Can you imagine how it feels to be a citizen of two countries at the same time? My name is Steven C. Davis and I was born in Bucharest, Romania eleven years ago from a Romanian mother and an American father. Fifty percent of my blood is Romanian and the other fifty percent is a mixture of English, Swedish and German. Since I was born in Romania from an American father, I have three birth certificates: a Romanian one, an American one, and one from the Romanian Minister of Affairs, which is given to all foreign kids born in Romania. We moved to the United States when I was 1 year old, but my connection with the Romanian language and culture is still a strong point in my life.
Every two years I spend the summer in Romania, in a small town called Rucăr. Rucăr lies in a valley surrounded by mountains, at the border between Muntenia and Transylvania and is about forty miles away from “Dracula’s Castle”. Rucăr is a town with so much amazing history. It is fascinating to be surrounded by so much history. Can you imagine how interesting it is to just go to the Bran Castle which was build in the 14th century and wander around those walls pondering about the lives of the people long ago? It is also interesting to see parts of the old and new cultures meeting in the same place. What I mean about this is that you can see a very modern car driving on the road next to a horse-drawn carriage. You can see these modern, sophisticated girls walking around, next to old ladies wearing their traditional costumes with scarves covering their heads.
There are about 9,000 people in this town and they are very friendly and very curious about your life. Sometimes that’s good and sometimes that’s not. The good part is that everyone is watching over everyone’s safety. The bad part is that you don’t have that much privacy. That last part doesn’t bother me too much, since I don’t have anything to hide. I do like it when everybody is looking out for you, since I play outdoors all day long. Over there are lots of trees to climb and lots of hills to hike. Since the climate is more continental, cool in the summer, I can play outside without feeling any heat exhaustion. I have a lot of nice uncles and cousins who take me places. They also sometimes do fun things for me like buying me ice cream or playing games.
There are also many tasty foods in Romania like something called “mămăligă”, which is a type of cornmeal mush, which goes very well with “sarmale”, ground meat rolled in cabbage. Another typical daily meal is made with one of several exotic different types of soup. Romanians love to entertain and get together around good food. Among all these fun activities, the closest to my heart is saving stray cats. There are kittens everywhere: in the river, on the side of the road or on the hills. I hear their cries and take them home to Mamaia where I can nourish and love them. The cats are cute, they behave, and I help them stay healthy by keeping them warm and feeding them milk.
I think I am such a lucky boy that I am able to grow up in two different cultures and love and appreciate them both.
