Close of Overseas Service COS Conference -- February 27, 2009

My Peace Corps group got together one final time in Sinaia last week, just prior to completing our Peace Corps assignments in Romania. For many of us this will be our last chance to see each other, to compare experiences in this country, and to learn about future plans. We were informed about the paperwork we must finish before departing, also the medical exam and checkout we anticipate at the very end. We had one last dinner event together and I'm adding some pictures of my groupmates below. Here's also one of a recent presentation I made at the American Corner library for February's Black History Month.

On the way to the conference, I stopped overnight in Ploiesti, to say goodbye to my gazda Cici and her family, it was my first home here, so it was great to see them again! I also walked around the neighborhood and as in many other parts of Romania, it has changed so much since I came to this country! For those who have followed this journal for the past two years, you might be interested, so I'm including some photos from there, too. The Filharmonica where I enjoyed concerts during the three months I lived there is now abandonded and looks sad. The park where the old men play chess and backgammon is snowy now and empty. My room at Cici's house looks as warm and cozy as ever, but our 96-year-old great grandma is confined to bed and is nearing her end.

Here is Cici and Ploiesti:

My room, the house and our street (note the tile sobas in each room for heat):

Ploiesti scenes I remember from our training in 2007:

The abandoned Philharmonic concert hall (surely there's a new one somewhere) :

I left Sinaia at 2 p.m., with my train scheduled to arrive in Bucharest at 3:59 p.m. Unfortunately the train to Constanta was to leave at 4 p.m., giving me only one minute to make the connection. Of course it would be impossible. BUT... My train arrived in Buc four minutes early, so I scurried up past ten cars, across four lines and halfway back down another one toward the Constanta train, but could hear the whistle already blowing. However the conductor saw me coming and she was a sweet, laughing woman who held the train for maybe half a minute for me so I could run up to her and climb on, panting and wheezing! She was happy to give me a ticket but it cost me maybe $10 more than if I already had one. But who cares? I love her! It was another adventure, and it actually worked. I can't believe it. Life is so interesting. She even found a young man in a nearby compartment who spoke English, though we didn't actually need him. What a nice lady!

But on that long train trip back to Constanta, the interesting young man who spoke English told me about his life. He had left home at eleven years of age and made it on his own ever since. He even went abroad to work the day after he turned 18. He told me that the police caught him once when he was 12 and put him in an orphanage for nine months in Galati, but when none of his family would take him they let him go back on the street. He said farmers often take in young kids like this and work them hard, give them bed and board and make them promises for money, but sometimes don't pay them. It’s hard to believe all he’s done, and he’s not even 20 years old yet. He made it through eight years of school, then tried to attend high school, but only completed five months because he didn’t have any money.  He has done everything by himself, which is difficult to conceive in a country like Romania where family usually means everything.  He told me about a year near Valcea when he worked in the woods herding some 800 sheep and goats when he was about 16.  He said there is a house in the middle of the woods, with no electricity, where the four herders live, two at a time going out with herds every day.  They milk all those animals and make it into cheese, the owners come twice a week with a caruta wagon to pick it up.  He said it was like being locked inside the wilderness, walking many miles every day and sometimes sleeping outdoors with the animals, and for the whole year he only made 10 million old lei! That's less than a dollar a day! This cheerful and amazing young man has my email, so I hope to hear from him again and find out what he does in his life. During his time abroad, he stayed with this organization that works with the homeless, giving them a place to live and paying work to do. Their motto: "Giving people a bed, and a reason to get out of it." It sounds like a good idea that is spreading all over the world. http://www.emmaus.org.uk/129/federation-office

Suddenly there are spring flowers at all the stalls on the street, lots of tulips and hyacinths. I even saw strawberries in the piata market yesterday. Monday will be Martisor, a big tradition when people give their friends small tokens with red and white strings. These are often beautiful charms and I'll take some pictures of them today. Next week I'll post the Martisor story and photos.

Some of my Peace Corps group at our final conference:

Ploiesti gypsy house and other new construction:

Next week PCVs Gloria and Sonny are traveling across the country to visit me in Constanta, and we will head north so we can finally see the Danube Delta! It might still be chilly there, but the area is famous for some of the best bird-watching in the world, so maybe the early birds will be returning by then.

WOW! Countdown for me, only TWO more months! -- February 17, 2009

Well, friends and family... it's almost time for me to start packing to send things home, to decide what to leave here or give away. Sometimes it seemed that the past two years was creeping painfully along, but now it seems like it flew past, and some parts apparently floated by as if they were in a dream I can barely recall. Fortunately, I remember the wonderful times best.

I just returned from a terrific week of exploration with my PCV friends Sonny and Gloria to some of the lovely cities in Transylvania. It was nice to travel with friends who often take pictures of me, because I'm usually the one behind the camera. Some of my favorite images are on this page, but there are many more in the Transylvania album. This area of Romania was part of Hungary not long ago, and that influence is very strong, in architecture, language, and cuisine. We first went to Sfantu Gheorghe, about 30 kms northeast of Brasov, to meet with some other "older" Peace Corps volunteers who are serving in Romania, then traveled by train to the medieval citadel town of Sighisoara. Yes, Vlad Dracul (the mythical Dracula) was born here, but we (fortunately) only saw one vampire sign.

After two days we caught another train to the mountains near Fagaras, attempting to get up to Romania's only Ice Hotel above the Balea Lac Cascada (mountain lake waterfalls). Unfortunately the "telecabina", or cable car, was broken down and the road up was buried under fifteen feet of snow, so we had coffee at the mountain pension, and kept thanking our driver for not just letting us get out and abandoning us there! We next spent two days in beautiful Sibiu, undoubtedly one of the most splendid cities in Romania. I had made reservations at hostels in each place, and we were delighted that they were so perfect!

Below I am in a night passageway in Sighisoara, and then the three of us in the mountains between Fagaras and Sibiu. As you can see, Gloria loves to have her picture taken, especially with our food!

I love this picture, it's a doorway in an old wall with no building behind it -- the Doorway to Nothing!

Here is our "Oldies" group at dinner. I was amused that Mike in the red shirt on the left organized this gathering for us...
and he's still in his 20s!

I always love pictures of local people, here are some wonderful Romanian women, and a Roma (gypsy) sheepherder with his flock, in front of the tigani (gypsy) village near Covasna.

Above, Sighisoara, and below, the mountains near Fagaras.

This is the Sibiu main square, Piata Mare, our first day there, and then again the next day!

These are some displays at the Sfantu Gheorghe Museum --

This week classes begin for spring semester at Ovidius University, so I'll be busy with students and special presentations. Next week our Close-of-Service conference will be held for my Peace Corps group in Sinaia, the first place I traveled during my initial weeks of training in this country two years ago. It is the site of the wonderful fairytale Peles castle. On the way there I will stop in Ploiesti one last time, so I can visit my gazda (host) family, and sleep in my "first" bed once more. This family has become such good friends, I'll be thrilled to hug and kiss them again. I am happy to say that great-grandma is still alive, at almost 100 years of age, and she still (I hope) remembers me!

My friend Lucy already bought her plane tickets from Alaska to Istanbul, to meet me for our budget tour of Turkey in late April and early May. We are both so excited about this adventure together! After that I got a condo week exchange on the south coast of Italy, and friends will probably meet me there, too. My last journey in Europe will be back to Munich to see my son Peter and his family before I fly home to the States to see my other children and grandchildren and make my way back to Alaska. This fascinating chapter is almost over! I know I'll miss my Romanian friends and my students, but to be honest, the weather in Alaska last summer and all winter sounds like it was so miserable that I should be glad I was here!

I had no idea what to expect from serving in the Peace Corps, and I knew absolutely nothing about Romania. I knew that two-plus years was a long time to be away from my family and my "real" life, and I was right about that. We never know what lasting impacts might result from our time as volunteers, but I know this is an experience I couldn't possibly forget, and I will certainly never regret.

We also saw ex-dictator Ceaucescu's country place near Sighisoara, with his helicopter pad in the yard: