The Edge of the Austro-Hungarian Empire

Last Saturday, after recovering from the stomach flu (thus the gap in blogging). I was finally able to get out and about. I rode the train up to Ghimes, a town that was once a border between the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Moldova, with Julie and Mil. We lucked out and had the first sunny and warm day that we've had in weeks. Ghimes is about a two-hour train ride from my site and is the east side of the Hungarian speaking region of Romania.

The train station and a fruit and veggie stand.

Mil's tutor, Crina, lives in Ghimes and was an amazing tour guide for us. First she took us to a small museum in town. The museum was created by a former school teacher and is two rooms in her home. She has been collecting items from the community to try capture what rural life was like in the past.

There was lots of weaving equipment.

Ornaments from the old school.

A machine used to separate honey from the combs.

Lots of butter churns.

More interesting objects.

Crina then took us back to her house for coffee. She then took us to see more historical sites in town. Below are the ruins of the quarantine site for the town. Crina told us the Catholic priest in town has been working to preserve the site and had recently built structures to try to prevent deterioration.

There are also memorials for community members killed in World War I and II.

The final stop on our tour was the ruins of one of the Austro-Hungarian border watch towers. We climbed the hundred stairs up to the top. I can't imagine what it would have been like to climb these extremely steep and dark stairs at night.

The climb was worth it because the view was beautiful!

The view of the Romanian Orthodox church on one side.

The Catholic church and cemetery on the other side.

Crina told us the above path was one a cannon route. They pulled cannons up to high points on the hills.

We also could see a potato harvest in progress.

We had a great day and look forward to many more adventures this autumn.

Romanian Revamp

Last month, I moved to my site and I have spend the past month trying to make my studio a little more homey. I was lucky enough to have my landlord paint the apartment about a week ago so I thought I would devote this post to a little before and after of my space.

Here are my "before" shots:

Also, as I cleaned I had to combat a few spiders.

Here is my finished product. As is typical in many Romanian apartment, the first thing you see when you open my apartment door is the refrigerator.

Here is my petite kitchen. The table functions as my sole counter-top and dining table!

It's important to have extra liters of water in the bathroom as the water gets turned off in my town with no warning for days at a time. The water works to try to help flush the toilet.

Here are the "after" shots of my repainted and reorganized abode:

The First Day at School, well, sort of...

A Romanian School Crossing Sign

The first of September is supposed to be the first days for teachers to go back to school, but at my school this was not the case. Students who did not pass their end of year tests last year had to re-take tests and this meant that no teachers (except those giving exams) could go into the school. My counterpart and I tried to do an errand at school on Monday and were refused entrance at the gate because we weren't involved in the testing. So the first of September came and went and I did not go to school.

However, today we finally got to go! I was excited at the prospect of meeting other teachers and getting copies of the English textbooks so I can start lesson planning. Today was just a day where teachers could do work if they wished so there was no official schedule. The student schedules have not been made yet, so no teachers know which classes they will be teaching. I was looking forward to meeting the two new English teachers that will also be new in my school this year, but they were not at school today. No one has met these teachers yet as teachers are assigned based on test results, especially my counterpart, who is the head of the language department. While I did not get to meet two of the teachers that I will be sharing classes with; I was able to meet a few of the 100+ teachers in the school. It was nice to meet a few more people in town (now I just need to be able to remember all their names).

Before we left school for the day, my counterpart and I walked over to the building that houses the language classrooms to get copies of the English textbooks for me. A woman ran up to us and stopped us just before we entered to let us know that the whole building had just been fumigated so we could not go in. Thus, I will save getting my books for next week. We can't go to school tomorrow because of more exams. For now, I'll be happy for a three day weekend!