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 :)

another car shot and my classroom...

8/27/06 - here's another shot of my cute, non-radio car...i am a bit bummed that i will probably have to buy my own radio...but i figure i will suck it up and deal and get a good sound system :)okay....blogger won't let me post it...but it shows the car parked on the sidewalk...as that is the way things are done here...

so instead here's a shot of my classroom...i figured i should throw this in here as i spent a great deal of time in it for the past two weeks...my first week of school went well...but i have my work cut out for me with the eighth grade as they all came in the first day saying they hated science...i will just have to winthem over...send good vibes for success...


the final shot is a funny one...as i received it in my mailbox..."nice to eat you"...like in many foreign countries, romanians like to have things in english...its seems "classier" or more "educated"....but it is amazing how many times the english is really NOT what they wanted to say...people walk around with funny things on their clothes and ads on the streets or on menus in restaurants or just wrong...its just a way of life here...i am hoping to get a few pictures like this...they just make you laugh out loud...enjoy :)

Bucharest - apt, car and classroom

8/27/06 - okay...back in bucharest we go...below you see more shots of my apartment...the first is of my bathroom...which is tiny, but functional, especially since i raised a shower curtain...like most european towns, most places in bucharest have tubs and hand held shower heads and NO shower curtains...i was just making a mess with that...so i had to resort to the american way in the bathroom :)

the man who owns the apartment loves the color red...so it is in every room...although i am not really complaining as he supplied everything for me :) although i have been told he is really nervous about having someone he doesn't know from another country living in his flat...oh well...here's another shot of the bathroom...like i said...red...

the shot below shows you my bedroom...you will notice that there are curtains on the windows and pictures on the wall...but every way you turn...NO CLOSETS!!!! so i am still waiting for a wardrobe to hang my stuff in...the school is getting me one as it was promised to me...but it hasn't been delivered yet...hopefully this week...

the funniest thing about the bedroom has to be the sheets the school left me to use before my shipment arrived...they were to fit a child's twin bed...and i have a queen....hahahahaha...also on the sheets are cartoon characters...which at first i thought were penguins...and i thought they were being tricky...but then realized they were really crows and chickens...whatever :)

next up is my car...a VW polo...these are not made in the states...but are similar to a vw golf...i am very glad to have a car...but feel i got the short end of the stick...i am one of the only ones of the new teachers who didn't get a new car...which i am okay with...but i got one of the oldest cars of the fleet...with no power steering...which i can adjust to...the thing i am most cranky about is that i have no radio....grrrrr...but the car works well and gets great gas mileage...

driving here has been a challenge, but i think i am doing just fine...most folks really are good and pay attention to street signs and pedestrians crossing...we all park ON the curbs...but i guess that is pretty normal...the one thing i am not adjusting well to is the amount of impatience people display while driving....mostly men i might add...but they have no idea how to wait for a light patiently....they all move up to the front of the line and block off the lane in the opposite direction...they do that on major roads...passing is a way of life....and man do they speed....i drive quickly...they put me to shame...so i am doing well with the driving...keeping up with most folks and surviving the myraids of round-abouts...thank goodness i lived in jersey :) no more pictures will post...so i'll continue this in the next update....

Brasov - pronounced bra-shov

8/27/06 - hey there all...well i am back...and have just finished a great weekend...although the one weird thing is that yesterday marked my ONE YEAR anniversary for leaving the ice....crazy that only a year has flown by....seems like more time has passed...and i have done so much...and now am in romania....just insane :) i talked with my friend bill over skype in honor of the anniversary...my how time flies :)

anyway...i realized i still have not finished explaining my trip to transylvania, which happened three weeks ago now...people still have not seen my bathroom or bedroom and no one knows what my car looks like....wowowowowow...i am just far behind....so...brasov is the town we stopped for a rainy lunch on the way back to bucharest from transylvania...what a quaint town...even if it was pouring....i was told they had the best hot chocolate on the planet...so of course i was game....

can you say fantastic!!!! it was like drinking liquid chocolate....yummy :) perfect for a rainy day...this town also had a great town square with lots of little shops and restaurants to try....i will definitely be headed back there again... i loved the fountain in the center of town...it was a splash of modern in a european town.... this town is known for its gothic church...you can see it poking out behind the fountain in the shot above...it is referred to as the black church as it was in a fire and parts of it still show the burn marks and such...i didn't make it into the church...so its just another reason to head back to brasov....below is the shot of the front doors of the church.... brasov has also taken its cue from hollywood and has a big brasov sign up on the mountainside looking down on the town...i have been told you can take a tram up to it and take pictures or you can hike up to it or down from it....again...something to save for the next visit :)

okay...i think this now covers my trip to transylvania, the first weekend i lived here...i am just far behind...more in the next update :)

Transylvania part 4

8/17/06 - this should be the last update of bran...as i still need to cover brashov from the trip to transylvania...there is just so much to see and talk about...it seems that woodworking is an artisans trade here and i saw a lot of woodwork...embroidery on tablecloths and such and some lace work too...BUT...i have heard that glasswork is really one of the hugest exports of here...so i am hoping to find some good glass pieces...i'll keep ya posted..here are some funky masks made from wood that were at one of the stalls in the market

in bran...as in places all over romanian...there are many buildings that are in states of disrepair and rejuvenation...in other words there is tons of construction on old, impressive looking place, like this old church in the middle of bran...it seems like folks are doing all of this construction for romania to become a member of the EU in october...it should be interesting to be able to watch that from within this country...

the next shot is of some of the folks i am working with...almost everyone in this shot is from the states...BUT i am also working with canadians, south africans, aussies, kiwis, brits and romanians...its a very interesting group of folks...many of whom have lived a lot of other places overseas...it will be fun to get to know them and hear their stories...and here is the cat that was picked up...in the castle that is...

okay...no more pictures will post concerning bran...so i guess thi is the last one above....i am hoping i get back out to bran and hang for a mellow weekend at some point...as i really enjoyed myself, its only about 5 hours away from bucharest and there is supposed to be great skiing and snowboarding the area...could be a blast...doncha think...hope everyone is well and i'll be back over the weekend with the final update about the trip i took a week and a half ago...talk soon

Transylvania part 3

8/17/06 - back again....with the third installment...not sure how many installments there will be...but this might be the last for bran...depends if i can get all the pictures loaded...below is a shot of the hotel where we stayed in transylvania...doesn't it look like your typical swiss chalet??? let me tell you...we were living the high life :)
and here is the amazing view from the balcony off my room...everyone got their own room for two nights...it was a "get-to-know-you" kind of trip...very relaxing and a beautiful surrounding to relax in...i loved it....the one thing that was a bit difficult to deal with was the food...vegetarian = cheese to romanians...they don't seem to give you anything without cheese if you don't eat meat...its wild...we even had slices of fried cheese for one meal...talk about lump in your stomach...ugh

a lot of the houses in bran were quite exquisite...i really liked them as they reminded me of hamlets in the mountains...plus, most romanians like to garden...so some the gardens we saw were incredible...here is an example of a local house in town...itsn't it beautiful...and an "everyday" romanian lives in this house...they are usually passed down their families forever and ever...

okay...its stopping me again...which means i need one more update here in the blog....sorry about this :)

Transylvania part 2

8/17/06 - okay...i am back...the other really striking thing about the bran castle was an amazing courtyard...from this shot below you can see that it was a gloomy and rainy day...which was kind of appropo...it was dracula's castle for goodness sake :) but this courtyard was amazing...and the well in the center was a perfect accent...a bunch of folks hung out in the courtyard for awhile...and one of the new teachers adopted a stray cat from the castle...which was a bit strange to me...but he and a few others felt it would be fine....to each their own i guess...

there were many cool rooms and secret passages in this castle...this one came from the heated siting and music room...it was stone all the way up and could have been very confining if you got stuck :)there were some amazing light fixtures as well that i really liked...most were metal, but the one below was made out of wood and gave off this soft light...it was in one of the children's rooms...interesting use of an antler...wouldn't you say...

i also spent some time in the town of bran...which was celebrating" bran days"...so there was a little market with some great musical instruments for sale...not sure what they are called...but they were cool looking...the man who made them was sleeping below them...so i didn't wake him up to ask what they were...

okay....another end to posting...another should be up in a sec...ugh...

Transylvania part 1

8/17/06 - hey there folks...back again before the two weeks have passed...there is just too much when you first move to a new country...so i hope you don't mind an extra update or two...first off, thanks to all those who sent e-mails and questions...things overall are going quite well and i am really excited as school starts on MONDAY!!!! bring the kids on i say...i am very tired of meetings....i am adjusting to being in romania, with all of its quirks and differences...but that is for another e-mail at a later date :) now i need to get back to transylvania...which was a week and half ago already...i am celebrating my two week anniversary of being in the country tomorrow....wowowowowowow....so exciting....but i digress...shocking, i know :)

on with the trip to transylvania...here's bran castle...this is commonly heralded as "dracula's castle" and therefore has tons of tourists visiting it all the time....we stayed in bran, so of course we became some of those tourists....but most romanians know that this is NOT dracula's castle and that it really is somewhere else....which i am hoping to visit...but it has been said he slept here...but i guess he "slept" all over the country....

i have to say i really liked this castle...as it felt very "cosy" on the inside...which is very different from most castles...this one had much in the way of dark, warm wooden beams and beautiful stoves in the rooms to help heat them...they were ceramic and you can see them in the picture below...the chest was also quite stunning...this was in the "count's" bedroom...not dracula...but the owner of the castle...who's name escapes me at the moment...but all throughout the castle there were beautiful pictures of the women who lived there and guests from italy and greece...it had such a homey feel...

okay...it seems that blogger is limiting what i post tonight...so i will be back with more in just a sec...

More pictures from poland and romania

8/14/2006 - hey there folks...well...i have decided i will post more pictures on the blog...otherwise, why should i bother to have this and send out e-mail updates...so if you are interested in more pictures than what i normally send...check back here on occasions...i just got back from having a beer with some teacher folks...right around the corner from my place...didn't i say i was in a GREAT location...and as everyone knows, its all about location, location, location...on with the picture show :)
the shot above is from warsaw...and an amazing looking bakery...they had all fresh fruit on their cakes and baked goods...yummy...i just loved this place...and they loved that i took a picture...the cake in the window was about as tall as me....yes, i know...not that tall....hahahahaha

this second picture is also warsaw...it the city wall that separates the "old" town from the "new" town....did i say how much i really enjoyed my stay in warsaw...although more people have told me that krakow puts it to shame...i say, hit them both :)

this last shot of poland is me standing at a pierogie shop...they were everywhere...but i had indian food, which was yummy...i will have to go back to poland for the pierogies alone...they all looked homemade as well...this place was in old town and was way cute :)

back in romania...here's another shot of my kitchen...looking back towards the front door, which you see on the left...as you can tell i have an european sized refrig...a couch in the kitchen, plus some funky red rugs...when you are facing this way, the living room/spare bedroom is to the right and my bedroom and the bathroom are to the left...

okay...i think that is enough for tonight...time for me to head to bed...hope eveyone is well...and remember...feel free to send questions about where i am living and what i am doing...i am hoping to have another update about the trip to transylvania up out soon...otherwise i will just get far behind....and remember...i will be adding extra pictures on the blog...so come check it out when you get the chance...peace out :)

Poland shots and the first of the Romanian pictures

this first shot of me was taken in the warsaw airport...we took this after waiting around for about two hours to get all of our things straightened out...like the trip the next day to bucharest and the hotel we were headed to...and such...this was taken about 2:30pm in the afternoon...so at this point i probably had been traveling almost 24 hours...with NO SLEEP!!!!

this shot is of "old" town warsaw...it was a beautiful, clear night and many folks were out and about shopping and eating and relaxing...i loved the square and had some tasty gelato while walking around it....we walked through about 8 squares like this one...they were great!!!

this is the final shot from warsaw...it the uprising monument...all the little points of lights on the steps are candles....it was stunning to see this at night....as i said below, we were there two days after the anniversary of the uprising....it was incredible....

here's a shot of me the first night i am in bucharest...the new faculty and staff all got together to celebrate everyone making it finally to romania...there are 27 of us...and the woman to my left is catherine, the other middle school science teacher who is new :) we went to a lebanese restaurant that was quite tasty :)

the building you are looking at here is my apartment building...i am on the first floor in the back and actually overlook a garden, which is quite peaceful...unfortunately i don't have a balcony as many here do...but overall i am really liking my space so far....

this is a shot of my furnished living room...this couch actually pulls out into a double bed...for all of the guests planning to come visit :) its the only room with an air conditioner...very nice, doncha think :) okay...i hink that's all the pictures blogger will put up with...more shots of the apartment very soon...hope all is well :)