When we came to Romania I was socially drained. Despite recurring creative attempts, I could find no way to partake, contribute or benefit from society while living in Israel. As a result I came to Romania wanting to be left alone. I just wanted to retreat to our own place in the village, to create a self-sustainable life and forget about people.
Yet very shortly after we arrived here we started meeting beautiful people. People who shared our life values, who are on their own paths of exploration and discovery, people we could relate to, people we were drawn to (people who were English speakers … so instead of my Romanian getting better, Andreea’s English got better). I am not saying that Romania is made of up just these people, it isn’t, they are still a minority. But they are the people who kept appearing in our life. This took me by surprise.
Still, once we moved out to Bhudeva, we landed in a fairly reclusive lifestyle. The people are still there, but more distant and though the bonds are strong we see less of them. My Romanian is still coming along slowly because we spend most of our time here 🙂 Andreea is naturally socializing more then me through her interest and work with Feminitate and the fact that she is a native speaker.
When we moved out to Bhudeva the one thing we (I more then Andreea) wanted was to build a new house. That didn’t work out, and still hasn’t. We have begun numerous experiments including composting toilets, hugelkultur raised beds, natural poultry keeping, natural beekeeping which are fascinating and going very well. Yet very soon after we moved out we came to a sobering realization about self-sustainability. There is no such thing. Sustainability can only be achieved through collaborative effort. To put it more simply … sustainability can only be achieved in community. Yet community was a mystery to us (me more then Andreea).
Then came Cutia Taranului and spread its wings. It takes up much of our time and attention. Andreea spends much time on the phone talking to peasant families describing to them the project and then guiding them into it when they choose to join. She is also constantly monitoring and making sure that information flows smoothly between village and city. I have been very busy setting up all the technical aspects that she uses to contain all the information and vibrant energy that the project has created (and when need or opportunity present themselves I too speak about it) . Then we realized (it was more of a surprise to me then to Andreea) we are building a community. Though we are using technology to do it, it is a very real community where real people are connecting in real life around real needs … with real food!
Though I still feel an egoistic need to be in house that will better support and embrace us, we don’t even have plans drawn out for one. However we seem to be very busy building … of all things … a community 🙂 I came here from a modernized, advanced, western-cultured country yet with a heavy load on my shoulders. I am now living a much simpler life in an immature country (there’s no way around it, as a country, as in an organized society, Romania … sucks) yet I feel at home amongst my neighbors and touched by a growing community of people all over Romania who’s values seem to much more aligned with mine. So much so that I feel that, working from the stomach up, there is a We, I am part of it … and We can do some great, sustainable things for Romania together.