I’ve gotten a number of questions about neighborhoods, apartments, and general living conditions. You know, “do Romanians live ghettos?” and the like. Americans intuitively understand that the east European economies are not as strong as the States. Wages are dramatically lower. Standards of living are lower. Purchasing power is lower. And it’s all true, on a relative scale. But some of the realities may interest you. I don’t see too many people living in grass huts or scores of homeless sleeping in parks. Families don’t huddle together for warmth in heroin safehouses while sirens wail outside. No drama needed.

Some caveats, first. Like any nation or city, there is a wide variety of living conditions often separated in caste-like groupings of laborers, professionals, merchants, and political elites. In other words, the obvious: different people live at different standards. Just like you. Another familiarity is the concept that cities have their “nicer areas” and their “rustic areas.” (A few months ago, I was in Hollywood where it’s easy to experience the thrill of driving down a high-end shopping boulevard which, at one intersection, instantly and abruptly changes into crackwhores, gangbangers, and pawnshops. Amazingly, each side of the side of the crosswalk seems to keep to itself without affecting the other.)

But let’s judge a book by it’s cover, shall we? Like many Romanian cities, Braşov is a mix of inspiring home design from years past and stark, ugly concrete apartment buildings of the Nicolae Ceauşescu communist era. I am extremely fortunate to have found a cozy spot in the beautiful, historic Poarta Schei neighborhood in Braşov. The other month, I nabbed a snapshot of the first snowfall from my porch. This vantage point shows the old-style home architecture and beautiful Sfântul Nicolae church in relief of the stunning Tampa mountain.

The snow stuck around for about 2 weeks before disappearing. Haven’t seen a flake since!

Marvel at this example of the quaint Braşov homes you can still find aplenty.

But even a place as beautiful as Braşov could not escape the wrecklessness of tyranny.

Just last week, I drove the jaw-droppingly gorgeous highway to Ramnicu Vâlcea which follows the path of a river through ancient canyons now forested and dotted with fortress ruins. But Ramnicu Vâlcea is more representative of the other type of cities in Romania. Few old buildings or other nicecities. Instead, these cities are overwhelming bleak at first blush with little in the way of eye-candy.

Another typical neighborhood feature? Here is the intra-building foyer where children can play on swings, old Dacia cars are parked, and people clean their rugs all in combination. It is a common sight throughout all the neighborhoods Ceauşescu destroyed and built up during his socialist dictatorship.

Not the first place you’d choose to live, eh? Same for the Romanians, actually. While the USSR was dominating half the planet, the Romanian government seized all property for the state. People were often re-assigned new places to live (including a huge consolidation of rural families forced into the new commie concrete apartments, for better monitoring no doubt). After the violence of 1989, when Romania began making reforms, most folks simply inherited ownership of the property they had been assigned to live in under the previous regime, regardless of where they might have historically lived. (Frankly, property reparation is a legal quagmire rife with counter-claims and corruption these days, but suffice to say that the summary I gave is largely truish for the vast majority.)

It is true that some folks have relatively simple apartment interiors and plain living conditions compared to many American single family homes. So, what’s a Romanian to do? Same as anyone not born a supermodel. Regardless of which city you live in, you make the most of what you do have and work on your inner beauty!

After all, the outside of those ugly Ceauşescu buildings don’t always tell the whole story. Many folks have worked hard to renovate the inside of their apartments into something completely different. Others are a makeover in progress. To be honest, when you go to visit someone’s apartment, you never know what you’ll see!

Take a look at this interior of an apartment I rented in Bucureşti, the national capital.

No Corian counter tops or Delta faucets, hmm? That lovely, little place was tucked away inside an ugly communist era building on a dreary side street. (Granted, it is nicer than most, but it goes to show you not to assume what lies inside.)

The following photo would be considered close to typical. (For disclosure purposes, I should admit this is actually one corner of my fairly large kitchen! Not terribly impressive, I’m afraid. But it’s actually better than most I’ve seen. Heck, my little gas stove is actually brand new.)

Imagine if those were older and more worn. Then you can get an idea of some of the more simple environments many people live in. I wish I had more photos along those lines, so you could continue to see typical indoor arrangements. But not everyone is champing at the bit to fling their doors open to the American photographer wandering past so they can have it posted all over the internet. Instead, I can continue showing you some of the nicer places I’ve been.

Here is the kitchen in another Braşov apartment I considered living in.

Below is the kitchen in a Ceauşescu apartment I rented in Braşov.

Check out this living room in a Braşov apartment I considered moving to.

Before you go: take 1 minute to view this typical home in Cluj. The Woods did a great job depicting their living conditions.

I hope you get a glimpse as to the living conditions of some people. Not everyone lives so fashionably, but even the plain and simple arrangements are clean and liveable. People don’t usually sleep on a bare mattress flung on the dirty floor in the corner of a darkened crackhouse.

Until I can get more photos of the simpler style, try to recall US furniture from the 50s, 60s, and 70s… simple, inexpensive and practical. And bear in mind the average living area has far less square footage than most new American houses, because the Romanians tend to live in city apartments or small homes in the countryside.

I do not have photographs of the poorest nor of the most posh. But I trust you got the notion that while folks here are not as affluent as Americans, they are not necessarily living in dire straits either. Most folks happily survive in environs which many Americans would recognize as normal or acceptable. (Just think about the bad neighborhoods in your town. You know the ones that make you uncomfortable. Romanian conditions are clearly better than those as you may now realize.)

And I would like to reiterate that even families living in “poor” conditions (which, again, are hard to get photographs of) are generally improving their interiors every year, through renovating floors and tiled walls or purchasing new furniture. One piece at a time, Romania is nipping at the heels of western European living standards.

As Rareş once said, “it’s quite okay!”

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 14th, 2005 at 3:59 pm and is filed under Living. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.