Monday, March 22nd
I followed up my birthday with one of my Romanian friends. We held off on the party until Wednesday, so more about that soon. I did, however, have my class with the first year students today, and we discussed a topic vs. a thesis. I really wish this is something that someone would have told me about because in going through my papers from college, I have realized that (1) I LOVE to start papers with cute stories about water buffalo and (2) I clearly struggle with the whole concept of a thesis.
Tuesday, March 23rd
I have absolutely no memory of what happened during the day, but in the evening I went out in the sprinkles to Babes Park near the hotel where I lived for the first 2 or 3 weeks that I was in Romania. Just like the university had a presentation for Romanian National Day (Dec. 1), they also had one for Easter. It was interesting but WAY WAY too long. It lasted for more than 3 hours, and most of it was exactly the same as the presentation in December. I think a lot of people were not expecting that because the audience was pretty fidgety. Anyway, it started out with two presentations about Easter traditions and food in Romania. That was probably the most interesting to me because it was all new information and because I actually leared a few things. For instance, on Easter and for several days following, people great each other with "Christ is Risen" (I cannot exactly remember the response - something like, allelulia, he is risen, it is true). Like many other Christian countries, there is a big focus on eggs here. In Romania, they usually are hardboiled and dyed red or blown out and then either painted or decorated in wax. Unlike some places that fill them with confetti and hit them over each other's heads, here they crack the eggs on top of each other.
Wednesday, March 24th
Today we finally had Ariana's (the one I mentioned on Monday) birthday lunch. She turned 40, and a nice group of people from CIWC turned out to celebrate. I was planning to make something but was so busy getting ready for class that evening, but I only managed to grab a loaf of bread, some butter, and garlic and through together some garlic bread when I get there. The lasgna was perfect because there also was a delicious veggie (spinach!) lasgna and greek salad. Delicious!
Blowing out her candles!
The amazing "wish tree" made of pussywillows. 40 wishes for Ariana's 40th birthday are attached.
This picture and the one above are from someone in the group. Aren't they great?
After the party, I went home and finished preparing for class. Today we talked about collections and archives. I was a little afraid that I wouldn't be able to fill the entire three hours, but I did. I was very proud of myself, and I think the class went quite well. Go me! Oh, and I FINALLY got all 4 of my students in class. It looks like pushing class back from 6pm to 6:30 might actually help with the attendance issues. I certainly hope so.
Thursday, March 25th
Today was busy, busy, busy. In the morning I went to a CIWC event where we learned how to decorate eggs using wax. It was a lot of fun, and my egg actually turned out pretty well. If this historian stuff doesn't work out for me, I might have a future in traditional Romanian egg decorating....
From 5-7pm I had my Romanian class, followed by knitting. It seems like the knitting group is growing each week, which is great for Pania who started the group and who is trying to start a fibre art business here in town. I still am not finished with my 1 thing of yarn though - sheesh!!
Friday, March 27th
In the afternoon I went to Raluca's (from the American Studies dept) dissertation defense. She, of course, did a great job because she really knows her stuff. Her dissertation is on the representation of the Holocaust in film. It sounds like an interesting, albeit very depressing topic. I am really glad that I had the opportunity to get to see how a defense works in another country, and it was very different than in the U.S. Although one should not get to the defense in the U.S. unless everything is ready, the defenses in the U.S. definitely feel more like defenses. In our format, the student presents their topic for approximately 15 minutes. Then, the committee (the professors) ask questions that the student must answer. In Romania, the student also presents their dissertation, but for a slightly longer period of time. Instead of asking questions, however, the committee members then take the format of a conference presentation and instead speak for 20 minutes each about the dissertation. No one directed any questions toward the student. It was quite strange for me since I am so used to the American format.
After the defense, I heard from the Fulbright commission in Romania that I had to get a new rent contract since my last one was only for the fall. They recommended that I try to get one back-dated to February but at least to March if February was not possible. The government department in charge of housing contracts only allows contracts to be back-dated only a certain number of days, so it had to be put at March 25th. I sent it into the the Fulbright office once I got the contract back.
Following the joys of dealing with my rent contract, I met Zsuzsa for pizza at the great place on Erolier. This time we decided to branch out from the pizza, and I tried the tuna spaghetti. Even though I heard it was tasty, I only believe that a die-hard tuna enthusiast could enjoy it. Ick! After dinner, we went to the mall and watched the Bounty Hunter with Jennifer Aniston and Gerard Butler (who I also have seen several times in the tv movie of Attila the Hun which keeps repeating on my tv - rather amusing). It actually was pretty good!
Saturday, March 27th
This morning, I forced myself out in the morning and went for a run. Yay! After I got back and recovered, I went in to the mall and Starbucks for the day. Zsuzsa and I worked there all day. I got in some job applications and got lots of other work done (though at this point, I cannot remember what it was). As you can tell, it was a super fun day so not much to write up and no pictures to go with it.
Sunday, March 28th
Finally, it was daylight savings time here in Europe. I wonder why the times change differently here than in the U.S.? Again, like on Saturday, I spent most of the day on Sunday at Starbucks. On my way to the bus, I got to see all of the people out (this place is usually dead on Sundays) and going to church for Palm Sunday.
Once at Starbucks, I worked on organizing all of my photographs. Doing things like posting CIWC pictures to the CIWC picasa page and uploading some albums to my own picasa page. Not a lot of fun, but good to get that stuff done. To break up the monotony, a few people met me for coffee, and I did a little shopping at some booths set up inside the mall. I haven't bought very many fun things since I have been here, so that was fun (even if it was only about $30 in total). In the evening, Lauren showed up and drug Zsuzsa and I away to see Alice and Wonderland, in 3D no less. I wasn't too excited about it and really did not enjoy wearing the glasses (talk about uncomfortable!), but it actually was pretty good.
Aren't we cute in our 3D glasses?
Week of March 29 to April 4
Monday, March 29th
Today I was just in a really bad mood, and I have no idea why. Made it to yoga in the morning, and then in the afternoon Terri went to the mall with me. I was supposed to pick up a purse from one of the people at the booths there. However, she hadn't even started working on it even though we had arranged for me to get it that afternoon! She said it should be ready in another hour, so Terri and I walked around the mall for a little bit. It still wasn't ready (or even started) when we went back by, so we just left. How crazy! She definitely lost that sale.
Check out the beautiful spring flowers.
That evening I had class with the first year students again. We went over citations, and I think it was just too much and too complicated for them to handle all at once. I just hope that they are able to do okay with it eventually. I sent out a slightly condensed version of the footnote versus bibliography formatting, so we will see if they look at it.
Tuesday, March 30th
This was a pretty interesting day because I got to see the "drumul of Christ" or the walk/road of Christ. Basically it was a re-enactment of the Romans forcing Christ through town, carrying the cross and ended with the crucifixion.
That night, Lauren and I met Zsuzsa for a snack and drink. Zsuzsa is finished with her research here in Cluj and is moving on to some other archives in Transylvania. I'll miss her because we were movie and Starbucks work buddies!!!
Zsuzsa with her goodbye kurtos (yum!) and candy bar.
The deliciousness of the kurtos up close. I must learn the secrets of the kurtos!!
Wednesday, March 31st
This was a day of things that were supposed to be but never were. Our Romanian teacher had to go out of town on Thursday and Friday, so we had a meeting rescheduled for today. However, it was cancelled - thank goodness I heard from someone else because there wasn't an email sent out to the class!
I love the street signs here. All the streets are named after people and include the years that person lived and usually their profession (artist, writer, etc).
In the evening, I was supposed to have my intro to public history class, but 3 of the 4 students were not able to attend. The topic was oral history, and I really needed all 4 people for the class to work well. So, I cancelled class for the day. The Easter / spring break isn't supposed to start until the weekend (Monday!), but most people are expected at home on the Thursday-Friday before for the holidays (Maundy Thursday and Good Friday are important here), so everyone pretty much leaves town on Wednesday or Thursday morning. Why does the school not recognize or understand this and schedule a 2-week break or a break that runs from Wednesday to Wednesday? This is just so perfectly Romanian, though, that I am not really all that surprised.
The half-built church in Piata Cipariu. What a beautiful spring day with the blue sky.
Another nice spring picture of Cluj. This is a cafe along part of the old city wall.
Thursday and Friday, April 1-2
I finally made it out ot the countryside (to Capalna) and stayed for two days. There will be a different post about this!
Saturday, April 3rd
I made it back from the countryside in one piece but with a headache. Despite that, I decided to go to Terri's to help out with an Easter and egg preparation event for kids. Even though it was pretty loud, at least it kept me busy all morning. After everyone left, I stayed a little longer so that Terri and I could make deviled eggs for church the next day. And, since I was able to make them myself, I got to add all sorts of things like chopped dill pickles and lots of mustard with horseradish. Yum! I was finally able to get home for a couple of hours and then went over to April's house (the person who plays the piano so we have practiced together a few times) to make this awesome recipe that I found online: chocolate souffle cupcakes with mint white chocolate frosting. They weren't quite what I was hoping for, but then again I don't really like mint or chocolate that much, so go figure. For other fun recipes and great pictures, check out this blog: http://smittenkitchen.com/ (I love it!).
Can you see the woman with the purple/lavender hair? All of these women in their 50s-70s here have purple hair. It is the weirdest thing!!!
Sunday, April 4th
Happy Easter or Paste a Fericit! I went to Terri's Lutheran church in the evening and played two pieces on my flute, one during the offeratory and one during communion. It was the first time I had played alone in front of people in quite a few years, and it went pretty well...just a little scary. We will see if I can figure out another time to play before I leave and set something up for where ever I end up when I get back to the U.S.
Here is some more information about Easter in Romania, if you are interested: http://www.slideshare.net/rianadaia/easter-in-romania-1681266 - Just click through the slideshow for some information and pictures.
Finally, a picture of a gypsy! She isn't wearing the most colorful outfit, but it should give you some kind of idea of what they where.
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