Long Time, No Blog

I'm back! Sorry for the hiatus, but it's been a busy time for me lately. First, let's talk about the pictures, shall we? First, we have yours truly with Mrs. Lupu, the Director of Hogas High as we prepare to do our duties as member of the judges' panel at the 5th grade Halloween pageant. What a production! The 11th graders organized and ran the show and the kids were great. They presented themselves as individuals, put on a group play, danced and had a costume contest. The kids here really get into Halloween and make quite a big production out of it. I also went to 3 other parties the following day for 8th, 9th and 10th grade.

Next, that's Ica, Victor and my friend Joel with Codlea in the background. We all went for a walk last Sunday and Joel got the birds-eye view, as well as the tour of the town. The weather was absolutely fabulous!

So yes, Joel made it to Codlea in his trusty Daewoo rental. He got lost a couple of times on the way, but finally made it. We ate a lot (of course), drank Tuica and hung out with Victor and Ica on Friday night. It was my first experience as an interpreter and both Ica and Joel said I did a good job. Whew! Good practice for when Sarah comes!

Saturday we went to Brasov (in the CAR!!!) and we took in the sights and went to the Scottish Pub. It was at the Scottish Pub that I ate a REAL Cheeseburger, not the Romanian version which I'm not sure is actually meat. Anyway, it was big, and it was legit. Had some fries with it and boy was I happy. I couldn't tell you the last time I had a real burger. Two kilts up for the Scottish Pub. I'm going back for sure. The other cool thing about the day in Brasov was that I was able to see some things that I had never seen before.

It was the first time that I was in Brasov strictly as a tourist. We went to the old Saxon Black Church and the newly restored White Tower, both about 500 years old. It was really great to do a little sightseeing and learn more about the history of the city. It used to be a full-fledged garrisoned medieval city with defensive towers, walls and a moat. Brasov is great. I like it more and more everytime I go. I now know why it and its surrounding area is Romania's number 1 tourist attraction. So, for those of you who are planning, or will be planning a trip to Romania(that's right people, you don't have a choice in the matter, you must come here at least once in your life :) ), I must suggest that you start with the Brasov area first.

Sunday afternoon we hopped in the CAR and drive north to Piatra Neamt. Going by car cuts 2 hours off of the trip, 4 1/2 instead of 6 1/2 hours. However, I miscalculated a bit, as we should have left 2 hours earlier. The last two hours of the trip were in the dark and, needless to say, the conditions were a bit difficult. Dark, two lane, potholed highways populated by horse-drawn carts and villagers (no sidewalks) made for quite the adventurous drive. Joel earned his stripes though. Not many Americans can say that they drove through Moldavia at night and lived to tell about it. He, nor I will ever forget that drive.

Monday through Wednesday were spent going to class and having dinner at my top three places here in Piatra: Pizza 66 (pretty damn good pizza), Nefertiti (good, cheap Turkish food), and the Cercul Gospodinelor (or, as I like to call it, the fancy Romanian restaurant on top of the mountain). We also, courtesy of Joel, were able to enjoy some episodes of season 2 of Chappelle's Show. Joel brought me the entire second season on DVD!!!! What a gift!!!! I'm sure that this gift will bring much joy not only to myself, but to many other PCVs in the future. Thanks again buddy.

Joel also spoke to a bunch of classes that have a mathematics/informatics focus and basically told them about himself and what he does for a living. He talked about web design, network engineering and even gave an interesting little lecture on the idea behind the MP3 and IPod. Very interesting stuff and I know that the kids and their teachers (including me) really appreciated it. But alas, he had to go back to civilization sometime, so we parted ways at about 4:50am on Thursday morning. He drove to Bucharest and flew back to Paris. He's probably enjoying his last night in Amsterdam right about now. Quite a vacation, huh?

So, it's Sunday night and I've got to finish creating a homework assignment for my geography class. A little map identification activity. Painless. I'm not trying to break their balls. Week 8 starts tomorrow. Even though time seems to move fast now, I still feel as though I've been here for a lot longer than I have. It's a weird sensation. Sarah will be here in less than 8 weeks, and, after the end of next week, I'll be 25% done with the school year. Amazing. I'm headed to Codlea this weekend again, as I've decided to try to go every two weeks. It's not nearly enough though.....I love my Mama and Tata. La revedere, numai bine si pe curand.