The last month in photos!

HANGING WITH 7TH GRADERS:  I spent an afternoon with some of my students.  First pizza and then shopping at Carrefour!

They met me at my apartment

Walking to pizza...it was a beautiful day!

Lots of ketchup on the pizza!

The pizza in Romania is GOOD!

Please ignore my very, very messy hair...I had no idea!
Oh, and the bottom of my t-shirt says, "...not War!"

The kids in front of our school!

We had to take a "play" break on the way to the store!

Relaxing inside Carrefour!

MY BIRTHDAY:  Here are the English teachers I work with at Școala 14...they bought me a cake and a gift for my birthday.  How nice was that??!!  

Flowers from ONE class (the 3rd graders below!)

PROTECTION IN NUMBERS:  The cats are all bundled up together, you can tell it's getting cooler outside!

WATCHDOG:  This is one of the MANY dogs that live next to my bloc.  This particular dog often sits and "watches" as you come and go...it's a little freaky!

WHAT A DEAL:  I bought all these veggies at the Piața - all organic, all fresh, and all for around 20Ron (the equivalence of about 7 bucks!)

They were even better after being slow roasted!

OASIS IN THE MIDST OF CHAOS:  The streets of București are like any big city...crowded and noisy.  As I was walking through town I heard some chanting in the distance and went to investigate.  Just a block from all the frenzy I found this little oasis where beautiful chanting was being broadcast outside, people were sitting, leaving flowers, and praying, and you couldn't hear any traffic at all.  I sat down, closed my eyes and just relaxed...it was heaven!

BUCUREȘTI AT NIGHT

IKEA:  Need I say more?!

Grant and I went to Ikea while in București.  This included:  a walk to the metro, a ride on the metro, a 30 min. bus ride - overall, about an hour to get there.  Which, surprisingly, is almost how long it would take me to get to Ikea in Cincinnati, by car...go figure!
While there Grant bought me a YUMMY lunch for a late B-Day gift.  Doesn't matter where you are, those swedish meatballs are fabulous!!!

MY APARTMENT:  Meg stated she would like to see more recent photos of my place.  So, now that I've made it mine...here they are!

My bedroom

Desk area in my bedroom - I sit here A LOT!

My bathroom

My kitchen

My living room

A TYPICAL EVENING:  I have become obsessed with the following dish:  onions, garlic, butter, white wine, chicken, pasta, peas and parmesan cheese.  Seriously...how will I ever lose weight eating this all the time??  It is SOOOO good though!

WASHING CLOTHES:  Doing laundry here is a bit of a chore.  Since I have no washing machine or dryer it's all done by hand.  For those of you who know me, I have always hated doing laundry, under the best circumstances.  I have been known to go out and buy more underwear to avoid doing laundry. (sad, but true!) Alas...now I have had to create a routine of weekly washing...by hand!  It's actually not as bad as I thought it would be...I'm building up strong arm muscles!!  Sheets are a bitch, though!!  Now that it's a bit cold I've moved my drying rack into the living room!  :)

FALL IN DROBETA TURNU SEVERIN!

The theater is finally painted - it looks great!
The inside is still under renovation, though.  :(

Usually these are filled up with people...you can tell the weather is turning!

Even in the cooler weather, there are roses blooming!

A park near one of my schools...
I was sitting on a bench relaxing before classes and was struck by how lovely it was.  The big church is also under renovation, but every night at 6pm I can hear the bells ringing throughout the city!

6 Month Mark

Can you BELIEVE it?  I have been in Romania for 6 months...I swear, it feels like 6 weeks.  Life is moving so fast - before I know it it'll be time to go home.  There is so much to do, so much to get done, where is the time going??


So, you may ask...what has Barbara REALLY been doing for 6 months in Romania?  Well...here's a brief rundown of my time here thus far (if you haven't been reading my blog, this is a great way to catch up in one posting!):

• I Spent 10 weeks in Targoviste in pre-service training - training every week day - eight  hours(+) a day - exhausting!
• I Learned (and still learning) to speak Romanian at an Intermediate Low level.
• I Learned about Romanian history, culture, food, education, holidays, dancing, etc.
• I Lived with a great family in Targoviste and enjoyed listening to their stories and hanging out with them.
• I Ate a LOT of pizza and drank a LOT of beer with my new group 28 friends.
• I Learned to watch out for cars trying to run you down!
• I Learned to love all the stray dogs - and they were everywhere in Targoviste.
• I Became a real PC Volunteer - got officially sworn-in, got a cool pin, got to hang at the Ambassador's house - no biggie!
• I Was sad to leave all my new friends in group 28 as we all headed to our new homes.
• I Moved all my crap to Drobeta Turnu Severin!
• I Moved into my cool apartment.
• I Moved out of my cool apartment (a slight bug problem)
• I Moved back into my cool apartment - no more problem!
• I Got to travel down the Danube River and see the beautiful sights.
• I Had a few day trips and meals with families of soon-to-be students.
• I Took many walks throughout town and in the forest with my new friends.
• I Traveled on the Romanian train system, a lot - slow, but reliable!
• I Conducted two week long 1/2 day camps at my schools...met some students...had fun!
• I Tried to teach the kids kickball...FAIL!  Will try again!!
• I Went indoor rock-climbing...sucked at it!
• I Walked around Severin, figuring out where everything I need is located.
• I Picked up lots of packages from the USA at the main post office - woohoo!!
• I Traveled to the following cities:  Tărgu Jiu - București - Orșova - Timisoara - Sinaia - Vladeni - Botosani - Suceava - Iași (I have a lot more to go!)
• I Started School - teaching 17 classes per week (that means I see about 200+ kids a week!)
• I Started an English Club.
• I Started a correspondence with a grade school in Wisconsin.
• I Went sightseeing in București - stole two beer glasses from a bar (thought of Mado & Chris!).
• I Went to Ikea in București (with my good friend Grant!)- doesn't matter where you are...people LOVE swedish meatballs!
• I Went out for pizza with a bunch of my students - Romanians seriously LOVE their pizza!
• I Got caught up in Halloween celebrations (exhausting!).
• I Have walked EVERYWHERE...seriously, no car...walk everywhere!
• I Have tried to occasionally stop, take a deep breath, and remember why I'm here...As my good friend Ferris always says:  "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it."
• And most importantly, I have done what seems like one million loads of laundry...by hand!  :)

Well...that's a BRIEF description of my life here.  There is so much that happens every day I could go on and on and on.  But, I won't (you're welcome!).  I have a lot of new pictures to post, but I'll do that later.  For now, I just once again want to thank everyone for their constant support and interest in what I'm doing here.  Romania is a wonderful country, I love what I'm doing here, and if the next 21 months go like the past 6 I will be one luck gal!

Things I love about Romania...

I love the fact that I can look out my bedroom window and see the Danube River.

I love lying in bed at night and hearing the deep horns from the barges going down the river.

I love that late, late at night I can hear the trains rumbling down their tracks.  

I love the fact that when faced with a flooded kitchen, it was cleaned up and fixed within 24 hours!

I love the kids I teach...especially the noisy 2nd and 3rd graders!

I love the fact that my 7th grade class sang Happy Birthday to me and showered me with flowers and gifts.

I especially love that one of the girls wrote “Happy Birthday, Barbara” in flower petals on the desk!

I love walking to school every day - I know...amazing!

I love that the teachers I work with are so welcoming and helpful.

I love my apartment...it’s so comfortable and homey!

I love that I have parks across the street from my apartment.

I love that I can hear the beautiful fountain every day from my bedroom window - until promptly 11pm, when it’s turned off.

I love that there are TONS of buckeyes all over the ground.

I love that I can walk to the official post office in 15 minutes - that’s a big deal!!

I love that there is a super Carrefour a short 45 minute walk away!!

I love that every day at 6pm I hear the church bells ring.

I love the fact that it has only rained one (1) day since I arrived in Severin.

I love the fact that even though it has not rained very much, all the trees and grass are green - they take such good care of the public space here.

I love that every morning when I walk to school I see men and women throughout the city sweeping the sidewalks and streets (reminds me of Russia!)

I love the fact that for a brief moment in time my hair matched the large majority of Romanian women over the age of 50...very red!!  :)

I love that everyone is (acts) surprised when I tell them how old I am!

I love the language...even though I don’t speak it very well (yet) it is beautiful!

I love taking the train...to anywhere!  Train travel is great!

I love that I am teaching again.  I had forgotten how much I liked it!

I love the fact that I’m a better teacher than I was 20 years ago...amazing what a little time and maturity will do, huh?!

I love all the other volunteers in my group!  They are all so supportive, helpful and just fun!

I love the fact that this country is never ending!  Their history is one of non-stop existence...even when everyone and their brother was trying to come in and take over.  It is a country of people who will always persevere and work to be the best they can be!

I love being able to tell Romanians how great their country really is...they often act surprised!

I love hearing Romanian music...traditional and current.  I especially love Taxi’s “Cele Doua Cuvinte.”

And finally... I love that I’m done planning tomorrow’s lessons.  I’m going to bed to read!  :)

Go Outside!!!

It’s Saturday morning in Romania and I’m doing what every dedicated Peace Corps volunteer should be doing - frantically watching episodes of Big Bang Theory, free on Romanian internet!  I’d been doing this for, like, 2+ hours already (I know...it’s very disappointing to hear that) and during this time there was this... music going on outside, like, right outside my window.  I was pretty much ignoring it, because I had very important things going on inside (If you've never watched Big Bang Theory, you should!).  It was LOUD, frantic, brass music - so loud that at one point I actually got up and closed my window!  They kept playing the same song over, and over, and over again.  It was very disruptive!  

Finally, as I waited for yet another episode to start streaming it hit me...um, I’m in ROMANIA and I’m ignoring something that is obviously trying to get my attention!!!  Sometimes even Peace Corps volunteers can be a bit dim!

So, I get up, get dressed and go outside...to find a parade getting ready to start!!  The staging area had been across the street in the park.  There were bands and tons of people milling around.  I mean really...how did I miss that little fact!  So, I did what any good volunteer should do...I followed the parade!  We paraded all the way across town to the “forest” where there was an actual festival occurring...the autumn festival!  Go figure!  I guess it pays to get out of bed in the morning, huh?

I had actually know that some type of music festival was occurring in the forest that night...already had plans to attend with a friend, so I opted to wait and go in with her later.  So, since I was already halfway to mecca, I finished the walk to Carrefour.

Ahhhh, Carrefour!  This is a chain of stores from France (I think) that is scattered throughout Romania.  I am lucky enough to have two in Severin.  One nice, smaller grocery store about 10 minutes from my apartment and one SUPER STORE about a 45+ minute walk away.  It’s like shopping at a super Target...I love it!!!  I tend to go there every two weeks or so (I force myself to walk there and I get to take a taxi home!).  Okay, I go there every week!  I can't help myself, I love that place.  I can find all sorts of fun things at Carrefour...cheddar cheese (!), chocolate, Doritos, decent hair dye, chocolate, school supplies, chocolate...you know, all the things a girl needs!  And not only is there the SUPER Carrefour, but lots of other little shops too.  It’s not big enough to be called a mall, but it’s the next best thing!!  So after spending too much money on food and “stuff”, I took a taxi home to rest up for the evening festivities!

So...evening arrives and I walk back to the forest.  We’re not even half way there and you can hear the music wafting through the air.  The forest is FULL of people having fun.  We look for the friends we were meeting and then got down to business...what to eat??   There were lots of food options.  I ended up having mici (sort of like little sausages on the grill) with lots of mustard, some bread and beer!  Typical festival fare!  There were tons of different booths selling food - mostly all types of meats, potatoes, veggies - and all on the grill.  Romanians love to grill!!  It smelled great and tasted better.  The beer was good and cold and only cost 2.50R for a cup of draft.  (That’s under $1 for those of you converting!)  There were booths selling toys for the kids (too many toy guns!) and then goods for the grownups - wine, clothes, kitchen stuff, coats and hats.  And when I say coats, I mean fur and leather!  And when I say hats, I mean fur!  Seriously, there were tons of fur hats and coats.  (Mom...like the one Stephen bought you in Russia!) I’m thinking, however, that they were most likely synthetic furs...there were just too many of them and although really expensive, probably not expensive enough.  But they sure were purty!

After walking around, seeing sights, listening to music, eating good food, drinking cold beer and visiting with people, I walked home.  I even got to talk to my sister Julie on the way home (It’s her B-Day on Monday!!!).  The day might have started out pretty, darn lame, but it ended with a bang!!  Glad I pulled myself away from the computer and went outside!!!

Doesn't matter where you are...kids love parades! 

I love Romanian traditional costumes! 

People watching from the bloc.

Entering the forest.

Meat!!

Traditional signing.