One Step Down

A few weeks ago, I started putting together a TODO list for our potential / impending move to Romania.  I finally could tick one of the todo checkboxes today.  I finally ordered my transcript from my undergraduate days.

Now, only 50-60 more items (that I know of) to go.

Schooling

One of the initiating events that compelled me to start this blog was Alex’s reaction to us possibly moving to Romania.  He tends to be a bit cautious by nature (takes after his dad in that way) and perhaps a bit reticent about change.  Again, kind of like daddy.  So, when I told him we were likely to be moving he didn’t take it too well.

While I figure much of the desire to not go came from a fear of the unknown, he did fairly strongly express his desire to not move out of his school.  He’s currently at School Within School at Gooding here in DC.  It’s definitely a great school and one that he apparently loves more than we thought.  I kind of expected a bit of push back from him around this whole process, but the amount of push back surprised even me.  He was glum and grouchy for the next couple of days.  I’m sure he was worrying about the move and leaving his school.

What I didn’t realize is that Feli was worrying about schooling too.  Her issue more comes from bureaucratic issues that her friends have hit.  She was a bit concerned that we’d have issues getting them into classes there.

Turns out we may have an answer to the combined set of issues.  Today Feli told me she wants to home school the kids the first year we are there.  It’ll give us a more gradual transition into life there and it’ll likely save us a few thousand dollars/euro because we won’t have to pay for international private school immediately.  It will also give us a bit more flexibility to travel as we can either take the kids with us or leave them with family during the week.

Whether we do it or not is still up in the air, but at least we have an option.  And when offered that option, Alex seemed interested and much happier.  Win/win!

Why Move?

I’ve been talking with my son recently about us possibly moving to Romania.  That’s definitely been an interesting conversation, resulting in a kid who’s a bit disturbed by the possibility.  That’s a subject for another entry, however.

That being said, he hasn’t yet asked the question of why, but I figured some people may be wondering and I thought I’d answer it here.  There are a number of reasons we’re considering the move:

• My wife is Romanian, so living back in Romania will give the kids a chance to learn the language and the culture.  They’re half Romanian, so why not let them see where their mother comes from.
• I want to learn the language.  I’ve taken classes and learned with the kids, but there’s no substitute for being immersed in the culture to truly learn a language.  This applies to the kids as well.
• One of the big reasons for moving is because I want to get a Ph.D. and Cluj has a rather nice university, Universitatea Babeș-Bolyai and they have a Computer Science program.  It’s inexpensive compared to a school here in the US which could allow me to attend school full time.
• The cost of living is less than here, for sure.  I’m hoping that a bit of consulting will allow me to both attend school and survive, if not thrive.
• It’s something different.  Maybe it’s a mid-life crisis or maybe I’m just getting that wander lust again, but the idea of living somewhere new and different is exciting.
• Being in Europe will offer us more places to explore.  We’ve seen much of the US, or at least the places that aren’t dominated by strip malls and chain restaurants.  Moving to Eastern Europe will put much of that area and even the rest of Europe closer.  We definitely plan on traveling.  Heck, just getting to see more of Romania is high on my list of things to do. I’ve hardly made it out of Zălau, Cluj and Oradea, let alone outside Transylvania and into other parts of the country.

Why Does This Exist?

As Felicia and I contemplate moving abroad, I wanted a place to publish thoughts and information about the potential impending move.  That’s what this space is about.  Not sure yet how much we’ll post, but my goal is to give our friends and family one spot to go and keep up with what’s new on our move.