Bucharest City Tales: Saying hello again to my old friends, Mr. Sun Lotion and Mr. After Sun

Columnist Eleonore af Schaumburg-Lippe writes in her weekly column about life as an expat in Romania. This week she writes about how it is to be the whitest girl in town. The sun here in Romania is quite strong, so it is not always easy being Danish and having fair skin, or I might even say the whitest skin in town. Not all Nordic people are blonde and have blue eyes, I for example happen to be dark blonde with blue eyes and with this very white skin that does not always get along with the Southern sun. When I moved to Romania, expat friends would tell me horrifying stories. Take care, you are so blonde/white, that you will lose your hair because of the strong sun, so you have to wear a cap every day during summer. One even added: I am not sure your skin can make it in Romania, it will burn off. I still remember those words as they haunted me for a while. The first very warm summer I experienced in Romania, I was wrapped in summer clothes covering arms and legs and wearing a cap almost everywhere I went, but in the end it got too warm to be dressed and covered like this. Sun lotions from 30, 50 even factor 80 became my best friend, and I would pour it on in quite a thick layer, but luckily my skin managed. That is to say it didn’t get burned that much, and my hair stayed on. Now my white skin has adapted to the sun, but this year I must admit I got sunburned already in March. Who gets sunburned in March? Friends started to notice the color on my face, and asked me if I was on holiday. Actually, no, I answered, I have not been outside of Romania, just strolling down the streets of Bucharest, and enjoying a day near an artificial lake in Bucharest. But that was enough to turn white to red on my skin. Sitting there a day in March with a friend near the lake just enjoying life, I had completely forgotten about the combination of water and sun and the effects it can have on my skin, as I was enjoying the conversation and gazing at the lake, which reminded me of the sea in Denmark, that I must admit I miss at times. It was a great day, but back home after the lake visit, my right arm was already burned; this was really not so pretty - we call it in Danish a 'trucker arm', since they usually have one arm out in the sun which always gets burned while they drive their truck. So my stock of sun lotion had to be found from its hidings; it wasn’t very warm yet, still springtime, but my old friend Mr. Sun Lotion factor 35 seemed happy to see me again, not to mention his friend Mr. After Sun Lotion. Actually it’s interesting to be the whitest girl in town, even in Denmark I was considered whiter than others because of the simple fact that my legs, no matter how long time I stay in the sun, just don’t tan, they don't even get red, they just stay white. Actually in Romania people seem to be fascinated with my whiteness, my almost albino tendencies - “the albino” as one teacher at school once named me. They would tell me: you almost look transparent, and my legs would almost blind people with their sharp whiteness. So in order to avoid any traffic disasters and having drivers blinded by my white legs, I will increase the supply of Mr. Sun Lotion and Mr. After Sun Lotion and add brown stockings on top, grandmother style. These are not always that easy to find, they require running around to find older lady wear shops, where I usually don’t go to, or searching for the small, one person shops on the streets where they sell stockings. By now these people already know me, and will even stop me, if they got new supplies of the stockings I search for, so my stock of brown, sandy colored stockings is almost full by now, and I am ready for summertime! Actually some of them were surprised, they believe it to be my own color and can’t even imagine that I can be white than that, since sand is not really adding any color. It has just always been like this, my whiteness is a part of me, and my turning red into looking like a tomato added a sprinkle of freckles - well, that’s just me, so I already now apologize if I may blind you with my whiteness. That aside, we all have to look at our budgets, as sun lotion, after sun and brown stockings do add to the summer budget. So once in a while, I dismiss this part of my budget and just go out being and looking white, and spend the money on travels instead. But Mr. Sun Lotion continues to be a dear friend.