Welcome to my Romanian home. David and I have always wanted to live in Old North and now we do. Only it's in Roman, Romania. We have a cute old home, made entirely of concrete and painted white. The concrete makes the house very sound proof which is great in one sense and not great in others. Great is you want to watch a late night movie or have a party but not great when you're trying to call everyone for dinner and no one can hear you. That or they ignore you!
It's a lovely place really and we feel very lucky we got it. A small patch of grass to the east of the house and marble driveway leading to marble tile terrace at the back. The thing we most love is the grapevine ceiling above our outdoor eating area. It feels very much like we are in a movie sitting under those grapevines. With the breeze blowing through the leaves, they sway slightly and shift the sunlight that peaks through on your face. It would be such a romantic scene if we were in Italy with a glass of red wine and eating fresh brushetta. Instead I'm running after Ruby who wants so badly to walk will wipe out so quickly and smack her head on the marble tile. VERY unforgiving is that stuff! Instead I am in Romania. Instead I am my childrens entertainment. Life was so easy back in Canada. This time of year and especially in the summer, the big girls would be outside at 10:30 playing with their friends on the circle. I would force them in for breakfast at 12:30 athen they would be out all day again. In the backyard, Ann's backyard, the circle the driveways etc.... I would reel them in again for a quick supper and they would play outside again until dusk. It was non-stop fun for them and it was easy for me. Empty house, loads of free time, I could sit outside and watch the kids play for hours with not a care. Talk to my friends in the hood, plan a party. SIGH! Not so here. The kids aren't aloud to play outside of the gates for safety and even if they were there are no children around to play with. It's all up to me to keep them from beating eachother up out of boredom. I must say that for the most part they play very well together but there are far more arguments now that they have no one else around. I'm a bit afraid of the winter time when they can't even get outside. These 4 walls will very likely be closing in and fast. Can't wait to be back at Christmas. Can't wait.
Anyway, back to the house. Behind the white fence in the backyard are our new neighbours who are loud and constantly going at eachother. They are Rocky the rooster and Holly the hen. Rocky gets going around 4 am every single day and doesn't stop till the sun goes down. I am not joking! He's my alarm but he is also my Romanian guard dog. He tells me when the kids have gone in the backyard by cockle-doodle-dooing slightly crazier than usual. He does the same when David drives in after work. Funny, this is the closest I've ever lived to a downtown (5 minute walk) but it's the first time I've ever lived beside farm animals.
We had some of our ex-pat. friends over last weekend for a Long Island Ice Tea party. We had just spent the whole day with our friend Sachin and his family who are from Banglor, India and here also on contract. We had, all together, prepared an authentic Indian supper under the close supervision of Sachin's wife, which took all afternoon. It was a fantastic meal. I now know how to make a curry from scratch along with the vegetable rice and fresh rotiis. We were comfortably full of food and ready to enjoy some night bevies on the back terrace.
Sachin is the funniest guy I've known for a long time but I think what makes everything he says so hilarious is the thick Indian accent he poses. He has been here over 1.5 years and had picked up a lot of Romanian so sometimes will mix all the languages making it hard to understand him at times.
We were all listening to Rocky next door, who we believe was trying to have a night cap with Holly. Holly wasn't buying what he was selling lets just say. Sachin turns to me and says in a very honest and sweet way,
"How do you like your Romanian coq?"
There was silence for a minute as David and I exchanged quick looks. I could tell we were thinking the same thing. Do we laugh our asses off or do we tell him that in english it is a rooster, not a coq. Then David opened the door,
"And I said, PARDON! Snap I loose it!" in a deep burly voice like the champ.
The laughter charged out of me so hard I was wheezing like a 20 year smoker. Sachin loved that we were amused but it was clear he wasn't entirely sure why.
"Yes, " I said trying to gain composure. "I love my Romanian coq," loosing control of my laughter and loosing my breath.
"She wakes up to Romanian coq every morning," David managed to force out as he wiped tears from his eyes.
"She can't get enough of her Romanian coq," added Dave, another ex-pat who had joined us and was equally amused.
It took us a few minutes to compose ourselves then we let Sachin in on the joke. Like the good sport that he is he laughed along with us.
Mike Lindsey, Joe McDonald and Audrey Wharton would have had a field day with that one. It reminded me of the time a patient came in with a penile/scrotal injury and was triaged by Mike and Joe. The conversation went something like this,
"Your doctor today will be Dr. Ball... The wait will be long and hard but there's no need to get teste! ...this cuff is just going to get a bit firm" and on and on. The funniest part was the patient was giggling more than anyone else! I do miss them and everyone else at work!
Anyway, like I said a few emails ago, it is a 2 bedroom house so all of the girls are in one room. Thank god for white noise machines. So far it seems to be working out okay. The big girls go to bed first then I bath Ruby and give her bottle then put her to bed. Luckily once they are asleep, they are really out so Ruby's midnight wakenings don't bother them much.
Our kitchen is a fair size and easy to get around even if the washer and dryer are in there. It can make for a loud room though at times. Dryer running, washer going, washing dishes at the same time as cooking supper and three girls running around my legs. You get the picture! The oven is small so it's a good thing I'm coming home for Christmas cause I'm not sure how I'd cook a turkey in there. My large cookie trays don't even fit. Have to bake on the Pampered Chef stone.
We have a large dining room which is all white like the rest of the house but this room has a seafoam green border with inset fluorecent lighting. You would have enough light to do the most delicate surgery on my dining room table. Unfortunely it also means you can see every speck of dirt on my white marble floor. Sigh!
In the front of our house is our living room which is nice comfortable room with laminate flooring and 2 large windows. This is the place the children play the most when inside and therefore the place that gets the most tossed up. We took the armoir that was in our room in London and put it in here to store (hide) some toys.
Keeping busy here in Roman! The girls go to a private kindergarten every morning until 12:30 and then have tutoring from 3:00 - 5:30 pm with our French speaking tutor. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays I go to the company gym that no one else uses and meet up with some other ex-pat family members. They are Brittany, (CEO's daughter, 21), Payal (Sachin's wife) and Sacket (Sachin's son ,14). Together we have formed a training group. Brittany is a black belt and trains us in self defense. Payal is a Yoga instructor and trains us in Yoga, body contortion and head standing. So far I have not been able to stand on my head. Bit scared of breaking my neck. Nothing big! Sacket is a Tae Kwon Do genius with springs built into his legs and takes us through his physical training he does in his classes. I fight the urge to vomit during these sessions in particular. We hop like frogs across 2 rooms then creep on all fours (feet and hands) like spiders then run on all fours like monkeys. OH GOD HELP ME! I could barely walk after the first time.What do I bring to the group you ask? Cause I know your asking Ann! I think I bring an example of what you never want to do to your body. If nothing else, comic relief. It must be some kind of hilarious and ridiculous watching me try to get through some of these kicks and exercises we do. Often I'm too focused on bladder contol to get the moves anywhere close to where they want to be. GO KEGELS! Good thing I have a cheerleading background. I can kick almost as high as they can but every once in a while will let a GO BRONCOS or SACK THAT QUARTERBACK cheer out. They look at me a bit strange. I guess there are no cheerleaders in Cricket are there?! They think I'm crazy....
Missing everyone so much.
Until next time, keep it and have fun ;)
Alison
I am following your story with great interest. Your naughty comments highlight my day. I think your house looks very nice and I love the pictures of the girls. It will be good to see them growing up.
ReplyDeleteIt was great to see you all. Love Auntie Marj.