Mid-service Conference in Predeal - Already! -- May 22, 2008

My daughter Dara and granddaughter Sabra came from Oregon to Germany for a week to visit my son Peter in Munich and his family, including my gradually recovering granddaughter Zarah. They sent me some lovely photos, and I'll post some below this message. (Yes, they made me cry!) I have many friends all over the world who read this journal and have been sending healing thoughts for Zarah, so I know they will be happy to know that she is gradually getting better. Unfortunately this week the doctors had to remove part of the kneecap on her good leg, and she continues to fight off infections, so it will still be a long time before she can start rehabilitation. I think you can tell from her glorious smile that she spreads her sunshine to everyone else.

It's so great to hear from home, special thanks for the wonderful 4th of July "Party in a Box" from Katie. I'm so grateful for the supplies to throw a public celebration of U.S. Independence Day from Jane and my Alaska Rotary District, also for magazines in English (yay!), and for so many treats. I love so much getting Real Letters in the mail from Irene, and it's always wonderful to get emails from all of you people I love! (You know who you are!) Summer is here, it's warm enough that now I see people sunbathing on the beach (many girls are topless, Grey, you really should come and visit!).

I traveled to the mountains north of Ploiesti for a few days last week, to my Peace Corps group's mid-service conference. On the way I spent a night with my gazda "family" in Ploiesti, and we yakked until late, Simona and Cici and I. It was so wonderful to see them all again! Even great-grandma is still doing relatively well, at 96 years of age! It's hard to believe that more than half my volunteer time in Romania is already gone! It was nice to see members of my PCV group again, and share their experiences and ideas about our service here. I enjoyed spending time with a lovely couple from the Philippines, Sonny and Gloria, will post some photos below. Predeal is a hilly resort community, and our conference site was a long walk downhill to the little town. In other words, we were a long way from anything -- few restaurants and no night life, so the younger volunteers hung out in each other's rooms until late. You would think that being an old fogie I got good sleep, but instead I lay wide awake most of each night, even finished my book and started on another one. I had caught a miserable cold and was suffering during the entire conference. I hate to admit it, but I was glad to get home to my own comfy bed in my own apartment. However...

I am having a terrible time adjusting to the most simple rule of my new life in Constanta. Every time I use gas for the stove from the bottle under the sink, I have to remember to turn off the valve. I am pretty flexible, I think, and have been able to adapt to the most extreme living conditions throughout my life, from using a wood or coal stove for heat, cooking on a wood cookstove, hauling water and conserving it religiously, having money for luxuries or doing without any money at all, living on a sailboat, and camping for extended periods of time. But I can’t seem to train myself to turn off the darned gas valve every time I use the stove! Last month my neighbors burst into my apartment here because of a tiny gas smell, and I was ashamed to admit that indeed one burner was turned slightly on and I hadn’t turned off the valve. They probably think I’m a dumb heathen from America who doesn’t know how to do even the simplest things. In Alaska it is illegal to have your propane tank inside the house, even in Fairbanks at 65 degrees below zero, every tank is outside. While cooking Thanksgiving dinner mine would invariably freeze up (propane goes solid when it gets too far below zero), and I would have to throw a bucket of water over the tank to gasify it enough to finish roasting the turkey for our holiday dinner. Sure, water will freeze, but 32 degrees Fahrenheit is far above 60-some below zero! So I know pressure gas regulators well, and how gas tanks work. But I’ve never lived in a place where every family keeps that tank inside the house and must positively close the valve every single time it gets used, for everyone’s safety in the entire bloc apartment building. I write myself reminder notes, but they don’t help. I repeat a mantra all day, “turn off the tank, turn off the tank”, and whenever I turn the key to the deadlbolt in the door when I leave, I force myself to go back inside and be sure the gas is turned off, or if I start down the stairs I go back up and unlock the door to check again and be sure. Even so it doesn't always work! Why can’t I make this into an automatic habit? Every time I forget, I kick myself again, and every time I discover that I already turned it off, I give a small cheer. Good thing I amuse myself, isn't it?

I’ve been spending much time during my “office hours” in the lab at the University, and since it’s the end of the school year everyone is busy and crazy with exams and theses. Fortunately I also made good contacts at the county library, where we are scheduling a series of conversation groups, worldwide geography and travel sessions, and even presentations from ethnic groups who live in this area. They are just wonderful people and I think it should be fun. Hopefully I can do some computer training, too, maybe website development, or databases and online photos, if people are interested.

Last week was the Marine Development conference for the Black Sea, and I attended some of the presentations and was the guest of the Delfinariiu staff at the conference dinner. They always treat me like I'm someone special, I just love them! These guys can dance and party all night, so I felt guilty when I wanted to go home before midnight!

Next week I arranged for twelve university volunteers who are arriving from Fordham University in New York. Thanks to my Rotary group, they will be hosted in cabins right on the beach north of the city, at no charge, and will hopefully volunteer at Casa Speranta, a home for young people with HIV/AIDS. Just before the revolution in 1989 there were many blood transfusions for children that horribly resulted in AIDS, the youngest of this group is now 15 years old. I hope this visit goes well. By coincidence I met another group who are in the process of building a home for unwed mothers, and they invited everyone over for dinner one night, so I hope that works out. On top of all this, I got a request to host a group of young visitors from Bustuchin village in the Oltenia region near Targu Jiu, poor kids who have never been to the seaside, and they want to sleep on the floor in my apartment for three nights! They will be traveling with two of the European volunteers I knew in Gorj county, Donato from Portugal and Zina from Armenia. It's hard to imagine ten kids staying with me for three days, but I suppose I'll survive. (If it's really awful, I'll learn not to say "yes" ever again!)

I have been invited to travel to Varna, Bulgaria, to meet with our partner Rotary group the first weekend in June. It'll be the first time I've traveled outside Romania for anything but family. We'll drive down the shore of the Black Sea, and Varna is actually closer to my site than the Peace Corps office in Bucharest! In June the director of the Peace Corps from Washington D.C. will be in Romania, but unfortunately he won't be coming to my part of the country. Later in July I'll be in Transylvania for a meeting of volunteers in Arad from many surrounding countries. I still haven't seen that part of Romania, so I'm excited about going there and will finally visit my friend John's natural park site, might even be able to kayak the river there! Yesterday on the tram I actually saw two kayaks on the lake near the Delfinariu! It's the first time I've ever seen boats on that lake, so I had to restrain myself from jumping off and running over to talk to them. I have high hopes that I can get out on the water sometime this summer. I don't know if I might actually manage to go boating the Black Sea, but I'm working on it.

First... here is my family in Munich, when Dara and Sabra visited... Zarah looks so wonderful bald, it's amazing! Can you believe her beautiful smile?

Here are some pictures from the conference in Predeal --

And here are some from Earth Day last month, at a Constanta high school presentation --

First, I want to let my friends know that my granddaughter Zarah is slowly improving from her life-threatening illness. She was able to spend a night at home last weekend for the first time since she was stricken with bacterial meningitis B the end of February. Although she lost her right foot and will still be in the hospital for a long time, we are all happy that she is getting better. This month my daughter Dara and granddaughter Sabra will be going to Germany to be with her and the rest of Peter's family, so hopefully I'll have photos of their visit soon.

Orthodox Easter in Romania -- May 3, 2008

I was happy to be invited by my new Rotary friends Fanica and Florin Constantin to spend Romanian Orthodox Easter with their family last Sunday. All the traditional foods were prepared by Fanica, and she is a great cook! Also at dinner were daughter Laura, her husband and baby son, their godson and his family. There are three Rotary clubs in Constanta, and Florin is the president of one, Fanica the immediate past president of another one, and Laura an incoming president for the third club. So we had all the Rotary clubs in the area represented at this special dinner!

I was sorry that I had medical and dental appointments in Bucharest during the holiday week following Easter, because they invited me to go with them for a four-day fishing trip to the Danube Delta, but I had to decline. I'm hoping to have another chance to go during the summer! The mid-service physical exams are required to be sure we're still healthy, and apparently I am still alive and kicking so they sent me back to my site.

It's hard to believe that I'm past the mid-point in my Peace Corps service! Our mid-service conference will be held the middle of this month in the city of Predeal, in the mountains about half an hour north of Ploiesti. Everyone in my group can probably use some pumping up about now, with a welcome rest and rehabilitation break. It also helps when we can see each other again, to renew friendships and exchange ideas about our time in Romania.

It is a tradition in Romania for people to go to the seaside during Easter week, so I could spend the holiday weekend wandering around the tourist crowds. The atmosphere was festive, as Mamaia resort opened for the summer season. I strolled through the park (park alternate gallery) and the enormous playground, rode the bus out to Navodari and took pictures of all the construction going on. The pictures are on the galleries page. I was surprised to see so many men fishing in the lake, using enormous fishing poles, much bigger than the ones we use in Alaska for king salmon! I didn't see anyone who actually had a fish, but I can't imagine what they hope to catch. I love to see the park so full of people of all ages, especially lots of old guys hanging out, visiting and playing games.

I decided this afternoon to make good old pancakes and eggs for breakfast... yeah, yeah, I know it's afternoon, but that's my favorite time for breakfast because even though I enjoy coffee when I get up at 6 a.m., I prefer not to eat anything so early. Of course I know I'm a bad example for those who believe everyone should eat breakfast in the morning, but I think since I'm over 60 years of age I can do whatever I want. (I hope my grandchildren don't read this...) I remember my mother running around after me in the mornings when I was a kid, carrying a cup of hot chocolate and begging me to eat something. Some things never change, I guess. I always have made pancakes from scratch, that's no problem, but Romanians don't use syrup. I decide to boil up some sugar and water, add flavoring and try to make my own. This was a bad idea. I heard I might possibly find syrup at one store in this city, so there's a new challenge.