Romanian Birthday

Birthdays are best when shared with friends. And yesterday I was very lucky to spend mine with Mary, Cristina, Adriana, Ionela, Petru, and about 20 of our high school kids. After all, it was regular Thursday night bible study. Instead of a lesson, we saw a photo presentation of some of our activities over the past couple of weeks--the Easter pageant, the Easter party at the horse club, and more. Wonderful. Then Mary served us a wonderful spaghetti supper. I did my part as the birthday girl by bringing eclairs for dessert. It is customary here in Romania for the person with the birthday to bring the treat. It's great, actually, because you're guaranteed to get something you like. They all sang happy birthday to me and I got lots of flowers and some nice presents. Lovely.

Today the celebrating (at least the pastries) continues. This morning I visited Adela and baby Sofia with more treats. We had a nice time catching up (and watching royal wedding preparations on tv). Tonight I will go to Aurelia's with some savarine I just bought. These are drippy sweet cakes stuffed with whipped cream. Yum.

Tomorrow we have a wedding of our own to celebrate as Petru's daughter gets married. Inspired by the fashions at Westminster Abbey, I ran out and bought a big, floppy 10-lei hat that matches my strappy sandals.

Part of my birthday gift was a very nice certificat that Cristina made me, complete with a stampila. It's official--I did something in the Peace Corps. That, folks, is gift enough.

Packing up the Funny Yellow Vest

I know it seems a bit early to be packing and sorting. I still have, after all, 71 days until I leave Romania. But I have a pile to take to the Bucuresti office, a pile that goes to the girls' apartment here, a few things for Aurelia, Adela's iron, a suitcase that goes to Texas with Mary in May, and a few small boxes to ship. And of course the lists. Kind of amazing on one hand to look at what I've accumulated in two years. But on the other hand, I have needed to live a normal life...as best as that is possible.

So once again, weighing what I need and what can go. I've gotten pretty good at this, and I'll forgive myself when I get home and find I've kept too much. Keep: that picture on the wall painted by a friend, the book of poems about staying easy with the world, a prism glass, this pair of boots, maybe, and that funny yellow vest and a hat hanging on the wall--my treasures you might say. Ok, so I got metaphorical there with Lyle Lovett and Guy Clark. It's always a challenge...but not in a bad way. Souvenirs of adventures out in the wide blue world. And memories of our fellow travelers.

And because we are enjoying some Texas twang today: The desert's quiet and Cleveland's cold, so the story ends we're told. Pancho needs your prayers, it's true, but save a few for Lefty too. He just did what he had to do. Now he's growing old.

Well, aren't we all? And that's not a bad thing either.

La Paştele Cailor

Learning idioms in a foreign language can be confusing but also a lot of fun. A favorite of mine from early on is "La Paştele Cailor" which translates directly as, "at the horses' Easter." In usage it means something like "when pigs fly." That is to say, something will occur at the time when something impossible happens, ie, never.

Well, today we made the impossible happen. It was really just a party. But it was an Easter party with the horses. I'm counting it. Today, in fact, was anything can happen day. Who wouldn't celebrate that? Kids rode the horses. We looked for eggs, played Iepuras Spune (Bunny Says), had egg races, and ate chocolate.

The wonderful Cristina who works so hard to make the horse program a reality.

Dreamy Stefan got in the group picture with his arms around me and Cristina, below in the back row.

Below, Norocel, the horse that NOROC sponsors for the children, and Mary. And check out my party-at-the-stable fashion. Foarte misto!

This last picture is of a young man named Dolar. He's a good guy. I have a good feeling that he's going to be OK. I hope so. Hey, anything can happen.

The Herring are Running, The Herring are Running

Today is Patriots' Day (to a purist).

And today I made a visit with Mary, Cristina, and some of the boys down to Dunavutu de Sus and to Mr. Dinu and his camp. We went this time last year as well to help Mr. Dinu get the boats and the camp ready for summer. Today the boys painted and cleaned boats and I cleaned up garbage. Not the most glamorous task, but useful. Then we made a lovely gratar of mici, sausage, and herring. Yes, herring.

This started last week when Aurelia fed me pickled herring she had made. She uses a bit of sugar in her recipe, so a nice blend of flavors. Quite delicious, really. She explained (and has explained before) that it is herring season. So today, when Mr. and Mrs. Dinu put the herring on the grill, I asked for more information. Turns out, the herring (Which were 10-12" long, trout sized but narrower) normally live in the Black Sea. This time of year--and it's a short season--they migrate up into the delta and up the Danube to spawn. And then we Tulceans have a herring feast. We pickle it, we smoke it, and we put it over a fire. And of course we forget to take pictures of it. But my belly loves me some herring season.

After we worked hard and ate well, we took a small trip out on a boat into the delta. Unlike other trips I've taken, we earned this one; we rowed ourselves around. No pelicans or swans, but we had three kingfisher sightings, some ducks, a cormorant, an egret, a couple of gray herons, and I saw a night heron standing in a tree. Oh, and I saw a hoopoe which is a uniquely European bird that lives around the delta.

And we wore out teenage boys; they all slept on the way home. Hah! Put that in your VRF*

Me and Mr. Dinu. He is definitely one of the angels.

*Volunteer Reporting Form, the way we justify our little existences to the bean-counters in Washington

Your New Earworm...(you're welcome)

Followed a twisted trail today to find this Zimbabwean music from the 70's. I dare you not to feel better after taking a listen. And they called themselves the Hallelujah Chicken Run Band. You feel better already.

Busted Flat in Bucuresti

Well, not really...but I was waiting for a train. And feeling near as faded as my jeans.

The train on the track next to mine was the daily train to Vienna. I was dreaming of going to Vienna instead of Tulcea. And so I took some pictures. This is Gara de Nord, the main train station in Bucuresti. When I first came through the gara (station) nearly two years ago, it was completely overwhelming. It soon became old hat, and now I really like the station. It's actually not so big, but full of life--sounds, smells, lights, action. In fact, I kind of love it. The metro stop is at one side of the station, and out front I can catch a bus that takes me close to the Peace Corps office. The metro goes there too, but I prefer the bus for the view of city life.

My bus to Tulcea leaves from a one-horse station near the gara, a short walk. Sometimes I take the bus into town, sometimes I take the train. The bus costs 70 lei and takes 4.5 hours; the train costs 50 lei and takes 6.5 hours. Usually the deciding factor is my schedule since the bus runs many times a day and the train only twice (and one of them arrives in the middle of the night). I prefer the train. It's more spacious, has a toilet, and unlike the bus we're not running people off the road with our crazy passing. Since I was feeling faded yesterday, I opted to take the train home.

Anyway, this is Gara de Nord:

This last picture is out the window at Medgidia, a stopping point partway home. It's a little store with a nice man who makes me a mediocre cappuccino out of one of those machines. It's a nice ritual.

An Exceptionally Good Shopping Trip

This morning's assignment was to take Calin shopping for a gift. Last week his friend Mariana lost her brother to cancer. So he asked Mary if together we couldn't get her a nice gift. At friday's club, Mary brought some very pretty paper flowers and a blank card. Calin wrote a very nice card. And Mary agreed to take Calin shopping today for a gift. She allowed him to pick two younger kids to come as well.

As things go, unfortunately/fortunately, both Mary and Cristina are having very busy days today and asked me to take Calin shopping. I went to Speranta around 10 and found Calin. He then got Elena and Marian together and out we went. Mary had generously given us 50 lei to spend. We started out a clothing store and found a very fashionable black shirt. Because Mariana is in mourning, she is expected to wear black for an undefined-to-me period of time. Then we went to another store and found a black headband and a bracelet. We saved enough money to get her some chocolate and a pretty gift bag. Then we went back to the home and gave her a very nice surprise.

Above left, Marian, and right, Elena. Elena gives great hugs and has two younger sisters also in the home. Below, Calin is in back and Mariana is in the middle.