Rambling in Romania...again!: 2012

17 December 2012

Happy Holidays!

Once again I am WAY behind on my blogging. I still have to post about my awesome trip with Meg and Stephen! The only thing that could have made the trip better would have been if Julie had been there too! We had such a great time traveling through Romania, Serbia and Bulgaria. Meg and Stephen were so very generous to me throughout the entire trip. I can't thank them enough for being such great siblings!!! How lucky am I????? I promise I will put together a slide show soon and post more about the trip (of course, my external hard-drive died - I was able to get everything off it, but now everything is named "found..." and all my photos are mixed up and a mess...so it will take awhile!),

I do have some good news...I was offered and accepted a teaching job for next year - here in Romania! I will be teaching at the Lauder School in București! (Lauder School) This is a great, private Jewish school right in the center of town. I will be living in the city and teaching mostly kindergarten. Yikes! I hope I have the stamina for this! I will be home for two months this summer and then will be headed back here for a year of teaching. I'm pretty excited as I hope this will be the beginning of more international teaching.

If you had asked me two years ago what I would do after Peace Corps I would have said..."find another corporate job in safety/security." Who knew that I would re-discover teaching as my passion?!? I can't help it...even on crappy days, when I don't really feel like teaching...after I leave the class room, I just feel good! Especially this week, after the tragic shootings in Connecticut. It just breaks my heart to think of all those sweet children.

So...for those of you who wanted to come to Romania, but just didn't have the time...you now have another year to plan your trip!! ;)

Tomorrow I leave for Ireland. I'll be spending Christmas in Dublin and Northern Ireland with two of my Peace Corps BFF's. My treat to the two of them is to go to The Nutcracker on the 22nd in Dublin. How fun will that be? I haven't been in years and never outside of Cincinnati, so this will be a treat! After returning on the 28th I'm headed to northern Romania to a small town in Maramureș with my friend Flori and her family. Then it's off to Belgrade, Serbia with my other BFF here, Grant! He has a friend teaching there. After zipping back after a few days there it's off to the mountains for some sledding and lounging with my friend Calina and her family. Phew! I'm already tired. It will not be a relaxing holiday break, but it will be full of friends and fun.

I wish all of you the happiest of holidays. Enjoy time with your friends and family. Crăciun Ferecit și La Mulți Ani (Merry Christmas and Happy New Year) and a belated Happy Hanukkah!!

Barbara :)

01 October 2012

I am still alive and kicking!!

I know...it's been FOREVER since I last blogged! My summer was crazy busy - luckily, with all good things! I'll just give a brief overview of my activities with a slide show and some photos at the end. To go into detail would take entirely too long and I'd never finish or post! So, here it goes:

Visit with my friend Carol Day
I worked at Procter & Gamble with Carol for over 10 years. When she heard I was headed to Romania she said, "Hey...I'll come visit you!" And she did! How cool is that?! She was here for a week and we visited București, Brașov, Sighișoara and Sibiu. It was so good to see a friend from home, visit a few cities I had not yet been to, eat good food, and speak in English all the time!! (Carol was not overly impressed with my Romanian! Ha!) She got to meet some of my PC friends. A big thank you to Carol for the wonderful visit...it was great!!

Mom comes to Romania!
Wow...what a great time we had! We met in Budapeșt and had fun walking and riding a tour bus throughout the city. We saw the sights and had some great food. Very fun town! Then we headed into Romania, visited some friends of mine in Timișoara, and took the late (and very crowded) train into Drobeta Turnu Severin. We spent a nice quiet time in my city: did some walking around, had a great meal with my friends and even had a wonderful day cruising on the Danube! It was fun to have Mom meet the people I hang out with here and they LOVED meeting her! After leaving my site it was another train into București. More walking, more touring, more meals!! We took a tour of the Parliament Building - the second largest building in the world after the Pentagon. It was huge with lots of marble and chandeliers...what a lot of overkill! A quick plane ride and we were in Istanbul! What an amazing city! The sights were beautiful. We stayed in a lovely little hotel which had fabulous breakfasts...Stephen picked it out for us! We also met up with Mom's good friends, Bob and Tiraje. They showed us the sights of the city...mosques, palaces, boat trips on the Bosphorus River...all beautiful! The weather was HOT and by mid afternoon Mom and I were always ready for a nice siesta. Then it was off for some fabulous Turkish food...yummmmmmm!!! Mom and I had a wonderful time with each other...we traveled well together! Probably because we both like to take things slow, stop at cafes and just go with the flow! It was hard to say goodbye, but we have amazing memories of out trip together! Thanks, Mom, for making such a special trip to visit me!

My friend Michelle visits from France
A friend of a friend is living in France and decided to head over my way. We had never really spent more than a few days, in a group, together. But, boy did we have a great time! After spending a few days in București and Brașov we headed to the Black Sea in Conștanța! Our hotel was just a block from the beach and we loved it! Swimming in the Black Sea now takes the spot of the best swimming ever! It was like walking into a huge bath tub! And when you got out, your skin felt soft and silky! Amazing! We had lots of laughs and lots of beers! One night we met some other Americans, a Spaniard, and a Puerto Rican and ended up heading to the infamous bar, "La Cucaracha" where we watched the sun rise over the sea. The best part was that everyone there just walks right into the water (clothes and all) to watch! It was too much fun! Thanks, Michelle, for the wild ride! (fyi...since Michelle never sent me her photos (hint, hint!) I don't have a lot from this trip!)

Phew...I'm tired just remembering all these great trips!

School starts
Ater being pushed back one week school officially started on 17 Sept. This year I am teaching grades 3, 4, 6, 7, and 8 at the same two schools I worked at last year. I am also teaching a new class 0 which is somewhat like our Kindergarten. I get to team teach this class with my good friend Claudia. We're a little nervous about it, but it should be fun! A new friend, Calina, asked me to team teach her 12th grade class at a nearby high school...really looking forward to that. Also, I will be starting an Adult Class in November for "false beginners." This is for people who have not necessarily taken English before, but do know some...mainly from TV. A lot of Romanians understand English, but don't speak it. I will also be continuing English Clubs at both schools. So...my plate is full, but I am looking forward to getting into the thick of things. Just one more school year to make my mark!

Peace Corps Romania Legacy Gala

After playing around all summer I had to get back to reality and help prepare for a big event, which happened last week. My PCV friend Grant and I were asked to be on the planning committee for the official 'closing of post' celebration at the US Ambassador's home. Grant and I were in charge of putting together a volunteer 'festival' in which the different regions of Romania were showcased by their art, music, dance, food, etc. We ended up with 15 booths which were amazing! I won't go into detail of all the work this took, both by the planners and the participants. The venue for the event could not have been more perfect, the weather was great (a little hot!), the food and drinks were plentiful and everyone had a great time. There was a LOT of media present and some volunteers made the national news. The Ambassador and his lovely wife, Libby made sure to have a visit and photo opportunity at each booth with the community participants the volunteers brought to help. The cool part was that almost all of our 35 volunteers were personally involved in the event. Truly a group effort! (photos below)

A visit to Targoviște

After the Gala, I went for a quick visit back to Targoviște, the city where I spent my first 10 week in training. I stayed with my Gazda family: Cami, Cesar and Vlad. It was great to see them!! After a great evening with food, drink and friends, Vlad and I spent a fun day together, walking through the town and visiting the nearby park. I finally made it to the top of tower...something I never got to do while there. (photos below)

Meg and Stephen will arrive soon
Oh, no...the fun is not over yet! Meg and Stephen arrive next week on 8 October!!! We will travel through Transylvania, visit my town (the school kids are overly excited about this!!) and then drive into Bulgaria. I can't wait to see them! If only Julie could have come along, that would have made it perfect!

What's next?
Some of you may be wondering what my plans are for after Peace Corps. It's only 10 months away and I'm certainly beginning to think about that myself! I have given it a lot of thought and have decided that I would like to either work for the Peace Corps...preferably as a Director of Training and Programming - which would take me somewhere else in the world...or, find a job teaching in an International School, preferably here in Romania or in a nearby country. Those are the two jobs I will focus on and hopefully one or the other will happen. I will definitely come home after PC for, hopefully, a long visit, but it looks like my time away from home may not be over yet. This just means that more of you will have to come visit me, wherever I may end up! Life is short and I've decided to smush as much into mine as I can! Who knew that losing that darn job at P&G would lead me here??!!

Thank you!!
As always...thanks for your support - especially to the wonderful people at The Living Beatitudes Community who sent me a box full of school supplies! What a wonderful treat for my students - and the other teachers who have already absconded with lots of the stickers!! As I continue this journey it's nice to know that so many of you are keeping me in your thoughts!

Slideshow of summer fun (Click link below)

YouTube video

Photos of "PCRo Legacy Gala" (Click on first photo to scroll through)

Photos from Targoviște (Click on first photo to scroll through)

16 June 2012

06 June 2012

Quick video update!

17 May 2012

Time to catch up...

I always give Stephen grief because he doesn't write in his blog. His response is always, “There is nothing exciting happening!” I then say, “Just because it’s not exciting to you doesn’t mean we don’t want to hear about it!” I guess I need to take a dose of my own medicine now. I have not written a blog entry in forever, mainly because life has been pretty monotonous (although I imagine laziness also has something to do with it). But, when I stop to think about it, there have been things to mention and pictures to share! (By the way...Stephen update your blog already!!!)

ȘCOALA ALTFEL
After what seemed like a huge block of time with nothing but teaching we had a week at school called, “Școala Altfel.” This was a week of school where the teachers were to do more “camp” like activities with the students. I was lucky enough to go on a trip with my 7th grade class and an 8th grade class to Bran, Brașov and Sinaia! The students and two teachers traveled by bus, but since I was already in București for my annual medical appointments, I met up with them by train, and then local bus, in Bran.

After a night of keeping a group of about 50 students semi-quiet in the hotel (Believe me, not an easy task!) we headed out to tour Bran the next day!

Bran is a very small town with one big attraction: Bran Castle! This castle is often referred to as “Dracula’s Castle,” but it actually has very little association with Vlad Tepeș of Wallachia, Bram Stoker’s inspiration for Dracula. It just happens to be the location Mr. Stoker picked for his story! Probably because it was appropriately spooky! The castle sits high on a hill and has a very foreboding atmosphere surrounding it. Of course, now it is a tourist attraction and one can go on a tour and learn all about the true history of the location! The interior displays art and furniture collected by Romania’s Queen Maria. See the link below for some more information on Bran Castle!

http://www.brasovtravelguide.ro/en/brasov/surroundings/draculas-castle.php

The next day we headed to Sinaia to see Peleș Castle. Peles Castle is considered by many one of the most beautiful castles in all Europe. It was the final resting place for several Romanian monarchs including King Carol I, who died there in 1914. I had already been to this castle before, but was happy to return. When I was there before I only toured the main floor, but this time, I was able to do the entire tour...it was amazing! Of course, you had to pay extra for pictures, so I don’t have any of my own from inside...but take my word for it...it’s beautiful! Lots of dark, carved wood throughout and very comfortable, for a castle! Here is a link to some of the interior rooms:

http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-photo/tracystravels/worldwide-2007/1189603560/peles-castle-interior.jpg/tpod.html

And here is another link to read more about Peleș Castle!

http://www.brasovtravelguide.ro/en/brasov/surroundings/peles-castle.php

After touring this castle we decided to head into Brașov...the kids wanted to go to a mall and grab a bite to eat! Well...easier said than done. Our bus driver was not so clear on where, in fact, the nice Brașov mall was, so we ended up at a little shopping area “mall” which only had one restaurant, a pizza place (of course!). So, we all ordered pizza and then it was back to Bran for one last night...a night with a disco for the kids!!! Yes, the hotel opened up their bar and had a DJ and the kids danced the night away. It was LOUD and lots of fun for them. Claudia, Violetta and I sat, watched, and enjoyed the festivities and then called a halt to them, finally, around midnight!

The next day the students and teachers headed back home by bus, and I took the train back to București to finish up my medicals. Believe me, I was not so bummed about that as a 13 hour bus trip did not thrill me! Overall, it was a great experience!

SPRING BREAK

The next two weeks were Spring Break!!! What a treat! A lot of my PC friends went off to exciting and exotic places...I pretty much stayed home. My friends Jon and Abby came to visit for a few days. We did some geocaching (http://www.geocaching.com), walked through the Roman ruins and made tacos!

The next weekend I headed back to București. I had to pick up a new bite plate (yes, I still grind my teeth!!) and had a meeting with the Country Director about a big party in September which I have been asked to assist with. No biggie...just a little soirée at the Ambassador’s home with about 300+ people! ;)

The thing I love about București is that every time you turn a corner there is something interesting and surprising to see. I’ve mentioned before that I find Romania a country of contradictions...and this city is just that. You’ll be walking down a street which has typical communist era blocs on either side and then BAM you turn the corner and in front of you is an amazing structure...maybe a church...maybe just another building...but it’s beautiful and just sitting there! On this trip I discovered some new views to share. Unfortunately, my camera is now broken so there is a black splotch in the corner of all pictures (luckily I can crop it out). (Also, luckily, Mom is bringing my nice camera when she comes to visit!).

SPRING FEVER HAS HIT!!

This says it all!

ONE YEAR MARK!!
On April 28th I hit the one year mark! I cannot believe I've been in Romania for one year already...time is moving so quickly. The day was pretty anti-climactic - I walked down to the river that evening and had a beer...toasting myself for one year down and one to go!!

LILIAC FESTIVAL
Two weeks ago I went to the country with my friend Flori and her husband. We went about an hour north which put us at the foot of the Carpathians. After visiting with some of their friends who lived nearby, we went to the Liliac Festival. Of course, to get there we had to CLIMB a mountain! Well, we only had to climb about 2km, and it was on a road, but still...it was all UP HILL and the sun was blazing, and it was hotter than hell! I though I was going to die! And of course, I had on the completely wrong shoes (I was not pre-informed about the climbing portion of the day!) We finally get to the top and it was typically like many other Romanian festivals: a lot of booths set up selling anything from toys for the kids to shoes and socks! There were the requisite booths selling food and beer as well as a stage set up with traditional Romanian musicians and dancers. As it was in the mountains the festival was set up along a winding road filled with lilacs. I must say, it did smell nice! After putzing around for about an hour, we descended the mountain taking a shortcut. A shortcut that was basically a narrow path, straight down the mountainside! There was no railing and the trail was covered in old, dried leaves. I seriously though I was going to slip and slid down the mountain...NOT the best time - I was quite nervous! By the time we made it back to their friends house where we were going to have dinner I was exhausted! They let me take a nap inside while the meet was being grilled. I collapsed and feel asleep immediately - what a wuss I am!! After a long, 12 hour day, I arrived home and wanted nothing more than a hot shower. Of course NO WATER! There was some work going on in the city and they had turned all the water off for 24 hours. Ugh!

REPTILE EXHIBIT
Today, instead of teaching 7th grade I went with them to a special Reptile Exhibit that was in town for the week. We walked across town to a hotel of sorts. In one of the big rooms there were about 25+ aquariums set up with snakes, iguanas, turtles, and more. I thought it was a little sad to see these animals in such small homes, but the kids loved it! They even got to hold one of the little snakes. The weather was beautiful today and the kids had a great time playing around on the walk. Overall, it was much more fun than sitting in English class!!

So, that’s about it for now. You are all caught up. There are about 6 weeks of school left, so I’m busy in the flow of lesson planning, lesson planning and more lesson planning! I hope you are all having a wonderful spring! Ciao!