Back from Jo's camp in Bistrița county and I had a wonderful time. Hmmm ... where to start? At the beginning I suppose ...
I left Negrești last Sunday morning at seven a.m. via bus, picked up a train in Roman, stopped in Pașcani for an hour and said hello to Theron and Sara (and Candice, who was visiting) before continuing up through Suceava and onwards towards Ilva Mica, north of Bistrița city. A passerby picked me up outside the train station and dropped me off in the center of Sângeorz-Băi, Jovanka's site.
Her town is incredibly beautiful; I was quite taken with Northern Romania during my beautiful train ride into the mountains. The area looked comparatively well developed, not to mention the mountains and valley towns, surrounded by steep hillsides dotted with lines and clusters of trees with grass fields spread between them, covered in herds of animals and the various spartan dwellings of peasants and shepherds. It all made me feel like reading some pastoral poetry.
She lives on the top floor of the tallest bloc in town. The view from her apartment is ... well, unfair. Gorgeous I suppose I mean to say. The whole town was very pretty with nice houses and facilities. I was there of course to help her run an English camp with her counterpart. I was joined by fellow volunteers Melissa and Jeremy W.B. The camp was run three hours a day and consisted of games, a hike, and a lesson themed on gender and mass communications. The nights were spent drinking wine and cooking a variety of dinners.
There were between twenty-three and fifteen students participating (we gradually lost some throughout the week). They were all high school students and had a pretty decent command of English. All instructions and communication was in English.
We sang a few songs, played a number of games that focused on teamwork (ex. I had everyone get into a tight circle, stand back to back, and sit all at once; I loved watching them fall down a few times before they got the hang of it!), I even narrated a game of Mafia (though it was REALLY difficult to think of gruesome ways to kill people, never mind remembering who was killing who). In the middle of the week we explored some gender stereotypes, which is always good food for thought, and it was to my surprise well received. The hike on Thursday was excellent and I was able to snap some great photos of the town. Friday was field day and we taught them Ultimate Frisbee and some ridiculous relay games. The kids had a great time and they made sure they told us. It really felt great to interact with such a great group of super enthusiastic high school students that genuinely appreciated our time with them; I had just as much fun with them as they had with us!
My train ride back was decent despite the fact that Melissa and I left for Suceava at three in the morning. We were back in her city by quarter to eight in order to meet fellow volunteer Grant from Vladeni, a nearby village. Leaving early and not sleeping was worth it; I was very happy to see and spend time with Grant, a really great guy whom I hadn't seen since we left Târgoviște. This was Saturday. That night they cooked probably the best chicken stir-fry I have ever had (I even ate the water chestnuts ... yeah, THAT good). I left this morning (Sunday) and had a very pleasant ride through Roman and onwards to Negrești.
In other news, an apartment has finally been secured for me! Thank you Florin for all your diligence in resolving this matter! It is three rooms with a big bed, a soba (wood furnace) two small balconies, and a big kitchen. There is a pull out sofa in one room and an empty room for which I am still considering a few ideas (it is unheated so I can't really use it as a living space). I should be signing a contract tomorrow and then I can go about moving items in, begin to paint and make myself at home :)
