The Past 20 Days....

THIS POST WAS MADE ON SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 26TH, 2006

Yes folks, I'm back. I regret to report that this has been my longest hiatus thus far and I must apologize to all of you loyal readers. So, on with the program. Interesting photo, huh? I am now armed with a supply of TamiFlu, courtesy of P.C. and the U.S. Govt. The area on the map in the background and to the right is the Danube Delta. More migratory birds find their way to this area than any in Europe. If Romania gets hit with an outbreak it's gonna come from there. In any event, I'm ready! However, P.C. will not evacuate us unless the Bird Flu mutates and begins to be transmitted from human to human. I highly doubt that this will happen, so I'm not going anywhere. Don't worry about me, ok?

So what have I been doing since the last post? Well, I was in Codlea until the 12th and did nothing but eat and drink. I swear that my pants got tighter inside of a week. Things are back to normal now though. I also helped Ica and Victor arrange the new furniture that Delia bought them for the living room. Really nice stuff. I think we may go to buy a new television as well this Friday when I go back to visit for my birthday. Yes folks, I'll be 31 very soon. Time flies. I don't feel old. Although some of you who read this blog may feel differently......just kidding.....It's all in the mind.

Today marks 9 months for me in Romania. Time to have the baby.....
I can tell you that things are pretty normal for me now. I've adjusted and the other day, for a split second, I had this feeling like I was at home. That must be a good sign. At this point, there's only one thing that I feel I need to work on and that's the language. I feel like I've hit a wall. I need to expand my capabilities. The only problem is that I don't have many opportunities to speak Romanian. I'm sure it will all come in time though. Maybe I'll have more time to devote to language study in the coming months and next school year. I guess we'll see.

School is going well. 10th grade is reading Animal Farm and 11th grade is reading 1984. I'm doing an E.U. Intergration unit with 12th grade and I get to teach U.S. history and geography this semester instead of British. Yee Haw! We're talking about gun control in 11th grade U.S. Culture and Civ. I'd like to show them Bowling for Columbine. I'm going to try to get my hands on a copy one way or the Romanian way (Piracy baby). I started a secondary project last week at the economics high school with my teacher friend Ovidiu. We are presenting DVD lectures to a group of bilingual students interested in history. This semester's class is Interpreting the 20th Century: The Struggle For Democracy. I brought these DVDs with me with the intention of doing something like this. These kids are basically going to get a college course for free. We meet on Mondays from 5-7pm. There are three 30 minute lectures, each followed by a 10 minute discussion period that I facilitate. I hook up my laptop to a projector and we let it rip! It's really great. I hope to also show an economics course and a U.S. History course in the fall.

What else? We got a taste of Spring last week. Sunny, mid to upper 40s. It was a welcome reprieve from the frozen tundra. However, the snow came back yesterday and it's business as usual. Being from Chicago, this doesn't surprise me. I'm expecting bad weather into April. Anything other than that I'll consider a bonus.

In the world of football (soccer), two teams from Romania, Rapid and Steaua, have qualified for the round of 16 in the UEFA Cup, which is a big deal. Club teams from all over Europe compete in the UEFA Cup and Rapid and Steaua have proven that they are two of the best teams on the continent. The Romanians are pretty pumped about this. They love their football.....and so do I actually. There's a good Portuguese match on tonight that I'm going to watch, Benfica vs. Porto.

So as I said, things are pretty normal and uneventful right now. We're all just waiting for spring to come. Speaking of which, I may travel west for my spring break in April and visit a friend of mine in Timisoara. From there, we can visit Serbia and Hungary, as Timisoara, Belgrade and Szeged are all within 3 hours of each other. The plan isn't final, but I'll keep you all posted. After spring break it's smooth sailing; 7 weeks and then school's out! I think about my trip home multiple times a day. However, I've been asked to help out with the training for the new group of volunteers and may do a bit of that before I leave. If not, I'll see if I can help out when I get back. Group 21 will be here in late May. Apparently there's 85 of them! We were only 67. They kind of got the shaft though because they're not going to have their PST in Brasov. They will be in Ploiesti, an ugly industrial city north of Bucharest. Our group was lucky.

And speaking of luck, I too have been feeling lucky as of late. I know of many volunteers who aren't having an easy time of it here and are still having problems adjusting for one reason or another. I feel very fortunate to have Ica and Victor and my new friends and colleagues here in Piatra Neamt. I also am very lucky to have been placed in a good school that has provided me with a comfortable place to live. I enjoy important luxuries here that some volunteers don't, i.e. cable TV, washing machine, high-speed internet. I'd like to believe that I earned this, but you never know. So, I guess I can say that life is as good as it possibly can be here, and that's ok.

Well, I guess I should end on that positive note. I'll try to get back on the weekly update track so don't give up on me yet loyal readers!

Winter Break!

THIS POST WAS MADE ON TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 7TH.

Hello there. Today's photo was taken near "Lacul Ursu", or Bear Lake, in the resort town of Sovata, located in North Central Transylvania. From left to right we have Oana, her husband Radu, the American, Nicoleta, and Catalin. I decided to accompany my friends on a little weekend getaway and had an interesting time.....

We left Piatra Neamt on Saturday afternoon and drove over the top of the Eastern Carpathians into Harghita County, which is a predominatly Hungarian zone. I had my first taste of Hungarian cuisine here at a little restaurant in the country on our way to Sovata. The Goulash was mmmm good and the main course of hard-boiled eggs, sausage and potatoes with paprika was tasty as well. I also sampled the local brew, "Harghita", and drank some hot tuica. Hot tuica is a whole different experience than room temperature or cold tuica. Let's just say that it "warms you up" a bit faster.

We arrived at our small hotel around 5pm. My room was warm and clean, had a shower, TV, and a bed that made you want to sleep on the floor, and neighbors that liked to party. All for only 10 Euros! We then proceeded to walk to the Hotel Danubius and its famous spa. Lacul Ursu is a thermal salt lake that is about 30 to 40 degrees celcius year-round. It is also know to have certain properties that are beneficial to one's health. Hot springs and lakes such as this one are found all over Romania and the Romanians are convinced of their healing powers. I need a little more convincing. Anyway, the hotel pumps water from the lake into an indoor pool so people can enjoy the warm salt water in a spa setting. There's a sauna, steam shower, regular chlorine pool, massage services, etc.

I had known about such places before I came to Romania. I'd seen photos of people sitting around in thermal pools and doing nothing but that. And that's exactly what I did, sit around in a crowded pool of Romanians. I'd take the occasional sauna and steam shower break, but for the most part I just soaked in the salty warm pool. It wasn't that cool. It would have been much cooler if it was outdoors and there was more room move and stretch out. Also, I could have done without the onslaught of Speedos (know what I mean?). However, I must take into account that Romanians' concept of personal space and feelings about skin display are much different than Americans'. I don't think I'll go back. Although, don't get me wrong, I had a good time with the people I was with and it was something new to experience. I'd much rather do such a thing outdoors. However, there's no getting around the Speedo issue.

The next day we had a barbeque and went to Praid, a town with a giant underground salt cave. Apparently this cave has healing properties as well and is supposed to be quite the tourist attraction. Unfortunately, it was closed. We then proceeded to drive to the city of Targu Mures and went shopping at the Selgros Cash and Carry, a Romanian version of Costco. We don't have anything like this in Piatra Neamt, so it was quite a treat to be able to shop there. I bought some new sheets and some presents for Ica's birthday (next month). We drove home and stopped for some soup and a quick look at Bistrita monastery before arriving in Piatra on Sunday night.

I left for Codlea yesterday at 7am via bus and arrived yesterday around 2:30pm. I think that yesterday's ride was the coldest to date and am glad that I had the long underwear and thermal socks on. The gore-tex boots helped as well. It's just damn cold here. Apparently, Europe is experiencing an unseasonalbly cold winter. Lucky me. I'm wearing three jackets, a hat and a scarf right now. I'm also wearing thermal socks and my feet are still cold. And no, this is not an outdoor internet cafe. I think you get the picture. C'mon spring.......

It feels good to be "home". It had been a month since I'd seen Ica and Victor; the longest period of time since I've been in Romania. They're getting some new furniture delivered tomorrow and I'm looking forward to seeing and sitting on it. I'll be here all week eating and (hopefully) getting work done for school. Must....not....sleep....till....noon....every....day.