So hello and 'La Multi Ani' (Happy new year!) to everybody! Here in a snow covered and very cold Romania, life has been continuing as 'normal'... well almost... and to be honest, I think most of you may have realised that the concept of being 'normal' does not really exist here!
Last Saturday (29th) my friend (Hyun-Jin) arrived at Cluj from England (see above). (For those of you thinking 'Hyun-Jin' is not an English sounding name, you would be right! She is from South Korea. I know her from my time working at the Royal Northern College of Music.) So after staying in Cluj for one night, in -8 temperatures, warmed slightly by the wonderful array of Christmas lights, and a really gorgeous walk through the freshly snow covered botanical gardens, we took a 3 hour, bumpy, trip in a minibus back to my home town, Tarnaveni. What a welcome to Romania!
The following day was 'new years eve', and we spent it walking around Tarnaveni, before calling in at my lovely neighbour’s house, to say hello. Whilst walking in Tarnaveni, Hyun-Jin was subjected to some very funny looks from the locals who some of whom had clearly have never seen a person from Asia before, let alone from Korea. It was like being with a celebrity. Having said that, they could just as well have been enjoying watching her trying to walk in her boots without slipping... (It was very icy!) So whilst chatting with my neighbours, we were invited to stay for dinner with the family, which we were very happy to except, and so spent new year, eating traditional Romanian/ Hungarian food, chatting about life, religion and politics, followed by going out to watch fireworks at midnight, and then moving on to another neighbours house for some more drinks and fun.
The following day we spent visiting more neighbours, (my Dutch colleague and her husband & dogs!) and the house for the orphan kids, where we sat with cakes and tea, talking with the foster parents about various things. At one point the dad, left the room, and returned two minutes later wearing a cowboy out fit. I swear this is true, he had a proper cowboy hat and waistcoat... I wasn’t really sure why he had put them on, and to be honest. I was scared to ask, so pretended like it was just normal to dress up mid-way through a cup of tea! We left the house but not before arranging some English lessons for the kids. I start my second volunteer post, (as Professor Dan, English teacher) tomorrow, and have agreed to do one weekly English session for the kids every Monday evening for an hour...
Wednesday we took a trip to Turges Mures, where after a lovely cup of white hot chocolate, at hotel Concordia, we had a walk through the Xmas lights of Turges Mures, which are equally as impressive as Cluj. We headed up to the citadel, where they have outdoor ice skating, to meet my friends Lia & Giani. After a few drinks with a friend of Lia, who owns a small theatre within the citadel, and some crazy photographs with axes, and masks, we all went to my now favourite place to eat in Turges Mures, before getting the 2230 bus home.
Thursday to Saturday we hired a car, and without boring you all with long winded descriptions of the places we visited, I'll give you a description in brief. We visited Praid (to see the famous salt mines) it was closed... oh Romania!!!! We visited Sigishoura (Birth place of Vlad the Impaler), which looked even more spectacular covered in snow... Sibiu (last year's capital of culture) which was cold, though to be fair I did forget my coat!!! Oops... and headed back to Turges Mures one evening with my colleague Helen, which I mention because on the way back we encountered the infamous 'Transylvanian fog'. We had heard of this fog, as it was the reason they changed the airline arrival city from Turges Mures to Cluj, and oh boy, I understand why... I could not see past the bonnet of the car. It was just so dense, and it made static lights ahead look like oncoming cars / trucks... and that was just in the city, once hit the country roads I could barely make out the road itself.... how we managed to drive back home over the hills only god himself knows!
Friday was spent in Sibiu, as I said, with Friday evening being left for now traditional beer and food night in 'Crama', here in Tarnaveni, where we (Me, Helen, Hyun-Jin, Lia & Giani) ate well, mostly because the temperature had now dropped to -17 at night, and when you breathe deeply at night your nose hairs freeze... nice eh?! We stopped at Giani's on the way back for a little computer karaoke... (Me & Helen singing, or should I say murdering, 'gangsters paradise')! And after some home made 'Palinka' special Romanian drink (80%) we fond a cab to take us home!!!
Hyun-Jin left yesterday from Cluj, where we met my other colleague Karen, who had two friends leaving on the same flight. Driving in Romania has actually been a really fun experience, I mean people over take on bends and drive crazy, and the main road (and I mean one of the only ones in the country) has only one lane each way mostly, but its pretty good. Whilst over-taking trucks can be a near death experience, and the biggest hazards else where are passing horse & carts, and avoiding pot holes the size of moon craters the cities are actually easy to drive through, and its easy to park!!!!
Returning the car today was an experience, mainly because I got it from Turges Mures airport, and when I got there today, there was nobody there, and I mean NOBODY! I walked around the very small airport past the x-ray machines, around passport control' and the food and drink cabinets, as I was only person in the building!!! So much for security, it was so lax I was looking for the key rack to take one of the planes out for a quick flight! The guy turned up eventually after I had called him, apologising saying he had just forgot I was coming today ( I love the honesty), and after checking all was in order, he then drove me to back to Turges Mures so I could get the bus home!!! (And not because he had been late)!
So its been a great week here, not just having a visitor, but having time to really enjoy seeing Transylvania... I urge you all if you get chance, come and see Romania, come and see Transylvania... to quote Mr Spock (Star trek) 'it's life, but not as we know it'!
Regards from Romania
Dan
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