My 62nd Birthday! -- October 15, 2008

On Monday two of the managers from the Peace Corps in Bucharest came to visit me in Constanta, Annaliese Limb from Dallas, Texas, the new program and training officer, and Oana Boingeanu from Sinaia, the program manager for my economic development sector. They were able to visit the Delfinariu-Natural Sciences Museum Complex, Ovidius University where I teach, and the beautiful county library where I host ongoing presentations and discussion groups. In the evening they also went with me to Rotary Club and attended my birthday dinner. Here are some photos from the event, and there are many more here.

with Peace Corps Romania staff: Oana Boingeanu, Community Economic Development Program Manager, and Annaliese Limb, Program and Training Officer -- Oana is my great support at the PCRO office!

Thanks to friends of this website -- October 10, 2008

I think I've mentioned this before, but I want to thank my friends whom I've met because of this web journal. Some of these terrific people I have met in person, and others only online, but all have provided moral support for my work in Romania. Here are some of them:

First and always, Ioana Stanescu and Patric Ionescu in Bucharest

John Korst in St. Louis who has been sending books in English that I can donate to libraries

Stephanie Perrott from New Zealand, who actually came and found me in Constanta,
and Paul and Pat Jeffers in Northern Ireland, whom I hope to eventually meet in person.

Thanks for writing! You have no idea how much it means to hear from people who care about what I'm doing here and let me know they are interested.

Staying home to celebrate my 62nd birthday! -- October 8, 2008

Happy Birthday to me! ... or "La Multi Ani" in Romanian. Next week I'll enjoy a birthday dinner with my Monday night Rotary group, but today I'm just staying home, relaxing and taking time for myself. I think I'll take a long bubble bath. My oldest son Grey called a couple of days ago to wish me happy birthday, so I could visit with his family on Skype, and I was able to capture a couple of images for my new photo album for him. In fact, I put many new albums on my picasa website. Some of my friends have slow internet connections, so they can view pictures better this way, and it's also easier for me. Please let me know what you think! You'll probably enjoy the photos from my friend Florin's very elegant 50th birthday party last Saturday, from Italy, and many more of Romania. On the album page, you might want to just click on Slideshow at the upper left, and you can set the time to hold each slide.

Here's Grey with his girlfriend Barb, I think they look pretty happy, also me with Pam:

Fanica and Florin Constantin, then me with other Romanian friends at the big 50th birthday bash:

It's hard to believe that I'm actually 62 years old! My mother was pretty old and was already very ill when she was this age, and my father died in a plane accident when he was only 49 years old, so it seems I should be doddering around and mumbling to myself even more than I am now. I am eligible to draw Social Security, and given the turmoil in the US economy I need to do it. But I've learned that it is a difficult process when an retiree is living abroad, and I must work with a Greek agent in Athens who never even heard of the Peace Corps!

This week I started teaching classes at Ovidius University in American Studies, in the final year seminar in English.  I was a bit nervous about it, but it turned out okay.  My son Peter gave me some good advice about getting the students to talk as much as possible, and that helped.  In fact, I hope I will enjoy doing this for the coming winter. I'll attach the first draft of the syllabus here, so feel free to send me your comments and any suggestions. Yesterday the county library sent a driver to pick up my seven boxes of books in English that I had sent from the US, and next week we will establish a regular schedule of presentations to hold there for a public conversation group.

It's still cold in my apartment. I was told the heat won't come on until the end of October, so I keep lots of blankets handy. I actually got up at 4 a.m. to hear both of the last debates, for Vice President and last night the second Presidential debate. The timing isn't convenient, but the closer I get to returning home, the more interested I am to know what's happening. Although I don't get any news on television in English, I learned this week that by using the program "Livestation", I can see many television news channels on my computer! It works great and I love it!