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My family is my home and home is indeed where your heart belongs
Elena and Khraw’s marriage may be one of the most beautiful examples of true love. Khraw left India for Brasov, Romania, to marry Elena after five years of online chatting and dating.
“We wanted to see if we were on the same page, if we shared the same perspectives and values,” Khraw explained.
“It took me some time to adapt to Romania with the language barrier, cultural differences, food, etc.,” Khraw added. “I felt lonely in the first two weeks. In India you see 50 people walking on a street at any given time, whereas in Braşov, you rarely see more than five people. Finding a job without knowing the language was one of the most difficult things. It took me three years to find a permanent position.”
“I felt much better after finding a church. The community helped me feel at home. The immigration centre in Brasov played a very important role in the whole adjustment process in terms of learning Romanian and meeting people facing the same challenges. I am also really grateful to my in-laws, who were by my side the whole time and made things easier for me,” he continued.
Despite the many differences between Romania and India, Elena thinks that Khraw has managed to adapt successfully and sees in him the man she always wished for. “Romania and India are totally different, from the streets and climate to the people and food,” she recounted. “Khraw makes his food exactly like he did at home, but he got used to our traditional cuisine: he likes soup and sarmale, but everything should be with rice, more precisely long grain rice.”
“I like his tenderness. He supports me in everything I want. I told him once: I want to buy many books for our children, because I didn’t have many when I was young. I want to read to our children every day,” she concluded.
Khraw misses his family and wishes he could still help them out. He also misses the close bond he had forged with his friends over the years. But he is confident about the choices he made.
“I don’t regret my decision because I have an awesome partner, my wife, and two wonderful boys who keep me busy,” he concluded. “They undoubtedly fill the void. My family is my home and home is indeed where your heart belongs. So, yes, Romania is home for me.”
