My first few weeks at site (Wks 1-3)
Trip Start
Jun 01, 2005
1
4
9
Trip End
Sep 01, 2007
Resita,
Romania
Wednesday, August 31, 2005
As you are aware by now, I'm in Resita, Romania which is located in the Southwest corner of the country, close to Serbia. Resitas' population is around 80K and I am slowly discovering the people and the culture. I have been at my site now since August 9th, just a little over 5 weeks living with a very nice host (gazda) family. However, for 3 of these weeks I've been on business travel. My first week at site was pretty much a blur of running from place to place with my organization and meeting new people, taking care of PC business and managing to meet a few new friends. That weekend several of us went to a huge Jazz Music festival in a village near the mountains called Garana and camped out all weekend...out in the rain and enjoyed jazz music from musicians all across Romania, Europe, and the a few from the U.S. including two-time grammy nominated Stanley Jordan. Yeah, it was pretty cool and a little surreal hearing one of the bands play a classic song about Route 66...ironically the road I practically grew up on that runs thru the center of my hometown, Yukon. Needless to say I was dancing and singing along and just lovin' it! I met several of the youth volunteers I will be working with while I was there and started getting to know a few of them which was awesome. Okay, so I get back to Resita and another week goes by in a blur of activities/meetings/establishing residence (to stay legal) and getting my computer hooked up online at the office (woohoo!) and figuring out how to buy food with the small budget pc gives you...and the food here is soo expensive!
That second weekend was pretty low-key as I was preparing for a week stay just outside of my site with volunteers from here and around the county, which I left for the following Monday morning. The best thing about that following week was that the organization I was working with happened to also be directly involved a very huge organization called the U.N. Refugee Program (wow, huh?!)...so anyway here's where my life started to get a little exciting and my arms fill with goose-pimples and my eyes get teary from the overwhelming emotion that comes from what I'm about to tell you. You all know where I was evacuated from at the end of May, right? Well, you might know some people from that country had fled to neighboring countries as a result of all the atrocities and civil unrest that were going on at that time. As fate would take it's course, here I am in Resita while just a month and a ˝ ago 450 refugee's from Uzbekistan land in a major city only a few hours from me. And, as fate would continue taking it's course before you know it I'm face-to-face with the Director of the U.N. Refugee program here in Romania discussing plans to work with the refugee's and next thing I know I am in a car on my way to the camp to meet with the refugee's....just me and them and all that I can recall of my Russian lang. and Uzbek. Lang. skills! It was a very touching, moving experience as we discussed what they had been thru, their hopes, their families left behind, and what they need now. They were very open to me since I had lived there and was familiar with their customs and could talk with them. They have invited me to come work with them as they need to learn English and learn skills that can help them seek work eventually. You see, most of these people were from farming communities and have very minimal education, or they are from communities where they may have worked selling food/odd items in the bazaar or had a stand on the street. After speaking with one of the program directors again I've received permission to continue coming back and working with them, and I am extremely grateful for this opportunity. If I could work with them everyday I could, but we are going to try to set up a plan that will bring me there once every week. I'll keep you updated on this, as I am very excited about what doors this may open up in the future.
That following weekend I went to go visit my very good friend Mary (who traveled with me here from Uzbek. P.C. program) in Baia Mare. This is in the northwest corner of the country and is not too far from the Ukrainian, Slovakian, and Hungarian borders...anyway, they just had to separate us dam*it. Getting there proved much more difficult than anticipated, but at least it was cheap. Due to the flooding across the country, the railroad lines were out in a few areas along my route so after 12 hours which included 3 trains, several delays, gypsies, and a bus ride I finally arrived safe and sound in Baia Mare to get some mutual, much-needed, TLC! Okay, so I know you want to hear about gypsies, not the long conversations with Mary...so...as I was sitting in one of my connecting train stations (Oradea) in one of the café/bar to wait it out, I had set down across from a decent enough looking gypsy fellow who had his teenage son with him. We strike up a conversation about the plight of Romania (everyone's fav. topic here) and I get to hear about how his wife is now in Arkansas (no, not Arkansas, Romania, but the one in the U.S....haha) and he thinks she is a prostitute and how he is raising his son all on his own. At first, when I set down and started talking to them I got the impression that they were on their way back to Timisoara. Then it changed to Satu Mare, which is in the same direction of where I was going, opposite from Timisoara. I made it a point to explain to him throughout the random conversations we had over the next hour that as a volunteer, I too live with very little...since he loved to talk about how Americans have soo much and Romanians have nothing. He wasn't offensive in any of this conversation, just typical of what I have heard from others before. So anyway, we board our over-crowded train and slowly start our way to the next connecting station (!argh!) He had told me before how him and his son seldom pay for their train tickets, so when the conductor comes by to collect the tickets he just talks his way out of it...he had told me this while we were still in the station. So, anyway, we are on the train talking and he makes a show of asking his son for the money to buy the tickets from the conductor and the son pulls out...guess what...an empty wallet. He then makes a show of saying how his son is irresponsible and what are they going to do now that they can't buy a ticket....while looking at me. This is going on and i'm thinking....C ya! They were hanging out with me all this time to get me to try and pay their tickets...which of course if they had planned to buy them to begin with they would have done it at the station with all the time we had to kill. So, the conductor comes along, collects my ticket, then turns to them...and as my gypsy friend starts trying to look pitiful at me and says "gee, what am I going to do?" I gracefully make my exit to the next wagon over as he starts trying to weasel his way out of his predicament and as I join an old Romanian couple in their train cabin! After that I made friends with the conductor who helped me get to the right bus when we arrived at our next connecting point! And as for me and my new gypsy friends...la revedere! (good-bye!) After that I made much better choices for people to talk to on my journey...like a handsome Romanian man in his 20's who works in Italy, unfortunately he was a newlywed. Upon finally making it to my destination at 1am I preceded to have a wonderful weekend with Mary. Baia Mare is beautiful and quiet a developed city which at times it was very hard to visually see the need for a PC volunteer. However, looks are usually deceiving, as even thou it is rapidly becoming the financial center of Romania, it has pressing issues with street kids, handicapped kids and the environment. My trip back to Resita was a 17 hour overnight sleepless journey that left me thinking I've got to find a better way to travel in this country!
If you want to hear more...keep reading into the next log. That's where you will find my adventure thru Budapest, Mosquito Forest, and my confrontation with a snake!
Love and Peace to all of you!
Amber
