So last time I wrote I had just safely landed in Romania, so after a brief snatching of sleep it was out into the Romanian wild for my induction. Alex (the desk officer over here) and I took the bus into the city and he showed me some of the central points in the city, such as the Town Centre, Respublica Street and of course, and most importantly... Alex’s favourite restaurant. This is how I got my first taste of Romanian food, Now I’m sure a lot of you are expecting Broche and corn-mush (Yes, I am thinking of you dad), but it was actually really nice. I had some Romanian seasoned meat wrapped in a lovingly steamed cabbage leaf, with a side of bacon and hydrated cauliflower... but I swear that it was delicious. Alex then brought me back to my Host Family, it was here I met them all for the First time, My Host mother Rotica, is a lovely woman, she dotes on all the volunteers. She calls me baby Mic, which means youngest Child. Alexandra, my supervisor, also lives here she is Rotica’s daughter, she is really nice and a terrific Salsa Dancer. The last member of this little family is Josh, Josh is another volunteer over here from America on a teaching placement, he was doing a 2 months stint, but has deferred it for another 2 months meaning he will be here till the end of January, he is a really interesting guy, we’ve had great conversations about movies, and general fiction knowledge. He is also really handy to have around as his three months of knowledge means he knows all the shortcuts, and understands the Romanians better than I do.
After a beautiful dinner of assorted meats I was taken out to meet the rest of the volunteers, it was only then I realised the rag-tag bunch that we were. There is Gabriel, who is a 24 year old Chinese Singaporean, who has served in the Singapore army, and is a really cultured and interesting guy (okay I can’t publish it here, but if you want I great story message me with the words goat man in the title and I’ll let you in on the weirdest thing I have ever heard). Then there is Jenny, an 18 year old from Britain, Jenny more knowledge than the years would permit, she is also over here on the Drama Project, and is well established as the Drama Girl. The next in our group of six is Ceacelia, she is from Denmark and is over as an outside volunteer, she used to be with projects abroad, but is now working independently. She is the one usually getting hit on by the local Male populous, but after a trip to Serbia and a Brush with the Mafia there; we never have to worry about her. The last in out group is Juliana (Jules), she is “25” and is like the older sister of the group. She and Ceacelia share an apartment just opposite the central park of Brasov; she is here sponsored by a British aid group. After a couple of drinks and a short getting to know you session the day had come to a close, and we went to our respective homes to sleep.
The next day was New Years, we spent the day in the city centre sucking up the culture of Romania, that was until they took away my crazy straw and then we could only look. One of the more interesting things that we did find was that there were people walking around with goats in slings, one of Josh’s Romanian friends named Stef (pronounced Sh-t-ef) told us that you were meant to pay these people to touch the goat, which would in-turn bring good luck for the new year. In the evening we went to Jules and Ceacellia’s apartment where we had a small celebration over a couple of bottles of wine, and as things do over a few bottles of wine, things escalated and we ended up trying to shoot a cork out over into the park, well we yanked on the cork trying to get it out and shook up the bottle really well, but all turned out to be for nought, as the final expulsion saw it only go two meters of the top balcony and nearly knock out a passerby travelling bellow. So just before midnight we packed up and headed into the city centre, where it seemed all of Brasov had gathered there, but no matter how crowded it was there was still room for people to let off their own personally bought fireworks, we were unfortunate enough to walk right into the middle of two lots, meaning we couldn’t move away, else get hit by the other. There was also proper government fireworks set off a top the black tower, they were stunning against the dark Romanian night sky. We did complete a different Romanian good luck tradition when the first bell of 2010 tolled. We threw one of our bottles of wine, all together, into the centre of the square, shattering out bad luck of the next year as it hit the ground. We then all proceeded to a nearby Romanian club (Project 80) and danced until the first rays of sunlight licked the street.
Talk Soon, Jackson
ROMANIAN WORD OF THE POST:
Multomesk: This means thank you, and is probably the most used word amongst the volunteers, but never use it in a restaurant before you get your change; otherwise you can kiss that cash good-bye
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