At home on the farm.

I currently live on a small family farm in the Transylvanian Alps.

That's so cool.

I've only been here for a day--we met our host families yesterday in the late afternoon--but I am excited for this place and this family to feel like home.  It doesn't yet, but I'm optimistic.  I'll write more about that in a second, but first some pictures, 'cause I'm excited to post them.  This is the most beautiful place I've ever lived.  (Sorry, Decorah.  Well, Seed Savers comes close... but no.  Lupeni has you beat.)

Home!

Well hello... chickens and dogs and cats and horses and cows...

Well, the farm is on the side of a mountain...

We can see all of Lupeni from the top of the plum orchard.

"Big Dog."  (There's also a little dog. The big one likes to sit on him.)

My host sister!

 We spent most of the day frolicking through the farm.  Seriously.

My first impression of my new home was one of utter joy.  I’m dead serious.  I could not have imagined a more beautiful place to live for six weeks.  Ah.  The honeymoon stage is wearing off a little, now that I’m sitting here shivering in a very, very cold room… but anyway.  Welcome to the farm!

So.  I met my host father and little sister at the Impact building yesterday; they were kinda shy since neither of them speaks much English.  We then drove out of Lupeni up the road to Straja in the car with our nearest neighbor (I don’t think my family owns one).  He dropped us off at a wooden gate, which my host father untied and swung open.  Carrying my stuff on our backs, we walked through a huge garden and small horse pasture, then through another gate and towards the house.  Picture Seed Savers or the Kraus farm or (for anybody who’s never been to Decorah), the most idyllic little European country farmstead you can imagine, and that’s my family’s home.  There are chickens running around outside, and haystacks, and apple and pear and plum trees, and horses and cows near the house and a bunch of sheep way up the mountain, and when my host mom hangs the laundry out to dry she uses a big branch to pull the clothesline down so she can reach it, and… aaahhh.  It’s awesome.  I like this type of agriculture a lot.  It makes me nostalgic for the days before Iowa turned into big mass-production agriculture… not that I ever experienced that… but anyway.

My family is small: my host father (Florien) and mother (Andreea) and a seven-year-old little sister (Madălina).  They live in the house Florien grew up in, which is small and square: a tiny little hallway connects an itty-bitty bathroom, a kitchen, a sitting room (which is my bedroom), and a living room (which is where everyone else sleeps).  I feel a bit guilty, to be honest, taking over a whole quarter of the house, and sleeping on the pull-out couch in a room all by myself while Madălina sleeps on a couch in the same room as her parents.  I’m keeping my clothes on two chairs and a little table in the corner of the room, and make and unmake my bed every morning and night; everything is a bit cramped and kitschy, but it’s cozy and I kinda like it.  I have internet access (hence the ability to post this), which is a totally-unexpected perk: I didn’t realize how nice it is to be able to contact people I love who aren’t here.  (If you’re reading this, that’s probably you!)

I’m tired, so that brings me to the end of this post, though I have tons of other stories I could share (like breakfast.  Guess what I had for breakfast?  This huge plate of cartofi (potatoes) and sausage and homemade sheep cheese… food is love here, and apparently I am well-loved, ‘cause my host mom just keeps feeding me, and feeding me, and feeding me… good thing Madălina and I climbed all the way up to the top of the farm three times today!).  But more of those another time.  Noapte buna.