Călătorie: Getting Out of Our City

Until now we have not been permitted to leave the county. This weekend each language class went on an Integrated Field Visit to the sites of current volunteers to gain a better understanding of what we should expect during our two years of service. My group and another language class went to a small mining town in the mountains of southern Transylvania.


My class took a “tren accelerat” to Bucureşti and walked around a gorgeous park with a giant outcropping of rock and beautiful gardens. We even picked some fruit from a Mulberry tree! We also got to see the Peoples’ Palace, built by Ceauşescu in 1983. This inspired another “I can’t believe I’m sitting on a lawn in Europe” moment.


We met up with the other language class to take a maxi-taxi to our destination. After fighting a lady for seats on the maxi-taxi, we rode about 60 kilometers out of Bucureşti before the maxi-taxi broke down. After waiting for a bus, switching to another maxi-taxi, playing rounds of 20 questions and weaving through a steep gorge, we arrived around 10:30 and were greeted by Joel, Andrew and some of their Romanian friends.


On Sunday, we went for a hike to a cabin in the mountains near the town. I don’t think I’ve ever gotten so many insect bites in my life! The scenery was beautiful though and we had a fabulous time. At the cabin we got to meet some of Joel and Andres’s co-workers and community mentors. Everyone was extremely friendly and hospitable. They prepared what can only be called a feast for us with, as you can imagine, multiple types of meat, salad and bread. The highlight was pig back fat (slănină) which I tried, but I must say that I probably will not eat it again. We spent the entire day playing Frisbee and talking and learning from these amazing people. We also got to practice our Romanian!

Joel’s community mentor, Ledi, was the most memorable person I met this weekend. She has been extremely sick these past two years but she has still helped Joel integrate into the community; he is truly a part of her family. She is a very funny and loving woman who especially loves to give hugs and gain promises from us that we will return. Joel said that he eats dinner with her and her family at least once a week. One of my main goals during my service is to forge relationships like that with members of my community.

We got to visit Joel’s school on Monday. We met a few of his more skilled 7th and 8th grade students and walked around the town with some of them. We saw the coal mine where the majority of people in the town work. After communism fell, unemployment rose to almost 70% because so many people were employed by the mines. The students were extremely well-spoken, intelligent and genuinely interested in speaking to native English-speakers. Monday evening we had dinner with Andrew, his community mentor, Ernest, and Ledi. It was exciting to hear stories and learn more about Romanian culture. It was a wonderful experience to see how well Joel and Andrew have become part of their communities and successful volunteers.


Tuesday, we spent the entire day travelling. Our bus left late because the valley was closed and then it was slow and overcrowded, but that is just par for the course with Romanian transportation. Our bus got into Bucureşti late and we had to run through a downpour to make the last maxi-taxi of the day. We arrived home around 10:30 thoroughly exhausted.