Blue Arrow?

This post's photo was taken waaay back in early August on the front steps of Scoala General Nr. 3 in good 'ol Codlea. These are the people, along with our language teachers, that I lived with in Codlea this summer. Many of them are good friends of mine. As it happens, I was fortunate enough to see a few of them this past weekend. Let's get to that now shall we?

I woke up at 5:00 am on Saturday to catch a train to Focsani,.......ok, I started this post last night but was too tired to finish. Tonight, I have no time. Tomorrow I'm going to Codlea directly after class, so I'll have no time tomorrow. I will go to the internet cafe in Codlea on Friday and continue. Just wanted to let all you loyal readers that I'm still bloggin'. So, until Friday then, ok? Bye.

It's a snowy Saturday here in Codlea and I'm a day late. I didn't feel very well yesterday. Around 2pm I felt very fatigued and had some nausea. Ica came home from work and, of course, she was very worried. I had a feeling that I was just overtired, but she wasn't taking any chances. She proceeded to: take my blood pressure, take my pulse, rub vinegar all over my hands and forehead (a bit of traditional medicine I guess), place a cold compress on my head and give me mint tea with lemon. After about a 3 hour nap I was ok. We then drove through the snow in the Dacia for a trip to Metro and I was able to buy some sweaters and a scarf. It's starting to get really cold here in Romania, especially since I'm always in a mountainous zone.

So, let's go back in time a bit. As I said before, I went to Focsani last weekend. My friend Jonathon was hosting a birthday get together for another volunteer. His name is Bridger and he also lives in Moldavia in a city called Onesti. You may be wondering at this point what a Blue Arrow is, right? Well, that's the name of the train I took. Romania unveiled these brand new trains this summer and they are the pride of the CFR (Romanian rail system). They were manufactured by Siemens (Germany) this year and are very different from the rest of the fleet, as everything else is a communist era relic. Modern, clean, but not very fast (as the name might lead you to believe). I think this has less to do with the train itself and more to do with the tracks and system as a whole. I'll explain.

I was about an hour late going to Focsani and three hours late going home. Moldavia experienced massive flooding this summer, and, as a result, the tracks are still really messed up. What is frustrating is that CFR won't update their train schedules to account for the delays. They've known that these trains have been running behind schedule for months now, but do nothing to accomodate passengers. That's that good 'ol Romanian customer service for 'ya. As Jonathon and I froze our asses off on the platform last Sunday, an update for the Blue Arrow to Bucharest was announced over the PA system. About a hundred people let out a collective groan after they were told the train would be an hour late. I'm sure there was some cursing as well, but my Romanian is not that polished yet. Maybe next year I'll understand all of the dirty words....

The party in Focsani was really fun. There were about ten of us packed into Jonathon's apartment. We watched a lot of DVD's, drank many litres of homemade white wine (less than a dollar a litre) and caught up on each other's lives. It's really interesting how people can feel so close to one another in a situation like this. In the grand scheme of things we hardly know each other, but many of us have formed a bond and have become fast friends. I guess this experience naturally brings people together. I think that I've made some friendships that will last for a long time. Anyway, Jonathon and I cooked (for 10), everyone had his/her fair share of wine, and we all parted ways on Sunday.

I had mixed results at school this week. Wednesday was good, as I was able to have my first session of "office hours". Florin gave me the keys to the "Modern Languages Lab" (which is simply a nicer classroom for the kids with advanced foreign language abilities. It has a proper heater as well) and I met with four students. I'm writing a letter of recommendation for a girl who wants to attend university in the US and I'm helping three other students prepare for an oral English exam. The conversation I had with the three students was excellent. They are very sophisticated and well-informed for their age and the topics we covered were wide-ranging and complex. The fact that they can have such conversations in English is even more impressive. There's no way I could have such a conversation with three 17 year-old American students. These kids have a thirst for knowledge and information and are willing to work very hard to improve their situation in life. They're hungry and are determined to make something of themselves. Not surprisingly, they're all female. No offense, but males here are a bit lazy and complacent. I hate to stereotype, but that's just my opinion. Girls make better students anyway.

Thursday's bus ride was interesting. The driver decided to blast "Musica Popular" the whole way down to Brasov. It was as if he was piping the Favorit and Etno channels through his PA system, and loud. So much for chilling out with my headphones. Ahhhhhh! For my fellow PCVs, you know what I'm talking about. For everybody else, you'd have to experience this yourself to understand. Luckily, I took a little video (with audio) on the bus, so all you people back home will get a taste when I come back.

Jonathon is here with his lady friend from Sibiu and I think that they're going to come over tonight for dinner. They're staying with Jonathon's gazda here in Codlea. We're gonna eat some Mici and drink some Palinka from Zalau. Palinka is a stronger version of Tuica. Apparently, the best Palinka comes from Zalau, so we've got the good stuff. I had one last night and I enjoyed it. Dangerous though, because it has a lot more alcohol than Tuica and goes down smoother. Limit 2 shots.

I was able to stroll around a bit today and take some pics of Codlea. The snowmakes for some picturesque conditions and I will be sure to post a pic when I get back to Piatra. There's a great soccer game on tonight, Real Madrid vs. Barcelona. Victor and I are pumped. These are two of the best teams in the world and our man Ronaldinho will be in action. Go Barcelona! I'll catch the 3:30 bus tomorrow afternoon. I hope that the weather conditions won't impede my journey. The last thing I want is to get in really late tomorrow evening, as I've got 5 classes in a row on Monday. Well, that's about it for now. I'm actually enjoying the snow because it made me realize how close Christmas is. It also means that Sarah will be here soon! Until next time, Numai Bine.