Home, not alone

It's so nice to be back. 

We spent the days:  meeting friends, hanging out in parks (Parks!  Playgrounds!  Imagine the novel concept!), wondering why we ever left.  There must have been a reason...  Oh.  Yes.  The husband didn't have a job anymore.  Yeah, well.  That would do it.  We even stayed months beyond that particular point so nobody can say we didn't try. 

But, oh.  If we had never left. Bucharest is better than it ever was, and it's changing with lightning speed.  The airport road is newly paved and smooth as a baby's butt.  The sidewalks in Strada Londra are being fixed.  There are lots of new shops around, with spiffy clothing.  There is a new mega-market area in the making across from the Selgros in Baneasa.   In only four months, Romania is going to be in the EU!

I want to be back here.  Life is so easy, so good here.  I remember thinking how complicated things are and how you cannot buy this and that without hunting for it, and all that.  Hah.  I was a pampered little thing knowing nothing about the rough world out there.  Now I look back to the green avenues and the wonderful parks and how could I have ever griped about the playground equipment?  So what if there are sharp edges and things poking out of the swingsets?  At least there is a swing set, other than in some other country which I shall not name.   They are vamping up Parcul Herastrau and I've been fairly happy with the way it was.  Now, it's on its way to becoming an English Garden.

Speaking of parks, the kids are ridiculously happy.  Sunday in Herastrau, Monday in Floreasca -- their old hunting grounds.  They are hanging out with their "old" nanny Geta, meeting their "old" friends, playing, fighting, falling into bed at night saying "tomorrow is a school day, why are we not going to school with Jacob and Louisa?".  There are asleep within a minute of hitting the pillow.  So happy.

I spent three hours in a cafe with two of my friends today.  We had salad and sandwiches, and good coffee, and we talked and laughed, and I could ask for the check in Romanian and the waiter understood me.  So nice.

I was ripped off by a taxi driver and I could argue with him in English because even the taxi drivers here speak English.  So convenient.

The women on the streets are pretty and well dressed.  With taste.  Not decked out in sequins and gold braid and adorned with 10 cm spike heels.  So European.

There really isn't a chance in hell we'll ever come back to live here.  But if we were offered a job here, we wouldn't hesitate a second.  Not one second. 

Bucharest, I love you.

Comments

[Mihai]

this really brought a smile on my face..

thank you!

[mosu]

same here. nice to see bucharest is starting to leave a good impression.