Halfway down the Danube

In praise of suburbia

Over at Apartment 11D, Laura had an interesting article about raising kids in the city (scroll to Wednesday, May 19). It made me think about what we will do when, one day, we move back to the US. We're very likely going to move to a metropolitan area of some sorts -- international lawyers aren't much in demand in Pierre, North Dakota.

One of the reasons Laura gives for her impending move to the suburbs:

Outdoors. Kids like to be outside. Try carrying a bike, a stroller, and a three year old down four flights of stairs. If the baby needs a nap, then no one goes outside. If one kid is sick, then no one goes outside.

My kids are outside kids, too. They are both full of energy and need to run around all day long.

Now, I do have to say that here in Bucharest, we have it very good. We don't have a yard (or not one that the kids can play in -- the landlords planted a little flower bed) but we do have a fulltime nanny. She takes the kids to Kiseleff park where they stay all day long and get a tan (no mommy police here -- they are staying in the shade). All the nannies of the neighborhood meet there, so there's tons of kids every day. They play together, ignore each other, steal toys from each other. Alan's Romanian is better than his father's and mother's combined. He and his brother develop great social skills.

BUT.

The other day, at our weekly playgroup, I saw the house of my mommy-friend I. for the first time. Boy. Forget the house which is huge and wonderful and has a kitchen with an island. What I really envy her for is that she has a yard. And I mean a big yard. Most of it is covered in downy soft grass, it sports a swing set and a giant playhouse and has space for an entire preschool class. David was rolling around in the grass for hours - no danger of him picking up cigarette butts, crawling into dog crap, reaching into glass shards. It was so... relaxing. I couldn't help myself but thinking: I want this for my boys. It would be so cool if we could just open the door in the morning for them to run out into the yard and play.

That's the stuff my dreams are made of these days.

Don't get me wrong - I like cities. I grew up in a big one (Istanbul, Turkey). But we lived in the suburbs and we had a house with a big yard. We had a swing set, cherry trees, mulberry trees and a tree house. That was great.
I lived in Dupont Circle in Washington, DC, and I loved it there - still do. I'm going back for visits and have pangs of longing. The restaurants, the book shops, the invigorating atmosphere.

I can't imagine moving back there with two kids. Even with an elevator, a dish washer and a park around the corner. The schools suck. Traffic is horrible. Parking is impossible. The air isn't so great, either.

No, I want a suburban house with a yard and enough inside space for rainy days, in a good school district. Of course, the real estate prices in suburban DC being what they are, we can't even begin to think about buying a house there. Earlier this year, we put in a bid on a house which was basically a tear-down. Asbestos siding and in the flood plane, the house really in bad shape. But it was a good location (Falls Hill, in Falls Church, VA). We opted out at $280,000. The buyer paid $350,000 and is now offering it for $449,000. I just checked and it seems not to be on the market anymore, meaning that someone paid that price. How crazy is that?

I guess, in the end, we will have to move to North Dakota after all.

Posted by claudia at May 21, 2004 10:47 AM