Medias is a small town where Alex spent most of his school days and his family home is here, as are some relatives. We timed our journey today to arrive here in time to pick up Alex’s brother from school to take him with us to Cluj where we will visit the salt mines on the next day.
Our lunch was at a large restaurant situated at the top of a hill, next to a wooded nature reserve. Today I ordered the stuffed cabbage as this is the first time I see it on the menu. I was surprised Alex did not order that too. “Nah,” he says, “it would not be as good as my mother’s stuffed cabbage.” Sadly, he was right as I have tasted his mother’s stuffed cabbage before when he had brought them back on his previous visits home. These were nowhere as good in flavour and nor were they as tightly wrapped and compact as the ones made by Alex’s mother.
After lunch we took up Alex’s suggestion to walk down the hill along the woods to enjoy the fresh air and the walk. This hill has a source of fresh spring water and we spotted Ciprian refilling our water bottles with the water. It is such a great thing to have this source of free water available to anyone. No chemicals, just fresh water.
As we walked down the hill, we encountered 2 young boys aged no more than 10 years who kept pace with us. One of them has a phone and he kept taking selfies on the phone. I soon realised that he was actually trying to take a picture of the three of us surreptitiously. We, being Chinese, are a novelty to them. I thought later that I should have photobombed their selfies – that would have been such fun.
We stopped by the village just outside of Medias to visit Alex’s home. It is a lovely little house with beautiful roses in the front garden and an enormous vegetable garden at the back. They are truly self sufficient as they even have their own well for their water supply.
As we wandered round, I can imagine they have many wonderful summer evenings sitting out here having a barbecue and enjoying the company of their friends and relatives. And I know there is nothing more precious than spending time with people we love – eating, drinking and enjoying their company.
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