I do like however that the pediatrician comes to your home just after your baby is born. In the U.S., you have to drive the baby to the doctor?s office for its first check-up (and all the other ones). Doctors in America don?t make house calls anymore. They haven?t for over 30 years. There are many things about Romania that remind of how things used to be in the U.S. when I was a kid or what I heard things used to be like when my parents were children in the 1950s. It is a little bit of nostalgia for a simpler past when people had more manners there was a sense of community. There were neighborhood stores like you find at every bloc in Romania. The doctor made house calls. People took time to visit and chat over a coffee and some cakes. The hospitality and the keeping of traditions that have been lost in America over the decades is what I like about Romania.

Giving tea to the baby was something I had never heard of before, but it is wonderful for keeping the baby?s stomach calm.

My mother asked me on the phone if we have pampers in Romania. Yes, Mom, we have pampers here. They are made in Poland for all of Eastern Europe.

I hadn?t heard about cleaning the baby?s mouth with glycerin with stamicin, but it is a good idea. In general, Romanians seem to be more concerned with keeping the baby clean and free from germs. I think it is because medical care in general is not at a high quality, so you don?t want the baby to get sick and have to go to the doctor. You?ll also have to pay some under-the-counter money or give some ?gifts?, which are called şpaga, to get any real attention for the baby from the doctor if its sick. This idea of şpaga is one way you could get things you needed or special things others couldn?t get under communism, but the concept goes back further than that. It really is a feudal idea left over from the middle ages in this region of Europe. People used to pay homage to nobility and royalty by giving them gifts when they visited their court. Also, the lords that governed over the peasants took everything from the peasants and left them with only what to survive on. In this way, Communism was only a reactionary force in the face of a modernizing world for those agrarian based societies of Eastern Europe.

I never thought much about air drafts, or ?current? as the Romanians say, but the Romanians fear a draft and the germs and sickness that they believe they bring. Of course, the wind coming through a window in the middle of winter is not good and lowering your body temperature compromises your immune system and can lead to catching a cold. On a hot summer day, however, I am not too concerned about leaving the balcony door open and a window in another room. The breeze, or draft, that it makes is refreshing to me.

There are many kindergartens that Maya can go to when she is about three years old. It is similar to day-care in the U.S. They learn songs and games, they sleep and have a meal. Art, music, gymnastics and other activities fill their day until the parents come from work to pick them up. We plan to take Maya to this kind of kindergarten with English and Romanian spoken to help prepare her for the future.

In general, I think that most Romanians are a little more permissive with their children than Americans. Of course, many American parents are much more permissive these days than older generations were. However, I think that the Romanian attitude is that children should have a childhood and should play, develop their personalities and their abilities while children. When they grow up, it is expected that most of them will have a hard life with a lot of hard work, so it?s best to play now. It is interesting that Roma (gypsies) are very, very permissive with their young children. Once they come of age though (in their teens) they have many responsibilities to the family and many hardships to overcome. One thing you don?t find in Romania is the attitude that a teenager should get a job. On one hand its not practical, because jobs are scarce and the service industry (such as fast food restaurants), which most employs teen-agers in America, is under developed in Romania. On the other hand, older people with more experience are given preference in employment and more respect over youth in general in Romanian society.