roexpat

Lots! Young people make many mistakes.
I'd say "be wise" but that's hard to do at 20. Still that would be the best thing...but also be grateful. You always have something to be grateful for.

My friend Ana who I've known since I was 15. She's two years older and very sick now...

She was always very gentle and kind, unlike me, so I always appreciated seeing her qualities and the way people were drawn to her.

I wouldn't necessarily say memories from my youth are the fondest. But if I had to pick one I'd say it was the birth of my first child, my daughter. I saw her and I said, "she's got big lips like me, I know she's mine".

Back then there was a big media story about a midwife at a hospital who switched a baby on a woman's request because she (the mother) had four kids who she considered to be ugly and so asked the midwife to give her a better looking one.
This is why I was happy to know for sure she was my baby.

I've always loved sarmale (cabbage rolls) doesn't matter the period.
Also the "Bombe"(Bombs): Chocolate or cocoa, sugar, butter and water, which I heated. Then I added crushed biscuits to the mix and rolled it around alcoholized sour cherries. At the end we covered these round 'bombs' in crushed walnuts. Delicious.

I never thought 'Im in the future now" but I was very impressed by Canada when I visited. Everything seemed shiny and clean... I was surprised at how much of an impression it made on me because I expected to be impressed. But it was such a dramatic difference from Romania.

I do remember the first radio we ever got. My dad brought a box and said, in here you could hear people talking all the way from Bucharest. I was six and didn't believe him. I remember they had a "recipe of the day" segment and my mom was making something that wasnt coming out right. So my dad 'talks' to the radio and says 'give her the recipe' right when the announcer comes on with that segment. He starts listing all the ingredients but he gives the southern version of the recipe, which had all types of things we don't use here (Transylvania). My dad said, "shut that off and nevermind, this guy's stupid"