A recent read reminded me of a time in my life, sometime in the late 1980s. Inspired by one of @galenkp's suggestions in this week's post, our Hive colleague who lives in the same country as me, @erikah, wrote about something that was also my intention in my youth. The chosen topic is called: Somewhere else and you can read our colleague's post here: The Past And Future Plans.
Do you ever wish you lived somewhere else? Explain where and why in a post of 300+ words using photos you took personally where possible.
I start now by saying that it is not clear to me because I am a mediocre (in general) but also a mediocre speaker and understander of English. Because of this, I don't know if "somewhere else" refers only to a foreign country or means (what I am inclined to believe) just somewhere else, i.e. another house, street, city, region, country, continent... That is why I will refer to both variants.
I was drawn to this post by @erikah primarily because it presents, in the first part, a very well picture of life in Romania during the communist period in the second half of the last century. A period in which I lived my childhood, adolescence, and the first part of adulthood. A period of our life full of deprivation, both material and spiritual. Because our colleague has presented so well and so plastic the situation of those times saves me from saying more.
All I want to say about those years is that most of my acquaintances and friends wanted to leave the country, i.e. to live somewhere else, and like them, my wife and I wanted to leave. In fact, most of them dreamed of doing so, and so did I. My dream was France, I was in my adolescence and youth a passionate Francophile, mainly because I was also a cinephile and I particularly liked French films.
But not every dream comes true!
Because leaving communist Romania was similar to escaping from the most sinister and well-guarded prison.
I was not capable of such a thing but I can praise myself that I had a few friends who succeeded.
When I realized that the dream would remain just a dream, I started thinking about something more realistic. Because another dream was to live by the sea, to have a house where I could see the sea!
My favorite place to vacation by the sea in my country was a small fishing village called Vama Veche. A place associated with a bit of freedom and non-conformism, a place frequented especially by artists and nostalgics of the hippie period.
This Vama Veche was a phenomenon in communist Romania, a place of freedom, even if it only manifested itself in music, love, and a beach without clothes.
I caught the last acceptable part, the 80s, and 90s, then it turned into something extremely crowded, heterogeneous, and without any connection to the spirit of freedom when it was scarce.
Now there is a lot of misunderstood freedom!
It would have been possible to buy a house there, we lived with the locals when we were on holiday.
We loved the sea, the sun, the breeze, and the wind through our hair, but...
...there were problems I couldn't get past. I had nowhere to work for money, no school for the child. Of course, there were obstacles that could be overcome by the ambitious and determined, but I was never like that.
Now I don't regret not living there. Everything has changed in a way that is not to our liking.
Source-You can see more about Vama Veche here
After 1990 everything changed in Romania. A major change, a return to democracy, capitalism, and freedom. After 50 years of destructive communism, it wasn't easy. There were some Romanians who were prepared for it, and those who don't want to be asked how they made their first million dollars, took full advantage of it, but a part of the population was and still is totally confused. Nostalgic and unable to adapt to change. Lacking culture and education, lacking understanding of politics, disarmed in the face of populists and charlatans... A danger to the country's future.
Worried about the future that is looming, a future inspired more by a dark past (i.e. the first part of the twentieth century), further proof that people forget history.
This worry makes me think again, after almost 50 years, of moving "somewhere else", only now there are other reasons stopping me from crossing the border. Age and health in the first place, then lack of money to buy a property abroad...
But if I had to be, once again dreamy, I would choose either neighboring Bulgaria which has an attractive Black Sea coastline and is a much less populated country than Romania.
It's a small town, Balcik, where I would like to live. I'd have the sea under my eyes and I wouldn't lose touch with Romania either, where it would be easy to get to in a few hours. Plus Balchik has many Romanian influences!
And if it were to be the ultimate dream, it would be Greece! The island of Thassos is the only place I have ever holidayed in Greece and offers everything I love most, in terms of lifestyle and gorgeous sea.
I wasn't meant to have that in this life... and I don't have high expectations for the next one. If I'm wrong I'll only regret not being able to come and tell you that!
I am aware that many things are possible if we have enough will and determination. I've learned that from the blogs of some of my colleagues whom I follow and admire in this little world of ours called Hive.
Denise, i.e. @dswigle, has lived in dozens of different places on this earth, @fotostef, who writes on the same theme declares that he is ready and determined to move again and again to find the place where he feels happy, you can read his post full of gorgeous photos from same Greece here, Somewhere else, and my fellow countrywoman @erikah, now ready to explore the world in search of the right place and the kind of life she now feels ready for.
Strong people who know what they want from this life. Unfortunately, I met them too late to learn and change myself.
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