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