Buildings of bucharest and my new car

10-22-06
this will be my last update today and next time i will write about my trip this past week to budapest, hungary...i have been on break for a week and it has been really relaxing...but tomorrow its back to work for me...although the kids don't come back til wed...we have two days of professional development....*yawn*.....i hope we have some fun...but we'll see...below are some shots of buildings from around where i live....

this is what many of the communist era buildings look like...although most are just concrete blocks...this one actually has some character....there are entire towns in romania that are communist buildings of concrete that look the same and like a box...ugly!!!!

this is an old style house/set of apartments from romania...many of these were taken down during the time of the dictator...he determined what stayed and what didn't....and in the process there are few beautiful buildings left behind in tact....i have to say i am suprised there are any still standing and those that are, are amazing, but most are falling apart...hopefully this will be something the EU will help bucharest repair with their entry this january....

this is an example of the new construction found going on all over bucharest these days...a combination of modern and old style...although many of the buildings have glitz and glass everywhere....i am a fan of this style above...the glitz and glam can be found anywhere...its an interesting town with all of the construction...very dusty and crowded in places...but hopefully it will bring about a better bucharest for everyone and not just the nouveau riche....

this shot is of my new car....it happened about two weeks ago...my green one you saw previously had to go in for inspection and they gave me this one to drive around...not much bigger, which is fine, BUT much better....as it has a raido and a CD player...i don't have any CDs with me...but i can burn them from my ipod and have started doing this....on the radio stations here they mostly play top 40 from the US and europe...stuff that is bubblegum pop...and of course there is an 80s station...the romanians love their 80s, which i just find funny....i also get BBC...so i am keeping up with the news on ocassions...i am much happier with my driving situation due to having tunes with me...so it makes the traffic seem to fly :) okay...time for me to work on other things...but i feel like i have caught people up to today...next time i will add some info about budapest and my 5 day trip there last week....which rocked!!!! hope all is well....

tismana...the last entry...

10-22-06.....this is the last one for tismana....so here are a few random pictures from the trip...


this is a group of kids i went on a short walk with...they also went bike riding and rock climbing where we camped for the night...it was in this beautiful gorge that we had to cross the river of to get to where we were camping....it was a bunch of fun....except for the all night rave....

here is a shot of me with a building at the village museum...it had a huge iron key in a lock...it was built like a fortress and was incredible inside...it was part of a village museum located outside of tismana....village museums are pretty cool here as they build replicas of houses found in romania in one park and you can visit them all at the same time...we have one here in bucharest, but i haven't made it there yet....its supposed to be pretty amazing :)

here i am with one of brancusi's scultpures...the endless column...it was incredible...but i am not sure my romanian friends would be happy with me playing" with his work...but i think its a funny picture :)


here's the last shot from the trip...its all of my 8th graders on the playground at the hostel we stayed at...people have asked where the kids are from...well..they are from the states (usually embassy kids), romania, england, israel, lebanon, pakistan, south korea, china, belgium, ireland, venezuela, ecuador, italy, portugal, australia, canada, etc....in other words they come from all over...but all of them can speak english...maybe not as their first language....but well enough to get by...overall, its a good group of kids...many of them are a bit spoiled...but they are like kids i have taught elsewhere in so many ways...it should be a fun year...and so far i really like my 8th graders...hope you enjoyed the pictures from the trip...we had a fun time for the five days :)

art in tismana

10-22-06
so it continues....the trip with my 8th grade crew....it was fun overall as we had 37 kids and 6 adults...one of the activities we did i borrowed from my time with 8th grade at overlake...we did some outdoor art....the kids were to use only things found in the area we were working in to create forms of art....earth art...the most famous artist of this media is andy goldsworthy...but i have to say the kids did a great job as well :)

each team combined ideas to come up with a form of art created within nature and from the utilization of nature....the one above was a great use of flower petals and burnt wood...

and how about this creation....don't you love the work of the stones to make two hearts in the stream that went by the hostel we stayed in....

i thought the tic-tac-toe version of sculpture was well done as well...although of course i wondered why the x's won....they didn't really have an answer....

this one was a great use of color by the kids who made it....all from different forms of leaves...i tried to determine if there was a trail of blood at the bottom...and therefore was this a dagger...or could it have been a person...one is never too sure :)

this last one was created mostly by teachers with a bit of help from some kids...i love the spiral....and the use of plants and stone material....this exercise got us pumped up for viewing some of the art from the most famous sculpturer of romania...constantin brancusi....he built four main sculptures for the fallen of WW2 in the area we were visiting....they are spread throughout a park and are incredible...brancusi is a symbol of the romanian spirit to most of the folks who live here...as he made his creations while still under communist rule and he is considered a national hero....

this is one of the four sculptures by brancusi...named the gate of the kiss....there is a lot of romanian symbolism in this gateway....you can see our group of kids thru it... this seems to be the last one i can post at the moment...so i will do a few more from tismana in the next post...

Tismana - the 8th grade fall trip

10-22-06 - here is a map of romania...many folks have been asking to see it in full...so i am showing it to you so you can see where i have been and where i still need to visit...this also shows what the surrounding countries are...i just returned from a five day trip to budapest, hungary and it took about 1 hour to fly there...to give you some sense of direction and time....as you can see from the star, bucharest is the capital of the country...to get to the black sea...constanta to be specific, takes about three hours - the road is pretty good from what i hear...but i haven't been there yet...soon i hope...the town north of bucharest, called brasov is about three hours away and right on the edge of transylvania....i was there for the liquid chocolate stop discussed earlier in this blog...yummy....as for where i went with the 8th graders...we went west (go west young man!) and were about two hours north of the town listed as craiova on the above map...the town were closest to was tismana, where a very famous monastery is loctaed...and tirgu jiu - where the most famous romanian sculpturer is from....brancusi....

this is the very beautiful tismana monastery...it was founded by a monk named nicodim, who lived in a cave above the site where the monastery is built, until it was finished...although it was not this grand back then...he was an interesting guy and was buried in the entryway of the monastery...he actually dug his own grave in anticipation of when he died....bizarre...

this is the original version of the monastery...much smaller than the one that stands on the site now...this is also where all of the nuns who live here are buried when they die...they still live at the monastery and we actually got to see them celebrating a birth in the nearby town...it seemed awfully somber to me...but beautiful to hear their singing anyway :)

we did have one night of camping outdoors with the kids and the next morning, after a huge lack of sleep due to another camping site across the river hosting an all night rave...with horrible romanian techno music i might add (and only five songs overall)...when we were up and about the kids actually made breakfast...pancakes...they were quite good...here are some of the goofballs i spend my days with...oh yeah...the adult is elizabeth...she is making sure they don't set anything on fire with the cooking stoves :) more in the next write up...no more pictures will post....

the road to sinaia....

10-22-06 - in the last update i posted about sinaia...this quaint german-styled mountain town...the road to sinaia was pretty cool as well...i have been on this a few times now, as it is the same road to transylvania where i went my first week in romania...along the road are many farmers selling their goods and tons and tons of honey...which is really tasty...i have tried a few flavors from roadside vendors....yum!!!!


we stopped at two main places along the road...a set of cemetaries...both military and non-military...and where they store oil here in the country...above is a shot of a traditional non-military cemetary...they usually put families in the same plot and have pictures on the graves of the folks buried there....they seem to be more crowded than some of the cemetraies i have been to in the states...but are comparable to ones in new orleans or south america....although the dead are mostly below ground here...not above ground like in those two places....

this grave was for two brothers...so you can see their names and their pictures on the top of the gravestone...also, the graves are partially above the ground...and partially below ground...we stopped by on a sunday and it was busy with folks visiting their relatives...very interesting...

across the road from the non-military cemetary was a military cemetary from world war 2...one that was romanian...that is the one above...for the fallen soldiers....all of the headstones were the same...and there was a tall monument in the middle....most of the fallen men were about 20-24...but i guess that is the way of war...

next to the romanian cemetary was a russian military cemetary...where there were no dates...only names in russian...the two military cemetaries seemed to be about the same size and were very similar to war cemetaries i have seen elsewhere...including the states...it was interesting to stop by the side of the road and see this aspect of romanian history...

the other thing we stopped and took pictures of was the oil containers closer to bucharest...they look like nuclear power plants and a friend of mine in the states did tell me that romania has one nuclear reactor, but it is not really close to bucharest...i know this isn't it anyway...its the place where oil comes in and is processed before it gets used by the city and others surrounding it...

here's a shot of me with the oil pipeline...it reminded me, on a smaller scale, of the one i took a picture with this summer up in alaska...it was smaller, but just as important to this region....its wild to see the stacks on your way to the mountains or coming back in from them...but at the same time its good to know where your fuel supply comes from....in the next installment the trip to tismana with the kids...finally...

Sinaia...a weekend stop

10-22-06 - hey there folks...i am back and on my last day of my break...i have decided i need to catch up with the blog as i am forever behind now...i never did post any pictures from Sinaia...a weekend trip i took with my friend catherine...we went up there before we went away with our respective grades for the week...so this is over a month ago now...ugh...

we didn't really make any plans before we went on this excursion...and unfortunately there were very few places to stay that had room when we got there...so we ended up staying in a 4 star hotel...the rowa dany hotel...very swanky....and a bit pricey for romania....but it was nice...above is a shot of the place we stayed....

sinaia is this great mountain town - located in the bucegi mountains...i have been told its a good, close place to go skiing in the winter...i am hoping to get there to learn to snowboard...at least once...its about a three hour drive from bucharest....the restaurant above was one of our favorites called casa noastra...which means "our house" in romanian...it was all wood and had very tasty food and beer....the beer here is quite good...we have a few local brews - ursus, cuoic, tubor, and then of course we have some german, belgian and dutch beers as well...yummy....

this is a shot out the back of our room...some other things that sinaia is known for is a gondola ride up the mountain...we didn't get a chance to do this....a beautiful monastery...we didn't make it to that either....a really authetic romanian restaurant up in the hills...we did make it to that, and they had the greatest roasted peppers....and an impressive spread for folks who eat meat, like our friends millie and ed who we met up with in sinaia...and a fantastic castle...which we also made it to...

here's a shot of me and peles castle on a stunning day....it is located up in the hills and as castles go, its quite amazing...very german in feel outside...and tons of armour, wood and iron inside....but it actually seems cozy while you are walking around...its not hugely opulent and i could see myself living there......hahahahahaha....right...its a castle...i am just kidding ;)

this is the interior courtyard of the castle...we were not allowed to take pictures inside...but the outside was incredible and as you can see it was a fantastic day weather-wise....the interior courtyard was full of painted on frescos....and had a completely german feel....it was outstanding and catherine and i were really happy we stopped...blogger is not letting me post more...so i will close this one and open the next :) overall, sinaia was a quaint, close town that i am hoping to get back to in the near future...even just for a weekend out of the city...more coming

pictures from bucharest

10/2/06 - here are some more shots from the city i live in...the first is of the romanian version of the arc de triumph...here is is called the arcul de triumf....it is actually bigger than the french version and that is because of the dictator who was in power here until 1989...so not that long ago...he wanted parts of the city to be beautiful...but only with what he considered to be beautiful...so many of the old traditional romanian buildings were torn down during his rule so he could build buildings that look like ones from elsewhere...he was a pretty evil guy...but many dictators are i guess...his name is Ceausescu (pronounced chai-chess-cu)...i am sure i will bring him up every now and again...as this is a fresh wound for most romanians over the age of 15 years old...anyway, enjoy the arcul...

some folks have been asking about the religion of romania...the majority of folks who live here are eastern orthodox christian...and boy do they celebrate when there is a wedding or birth...they are really big into fireworks for those celebrations...which can be good or bad...depending on if you are trying to sleep and its three in the morning or you are out for a walk and catch some cool show of fireworks...anyway...here is a shot of a traditional orthodox church that is located around the corner from my apt...beautiful...doncha think :)

and now for some shots from piata unirri...the street with all of the fountains...here's me with the fountains...someone described this as a stern picture...not what i was going for...but such is life :) this street is really busy and a HUGE round-about with the fountains along the inside...most of bucharest is made up of round-abouts to drive on....jersey was great practice for this...although jersey drivers are MUCH better than bucharesti drivers...shocking, but true...

here is another shot of the cool street...the fountains and the ads and the buildings surrounding it all...its quite a busy place...but i really like it :)

...its just such a nice touch...okay...that's all that seems to want to post in the way of pictures...so i will need to continue this at a later date...as i am tired and am going to crash...hope you enjoyed this installment...have a good one :)

Glass, glass and more glass

10/2/06 - hey there all...continuing from where i left off last night...we are back in the town of ploiesti...where we went to the blass blowing factory....and here are some more cool pictures...

here's a shot of some of the DUSTY pieces we were looking thru in the warehouse...and this is where we were buying the glass from...how funny...these are examples of oil candles...they are just missing the wick and oil and have lots of dust....

this is Gigi...he's a typical romanian...he drove me and the three other women to the glass factory, mostly because he knew where he was going and made the appointment...plus, he has a car and needs to earn money to keep it...so he's a full time driver for some of the teachers at school...he's a great guy and really helpful...like when you don't know what a word is for a specific thing from the grocery store or where to buy something...he's playing with a dusty piece of glass from the warehouse....i think he was a bit bored while we all were shopping...but he didn't complain...

aren't these guys cute...they are cartoon characters made from glass by the main artist...i guess he was trying to say that there was something phallic about them as well...but we didn't get the joke because our romanian was soooo bad...oh well...i thought they were cute...

i loved this gazebo of glass...these i guess had been hanging here for quite a while...but it made such a nice pictures...on the left side...the white stuff behind the gazebo is all broken glass...not sure if its from when they were blowing the glass or if it from pieces of glass that broke at some point...the pile of it was HUGE!!!!

okay..that's it in the way of glass shots...more shots from my romanian experience coming up :)

Happy October

10/1/06 - hey there all...i have fallen behind yet again...imagine...i haven't actually updated the blog since the pictures of the school...so i will be adding some glass blowing pictures here from ploiesti - which is pronounced - ploy-eschte - when you have the "ti" they get pronounced schte and you can't really hear the "i"...kind of like bucheresti - for bucharest....its pronounced buchereschte....sounds like i have actually learned something from my romanian lessons...which is kind of correct....i know my numbers and days of the week and colors and i can sort of tell time...and now we are learning fruits and veggies...which is great for shopping....anyway...here are some of the shots from the past few weeks....

this is where we went for glass buying and watching guys blow glass...it was such an interesting place...as the warehouse was DUSTY...and that's where we were shopping from....we were the only ones there...which makes me wonder if they only do large orders...not really sure....

this was some of the cool heavy, red glass....it was sitting on the floor and i really liked the way the sunlight was on the vases...and don't you just love the sperms up the sides of the vases...there were lots of these...this takes a good shot i think :)

here is one of the 6 guys blowing glass...he was the only one wearing long sleeves...most of them had a tank or no shirt on...and all of them were in sandals...i guess they have been doing this for a long time and are sure of their skill...and none of them had goggles...none of the precautions you see at glass blowing places in the states seemed to be in place....it was interesting...i watched them for about ten minutes and the folks selling the glass thought this was quite weird....didn't i want to buy glass and not watch the workers...oh well...different strokes for different folks...okay....blogger just doesn't want to post anymore...and i need to hit bed...i will post more soon...when i have some extra time...hope everyone is well :)