Brasov

Brasov and the Apartment Hunt

Brasov Romania is a pretty, if not magical-looking town like something right out of a fairy tale. It’s a different story from Bucharest and it managed to avoid getting beat too hard by the commie stick. It’s still a little bruised and battered, with the obligatory monuments and block apartment buildings that overshadow its otherwise medieval look. There are mountains in the background and it has cobblestone roads. There might be elves living in the mountains but I’m not 100% sure of that.

I think Amanda will probably appreciate it a little bit more once we get a little more stable. Until then we will remain on an emotional roller-coaster as we lug our bags from place to place, trying not to get ripped off. Right now she’s tripping pretty hard because we got the ol’ bait-and-switch and are paying 40 dollars a night instead of 30 on a place that has more than what we need. I try to remind her that this is just temporary and we will find a place soon. Meanwhile, the search for a permanent residence continues.

We met up with Bogdan, a friend of our Virginia-located Romanian friends Radu and Emi. Bogdan has connections and said that he would be able to help us find a place and a job. Hopefully the bottle of “KVint”, the absolute best cognac from the former Soviet Union that we bought for him in Tiraspol will help grease the wheels a bit.

We went with our new best friends, Alex and Simona to a Saxon celebration outside of town. Alex is half Saxon, but these people are a dying breed in the area. Long ago, they were a sizable minority in Transylvania but Alex explained that many young people leave for Germany. The older generation still speaks a variant of German but the younger people are losing the language in favor of Romanian and English.

More on all of this later. Time to post the blog… finally.