Trip to the States (2)

3/8/07 - hey there all...well it has been an entire month since i added anything to my blog...sorry about that, but i have been uninspired to be on-line...most days i am tired from work and just come home and crash...unfortunately ignoring family and friends who do not live here...which is many of YOU!!!! so i apologize and have decided tonight i will at least finish the x-mas trip to the states...and the next update will be shots from the feb. break trip i took to poland and the czech republic...and if you haven't been there...you MUST go...wowowowow...two very interesting and beautiful places...i have decided the more i visit in this world, the more i want to visit and go back too...its a never ending viscious cycle i think...just like there are too many books, too many movies, too many people to meet in this world...i KNOW there are too many wonderful places to visit....i am off to another next week...turkey...and this time its for work...but enough with the babble...back to the states we go....

this first shot is of my grandmother, my mom and my grandmother's doll...she doesn't go anywhere without it...this is a pretty amazing woman in my opinion....she will be 97 this month...and she doesn't remember my mom or myself, but she is comfortable and happy...especially when taking care of her baby :) it was good to see her againand i wish her a happy early birthday xoxoxoxo

next up is my friend neal and i after a tasty meal at one of our favorite pizza joints...although it wasn't at our FAVORITE pizza place...but this one did the trick...neal is now living in the pacific northwest...which has been great for him....even though the weather there this year has been pretty crazy....

the group of women above all met through one place....Residential Living Options....every one in this picture works there currently or has worked there in the past...including me...its a great place that finds housing for folks who are mentally hanicapped and helps them live and support themselves...very impressive...i promised kate that she would be on the blog...sorry it took me so long, but here ya go :)

next up is the italian connection....natalie and bill and my parents eat at the same italian restaurant every few months...its always un-nerving going with them as they don't even need the menus anymore to know what they will have :) it's always great to get to see them when i am in town....

new jersey is in the house for the shot above and the one below...these are folks who i worked with when i taught there...and now all of these kids go there :) my last year at the school the eldest, carly, was born :) so long ago...this is john and his three kids - carly, timmy and emily, plus the grandmaster of music, richie...one of the quirkiest and coolest people i know :) don't you love the bass...whatever :)

this is the old teaching crew...its been over ten years since i worked there and so much has changed...but not the super coolness of the people i still keep in touch with...here you have richie and sue, suzanne and john and brook and me :) it was wonderful to get together and hang and eat good food...thanks sue :)

here's another jersey connection...although that's not where this friendship started...at this point i have known tim for almost 20 years...we wondered when we met at college if we know each other in ten years...i guess the answer is yes...here is tim-o-tay-o and his two adorable boys - max and josh...too cute....

tim's wife abby, and abby sister and brother-in-law - fern & michael have been added to this picture...we went to this amazing vegan restaurant for a brunch in THE city - NYC...it was a terrific place...very interesting food choices...and of course it was wonderful to catch up with everyone too :)
of course i couldn't be in PA and not see my friend shannon...we have known each other since we lived next door to each other while growing up...we got to catch up and talk about the wedding she had in october to joel...i wish i could've been there...sounds like it was an awesome party :) we did the diner thing per normal and it was great catching up....

another group who always tries to get together when i am in town are the whale house sistahs...we are a group of women who had a beach house together in avalon, nj in 1993...now members of the sistahs are married and have kids...but of course we all try to make time for each other over the holidays...we spent a fun afternoon/evening hanging out, catching up and laughing a lot...it was a terrific time...can't wait to do it again gals :)

this last group of friends is one that was formed over a night school class of volleyball...you should see me spike ;) hahahaha...but georgi, joan, kenny and i all got together for a yummy lunch and catch up session...it was great to see them, even if it was for a short period of time :)

these last three shots are from x-mas dinner...yes...we open crackers at dinner...hence the crowns on everyone's heads....too fun and they make a loud noise...this shot above is of my aunt meg and her partner ted, who suprised everyone by coming to PA over the holidays from china...i am hoping to see him when i am in shanghai this summer...we'll have to wait and see...

this is a shot of me and my aunt meg, who is my godmother...we had a fun time catching up and reliving some of her visit to bucharest two weeks prior...only thing is, we are both really pale...boy to we need some color...ugh...but of course we are still cute :)

and last but not least is a shot of my family...my dad, my mom, my bro and my bro's dog gunther...it was good to get everyone together and this probably won't happen again until next xmas...but i will get to see my folks in italy next month...very exciting :)

okay...that takes care of my shots from my xmas trip...i will be trying to update my poland and czech pictures before i leave for turkey next week...because things will just continue to pile up and then it will be summer and i will be away....its a never ending cycle...thanks for being patient...hope all is well :)

The Trip to the States (1)

2/6/07 - check it out...two nights in a row...what the heck is going on....i decided i need to catch up before i go away again...which is happening in less than two weeks...and i promised some folks they would make the blog...so here goes....my trip back to the states was just under three weeks and it was awesome...the family, the friends, the food, the driving, even the weather...it was just a wonderful, relaxing time where i did NOT think about work once...yahoo!!! it was nice to be in a place where there aren't tons of stray dogs, or garbage blowing everywhere...where i knew where to find anything i wanted in a grocery store, and if there was something i couldn't find, i was confident i could ask for it and the saleperson would understand what i was looking for...it was just good to be back....but of course there were things that reminded me that its not really where i should be living....the biggest being geroge w. in my face on every channel...i don't get that here in romania...and that's a great thing....but here are picture of some of the folks i visited with...thanks to all who met me for food or drinks or gave me a place to stay and hang...and thanks for all the new stories :) these pictures are not in any kind of order...hope you don't mind

this first shot is of my good friends belkys and luis...the DAY BEFORE belkys gave birth to their first child - mikaela...a very cute little girl....and these are her proud parents...good friends of mine who i lived in ecuador with....congrats to them and their entire family :) (send pictures when you have them of that cute girl of yours :) it was great to have the "group home" crew together again :)

this shot is of my mom and her card group...most of these awesome women i have known all my life...they are like my alternate moms :) we got together for the christmas gift exchange, and they all brought their favorite cookies to make...yummy!!! such great women :)

this shot is of sarah, dan, betsy and myself...sarah is a good frined of mine from seattle...who teachs in boston and her folks live in PA...so we try to get together at least once when we are in the same general vicinity :) i joined them for some tasty take-out...such a wonderful family :)

this shot is of me and my good friend dan from the south pole...we met there and found out we lived only 40 minutes from each other when we were growing up....dan is in seattle these days, but still goes home to PA for the holiday...lucky for me...we hung out for an afternoon catching up....what a wonderful time :)
here is a shot of dan, lisa and matty...good friends of mine from volleyball a long, long time ago...there is a member of the family missing...josie...she's getting bounced in her bouncy chair down below the level of the picture...i hope she forgives me for not getting her with the rest of the family...but i swear she is there...they had me over for a tasty dinner and hanging out time :)
here's a shot of my good friend greg and his super cool girlfriend jess, who i was meeting for the first time...we had a great breakfast hanging out and catching up...it was a bunch of fun :)

i had two nights of make-shift high school reunions...it was a blast...and this year is actually my 20th year of graduating from high school...i think this is kind of cool...but i don't feel like its been 20 years...but i have done a lot since that time a long time ago :)

here are some cool folks i hung out with all the time about 20 years ago :) there is shannon, heidi and tim...it was a blast getting everyone together with wives, husbands and financees and such fun to see where folks have gone and where they are headed....it was a just a bunch of fun :)

some other folks who came along for the great valley ride, but were not in high school with me were my friends above...my friend lane - far left - is someone i know from the ice...nice guy who lives/grew up about 30 minutes from where i grew up...this man brought me salt water taffy...yummy....and then my friends joan and kenny....met these folks a few years ago and we have lots of fun everytime we hang :) so glad these three could make out with my high school friends and i one night...it was a good time had by all...

next up are my good friends jen and tracy from science explorer days :) as you can see tracy was pregnant and looking great...she has now had another little boy...this makes her third...so cute...and jen is in the process of figuring out her wedding and the science explorer [part of her life...she owns the company...it was a delicious lunch with the two of them...out in the middle of amish country...rock on science explorer gals....

this is me and my good friend kelley...a friend from my boston days...she actually was in the PA area so we met one afternoon for lunch...it was great to see her and catch up and wish her congratulations in person for her exciting new job :) yahoo!!! let's hear it for the bad sistahs...

this last shot for this post is my good friend lea...aka pinky...i was in NYC with her for a rockin' new years eve...she has become one of the most incredible hula-hoopers in all of NY...she is a burlesque dancer and is amazing on stage...such fun presence...i am so glad i got to see her dance and wouldn't have wanted to be anywhere else for new years...thanks pinky...love ya :) i will try and finish up this visit in my next post...but its late and i need to crash...hope you enjoyed seeing my friends and hearing their stories for yourselves....til the next post :)

Romanian Adventures with Wendy - part 2

2/5/07 - hey there all..well...i haven't been doing too well with this and never really finished up from when wendy was in town...so i'll try and do that tonight...although its getting late and i need to go to bed soon...life here in bucharest has been busy...grades were due today and of course that took up some time...plus, i have been getting out and experiencing lots of nightlife...i know some of you are saying what's new about that...but i am really trying to get out even when i have had a cruddy in traffic...its been going well so far...i have been to three new, cool places in the past few weeks...two restuarants and a fun bar :) so life is going okay at the moment and my friend jennifer gets here this weekend...which means another trip is just around the corner...poland and czech republic here i come....anyway...here are some of the shots from the rest of the trip i took with wendy...sorry they took me so freakin long to post....

this first shot is from a great town called sighisoara (pronounced ziggy-shwara)....its the birthplace of vlad tepes...aka dracula....very quaint place...and we stayed in this really cute pensione...there wasn't much room in this room...but the dresser shows you how it was decorated...it was really a nice place....both wendy and i enjoyed...here she is acting as vanna...

this is the town square in the tiny town of sighisoara....cute huh...just like i said...we stayed in the light blue building...on the top floor...so we had a slanted roof over our heads and the clock tower out the window...it was quite warm, so we tried keeping the window open...but the clock kept chiming every 15 minutes....even after having a fun night of drinking, it was still a pain....but overall the place was quaint and i am hoping to get back there....

as i typed above...this town is the birthplace of vlad tepes...also known as "vlad the impaler" or dracula...and here is bust of him with the main church of the town in the background...i am not really sure just what his history is here other than being born and growing up...but i am hoping to read up more on this guy sometime in the near future while i am still living here...

this next shot is of wendy and i outside of dracula's tavern...also the birthplace of the man, the myth, the legend...when we got inside, friends of mine from bucharest where sitting there having drinks and a snack...so of course we joined them...it turned into a great night with romanian music involved a bit later...it was a great place....

one of the reasons the night was so much fun, was because before we got to dracula's tavern we stopped at Teo's place...Teo's is about 85 years old and has a fake eye...a cool guy who only speaks french and romanian and makes his own palinca...which is the national drink of romania...its twice distilled fruit-ish brandy...its just like fire water let me tell you...and when you stop in to see Teo he keeps giving you shots...it was a bit crazy...but also a bunch of fun...here you see us after we have had a few shots and have purchased some palinca for the folks back home...yummy :)

on the way to the next town we were staying in we stopped off in bran...where dracula's castle is located...do you sense a theme to this trip??? maybe its the romanian theme :) anyway...in the town of bran we saw this cool guy selling pork fat, cheese and homemade palinca...don't you just love his hat...lots of men wear them here and women seem to wear similar ones, but theirs are generally made from fur of some sort....

while in bran we had this tasty hungarian pastry...this is a bread roll...which is twisted around a metal pole sort of thingy and they coated in a small bit of butter, brown sugar and whatever toppings you want besides...we got sesame seeds....YUMMY!!!! they were fun to watch make...and i even kind of ordered in romanian...not well...but kind of :)

here's wendy getting ready to take a huge bite of the hungarian pastry with the bran castle in the background...don't you love the foggy look even though its sunny...bran was quite crowded so we didn't stay long...but it was a quick trip with a tour of the castle and tasty pastry....

here's a shot of the last town we stayed at while wendy was here...its called brasov and is known for its really good hot chocolate...and unfortunately the place with the good chocolate was closed for renovations...ugh...what a pain...but this is the cute town square and seen from our room's window...we couldn't have asked for a better spot...

this shot is of wendy fooling around in our shower/tub....hahahahaha....she doesn't know this is here...gotta love that...but this is a typical set up for a romanian bathroom...a shower with a tub...and no shower curtain...its hard to get used to this and when you first use them you tend to make a big mess of the walls and floor...i am not sure how the europeans do it...i need the curtain...maybe i just make a mess too much...anyway...i love this picture....hope you do too :)

this last shot in brasov is on the pedestrian walkway...its a great place to walk up and down and people watch...unfortunately bucharest does not have one of these...they really need to get one...i think it woiould make all the difference in the world...we had a fun time exploring brasov and the other places together...wendy was a wonderful visitor, and if you know her, you'll have to ask her what she thought :)

this last shot is of wendy and i...we hadn't seen each other for more than a year...but this is one of those friendships that picks up where it just left off...the two ice girls had a blast and i hoped you enjoyed our adventures....the next posting should be from my visit back to the states over the holiday...its been a bit of time since i was there...but i promised some folks they would make the blog...hopefully that post will happen sooner rather than later...hope all is well...

romanian adventures with wendy - pt 1

1/21/07 - hey there folks...dani here...again...i am actually posting before two months passes...yahoo...i have realized as i sit here on a sunday that romania has truly entered the EU in noticeable ways...we have some more different groceries to choose from...there seems to be less crazy drivers for fear of the added police and new rules...flags are waving from many cars, taxis and buses - EU ones that is...and yet, prices haven't really changed and not much is visible as a change....so who really knows what is going on and where this country is headed :) but it will be interesting to watch over the next year or so i think....i'll keep ya posted.....anyway...i have explored more of this country since october, although i haven't posted those pictures...so i thought i would do that now....the pictures below are from when my good friend wendy was here visting for two weeks....romania was a stop on her tour around the world after being on ice for a year....sounds familiar doesn't it :) we seem to have lived similar lives a year apart....bummer we couldn't do it together....anyway...here are some of our romanian adventures together...enjoy :)

here is a shot of the black sea...we went there for a weekend...but it was off season...and in a huge way...there really wasn't much happening in constanta....i have been told its a rockin place in the summer...especially one town up...mamaia...but this place was shut tight for the winter....there are about 80 resorts in the area and all but 3 were closed...its worse than the jersey shore on the off season :)

here's a shot of me with the surf breakers along the sea...i guess they have done some research into what is the best shape and size for saving the beach and lessening the impact a body of water can have on land and this won...i kept thinking it would be cool if i had a huge bouncy ball and started playing jacks :) gotta love it....

in my opinion, this was one of the coolest buildings in constanta....as this is the casino that overlooks the water...but of course it was closed...well, actually the front door was open, but you could tell no business was happening....it was pretty freaky inside...dusty and dank are two words that spring to mind :)

this is the beautiful inside of an orthodox church in romania...it is a very old one that has been restored and is located in mamaia on the shore of a lake....in the picture the front section of the church is all wood with all of the idols/saints...wendy went to the peasant museum here in bucharest and was amazed by all of the idols/saints in romanian history and they are definitely seen in their churches...they are beautiful places generally, but have no seats...which i imagine is hard to deal with at a four hour sunday morning service, which is what they have...i am hoping to someday make one...i'll keep ya posted on that....i hope to get back to constanta when its season...but i am hoping i don't get freaked out by all of the crowds...

here's wendy having a leffe blonde...yummy beer from belgian...i have come to really appreciate those monks there and their ability to make some tasty beer....this was when we were having dinner in sibiu...after a long and twisty ride to get there...sibiu has been chosen as the european cultural capital for 2007...not really sure how it got that title...and it is a cute place...but i think i might have chosen a different town in romania...a lot of it was under construction, getting ready for 2007 we were told....

Sibiu is quite quaint though....here is a picture of one of its three town squares...the houses are really cute and many of them have curved windows on the top floor of them that look like eyes...the main squares also have some good color schemes as you can see from the above picture...
see...doesn't it look like they are eyes staring at you and a three toothed grin....very cool houses...and when you stood at the city wall and stared over the many roofs of the town it was just really neat....

here's a shot of wendy and i on the bridge of liars in sibiu...it was this cool little wrought iron bridge...i am not saying we are liars or anything...it was just a good place to take a picture....

this last shot form sibiu is of the enormous evangelical church in one of the town squares...it is a "center-piece" of sibiu....i am not sure how many worshippers there are...but the place is HUGE...and compared to the orthodox church, very cold and menacing...it seems like in this place god yells at you to pay attention, sit up straight and do things correctly....the orthodox churches just seem more welcoming and comfortable, even if they don't have chairs to sit on....its wild....okay...i will continue this blog in a moment with the other places we stopped by and visited...but this one is getting long winded...imagine :) more soon

One last set of budapest pictures

1/10/07 - hey there all...well...its been a while since i last updated...getting close to two months and i am sorry about that...i hope in the new year things will happen more frequently...as i look back on 2006 i smile to myself because once again it was "quite" a year...from getting a job in romania...to traveling all over the states...to catching up on people's lives...and even visiting hungary....just a great time overall in my opinion :) its a great life :) this will be my last set of pictures from budapest...now that they are close to three months old....oops....the picture above is the heroes monument in hungary....mostly to past rulers and conquerors...its an amazing site at night as you can see...we actually rented an apt close to here so catherine and i got to see it all lit up every night....

budapest has this amazing market...called the central market...close to the center of town...go figure...if you have never been to hungary they are known for garlic and PAPRIKA in their cooking...above is one of the stands that just made me smile with all the garlic and peppers...woo-hoo...a country that likes spice...it was a nice change from the blander styled romanian food...one of our favorite restaurants was called paprika and below is a shot of it :)

this restaurant had amazing garlic soup...my mouth starts watering just thinking of it...and they did mushrooms in many tasty ways....the waitresses laughed when they saw us a second time in less than five days...they knew we loved it :) and you have to love the candles in the chianti bottles on the tables...we knew we had picked a great place when we were some of the only tourists there....yummy!!!! we were told it done in the "traditional hungarian style"...i am not really sure what that means exactly, but it was comfortable and cute place that we really liked..

one of my favorite stops on this trip was the statue park...this is a spot outside of town, where hungarians have placed all of the statues left from the communist era....its a crazy place...russian music is playing, and the communist statues are all around a red star in the middle of the park...they also have a replica of the "communist" car most people had during that time...here you can see me with one of the larger statues...it reminds me a bit of the statue brought to fremont, seattle...i hear tht one is still for sale...if you have never seen it...you should look it up...its wild...a communist statue from russia, in seattle...anyway, i think it pretty amazing the way how the hungarians have "embraced" this portion of their history...and state they will never revert to what they once had to endure...

another aspect of hungary is their rememberance of aspects of the holocaust....the picture above is taken on the banks of the danube river...what you are looking at are pairs of metal shoes representing hungarians who were lined up and shot along the banks of the danube at the beginning of the holocaust...its a stunning monument, like the one at the huge jewish synagogue, to remember an awful part of history....what is most impressive is that history blends with contemporary throughout all of budapest...below you can see the holocaust memorial at the synagogue...

this memorial is a wonderful combination of honor and rememberance...it is breath-taking in person...i just loved it...the weeping willow is metal and on each of the leaves are names of the jews who were killed during the holocaust....just stunning...the synagogue itself is also stunning...and huge!!!! you can tour the building and the grounds...and there is a small museum attached to the site as well....the hstorical representation is amazing here...

another aspect of budapest i really liked was the metro system...actually all of their mass transit seemed quite impressive...and organized and as you can see above, really CLEAN!!! this was the metro stop we used everyday as it was right down the street from where we were renting the apt...it was called hosok tere...not really sure how to pronounce this as hungarian doesn't use the same basic sounds as the english language...so it was quite hard to follow...

the picture above is of the lady of freedom in budapest....she is located at the top of hill on the buda side - although all of the buda side seems to be a hill....she is located next to the citadel overlooking the city and provides a great shot of the danube...she towers over everything and is a great landmark...and as you can tell we had an amazing day to climb up and visit her....

the final shot from budapest i will leave you with is me smokin hookah....yes, you can find it everywhere these days :) it is from the last night we were in town....if you can't tell from my entries, i loved budapest, and i am hoping to get there again sometime in 2007...i would highly recommend staying in budapest to anyone...its an absolutely lovely, well planned city that will bring a smile to anyone's face....i hope the pictures here do it some justice....i will be continuing with pictures from bucharest and romania in the next update....i have fallen quite behind in things i have been doing in the country i am living in...i have now had two sets of visitors and have explored even further parts of romania....more on this in the next update...til then...have a good one :)