Sunday, September 18, 2011

Summer Recap Three

Day Trip to Iasi:

In Early August, Marta and I decided to visit Iasi, which we had been told was the “Crown Jewel” of Moldavia. To summarize, we were a little disappointed with what we found. Iasi is mainly a university city and while we impressed by the beautiful buildings and the number of college-age Romanians we saw, we were disappointed by the promised cultural aspects of the city. Both the famous intricately carved Three Hierarchs Orthodox Church and the Cultural Palace were under construction. We also ventured to the Great Synagogue of Iasi, which the travel guide described as a “sad misnomer.” We returned to Comanesti hours earlier than expected.

Arts Camp in Palanca:

The next week, Marta, three other volunteers and I participated in an arts camp in Mil’s former site of Palanca, about 40 kilometers up the valley from me. We had a wonderful week teaching kids crafts (Marta), theater (Tessy and Candice), and music (me and Ben). We all stayed with gazdas (hosts) for the week and were extremely well fed. We had a few excursions into the hills surrounding the small village and had a presentation at the end of the week for the parents and townspeople. The kids really enjoyed the camp and it was very gratifying to see the fun they were having.

Peace Corps Conference in Sinaia:
The last week of August I spent in Sinaia, a mountain tourist town near Brasov. It is a popular ski destination in winter and home to Peles Castle, which I visited last summer with my counterparts during my site visit. It was nice to spend time with the other volunteers and I got to meet the volunteers from the new group, which will be the last group of Peace Corps Romania, since the post is closing in 2013.

Summer Recap Two

Lara Visits Romania:
One thing that made returning to Romania from my amazing trip to London more bearable was the fact that Lara was coming to visit the next day! We had two wonderful weeks of relaxing in Comanesti and touring some Romanian hot spots. It was so great seeing someone from home and sharing Romania with Lara.

Sighisoara:

We spent a rainy 4th of July at the birthplace of Vlad Tepes (Dracula). Sighisoara is based in Transylvania around an old German citadel on a hill with a gorgeous clock-tower and a few of its old guild towers.

Bran:

The next day we ventured to Brasov and after a few buses and lots of questions and help from a couple old bunicas, we made it to Castelul Bran, the medieval castle that Bram Stoker’s Dracula Castle is based on. Although Vlad Tepes was never actually in Bran, the castle still has a lot of significance in Romanian history.

Constanta:

Lara and I also spent a few days in Constanta, Romania’s main port on the Black Sea. There is another volunteer, Stephani, who lives in Constanta and was kind enough to let us stay at her apartment so we could enjoy the beaches and relax for a few days. There is more diversity in Constanta than in a lot of the country due to its proximity to Turkey and the East.

Summer Recap One

Time here is slippery. It bends and warps in such a way that I can’t grasp it solidly. This is my attempt at a poetic apology for not updating about my truly exciting and absurdly busy summer.

London: I spent six days in London to kick of my summer. Jessica, Jocelyn and I were able to pack in almost every tourist spot imaginable into our trip and still have time to attend the Glee concert on Saturday. It was wonderful to be in a place with so much history and such diversity! I was so excited to speak English and eat Indian food. Traveling to common tourist destinations as a Peace Corps volunteer is interesting because there is such of juxtaposition of wanting to visit regular tourist attractions and experience first world comforts.

Trip highlights:
Westminster Abbey.

I loved the combination of beautiful architecture, religious reverence and deeply rooted history that Westminster Abbey instills in its visitors. Being able to tour the church at your own pace with a head set allowed me to focus on the aspects (history) that interested me most. My favorite place in the Abbey was Poet’s Corner where Shakespeare and many other great authors and composers are buried.

Globe Theater:

I have a great appreciation for Shakespeare’s timeless stories. Touring the Globe Theater offered a magnifying glass to Shakespeare’s London and the Elizabethan period his plays embody. Our tour guide provided many interesting details and seeing the intricately replicated theater house was wonderful.

Tower of London:

Jocelyn and I were lucky enough to have a tour with the Tower’s first and only female Beefeater. She was extremely knowledgeable and hilarious. Of course, the Crown Jewels were breathtaking, and the monument to the executioner’s block and church where Anne Boleyn was beheaded and buried was particularly interesting.

St. James’s Park and Soho Square:

After a busy week and even busier Saturday, Jessica and I spent a relaxing Sunday and a few different parks. St. James’s Park is beautiful and situated centrally between Buckingham Palace and St. James’s Palace, where Prince Charles and family live. Soho Square was possibly my favorite place in London. There was such an eclectic range of people just sitting and chatting on a Sunday afternoon. It was a great place for relaxing and people watching.

Cultural Differences and Worry

I’ve lived truly alone for over a year now. I still don’t think of myself as an adult. But when I see myself through others’ eyes, I sometimes catch a glimpse of my reflection and am surprised by what I see. Yesterday I spent the day in Onesti and took a mid-afternoon train home. My behavior on public transportation has become almost a ritual these past sixteen months. Don’t make eye contact, watch my baggage and try not to look too American. I mind my own business and try not to draw attention to the fact that I don’t have a complete grasp of the language here. For the most part, I can travel around with relative ease and few incidents.

Yesterday, however, was another story. As chose my seat in the train car yesterday, I began my ritual like usual, putting my bag in the seat across from, my purse at my side and opened up my book. Across the aisle, a girl a few years younger than me sat down and a middle-aged man sat in the seat across from her. I couldn’t tell if they knew each other or not.

As the train pulled away from the station it became apparent that they did not know each other. The man started a conversation with the girl and the girl politely answered his question. As our train moved slowly up my little valley, the man invaded more and more of the girl’s personal space; finally moving to sit on the bench next to her, uncomfortably close. I watched out of the corner of my eye as the man continued pressing closer and the girl said please move and cowered toward the window. No one else in the train car seemed to notice anything out of the ordinary.

When I saw the man’s hand go up the girl’s skirt, I knew I had to act. I stood and turned the man by the shoulder, said excuse me and waved the girl to the seat across from me. The girl, looking greatly relieved, took a book from me and we resolutely ignored the man as he tried to engage both of us in conversation. After a minute he left the car and I introduced myself to the girl as an American volunteer and English teacher. Her English was very good and we chatted until the man came back and tried to figure out what language we were speaking. He tried to sit next to me and I said no loudly and moved so there was not enough room. After that he left the car for good.

All this time, no one else in the packed train car did anything to acknowledge that the girl had been harassed or that I had stepped in. The girl was extremely grateful and I’m very glad to have met her. I hope if she finds herself in a similar situation again she has the courage to stop it and remove herself from it. The whole incident left a bad taste in my mouth and makes me worry about how common an occurrence this is, if no one else was willing to step in.