It's a...a...a Freeway!

Life continues to be a whirlwind of adventure and awkwardness…well, perhaps not so much of a whirlwind but more of a slow Polka. Once again I took advantage of my location and went with Keith and Tiffany (PCV’s) to Macedonia, Albania and Greece. I really had no idea what to expect but it was amazing. The more I get to travel, the more I realize is out there and the deeper my sense of curiosity delves. Additionally, the opportunity to travel around the Balkans has only helped me get a better grasp of Romania’s history and mentality. Obviously Greece was spectacular and had more history than I could process. However, it was Macedonia and Albania that captured my intrigue. Tourism there is a bit more raw and for me, I think you get to see the country and culture in a more realistic atmosphere. In Albania we were able to stay with a few different Peace Corps Volunteers, which was fun to see what they did, where they lived and hear about their experiences. Other than the gorgeous landscape, one of my favorite aspects was meeting so many fascinating people from around the world (Evangelical missionaries, Irish “IT” man, 2 guys biking around the globe, a Chinese girl who was on the Albanian Big Brother, Czech ladies on the ferry and the list goes on.)

Since Macedonia and Albania are not in the EU, I was expecting to see countries that were worse off than Romania. This was not at all the case in Macedonia, at least based on appearances. It had a very modern aura and the roads…my goodness; we traveled on a real live freeway! Here we are getting to go to places like Athens and all we could think about was how nice the roads in Macedonia were! As soon as we crossed the border on foot to Albania, there was an immediate change back to the roads that we are use to…except in place of the infamous Dacias were massive amounts of Mercedes Benzes (however you’d pluralize that.) On our journey through Albania, I observed several life size dolls on or hanging from the roofs of houses and a plethora of concrete bunkers. Apparently the dolls are used to protect the home from the Evil Eye and the 700,000+ bunkers were built in the 1960’s in the case of a military attack. In order to get the bunker job, the architect had to climb inside his own created bunker while the military fired away; if he survived the job was his. Also, it was mostly men who were out and about, so that was a bit eerie at times; especially on our bus ride from Albania to Athens when Tiffany and I were two of five women on the entire bus. When we arrived at the border of Greece, there was an endless line of buses all filled with Albanian men attempting to find work in Greece. Since I’m guessing not all of them were legit, we sat at the border for 6 hours! Once we finally got to Athens, the amount of English we heard was overwhelming. For the first time in over a year we could understand not only our own conversation but also those around us – it was a grand and much welcomed epiphany. The three of us often sat mute during our meals because it was so exciting to know what was going on at the tables next to us and even across the room. It was nice not feeling like a complete idiot for a few days. Everywhere we went, the cuisine was delicious and the abundance of lamb was a nice change from the abundance of pork. Not including Greece, the drinking culture was not quite what we have grown accustomed to here, so a variety of instances like no alcohol sales after 7pm in Macedonia tended to catch us off guard. In conclusion, I’m easily impressed by road quality.

Thinking Out Loud

Where does one go from here? Although I have a year before my Close of Service in Romania, the time has come…I need to start answering that dreaded question. Until now, I’ve been able to comfortably live these past 15 months in the present; I haven’t had to worry about the future, I haven’t had to worry about tomorrow. For the first time, I have been able to focus on today. And quite frankly, I like it. It makes me happy, I like who I am when I’m off the planning. Whether I wanted to or not, I was forced to learn how to live life on the fly and let me tell you – it is grand!

So, do I brace the future with a cold shoulder? Why go back to a life where that is impossible? To a life that has a prerequisite of planning? Where even the prerequisites cause undue stress and unhappiness? Why? Well…plain and simple, because that’s my home. That’s where my family and friends are. That’s where my heart and soul lay. That’s where my mentality was created, my need for competition derived, my sense of curiosity sparked and freedom allowed me to become me. Consequently, where does one go from here?

Paşte Fericit!

Happy Easter! Although I celebrated my Easter last week in the big city of Suceava with a gourmet dinner at McDonald's and a trip to the “pet store”…

It slightly reminded me of the Easter my family was on the road back from The Ranch AKA my grandparents’ retirement community on the Rio Grande, where the Border Patrol flowed like margaritas and the Bingo blotters never went dry. Yes, we would drive round trip from Minnesota to the very southern tip of Texas and the nights we spent in nicer areas we could sleep with the car windows open! Thinking of all those endless family road trips…no wonder traveling in Romania with Current threats is such a breeze – no pun intended. Any hooters, we stopped at some fancy fast food joint and climaxed with an Easter egg hunt in the conversion van, which you can be sure we 3 girls did not do with any sort of grace. Oh how family vacation memories can make me giggle…

…we are now on the third and final day of the Romanian Orthodox Easter. School was supposed to resume today but when I showed up everyone was gone. Only 50 out the 200 students showed up so the Director sent everyone home! Can you imagine that happening back in the States?! So, apparently last week’s Easter vacation is unofficially extended. Yet another reason it will be difficult to return home. Everyone spent this past week spring cleaning and cooking more food than one ever thought possible. I got in the mood as well and brought my giant floor rug out for a good beating. Never having done this before, I was going to have to mimic the Bunică method I’ve observed so many times before. So I rolled the ole girl up (my rug…not Bunică) and brought her out back to sling over the tree log apparatus my landlord uses for such an occasion. However, the horizontal log was a bit high so here I was jumping or more so flailing around in attempt to get the rug unrolled and hung. Success. Now...with what shall I beat it Dear Liza? Since I didn’t have the adequate rug beating instrument, I resorted to using my broom shaft. Forty-five minutes and two blistered hands later, it finally occurred to me why the bunicas are always able to push their way in front of me in line at the post office. Nevertheless, I must have some decent cleaning abilities because when I cleaned the organization club room with 2 other ladies they said I was definitely ready for marriage. Thank God! I thought the day would never come!

Thursday was the day to decorate eggs, which are typically died red. However, in the Bucovina area you can rarely go anywhere without seeing the traditional intricately painted eggs. The red eggs are the ones we used to play the egg cracking game on Sunday before eating. Before knocking your egg with a partner the first person states “Hristos a înviat!” and the second person responds “Adevărat a înviat!” (Christ has risen! He truly has risen!); and whoever’s egg does not break will have good luck the following year and/or a whole other slew of superstitions.

On Friday and Saturday I was invited to my counterpart’s house to learn how to make all the traditional food. As pork was the featured guest at Christmas, lamb is the “in meat” for Easter. Luckily I didn’t get to see one of those dead fellas in the flesh – word on the street is that it looks like a skinned cat. So I was thankful that just the back bone was present, from which we made a borş and friptură (kind of a roast). We did not make drob de miel, basically a meatloaf made from lamb organs, but we did have some with our meal on Sunday. It had an uncanny resemblance to banana bread, which apparently does not exist here, so you can only imagine that first disenchanting bite. When making cozonac (sweet/sponge cake), I asked the time requirement for kneading the dough and I was told until one sweats between the breasts…fair enough. Additionally we made răcituri (jellied meat – think chicken soup jello) and of course sarmale but instead of cabbage, we used grape leaves this time, which is more common to the Moldova region.

Saturday night I went to Easter service with my counterpart’s family at the small chapel in the psychiatric hospital. The true die hards are typically there from midnight to 4am. When I left my Bouse at 11:30pm, it was fun to see so many people out and about (the streets are generally deserted after the sun sets.) What tickled my fancy most were all the old ladies carrying their baskets of food that they had been slaving over all day to the church to be blessed before eating on Easter day. Approximately a half hour into the slujbă (service), the priest makes a call for light and lights a few individuals’ candles in front, who in turn light their neighbors and so on. Eventually each person is holding their own lit candle – quite honestly I’m amazed there aren’t more fire incidents. Shortly there after, the trickle of people leaving begins, which is when I also bid my adieus. Everyone carries their lit candle home and leaves it burning until morning. Of course mine blew out five feet out the door, so I took advantage of my lack of obligation and walked around town past some of the bigger churches. I wish I had taken a picture but the mental image of everyone walking home with their candles will forever bring me a sense of peace.