Visits to Communities, Sidewalks, and Cooking -- October 11, 2007

The Peace Corps requests that we not talk politics or write negative things about our host country, and not to reveal much about other volunteers, but we can be honest about what our lives are like. So here goes: I HATE these sidewalks! I honestly, truly hate them. Especially now, since I fell for the second time, and this time I really did it. In the dark, when it was starting to rain, and I was almost back to my apartment building. When you get to be my age you dread falling, almost more than anything. And I fell on my face! Well, I also have a bruised knee and a sore left hand. Fortunately I am healing fine, and have nothing to complain about. It could have been much worse. The broken up sidewalks here often actually have potholes in them, and remind me very much of the ones you find in Mexico. Other things also remind me of that culture: the tight, stylish low-cut clothing and high heels, the fondness for glitter and sparkles, people walking and carrying heavy parcels, children in school uniforms, laundry hanging with very white whites, neighbors visiting outside in the evenings, horses in the streets, stray dogs, little shops in every block, make-do labor intensive construction methods, and wild drivers. The music is very different, but I love Mexico, and Romania suits me.

I've visited a lot of rural communities since I last wrote, and taken pictures in many of them. I will not write about each of them, but want to mention some of the most interesting things I've seen. In one little community I met some weavers who make gorgeous rugs and wall hangings on upright traditional looms. I was so amazed by the perfection of their work that they gave me a runner to keep. I'll post a picture of it, and another of them in their weaving room. The weaving is exactly the same on both sides, I'd love to know how they do that. They teach weaving to young students after school four afternoons a week so they can pass on the old techniques for 100 lei a month (only about $40). The young people go in the woods and pick berries to sell to pay for the yarn. I visited another area that was devastated by landslides in May 2006, where entire neighborhoods vanished in the space of three hours. Hundreds of people were left homeless when the land collapsed underneath them. It was astounding to see the tilted buildings and sunken land, and to hear about what happened there. In a different community, I had lunch at one of the only pensions in our county, a beautiful place on a little farm where I want to return to stay.

The part of Romania where I live was a big mining area, and since they closed the mines there is high unemployment. It is also near the foothills of the Carpathian Mountains, and there is a great potential for eco-tourism, but there is as yet virtually no tourism development. These are the challenges and the opportunity: to encourage community participation in the public processes that will comply with EU funding requirements to implement projects in these areas. Fortunately, we've been pretty successful so far, with several mayors and councils agreeing to work with my agency to help them network together, for training and resource devleopment.

We recently welcomed fifteen young volunteers from EU and Eastern European countries who will be here for nine months, living and working with the youth in these rural communities. I plan to sit in on their Romanian language classes, to hopefully improve my own communication skills. I think my Romanian has gotten worse since I've been living here. I scramble for the words I need and use lots of sign language. Surprisingly, people usually seem to understand me, and I somehow manage. In the more rural areas, older people were often taught French in school, or sometimes Russian, but it is only the young people who are now learning English. The dialects here are fast and the words get run together, as we probably do in English, so it is very difficult for me to understand them, even when I catch many of the Romanian words.

The weather is cool now, it has been cloudy and rainy for many days. The winter is predicted to be a mild one. As much as I hated all the summer heat, I wouldn't mind having a little sunshine now. My birthday was Monday, and it was a quiet day. I'm surprised to be 61 years old, it seems like I was just 40 last week. And I keep learning something new every day! This week I'm learning how to fix chestnuts and quince, which are both in season here now.

Thanks to all my friends for the surprise packages and emails. It means a more than you can imagine to hear from home. I was pleased and surprised to receive an email from Caroline Juler, from Wales, about enjoying my weblog notes. She was the author of the Blue Guide to Romania, and wrote the newly published National Geographic Traveler Guide. Be sure and get it to learn more about this fascinating country! Her website is: http://www.mamaliga.co.uk Another website of a friend of hers you might also find interesting: http://travelromania.tripod.com

Weavers and my runner in Topesti, near Tismana --

Pensiunea Plaiul Castanilor