It's been 2.5 weeks here in Galati, Romania and all is well. (Pronounced Galatz) I cannot begin to describe the differences between the two Romanian experiences. I will do my best. I live in a 3 bedroom apartment which I was really dreading to be honest. Our little house in Roman was cute but the best thing was the yard. The kids could roam around safely (it was fully gated) and I could clean up, make supper or just sit and watch them. To my surprise, this apartment living has been quite nice. All of the residents are employees and their families so we all have one big thing in common. We are foreigners. So we immediately accept each other and form this automatic bond. The families have children which has been another big bonus. My kids have been able to play with kids their age now from the moment we got here. Rashi and Bumi are the same ages of Evelyn and Gabrielle and are very energetic and playful. They call me Auntie which is an Indian thing. That's what they call all female adults out of respect. I find it sweet. Gabriel is Ruby's age and is our lone Belgian child. Ruby and Gabriel have an adorable connection that was almost immediate. Normally a 2 and 3 year old would fight like cats and dogs but not these two. I think it's puppy love! With their children come mommies and some great friendships for me. Gabriel's mom is Daniella, a native Amazonian from Brazil who is a fabulous cook and has taught me a thing or two already. She has been in Galati since January 2009 with her Belgian husband and has given me all kinds of tips to survive as an ex-pat in Galati. That has been so helpful. If I would have had just that in Roman, I think my experience would have been so much more positive. Rashi and Bumi's mom is Rutcha who is also a wonderful vegetarian cook. We often get a knock at the door when we are getting ready to sit down for supper and its Rutcha who has sent us some delicious Indian dishes she has freshly prepared. There are also a number of childless wives that live in the building with their husbands who have also been very welcoming. Rushani who is Indian but from Zurich, Switzerland has given me the low down on who to call for waxing, nails, hair and spa treatments. (Orange hair might be avoided! No more hair disasters!!) She is adorable and funny and sweet. The building is host to a number of French and Belgian men and women who live here for 10 days and go home for 4. They are nice to speak to also as I get to practise my french regularly. The apartment is surrounded by a gate and is guarded by a security guard 24 hours a day. So when David is away on business, I am not sitting awake at home worried about who might try to break in. I feel safe and protected. The kids can play in the front of the building or at the back and will not be allowed out by security without an adult. Fan-frickin-tastic!! The apartment comes with daily housekeeping (except Sundays) who is Veronika. She comes at 1030 every morning and makes beds, laundry, ironing, cleaning, vacuuming or whatever needs to be done. I prefer to do my own laundry however as I am a stain fighting maniac and doubt anyone else would share my disorder. But seriously now, everyday? I have the cleanest toilet I have ever had! This service cost us about $45 a month. Yes that's right, per month. We could all have the same thing in Canada BUT we would have to pay $10 per hour and that would count me out immediately. Unemployment would go way down and if you were motivated to work all day long cleaning houses, you could put food on the table and live a happy life. Upstairs on the top floor is a full service restaurant for the residents of the apartment. They have been trained how to make fresh, real curry's, roti, dhal, basmati rice, and of course all the other Romanian type foods. The restaurant is there for the employees and the families to access if they choose. It is not a money making venture. The cost is only for the product and the staff is paid by the company. I made a pasta dish for the girls the other night but David and I wanted to try some curry so I ordered a full chicken curry meal. Only 45 minutes later a woman delivered to our apartment a big bowl of chicken curry, rice, roti, dhal, curried veggies and samosas and it cost me $9 dollars!!!! Who wants to cook when you can have that kind of service??!! Beside the apartment is a Sports center and 6 clay tennis courts
The girls take tennis lessons daily for 1 hour a day. They have already gained a lot of skill. Evelyn's back hand is unbelievable and my little Gabrielle is actually getting the ball over the net now! It's not the Greenhills Country CLub but HEY this IS Romania! The coach speaks just enough English to communicate so the girls are happy and motivated to go. And Ruby sits in the stands and heckles her sisters the whole time. Bloody hilarious! The apartment sits right on the Danube and the scenary is beautiful. No horse and buggy's here or at least not in this part of the town. The only complaint is that we have to go down about 80 steep steps to get to the waking path and there is no other way down. I had great plans of going down with the stroller, my blades and the girls bikes but that is impossible without David. We do go down for walks though on sunny days and throw stones in the river. The other day on our walk we saw an older man undress to his underwear, get into the river, sit down, pull the elastic of his undies out and start to aggressivly wash his crotch whilst everyone walked by. I thought no one would believe me so when I got to a good distance that I knew I could out run him, I took a picture. Oh ya baby, no one escapes me! I have the need to document ALL of my experiences. Good, bad and UGLY!!! We live about a 15 minute walk to a large childrens park which has the usual swings, slides and climbers but this park also boasts 4 trampolines, bumper cars, a carnival ride and on weekends they have a large inflatable slide. Of course none of these are free. My kids love the tramps and that costs about $1.75 for 5 minutes of jumping. We go once a week so far and have a lot of laughs. I live 5 mintues away from a small market where I can get all my fresh veggies and fruits for very reasonable prices. This market is close enough that we can all walk and therefore I don't get stared at quite so much by not having my enormous Chariot to get the kids around. So really, I have no complaints about apartment living here in Romania. It is very nicely organized and set up for all of us. It has been completly different than living in Roman and of course I knew it would be. We went from a town with a population of 30,000 to a city with a population of 300,000! David's new plant employs 9000 people alone! and stretches 3500 acres! It is an absolute monster in the sky line when you are approaching the city. We are at the mouth of the Delta Danube which is a bird watchers paradise. I'm told thousands of people come from all over the world, every year, to witness thousands of species of birds migrate through the Delta. Long and short is that we are all enjoying ourselves very much so far and look forward to the whole summer as opposed to being sad and depressed about being far from home. Next week, we leave to visit David's parents in Izmir, Turkey for 2 weeks. Hopefully, volcanic ash will not be a problem. I'll post again soon, Alison xx
