How to buy a pig in Romania ... A Photostory

The Raw Egg Debacle of 2011

As many of you may have noticed I’ve been posting some rather strange sounding status updates via Facebook. These are the sillier tidbits that arise from google translate conversations I have with my host mother. Though most of the time we get along great we will occasionally butt heads over something that is usually rooted in cultural difference.

 “singing voice a lot to keep eating as many raw eggs such as solo singing is the easy and popular music or drink warm milk to eggs”

The largest traditional Easter egg in the world

This was towards the end of a conversation we were having about my aversion to raw egg. She had made a Romanian dish that had rice mixed with salami topped with a mixture of hard boiled and raw egg she called mayonnaise. I explained to her very politely that I don’t eat raw egg (not counting cookie dough on occasion). I was met with a look of confusion. Why would someone not eat raw egg? I’m fairly certain I sounded quite insane.

I went on to explain that doctors say raw egg is bad for you. (Let me just stop a second here and remind everyone that my host mother does not speak English (save for maybe 4 or 5 words) and this entire conversation up until now has been in Romanian.) This time I was met with a face of disbelief. That can’t be true, I’ve never heard that before. My response, of course, was let’s see what the internet has to say about all this. So I find some sites about e coli or salmonella translate it into Romanian for her to read. Her response was the line above. Which, I think, was her telling me that singers drink raw egg because it’s good for their voice. A convincing argument.

I also tried the approach of saying, you know how I don’t believe in Current (the idea that a breeze will cause headaches, earaches, and a myriad of different health problems (…yes, a breeze)) not eating raw egg something you don’t believe that is a common belief of my culture. I’m not sure how well that went over. In the end (and this whole dialog lasted a solid two hours) she jokingly said my doctor must be lying to me, and I straight up told her I wouldn’t eat it. I guess that counts as agreeing to disagree?  She also continued to offer it to me in the days to follow. If nothing she’s certainly persistent and does have a good sense of humor about these interactions as well. This is what gives me hope about living with her for the next two years.

Te pup! (Kisses)

My 1st post as a real Volunteer

As I sit on a bench in front of my new acasa, overlooking outrageously green rolling hills speckle with cows and horses and listen the chickens and turkeys cluck away, I finish my list of things I need to buy next time I’m near a Carrefour. Looking for something else to keep me the lovely predicament I remember my mother’s parting words last time we spoke “Dad and I are so proud of you but…YOU NEED TO UPDATE YOUR BLOG” also adding “AND CHANGE YOUR FACEBOOK PROFILE PICTURE”. Miss you mom ;)

So here I am, after a nauseating and boiling seven hour van ride, after an amazing party thrown by Grant’s Gazda, after a touching dinner with my own Gazda, after surviving a crazy night in Bucaresti, and after officially swearing in as a Peace Corps Volunteer, here I am. That all happened in three days btw…

Surprisingly, when I got to site I was quite sleep deprived. The last few days I have been sleeping for 8 or 9 hours and taking 2 hour naps during the day. I think the need for sleep has also been caused by truly being immersed in Romanian for the first time. New languages are hard on the brain. We’ve had four hours of language class a day for the last ten weeks, where no English was spoken, but the rest of the time I was surrounded by Americans or at least English speakers. With most of my English speaking co-workers living an hour away and no one else in my village knowing the language… yet (that’s why I’m here after all, and I have become highly motivated in the last three days) I can say with a great deal of certainty that I am completely immersed.

I really could not have asked for a better village. Focuri (which means “fires” in Romanian) in some ways closely resembles the last isolated I place I lived in. There are only dirt roads, it is an hour from any kind of major city (and there are only two buses a day to get me out), most of the population lives off the land in some way or another, the main form a transportation is not cars, and it will get very cold this winter (I am told). (Just so we’re all on the same page, I’m comparing Barrow, AK with a small town in Romania)That’s more or less where the similarities end  because Focuri has trees, actually it seems like it’d be hard not to grow something here, it’s green beyond belief. I might be an hour away from the nearest city but that city is Isai (Yash) and it’s the second largest in the country, and its less than a few bucks to get there (and when you get there they have opera, ballet, museums and bars Oh My! (and two, count’em T-W-O Carrefours (big ones!))). The main mode of transportation is horse cart, (which won’t drive past my bedroom window and 2 am with an obnoxious noise) and are pretty fun to ride. Hopefully, Focuri will provide the same caliber of cool people I found in Barrow and so far I have not been disapointed.

So far I have been blown away by the people of this country in general. Before leaving the states I read accounts of how great the people are here and kind of rolled my eyes. These writers were clearly exaggerating. And after having spent time in a few countries were the friendly people were the exception I was pretty skeptical. And now I have become one of those writers that goes on and on about how wonderful the people are here. So there I’ve said it Romanians (well at least the ones I’ve met) have been awesome. It’s just their great sense of humor and their welcoming nature and and and… come visit me and see for yourself ;).

Please excuse the gushing...

I’m going to skip the apology for not keeping up with my blog and get right in to catching you all up.

A lot has happened in the last 5 or 6 weeks. Most of it is a blur when I start to look back. I climbed a mountain in the Carpathians with a group of Romanian students. I danced with my host father in the countryside while dodging chickens and dogs. Found out where I’m going to live for the next two years and that the main form of transportation in that town is horse carts on dirt roads. That while I’m there I’ll be living with another host family that grows their own grapes and makes their own wine and liquors. And that I’ll probably kill my own turkey for Thanksgiving this year.  After eight weeks of intensive language training I’m actually able to carry on some semblance of a conversation in Romanian. I’ve played ultimate Frisbee in the shadow of a castle that Dracula actually built (which is not in Transylvania btw). There have definitely been a lot of hard days, boatloads of stress, and the occasional encounter with a pack of angry dogs at 2 am, but it’s really the first time in my life that I have truly felt like I’m on the right path and doing exactly what I’m meant to do. It’s really an incredible feeling.

But enough with the gushing…

Let’s talk about some interesting beliefs and practices I’ve witnessed in Romania that might come across as a bit peculiar to the American eye. Current (pronounced curr-aunt) is a great concern to most Romanians I have met. It is the belief that being exposed to any amount of moving air (ie, wind from a fan, or cross breeze) will cause damage to one’s ears, headaches and also may cause illness. When driving in a car it is fairly common to only open windows on one side in order to avoid Current. The same is practiced in homes; doors are kept closed to rooms that have a window open in them. This is something taken very seriously by quite a bit of the country. On hot days I find myself explaining to people that I actually enjoy this occurrence that they find so harmful. Another one of my favorites is how headaches are perceived here. Some people believe that headaches are caused by an evil spirit that is occupying your brain. If one has a headache (and I have experienced this first hand) the spirit must be exercised. The one time I’ve encountered it the sign of the cross was made continuously on my forehead and prayers were spoken in whispers. I’ve been evil spirit free since. As strange as these practices might seem I know I’m doing about hundred things that look totally bizarre to Romanians. The fact that I would leave the US at all has completely baffled and confused quite a few locals.  But it’s always fun feeling my way through social taboos and norms that I am unfamiliar with.

Well folks, that’s all for now. I probably won’t get another one of these off till after swear in a few weeks. As you might have noticed from the first paragraph I’ve been kind of busy…

Churches and Booze...

Well it’s been a little over 2 weeks … but before I fill you in on anything else, let’s start with the beer. First of all, it’s cheaper than water and usually sold in two liter plastic bottles. Oh, and it’s fantastic! The popular brand in our group is Urs which is Romanian for bear which leads one to hear the phrase “I feel like going bear hunting” in a much different context than I’m used to. There are a handful of other Romanian brands that do Eastern Europe justice as well as Holsten (from Germany and my personal favorite) and the solid standby Hienken both of which are usually on tap and no more than a dollar fifty. Beer is also something that is offered to me nightly with dinner by my host family, much like the French who will have a nightly glass of wine. The only problem I’ve encountered with the beer (and all beverages for that matter) is that they don’t drink it particularly cold. This is due to a fairly prominent belief that drinking cold things will make you sick. So ice cubes, much less the frosted glass, don’t exist in this country (expecting ice cubes trays in the next care package, mom). The other beverage that is offered to me nightly is Tuica (Soi-ka) which is a brandy made from plums. Because my host family gets it homemade it usually comes in a two liter soda bottle. This caused quite the comical scene the first time it was offered to me because I actually thought it was some kind of soda (and happened to be quite thirsty) and slurped down the strong liquor in two gulps. Apparently I made a lovely face. I have actually grown very fond of Tuica and will usually have a few nips with my host dad after dinner. I hope that satisfied your curiosity Dad ;).

But enough about the booze... I’m starting my third week of training and though the last 7 days haven’t been the easiest I can’t imagine being anywhere else. The language classes have been intense and at times stressful but for the first time in my life I feel like I’m actually learning a language (except when I feel like I’m not getting it at all). One of the great parts of training has been what they call Practicum, which is basically our student teaching. We were split into groups of five and sent to Romanian middle and high schools around the town to observe Romanian English teachers teach English then we progressively teach more and more of their class over the next few weeks (that was a weird sentence).  I have to say that our group got an awesome school. We got two amazing teachers to follow and I had an awesome time teaching my first English lesson. The best part about the whole experience happed today with a field trip one of our mentor teachers planed. She invited all her English classes and any of the volunteers who were interested to hike to a monastery on top of a hill outside of town. We left this morning at 10 am with a group of about 12 volunteers and maybe 30 students and had the absolute best time. I have a whole new group of 11-13 year old Romanian friends, we got to see some epic views of the city and saw some beautiful Orthodox artwork.

So all in all, Romania has been pretty fantastic so far, don’t get me wrong there have been some pretty hard days and there are probably more to come, but the good exponentially outweighs the bad.

Now, off to conjugate some verbs...

We Made It!

The first time my hand has been held so that I would safely cross the street since I was 10…

After sitting through 7 hours of meetings and 2 Irish pubs (across the street from each other) in Philly, one lost passport, one found passport, two misplaced laptops, and almost getting stuck in Munich, all 39 of us made it to Bucharest. We were met by a lot of happy faces and several Peace Corps banners to the massive relief of all 39 of us. After a 2 hour bus ride we arrived in Targoviste.

After sitting through a day and a half of more meetings, more paper work , huge meals 3 times a day, and dancing to reggae music in an Irish pub (those things are everywhere) we met our Gazda (host family who we will be living with for the next 3 months). Needless to say most of us were pretty nervous.  There’s that whole speech about how we’re integrating into another culture and they will probably have a lot a differences and blah blah blah but the fact of the matter is, moving in with people you have never met is nerve wracking anywhere in the world.

I was extremely relieved when I was introduced to a shortish blonde woman with a smile on her round face and her eight year old son (who absolutely loved the picture book about Alaska I brought for the family) named Cosmin. Right now it’s only been 24 hours (this might actually be too good to be true) but I can’t imagine getting a better host family.

I’ve basically been adopted by this family. The mother, Lucretia, keeps telling me how I’m her new daughter and insists on holding my hand as we cross the street (and that if I continue to not wear socks in ‘cold’ (70 degree) whether I will catch my death of cold). Cosmin is hysterically goofy and slightly mischievous (as every 8 year old boy ought to be) and talks to me non-stop in Romanian. The father is tall, swarthy, good humored, and always ready to refill my glass of beer. And then there is my new sister who is 22 and gorgeous, petite with dark features and incredibly sweet.

As far as I can tell they are a pretty typical middle class Romanian family, all living on top of each other  in a two bedroom (and remember I have one of those rooms) apartment. Ever since I realized both the kids (remember one of them is 22) sleep in the living room at night I’ve been trying to figure out why they would let a stranger into their home. Peace Corps can’t be paying them all that much and its only suppose to cover my food and extra utilities. I’ve broken it down to these possibilities or some combo of them. Part of it is the hope of the family learning English by being around me, that comes up a lot (how I will teach them English). I think there is also some prestige that goes along with hosting an American (and who doesn’t want something to rub in their neighbors’ faces?). And the biggest part I believe is that they understand that I’ve left the comfort of home and America (the leaving America really confuses them) to learn about their culture and most importantly help them in some small way and this is their way of showing that they appreciated that.

Wow, I haven’t even started my first day of training and I’ve already become extremely sappy and idealistic. Thanks Peace Corps ! 

Playing Tetris with All of my Belongings

So, right now I'm looking at a week before I leave for staging in Philly and I'm fending off the panic to the best of my abilities. When I say panic I really mean excitement and unbearable anticipation but every time I start to pack there is a racing of thoughts that start with "This is going to be so incredibly awesome" to "There's no way this is going to end well". These thoughts are both in reference to Peace Corps in general as well as currently packing for it.

I'm trying to travel light but I'm not good at that. I keep telling myself "they have clothes in Romania. You don't need to bring all 12 sweaters". Right now I am perpetually packing and unpacking and trying to take things out that I don't need only to find 3 things I do and now some how need to fit into my two bags that can't weigh more than 50lbs each... sigh. You'd think I'd be better at this.

I actually started writing this because I really don't feel like organizing all my toiletries into different catagories and plastic baggies. But it must get done. And I did just take the last 2 days off to go camping (which was awesome!) So, tiny bottles of Aspirin... here I come!

The first of many going away parties...

What started out as a small get together turned into an epic Barrow party. Thanks to Kelly for hosting (i hope u didn't mind that we were there till 5am), Shayla for organizing, and Leah for sharing my addiction to Dance Central... I do believe a good time was had by all :)

Doesn't Feel Real

It's a little over a month until i leave and i still can't believe that I'm really going to live in Romania for two years. I don't think it will really hit me until i get on the plane for staging. I'm finding myself getting nostalgic about Barrow. I'm in a good place right now, i like my job and my co-workers, I've made some awesome friends this winter. Though it may sound surprising to some, i'm gonna be sad to leave this place.