August was a slow month. Days past at an unbelievably slow pace. The girls were home full time and with no friends around we had some serious together time. We tried to keep somewhat of a fun, event filled routine but I found myself running out of ideas quickly. We took walks in the park, bike rides in the park and played on the equipment in the park. We baked cakes, cookies and brownies. We had tea parties, built forts and had daily art classes. Although I enjoyed spending time with all my girls, and keeping them busy with playtime and home schooling surely filled my day, I was fighting that lonely feeling. My Canadian ex-pat friends had gone back to Canada. My Indian ex-pat friends had gone back to India. There was no chance of family visiting anytime soon. I was craving adult interaction. God I miss walking out my front door and being able to talk at length, if we wanted to, about anything with adults! Or picking up the phone while I'm washing dishes to chat with a friend and catching up.
So I have been continuing to home school the girls in English and the French tutor has continued to come during the summer. Home schooling continues to be a challenge for me and for my patience. I do fight the feeling to drive my head through a glass window when we are reading the word "this" and Evelyn says "train." I keep trying to tell myself to keep it positive but when Gabrielle prefers to point at words with her toes instead of her pointer finger I find myself grinding me teeth. Deep breaths Alison! Deep breaths.
One weekend we drove deep into the mountains with our friends Doina, Costel, Dave and Sachin to a small village called Sovata.
It took 6 long stomach lurching hours and one flat tire. It is a village known in Romania due to a unique lake called Lacul Ursul. Or Bear Lake. This lake is a geothermic lake. The temperature of the water on the surface is about 80 degrees and as you go down deeper, the temperature acutally rises. It is small, much smaller than Fanshawe Lake and it boasts densly salted water. Trying to dive down in this water is very difficult because of its salinity. I have never quite felt anything like it. It makes you float on the top of the water. 
I was able to swim around holding Ruby in my arms without getting out of breath. It really wasn't hard. Funny enough though, the Romanians and Hungarians that were at the lake the same day we were seemed scared to swim unassisted. The lake is very deep and has no shallow end to ease yourself in. There were people scattered around the lake with rubber tubes around their middle sections, floaties and of course a few weirdos who decided to don water wings.
I was swimming with Evelyn when she spotted a very large woman immersing herself in the water wearing blue water wings with inflatted elephants. Evelyn, as she is a fairly normal child, pointed at her and burst out laughing thinking this woman was joking. I quickly stopped her and reoriented her to reality. Romanians don't seem to be swimmers. With very few in land lakes, no beaches and of course the ever looming possibilty that they might catch a chill, many of them don't appear to have learned to swim. Even still, given this womans sheer size, she would have easily floated in this water like a bobbing buoy. Oh there I go getting mean again! I wish I had the camera with me to document some of the sights I saw that day. I took a number of pictures but I should have taken more. You just wouldn't have believed me.
We stayed at a great guest house near the village. It was a lodge like place with 10 rooms and a large kitchen and eating area. In the morning, everyone would gather downstairs and make their own breakfast with food they have brought with them. Kind of like a B&B but you do the breakie yourself. It was very nice and interesting to see what people were eating. I am such a people watcher! HEHE!
These pictures were taken at our favorite picnic area in the mountains about an hour away from our house. After swimming in that salty lake, my hair was actually crunchy! Hat day for sure!
My lawyer friend, Anna-Maria, redeemed herself bigtime (see Disasterous Day Trip blog) and finally took us to The Water Park in Piatra Neamt. It was a large area that had two large pools. The Olympic sized pool for the adults and circular pool for the kids. This was all set at the base of a lush green mountain which served as a beautiful backdrop. The kids had fun but the water was a bit cold. It gets filled daily with mountain water and appeared not to warm very quickly. It was a great day though for us as a family and also great to be able to chat with another woman. We ended our day with a McDonalds supper and the kids thought they had gone to heaven. It was so nice to see them having such fun!
Saturday was a beautiful day once again with crisp blue skies and brilliant sun. On arrival to the Aqua Club we were slightly apprehensive. The exterior appeared unkempt and drab. I felt very disappointed but I asked David to go in and check it out anyway. My mood changed as I saw him bounding back to the car to tell me it looked a lot better on the inside. That seems to be the Romanian way. They live in ugly apartments from the outside, but when you step in, you realize that they have taken great pride to make it look as nice as they can.
Evelyn was in the pool and on the water slides for a solid 4 hours taking only one nutrition break and one toilet break.
Gabrielle, being a bit more apprehensive about water, stuck close to her Daddy and baby sister but really got into the swing of things about 30 mintues before we left. Of course!
Ruby seemed to enjoy it too, walking around the pool deck with very few clothes, taking in the sights and snacking on the snacks.
In the background, Techno-Trance music thumped loudly making it feel like I had brought my children to a night club with me.
Speedo wearing men bounced around to the beat of the music. What a sight! Then there was this guy who figured he didn't need a proper Speedo, he'd just wear his white underwear. OMG! You could see everything and the only person that seemed to care or even take notice was me. I wanted to take a frontal picture but I didn't have the balls. Pardon the pun.:)
Yes, that's a thong bikini behind her. Evelyn asked me why women bother to wear these bikinis that have no bum. I searched for an answer and could only come up with, "Well they want to let their bum breath but they have to keep their front bits covered." Urgh, what an awful explanation but she was satisfied!
All in all, August ended up being a month to remember with many new experiences. But the best thing was yet to come!
We were supposed to have vacation time in August but David was far too busy to take it. So we did a quick search on the computer for any vacations we might take in September. Boy did we find some deals.
As everyone is back to school, but the weather still nice, September (we are told) is a great time to vacation and discover Europe. But David was looking for something different. He was looking for a relaxing vacation. A resort. A destination. Something we have never done together. Whenever we have gone away, we are always touring, discovering and working. This time, he wanted to find somewhere to relax on a beach and do nothing. His mind and his body are tired and he was craving more than 2 days of rest.
He looked on the Club Med site and I told him to get real! Club Med for 5 of us would be a fortune. Although we are living with fewer bills than we had in Canada, we are also only on one salary. They have pretty much balanced eachother out. He ignored me and continued his search.
He found our dream vacation! Seven days and 7 nights at Club Med Napita Italy (southern tip on the med side) for all 5 of us with a childrens program keeping all 3 kids busy with play time activities and giving us much needed alone time. I have always wanted to do an Ultra Insclusive! I have never done anything like that before and this would be a hell of a way to start! But I knew it would be way too much. Or maybe not! It was going to cost 1400 euros for all of us! I couldn't believe it. All we had to do was to find our own way to Rome and the rest was included. What a great opportunity to see Rome, we figured. So we researched, clicked and called around to many different places. I don't part with this amount of money easily so I had to make sure all my T's were crossed so to speak.
Italy is a place where over 2 million Romanians reside 10 months out of the year to work and earn more money than they would here in Romania. So there are tons of flights to all of Italy's major cities daily from the discount airlines here. We booked 5 return tickets to Rome for 500 euros total. That's approx $750 for all of us. I can't even get us to Montreal from London for that cheap. Given that we will be landing in Rome, we decided it would be in our best interest to see Rome while we were there.
So we are going to fly to Rome, spend 2 nights and 3 days visiting the city and all of it's beauty. We will then get back on a plane and fly south to enjoy 7 days at Club Med Napita. I can't even believe it as I am typing it into the computer. This certainly will give us both something to look forward to. By the time we get back from Italy, it will be October, I'll be busy with my schooling as well as the children. David will be busy working in 2 cities for 2 plants and before you know it... we'll be home for Christmas!!
YAY!
Kisses to everyone!
Alison xxxxx
David has started a new position here in Romania which is a good move for his career but has given him more work in less time. He is working extra hard which means extra hours. I am very proud of his accomplishment though and support his new position. It just leaves us, at home, longer in the day and really looking forward to the weekends. He is now doing his dream job of reinventing plants, rebuilding systems and trying to make them better. He feels so good about what he is doing at work which is apparent as soon as you ask him about his day. He, in August, probably worked on average 11 hours a day and did another hour or 2 during the week after the girls had gone to bed. If feel a bit sorry for him because as soon as he walks in the door I greet him and expect him to rhyme off his day to me when I'm sure he just wants to sit and relax. I can't help it really. He's the only adult I get to talk to really. So if he doesn't engage me with conversation I find myself pestering him. "So anything new?" "Are the big bosses coming soon?" "What should we do this weekend?" Not to mention the girls who welcome a new face in their world and clammer to tell him about our day.
He has to gather any left over energy and even fake it a bit to engage the children in the evening. They love it when he reads them a bedtime story but these days he risks falling fast asleep on their bed waiting for them.
He has to gather any left over energy and even fake it a bit to engage the children in the evening. They love it when he reads them a bedtime story but these days he risks falling fast asleep on their bed waiting for them.So I have been continuing to home school the girls in English and the French tutor has continued to come during the summer. Home schooling continues to be a challenge for me and for my patience. I do fight the feeling to drive my head through a glass window when we are reading the word "this" and Evelyn says "train." I keep trying to tell myself to keep it positive but when Gabrielle prefers to point at words with her toes instead of her pointer finger I find myself grinding me teeth. Deep breaths Alison! Deep breaths.
August has however brought us many good things. I have employed a woman to help me with house cleaning. YAY! Any of you who know me well know that I love a very clean and tidy house and well, home schooling children and being their source of entertainment leaves me very little time to keep the house acceptable. This, therefore, stresses me out and I find myself barking at the kids and stopping them from playing with certain things because "it might make a mess." I pleaded with David a while ago.
"Schools have janitors! They sweep up the eraser shavings, small cut up papers, wash the glue from the tables, and they even clean the bathrooms that are used all day long." (You wouldn't believe how much toilet paper I'm going through with the 2 girls being home so much) He agreed that having help around the house would benefit everyone. The only problem was finding someone to do it who could speak a bit of English, and you could trust to not rob you blind as soon as you were gone. I must have been tuned in to the universal consciousness or using "The Secret" or something because in our mail box came a hand written letter, in English, ask us if we would need a house keeper. This woman wrote in her letter that she worked for a security company that works at the plant that David works at. She had heard about us, and of our 3 children and wondered if we might need her services. She stated she is doing night school to get her law degree and is needing the extra money. Perfect! A fluently English speaking woman who is dedicated to safety and security and going to law school. HELLO! She started right away. Two days a week after she gets off work. This will be a heaven sent gift when I start school in September.
I also found a care giver for Ruby. As I am starting my degree in September, I thought if I could devote a few hours to studying everday, in peace and quiet, that I should be able to succeed with school and continue on with home schooling the girls and the rest of the womans work I do. I asked my friend Anna-Maria (the lawyer) if she new anyone that could help. She had to be able to speak a bit of English or French and be available to come every morning while the big girls would be in their half day program. Anna-Maria asked the Catholic Nuns who live across from her house in a beautiful crisp white convent decorated with colourful flowers. They took it upon themselves to help me out. They sent me a young woman, 23, who has a baby girl (5 months). She is married to a young man who works for the Romanian Army full-time and they all live with her parents and her adult twin brothers in a small 3 bedroom apartment. She came to meet us one day and I was surprised by her level of English. She had apparently won English awards in high school but hasn't done much with it since. I asked her how much she would be expecting to be paid per hour and she couldn't answer. Romanians are paid monthly. Not by the day and not by the hour. This comes from the communist days when they would be paid by the govenment monthly. Unfortunately, now that the communism is gone, they are being asked to work more and more hours but still be paid a flat monthly wage. I was told that her husband, given that he is a medic in the Army, would earn one of the highest salaries in Romania. He gets 1200 Lei per month. That is exactly $444.44 per month. This is $5333 per year!
I am also told that a woman who is typically caring for 2 children, 5 days per week for at least 10 hours per day earns 700 Lei per month. $260 per month! I paid $420 per month for one child in PART TIME daycare!
I would never exploit this young woman! I told David that we should pay her enough that she would want very much to be here everyday and that she would be good to Ruby. He agreed. When I told her what we would be paying her, I saw her eyes widen. She looked pleased. I felt good that we could help her family while she would help ours.
I live for weekends. We all do. More now than ever before! It is a time when we have 100% family time. We don't have to worry about pulling the weeds in the garden and getting ready for winter. We don't have to finish basements or build new stairs or install flooring. This isn't our house so our time is our time! Although the weeks are extremely slow and lonely, the weekends in August were maximized to their fullest.
One weekend we drove deep into the mountains with our friends Doina, Costel, Dave and Sachin to a small village called Sovata.
It took 6 long stomach lurching hours and one flat tire. It is a village known in Romania due to a unique lake called Lacul Ursul. Or Bear Lake. This lake is a geothermic lake. The temperature of the water on the surface is about 80 degrees and as you go down deeper, the temperature acutally rises. It is small, much smaller than Fanshawe Lake and it boasts densly salted water. Trying to dive down in this water is very difficult because of its salinity. I have never quite felt anything like it. It makes you float on the top of the water. 
I was able to swim around holding Ruby in my arms without getting out of breath. It really wasn't hard. Funny enough though, the Romanians and Hungarians that were at the lake the same day we were seemed scared to swim unassisted. The lake is very deep and has no shallow end to ease yourself in. There were people scattered around the lake with rubber tubes around their middle sections, floaties and of course a few weirdos who decided to don water wings.
I was swimming with Evelyn when she spotted a very large woman immersing herself in the water wearing blue water wings with inflatted elephants. Evelyn, as she is a fairly normal child, pointed at her and burst out laughing thinking this woman was joking. I quickly stopped her and reoriented her to reality. Romanians don't seem to be swimmers. With very few in land lakes, no beaches and of course the ever looming possibilty that they might catch a chill, many of them don't appear to have learned to swim. Even still, given this womans sheer size, she would have easily floated in this water like a bobbing buoy. Oh there I go getting mean again! I wish I had the camera with me to document some of the sights I saw that day. I took a number of pictures but I should have taken more. You just wouldn't have believed me.This lake is said to have healing powers for many different ailments. Gynecological and Fertility problems being the top ones. Apparently the lake is visited by thousands of couples per year who are trying to procreate. I sure wish I new that before we stayed overnight. I would have brought my own sheets!!!
We stayed at a great guest house near the village. It was a lodge like place with 10 rooms and a large kitchen and eating area. In the morning, everyone would gather downstairs and make their own breakfast with food they have brought with them. Kind of like a B&B but you do the breakie yourself. It was very nice and interesting to see what people were eating. I am such a people watcher! HEHE! The drive home was beautiful and picturesque.
Every once in a while it hits me. I am living in Romania! I am living in Eastern Europe! So cool!
I know I seem a bit bipolar on this issue. I know that sometimes it sounds like I hate it. That I hate Romania and all its contents but that couldn't be farther from the truth. I support David 100% and have from day one. We both knew from the outset that this was not going to be easy and that our lives and relationship would be tested. Tests that are only conquered through communication and understanding. We are tested here but we are proving day after day, week after week that together we will make it through this work term and move on to more adventures in the future as a strong partnership and family. I don't hate Romania. I hate some of the things that happen here. I think some of sights are funny, some of the traditions are odd and some of the people a bit strange. But for the most part, I am enjoying being able to see all those crzy zany things first hand. Lets face it, if David would have been transfered to the middle east somewhere, I would have ended up beheaded due to my views and lack of filter in communicating my views. This is my blog. A place where I can write out how I am feeling that week or that month. At times I will have a negative spin on it but it does not mean that my commitment to David nor to his position here is thinned in anyway. I do fight the feeling at times that I want to escape. The culture shock had been difficult. So I write it out in my blog. Then I regroup, talk myself through it, talk to David about it and move on. That's it! I feel tremendously lucky to be experiencing all that we are. If anything, living in Romania has shown me how truly blessed and lucky I am. Or how lucky we (Canadians) all are for that matter. We have it so easy compared to so many other people in the world. People that I have come to know don't have enough money to travel out of their own country let alone another continent! I am blessed. I know that and thank god for it everyday.
Every once in a while it hits me. I am living in Romania! I am living in Eastern Europe! So cool!
I know I seem a bit bipolar on this issue. I know that sometimes it sounds like I hate it. That I hate Romania and all its contents but that couldn't be farther from the truth. I support David 100% and have from day one. We both knew from the outset that this was not going to be easy and that our lives and relationship would be tested. Tests that are only conquered through communication and understanding. We are tested here but we are proving day after day, week after week that together we will make it through this work term and move on to more adventures in the future as a strong partnership and family. I don't hate Romania. I hate some of the things that happen here. I think some of sights are funny, some of the traditions are odd and some of the people a bit strange. But for the most part, I am enjoying being able to see all those crzy zany things first hand. Lets face it, if David would have been transfered to the middle east somewhere, I would have ended up beheaded due to my views and lack of filter in communicating my views. This is my blog. A place where I can write out how I am feeling that week or that month. At times I will have a negative spin on it but it does not mean that my commitment to David nor to his position here is thinned in anyway. I do fight the feeling at times that I want to escape. The culture shock had been difficult. So I write it out in my blog. Then I regroup, talk myself through it, talk to David about it and move on. That's it! I feel tremendously lucky to be experiencing all that we are. If anything, living in Romania has shown me how truly blessed and lucky I am. Or how lucky we (Canadians) all are for that matter. We have it so easy compared to so many other people in the world. People that I have come to know don't have enough money to travel out of their own country let alone another continent! I am blessed. I know that and thank god for it everyday.
These pictures were taken at our favorite picnic area in the mountains about an hour away from our house. After swimming in that salty lake, my hair was actually crunchy! Hat day for sure!My lawyer friend, Anna-Maria, redeemed herself bigtime (see Disasterous Day Trip blog) and finally took us to The Water Park in Piatra Neamt. It was a large area that had two large pools. The Olympic sized pool for the adults and circular pool for the kids. This was all set at the base of a lush green mountain which served as a beautiful backdrop. The kids had fun but the water was a bit cold. It gets filled daily with mountain water and appeared not to warm very quickly. It was a great day though for us as a family and also great to be able to chat with another woman. We ended our day with a McDonalds supper and the kids thought they had gone to heaven. It was so nice to see them having such fun!
The following week, David surprised us one day by coming home at 5 pm. He took us to a bigger town called Bacau (about 35 mintues away) and we went out for supper. To PIZZA HUT! I couldn't believe it! They have a Pizza Hut in the mall! Too cool! It was there that David picked up a flyer to brouse through and we noticed an advertisment for The Aqua Club. Translating it as best as I could, given that it is often very similar to french, I read that this place had 5 pools and 7 toboggans. This, I presumed, meant water slides. We were really excited! So we made a plan to try out this water park in Bacau on Saturday.
We don't seem to have to worry much about planning around weather as there seems to be very little rain and a whole lot of heat. Sorry Canadian friends! I know your summer has not been the greatest in terms of weather. That is one thing this country has going for it. Great weather!
Saturday was a beautiful day once again with crisp blue skies and brilliant sun. On arrival to the Aqua Club we were slightly apprehensive. The exterior appeared unkempt and drab. I felt very disappointed but I asked David to go in and check it out anyway. My mood changed as I saw him bounding back to the car to tell me it looked a lot better on the inside. That seems to be the Romanian way. They live in ugly apartments from the outside, but when you step in, you realize that they have taken great pride to make it look as nice as they can.
The Aqua Club turned out to be a huge surprise. It had 5 very new and nice pools of varying sizes. The pool the kids were drawn to immediately had 7 colourful slides at the poolside providing small children a lot of fairly safe fun. The pools that caught my eye were the adult pools that were lined with topless, G-string wearing women. In the pool, were couples, kissing, groping and essentially devouring each other with the hottest unbrideled passion. What? That wouldn't catch your eye too??!! I don't blame them I suppose. They probably live with their parents! So we decided to get as far away from those pools as we could and set up next to the kids area.
Evelyn was in the pool and on the water slides for a solid 4 hours taking only one nutrition break and one toilet break.
Gabrielle, being a bit more apprehensive about water, stuck close to her Daddy and baby sister but really got into the swing of things about 30 mintues before we left. Of course!
Ruby seemed to enjoy it too, walking around the pool deck with very few clothes, taking in the sights and snacking on the snacks.
In the background, Techno-Trance music thumped loudly making it feel like I had brought my children to a night club with me.
Speedo wearing men bounced around to the beat of the music. What a sight! Then there was this guy who figured he didn't need a proper Speedo, he'd just wear his white underwear. OMG! You could see everything and the only person that seemed to care or even take notice was me. I wanted to take a frontal picture but I didn't have the balls. Pardon the pun.:)
Yes, that's a thong bikini behind her. Evelyn asked me why women bother to wear these bikinis that have no bum. I searched for an answer and could only come up with, "Well they want to let their bum breath but they have to keep their front bits covered." Urgh, what an awful explanation but she was satisfied!
All in all, August ended up being a month to remember with many new experiences. But the best thing was yet to come!We were supposed to have vacation time in August but David was far too busy to take it. So we did a quick search on the computer for any vacations we might take in September. Boy did we find some deals.
As everyone is back to school, but the weather still nice, September (we are told) is a great time to vacation and discover Europe. But David was looking for something different. He was looking for a relaxing vacation. A resort. A destination. Something we have never done together. Whenever we have gone away, we are always touring, discovering and working. This time, he wanted to find somewhere to relax on a beach and do nothing. His mind and his body are tired and he was craving more than 2 days of rest.
He looked on the Club Med site and I told him to get real! Club Med for 5 of us would be a fortune. Although we are living with fewer bills than we had in Canada, we are also only on one salary. They have pretty much balanced eachother out. He ignored me and continued his search.
He found our dream vacation! Seven days and 7 nights at Club Med Napita Italy (southern tip on the med side) for all 5 of us with a childrens program keeping all 3 kids busy with play time activities and giving us much needed alone time. I have always wanted to do an Ultra Insclusive! I have never done anything like that before and this would be a hell of a way to start! But I knew it would be way too much. Or maybe not! It was going to cost 1400 euros for all of us! I couldn't believe it. All we had to do was to find our own way to Rome and the rest was included. What a great opportunity to see Rome, we figured. So we researched, clicked and called around to many different places. I don't part with this amount of money easily so I had to make sure all my T's were crossed so to speak.
Italy is a place where over 2 million Romanians reside 10 months out of the year to work and earn more money than they would here in Romania. So there are tons of flights to all of Italy's major cities daily from the discount airlines here. We booked 5 return tickets to Rome for 500 euros total. That's approx $750 for all of us. I can't even get us to Montreal from London for that cheap. Given that we will be landing in Rome, we decided it would be in our best interest to see Rome while we were there.
So we are going to fly to Rome, spend 2 nights and 3 days visiting the city and all of it's beauty. We will then get back on a plane and fly south to enjoy 7 days at Club Med Napita. I can't even believe it as I am typing it into the computer. This certainly will give us both something to look forward to. By the time we get back from Italy, it will be October, I'll be busy with my schooling as well as the children. David will be busy working in 2 cities for 2 plants and before you know it... we'll be home for Christmas!!
YAY!
Kisses to everyone!
Alison xxxxx
