Trained Again

Photo: That's a 400 year-old Saxon tower in Sibiu, at the base of which is the restaurant "La Turn" (the tower).

I've now completed my second official Peace Corps training. The "IST" (In Service Training) has passed and, according to the Peace Corps, I will now be a more effective volunteer. We'll see. Sometimes you just need to concentrate on getting by day to day here in wonderful Romania.

I hopped on a train from Sibiu to Codlea this morning and am writing from the Codlea internet cafe. It's snowing pretty hard right now, which should make for some good photos later this weekend. I'll be here until Sunday and will then return to PN for the last week of classes before Christmas break. T-minus 13 days and counting for the arrival of Sarah. I wish I could just push the fast-forward button. My mind's not on anything else at the moment.

Sibiu is a great city. I felt like I was in a time-warp while walking the streets of the old Saxon town this week. The architecture is wonderful, the restaurants are good, there's plenty of cafes and bars to choose from and, hold onto your mouse, the service was good. Yes, I said it here folks, I finally found good service in Romania. Sibiu will be the "Cultural Capital" of Europe in 2007 when Romania (hopefully) accedes To the European Union. Good choice I think. Sibiu will also be the E.U. administrative seat in Romania, not Bucharest. This is a wise choice due to the fact that it is centrally located and not east or south of the Carpathian mountains. Due to its Saxon heritage, many Sibiuans speak German, which is good for business.

Some highlights from the Group 20 IST:

- An 8 1/2 hour bus ride from Piatra Neamt
- Receiving an envelope with 4 million lei upon arrival (I'm rich bitch)
- Drinking lots of beer and wine at "La Turn" as all of my fellow group 20ers trickled in as the night went on
- Vin Fiert (Hot Wine) with cinnamon
- Seeing all of my favorite language teachers and brushing up on some grammar
- Best pizza I've had in Romania
- Attending a lecture given by a journalist who runs Romania's only "media watchdog" organization
- Doing a little improv acting at the "Drama Without Tears" session for teachers
- Free food
- A real shower
- A comfortable bed
- Finding a book called Romania Redux: A view from Harvard at a local bookstore
- Last, but not least, spending a week with my fellow volunteers from Group 20 and enjoying every last minute of it (with a few minor exceptions. you can't like everybody, right?)

I'm in a bit of a daze right now after spending a week in a hotel with a bunch of Americans. Not something that I'm used to. I think that this daze will continue indefinitely, or at least until about the third week of January. I'm going to be on the road quite a bit and then will have to come back and prepare to finish the semester. Oh yeah, and then there's that two weeks of bliss stuck in between. Up and down I go and when it ends I will let you know.

Be sure to stay tuned for a pre-Christmas blog entry, complete with photos.......

Scott