Big House

This is the second in the series of my life in Romania.

I wanted to tell you a little about the house where I live. The best part about the house where I live is the people who live here, so it's hard to separate the two, but I will write about them next. I will focus on what the place looks like so you can get a feel for one Romanian house...I say that because all the houses are different. There are no "cookie cutter" homes here!

The house I live in is fairly large by Romanian standards, although I have seen apartments as big as our house as well as many other homes that dwarf this one! This house is actually two houses connected, yet separate. I have not toured the other house yet, although I have seen parts of it. It's not a side-by-side duplex kind of combination...the houses actually overlap pieces and parts of each other. For example, we have a bottom floor living room and theirs is above ours. The houses connect through a hallway into the basement of our house...like a secret passageway. We can go downstairs to the basement, through a couple of rooms and out into the hallway that leads to the other house. It's actually kind of cool...and handy if you are locked out for some reason.

The bottom floor contains the kitchen, a small pantry, a "formal living room", a bathroom that contains a tub that we can't use because the water doesn't drain well, and a large room that doubles as a family room and dining room (and a Sunday School room on Sundays). The living room and kitchen are grand central station most days. We almost always have people dropping by, no matter what time of night or day...so we make sure there is always coffee and some sort of snack for our guests.




The second floor has an opening in the center so the ceiling is two stories high in the living room. You can look up and talk to people leaning over the railing of the second floor. You can also toss down (or up) some needed item from the other floor...pretty handy! The second floor has the main bathroom...we all shower or bathe in this bathroom...that means there are 11 of us sharing the same tub!! Somehow it hasn't been much of a problem, which is a miracle! The second floor also contains three bedrooms and the entrance to a small balcony.

The third floor has been re-named as the girl's floor. There is one main big room with two bedrooms on either side. There are 5 of us who sleep in these rooms, so it's like a dormitory...or one big slumber party all the time! Fortunately the wireless internet connection works fairly well on this floor, so we can email or blog or whatever whenever we want.

The house also has a multi-roomed basement. It's where the two washing machines are kept along with miscellaneous tools and storage items. Unfortunately, the basement is uninhabitable due to the mold. Apparently, the builders cut corners when building the house and put the drainage system on the inside of the basement walls instead of outside. That means it is always damp and cold down there. Fixing the drainage system is on the list of items we'd like to do "someday", but the leak in the roof is a higher priority at the moment.

There is no central air or heat in Romanian homes...ours is no exception. This home uses a hotwater radiator system for heat. I've seen others that use wood burning stoves in each room. We rely on fans and currents from open windows for cooling when it's hot. Fortunately, the summer heat is not as extreme as it is in Boise. We had a pleasant summer, with only a few weeks of high temperatures. I'm told we will need our fans in the winter though because it gets so hot on the third floor. It will be interesting for me since I'm used to a cooler house in the winter (just ask my roommate Lani!). From what I hear, I'll be wearing shorts when I'm inside! Should be an interesting experience!

I hope this gives you a better idea of where I live. It's hard to know what to tell you, so if you have questions or want to see more pictures of anything in particular, just leave a comment and I'll add more info.

The Street Where I Live

I thought it would be fun to start a series describing a little more about where I live and what we do. I'm starting with the street where I live because I have pictures I can share with you. I'll also share with you the city where I live, the house where I live and the people I live with. I hope it helps you get a better feel for what my life is like here in Bistrita.

The street where I live is called Ion Vidu. The Romanian word for street is Strada...so when we take a taxi home we tell them to take us to Strada Ion Vidu. The streets are extremely narrow and the houses are very close together. Each house is unique...you won't find two that look the same although there may be aspects of one on another. One of the features of the homes that stands out the most to me is the color. Although there are plenty of white houses (ours for one)...most are brightly colored. I'm talking bright yellow, red, pink, tangerine, etc. It's pretty wild! I wonder if it's because everything was uniform (and concrete) under the communist rule and now the Romanians feel the need to express themselves. It's only my theory but after seeing rows and rows of "concrete condos" in Bistrita and Bucharest, I know I would want some color in my life if it were me painting the house!



There is a lot of action on our street. Kids running and playing at any time of the day and evening, people walking to work or to town, ladies sweeping the front stoop, etc. I've noticed that most of our neighbors stand outside their door each evening between 5-7PM and talk to each other. I know this because every time I leave for the corner store (which is literally just around the corner) to buy bread or eggs or milk or whatever, I pass them. I love greeting them...Bona Seara (Good Evening)! They smile back at me and greet me as well. Sometimes they ask me things that I don't understand. If I happen to be going with a Romanian, I learn they are asking me where I'm going or how I'm doing.

It's been fun getting to know the neighbors. It will most likely be no surprise that I know almost every kid's name on my street! They love running up to me and waving and saying hello. Most of them practice the few English words they know and I say the few Romanian ones I know. We usually just laugh at each other and hug each other. I love it!! I've also met a couple of other folks and hope to continue getting to know more. The three that stand out the most are Vale, Meta, and Virginia. Vale's son was hit by a car last year and he is paralyzed from the neck down. I see Vale almost every day pushing his son in his wheelchair...sometimes he looks good, but most of the time he looks sad and tired. I had a chance to speak with him quite at length the other day at the corner store. He actually speaks English well enough to carry on a decent conversation. He shared the story of his son Paul and explained that Paul was going to med school before he had the accident. Paul is an intelligent young man who still has full use of his mental capacities, but is completely unable to do anything else. He can't even speak. He does communicate with his eyes though and because he knows some English, I was able to speak with him for a while. I'm hoping that we'll be able to visit him more. I can tell that Vale could really use the encouragement and I'm sure Paul would appreciate the conversation.

Another noteworthy person on my street is Meta. She is 92 and she sits by her window almost all day. She converses with every person who goes by and there are almost always 2-3 people standing at her window talking to her. She is very sweet and friendly and quite proud of being 92! I only wish I could understand her better. I'm sure we would have some great conversations!

The final woman whom I've met is Virginia. She is 77 and can't get out much due to advanced osteoperosis, however she loves company! She will prepare snacks and have us over for a visit as often as we want...and still wish it were more often. She was a teacher and is currently a poet and a painter. She is an amazing woman who knows several languages and is eager to learn English better. She wants to help us with our Romanian and in turn has asked us to teach her English. It's awesome!



On our street it's like living in the city and the country at the same time...like living in 2006 and 1906 at the same time. There are some who drive fancy cars and dress in the latest fashion and others who wear long skirts and scarves when they feed their animals (dogs, cats, chickens, pigs, etc.). I often hear the clip clop of horses hooves as horse-drawn carts go past the house just after I've heard a BMW go racing by. It's pretty wild, but I love it!


Well, I hope this gives you a little flavor for the street on which I live. I am looking forward to getting to know our neighbors better and hope to provide additional updates on them in the coming months.

Youth Camp

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