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 :)

School - final part

9/16/06 - we were last in the atrium of the achool...otherwise known as the front entrance...here is a shot of the famous slide of the school...i have been down it a few tmes so far and am still planning on using it for when we start studying physics...could be fun...

the next shots are taken from the central park region of the school and are outside views of the other buildings...the first is the early childhood wing...the weirdest part of this section is that the playground is covered in gravel...isn't that strange...there have been some throwing incidents and some injuries...its just a romanian thing i guess...i think its a bit bizarre...

the next building is the elementary school...it houses grades k-5...and then the 6th graders are in middle school...the elementary school is big this year, with almost four sections of every grade...us secondary teachers hardly ever see the elementary teachers around campus as they, as well as we, are so very busy...i like the faculty of the elementary and make it a point to hang with the cool folks when i can....it just takes some effort...which i have been nicknamed "julie mccoy" for...gotta love that...i always seem to end up as the social director....hahahahahaha

this final set of buildings is the secondary school gym....its a great facility for sports here...one of the best in bucharest...and the gym and weight room and cardio room are no exception...i am hoping to get over to use them in the coming months...we'll see what happens...i have been taking yoga in the dance studio with one of the other teachers...and that has been great when i have made it :)

i think this is a good view of the school overall...the next installment of the blog should be about a trip i took to a glass factory about 1 hour north of bucharest - ploiesti (pronounced ploy-escht)and a weekend trip i took to a place about three hours from bucharest - sinaia (pronounced si-ny-ya)...until then...have a good one...

School pt 3

9/16/06 - on with the school slide show...kind of....next up is the interior of the cafeteria...there are four hot lines for food....a line in the back with sandwiches...although i have never seen such tiny sandwiches....and a place to buy ice cream and junkfood...most kids buy lunch from school and for the most part its not that bad...although romanians have a hard time understanding why people are vegetarians...we do have a salad bar everyday...and most of the time its great...sometimes there are foods on there i don't know...but for the most part its green salad, macaroni salad, potato salad, white bean paste salad, called fasole - its really good and a puree eggplant salad...called venite...also quite tatsy...overall the food is good and we usually have fruit for dessert...and its FREE...so you can't beat the price...i have been told the food gets a bit bland in the winter, just like most things here...i'll keep ya posted on that one :)

down the hall from the cafeteria is the library and then the theater...i haven't gotten a good shot of the theater....soon...here's the library though

after the library and theater you come to the atrium region, which is the interior of the front of the school...a beautiful area that has all of the flags representing the nationalities of the students, parents and faculty who are part of our community...

i was told that the pillars of the atrium were white until last year when a teacher rebelled and painted one purple to give the room some color....that was not a good choice of color i guess...but now the pillars arre orangish...which is more colorful than white...i guess it was a compromise :)

in the atrium is where you will find the slide and the atm...its the entrance...what do you expect :)

part four up next :)

School pt 2

9/16/06 - hey there all...well, i am back from traveling with 8th graders for the week...and there are so many stories to tell from that...but i just keep getting farther and farther behind...so i figured i would get the school pictures taken care of...then my trip for the night to sinaia and then the trip with the 8th graders to the tismana region...which is beautiful i might add...but on with the show of school....
this is the back of the school and where i enter everyday after parking my car...you have already seen the classroom...below is a shot of the hallway off my classroom...there are six classrooms on the hallway...and then you turn the corner to the front half of the building....there are matching classrooms on the opposite hallway and on the second floor above me...

from the hallway we turn right and into the front lobby with the fish tanks...such fun to stare at when you need that minute or two away from school :)

i loved taking the next shot...its of the stairwell that leads to the second and third floors of the building...what you should notice is that the inside of the school is VERY sterile...i am hoping we can change some of that this year...add some pictures and artwork and murals...it would make it more homie...but the stairwells are white...and sterile for the moment....

then of course i need to show you some other buildings than the secondary...as there are quite a few around central park...this is the covered area off the cafeteria where i go outside for lunch...i have eaten inside only one day so far...but there is a threat of rain this week....we'll see what happens...its usually really loud inside and i like being outside with the wind and sun :)

part three up next...

School pt 1

9/8/06 - hey there all...sorry its been a long time since i last updated...but life has gotten quite busy at the moment with school and life....next week i head out into the "wilds" of western romania with the 8th grade....its a week long outdoor ed trip...but we really only are in the outdoors for one evening...but it should be a blast anyway...i am sure i will have some stories...so things here are motoring along...i am still alive after more than a month with these crazy drivers...but now that i am about to start my fourth week with the kiddies...i am finally getting around to talk about the school...i have realized i don't have a shot of the front of the school...i never go in that way as my classroom is in the back...so i will get one of those shots one of these days...but the shot below is of the secondary building...where you can usually find me...

the first floor is where the middle schoolers (6-8) can generally be found and the second floor is for the upper schoolers (9-12) and then there is a third floor art room which is a great room with horrible acoustics....we had many meetings before the beginning of school up there...but its a great room none-the-less...my classroom is the right back corner...and you can't see it in the picture above...but below is a shot of my room from the outside :)

doncha love the little porch like thingy off my side door...the kids and i have used it many a time...especially in the most recent lab i am running...we are exploring how much the kids know about the metric system and how to measure everyday things with it...one of the things they have to measure to is the gazebo, which is located in the center of the school grounds...it is surrounded by all of the parts of the school and if we have a school wide meeting or event and its not raining, we meet out there...

the head of the school is from NYC and so this central portion between all of the buildings is referred to as central park...its a beautiful spot...lemme tell you...do you notice the weather in the pictures??? it has been like this for most days...we had a few cold days in a row, but they lasted only for a few days...my teaching partner has decided that romania has some of the most amazing clouds in the world...i'll see if i can get some shots of them....okay...more pictures will follow...blogger has had enough with this update :)