One last entry for April -- April 30, 2007

The training is virtually over, so we're taking language tests this week. I think everyone is exhausted, I know I certainly am. There have a been a couple of awful days for me lately, and this was one of them. But yesterday was wonderful! I treated my gazda Cici, her sister Georgeta, and daughter-in-law Simona to the lovely restaurant Mon Cher for dinner, it's just up our block on the corner. I walked by it every day on the way to the bus, and was beguiled by the great smells. Although they've lived in this house for years, they'd never gone there before. It was a very special event, everyone dressed up, and the food was not only delicious, it was beautiful. I'll add pictures to my next journal entry. Roses were carved from carrots, fans from onions, and tiny woven pasta baskets filled with little flowers. Just perfect. Afterwards, we all shared their special "Dessert Mon Cher", made with batter fried bananas, apples, chocolate syrup, ice cream and whipped cream. It was fabulous. To my amazement, tonight for my dinner, they had made the same dessert, with bananas, applies, kiwis, and strawberries. I love these women! It was especially welcome tonight, after such a long, difficult day! The next photo is of Cici and Georgeta as young girls, and then again last night.

Visit Targu Jiu and Back to Ploiesti -- April 25, 2007

The last three weeks have gone fast, I just haven't had time to write it all down. But I've been taking lots of pictures, and eventually will put them somewhere. When I see things that I think will interest someone, I try to keep that memory for them... and I have friends and family with different kinds of interests, so the accumulation is very diverse. For example, when I was in Brasov, they had cars racing the streets in a rally, so I took pictures for my son Grey, and even got some shots for him of their pit crews. In Targu Jiu, I was at a rural car repair shop and knew how much he'd love their in-the-ground system for working under the cars, so I had to get pictures for him there, too. I am collecting similar memories for different people, gardening and flowers for Jo, people's faces and city streets for Dara, children and architecture for Peter, crafts for Katie, landscapes for Lucy, animals for my grandchildren, and the PC group activities for friends. So you can imagine what a hodge-podge I have to sort through to get photos to put on this page. Just the thought of doing it makes me tired. And I'm tired every day, anyway. Besides, I've caught another terrible cold, and am blowing my nose all night and half the day. I think I'll have to catch every bug in Romania before I build up any normal immunities again.

These weeks have been so busy! Knowing I'd be leaving Ploiesti soon, I went to Brasov one weekend, while it was still relatively close. It was Brasov Days, so the place was hopping, with music, food, crowds, horses, and street merchants. The next week we had a conference with our counterparts from our new sites, then traveled there for a few days for a visit. I saw the city and the office where I'll be working and met many of the people there, stayed two nights with my second gazda family, and one night in the country with new colleagues Cristina and husband Florin's family. Florin is the director of ARDR, and we talked at length about the work we'll be doing, and goals for the future. The city of Targu Jiu is very nice, and our projects are exciting. I am ready to go there now!

But here we are, back in school in Ploiesti, and everyone is restless. Our swearing-in is scheduled for next Friday, then we will pack up our water filters, the big mosquito nets they are issuing us, piles of PC books and papers, our clothes stuffed into suitcases along with medical supplies and equipment to set up an apartment for the next two years, and we'll each struggle under the big burden to travel to our new homes. I'll live with my wonderful second gazda for the first month, while I look for an apartrment. I'm so lucky to have had such lovely people welcome me into their homes as I have found in Romania. I'll never be able to thank them enough, so will have to "pass it on" to others I meet.

I think I'll post pictures below, working back in time so Easter will be at the bottom. Love and hugs to all!

My balcony and sitting room, more photos of the gazda home to come later --

Brasov Days --

Easter Barbeque in Mislea, near Ploiesti --

Easter in Ploiesti -- April 7, 2007

Finally, I have some time when I'm not in class or studying. I will write about Easter in Romania and add pictures this weekend, it is a huge holiday here, and we even get an extra day off from classes on Monday! Tonight we will all go to the basilica for midnight services, and tomorrow we will eat lamb and feast all day. But today we went to the cemetery to leave flowers and candles for Cici and Georgeta's father and their deceased husbands. Here are a couple of photos:

We have been at PST now for six weeks. It's been very intense. We learned our site assignments last week, then sixteen of us took the train to spend a weekend in Pitesti working on a Habitat for Humanity project. The housing is a 22-unit communist-style block apartment building rehab. It is the third apartment building in this complex, and we had to dig out sewer lines, by hand, then fill them in again after the new pipe was laid. It was hard work, with lots of mud and rocks, but somehow I dug in, so to speak, and did pretty well for an old out-of-shape broad. Better than I ever expected, anyway. Here is a photo of the building and our digging crew, and another picture of the foundation being poured for the adjacent storage building. Everything is done by hand, with available manpower and materials. You can see the concrete mixing as I remember it from my childhood (concrete is by far the favored building material in Romania), and one of the tile soba wood-burning heaters that was just installed (often these are converted to gas).

We had all been anxious to know where our work assignments would be, so the site announcements were a huge event for us, especially following an entire morning of simulated experiences to test our Romanian language ability. The PC staff outlined a map of Romania on the soccer field next to our school, and each piece of paper indicates a volunteer working at that location. We were led, one by one, to each new site. That's me, the second paper from the left. My site is Targu Jiu, on the Jiu River just below the Southern Carpathian Mountains. My agency will be the "Asociatia Regionala pentru Dezvoltare Rurala" (ARDR), or Regional Association for Rural Development, www.ardr.ro.

According to the job description, I will be working with the villages at the foot of the Parangu Mountains to develop tourism strategies: Musetesti, Crasna, Curtisoara, Novcaci, Bala de Fler, and the Sheppard Village complex including Cernadie. In addition, I will also work with entrepreneurial startups in the other localities in the Euro House Network: Balteni, Bustuchin, Carbunesti, Hurezani, Rovinari, Tismana, and Turceni. Since my coworker Steve and I finished our practicum during the past weeks with the regional Economic Development Center (CDE) on micro-finance loans in rural areas, this sounds particularly interesting (see the powerpoint and brochure that we developed in English to learn about CDE). Here is a map of my site, and keep in mind that Romania is about the size of the state of Oregon:

On the way back through Bucuresti, I was able to go to the Flower Festival with some other volunteers, and saw the incredible handcrafts from all over the country... since it's Easter time, they had gorgeous eggs. I resisted buying things this time, since I have to move everything very soon, but here are some photos. The eggs are wax designs and beads, the tools are antiques, and the copper pots are for making tsuica, plum brandy with a kick like moonshine.