from a small spring. My ambition to improve life in Romania for the whole family is to dig our own well and so Grandma gets her water directly from her courtyard. It is a dream - but a man must dream! Life in Romania depends a lot on the weather . We lost most of our plum and apple crop in May because of sharp frost. The frost destroyed the new flowers and buds. Recently in Bucharest, there was a storm, which lasted for only a few minutes, but was enough to destroy lots of the trees and flowers in the park. If you look at this link, you will be able to see how the trees changes in colour over the year. There are lots of different Romanian life styles, depending on where in the country you happen to live. Life in Romania can be easy or hard, depending on where you happen to live. I am very lucky, as I have three different homes in Romania. This has let me explore the Romanian country . Come with me, and see the different stunning views of Romania. You can even add your own favourite views of the Romanian countryside. While recently searching the Internet and reading through hundreds of Romanian blogs - this one - I love Romania Blog was especially funny. It is another foreigners amusing take on life in Romania and how to travel around here safely. I would suggest you take a look for more ideas about why people love Romania. If you need more information from another view point, check out Romalien - Community For Tourists / Expats In Romania. It has all the latest news about Romania, along with great articles and suggestions, such as about driving in Romania.
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