bucharest has a story, romania has a story.

Bucharest has a story, Romania has a story.

So the other day as we were driving through Bucharest I was noticing the many people on the streets just walking or riding the tram. I was careful to see the different block buildings and the people watching out the windows of them. I saw older men and women walking around in attire that comes from a different era, an era where the streets are dirt and not bustling with traffic of all variations. I saw young men and women in the latest fashions, dressed for weddings or just for a day out on the town. I thought of what life would have been like 20 years ago. Twenty years and seven months ago was when the revolution happened. The people had just been released from communism. Walking the streets would have seemed so freeing, yet so scary. I am sure some people were still afraid. It would have been hard and I know that it was a very dark time for this country. Bucharest has a story. A story that you can see by just watching out the window of a van. Just looking down the street where the People’s Palace is located you can sense the hurt of the country caused by a man who had no right to be in power over a country.

Through the past weeks we have been driving around the country from Bucharest to the Black Sea to Sinaia to Zimnicea. Driving around shows what this country was put through under communism and you can see why certain things are the way that they are. It is sad. Driving in the countryside and living in the countryside when I go to the boys transition house makes me feel like I am stepping back in time. Back to a time where electricity is rare, the work that people do is around their home and in their own fields, not with many machines but with their own two hands. It takes me back to a place in time where the best form of transportation for them is a horse or donkey with a tiny trailer pulling behind it. It is a place of early mornings, and evenings spent on a bench outside conversing with neighbors and just watching the country life. It is so simple, but so intriguing. Internet is rare there and the way of life is not about making it to their next meeting or driving here and there and everywhere. It is about simple. It is about learning to do the best with what you have been provided with. Sharing and loving and caring. It is a community. A willing community.

There are so many people here. They have a story. It burdens my heart to tell their story. Experiencing this country in so many different ways this trip has helped me to understand more of the culture, the language, and the history.

If the actual country of Romania could talk, I wonder what it would say…