Sărbători Fericit!

Crăciun Fericit şi Anul Nou Fericit dîn România!

This last week before Christmas Bucharest has finally decided to start spreading some holiday cheer. Christmas markets are springing up in all the major squares, and on most street corners the usual flowers/slippers/undergarments vendors have been replaced by those selling Christmas lights, Mos Craciun ("Old Man Christmas") window decorations and mini Christmas trees. On Sunday it snowed all day, and the downtown area looked really beautiful covered in snow and Christmas lights.

There was even a special on the news last night about the pig slaughtering, torching, roasting and eating traditions and the EU's regualtions against them. I had thought this might be a nice tradition to witness firsthand, but after watching the news special (content not suitable for the young or squeamish...no editing over here, folks!), I realize I'll be ok without seeing it.

Which works out nicely, because I am leaving for Vienna tonight to spend a week in the Austrian Alps with my "European family." I feel like it's a bit of a cop out to not be in Romania during Christmas, but I'll be back for New Year's. I figured that was a good compromise. And I must admit, I can't wait to spend a week with Silvin, Anja and the boys drinking coffee, baking cookies, playing games, reading and sledding! Sounds like a pretty decent way to finish off an eventful year.

Here's wishing you all a lovely Christmas surrounded by friends and family. You will be missed!

La mulţi Ani 2008!

A Week Up North

This past week Mihaela and I were in Iaşi for a 3-day workshop (like the one we did in Baia Mare). Then on Thursday we went to Suceava to present in Petru Rareş High School. After five days of travel and work, Mihaela went back to Bucharest and I got to stay in Suceava for another night for a bit of relaxation and photo shooting.

From Suceava I took a "microbus" 45 minutes to Gura Humorului to see some of the famous painted monasteries. The monasteries were pretty spectacular, but first back to the bus ride. At the bus station I thought it only logical to ask at the ticket counter about buying a ticket to Gura Humorului. Apparently that was wrong, because I got pretty severely yelled at by both ticket agents (who both claimed they spoke no German or English) until I figured out I was supposed to buy the ticket from the bus driver. After I got on the bus, bought my ticket, and made sure he was going to stop in the center of the town and not go straight to the bus terminal a few kilometers outside the town, I managed to actually get a seat. Yes, that actually is quite a feat. These buses have about 10 seats, but I think there were probably close to 30 people at any given point on the bus. So there were no seatbelts and the roads were snowy, we were packed in so tight we wouldn't have gone far in case of a wreck anyways.

Once in Gura Humorului, I was able to visit Humor Monastery. Then Sue, an American teaching at the high school there for a year, called her favorite taxi driver Cristie, who took us to Voroneţ Monastery. Cristie played tour guide, and his broken English and cheesy sense of humor was quite entertaining. Afterwards, he set me up with a "maxitaxi"/hitchhiking ride back to Suceava. I sat up front with the driver, a man in his 50s, and had a pseudoconversation in a strange mix of his broken German and my very broken Romanian.

The next morning the mother of the owner of the villa I was staying at cooked me breakfast, checked on me 11 times to make sure I was eating everything, and peeked around the corner as I talked to her grandson about MBA programs in the US. After breakfast, I was able to wander Suceava for a few hours before my 7-hour train ride back to good ol' Bucharest.

Weekend in Bulgaria

As I'm sure you're all aware of, it's not too difficult for me to find excuses to travel. Well, the Romanian government (in cohorts with the EU, of course) was just so kind as to hand me one without my ever asking! Since I don't have a residency permit, I'm only allowed to stay in Romania for 90 days. Since I'm here for six months, the easy solution is to cross the border and get your passport stamped, and 9 times out of 10 you won't have any problems. So there you have it: Kymber has to leave the country.

When my good friend Dan heard about my plans to cross into Bulgaria, he decided to come along and we made a weekend out of it. If we're going to go all that way, we might as well do some sight-seeing, right? We were pretty shameless with our American touristness, and got some great pictures. Somehow it's ok to look like a foreigner as long as you aren't actually living in that city.

Being the experienced travellers that we both are, we packed quite a bit into one weekend. It started out with a 10-hour night train to Sofia, which we almost missed. But after running through the metro and train station "Amazing Race" style, we were informed the train was 90 minutes late. It was kind of anti-climatic, but at least we got to eat a nice McDonald's dinner before we left! :)

We arrived in Sofia after a long night of border crossings and the first of what Dan refers to as "A Series of Uncomfortable Beds." We explored for a few hours, discovered a Dunkin' Donuts and the famous Yellow Brick Road, then hopped on another train for Plovdiv.

Plovdiv, the "cultural capital" of Bulgaria, is the second largest city in Bulgaria, and one of the oldest cities in Europe, dating back to the days of ancient Rome. Standing in one square, we watched a man clean the tower of the muslim mosque while artists sold their goods along the edge of a Roman amphitheater. The contrast of Roman ruins, muslim architecture, and the cryllic alphabet, side by side in a clean Balkan city free of gaping sidewalks and relentless traffic was fascinating and refreshing all at once. Not to mention the friendly people and the prices that were about a third of those in Bucharest! Our hostel, while virtually unheated, was right in the middle of the oldest part of the city, so we were able to walk everywhere and see most of the sights in about a day and a half before heading back to Sofia.

In Sofia we had a few more hours before our night train back to Bucharest, so we did some more exploring, this time finding a restaurant with the best salad either of us have had since we've left the States. Then another long night train back to Bucharest, and back to work and real life!