It is in northern Romania, 15 km to the border to the Republic of Moldavia. Going there as a child always made her uneasy. She could barely understand 1-2 words from what they were speaking (both because of their pronunciation and different words). One of her earliest memories there, maybe the first, would be just arriving and her grandma (from her father side) asking her something. As a polite and shy kid, she said yes... she wanted to lift her up in her arms but the girl didn't want that at all, she did not grow up close to her grandma and her smell made her feel weird...
The divide was and still is surpassed with difficulty - talking geopolitics - as it's the poorest region so they (still!!) don't invest in infrastructure. Taking an 9h train, where they could catch a filthy bus or wait for her uncle, whom she couldn't understand and who drives like a crazy guy, making her as a (spoiled big city child) throw up. The divide, once there, meant a total transformation of daily habits: no running water, washing themselves in a plastic basin or near the well. She didn't mind the lack of TV or other things, she liked being in the fresh air, she definitely enjoyed watching the life of the village (like a wedding held in the former communist / state-owned shop).. but there were many relational things she couldn't understand: why you have to say hello to anyone you meet on the street, why it is not ok to see neighbours see you do certain things (like wear a swimming suit to get tanned).
Now, the last times she went there, it felt like a very peaceful, tranquil place, far away from the crazy place she imagined as a child. The house was also marked with imagery from the socialist era, that were eerie posters that were still there two years ago, in the collapsing kitchen of the now uninhabited house. Yet, they remind her of the image on the cover of the project’s book. One can very well observe the typical role of the woman in the kitchen, and the way the little boy is the privileged one, both not helping them in any way and also "crowned" the cook, getting symbolically the credit...
Her grandma would live in the kitchen, which also had a room attached to it, leaving the "big house" (2 roomed) for guests - only her and her parents that is. The house was made of adobe/ clay and hence it didn't survive time.
The other room featured the "good stuff", like a sewing machine, dishes, a fridge, titles from the war and other documents, and carpets on the wall - she asked her parents every year why they have carpets on the walls.
