Who would like to hang out in the foothills of the Zarand mountains (right under a castle ruin and a hill that's famous in Romania for being a great paragliding spot) and take care of an apartment and a cat for the summer? I need to go back to the States from 15-July to 5-Sept for a sabbatical and need someone to watch Rayah (my cat).
I live in an apartment block near the center of Siria (pronounced Shuria) Romania (it’s near the Hungarian border – if you look at a map of Romania, it looks a bit like a fish – I’m near the spot where the eye would be). From my apartment I can see the foothills and the castle ruins. There’s a Carrefour located directly across the street from me, and a local grocery shop just a couple of blocks away. There are great walking trails into the hills, reasonable bus transport from the village to lots of other places – Arad is the closest major city and it’s about 30 km away, Timisoara is next and it’s around 80 km away. In one of the nearer villages (Pancota) there’s a public market where fruit, veg, clothing and animals (among other things) are sold (it makes a nice outing on a Saturday) and in another village (Ghioroc), there is a small man-made lake (old mining quarry) that is fairly nice – lots of us use it in the summer… (there are bars, and sometimes live music). The village itself is fairly small, but in quite beautiful surroundings (at least I think so).
I live quite simply in two rooms (kitchen, living/sleeping space and bathroom), on the 2nd floor (3rd floor if you’re American), there’s also a terrace and a balcony that looks out over the hill. Rayah will be just over a year old in July – and is quite loving (although she can be a bit needy (her personality is a bit more dog-like than cat-like)) – she’s an indoor cat and never been outside and I’d like to keep it that way.
The culture of Romania is fairly laid back – in the villages, it’s a bit quiet, but there are two fairly large cities that are easy to get to and have night life, movies, etc., but not in the village.
There are quite a few people in the village who speak some English – but none of the neighbors in my stairwell do… If you came to me, then I’d introduce you to them, and also introduce you to some of my colleagues who are here over the summer and give you some contact nrs in case you needed anything…
If it did work out for you to come, you could fly into Budapest, Hungary or Timisoara, Romania - you can take a train from Bud or Timi or Flixbus from Budapest airport, or I can arrange transport for you from either airport…or if you’re training or busing in Europe, the nearest transit point would be Arad, Romania. If you train or bus, then you'll still need to make your way to Siria...I can help with that - there are buses, but since you might not know where you're going, I'd not recommend it for your first time