Hello faithful readers! It may seem as though I’ve fallen off the face of the planet. I guess you could say that is true. I’ve been somewhere between extremely busy and incredibly lazy. The end of summer was a whirlwind and things have finally settled into the normal chaotic pace. I decided that it was time to post a brief update. Here’s what I’ve been up to since mid-August in 500 words or less!
Trip to the Apuseni Mountains: I posted some pictures from this trip and I will eventually get around to blogging about it. It is probably one of the single most memorable trips from my Peace Corps experience. I really don’t know where to begin.
4-H Summer Camp: It was 5 days of 4-H summer day camp awesomeness. We had a great time, even though the weather didn’t want to cooperate. Mike came down to lend a hand. We made a mess during cooking class, cleaned up trash from the school courtyard, and showed off our talents during the first edition of “Horezu Has Talent”. I work with some wonderful kids.
Ziua Orasului Horezu: We celebrated Horezu’s town day in the square. We sang. We danced. We enjoyed the music of an incredibly awesome band, Plus Noi. They are on grooveshark.com. Check them out!
First Day of School: I actually got to enjoy the first day of school this year. I wasn’t asked to speak this year. Huge relief! Last year, I was too busy freaking out over having to speak Romanian to an entire courtyard full of strangers to enjoy the festivities. This year I just wandered through the crowd with Gilda. A very nice change from last year. It was bitter-sweet though, this was my last “first day of school” at Constantin Brancoveanu.
The Long Goodbye: Due to unforseen circumstances, my best friend had to leave Peace Corps Romania. I went to Sibiu for a farewell lunch. I missed my bus and ended up in Deva. So, it was a farewell taco making fiesta at his place and 14 hours of travel in about 36 hours.
Travel to Sovata: My next stop was camp with Outward Bound but since it takes me two days to make it to the center, I decided to take in some of the sights of fantastically spooky medieval town of Sighisoara and visit my friend Carly in Cristur.
AISB program with Outward Bound Romania: Next it was off to Sovata, in Central Transylvania to help with an Outward Bound camp with the American International School Bucharest. This was, by far, the most unusual project I’ve been a part of thus far. It was unique in the fact that it was a complete 180 from what I experience in Horezu. It was fun while it lasted and I got to work with an amazing instructor team, but I was very, very happy to get back to Horezu!
Hitchhiking across Central Transylvania and Karaoke Night in Sibiu: Miha, one of the grooviest people ever, and I had to resort to hitchhiking to get from Sovata back to Sibiu. We had great travel karma and met some very interesting people along the way. One guy, on his way home from a fishing trip, never ever picks up hitchhikers but something moved him to pick us up! We witnessed one of the most glorious sunsets over the central Transylvanian hills from the back set of a stranger’s car. I guess it was a good omen, as we made it back to Sibiu safely! Unbeknownst to me, there was a PC conference in Sibiu the same night I would have to stay over. I met up with several volunteers to sing karaoke in a basement bar. Yes, I did karaoke. It was pretty embarrassing, as I’m not a karaoke queen. Two volunteers and myself took to the stage to relive GLOW Camp to our own rendition of Salt N’ Pepa’s “Let’s Talk About Sex”.
Home Sweet Horezu: I’m now back home and into the swing of things…. I think. I’m teaching 21 hours at week at Constantin Brancoveanu this semester. I enjoy it. I really do. It’s a lot of work, but those smiling faces everyday make it worth it.
