Kristin Current Weblog

I am uploading a couple of slideshows today, one of the Bran Castle where I went with Cici's daughter-in-law Simona, her husband Gabi and daugher Alexandra the other day. It takes about ten minutes to see it all, but I'm putting up two styles of photo shows of the same pictures. Please email to let me know which one you like, and here is the Bran Castle story. I'm also uploading the process of making the traditional holiday bread Cozonac and another of making the traditional Sarmale cabbage rolls. Each takes about five minutes to watch. Let me know if you like these! Here is the cozonac recipe! I'm working on the videos, you can let me know if they don't work yet, but don't worry about it you can use the other instructions or ask me for more information.

I bought a dozen chocolate-covered visine (sour cherries) for my gazda family today, and yes, since this is Eastern Europe, they have pits in the middle! So be careful when you chomp down! Still, it's a nice treat, and different than what I find in Southwestern Romania. It's so strange to be in this city where I lived for my first three months in this country. After eight months have passed, so many things have changed: Amazingly enough, the bus stops are in different places now, and of course some shops are closed and other new ones are open. MacDonalds is the same (we don't even have one in Targu Jiu), and the old guys are still standing in the centru piata playing chess and dominoes and backgammon, I guess it doesn't matter that there's ice fog everywhere and the shoppers who pass by are freezing, even in their sheepskin coats, gloves, hats and boots. My gazda home is exactly the same, as it has been for a hundred and fifty years. Perhaps during the communist times someone else probably lived here, but it's hard to imagine that they made much of a dent during the time they occupied this huge old house. There was a fire for me in the ancient soba in my room (ceramc tile-covered wood stove) but the central gas heat is adequate to keep me comforable. I've gotten used to wearing warm slippers and cuddly clothes at home, anyway... but it's quite a shock to have wireless internet in my room again. I was very isolated in the mountains during the international sustainable tourism conference. As I've written to some people, it was a delight to make new friends and work with people in NGOs in countries like Bulgaria, Latvia, Serbia, Hungary, Macedonia, and Poland.

Cici's son Gabi came in tonight to ask if I'd like to have the family go with me to the Bran Castle (supposedly but not really Dracula's) during the holiday. After their final 12-hour work day, Simona and Gabi are on holiday until January 7th, along with their daughter Alexandra, who is in high school. I haven't been to the Bran Castle, so the trip would be fun. I'm glad I went to the fabulous Peles Castle in Sinaia when I was here in the sprng, because it's closed now for the winter (it was the inspiration for Disneyland). But the Bran Castle, made famous by the Bram Stoker Dracula book, is the one in all the movies. Unfortunately they've capitalized on that fame by marketing blood vodka and blood dripping t-shirts to tourists, but my kids and grandkids would probably appreciate that sort of souvenir.

It's so quiet in this house, it's the home of old women who nap every day. I guess I'm just not that old, not yet. Fortunately I brought some movies with me on my laptop, and the first season of Heroes. Surprisingly, Targu Jiu is much more lit-up and decorated for the holidays than Ploiesti, all the streets there are glorious with lights, but it's dark and quiet here. Shoppers are everywhere, though, and I'm astounded how fast they can select, pay and leave a shop. I'm still looking at the first thing I picked up! Sometimes while I still have it in my hand, three women have come in and bought the same thing! It seems like sometimes they just look at what I have, buy it or something similar, then run out of the store! There's no doubt to me that Romania is a great gift to the European Union and the western world, just for the enormous market they provide.

I went with Cici this morning to the piata mare (the big outdoor market) to get a Christmas tree... it was fun. She thought that most of them were far too expensive (200 lei, or almost $90!), and finally settled for one that cost 75 lei. As we carried it all the way back home, she was asked by passers-by and told about a dozen people how much it cost (septa suta si cinci zeci de lei, since they still count in old lei, but drop the last three zeroes). Romania expects that in five years they will adopt the euro, but since the valuation of the old lei was only changed in January of this year, peolple aren't quite used to it yet! I've finally gotten used to hearing "chinch-zech de leigh" (50) when someone means 5 lei, or about two dollars.

I don't know when we decorate the Christmas tree, or what the traditions are, so I'll have to write about that later. But today I bought a few boxes of sparklers and Georgeta's grandson Rasvan has been really excited to light them. He's only about seven years old, and although he's very shy, he brought in to my room his two parakeets today for me to admire. I was able to go with Cici to the basement storage room and get photos of all the wine in-the-making and the preserves on the shelves, so will upload them soon. She siphoned some wine for us into a bottle to enjoy this week. Her huge glass jug makes 50 liters at a time.

It's been a whirlwind... so busy, and Christmas less than three weeks away! -- December 6, 2007
MERRY CHRISTMAS and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! (in case I don't get another chance to tell you!)

November was a good month. I had three getaways when I could speak English with Americans: I spent the first week of the month at the In-Service Training conference (IST) for my Peace Corps group in the northern city of Miercurea Ciuc, and a couple of days in Bucharest for Thanksgiving at the Ambassador's residence, then traveled for a few days at the end of the month with my friend Lucica's Sustainable Development team, visiting around Gorj county and attending meetings with local municipal groups. It was such a miraculous event to meet Lucica on the plane to Germany in September, and to discover that she is doing work in Gorj county that is related to mine. She is a wonderful friend and I am proud of her work here. Lucica is a professor at University Ovidius in Constanţa on the Black Sea, and the team includes professionals from America, so it was nice to speak English with them. I can get by in Romanian, but doubt I will ever be fluent, so after months of being the only American in my city, this was a real treat.

I can't say it feels much like Christmas time. Although there is snow north of us in the mountains and even south of us in the plains, we don't have any snow here. A tiny skiff a couple of weeks ago melted right off. But it's been cold and frosty, and I'm glad to have warm clothes. I bought a nice long wool coat at the second hand store the other day for 30 lei (about $13). When it gets windy and really cold out, it's nice to snuggle down and watch a movie. I got a great fuzzy blankie at the second hand for 25 lei, and it's my new best friend. Movies are better than television here, since except for CNN and EuroNews most of the channels are in Romanian. Yes, it's good for practice, but I was never wild about television anyway, and hate commercials in any language. I do get a little behind on world events, but I receive some magazines and news in the mail. I was delighted the other day to get TWO big packets of articles my friend Irene had clipped from Anchorage and Peninsula newspapers ever since I left Alaska! (Thanks so much, Irene! I love you!)

And best of all, last week I got email letters from all three of my children, in Germany, Oregon, and Las Vegas. Everyone has been sick with colds and flu, but they are all doing fine. It's such a relief to hear from them, that's the one thing I miss dreadfully and worry about most, being so far from my family. I got the sweetest email from my Ploiesti gazda family. Simona said, "You are not at the end of the world, you are in our hearts. You can never be all alone." They want me to come back to be with them in December. So nice for me, I'll plan to go see them soon.

My Thanksgiving was interesting at the Ambassdor's mansion. There were a few PCVs that I knew, and I met some new friends. One woman I really liked is the Dept of Defense attache to Romania, a USAF colonel, obviously very smart and a model diplomat. I think I could learn from her. Below I'll put a picture of me with her and another with the Ambassador and his Bulgarian wife. They really do have a mansion, indoor swimming pool and all. It was so nice for them to fly in cranberries and all the fixin's, and have their chef feed 75 people. I was met at the train station in Bucharest by a fan of my weblog, Ioana, and she took me to my B&B, then on Saturday she and her boyfriend Patric toured us all over the city, and we attended a big book fair. She and Patric are both just wonderful people.

I am setting up training workshops for our European volunteers, teachers and community citizens for the coming months. This month it is community fundraising, and the upcoming schedule will hopefully be: January – Communication, Public Input and Process for Legislation; February – Project Management, Implementation, Evaluation/Monitoring, Community Facilitation, Leadership, Negotiation, Conflict Resolution; March – Grantwriting, EU Funding; April – Resources, Regulations; Summer – Business and Tourism Development. You can see that I keep busy, and I'll also be working on a sustainable tourism plan for the communities in the foothills south of the Carpathians and helping with Lucica's team when they are here. In addition, I've started working with University and school English classes. It's important for them to talk with a native English speaker, and I'm the only one here. Most young Romanians are learning English, since it is the "official" language of the European Union, and is also the world language for business.

Let's see, what else? It was a surprise to have lunch at the monastery in Tismana, hosted by the nuns. I'll put a photo below... and we had an International night party with food and dancing, when the European volunteers and workshop participants all showed off their countries, that was fun. It's nice to know the Peace Corps will send us home when we need serious medical care, two members of my PC group were medically evacuated back to the U.S. in the past couple of weeks, one with kidney stones and the other with prostate problems.

It is very difficult and expensive to send birthday and holiday gifts, so I'm glad my kids and grandchildren, and my friends, forgive me for sending email cards, but I hope I will make it up to them in the years to come. My teenage granddaughter Sabra says she's willing to be my "personal shopper", so sometimes I can take advantage of her services.

Oh, one other thing, I was interviewed for this month's Peace Corps Romania publication Spuneţi, if you want to read it click here. One of my blog entries was posted at the website Blog of Romania, an interesting collection of blog excerpts about Romania (it's in English!) http://www.blogofromania.com/how-much-trouble-you-can-get-into-by-being-a-smart-traveler/#more-26

International Night food and dancing

Thanksgiving Dinner at the Embassy, me with Ambassador and Mrs. Nicholas Taubman, and with Defense Attache Barb Kuennecke

At the Tismana Fish Farm and at the Monastery, below some pictures with Lucica and her team.

A dental student I met on the train with his worn anatomy textbook, and my new friend Elisabeta with her husband and mother.