La Revedere, Romania!

Our last day in Bucharest has come and nearly ended. B had a very hectic day, involving working in two different archives and having a meeting with a student who has been helping him at one of the libraries in town. By contrast, my day was fairly relaxed, especially for a day before moving. We have been very diligent about packing since this weekend and had little more to do today. Since I had run out of coffee a couple of days ago, I took the opportunity to make one last visit to my local Starbucks. While there, the manager came to say hello to me, as she often does. She is very nice and friendly. I mentioned that this was our last day and she seemed genuinely shocked and a bit sad. She asked me to wait a moment and actually returned with a Starbucks mug on which she had written a farewell message. It was so very sweet and I was touched. After enjoying my coffee and pastry in the comfortable and air-conditioned cafe, I set off to run some last minute errands. The first stop was the post office for some stamps. While this may seem simple, I have always found the post office in Bucharest to be intimidating and overwhelming; I don't feel I know the correct terminology for the situation and our local branch is usually chaotic and busy with several people cutting in "line". However, I plucked up my courage and went to the Romanian post office by myself for the first time. I practiced the word for stamps many times on my way there and actually managed to have a fairly smooth interaction. A good accomplishment on the last day. After the post office, I stopped in a local optical shop to buy a replacement glasses case, as my other one had been a victim of our mold problem. Again, I didn't know the terminology for glasses case, but between some guessing and pointing, I was able to make a purchase pretty easily. Thank goodness. Afterward, I went to the Vodafone (our cell phone provider) store to settle up our bill. When we first signed up for our phones, the representative who helped us said it would actually be cheaper for us to get a year contract with a certain plan than to do pay as you go minutes, which is common here. She recommended that at the end of our time here, we could write a letter stating that we wished our contract to be terminated at the end of the year (so to avoid an early termination fee) and pay our remaining months ahead of time. Since our contract was in B's name, he wrote and signed the letter stating the above intent. After waiting for about 20 minutes, it was my turn to talk with a staff person. I explained what I wanted and provided the letter B had written. Initially, he said that B would have to come in person to cancel the account, but eventually agreed that his signature on the letter was sufficient. After calculating our balance, I got in the line to pay and was finally able to leave. Phew!

After that, I decided to stop at a restaurant for my favorite salad for lunch and then returned home. I was trying to stay cool and catch up on some email. B came home soon after and he was very much in need of a break and rest. After having some water, food, changing into cooler clothes and getting a chance to check email, we headed out to meet some friends for a final dinner at a Thai restaurant. We had a very nice time at dinner and are very glad to have been able to see our friends one last time, especially our friend Diana, who just returned from Berlin this morning. I was afraid we wouldn't be able to see her before our departure and am glad we could. We even found a home for our fan, which we had not even opened and a nice, but little used bottle of gin, I got duty free during my June trip. After dinner, we spent some time weighing and re-arranging our luggage, but should be fine (if just barely so) now. We are both incredibly excited to be coming home and can't wait to be able to see and talk with folks regularly again. -S

Mrs. Thorne goes to Parliament

While B was busy working at the archives, I planned to visit the Parliament building. I had also decided to get a haircut and the two are close to one another. As I learned when our friends were here visiting, it is wise to make a reservation for an English-language tour, otherwise one may have to wait an hour or more for the next available one. Having made an appointment for a haircut for Friday afternoon, around mid-day on Thursday I called the Parliament to make my appointment. I was promptly told, "You call tomorrow for tomorrow between 9-10". O-K!


Later that evening, we met several friends for dinner at a favorite Indian place and had a great time, but unfortunately went to bed a bit later than we expected. However, determined to see the Parliament before our departure, I awoke early, showered and dressed so that I could leave soon after making my tour reservation. At about 9:15 AM, I called the Parliament and had the unfortunate experience of speaking with one of THE rudest receptionists I have spoken with in a long time, who first insisted it was not possible to make a reservation and then finally spat an alternate number at me. I did eventually manage to make a reservation and make it to the Parliament in plenty of time. After waiting for several minutes for my tour, we began. Unfortunately, our tour guide was awful! The tour actually took 30 minutes more than it should have, she wasn't very concerned about keeping the group together and didn't mention several important pieces of information, which I knew about thanks to our guidebook. Despite this, though, the building, which was built by the Ceaucescus in a very elaborate and somewhat bizarre style was very interesting and I was glad to have seen it.


For photos of the inside, check out this link:

http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=1580989013/a=115918513_115918513/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/


Below are some examples of exterior photos I found online of the Palace:

http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=palace+of+parliament&gbv=2&aq=0&oq=Palace+of+Pa


After the tour of the Parliament, I quickly made my way to my haircut appointment, which while I was somewhat concerned about the way it was going in the beginning, turned out well. While I waited for my appointment with the esthetician, I called the Thai restaurant in town to make reservations for dinner that evening as I had promised friends I would. After being told that it would be "impossible" to have a table at 8PM, I was finally able to get a table for 7PM and rearranged plans with our friends. Since the sky looked gray and threatening, B and I made our way very quickly to and from the dry cleaners to pick up our last order and headed home. We were both pretty tired and spent some time zoning out before meeting up with our friends. Despite the fear of rain, we had a wonderful dinner in the restaurant's orchid garden, which while beautiful had a distinct lack of orchids. We had a lot of fun and headed home to rest up before a long weekend of packing ahead of us.

We have spent the past two days trying to tie up loose ends and start the packing process. Unfortunately, yesterday evening when we were sorting books, etc., we found several items that had become moldy. The worst of all being B's fall corduroy jacket, which we unfortunately had to throw away immediately. We have continued sorting and packing today and are heading to a farewell barbecue soon. We have only a few days left here and can't wait to be home and see everyone! -S

Photos from Suceava

Here are some photos B took during his week in Suceava:

http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=1555374013/a=115918513_115918513/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/


Enjoy!

Tour of the Fortified Churches in Pictures

Below is a link of our tour of some Fortified Churches in the Transylanian region, which was our last activity during our trip to Brasov.

http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=1225917013/a=115918513_115918513/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/


Enjoy!

Arrivals and Departures

We must apologize for our extended absence from the blog over the past several weeks. It seems since almost the moment I arrived back from Lafayette, we have had a whirlwind of get- togethers with friends and outings in Bucharest. In fact, the day I flew back in (feeling pretty exhausted and confused with jet lag), we learned that one of the Fulbrighters who had been in Iasi was leaving the next morning to head home for good, so instead of being zombie-like at home, as I normally am after a Trans-Atlantic flight, we met several friends for a farewell drink. We had a lot of fun, but were both pretty tired the next day. Later that week, on Wednesday, we had made plans to meet a friend at a concert of Roma music and had coffee with some Fulbrighters earlier that afternoon. The concert was of a band called Taraf de Haidouks who play traditional Roma folk music. They opened for a "Gypsy Punk Band" called Gogol Bordello. The concert was in a newly opened outdoor amphitheatre, which was really nice and though we initially went to see Taraf de Haidouks and I personally was pretty skeptical about Gogol Bordello, we all ended up having a great time at the whole show. I was also excited to finally see the more alternative/artsy crowd of Bucharest after months of seeing mostly people trying to be runway models. We had a chance to rest a bit on Thursday and then were lucky enough to get tickets to a "By Invitation Only" event hosted by the Czech Embassy as a closing event to their time as the presidency of the EU. The event had several blues and jazz bands and a very lively and enjoyable reception at the Peasant Museum--complete with several kinds of Czech beer and wine--for free! We had a wonderful time and then got home to get some rest before our friends Ferg and Sarah arrived in the morning!



Ferg and Sarah are our friends from Bloomington who now live in AL. We had been really excited for their visit for quite a while. We had a great time while they were here. We met them at Baneasa airport (always an adventure) and after wading through the sea of cab driver vultures, we made it back to our place and had some lunch before heading out to show them a bit of the city. B had noticed a poster for a craft fair in Cismigu gardens, which he had been to when he spent the summer here 2 years ago, so we took our friends to see the park and the fair and then took some time to walk around the Lipscani area before heading to Caru cu Bere, a famous Romanian restaurant with a beautiful interior. After we had a chance to hang out and catch up some more back at the apartment, we all headed to bed since we had train tickets to see Sinaia in the morning.

Sunday morning we headed to Gara de Nord, the train station to catch our train to Sinaia, which also gave Ferg and Sarah a chance to experience Romanian train travel and to see a bit of the Romanian countryside. While in Sinaia we had lunch on a terrace to enjoy the wonderful weather and then headed up the hill to Peles castle, which had been the summer home of the Romanian royal family. B and I had been there in January and B had been there several years before, but it is a pretty amazing building and always interesting to see. We walked around the town a bit more and then walked to the train station to head back to Bucharest. After waiting over an hour for our late train the arrive, we finally arrived in Bucharest. We were all pretty exhausted after our long day and decided to order in Indian food for dinner and relax for the rest of the evening.

Unfortunately, B had to go to the archives on Monday, so Ferg and Sarah and I went to see the Village Museum here. I hadn't been to the museum yet and we had a nice morning walking to the museum and seeing Bucharest. We all very much enjoyed the museum and feeling famished, we headed to the Hard Rock Cafe for lunch. We were lucky to have had great weather while we were at the museum, but at the end of our lunch, the skies clouded over and a storm rolled in. Just our luck, when we left the restaurant, there were no taxis in sight and the company I called told me they had no cars available. So, we started walking home and fortunately just as the rain was getting really strong, we spotted a cab and got home before the worst of the storm hit. Later that evening, while there was a brief break in the rain, we headed to a nice Lebanese restaurant in town, Piccolo Mondo and had a wonderful dinner. After staying up way too late talking, we all woke up as early as we could on Tuesday.

B left early for the archives in the morning so he could spend more time with us later while Ferg, Sarah, and I made our way to the Palace of Parliament, which B had previously toured and had no desire to see again, but I had yet to go to. The Palace of Parliament is the second largest building in the world after the Pentagon and was built to the specifications of the Ceausescus. Its crazy to look at just from the outside, but I'm told the inside is even more interesting. Unfortunately, we weren't able to see the interior that day as we would have had to wait an additional hour for the English-language tour and we had plans to see the Peasant Museum, so waiting was out of the question. After we had a quick lunch at home and ran to the store for some dinner supplies, we met B at the Peasant Museum and took a thorough look around. Afterwards, we took them to the museum shop for the best souvenirs in town and then enjoyed the museum's wonderful patio bar for a quick drink and snack. That evening we had a nice and relaxing dinner at home before they needed to get to bed for their 6 AM flight. We were sad to say good-bye to our friends and we all wished we could have had more time together, but it was great to see them again after more than a year.

The rest of the week was pretty much back to the regular routine. B started at a new archive, that of the Securitate or Secret Police from the Communist area, on Wednesday. One of B's friend's from IU is here for a few weeks this summer and we met her and another of our Bucharest friends for dinner on Friday evening. After dinner, we and our friend Alyssa took part of the Cultural Institute Open Night. Several Embassies in town have separate cultural institutes intended to provide cultural offerings and outreach from their country to the Romanian public. Several participated and we visited the Romanian, Italian, Polish, Czech, and Hungarian Institutes. The night was fun, but much hindered by the intermittent downpours. Each Institute had some food and drink from their country to offer and usually were showing some films, as well. However, oddly, it seemed they were all showing films from countries other than their own. The Hungarian Institute did, however, have a very interesting exhibit of both Romanian and Hungarian memorabilia and propaganda from the Communist era. On our way to find a taxi, we passed the American Embassy, which in addition to having double the number of security guards of any other Embassy we have seen also had two VERY tall fences in front of it. However, since it had only been a day or so since the death of Michael Jackson, in front of the Embassy, a memorial with photos, candles, flowers and other such items had formed a sort of shrine to him. We had never seen anything like it in person and it was certainly interesting. The next day, after catching up on our sleep, we decided to check out a museum that is pretty close to us, The Zambaccian Art Museum. Evidently, Mr. Zambaccian was a wealthy businessman who was an avid art collector and now his collection is on display at a small house. The collection was pretty interesting (including an early Picasso and some pieces by Degas and Matisse) but the house was really HOT and so we eventually headed home for some fresh air. We relaxed that evening and prepared for a visit from our friend Jeremy. Jeremy was also on his way out of Romania for good and stayed with us the night before his flight out. Once he arrived, we had a chance to catch up a bit and then met other Fulbrighters at farewell dinner at one of our favorite Indian places. It's sad to say good bye to folks who have quickly become good friends, but we hope to be able to catch up with folks again when we are all stateside. Monday brought more hard work for B and more of the same at home for me.

We didn't have much time for socializing during the week, as B had two phone interviews, one on Monday and one Tuesday with a small liberal arts college close to Bloomington regarding a teaching position for the upcoming fall semester. After a lot of preparation and some nerves, we got the good news that the position is his and B will be teaching 2 sections of World History in the fall! It will be a great addition to his CV and one less unknown for our transition back to the US. We tried to go out to celebrate on Wednesday evening when we found out, but as we stepped outside a heavy rainstorm stared and chased us back inside. Friday evening, however, we got a chance to meet several friends for dinner and had a lovely evening on a beautiful terrace. It was so nice that we didn't get home until after midnight. We were both pretty beat and slept in on Saturday.

Truth be told, we had both been dreading Saturday since it was the 4th of July and we would be so far from home and family and missing being at the Lake with B's family. We kept trying to think of ways to cheer ourselves up and decided to try to see a movie at a theatre we had not been to yet. So, we got on the metro and went several stops. Once we were there and walking to the theatre, it was clear just what a warm day it was. We walked several blocks and it became obvious that the theatre was not where we thought it should be in relationship to the metro station. The movie having already started, we decided instead to walk through the park which was next to us. The park had a lot of trees and was shady and we also were able to walk BY a lake- not quite the same, but nice nonetheless. On our way back home, we stopped at a McDonald's, seeking A/C and lunch. B had been to a McDonald's once this trip in Suceava and I had yet to be in one. While we couldn't really feel the A/C, the cokes were very cold and refreshing and we did both feel a bit better afterward. We headed home to relax a bit before meeting friends for dinner at our favorite Mexican restaurant. We had a really great time at dinner and we were certainly cheered up by the time we left. When we returned, B was able to speak with his family on the phone and felt a little better. On Sunday, we had brunch at our usual place again- the first in a long time and then headed home to edit and caption some photos and update our blog. In the evening, our friend Emily stopped by for a bit to visit and we got a chance to skype with our friend Sarah, which was a lot of fun. The weekend was topped off with a batch of fresh brownies-yum!

On Monday, B headed back to the Securitate archives while I joined our Fulbright friends to do some sightseeing and stop for lunch. Emily had mentioned the previous evening that she had been to a very interesting old cemetery in town and planned to visit it again in the morning. It was an interesting place to visit. It is pretty old and like the Louisiana cemeteries I am used to: all the coffins are above ground. After we looked around for a while, we stopped for lunch. Afterwards, I ran a couple of errands and then headed home. I did a bit of straightening to get ready to have B's friend from IU over in the evening. She was due to arrive at 8 PM, but at about 7:45, a loud thunderstorm with some hail started. When the storm arrived, our windows were still open. B was able to shut them before it got too intense, but we still had some water get in. Luckily our landlord's son was able to show us how to lock them, thereby further sealing them and so that limited the amount of water that got in. Luckily, the storm subsided to a simple rain in about a half an hour and B's friend Erin was able to make it after all and we had a great time hanging out. B will be working hard at various archives for the remainder of our time here and I am gearing up to figure out how and what to pack for our return trip in just over a week! -S

Some Photos of Brasov

Below is a link to some photos of our time in Brasov. It is such a beautiful city that we couldn't help but get so many aerial shots. Hope you enjoy!

http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=1224632013/a=115918513_115918513/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/


More to come ...

Pictures from Sibiu

So, we finally have edited and captioned our photos from Sibiu. The link below will get you to them. Enjoy!


http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=1223821013/a=115918513_115918513/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/