#DontChangeRomania

I fell in love with this aspect of Romanian culture. To live in the country and have your own gardens and orchards right in your backyard. Where chickens and pigs are a normal feature and part of the yard. Or if you go into the cities and take a look at some courtyards where grape vines grow, you feel that nature can still be found. It felt like home to me. I was in awe and loved that for Romanians learning how to cut the pig during Christmas was a life skill and not just tradition. I felt as though these values were deeply rooted into the culture and way of life. Growing up in America in the 80’s life was this way. Learning to live off the land. Most of our grandparents grew up during the great depression and having these basic needs met on your own land saved money. No food was to be wasted. My grandmother pickled and stewed and preserved every bit of vegetables or fruit grown. Everything had a purpose. “Waste not, want not” is the saying. Then, times started changing. Companies wanted to buy the lands and develop on them; Starbucks, Walmarts, Best Buys, shopping complexes, apartment complexes, you name it. The way my grandmother taught me became an old way of life. People stopped learning how to be self sufficient, stopped learning how to survive off the fruits of nature. Homemade jams and canned tomatoes; spending days preparing for winter months were suddenly replaced for processed meats and injected chicken all for convenience. So I say to Romania… do not change this way of life. It was what drew me to come here, to live here, to be an expat in this amazing self-sufficient country. Do not let yourself believe you would be better off trading your gardens and farm fresh food for a more western way of life.

Renee Klopsch

You can find out more about Renee at her facebook profile, which can be found here : https://www.facebook.com/GirlonFire31