Mamas who live in Eastern Europe?

[MittensKittens]

Anyone else?

I am MittensKittens, mom of two, and I live in the Serbian capital. Another thread made me realize that many countries in the region share a similar culture. Which probably means we experience similar things. Wanna share?

[Litcrit]

Originally Posted by MittensKittens

Anyone else?

I am MittensKittens, mom of two, and I live in the Serbian capital. Another thread made me realize that many countries in the region share a similar culture. Which probably means we experience similar things. Wanna share?

:

I'm Litcrit, also in Belgrade and I got to meet MittensKittens IRL yesterday

She pointed out some cultural issues I wasn't even aware of (like misogyny, difficulties NIP, strangers telling you how to parent) so this might be a great opportunity to learn more about my own culture.

Anyone near here?

[MittensKittens]

Originally Posted by Litcrit

Misogyny, difficulties NIP, strangers telling you how to parent

Those are probably the three things that you would come across *anywhere* in the world. Perhaps not so much NIP, but I have no doubt about the other two.

I know there is a mom here who lives in Romania (and wanted a UC) as well as one in Prague, I'm hoping they will come over here as well!

[mebella20]

Hey,

I'm original from Romania, and moved to the States 3 years ago. If any of you have any questions or tips about Romania, or surouding countries I will be happy to help.

[katmtb]

Moving to Albania

hello!

I am heading to Albania in about 2 months with DS (will be 12 months) and DH. DH and I lived there (in capital, Tirana) about 5 years ago but this will be our first time with the little one. Any suggestions/ideas about what I should bring or expect trying to AP in Eastern Europe? I would love to be in touch with others who are in the area!

Thanks!

[MittensKittens]

Hey, I thought this thread was dead and forgot to check back in. Are you in Albania now, katmtb? I spent some time in Kosovo and speak a fair bit of Albanian, let me know if you need any help . What is Tirana like?

I would like to ask if there are any people who are homeschooling or are planning to do so. I am hoping to have the opportunity to homeschool my children, but I am unsure of the legality of this in Serbia. Any facts/stories/thoughts or whatever would be great.

[ZoraP]

I live in Slovenia. I don't find it very mysogenist at all; women are in nearly every aspect of public life (they are the majority of doctors, for example), and their pay is nearly equal to men's for equal work (much better stats than in the States or most of western Europe). That said, the women still bear a very uneven share of childcare and housework, but that is slowly changing with the younger generation. There are still women here that literally can't believe that my husband cooks.

I've also never had trouble with NIP, not even when I nursed my 3yo dd in the maternity hospital hours after giving birth to dd2. (Actually, one of the cleaning ladies specifically told me how happy it made her to see that and how she'd nursed her children for years, too.) The nurses never criticized my for it, although I thought they might.

Now I've certainly dealt with strangers telling me how to parent! LOL Slovenians are fairly reserved about talking to strangers, but all bets are off if you have a small child. They feel more than free to comment on the child's clothing (he's too cold, too warm, should have a hat, etc.) and other aspects as well. Usually I just smile politely and ignore them.

[katmtb]

hey ladies!

yes, I am in Albania now. Tirana is great -- it has definitely changed a lot since I was last here (better sidewalks, more buildings, etc.) It has been really great to be here with a baby, too. Like one of you mentioned, most of the Albanians are pretty reserved with foreigners but not at all so when a LO is involved! DS has been picked up, danced with, sung to, kissed -- he is in his glory! We think he will probably have a bit of culture shock when we return to the US and these things don't really happen (at least with strangers on the street.)

I haven't encountered any trouble with NIP. I've gotten more than a few strange looks for carrying DS in a sling, but I got those on Long Island too

I guess my main question for those of you that have been living abroad for a while now is how you manage to find friends for you and/or your children? We are pretty much home without DH all day and I would love to find some other parents to hang out with. DS loves other kids so I know he would like it, too. Did you just start talking to people on the street/in parks/etc? I have a limited grasp on Albanian but it seems like most people speak enough English that, between the two of us, we could get by.

Thanks! Keri-Ann

[dayiscoming2006]

Originally Posted by MittensKittens 

I know there is a mom here who lives in Romania (and wanted a UC)

I think you were talking about me. I lived in Romania from November 08-Feb 1, 09. The goal was to move to Denmark as he had multiple interviews there but it didn't work out there or in multiple other countries in Europe that he had applied in, so we moved back to the states. Sometimes I miss life in Europe though. 

I can be somewhat helpful if anyone has questions about Romania. My hubby is Romanian and so is his family of course. I will say that some of the older men are kind of disrespectful of women.

Ex. - my FIL. My MIL is a sweetheart. Hospital births in Romania totally suck. If anyone was wondering. If I could go back in time - I'd have forced hubby to rent a hotel or something so I could have my UC. The inlaws would not have let me UC in their house and I wouldn't have wanted to give birth there anyway as there were fleas in our room we were staying in. Ugh, that part sucked. I did find out that UC is legal. They can't outlaw it since some woman live very far from medical care. If anyone wants to move to Romania - Brasov is really beautiful and has lots of places for shopping etc. and Bucharest is alright and of course has the most resources of anything you'd want being that it is the capital. I think Brasov is cheaper to live in than Bucharest though.

[HealingBeam]

I'm still here.

Pula, Croatia

[Serafima]

Hello everybody! I Live in Chisinau, Moldavia...

[elizaveta]

We're been living in the US for two years now, but we've moving back to Russia in February-March. And I caaaaan't wait!  Dh and I miss our family and the US just doesn't fit out lifestyle and on top of that dd is going to be 7 next year and ready to go to school and ON TOP OF THAT again, I recently found out I'm pregnant and though it's still early (fingers crossed) I'd much prefer to have my baby in Russia, because I had a very good birth with my daughter and it's familiar. So, hello to all of you! 

[hope4theflowers]

Hello....I am in Croatia. I am an american and have been living in eastern europe for more than 15 years.  My youngest son was born in Sarajevo and we have been in Croatia for five years now.  I intended to homeschool when we moved here, but discovered a small Waldorf school and that is where my 8 yoDS just finished first grade and 6yoDS attends the Waldorf kindergarten.  But....the school is very small (only 33 students) and not financially sustainable (teachers are not paid, building is way too small, little govt and public support etc) so there are very  distinct possibilities that the school will not make it through the current economic crisis.  Homeschool is not legal here, but there are a handful of people (that I know) that do it with the knowledge of the local authorities.  The lack of legal support would not be a reason for me to not homeschool.  But it would only further isolate me and my family from our local community, I already get enough grief from neighbors (even though it is none of thier business..!) about why we drive our kids 20 minutes away to some "alternative" school when we have a great village school within walking distance that overlooks the seaside.  The further isolation of homeschooling and the explaining it would require are bigger obstacles for me in deciding whether to homeschool (we are already isolated because we are foreigners).  There are people here who think differently, but in the five years that we have lived in Croatia, I have found it very hard to break into any community, even though I am relatively fluent in the language.  It was much easier in Sarajevo, but I was not ready to raise my family there.  The best thing about living in Croatia is the location.  We are within arms reach of Europe, Italy and Austria are within an hour, we have the sea and all the islands to explore in the summer and the alps in the winter. And we have taken great advantage of this with our boys so far.  Connecting with like-minded parents is the single biggest dissapointment I have had since we moved here.  Croatians seem to do things in groups and are not very comfortable being outside the norm. It is very strange for a country that lives from tourism to be so antagonistic to toward foreigners, but in my experience so far it has been that they see foreigners just as their bread and butter and not much else.  Suffice to say, I know there are like-minded people out there, but I just have not found them yet..... :)

[HealingBeam]

Hey hope4theflowers, I'm sorry to see you are having hard time with local people. Where do you live exactly?