Romania

 My grandparents met me at the airport in Munich. I snuck up on them from behind. Not very nice of me since they can't hear all that well. We settled in to our surroundings in Sibui by sharing supper and some wine.

 Children are not playing at the park after dinner, they were playing soccer in a parking lot. My grandma didn't like walking around that neighbourhood. I can't say I felt very safe either.

 We stopped for lunch the next day and some shepards had a ram in the back of their car. I guess they needed to eat lunch too and left the ram in the trunk with the hatch open...strange sight!

 Typical homes in a small rural town called Charush. Homes were made for sleeping and protection, not style.

 This is the home my grandprents lived in 52 years ago.

 The current owner still draws water from the same well, they used when they lived here in the 1950's. He was proud to show us that he had rigged it up to a pump and could turn on the tap next to the well for water rather than using the bucket.

 Preserving their tomatoe crop in a brine.

 That barn once had livestock in it that my grandparents cared for.

 This is the home my mother was born in.

 The new owners were excited to show us around. They live off of their land as much as they can and  make money when jobs are available.

 They produce and eat their own eggs, fruits, vegetables and chickens.

My mother was born in this room. The whole house consisted of 3 rooms. A centre room, a room to the left and room to the right. In this house, my grandmother, grandfather, my uncle and my mom. In the centre room lived another family of 4 and in the last room lived a family of 5 people. Unimaginable to me.
Communist forces moved all of the Saxons into houses together and moved Romanian people down from the mountains into the empty houses. Everyone was forced to farm and give their profits to the local government, a scewed version of Communism that did not work.