the weekend is over

For lack of anything interesting to say, here are these. They are from my journey to Bucuresti this past weekend...
(though numbered, they are in no particular order. try to figure out the best match)
1. Brasov Gara 2. While walking 3. Plan to avoid Taxi D'artex 4. Piata Uniri

i feel a list coming on...

Now that I've been in Brasov for six weeks, I am starting to feel the urge to travel. Where do I want to go?

December: Sighisoara, Sinaia, Sibiu, Istanbul
January-February: Madrid, Barcelona, Paris, Edinburgh
March: Craiova, Cluj
April: Timisoara
May: Danube Delta
June: Lithuania & Poland, Hungary & Croatia, Bulgaria
July: California

Oh, and before I set the date of my return ticket (from Romania): is there anyone out there who would want to travel with me next July, around Eastern Europe or even to Israel and Egypt? Basically, my lease ends July 5th, so I was thinking I would head back to the U.S. then. But I wouldn't mind sticking around this side of the Atlantic either (it's not like I have a job).

thinking Romania

The most common question people ask me here:

"How are you finding Romania?"

Everyone wants to know what I think of their country. It's a simple answer - I like it. Obviously. Sometimes I have to elaborate - it's not what I was expected, the mountains are cool, blah blah blah. I find it more interesting to hear what Romanians think foreigners think of their country.

Apparently, many Europeans look down on Romanians because the majority of people who emigrate from here are the Roma. So when Europeans think of Romanians, they think of the Roma. However, I've found that Romanians like their country and don't want to leave - many know that they can make more money somewhere else, but they don't like the way they are treated simply because they are Romanian.

Of course, I've also encountered a number of people (including many of my American Studies students) who want to go to the United States and never come back to Romania. For some, it's because they are pulled to the U.S. because of the lifestyle they see Americans living. For others, Romania is backwards and "exotic," as one of my students put it today. "I think my own country is very exotic, to me." She meant that she identifies more with the American (and Western European) way of doing things than she does with the way Romanians do things. I believe that she was talking specifically about higher education when she said this.

Many people like to hear that I can find everything here that I would want, just like in the U.S. I had a conversation yesterday with my Romanian tutor, who is a 4th year student in Romanian and English. Prompted by something I said about the differences I've observed between the old and the young here, she postulated that the elderly still have a Communist mindset. Meaning, they live like they did under Communism. So they buy something when they see it, instead of recognizing that there is plenty available. "We're a democracy now," she said, and stated also that the young people are the ones who recognize what this means.

When I think about how I find Romanian, I can say (without worrying about offending anyone, in this setting) that:

1. This is a beautiful country
2. The people here act very European
3. Romanians still have a very unique culture, and the prevalence of religion stands out
4. I don't like the way people look out only for themselves
5. I find the conversations that I have about the Roma and Moldavians to be fascinating, because most people I talk to are grappling with trying to be open-minded and accepting on the one hand, and dealing with stereotypes about these groups on the other hand

One thing I would like to understand more is how regionalisms play into relations amongst Romanians. The most common dichotomy I hear is drawn between Bucuresti and the rest of the country. That's something I would like to explore a little more.

These photos here are from Bucharest. I took them when I visited this past weekend. I sadly forgot my camera one day but hit the streets on a "photo expedition" the next day to make up for missed time. Do they seem at all different from the life of photos from Brasov?

like saying George Washington was a vampire

The past few days have been packed and now I’m feeling a little exhausted.

Last weekend, my friend Kymber came up from Bucharest for her birthday. On Friday, we went to a lovely little French bistro and then met up with some friends at karaoke. Not one of my favorite pastimes. But karaoke is huge here – I think it has to do with people wanting a chance to practice their English. It’s pretty funny to watch some of them go at it.

On Saturday, we went to a local Seventh Day Adventist church for their Thanksgiving celebration. One of my students (the pastor’s wife) invited us to go. The church is this crazy skyscraper building that was built during communist times, when they weren’t allowed to have much space for something like a church, so instead of covering a lot of land, they built up really high on a small piece of land in the city. The ground floor was the coat check, then the next few floors were the sanctuary (including a balcony), then a few floors of apartments and rooms for choir practice, and then at the top of the building a large attic space that looks out at the city in four directions, and that can be used for church festivals like the Thanksgiving meal we had on Saturday.

One of the younger (my age) members of the church sat with Kymber and I and translated the entire service, which was really helpful! Since it was their Thanksgiving service, a lot of people stood up and spoke about what they were thankful for. It was really cool to hear some of their stories about their lives – a lot of the people who spoke were in their 80s so they’d been through a lot! The coolest thing about the church community itself is that they advocate vegetarianism (and veganism), to the extent that most of the preaching during the service had to do with living as a vegetarian.

So, Sunday another one of my students took us on a really cool hike. We went to this place called “Soloman’s Rocks.” Brasov is awesome for this kind of hike. Basically, you just start walking out of the center, and keep going until you’re sitting on top of a rock looking in every direction at the hills of changing fall colors below you. It’s pretty crazy. There are also tons of people who go up there each weekend to get water from a mountain spring.

On Monday I had to teach two classes first thing in the morning, but then Kymber and I headed off to Fagaras, which is a nearby town surrounded by the most beautiful mountains in Romania (which I couldn’t see because it was cloudy). The high school there has a British English teacher who asked us to come, to give a presentation about undergraduate study in the U.S. We were big celebrities there – the local TV station taped the entire presentation and interviewed us (twice). The history museum is closed on Mondays, but they got it open just for us! We had several students who showed us around town. They were amazing – but more about that another time.

Yesterday was Halloween. I met a lot of Americans – basically, if you’re American (or Australian, apparently) and living or traveling anywhere in Eastern Europe, then you come to Transilvania for Halloween. I didn’t go to any of the fancy schmancy Halloween parties, but still managed to run into a lot good ol’ Halloween cheer. Or something like that.