Train Ride through Mountains

Pieces of Bucharest

Outside of Class

Since I’m teaching American Studies, most of my conversations with my students are about the U.S. I occasionally learn something about Romania (like bribes for surgeons or free dentist visits till age 18). But I want to get to know the students better, so I’ve started inviting to my house in small groups. A few weeks ago, I had 8 girls over, all of whom I’d talked to outside of class before. So I knew some things about each one already. But it was interesting to be with them in a group, since they have their cliques but don’t know the others very well.

Sitting around my apartment for about 3 hours, they really liked the tortilla chips but barely touched the salsa. They said the veg curry looked like a Romanian dish but didn’t taste like one. And they ate a lot of chocolate and drank pink champagne (it’s for kids, kind of like sparkling cider. Except it’s pink and quite common). We talked about music in the states and what they liked and didn’t like. Likes: Bob Dylan for some, pop singers who I can’t remember for others. They talked about Romanian bands and Christmas songs, and I learned a lot about the village where one of them is from. She is going to take me there some weekend. They have horses and her dad works for the mayor, so it should be a good time.

Today just two students (instead of the 6 or 7 I was expecting) showed up. We had a long conversation about the U.S. and consumption. One of the two, Ruxie, spent last year working as an aupair in New Jersey. So we talked about customer service and how ridiculous it can be. She told me about some of her Romanian friends there who were shocked by Costco’s return policy, so they bought a cake, ate half of it, then took it back and said they didn’t like it. So Costco gave them a new one.

We also talked about Romania. It hurts to hear that intelligent young people have no interest in politics or even in Romania. They don’t see any future for themselves here, even if they aren’t excited about leaving their home. To me, it’s as simple as just start a social movement – there are enough of you young people to reform politics. To them, “one flower doesn’t make springtime.” And it’s hard to do something so idealistic when they don’t have any money in the first place.

Jingle Bells

Two and a half weeks ago, the first big batch of snow came. The same day came the snowflake lights which promised to light Republicii in the early December (at that point November) nights. But, no light. They stayed unlit. Just empty promises hanging over the street. The same Monday, a giant tree appeared in the square. A week later I watched the decorators hang the red and gold bows. I even thought the tree would fall over in last Monday’s wind but it made it through (unless it toppled and was restored while I was sleeping).

The signs of Sfantul Nicolae first hit me on 5 December. People stuffed into shops carrying twigs, buying Kinder Surprises. The twigs are like coal – they are for kids who have been bad. But everyone buys it anyway. I bought one (it’s just a branch spray-painted silver) because I felt a little left out, knowing that Sfantul Nicolae wasn’t coming to visit my house.

On 6 December, the entire child population of Brasov showed up with parents in tow to watch the tree light up. It was snowing, so it was freezing and my feet were wet, but being in the middle of a thousand people kept me warm, as did the vin fiert we bought. The whole event was actually quite fun – the mayor spoke, reminding us that Brasov is a fairytale city (not hard to believe in the snow). Then we counted down zece, noua, opt, sapte, sase, cinci, patru, trei, doi, unu. And lights. It was lovely. Kids sang. There were more fireworks (which I missed again). And my feet were really cold.

windy winter

The weather here is infecting me with memories. For the first time since I've been here, it's a windy windy 48 degrees. It's so warm compared to most days, sure. But it's the wind that's getting to me. It's the kind of wind you feel when sitting in Boulevard Park on a summer night, as it blows in off Bellingham Bay. It's pretty exciting.

But aside from the exceptional autumn-like weather tonight, it's been feeling a lot like Christmas around here. For some reason, I've been falling into all the traps of a commercialized Christmas. If I had anyone to buy presents for, I probably would. It's that bad. There have been so many holidays lately, going all the way back to Halloween. First 15 November and Thanksgiving, then Unification Day (this past Saturday), which meant more fireworks. Thursday is Saint Nicolas Day. I'm looking forward to that because all of the lights that have been going up around Brasov over the past 2 weeks will finally be lit up. It's like Grand Illumination in CW. Carol singers and the like. And the giant Christmas tree in the square will light up too (although, I was watching it this evening and I'm not so sure that it's going to make it through tonight's wind.

So, although I get upset every day when I wake up and the ground isn't covered in snow, a night like this is one that I can handle. Wind. Lovely.