Expat In Romania

There is a village in Romania known for its cabbage. Well, not just cabbage; it's also known for pickles and pickling related activities of all types. When you drive through it on the main road, usually during a trip between Suceava to Radauti , you'll see small wooden stands in front of peoples homes. On these there is always an assortment of colourful jars with various types of pickles: cucumbers, peppers, green tomatoes, mixed varieties, and, of course, cabbage. Cabbage which comes either in the form of sauerkraut with carrots and cumin seeds, or by whole head - just perfect for sarmale .  If you're lucky enough to pass through during the harvesting season late in the summer, you'll see carts and trailers loaded sky-high with cabbage, more cabbage than you've ever seen in your life. It's kinda their thing, and it seems it's always been. Romanians take it seriously, too, nobody argues when you say the best pickles and the best cabbage in Romania comes f...

Wedding season, like the highly anticipated cherry season in Romania, starts around the middle of May. Within a month, it is a fact of life. Much like the 'very, very, very, sweet cherries' advertised at farmer's markets, brides, along with their wedding parties, also start to pop up all over the country. The parade continues all the way through to the end of summer, thus outlasting the short-lived cherry harvest. Although I've attended several Romanian weddings, enough to 'get the gist', these observations are partly fueled by the readily available bottles of Jack Daniels, wine, and the occasional tuica,  without which no Romanian wedding is complete. You must first understand that Romanian weddings fall into one of two categories: for the couple's friends and family, or for the couple's parents and friends. There is a distinction here and, keep in mind, it's almost impossible to combine the two. The former tend to be smaller weddings, in qu...

I came up on this post today and rather than attempt to regurgitate its contents, I'm going to go ahead and link it here. The only comment I want to add is that, as a Romanian, I couldn't imagine this country without haystacks peppering the countryside. They are a testament to Romania's rich agricultural traditions. Somehow, whenever I see them I can't help but think that no matter how crazy the world gets, it can't be all that bad as long as we still got people making haystacks. Here is everything you wanted to know about The Art of the Romanian Haystack