The Double Whammy / Back to Codlea

That's right folks, yours truly is a millionaire - a million lei that is. Right now a million lei is about 35 bucks. It sure is some snazzy currency isn't it? It's similar to Australia's money in that it is synthetic, waterproof and has a little clear window in it. The moustachioed fellow adorning the bill is Mr. Ion luca Caragiale, a prized writer and the pioneer of satiric comedy here in Romania. He's big.

Anyway, my "friend" the math teacher and schedule maker has finally done it. He gave me the double whammy - British History and British Geography at 7am on Tuesdays and Thursdays, respectively. Multumesc domnule. Geo is tomorrow. I'm going to have to do a dance or something to get these kids going at 7. If anyone has any suggestions on how I can incorporate dance into a geography lesson I'd love to hear from you.

Today was weird. I woke up with my head in a haze (maybe it was that double shot of Tuica I had before bed?) and I felt like a zombie all day. As I walked down the street towards the library for Romanian language tutoring, the sound of some pseudo-pop-traditional-I don't know what the hell kind of music became louder and louder. Wondering where it was coming from, I looked across the street and saw a table set up with a big speaker and a few people sitting there. There were posters everywhere and the guy on the mike was enticing people to come buy a CD and get an autograph from the artist, who was sitting at the table trying his best to look Euro-cool (yes, this is a look). Turns out he is some old, washed up pop star (I talked to my tutor). Makes sense because he was hawking his CDs on a street corner in Piatra Neamt. Only in Romania.

After tutoring I walked down to the bus station to get my ticket for tomorrow's trip to Codlea and saw one of my students. I spoke to him briefly (in English) as we crossed the street then parted ways. Next thing I know this smiling drunk guy in a suit is trying to speak to me in English and insists on shaking my hand, a lot. All he could get out was "Hello" so I started speaking Romanian to him. This definitely threw him for a loop as he could hardly speak (Romanian). Could have been because he was piss drunk, but anyway....He starts to tell me that he's a lawyer and whips out his official Romanian lawyer ID book (yes, such a thing exists) and starts asking me if I need help getting home to America (he's a lawyer, so he does things like this all of the time right?). I then explained who I was and what I was doing here and he was, again, flabbergasted (and wasted). I smiled, wrenched my hand away from him and walked briskly away to get my ticket. Only in Romania.

So it's back to Sweet Home Codlea tomorrow for some good times and good food. A welcome respite from the daily grind and lonely feelings here in Moldova.

I need to rant

Why in the hell am I teaching British History to a bunch of Romanian kids at 7:00am? Will somebody please give me a good reason for this? AHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Getting Comfortable

As usual, I've posted a picture for your viewing pleasure. This is Peles Castle in Sinaia. It was the summer residence of King Carol I and is now a museum. I visited the castle in July when group 20 wen to out counterpart conference. If you think that the exterior is impressive, well, you should see the interior. I've never seen such beautiful and ornate wood work in my life. Quite impressive and highly recommended for those of you who might one day come to Romania.

Anyway, back to the present. I've got two weeks of school under my belt now and have finally met all of my students. In total, I see about 270 students a week. Unfortunately, this means that I only get 50 min. a week with each kid. At first I thought that this was not enough time for me to be effective. However, I'm starting to change my mind because my classes are so drastically different from everything else that they do. As a result, I think that they will remember their experience with me no matter how much time we have together.

For the most part, these kids are great. Most of them are really eager to learn and I haven't had any problems yet. They really seem to enjoy my presence here. In fact, there has been some controversy due to the fact that some classes (the bilingual ones) are quite upset that they do not have me as a teacher. One class went so far as to file a formal complaint, signed by them and their parents, with the school director! While I'm very flattered by this, the last thing that I want is to be the impetus of tension between students, parents and the administration. I can't see everybody. So, I spoke to them yesterday on my day off and told them that they could talk to me anytime if they see me outside of class. I hope that they calm down a bit and just accept the situation.

I think that I'm starting to "turn the corner" in terms of my comfort level here. I've been in Piatra Neamt for about 6-7 weeks now and am getting used to the situation. Living alone, teaching, etc., it's all so different and I was having a bit of a rough time as recently as last week. But, after a long and productive talk with Sarah, things started to get better for me. Combine that with my comfort level at school, the beginning of formal Romanian language tutoring and just a general feeling of familiarity of my city and I think that I now know why I'm feeling better.

It's a gray and wet Saturday today here in Piatra. I think that last weekend was the end of summer as the weather has been getting progressively cooler here. I think that the fall and winter will be similar to Chicago. I think I'll be able to handle that, even though I may not like it. I'll be doing some shopping today for food and various other items. I also need to go to the autogara to find out bus and maxi-taxi schedules to Brasov. I'll be visiting Ica and Victor next weekend and we'll be going to a wedding. It will be my first Romanian wedding and should be quite the cross-cultural experience. I'd like to leave on Thusday after school, but I'm not sure about the schedules. Ideally, I'd like to take a maxi-taxi south to Bacau, change maxi-taxis and continue southwest to Brasov. I could save about two hours with this method. However, there's always the 7:30am Friday bus to Brasov. However, based on my previous experience, I'd like to avoid that option if possible.

I hope that all is well with you loyal blog readers. Please send me an e-mail or post a comment, as hearing from people back home always makes my day! Pa! (bye)

A Day in the Life

First of all, let's talk about this picture. Do not be fooled, this is par for the course here in Romania. The horse-drawn cart or "Caruţa" (ca-root-za) is frequently seen sharing the road with mechanized vehicles. Many even have license plates! This picture was taken on the road which lies on top of the giant Bicaz dam, part of Romania's hydroelectric power system.

Anyway, a friend of mine asked if I might be able to do a "day in the life" post, however mundane it might be. So, I'll indulge you all. However, remember that I still haven't established a firm routine yet, so this will change. Maybe I'll do another one next month or something. Anyway, here goes:

7:00am - Wake up to the sounds of chattering students and the dreaded school bell that sounds something like a high-pitched version of the typical European police car siren (think of any action movie set in Europe with a car chase). Ouch.

8:30am - Go into school and sign the "condica" in the teachers' room. The condica is this big book that lists every class for the day and who is teaching each class. For each of your classes, you must give a brief description of the day's lesson and sign your name. Also, please note that teachers here don't have their own rooms, so we have one big room with a big table for everybody. Very different.

9:00am - this is usually when I start classes. Let the fun begin!

1:00 or 2:00pm - this is usually when I finish classes. Let the nap begin!

After class, I try to recap what happened in each class and record information in each individual class folder. I also have to record absences, daily grades (participation for Eng. conversation), etc. I also run errands, get some lunch, blah, blah, blah.

In the evening I plan for the next day's classes. If I'm lucky, I'll get to watch a good soccer game before I go to bed. I'm digggin' the Spanish League. Barcelona is my team. Ronaldinho from Brazil is the man.

Oh yeah, another thing that I'm going to be doing on Tuesday and Thursday nights is teaching English at Gabby's organization. It'll be about 20 adults. I'm going to try to keep it loose and fun, as I don't see how I'll really have any time to devote to planning.

Many changes to come though.....I'll keep you all posted.

Monastery Marathon!

Nice pic huh? That's inside of Secu Monastery near Targu Neamt. I went on a little vacation this weekend with Victor and Ica. It turned out to be more than I bargained for. We started a monastery tour at 7am and didn't get back until 9pm. At least 9 of those 14 hours were spent riding around in a little micro bus with a drunk tour guide (he wasn't driving, he was on the mic) and 17 Romanians. 6 or 7 Monasteries were visited. I'm not sure of the exact number because I was about done after the 3rd one. I slept in the grass outside of number 5 or 6 because I just couldn't take it anymore. The ride was bumpy, the conversation was loud and in Romanian and, for those of you who've been reading the blog since summer, the dreaded "curent" was in full effect.

At about 4pm, after sweating my ass off inside of this bus all day, I finally announced (in Romanian) that the curent is not true, just like Dracula. As a result, the bunica in front of me cracked her window a bit for me so I could get a whiff of fresh air. Immediately thereafter, the woman sitting next to her proceeded to wrap her sweater around her head. It was 80 degrees outside. This curent thing is out of control. 15 minutes later I saw a woman walking down the street with a scarf and wool hat on her head. Crazy.

So, today was the first day of school and my first classes are tomorrow. Wish me luck.....

Cool Hats

If you come to Romania, you too can model fabulous hats! First, we have yours truly modeling what I like to call the "Hungarian Cone", which is featured prominently in Harghita County (the site of the photo) and other predominatly Hungarian areas in Romania. Next, we have Gabby (my site mate) featuring the "Romanian Hunter", a fine cap made from pure animal skin, au natural. These photos were taken a few weeks back when I went on a trip with Gabby's organization to Lacu Rosu (Red Lake) and the Bicaz Gorges, two of Romania's natural tourist attractions and located in a national park. Cool.

Anyway, today is Tuesday and I still haven't done much as far as school is concerned. This system is soooo different than the American system. We've got 5 days to go before the first day and the friggin' schedules aren't even set yet. With the exception of two brand new English teachers, Oana and Brindusa, nobody talks to me or gives me any advice. At this point, the only thing the three of us have done is bitch and moan about the current situation and how there's only one friendly veteran English teacher. My counterpart is always too busy for me, so I guess this is just going to be the way it is. I'm going to do my thing and I hope they approve. If not, then they better actually COMMUNICATE with me. Don't get me wrong, most of the young people are pretty open; it's the older generation that's been conditioned not to talk too much.

Sooo, since nothing is happening here this week and everyone who CAN help me either doesn't talk to me or doesn't have time for me, I'm going to go to see Victor & Ica in Vatra Dornei on Thursday night and do some monastery hopping. A little vacation for me before classes start on Monday. I'm not worried about it too much because the first week's going to be a wash. And maybe the second, third, fourth.....

More pics to come now that I'm all hooked up here in the apt.

Salut,
Mr. Flexible

Fotbal Ceahlaul!

Victor and I went to the soccer game in Piatra Neamt yesterday. The team is called F.C. Ceahlaul (named after the big mountain in the area). F.C. Ceahlaul is in orange and F.C. Botosani is in blue. The mountain you see in the background is Pietricica, which is located in the center of Piatra Neamt (note the big TV antenna/tower). We had a lot of fun! Ica and Victor are visiting me this weekend and will be off to the resort town of Vatra Dornei today. I'll be joining them on Friday for the weekend!

Yesterday, Romania beat Czech Republic 2-0 in a world cup qualifier to keep their hopes alive for a spot in World Cup 2006. It was a very important game and it's all over the news today. The World Cup is in Germany next year and I hope that I'll be able to visit and catch a game.......I'm watching a lot of soccer these days and am enjoying it very much. The fans are so passionate about the game! It's fun to watch games from different countries and learn the different styles of play. Aside from all of the World Cup qualifiers this summer, I've seen games from the Spanish league, the English league, and of course, the Romanian league. Tonight is Brazil vs. Chile. I'm definitely going to check that out....

September is Here

Hello all. Sorry I've been so incommunicado lately. Just trying to get my life in order. So I showed up to school today for day one all primed and ready to go. Not surprisingly, nothing really happened. Aside from meeting a couple English teachers, I did nothing but sit at a table in the teacher's room (it's kind of like a big boardroom), make notes to myself and read PC materials on teaching. After about an hour and a half Florin (my professional counterpart and Vice Director of the school) came in and told me I should go becuse there's nothing going on today. Okay then. So, I wait. Fine with me. I'm friggin' Mr. Flexibilty at this point. When I come back home you're all going to call me Gumby.

After I left school I responded to some emails, including Ica's, which takes a long time because I need to translate and then respond in Romanian. Ica and Victor are going to come visit me tomorrow. Their daughter Delia (my new sister) was kind enough to send them some money from NYC for a vacation. This will be Ica & Victor's first time in Moldova. I believe that, aside from visiting Piatra Neamt with me, they will go to the painted monasteries and visit a resort with hot springs or something. I think its called Vatra Dornei.

I just got back from the gym (yes, I have a gym to go to) and fixed myself the usual lunch of a piece of fruit, bread, telemea cheese (it's kind of like feta but not as salty), and piept de pui (chicken lunchmeat). Now I have to clean the apartment and continue proofreading Florin's son's doctoral dissertation on postmodern Canadian literature. That's not a joke by the way. Big favor for Florin. Big favor.