Never Again

If you are in America, I hope you are getting caught up in the Ken Burns/Dayton Duncan series on America's National Parks. Please consider spending a few minutes on a special video they made about Manzanar that didn't make the TV cut. It's very well done and very important. And it was my home for a long time, and this place and these people are special in my heart. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgmY2P-xT_Y

My Office

Just a couple of snapshot of my office. Finally rearranged and created a desk for me a few days ago, with the help of colleagues Alina and Adela. Very exciting after 5 weeks of moving my things around a communal table. Also showing off my new brown corduroys, just as we're dipping officially into fall. Very happy with two boxes of new fall/winter clothing, the result of the latest windfall in my overly blessed life. Well, the latest latest windfall is more grapes and fresh, rapidly fermenting grape juice from neighbors Domnul and Doamna (Mr. and Mrs.) Luca. Sweet, but a little nauseating--oh, and keep the lid off or it will explode. They told me be sure not to consume the grapes and the juide together or I'll have diarrhea. Never a dull moment in Romania. But I'm dressed for it now.

Land of the Delta Blues

You know you are at a Romanian grătar when:
a. there are three kinds of pork but no vegetables
b. stray dogs outnumber people
c. the car is running so the headlights and blaring radio don’t run down the battery
d. you don’t even notice the first three anymore

You know you’re birdwatching in Romania when:
a. your three-hour boat tour doesn’t feature life-jackets
b. the availability of cheap beer is matched by friendly offers to pull up to land and let you pee
c. they can blame the channelization of the Danube on Ceaucescu instead of, say, Floyd Domini or the TVA
d. there’s nowhere you’d rather be

I’d love to continue the pop quiz, but:
a. I have to do language homework
b. a picture is worth a thousand works (hoping, anyway)
c. sometimes experiences in Romania defy quick processing and there are some parts of my weekend trip to the Delta that are beyond explanation
d. I’m still exhausted a good part of the timeAlas, above is the cat that didn't come back, in front of our pensiune in Murighiol: Erin, Renee, and Susie. Our little boat, perfect for six plus boatman. And my compatriots, Susie, Megan, and Erin.Evening on the Danube, followed by the best stars I've seen since my desert home. Erin and Renee are sisters from Reno. I had a great time swapping desert stories with them.

A Walk in the Park

Had a small walk at the edge of the park today as we met with some of the men from the granite quarry about where and how they want to drive their trucks through the park. It doesn't look like we can do anything to stop it from happening, but maybe can impose some conditions. Certainly NEPA does not exist in Romania. In the meantime, I took some pictures, befriended a man who works at one of the quarries who then gave me grapes from his garden, and played with some cute puppies at the quarry. Oh, and ate some rosehips to fend off an impending cold. Don't think that worked, although I also seemed to be allergic to my park or something in it--maybe one of these beautiful flowers.

Rancho La Paz, Open for Business

For those of you who never visited my little house on the creek, I had a sign out front that read "Rancho La Paz"--a simple wooden board with paint. The name was my version, my derivitave, my continuation of the great 70's movie "Rancho Deluxe" and my friend Maggie's "Rancho Remorseless." Alas the sign went the way of the house, but the sentiment remains, and anywhere I live will hereby be known as Rancho La Paz.

So it was with great enthusiasm that I hosted my first houseguests this week. My apartment is quite large, and I don't really use the living room. So I've got plenty of room for visitors, and a pullout couch, Romanian style. My guests were other Peace Corps volunteers: Susie who lives in Ploiesti and her friend Pan who serves in the Republic of Moldova which isn't far from here. They arrived Tuesday and spent the night, then took off and spent a few days in a small town out the delta to the Black Sea. Then they arrived back in Tulcea Saturday for Pan to get a bus home. Susie stayed the weekend and left early Monday morning to catch a ride into Bucuresti for a medical appointment.

Tuesday night they took me out to dinner and we ate yummy fish. On the walk home, we passed the Lipovanian cultural center where my landlord is active (he may run it, not sure). He was outside chatting with some people and invited us in. He then asked a young man to sing for us, a traditional Russian song, which was wonderful. We also got a tour of this nice modern building, and I was invited to come any Monday night at 6 to hear people sing traditional songs. A brief note, Lipovanians are a religious group that left Russia more than 200 years ago due to religious persecution. They largely settled in my area of Romania and are a significant presence here today.

The weekend with Susie with lots of fun. We visited the art museum Saturday and watched a movie on my computer at night. Sunday we visited the Delta museum, then while crossing the street we saw a new acquaintance of mine who runs the folklore museum so we popped in there. While in the museum, we met a woman from Germany who has been biking around Romania and spoke English. We went and had a drink with her and heard about her adventures. Then Susie and I came home and ate more of the stuffed peppers I'd made Saturday. Susie is, as I am, one of our older volunteers, has been here more than a year, and is very connected with other volunteers and Peace Corps staff. So she has great insight into the issues we face as volunteers. We had a good time getting to know each other better and I was able to have a sympathetic and knowing ear, although I really don't have much to complain about. Things are going well here. But it's always good to get some perspective.

Alas, the weekend got away from me and I find it's now Monday morning again. Lots to catch up on, but how wonderful to have guests!

Cerna Days

Cerna is one of the small communities around my park, population about 2000. It's mostly a farming community. This past week they held the first annual Cerna Days in which the park staff participated. For me, it felt like my community integration went from a standstill to warp speed this week, and I will try to remember details here to express how fun, overwhelming, and meaningful my week became.

Monday
Adela and I got a ride out to Cerna with one of our rangers so that we could set up posters and photos in preparation for the activities scheduled Tuesday through Thursday. The weather was overcast, cool, and still a bit rainy from the deluge we had on Sunday. We basically took over a room at the Primaria, the mayor's office. The most memorable thing about this day was (of course) the toilet. Out back there was a small white shed with red doors. Inside there were two rooms, men and women naturally, and the floor was a cement slab with a triangular hole. It was in some ways more rustic than an outhouse (which I've seen and used in this country, much like we would know an outhouse at home) because there is no seat; you simply squat. But it was very clean and nicely painted. Anyway, we achieved our goal of turning this room (the room in the Mayor's office, not the toilet room) into a promotional site for our park. Next we went next door to help the librarian, a fried of Adela's, spruce up and prepare for an event that would be happening later in the week in the library. Nice people and we exchanged cakes and cookies.

Tuesday
Three hours, my ass! Tuesday was also a religious holiday--Sfanta Maria Mica. That translates into Saint Mary Small, and refers to the day of the birth of Mary, mother of Jesus. Last month we commemorated Sfanta Maria Mare (large), which refers to the death of Mary, mother of Jesus. In Cerna, and all over the country, this meant that we went to church Tuesday morning. My director drove me out to Cerna, dropped me off at Church, and left for a meeting. I attended church with a woman I'd met the day before and a whole bunch of strangers. By church I mean the Romanian Orthodox church. While there are other religions in Romania, 88% of the people are Orthodox. And the standard length of a service is 3 hours, and to make it more fun, we stand throughout the whole thing. Except when we kneel on the hard floor. This service began outside, where we stood for about a half and hour. Then we all circumambulated the church, following the priests. OK, I'm not sure what to call all of the priests. There was a head priest, distinctive because of his hat (oh, I'm sure it's not really called a hat) and other garb. Then there were probably ten men of lesser stature who served an ordained function. After walking around the church, we filed up the stairs into the church and found positions. Fortunately my woman got us a good position where for two minutes every half hour (or so it seemed) air conditioning blew on us. While the weather outside was still windy and cool, inside it quickly warmed up. The church was very full, and we proceeded to stand for the next three and a half hours for service. Orthodox service is different than anything else I've experienced in that the congregation did not sing or speak or in any way seem to participate other than as spectators. People made the sign of the cross frequently as the priests sang, chanted, and performed rituals that were a mystery to me. Many times they came out into the crowd with incense or holy water to sprinkle on people. Many times I thought the service was coming to an end because the head preist appeared to be walking out, but then he turned around and came back. I welcomed the occasional kneeling as a respite from the standing. There were some benches in the back, and a few chairs scattered around the large room, but most people there were quite old. Although they have been doing this their whole lives, and these old ladies kneeled like champs. Finally the service ended and we went out in the fresh air. The reward for my efforts were two-fold: there was a wonderful feast afterward of stuffed peppers (my favorite!), salami, cheese, olives, and cake; and more intangibly, I felt like maybe I had become a small hero in Cerna for enduring this rite. Certainly my coworkers were in awe that I had stood so long. So...

Wednesday - Open Letter to Fiddlin' Pete
Recently I got an email, a general invitation to my former musical group in Bishop to join Fiddlin' Pete (a local celebrity musician-Pete has real stories about hopping freight trains) on stage at the Millpond Music Festival next weekend. Alas, i'm out of town. So instead, Wednesday I broke out a little Woody Guthrie of my own for my new Romanian friends. Our park was scheduled to give a one hour presentation at Cerna Days in that room at the Mayor's office. Hey Gretel, ya wanna sing a song? Uh, sure, why not? This Land is Your Land translates halfway decently into Romanian, especially if the landmarks become local. So to a room of maybe 80 people, I strapped on my new Romanian guitar and did my best. They clapped so hard, it was very moving. I also said a few paragraphs in Romanain. It was a crazy thing to attempt, but I wasn't nearly as nervous as I should have been. And truly, I felt the support behind me of all my friends who have shaped me musically, of the Guthrie family members who I've seen at Millpond, of people like Pete and so many others who carry on the legacy, and here I was bringing it to Cerna, Romania. I gotta tell ya, it felt great. And this is only week 4. So the verdict is in: spending my settling-in allowance on a guitar instead of an iron, a desklamp, and a fan was a decision nothing short of brilliant. Oh, and Peace Corps rule #1: Just say YES.

After our park presentation, the library had it's presentation about three local poets and other books and dissertations written about Cerna and our area. Then we all went to the school for a tour of the really modern and beautiful school, and we watched a new documentary about Cerna. Finally we ended up at the former house of the most famous Cerna poet which is now a museum. We had more speeches and poetry and finished off our day outside the museum eating more of those stuffed peppers. There I had a really nice chat with some of the children. The librarian's daughter, Mirela, was particularly friendly and understood immediately that she needed to speak slowly to me. Two other girls spoke excitedly and rapidly and then Mirela repeated what they said to me. She acted as my translator, although she only spoke Romanian.
Thursday
We were supposed to go to Macin in the morning for a meeting, but it was postponed until Friday. So it wasn't until late in the day (and after I'd gone to the post office to pick up a package--thanks Dad, Donna, Mom, and everybody!)that we headed out for the final night, the big night, of Cerna Days. This was the music and dance extravaganza in the field at the edge of town. Multiple groups performed, from all over the country I think. At least as far away as Bucuresti. Mostly it was traditional music, and I recognized a couple of the songs from language class. This is the one time that I remembered to take pictures, so I'll let them do the talking. I also had some delicious fresh grape juice. This is grape/wine territory and it is harvest season now. My neighbor brought me grapes last night. Delicious.

Friday
Friday I thought we were done and I would just go to the office. I had misunderstood that that meeting was rescheduled. So I went with Viorel, my director, out to a rock quarry near Macin, and abutting our park. We are having a problem since they want to reopen an old road that goes through the park for the purpose of hauling out rock. In America we have laws, policies, and precedents for handling this kind of issue. Things are a bit different here, but I'm not really sure how we resolve them. I was hoping to learn more at the meeting, but when we got there evidently someone else did not want me, a stranger and foreigner, in on the meetings. So while I quietly seethed at the thought of what the #@%% am I doing here?, I then pulled myself together and had a pretty good day. Just next the rock quarry is a monestary so I walked down the road and got a tour of that. Then there were two men out on the grassy slope picking mushrooms. Oh, by the way, the weather had turned absolutely beautiful by friday--sunny and moderately warm. So I went out and talked to the mushroom men. Not much, because really I don't speak that well yet. But I consider it my job here to start random conversations wherever I can. So off I went. It seems that the rain (and it was a good soaker) brings out the mushrooms. I saw many, and many kinds. They were picking the large flat ones. The man I talked to was very happy and showed me his big handfull. I wish I'd had my camera but it was locked in the car and Viorel had the key. Later it was redeemed when we went for a nice hike in the park and looked at desert varnish and watched raptors. Because I was prepared for a day in the office, I was wearing the wrong shoes but fortunately, it turns out, I don't own shoes that I can't do an impromptu hike it. Dang, we have a nice park. We have an indemic little grasshopper with bright orange wings.

There is more to write about regarding my Lipovanian landlord and my first houseguests, other Peace Corps volunteers. But this was Cerna Days and was a lovely introduction to smalltown life in Romania.This nice man's hair made me think a little bit Siegfried, a little bit Roy, right here in Romania

Grătarul, Stilul Dunării

Barbecue, Danube style—that is. Today one of my coworkers, Vale (short for Valentina) and her husband Dorin took me on a quintessential rite of PC passage, a side-of-the-road barbecue. Fortunately for me our road was the Danube River which runs by Tulcea. (check out those great man-capris on Dorin) Vale speaks less English than I speak Romanian so this was a true adventure. After she successfully recommended a tutor to me (a huge accomplishment, I start next week—although I’d independently gotten the tutor’s name from another volunteer) Vale invited me on today’s outing. She even called me on the phone this morning to arrange the details. It’s a greater accomplishment to understand Romanian on the phone since we can’t rely on gestures and I can’t watch lips, which actually helps me. We agreed that they would pick me up and we would go to the piaţa. I wasn’t sure why they wanted to go the piaţa, but I needed to feed my watermelon addiction anyway. They actually wanted to buy as much eggplant as they could carry, Vale saying something about winter. OK.

They we drove out of town past the abandoned factories and power plants, over the railroad tracks, and down a badly paved road through some great swampland with egrets and, I think, a bittern. We arrived at a turnoff to a dirt road, then a closed gate. Dorin pulled the car over as Vale got out and encouraged me to join her. She indicated that the woman who lived there was a cleaning woman, but I didn’t catch where or for whom. We quickly came to a pretty little green house in the trees lined with pots of red geraniums. In the field next to the house were blue beehives. Lots of apiaries in the area. Vale had a nice chat with the woman and her husband and we got permission to drive in the gate and through their yard to the river. Yes, the Danube.

We found a nice place to park, under some big willow trees. We walked around and found some rocks to build a fire ring. Then another neighbor came by who Vale knows from the Forest Service. He invited Vale and I over to see a new house he’s building, while Dorin got a fire going. This man’s new house is actually going to be a pensiune, I think. That’s a guest house/bed and breakfast type establishment. It’s a beautiful little house with three guest rooms. The setting is very pleasant in a little clearing set back slightly through the trees from the river. I could imagine staying there with visitors if it is always as quiet and pleasant as it was today. Of course, being Romania, there was trash everywhere. Lots of people make grătar in the area. In fact, later our cleaning woman friend came down to say hi and got into an argument with some people who wanted to use the road in through her property. I didn’t even need to know how to speak Romanian to follow that conversation.

So once Dorin’s fire was hot and ready, they proceeded to cook all those eggplant til they were nice and soft. Fortunately for me, eggplant was not on the menu (one of my least favorite foods, and shocking SHOCKING to Romanians, along with my dislike of sour cream). Instead we ate fish and raw tomatoes and red peppers. I brought cookies. I have one trick, those cookies, but it’s a good one. I brought along my piaţa watermelon too, but Vale had really delish plums. I ate most of my fish, charred skin and all, with my hands. It was very tasty but as I got up toward the head, I sort of realized that it wasn’t as cooked at that end, and maybe it hadn’t been cleaned. So I said I was full and we fed it to the local stray dog. I felt badly for the guy, he kept sitting down in the river and I think it’s because he had a bum hip and it probably felt good in the cold water. The river was busy with traffic, including a couple of groups of kayakers heading downstream toward Tulcea. Our cleaning lady friend’s son came out with his supertare innertube with a mesh center that he could stand up on, and dive off of. This is the Tulcea branch of the Danube. Just upstream from where we are, the river splits in two. The other branch goes north and forms the border with Ukrainia. Our branch comes through Tulcea and then splits again, so that there are three branches that reach the Black Sea. If I haven’t mentioned it yet, pelicans are very important here.(Full disclosure: I didn't take the pelican picture, but googled it) White pelicans, and another kind of pelicans that we don’t have in the states, are extremely plentiful in the Danube Delta. They are so important that the pelican is the symbol of the delta and there are pelicans on signs all over the place. Heaven for me, being a huge fan of white pelicans that migrate through the Owens Valley in California every spring and fall. I asked Vale and Dorin if pelicans came this far up the Danube or if they were only in the delta. They thought only in the delta. Well, not quite. Having an eye for their unique flight pattern, I noticed a flock in the distance and had a very enjoyable time watching them circle around, catching the light as they do with the white of their wings. They didn’t necessarily believe me that those were pelicans. We were quite a distance. But I know me a pelican. And they made me immensely happy. As if I needed them. We had a very nice time doing not much more than cooking eggplant.

Vale explained to me earlier, when I was thanking her profusely for inviting me out, that she is really quite shy. Frankly, they both seemed quite introverted. But that’s just fine with me. Less conversation works pretty well for me right now. Vale does have a 13-year-old daughter, but she is visiting her grandmother. We all had an easy time together.Oh, and the whole time we were there, the car doors were open and the radio was on with music that was popular in the States 20 years ago. I was picking my fish off the bones as Men at Work were eating a vegemite sandwich. That’s one of the more humorous things about living in Romania—the soundtrack. Belinda Carlisle’s Circle in the Sand is rather popular, as is anything by that Caribbean singer with I don’t wanna dance with you baby, dance with you baby no more. Of course I’ve been playing my computer solitaire while listening over and over to America’s greatest hits. So, you know, who am I to talk?

Anyway, chalk me up for a successful go ‘round with community integration. This might work out after all.

Touches of Home

I received my first box today full of practical things but a few fun things, too, that remind me of home. Thanks to Misty for the tomato timer, which matches fantastically well with the new salt and pepper shakers from the Penny Market. And thanks to Alisa for my daruma doll that traveled all the way from Japan to sit around waiting, one-eyed, for me to get into the Peace Corps. Goal achieved. And the silly little clock from Hawaii that I thought seemed small enough to travel and would brighten my day. I had forgotten all about it. And it certainly did.

I'm adjusting better today to the ambiguity of this Romanian life. I go to work every day and read about the park, and I'm translating some great environmental ed games into Romanian. THANK YOU to all national parks that have great lessons and games on their websites. And I don't have to pay or join or anything. Nancy H., if you are reading this, I especially like the Great Basin and Mojave network stuff. Pass on my thanks and give yourself a pat on the back as well. Lessons and games about bats and animal camouflage and animal olympics. In my box today also are my "Meaningful Interpretation" and "Handles" books, NPS guides for "connecing hearts and minds to places, objects, and other resources." I would include stories as a major resource.

Still wasting too much time on the computer and not getting enough face time with Romanians. But this is expected at this stage. And I've got a couple of potential events coming up next week. Maybe some dancing to report then...

Me Talk Pretty One Day

It's easy to get discouraged about speaking the language when I can't find a tutor, my colleagues regularly break into English out of pity, and I feel my hard-won Romanian slipping away. But then I force myself into a conversation--like today when I called my landlord to tell him he could drop by tonight and get the rent--and I'm successful. He really did show up a bit after 7 like I thought he said he would. And I think I have an appointment Friday at 2 with the local Red Cross to see if I can volunteer with them a little bit on weekends or in the evening. I had that conversation all in Romanian as well. Veronica tells a funny story about going to the train station and asking for a ticket for yesterday's train. In these days of language adventure, if that's the dumbest thing I say or do I count my blessings. One of the super-great things about Romanians is that they are generally quite patient and pleasant as I try to spit out sentences that a 5-year-old mastered last year. Trying counts!

Oh-and just as an aside: I've been eating rice nearly every day. After a summer of potato overload, and a year of not being settled, and being sick my first week here, rice just plain tastes good. I even burned it onto my new pan the first time I made it so it really is like home.