LITTLE MORE THAN A YEAR

January 1997

Everyone in America said we were crazy.So did the Romanians. Why on earth would you CHOOSE such a difficult country to live in? There are times when we ask ourselves the same thing like when our car was broken into, or when we couldn't find milk for three weeks. We are a middle-aged, American couple living in Targu Mures. As we were watching the overthrow of communism on television in Kansas City in 1989, we decided to move to an Eastern European country to be close-up observers and participants in the changes. In 1991, we came here with a group and also split off for independent travel, too. That clinched it--Romania was the right country. It's really lucky that we both felt so strongly about the decision to come. It took us four years to sell our business, but we led six tour groups to Romania while we were waiting. We feel there's something special here--we feel more alive. We have some good Romanian friends now. Our life experiences have been different, but as we get closer, we find we want the same things. It's really funny that most people here think they can learn from us about democracy and capitalism, but we feel we are the real winners because we are learning about true friendship, family togetherness and living close to the land.

We originally thought we would get settled and then spend time sight-seeing. Instead, we stayed home, putting down roots, learning more about the real Romania than we would have seeing monuments, castles, and museums. We live in a section of town with bloc apartments, nearby shopping and two schools. Lots of humanity. Ed spends most of his time redoing a 100+ year old house, two really, in a nearby village, where we hope to move some day. Carolyn teaches English through a program she started at the Unitarian Church. We struggle with the two languages--Romanian, as we deal with the bureaucracy and shopping, and Hungarian in "our" little village. We have gained additional communication opportunities because we now have a three month old puppy (in addition to our two cats) and meet other dog owners in the neighborhood.

So, we've been here a little more than a year. Our "American eyes" often see things quite differently than Romanians, Hungarians and other Europeans. This is often a benefit, sometimes a curse, and, thankfully, only rarely an indication of naiveté. A clothesline over the bathtub, punga lapte, and pot-hole dodging as a national sport all seem perfectly normal now. We know we're living in Romania because we take plastic bags when we go shopping.