A long weekend in Paris

One of the nice things about living in Europe is the relatively short and cheap flights from city to city. Since we had fall break in mid October, I decided to use my long weekend wisely and meet up with a good friend of mine from high school in Paris. She was doing a tour of England, Germany, and France with a couple other girls, so I joined them for the end of their vacation. It took a taxi, a plane, a bus and eight hours for me to go from my apartment to the middle of Paris.

Together again after two years!














The first day was beautiful and we enjoyed getting our first view of the Eiffel Tower, and enjoying crepes.

The next day was rainy, so we spent the morning at the Louvre. My favorite part was being able to see some artifacts from ancient history that I had taught the first and second graders last year.

In the evening we found some good spots to take pictures of the city of lights.

On Sunday my friends had to catch their plane early, so I went to a church where I knew the missionaries. It was fun to surprise them! I also met up with some short-term missionaries that I had trained with two summers ago, before I first came to Romania. It was a surprise to see them as well, and I really enjoyed it! I stayed for lunch after the service, and got to know a few of the girls from the church in English, French, and German. Then it was time for me to leave and go back home. This time it was the metro, a bus, a plane, and a taxi that took me from the church to my apartment just in time for bed!

Transylvania and Dracula's castle

About two weeks ago, the whole high school traveled up to an area near the town of Bran for their annual retreat. This area is close to a part of Romania known as Transylvania. Yes, Transylvania is a real place, although fact and fiction have been mixed up quite a bit in this area. So, today I decided to give a quick overview and separate fact from fiction, as well as give you a little peek of what you might see if you go to this part of Romania.

The first thing we saw as we entered the village was this:

A funeral procession with an open casket. These are by no means limited to Transylvania. I have seen them in the middle of Bucharest, but I thought it was kind of interesting that this was the first thing we saw upon entering Bran, the home of Dracula's castle. A Romanian funeral procession is lead by a person carrying a cross, everyone wears black, and the casket is always open.

There is a lot of superstition related to death in this part of the world, and some of the vampire legends evolved from these superstitions. 

As I stated before, the village of Bran is home to Dracula's castle. I had the chance to tour the castle, and being a pretty big fan of both the history behind the real Dracula, and the novel Dracula by Bram Stoker, I was very excited to be able to see the castle for myself. 

 The facts about the castle are that it was a stronghold built by Teutonic knights in the year 1212. It was used against invading Turks by the mid 1400s, when Vlad Dracul was in charge of the country. Vlad Dracul was a Romanian ruler who did a very good job keeping the Turks out, but he also used some very brutal tactics. He would impale his victims and leave them impaled lining the streets. However, he didn't just impale Turks, he was also very ruthless towards any of his countrymen and had a bloody reputation towards anyone who crossed him the wrong way.

Although there are some old secret stairways and all kinds of interesting corners, the castle at Bran isn't really linked to Dracula through history. It would have been part of his domain during his reign, but I don't believe that there is any proof that he actually lived there. The castle is actually furnished for the time period that Queen Marie lived there  around the late 1800s to early 1900s.

The novelist, Bram Stoker, wrote Dracula as a vampire based on the old Romanian ruler Vlad Dracul. He choose this castle as the inspiration of the castle that Dracula lived in, in his book. It's a very interesting castle, and it was pretty popular among tourists. I counted eight different languages being spoken by people touring the castle, which is quite a bit considering I rarely hear a language other than Romanian being spoken in Bucharest.

There are some Vlad Dracul ruins in Bucharest as well, and he is considered a hero in Romania.

Food for the winter

Late summer, early fall is the perfect time to be Romania, because tomatoes, eggplants, peppers, etc. are in season and dirt cheap. In the height of tomato season you can buy them for about 30 cents a pound! There are fruit and vegetable stands and markets all over the city selling produce for ridiculously low prices. If I had the time or knowledge I would definitely go crazy making jams, jellies, salsa, sauces, pickles, and whatever else I could keep in a jar. Since I don't really have the time to do that, I decided to just buy a little extra of all the vegetables that are in season and freeze some for later.

I like to go to the biggest market place in the city at Obor. It is massive and has many different parts. There is an indoor part where you can buy clothes, shoes, washing machines, household goods, sewing items, and so on. Then there is another indoor area that has mostly dry goods and pet food.

There's another area with clothes, another area with car parts, another area with.....well just about anything. It's a maze that keeps on going. The main section that I go to in Obor is an open building that has fruits and vegetables on the first floor. (I don't venture up to the second floor that has meats and cheese, but I did check out the fish section in the back once.)You can buy whatever is in season for very reasonable prices. Here's what I came home with a few weeks ago.

I chopped up the vegetables and ended up with a few bags worth to freeze for later on. Last year I made some tomato sauce and froze it as well. Now that the weather has cooled off a bit I might do that again. Unfortunately I don't have a lot of room in my freezer. 

School

I have just started the third week of school, and it's already been a whirlwind of crazy. The good news is I have my own room this year, complete with a computer and printer. It's pretty exciting to have my own area to decorate and organize my things. The students are back and definitely ready to learn. Today, however,  was  really a Monday and a few of my students did not seem to be able to stay awake. I have enjoyed getting back to teaching, however there are so many little issues to iron out to make sure the rest of the school year runs smoothly. So far I have had several scheduling conflicts including having a class and no room and having two classes at the same time in the same room. That was kind of a hassle. Needless to say I am really looking forward to moving to our big new school! Hopefully that will be in the very near future!

I've also had to contend with several interesting environmental issues. The first few weeks have been pretty hot at school, and my room is on the third floor with no air conditioner, so the windows are always open. For some reason, whenever I have something really important to say to my students one or more of the following occurs:

• a dog fight 
•  a rooster crowing incessantly
• a garbage truck idles on our street
• an old man yelling out for scrap metal walks by
• a horse and cart drives by

I'm not a very loud person, and talking over all these different distractions isn't my favorite thing to do. Hopefully the new school will also be quieter. 

This weekend I am going as a chaperon with the high school students for their annual retreat in the mountains. Last year everyone got food poisoning and was very sick. We are all praying that does not happen again.

Camping

I have discovered the perfect way to get over jet lag....spend a week at camp! I was having a lot of trouble getting back to a regular sleeping schedule the first few days back in Romania. I didn't even sleep at all two nights in a row. This seemed strange to me considering I don't even remember having jet lag when I came to Romania last year. I guess I just didn't have time to be jet lagged last year, or I am getting old.

Last Monday I got on a train for a six hour trip to into the mountains. 

           

The Romanian countryside is truly beautiful.

I went to help out at a camp for teens from one of the big Baptist churches in Bucharest. Some of my American friends were running it, and I was there as support staff. My main job was to put up tables and benches after meals, and transform the dining hall into a chapel.

I also got to help supervise some of the activities. The camp has a few challenge courses, and I just watched to make sure no one died while doing things like high ropes, giant ladders, and zip lines.

The rest of the time I enjoyed good Romanian food, being out in nature, and a full night of sleep every night.

 

On Saturday I joined the group of teens for the 45 minute bus ride and then six hour train ride back to Bucharest. 

 














This week I have teacher in-services and am getting my classroom ready for school. There is a lot of work to do, but I am really looking forward to seeing my students again! 

Just like that

And just like that I am back in Bucharest. I've said goodbye to friends and family, had the fastest possible trip to Bucharest with almost nonexistent layovers (although I did manage to watch about ten minutes worth of Olympics in London....on TV), and moved back into my apartment. I've traded my car for the subway, greeted my friends who were waiting for me, and now I guess I am ready for another year in Romania!

Tomorrow I will be leaving to help out at a teen camp up in the mountains. I don't really know exactly what I will be doing. I've just been told that they could use my help. I am looking forward to spending some time in the fresh mountain air before school begins, and also the exercise will be useful to help get rid of the excess weight that America tends to puts on a person ;)

This summer I got to see a lot of friends and family members, and all of them encouraged me and refreshed me in a great way. One of those friends came all the way from Colorado to spend time with me. We've known each other since the beginning of college, traveled together, lived together, and have had quite the adventures together. Since we were both back in Des Moines we decided to hit up our favorite places. So without further ado, here are:

 Liz and Johanna's Favorite Things To Do in Des Moines

(in no particular order)

1. Attend a cultural festival involving food

The Italian festival happened to be going on when Liz was in town, but other favorites of ours are the Greek festival, and the World food festival. Really, we just like food.

 2. Gong Fu Tea house
This place has a tea smelling wall where you can take a sniff at a number of teas before you make your decision. It's a very relaxing atmosphere, and all the teas are delicious

3. Although I don't have a picture, you can't really go to Gong fu without rounding the corner and going to the Asian Market. Their poster proudly announces that milk is coming soon, and our favorite items within the store are calling cards to Africa and Minnesota, and whole frozen bull frogs. While we haven't ever purchased those items, we always find something else interesting to try.

4. Visit the Farmer's Market

Free samples, lots of delicious food to eat, you really can't go wrong. 

 5. Eat Breakfast
This is just something I really like; you can do it anywhere. I prefer Village Inn or maybe IHOP. I just like a big American breakfast. I already miss you big American breakfast.....

However, if you are in Des Moines we really stopping by by La Mie for french pastries or quiche.

6. Fong's Pizza
Chinese food on pizza is really delicious. Try the crab rangoon pizza. Trust me. 

7. Spend an afternoon floating on Saylorville lake
Swimming is a little to much for us, but floating around on an inter-tube is the perfect mix of sun and relaxation.

Now you know why I could use some extra exercise this month, since almost all of our favorite things have to do with food! Next time I will have to do a Bucharest favorite things list.

I'll be back in a week to let you know how camp went!

I'm still here

I realize it's been months since my last post, and it's not because I had nothing to write about. I have had lots of things happen and I hope to catch up on some of them over the next few weeks. School finished at the end of May, and we had a wonderful end to the school year with a great graduation ceremony for the seven seniors. As soon as school was finished, my roommate left me to return to England for the summer, and I moved in with some of my american friends. I spent the next two weeks enjoying being in Bucharest and exploring a little bit more than I had before. I also spent some extra time with friends from church. (There are some exciting opportunities coming up with some friends from church which I will write about later.) I even squeezed in another trip to the Black Sea the day before I flew back to the USA. I am now in Iowa for the summer, and have been enjoying catching up with friends and family.

I have had the opportunity to share what I am doing in Romania in five different churches so far, and will be presenting in four more churches before I return to Romania. This week I am the missionary speaker at vacation Bible school at my parent's church, and next week I will be doing the same thing in another church. Hopefully money will come in to cover my expenses for another year in Romania.

The time has gone by extremely fast, and pretty soon I will be getting on a plane back to Romania. Over the course of these past few weeks I have really been impressed with the fact that I have a lot of pretty amazing friends. I have been able to meet up with a number of people and have some great conversations about Romania, life, and even cheese. Also, I have a number of great friends waiting for me in Romania, and I can talk about anything with them as well. I feel that I am richly blessed in this area, and am so thankful for all my wonderful friends!