Family connection in the Danube Delta

In the far east of Romania, under the scorching sun and a myriad of stinging mosquitoes, we were once again treated to the hospitality of the east. Not only could we hardly take a step across the courtyard of our accommodation after 12:00 p.m. without being offered Palinka in unhealthy quantities (coffee cups). After a few days and a joint boat trip to the nature reserve, we were practically integrated into the family.

We have already noticed in Slovakia and the Ukraine that in the East people like to spend their holidays with the whole family: parents, parents-in-law, their joy, siblings and children are not uncommon. From the outside, everyone seems to have their role, but also a lot of freedom.

Our current "host family" has impressed us very much, because the grandparents worked in Italy for 17 years after starting the family, two of the three children managed the hard "career ladder" from the slaughterhouse to construction and assembly in Germany and the third in Great Britain and now dreaming of a house in Bavaria. The whole family lovingly takes care of the 18-year-old daughter with a disability. You have repeatedly told us how well integrated she is in Germany. For this reason alone, a permanent return to Romania would probably not be an option for her. The young sister is growing up completely bilingual and prefers German cucumbers to Romanian ones - which we can't foresee 😊.

These hard-working people didn't want to go to Saxony, even if owning their own home was more affordable here. Racism and intolerance deters these warm-hearted people. In Bavaria, they have not only found good work in recent years, but also made friends, where their origin or the grammar they have learned themselves is irrelevant.

When we said goodbye, we not only hugged each other warmly, we also had to promise to get in touch when we were back in Germany, because we don't part here without a mutual invitation.