Tirgoviste Redeux

Back to the first city I lived in. Back in time one year plus a few days. Back to the strangers that had become family.

This time around I was only staying for three days not three months and had the entire time free to spend with the Ionescu family. I got to see what they actually did while I was away at school all day, and as I had suspicions they napped after I left (for almost a year I believed they ran on less than four hours of sleep a night, waking up with me at 6am and going to sleep after midnight)

Three days of nothing but Romania really made me realize how much I've learned and how much better it is now that we can talk all day. Mariana is as funny as ever and has learned two sentences in English, Iza still refuses to admit she speaks any at all, and Denisa and I got to catch up like in person instead of my awkward written Romanian. We went to the pool, the park, out for drinks with the whole family, and pizza with just the girls. Not a bad couple of days, and definitely made me homesick being a part of a family again but at the same time made me realize that I was part of the family. Mariana says I'm not allowed to leave Europe because then I'll never come back to see her again and will forget all my Romanian so then I won't even be able to write her. Really do love that woman.

best quote of the visit- "the crazy girl has come back to us, now stay here and talk to me all day, those grandchildren of mine are boring" from the bunica (grandmother)

Be Italian!

It has happened again, that my travels have led me to another beautiful city full of things that Becca and I had no idea what we were looking at until we broke down and finally bought a guide book to inform us.

The most fascinating stories I suppose come as always from the people we meet

-the group of Romanians who bought us drinks the first night

-the twins from California who upon hearing we were Peace Corps volunteers spent the rest of the night saluting us whenever they saw us

-our couchsurfing hosts who taught Becca how to dance using her whole body

- the nice man who helped me find a church and turned out to be Romanian and wanted me to stay with him for free the rest of the summer so he could cook for me, (english, romanian translation)

--Can I help you?

---Yes, I’m looking for this church to meet my friends.

--You go here? It’s on the way to my store come with me, I know. Sorry I don’t speak much English. Italiano?

---Romana?

----You’re Romanian??? I am from Craiova!!!

-----No, I’m not Romanian I teach there for the past year

---- Oh what luck, how long will you be in Rome?

----I leave today actually (first attempt to leave)

------Oh no, you cannot you must come stay with me for the summer! I will not charge you anything, you must come back to Rome its only 40 Euros, and I will cook for you all summer. It’s such a pity you should leave this day. Come to my restaurant tonight for dinner, bring you’re colleagues.

----Ha I’m sorry but I have a plane at 7, but it was nice to meet you. (second attempt)

-----No its too sad, I will come to Romania in December you must meet me there, its so wonderful to meet an American who speaks such nice Romanian. I will tell my mother about you, though she will not believe me

- meeting up with long lost pen pal friends (congratulations on the engagement again greg!)

-going on possibly my first date ever with a guy that took me to the beach, dinner, and for a rain soaked run to get gelato.

-helping out the Spanish girls trying to go to st.peters by selling them our scarves so they could get in (you to have thighs and shoulders covered we come to find out) (this is also where they hide all the cuties and try to disguise them I funny clown-like suits and where we solidified our ticket to hell for thinking impure thoughts at the most famous church in the world)

Other adventures include running through train stations trying to find our bus to the airport, then running through the bus station, then getting stuck in traffic, being laughed at by the customs officer as we stood panting at his booth because we thought we would miss our plane, and then finally amusing the man in our row on the plane by listing as many four letter words we could from A to Z that could be taken in a dirty way (childish yes, but entertaining nonetheless) the final scurry to a taxi that would not rob us blind with a fee and convincing the poor kid at the hotel to give us a room without a reservation brought our trip to a close

Dayton and the Delta

One year ago I left my best friends in the world to come to Romania. The University of Dayton became my home in so many more important ways than it can ever possibly be understood.

This past month I got the chance to meet up with a group of UD students traveling around Eastern Europe for a study abroad sustainability course. They had invited me to join them on the last leg of their tour on the Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve. (Yes I have dozens of pictures but not on this computer, check the facebook album I will eventually post for visual aids) We spent a full week on a floating hotel checking out endangered bird species, frogs, floating reed beds, infinate amounts of breathtaking landscapes and intense intellectual discussions on science and the future of the planet. I was in heaven as you can imagine.

One of the main reasons I was asked to join the students was to talk about Peace Corps and Romania, and the projects I have done and are trying to get done. I found that in talking about not just myself all week, but about Romania that I have come to fall deeply in love with this country. The more I talked about it and described all the little quirks of the people and culture and in talking to some of the staff on the boat, and translating the questions of the students, I realized how happy I was. I also got a much needed boost of support and appreciation. I can't think of how many times I got praised for my work, even though I basically play with kids all day it seems not so much to me, but I was able to look from the outside for a little bit and recognize that in a small way, teaching the web of life and its connection to us humans, is a small but important lesson to learn.

One of the professors asked do I feel like a better person because of my time here and I honestly shocked myself when I said yes immediately. And I do. I think that not everyone needs to be a volunteer for two years, but everyone should spend some time alone abroad to learn about what you can actually get through as a person, learn from it, and then find out a passion you never thought you had before.

Bottom line. Thank you Dayton, for reminding me why I came here. And for believing in me that its the right choice.