For the last week I’ve been on the go. The days and time have been swirling past and now that my world has finally stopped spinning, I’m a little dizzy. I was up before the sun last Tuesday morning to make my way to the city of Ploiesti. It was 5:15am when I left Horezu last Tuesday. It was early morning. Too early. A pale blue-grey haze hung over the hills and gorges that dominate my area’s landscape. Like gazing out the window with out my glasses, the scene was fuzzy, gradually sharpening as the light increased. My bus raced toward the city of Vâlcea on the route toward București. Even the Oltchim plant that is a formidible sight as you approach Vâlcea from the west looked a little less dingy in the early morning light.

I tried to sleep on the bus after we left Vâlcea. We still had three hours before the bus would arrive in București, Romania’s bustling capital city. Sleep was to no avail until we reached Pitești. The road was just too rough. I finally dozed off when we got on the autostrada. I awoke and the bus was in București. For me it was like awaking on another planet. București is still a very unfamiliar and foreign experience for me. Not an unplesant one, just different. Luckly the weather was markedly much better this time. I scurried from the Militari Autogara to the metro rail. I had to make it across the city to Gara De Nord to catch a train to Ploiesti. For once, I didn’t get lost on the metro rail. Some days, it’s all about the little victories.

I emerged from the metro rail at Gara De Nord. It was not nearly as scary as I remember from my trip during PST, pleasant even. I wandered around for a few minutes looking for the ticket window. I purchased a ticked for the Inner City train to the Ploiesti Vest station. I had some time to kill because I had to go to a specific station in Ploiesti and that train would be an hour later that I had anticipated. I decided to explore the train station and check out where the airport shuttle train arrives since Kyle and Beaver will be using it. It arrives on platform 13 and I can meet them directly on the train platform, in case you were curious. The more you know…

While I was checking the arrivals/ departures board for the platform that my train was leaving from, I immediately took notice of an older American couple. They were also checking the arrivals/departures board. They looked a little lost and I was going to offer to help them. Just as I turned to walk toward them, the older man started shouting and arguing with the woman in colorful American vernacular. I opted to stay out of the family feud. I walked toward my platform and I could still hear them arguing. It was yet another surreal experience. Here I was in a gigantic international train station in a major European capital city and the only other Americans that I noticed were an elderly couple having a knock down drag out fight in front of the arrivals/departures board. Way to represent the U S of A. I’m embarrassed for my country (both of them) when I see Americans acting like this. I would never act like that in public, let alone act like that while being a guest in another country. It is not only disrespectful to the country in which they are guests, but it deservedly makes Americans look beastly. I was appalled. I decided that I wouldn’t speak English again until I arrived at my destination.

After the couple moved their argument to another train platform, I figured it was now safe to check arrivals/departure board again for my train and purchase some food for breakfast. My breakfast was a shorama. I have an unholy love affair with shorama. It wasn’t as good as Hunedoara shorama, but satisfying nonetheless. As soon as I finished eating, my train arrived. Low and behold, the Americans were on my train. They must have been going to a different destination because we were in different sections of the train. I mistakenly took an Inner City train. It was the nicest train I have ever been on, but it was really expensive, 22 lei for 53km. Oops. Well, now I know. It was a very comfortable 40 minute ride.

I safely arrived in Ploiesti with no mishaps. I’m getting good at this traveling away from site stuff. I had to walk for 15 minutes to reach Susie’s apartment from the train station. Ploiesti isn’t too bad for a big city. Susie lives in a very nice area of town and has a beautiful apartment. Susie showed me around her little area of town and we enjoyed a beer at an outdoor patio bar, or as volunteers lovingly refer to them as “Old Man Bars/ OMB’s” On my first night in the big city, I met her site mate and Meghan, another volunteer. We had a delicious dinner together, prepared by Susie. We had real salad with real salad dressing. It was fantastic!

On my second day in Ploiesti, I attended Susie and Meghan’s environmental lesson plan workshop. I had the opportunity to meet some of the teachers that Susie works with. After the workshop, we went out to lunch at an outdoor café. I had some of the best pizza that I’ve had since being in Romania. I guess city life does have its perks, although I’m not completely sold on cities as of yet. Meghan and her counterparts had to depart right after lunch. Susie and I headed back to her apartment and spent the rest of the evening chatting about Peace Corps life. Susie is a great resource since she has already been in country for two years. We headed to bed relatively early since we had to catch an early train the next morning to București.

I enjoyed my time in Ploiesti and got to see a side of Peace Corps life that is vastly removed from my own experiences in Romania. Susie and I are both environmental volunteers, so our vague job descriptions are the same but the beauty is in the details. We were both sent here, a year apart from one another, do the same job, but our work is immensely differnt. That is the beauty of being a Peace Corps volunteer. No two experiences will ever be the same. It was now time for Susie to see what small town life is like.