The below is an entry I started a week ago and didn't have time to finish:
Training is officially half way finished, which I'm pretty stoked about. Sorta. It means that in five weeks I'll be shipped off to a new spot in Romania. Alone. It means having my own apartment with my own kitchen, my own bathroom, my own space, but it also means that on days like today, when I've got a day "off" and spend a decent chunk of it hanging out with other trainees, I'll be in a site far from any other volunteers and will no longer have the option of comfy American interaction, which'll take some getting used to. I've always been the "loner" type, but this'll be a different sort of loner. I'm used to being the loner with options, the loner by choice, not the loner by force. Of course, the purpose of this whole adventure is to integrate and make friends in the new community, but I'm thinking the first three to six months are going to consist of many books, lots of alone time, and dozens of chocolate chip cookies.
We had something like a language test on Friday, and I feel ok about it. I'll find out more details on my aptitude tomorrow, but, after spending yesterday with a trainee who's doing really well and listening to her have full-on conversations with Romanians, but not being able to understand most of it, I'm feeling pretty crappy about language this weekend. All of a sudden nothing my gazda says makes sense, I can't make a coherent sentence in any tense, and I dream about the incorrect conjugations of verbs. Fun. They've said over and over it'd be like this - a good day followed by a bad day, a week where you can say everything, then a week where nothing makes sense, but it's still a crappy feeling.
The above is no longer fully applicable, but meh...onto current things (05 April 08, 22:00):
Life has fallen into a routine here and that explains the majority of my lack of updating. Really, not much goes on in the day to day life of a trainee, at least for me. The shiny layer of newness is wearing away and losing its luster, but it's still exciting. I've looked forward to every day and the further we go, the faster this ball rolls.
Three days after we arrived in Ploiesti, I bought a new tube of toothpaste, not a huge tube, but a bigger-than-travel-size tube. I finished that tube of toothpaste two days ago and had to purchase another tube. Such a normal thing, buying toothpaste, right? It's a simple part of life that doesn't require much thought, but going through an entire tube of toothpaste in a foreign country is, to me, pretty significant. I know it sounds silly and I'll go through plenty more tubes while I'm here (hopefully), but that first foreign tube of toothpaste will hold a special spot in my heart.
Over the past six weeks, I've had orange juice in the morning four or five times. It's always served in a small glass and it's oddly delicious, so I usually can't help and finish the glass in two or three swallows and sit silently hoping for more. I've been wondering where she keeps the box of juice because I never see it in the fridge, but the last time I had orange juice in the morning, I went to throw something away and noticed a bunch of orange peels in the trash can. My initial thought? Wow, she eats alot of oranges. Then, like a brick, it hit me. There isn't a box of orange juice in the fridge because she makes it fresh from actual oranges. She doesn't eat alot of oranges, I do. I drink them. In two or three swallows, like it was nothing. And then I sit there hoping for more. A lesson in appreciation.
We got our site announcements yesterday and that was a pretty big deal. The staff made a map of Romania (not to scale) with each of our individual cities on the floor of our school's gymnasium and, one by one and through a painfully slow process of elimination, doled out each trainee's site. Want to know where I'll spend the next two years? It's a Hungarian town of about 62,000 residents in the heart of the Carpathian Mountains and is called Sfantu Gheorghe. Yeah, I'm excited. I know I shouldn't get too excited because that could lead to disappointment, but it sounds like exactly the kind of town I was hoping for. I'll be working with the Environmental Protection Agency of Covasna County, which is a governmental organization and I was kinda hoping for an NGO, but the work they have outlined for me sounds like it's up my alley - helping with public outreach projects, developing environmental education programs, and working on local environmental projects. All good things. So we'll see. Oh, did you catch that word "Hungarian" a few sentences ago? Yep, it's a Hungarian town in Transylvania, so I get to learn Hungarian! On top of Romanian! I'm excited and petrified at the same time. Hungarian is not a romance language...I'm not sure what kind of language it is, but it sounds terrifying. They say we just need to learn the basics because the majority of business in the Hungarian towns is done in English...but that means I won't learn Romanian as well as I would like. I dunno. I wanna come away from this thing with at least one new language, so it might take a little extra effort on my part to figure out which and to stick with it. Wish me luck. I'll reveal more info on my site and on my job as the information becomes available...I really don't know that much right now.
In order to honor and thank our Gazdas for putting up with us for ten weeks, every group of trainees organizes and hosts their own Gazda Day event each year and ours just happened to be today. We had piles and piles of extra food, but it's supposedly a huge embarrassment if the host runs out of food here, so better to be safe than sorry. I made cookies last night for the first time in about two months. It was frickin' great. I didn't realize how much I missed baking until I started mixing up that tasty combo of sugar and buttery goo. They turned out surprisingly well considering all the different ingredients and amounts of things I used, and the oven was gas, which was an experiment all its own. AND I didn't have my kitchen aid...mixing cookies by hand is a mini-work out and my pinkie is now blistered. But I made two batches of cookies and walked away from the event empty-handed, so that's a success in my book. Plus, we played volleyball, had an egg toss, smacked around a pinata, and tossed bean bags back and forth. You can't top that.
Guess that's the most exciting bits that I can think of right now...I'm going to Sinaia again tomorrow. I really like that town and it'll be very nice to get away from Ploiesti for a day, as much as I love this city...
Oh, and our practicum is finished. All presentations went well, etc etc.
More pictures to come soon. Promise.
Happy spring!
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Two updates in two days!
I'm on a role! Or is it "roll"? My Romanian isn't really improving, but my English is certainly going to pot. I realized last night as I got ready for bed, hours after I had left the previous post, that today is Easter and I kinda like Easter. I have lot of great memories attached to this day, driving to Phoenix AZ with my mom and sister, dying eggs in my grandma's kitchen, finding little bits of rabbit poo (aka chocolate curls) sprinkled around the floor, eating my weight in Mini Eggs, and, of course, scouring every nook and cranny for our Easter Baskets of Delicious Doom. I am happy to blame my current dependence on chocolate and sugar on this holiday. The reason why I hadn't really thought about Easter until last night is because most Romanians are Orthodox and don't celebrate their Easter until the 27th of April. So I was prepared to exit March without even realizing that one of my favorite holidays had passed (or is it "past"?). Over the last few years, I've tested the waters as an anti-holiday person and tried to see them as days that were once cool, but have been turned over the years into reasons to buy candy and spend money and eat out and all those shenanigans, but when you're far from home and you can't find Mini Eggs ANYWHERE and really miss those little curls of chocolatey rabbit poo, and just the simple guarantee of having family around, you start to miss certain holidays, as pointless as you occasionally try to see them. I'm excited and curious to see what will go down here on the 27th of April...I'll have my camera ready to rock. Maybe then the Mini Eggs will magically appear.
Speaking of religious events, I saw a funeral procession last week. A group was making its way, by foot, down the street outside of my language school just as I was leaving. A few members were playing a rather haunting tune on their worn-looking trumpets and guitars and at the head of the group, a few men carried an open (yes, open) casket with a sheer cloth draped over it. I watched them pass. The music was really beautiful and the scene itself was a little surreal...I don't know why, but I was reminded of The Sopranos, even though I've never seen a full episode. They were walking so slowly, taking up half the street, and every little bit of it felt like a funeral. As I walked home, I could hear the music for blocks. Not something you see in Reno.
On Tuesday, my group will present our first practicum presentation to an English class. The presentation will be about wilderness areas in the US and how they are threatened, appreciated, and protected by humans, and how they compare to a wilderness area here in Prahova County. I'm going to talk about the Great Basin because I'm a big fan of the desert and miss those sandy, sage-brush dotted hills. I'm going to include a picture of Fort Churchill that I took almost exactly a year ago with my dad and little brothers. Brought back some good memories. My partner will talk about an area in Minnesota (where he's from) called Boundary Waters Canoe Area...anyone heard of it? I believe I have some Minnesotians poking around here somewhere. Sounds like a pretty neat place. Then, we will talk about Ciucas (pronounced Tchew-cush) park and how amazing (seriously) it is. Lots of virgin forest, Carpathian brown bears, wolves, all that good stuff. According to the pictures, it's a place to check out while in Romania, with the "take only pictures, leave only footprints" methodology strictly enforced, of course. We will present it again on April 2nd and then be pretty much gata (finished) with the implementation of our practicum, unless another class or two decides to indulge us. We shall see.
Guess that's it for now. Happy Easter! Eat some mini eggs for me, you lucky people you.
Speaking of religious events, I saw a funeral procession last week. A group was making its way, by foot, down the street outside of my language school just as I was leaving. A few members were playing a rather haunting tune on their worn-looking trumpets and guitars and at the head of the group, a few men carried an open (yes, open) casket with a sheer cloth draped over it. I watched them pass. The music was really beautiful and the scene itself was a little surreal...I don't know why, but I was reminded of The Sopranos, even though I've never seen a full episode. They were walking so slowly, taking up half the street, and every little bit of it felt like a funeral. As I walked home, I could hear the music for blocks. Not something you see in Reno.
On Tuesday, my group will present our first practicum presentation to an English class. The presentation will be about wilderness areas in the US and how they are threatened, appreciated, and protected by humans, and how they compare to a wilderness area here in Prahova County. I'm going to talk about the Great Basin because I'm a big fan of the desert and miss those sandy, sage-brush dotted hills. I'm going to include a picture of Fort Churchill that I took almost exactly a year ago with my dad and little brothers. Brought back some good memories. My partner will talk about an area in Minnesota (where he's from) called Boundary Waters Canoe Area...anyone heard of it? I believe I have some Minnesotians poking around here somewhere. Sounds like a pretty neat place. Then, we will talk about Ciucas (pronounced Tchew-cush) park and how amazing (seriously) it is. Lots of virgin forest, Carpathian brown bears, wolves, all that good stuff. According to the pictures, it's a place to check out while in Romania, with the "take only pictures, leave only footprints" methodology strictly enforced, of course. We will present it again on April 2nd and then be pretty much gata (finished) with the implementation of our practicum, unless another class or two decides to indulge us. We shall see.
Guess that's it for now. Happy Easter! Eat some mini eggs for me, you lucky people you.
Saturday, March 22, 2008
March certainly is clipping along, isn't it? Each time I look at the date on my watch, I'm a little taken aback. Have we been here for a month? Seriously? Cause it feels more like a week one minute and more like a year the next. Much like the Twilight Zone.
I'm going to go about this entry through the "strain of thought" method because I'm at a wireless internet cafe that doesn't have electrical plugs and the battery on my computer is not the most robust. So...one brief story that I am amused by the more I think about it. About a week ago I was sitting at the kitchen table with my gazda and her friend and they were chatting up a storm. I really like to just sit and listen to people talk Romanian as they naturally would, without slowing down for me, and see how much I can pick up. This time around I could tell that they were talking about shoes, food, and the weather. Pretty typical conversation. The friend started gathering her things and getting ready to go and she turned towards me and said, very pointedly to me and in english, "I have to go. I have to eat my cats and dogs." It was a relief to hear someone else make a mistake in a language. I've probably said several unintentionally amusing things in Romanian, but it's good to know that it's still a two way street. Here, whenever I meet a new person, the first thing they say is "Oh, my English is not very good...please forgive me" and then spout out something along the lines of Shakespearean poetry. If their English is not very good, my Romanian is non-existent.
In just two weeks we get our site placement announcements. A conversation with my program manager made it sound like I'll be going somewhere that could use my GIS skills, but where in Romania that is, I do not know. The thought that in six weeks we'll all be packing up our bags AGAIN and moving to our own spots, potentially twelve hours by train away, is both enticing and palm-sweat inducing. I'm hoping for somewhere in the mountains because I grew up with the things and find them comforting and picturesque and cooler in the summer. We'll see. There is a small small chance that I'll stay in Ploiesti, but I've heard from many people that PC training is in this city because every other city we'll be placed in is nicer and prettier. And, I'll be honest, I'm not a huge fan of Ploiesti and look forward to getting out of it. It's not horrible and, in many ways, reminds me of Reno, but the pollution, traffic, and dogs are definitely downers. I've discovered that Saturdays are burning days, when people burn their trash, and have come to loath the day. My throat hurts, my eyes itch, and I'm tired pretty much the hole day. The traffic, more pointedly the speed of the traffic, baffles me. I used to complain when a car went 35 through a neighborhood in Reno, but that's considered slow here. Stop. Look. Listen. Very good recommendations for Ploiesti pedestrians. I don't even want to talk about the dogs. They're everywhere and although many of them are surprisingly well-cared for strays, I've seen several heart-breaking puppies sitting, confused and naive, on the curb.
Now I'm complaining and painting a negative picture of Ploiesti and I don't want to do that. It is really a neat city and I've got several pictures that I need to share, but there are still the things that get to me, just like the things that would get to me in Reno. On the plus side, this city has some of the best freakin' pastries I've ever had and everything is made in the store where you buy it, which is a crazy-awesome concept to someone coming from Wal-Mart America, I think. Food is much more local and it does taste better that way. Plus, it's spring here and the flowers are popping out, turning the grey bloc apartments a bit more cheerful and making the smoke filled streets a touch more tolerable.
I better go. I sense a dead battery approaching, unfortunately. I wish I had more time for this. It's calming. Hope all is well wherever you are.
I'm going to go about this entry through the "strain of thought" method because I'm at a wireless internet cafe that doesn't have electrical plugs and the battery on my computer is not the most robust. So...one brief story that I am amused by the more I think about it. About a week ago I was sitting at the kitchen table with my gazda and her friend and they were chatting up a storm. I really like to just sit and listen to people talk Romanian as they naturally would, without slowing down for me, and see how much I can pick up. This time around I could tell that they were talking about shoes, food, and the weather. Pretty typical conversation. The friend started gathering her things and getting ready to go and she turned towards me and said, very pointedly to me and in english, "I have to go. I have to eat my cats and dogs." It was a relief to hear someone else make a mistake in a language. I've probably said several unintentionally amusing things in Romanian, but it's good to know that it's still a two way street. Here, whenever I meet a new person, the first thing they say is "Oh, my English is not very good...please forgive me" and then spout out something along the lines of Shakespearean poetry. If their English is not very good, my Romanian is non-existent.
In just two weeks we get our site placement announcements. A conversation with my program manager made it sound like I'll be going somewhere that could use my GIS skills, but where in Romania that is, I do not know. The thought that in six weeks we'll all be packing up our bags AGAIN and moving to our own spots, potentially twelve hours by train away, is both enticing and palm-sweat inducing. I'm hoping for somewhere in the mountains because I grew up with the things and find them comforting and picturesque and cooler in the summer. We'll see. There is a small small chance that I'll stay in Ploiesti, but I've heard from many people that PC training is in this city because every other city we'll be placed in is nicer and prettier. And, I'll be honest, I'm not a huge fan of Ploiesti and look forward to getting out of it. It's not horrible and, in many ways, reminds me of Reno, but the pollution, traffic, and dogs are definitely downers. I've discovered that Saturdays are burning days, when people burn their trash, and have come to loath the day. My throat hurts, my eyes itch, and I'm tired pretty much the hole day. The traffic, more pointedly the speed of the traffic, baffles me. I used to complain when a car went 35 through a neighborhood in Reno, but that's considered slow here. Stop. Look. Listen. Very good recommendations for Ploiesti pedestrians. I don't even want to talk about the dogs. They're everywhere and although many of them are surprisingly well-cared for strays, I've seen several heart-breaking puppies sitting, confused and naive, on the curb.
Now I'm complaining and painting a negative picture of Ploiesti and I don't want to do that. It is really a neat city and I've got several pictures that I need to share, but there are still the things that get to me, just like the things that would get to me in Reno. On the plus side, this city has some of the best freakin' pastries I've ever had and everything is made in the store where you buy it, which is a crazy-awesome concept to someone coming from Wal-Mart America, I think. Food is much more local and it does taste better that way. Plus, it's spring here and the flowers are popping out, turning the grey bloc apartments a bit more cheerful and making the smoke filled streets a touch more tolerable.
I better go. I sense a dead battery approaching, unfortunately. I wish I had more time for this. It's calming. Hope all is well wherever you are.
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Pics!
Just real quick! There's a new link over on the right that'll take you to my flickr page with a few pictures. Not many, but more to come. Gotta go! Ciao!
Friday, March 7, 2008
Hey cool.
It's Friday again and I have time to do something other than study, walk, and/or eat. Plus, my gazda is gone this evening and I have the house (internet included) to myself. First time that's happened. Today is my gazda's birthday and I bought her some flowers and candies, but she went to Bucharest to celebrate with her son and granddaughter and won't be back until tomorrow evening. Somehow, we communicated that through a painful two minute conversation via cell phone earlier today. Communicating with a person who speaks a different language than you is difficult enough when you're sitting right in front of them, add 4 miles distance and poor reception and it just gets amusing in a migraine initiating way. But it all worked out.
A group of people is going to Sibiu tomorrow and the train leaves at 7:45, meaning I'll have to leave the house at about 6:15 to get there in time, meaning I'll have to get up around 5:30 if I want to take a semi-shower and as cool as Sibiu sounds, nothing sounds better right now than sleeping in and being lazy. Yes, lazy. PJ's, Romanian television, internet surfing, munching on cookies, doing laundry, practicing Romanian verbs. Something typical and boring. But the pressure to get out and do as much as possible is pretty thick, which I don't mind, but I'm feeling very indecisive right now. During the week, our days are so structured and there's no time to even think about free time that when I actually have an option in what I do, I can't handle it. I want to do nothing. Plus, I went somewhere last weekend with my gazda so I don't feel like I need to get out of Ploiesti quite as much as everyone else, the majority of whom haven't been out since we got here. Last weekend, by the way, was awesome. I can confidently say that I saw some of the most beautiful scenery I have ever seen and as soon as I can figure out how to do the whole picture thing, I'll do it (might be after training, in 8 weeks). We went to Bran (aka Dracula's) castle and Rasnov castle. Two friends of my gazda came along, both of whom speak english pretty well, and one asked me what the castles in America were like. I hope that some day they can visit America and see just how beautiful and unique their own country is. America doesn't have castles. Not really, not like the castles here. They were shocked when I told them that and it's been on my mind since...castles in America.
On Tuesday, all of us trainees got on a bus and headed towards Bucharest, where we visited the official Peace Corps Romania headquarters and met with an organization that applies to our sector (environmental for me) to chat. Three other trainees and myself went to the Regional Environmental Center and talked a bit about how Romania's accession to the EU has changed their environmental policies and methods for funding projects. I had some kind of cold earlier this week, and the worst was on Tuesday and Wednesday, so Bucharest was kind of a blur and very exhausting. All I can say is that it's a huge city and, though I was only there for a few hours, I don't have a huge desire to go back any time soon.
I know this is another two years down the line, but something I'm looking forward to is coming back to the US and looking at it in a way that I am now looking at Romania - with curiosity of the unknown. With eyes that are used to a different world. It'll just be neat. What's strange and foreign to me now will be old hat and what I was used to in the states will be new and different. We'll see.
Language is frickin' tough, but I'm not going to give up. I can't. I'm hoping to dedicate the majority of Sunday to studying Romanian and preparing a few things for our practicum, which will basically be me and a colleague giving a presentation (in English) about the importance of a healthy environment to few English clubs. We're going to say a lil something about a native species from our home and compare them to a native species in Romania. I, of course, chose the desert tortoise. Because they rock. I'll probably also talk about water conservation and other desert-y goodness. I typically hate giving presentations, but I think this'll be fun and I'm looking forward to it.
Well, guess I should get to bed since I need to be up at like 5 or something...hope everyone is doing great! Week two down!
A group of people is going to Sibiu tomorrow and the train leaves at 7:45, meaning I'll have to leave the house at about 6:15 to get there in time, meaning I'll have to get up around 5:30 if I want to take a semi-shower and as cool as Sibiu sounds, nothing sounds better right now than sleeping in and being lazy. Yes, lazy. PJ's, Romanian television, internet surfing, munching on cookies, doing laundry, practicing Romanian verbs. Something typical and boring. But the pressure to get out and do as much as possible is pretty thick, which I don't mind, but I'm feeling very indecisive right now. During the week, our days are so structured and there's no time to even think about free time that when I actually have an option in what I do, I can't handle it. I want to do nothing. Plus, I went somewhere last weekend with my gazda so I don't feel like I need to get out of Ploiesti quite as much as everyone else, the majority of whom haven't been out since we got here. Last weekend, by the way, was awesome. I can confidently say that I saw some of the most beautiful scenery I have ever seen and as soon as I can figure out how to do the whole picture thing, I'll do it (might be after training, in 8 weeks). We went to Bran (aka Dracula's) castle and Rasnov castle. Two friends of my gazda came along, both of whom speak english pretty well, and one asked me what the castles in America were like. I hope that some day they can visit America and see just how beautiful and unique their own country is. America doesn't have castles. Not really, not like the castles here. They were shocked when I told them that and it's been on my mind since...castles in America.
On Tuesday, all of us trainees got on a bus and headed towards Bucharest, where we visited the official Peace Corps Romania headquarters and met with an organization that applies to our sector (environmental for me) to chat. Three other trainees and myself went to the Regional Environmental Center and talked a bit about how Romania's accession to the EU has changed their environmental policies and methods for funding projects. I had some kind of cold earlier this week, and the worst was on Tuesday and Wednesday, so Bucharest was kind of a blur and very exhausting. All I can say is that it's a huge city and, though I was only there for a few hours, I don't have a huge desire to go back any time soon.
I know this is another two years down the line, but something I'm looking forward to is coming back to the US and looking at it in a way that I am now looking at Romania - with curiosity of the unknown. With eyes that are used to a different world. It'll just be neat. What's strange and foreign to me now will be old hat and what I was used to in the states will be new and different. We'll see.
Language is frickin' tough, but I'm not going to give up. I can't. I'm hoping to dedicate the majority of Sunday to studying Romanian and preparing a few things for our practicum, which will basically be me and a colleague giving a presentation (in English) about the importance of a healthy environment to few English clubs. We're going to say a lil something about a native species from our home and compare them to a native species in Romania. I, of course, chose the desert tortoise. Because they rock. I'll probably also talk about water conservation and other desert-y goodness. I typically hate giving presentations, but I think this'll be fun and I'm looking forward to it.
Well, guess I should get to bed since I need to be up at like 5 or something...hope everyone is doing great! Week two down!
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