24 June 2007

MEMORIES FROM THE FIRST SCHOOL YEAR IN BUCHAREST

My, how fast time seems to slip away. I have come to the end of my first year as an international teacher in Bucharest and have many tales to tell. It seems like an overwhelming task to share all my memories in this issue. I have decided to simply enter in a few of the events that sick out in my mind and promise a grand slide show when I return for a visit to the states next summer.
I shall start with my new apartment. Moving to 214 Cale Victorei was one of the best things I have done for myself this year. It is a two bedroom apartment on the top floor of an 8 floor apartment building just off of Piata Victroei in the heart of the down town Bucharest. Wonderful restaurants, the concert hall, great coffee houses, a wonderful open air market and several of my friends houses are all within a 10 to 15 minute walk. This is truly the way to live in Bucharest. Another aspect of my new location that has help make my life in Bucharest happier is that this apartment has lots of light. I have inserted a few photos of it below.

In this photo I was trying to capture the amazing view I have out my kitchen window in this shot. I can see in two different direction over the city as I prepare my meals and wash dishes. Though I am spoiled here with having a housekeeper who does most of the dishes for me.

Below is my dinning room area. You can not see the China cabinet to the left. To the right you can see the small bar that divides the dinning room and kitchen . The window at the end of the dinning room is stain glass which adds a nice touch to this all white room.

The center picture below shows my entry and into the dinning room. To the left is a shot of the living room taken from the entry. On the right was taken on the terrace. Romania's National Poet Eminescu's home/museum is behind that apartment building. You can just see the roof line in at the right of the photo. The next two pictures show part of my terrace garden. Having a terrace has been great fun, but I have to watch that I do not spend all of my savings on plants. I am trying to get lots of plants that which will live year round.

I have not shown the huge bath and two bedrooms or my little breakfast area. This is one of the largest and best located apartments I have lived in. In addition to all of the places I listed above I am also located just one block from the metro. I take the metro at least 4 days a week to the Pipera station, where I park my car. It is just a ten minute drive to work from there. This is my way of trying to not add any more gas flumes to the atmosphere than necessary. Taking the metro turns my 30 minute morning commute to school into 20 minutes. In the evenings it can be an hour commute by car. I have lots of room for guests so please do not hesitate to come for a visit.

I was surprised with an hour long parade right on my street during the May Day celebrations.

One weekend my friend Randy invited me to go with him and our friend Priscilla to watch a international Gymnastic meet. His house keepers daughter was one of the contestants. She is 12 and for the past four years she has been living away from home studying and training on the Nation Romanian Gymnastic team. It was quite the treat to go to this event. There were teams from all over Europe and even from New Zealand, which was fun for Priscilla to see. I took a lot of pictures of this event that did not turn out very good. I need to take some photography lessons. I was able to get a half way decent shot of Randy's housekeeper's daughter doing an exercise with the hoop. They did three different exercises. One with a hoop, one with a long ribbon and one with a ball. She came in fourth over all and second in the hoop. She is really amazing. All of the contestants are very thin and seem to have no bones in that they are as flexible as gummbies.

The week after school was out Randy and I went to Sibui for two days. We both enjoyed betting out of town and seeing some of Romania before starting our summers. I will be busy in Bucharest for the next three weeks going to two different education conferences and preparing for my trip with Mother to Ireland. It was great to get out of the city after the a busy month of ending school for the year. We both enjoyed our trip, but decided that it is more difficult than we thought it would be to drive to and from Sibui. Our trip home was, to quote Randy, a like a "safari". Instead of the 4.5 hour drive it should have been, it took us 6 hours to get home. Just under half way we hit a thunder, lighting, rain storm. I was glad Randy was driving.

While in this lovely city "The 2007 Cultural Eastern European Center" we climbed this tower.







Inside was the workings of the clock.



This view form the tower shows the "eye like" windows Sibui is known for.






Below is lovely couple who are enjoy the art of people watching from their apartment window. It over looks one of the Piata's. I wish I had either a better camera or better photography skills to have captured their faces better.


Randy is reading about this amazing church which we entered just outside of one the the main Piata's in Sibui. It is in the process of having it's interior refurbished. It's divinity school is just across the street. To my pleasant surprise my little cannon caught this beautiful window.



The picture to the left below shows one of the breath taking frescoes in this church. I am not sure what the picture to the right is of. It is a close up of the alter in the lower left corner on the picture on the left. We saw the remains of one of these from the 17th century in an antic store right before we visited the church. The artist had assembled it's remaining pieces into a beautiful collage.

On our last day in Sibui we were treated to a concert by a local brass group. There were performing in one of the main Piata's.



I have fallen in love with Sibui. This was my second time to visit this city in the Transylvania section of Romania and I hope it is not my last one.

On this trip I spent a lot of time visiting the local shops. I found two great books there. I just finished reading one, ANNE OF ROMANIA AWAR, AN EXILE, A LIFE. Even though it gives a view of Romania that is a limited and privileged, from the woman who would have been it's queen, I found it to be educational and a great read.
I also bought the book EMINESCU POEZ11 POEMS. I have just begun to crack it's surface. Emiescu was a lyrical poet and from the few poems I have read I can see why he is Romania's national poet. Here is one of his poems I have been enjoying:
DROWSY BIRDS...
Drowsy birds are seeking rest,
Swarming to'ards the trees in flight;
'mong the branches make their nest-
Hush, good night!
Only springs are sighing deep,
Silence rules the night-black wood;
Even gardens are asleep-
Peace is good!
Swans are sailing on the lake
Seeking shelter 'mong the rush -
May your angels keep awake!
Sleep, hush, hush!
Over night's charmed fairy tale
Proudly does the moon shed light;
Dreams and harmony prevail, -
So, good night!

Translated by: Andrei Bantas

This seems a fitting end to this issue. The next issue will be full of tales form Ireland and my summer experiences in Europe.