Picture files are growing! -- June 20, 2008
I've added several photo galleries this month, since there are so many pictures now! If you have time to look at them, you might enjoy seeing the lovely city of Constanta and all the things that keep me busy here. There are many interesting streets. Here is a shot of the famous old Casino building down by the waterfront:
Here is an article about my recent presentation at the County Library (click to enlarge):
Iulia graduated from the University this week, and her mother and I both attended:
We delivered more wheelchairs to the nearby community of Cumpana:
...and went to the Habitat for Humanity project building six houses in Cumpana:
Also, with the Natural Sciences Museum Complex scientific director, Dr. Nicolea Papadopol, I attended the graduation ceremony for the Naval Academy:
Next week will be a fundraiser hosted by a local Rotary group for protection of dolphins in the Black Sea (invitation below). It's always easier for me when the work is international, because then English is everyone's common language and I can understand much better what's going on. Here is also the official library invitation (click these to enlarge). As you can imagine this is leading up to the 4th of July Independence Day event that will be held at the Delfinariu! I am so glad that the American Embassy did agree to send a speaker for our event, I believe it will be the Consul General. The Director of the Natural Sciences Museum Complex, Decebal Fagadau, hopes this will become an annual event in Constanta.
I finally got to the famous Mamaia beach on two Sundays, you can see it's very popular. With Iulia I attended the Aero Grand Prix at the beach, photos are in this gallery.
Unfortunately my granddaughter Zarah is continuing to have problems, and her left knee doesn't seem to be healiing. After the amputation of her right foot and part of her leg, this is especially bad news for our family. But she did get a brand new wheelchair from the German government, you can see in the next-to-last picture in this gallery. Her smile lights up the room, and gives me great hope for her life!
By the way, my son Grey is busy preparing for the fire season in Nevada, and spending time with his daughter Lorin, and my daughter Dara is busy raising her three children in Oregon, but can often get out to ride her horse Captain.
What an amazing two weeks! -- June 7, 2008
My experience in Constanta continues to be something of a miracle, and life is unbelievable! I have met people whom I'm sure will remain my friends for life! Some are Romanian, and when the coincidences pile up on each other, some are not. Fanica Constantin calls me "sora mai mare", older sister, and I call Iulia Orzan "fata mai mica", my younger daughter. In the postal customs office I met an American man with his sons, and it turns out that Keith and Brenda Price have lived here several years and are busy building a home for unwed mothers outside the city! Our dozen university volunteers arrived from New York and a Rotary member hosted them at the beach, they were kept busy each day with volunteer work in the city and had a really good time. Fanica threw a barbeque for them one night, and Keith and Brenda had some 20 of us for dinner another night.
I met the most remarkable woman from England, Pam Webb, who has been coming to Romania since 1991 to help AIDS-infected, orphaned and disabled children, and she is truly a sister of my heart. I can let you know more of Pam's and the Price's stories if you are interested in their work. In another project, 280 wheelchairs arrived for distribution to handicapped people throughout the country. The Independence Day 4th of July at the Delfinariu Natural Science Museum Complex is coming together, boxes of supplies were received from my Rotary friends in Alaska, and the American embassy has agreed to send a speaker for the event. We will have a preliminary session at the county library on June 19, where I will speak about the Peace Corps, Alaska, and the United States. We plan other conversation groups and presentations at that beautiful library for the coming months. It seems my job in Romania is to be the catalyst that brings people from different projects together so they can network and collaborate with each other in the future. Then, this week I hosted my first company dinner when Pam and I cooked dinner for Keith and Brenda, Mirana and her daughter Maria, and for my language tutor Iulia. It was a smash hit, and was fun for everyone. I need to have guests more often!
The other night I was delighted to go with friends to a special performance of the Israeli ballet doing Romeo and Juliet, it was breathtaking. Romeo was an Israeli, and Juliet a Palestinian. At the reception afterwards, I was surprised to see how young they are!
I had my pda cellphone stolen out of my backpack on the bus, but I only blame myself for not holding it tightly in front of me, and was glad it wasn't something even more important. Unfortunately I lost all my contact information and the ebooks I had on it. I was able to transfer my phone number to a spare cellphone, but miss the books so much that I plan to get a replacement pda-phone like the old one from ebay.
I love getting news from Alaska about my friends and what's going on there. I got a big stack of magazines that will keep me busy for months. My friend Jane won the nomination for District Governor of Rotary so she'll be traveling in Russia, and Lucy will be going to India in the fall. Katie sent a 4th of July party in a box, as I mentioned last month, so I'll invite some PCVs to get together here on Saturday the 5th. Sometimes I get sad news of unexpected deaths or disease, but also I am reminded by friends what I'm missing in Alaska this summer, so you can guess the pangs I get from that! I'll put photos of spring-born baby moose and kayaking below... My children and grandchildren seem to be doing fine, and thankfully Zarah is gradually recovering from her horrible illness. Peter is heading from Germany to Alaska for commercial fishing season, Grey is gearing up for fire season in Nevada, and Dara is very busy but makes time for riding her horse and "chasing cows" in Oregon. I made condo exchange reservations to take a vacation myself in November, to Hungary and the Croatian coast. I am excited about traveling a bit, really had thought I would have seen all the adjoining countries in Eastern Europe by now!
Here I am with New York's Fordham University volunteers, and Mariana's daugher Maria --
with "Fata Mai Mica" Iulia - "Sister of my Heart" Pam Webb - Keith and Brenda Price - at the Delfinariu's marine conference dinner
at wheelchair distribution day, Pam is with Roy Lester who is also from England
baby spring moose in Alaska, relaxing in my friend Lucy's back yard
This summer's kayaking and camping in Alaska's gorgeous Kachemak Bay is one thing I miss the most, and my friend Paul, shown in the photo below, makes me homesick by sending me photos of our Outdoor Club activities!
