England and the Silver Birches

Our friends and family know that this year we decided to move away from home and start a new life in England. It was the most difficult decision I had to take, in my whole life.
We had a good life in Romania; good jobs, our own house, family close to us. And still, we realized that all that we had was not enough to accomplish all of our future plans. And we flew...away.

We arrived to Luton on  31st of March with small luggage, not knowing what would it be like here, but still, very optimistic.

We took our first meal on foreign land in a Subway restaurant somewhere in Cambridge and asked the guy from the desk to call us a taxi to take us to the hotel where we were supposed to check in. After that, we spent most of our time sleeping.
We soon found out that the agency that contracted us for a job here sent us to a wrong location and we lost 3 days without knowing if we will have a place to stay - as we booked our staying at the hotel for only 4 nights, or we will be forced to go back home. Finally, they sent us to a different location outside Cambridge and we had our first training day there. It was bad. We were not used to do physical work and our muscles were exhausted after first 4 hours.
On that day, later, we received a phone call from the UK agency offering a similar job but in a different location. We accepted and the guy came after us in that afternoon. This is how we got to Lingfield Park, a very beautiful location, right beside a Racecourse and a Golf Course.

Our next step was to find a place to stay, a rent. It was very difficult to find a suitable place and it took us 4 long weeks until we finally moved to a place that we could call home, again. First 2 weeks we were allowed to use one of the staff accommodation at Lingfield Park. It was okay at first. The room had it's own bathroom but the bed...good for one person, not for both of us.  Then we moved for another 2 weeks in a very cold room at Gatwick Inn guest house. That room was so cold that we had to use hairdryer to warm our bed. We had only the room, so no place to eat properly. We couldn't rest and we were extremely tired. We were desperate to move anywhere else. We found a room in a very big house. The owner lived there, in that same big house, with his family. I liked that room very much. I was willing to move as soon a possible, but for some reason, the owners never called me back. So we had to search the internet again for something else.
Finally, we found it. Our viewing meeting was on a Sunday. We met Pati, a very lovely lady who presented her renting offer: a small annex with 2 small bedrooms, living room with kitchen facilities and a bathroom. After living for the last month in God knows what place, this location was perfect for us. The annex was right next to the owners house on a very large property named:

We moved the next day. I must say that we adapted very quickly and now we consider this place our new home.  

We soon had visitors...

...and we made new friends...

Our street is quiet and far away from big cities noises and agitation.

But is not only about the place. Is about people surrounding us. Pati and her family accepted us not only as their tenants, but their friends too. Most of the British families reject foreign people, especially Romanians,  due to a very unpleasant course of events that are happening in London, involving Romanian gypsies. It is sad that our nationality affects our life and  we are fighting every day to prove that above all, we a normal, like them, and we take most of the jobs that British will never take. 

Here, we are accepted as we are, and it will be again a difficult decision to take if we will have to move again to another place.

Our big event

We, Romanians consider that have three most important events in our life's timeline: the baptism after our birth, the wedding when we meet our soul-mate, and the final farewell, our funeral. I don't remember much about my baptism; I think none of us do. But I remember everything that happened on my wedding day. 

Me and Sergiu made all the preparations for this event. It wasn't hard for us, as we already planned his sister's wedding one year before. It took us a while to decide what rings, what flowers, what music etc but we didn't had any doubts about what we wanted.

The wedding hall was also a very easy choice: Medio Monte, my husband's workplace. Most of our weddings happen during night time. We wanted to be during the day, on a Sunday. So, our big date was 3-rd of June 2007. And we chose gold as the main color for our arrangements.

The menu was not sophisticate. I would call it simple, but some people might find Romanian food a complex combination of tastes. We had five courses, plus the cake. 

The only hard thing for me to decide was about my dress. I searched all magazines, internet pages, shows, events, but nothing I saw had that sparkling "something" to drew my attention. Then I decided to visit my mother. At that time she was working in Cuca Rohian's tailor shop. A place where clothes become pieces of art. Together, we made the perfect dress for my wedding day. 

Everything was perfect. 

Our next step was our honeymoon. We decided to have a seaside relaxation holiday far away from home. Greece was our first option for different reasons. First was the accessible price. Second was the wonderful weather for middle of June. We knew that Romanian coastline will not be warm enough at that time of the year. We also thought that  since we never went outside Romania together, a long trip by car, just the two of us will be an adventure never to forget.

We didn't make many pictures unfortunately. We had a video camera, but only after a while, when it was obvious that we were looking more at the pictures than the videos, we have decided to put the video cam away and we started to keep photo camera with us all the time. 

Now, when I look back, even if I don't have many pictures, I know that was the moment when we fall in love with "our" beautiful Greece. 

My life in words and pictures

It is not easy to write all about you. But many people have a desire to share their experiences with others, and don't find the courage to do it. Our technologies permit us to do that so easy, to share our life events almost every minute. I find it extraordinary. And challenging.
I was thinking for days now what to tell you about me. There are so many things that I want everyone to know. Beautiful things. I guess I have to start with the beginning...

 I think my life started when I married my husband, Sergiu. Up until that moment, that was the happiest day of my life. Later I have learned that happiness is something normal in a marriage. 
So, I have decided to share our best moments with you.