Dans le détroit du Lac Érié (In the strait of Lake Erie) - part 4

A piece of Romania, in the heart of America

Michigan is home to some 40.000 Romanians, the 4th largest community in America. It’s almost impossible not to meet Romanians on the streets, especially in the suburbs of Detroit. Although most of them have been Americanized, you can still see the home land in their eyes and soul. And let’s not forget their overwhelming hospitality, something most people back home have long forgotten.

Would you believe me if I told you they miss Romania so much (even though they wouldn’t admit it) that they even have shops where they can buy Romanian products such as the famous Eugenia wafer?

Once, I was visiting some of my Romanian-American friends and they had this house in the middle of nature, looking all American on the outside. I bet you can’t guess what it looked like on the inside. Remember those Sci-Fi movies where they open a door and on the other side it’s another dimension or a parallel universe? Well, that’s what happened when I entered that house – it was like I was back in Romania, somewhere in the countryside – carpets, rugs, icons, everything.

But the most emotional moment happened after some three weeks after I got there. I was driving through Warren, Michigan, one of Detroit’s suburbs, as I was supposed to meet with my friends at a Romanian church. I was almost at my destination, in some sort of trance (thinking of and missing home) when suddenly I felt what seemed like a lump in my throat and my eyes moist to the point of tearing. I stopped the car, and just stared for a few minutes at the image that had brought me to that emotional state: above the trees, under the American sky, I saw a Romanian flag fluttering...a home away from home.

The end.