Harghita Family Pictures

Mark and his fellow English teachers

In a moment of mushy sentiment, I have never seen Mark so happy as when he was up in Odorheiu, showing off the town that all but adopted him. I understand why. Cimi and her husband are funny as hell, and they overwhelmed us with wonderful hospitality, even after we left.  Our bags were stuffed with sandwiches, apples, cake, and drinks for the train ride home.  We are looking forward to going back after the new year.

Romanian/Hungarian Culture Expose with Palinka

To Mark's delight, during our foray in Transylvania, Cimi and her family took us to Dealu where they make Peter Pal Palinka, famous Hungarian plum brandy. Our hostess began the tour with four vigorous shots of busty hot goodness and proceeded to the distilling room, where she spoke of the simple process of making fruity alcohol. She humorously told us how Palinka is twice distilled for the extra punch versus Tuica, which is distilled a measly one time. Kicked my ass either way. After purchasing 3.5 liters, we were set.

Cures all that ails you.

Gimnazium Tomasi Aron: Harghita Romania

The elation on Mark's face was indescribable, as we returned to his old high school with Deets in tow. He spoke to several classes about the awesomeness of Thanksgiving and tidbits about the United States as Deets and I terrorized the hallways. 

We even found a small piece of memorabilia...

2001 Time warp!

After school I helped Cimi prepare savory rabbit roast and stew, complete with their version of celery (telina), ugly carrots (patrunjel radacina), onions and potatoes.

Future dinner.

telina

ugly carrot: patrunjel radacina

Together, me and Cimi who speaks better English than I do, learned the word "tenderizer" for the mashy-part of her scary sharp ax-hatchet.

A wise-ish man once told me, "safety 3rd."

Road/Track Trip to Odorheiu Secuiesc

Happy Thanksgiving! Today Mark, Deets and I hopped on the bus, to get to the metro, to get to Gara Du Nord, to take us on a 6 hour train ride to Sigišoara, and lastly, a short 60 minute drive to the cozy town of Odorheiu Secuiesc (Szekely Udvarhely in Hungarian).

After 10 years, Mark was reunited with his Peace Corp site and counter part, Krisztina, aka, Cimi. We met Gyula, her husband, and her lovely children, Blanka and Andris. While we did not have our families to celebrate what I consider my favorite holiday, they treated us like one of their own. 

Cimi, Andris, Gyula, Blanka

Field Trip: Horse Stables

In need of some fresh air, I ditched my usual forest jaunting and traded it for a trip to a local horse stable. Now, I am unsure of how this posting might be of interest to anyone, but since I know a few folks who dig the horse thing, I tagged along with a new friend who has ridden for years, notably all over India and the Philippines. Imagine, maybe I'd pick up a new hobby, but it could at least be an excuse to buy knee length boots, and a whip perhaps.

Lesley and her stallion

Ahoy, Stable Boy?

I met the trainer, Isabella, speaker of five languages, and winner of many horse awards. She was on a horse that had giant eyeballs and was something like seven feet tall.  They did their running, cantering, and prancing while I was off to explore.  Most of the penned up equines were stuffing their gullets, sending pig-like grunts echoing down the halls and staring right back at me, only willing to pose for my camera if I had food to offer. The dogs were pretty much the same way, though I did find it interesting to see the random basset hound cozying up with a wiener dog.

Cat fud.

I was giddy when I saw Lil' Sebastian ponies, and I found it hilarious that one horse had a haircut similar to Lloyd Christmas. 

But my enthusiasm hit the roof when I got to feed some carrots to a horse. I know, right? Cheap thrill. Imagine what I will do if I actually get to ride a horse!

Herastrau Park

Add caption

It only took me several failed attempts to get on the local 445 bus to go downtown, but today I did it! WE did it. Deets and I got on the bus that took us to the Metro. Now for my Washingtonian friends, Bucharest's Metro is cleaner, shinier, and quieter than DC's.

Two stops later, we hopped off which placed us near the big famous park in Bucharest: Herastrau Park. It's big. And very pretty especially since they hadn't raked the maple leaves. He went nuts kicking through them. Then he found the acorns. Like a hibernating squirrel he began stuffing them in his mouth with such joy, I felt bad telling him no. I love those windpipe blocking toys.

Speaking of squirrels, I officially turned into one of "those people" who delight in taking pictures of the local fauna. Mark and I used to laugh at tourists doing it in DC, but, this particular rodent had crazy ear hair. And gumption. Deets and I were lunching when he stalked right up to the hopeful crumbs at our feet, hissing when I shooed it away. Punky m-effer. 

There are TONS of age appropriate playgrounds all over the park, and we found the one loaded with fancy two year olds strutting their stuff.  For those who think Bucharest is a poor city, you've got it all wrong.  I was tempted to take pictures of the fancy strollers, but didn't want to come across creepy. I spied an Uppa Baby, Bugaboo, City Stroller and a 4Mom Origami... $600 and up, thank you Google. The nannies just stared at me, schlepping Deets around on my back like some burro. Though I wonder how many people gave THEIR children free tasty food just for being cute.

Bike Commute Anyone?

Receiving our boxes was of particular joy because Mark could now commute to work on bike instead of bumming rides from our neighbor. Our car was delivered around the same time, but we still needed to get it registered and locally insured before we could drive. Mark set up his version of a bike shop in the garage and happily went about getting every piece of clothing he owned covered in grease. He even set up his bike trainer in the garage for the upcoming winter. 

Our housing compound backed up to the largest forested area in Bucharest called Tunari Forest (Padurea Tunari.) It contained hidden trails used by horse drawn wagons, runners and the occasional mountain biker, though this significantly changed during our stay. Many locals would cruise through the beautifully thick foliage, chopping down trees, hunting wild pigs, and dumping trash. Seeing a natural toilet in the wild became a common experience. Only a few months later would and the mountain bike racing scene explode, with well attended semi-professional and amateur races (and trail running races) take place throughout the forest. I tried one time to ride my cyclocross bike along the rutted trails and found my body felt better suited to hiking or snowshoeing with Deets.

Add caption

Happy Veteran's Day

Happy Veteran's Day, thank you to all who serve our country.

Bucharest Traffic = Surly Husband

So today Mark, Deets and I decided to borrow Jerry, our neighbor's Peugot to cruise downtown to see Herastrau Park. Obviously in the chaos, we got lost. This really peeved Mark out to no end and we ended up just guessing our way home. Bad news. But the good news: we saw the Ambassador's hunk of coral colored mansion. Totally gorgeous. We cruised by the Arc de Triumph and "stop-n-goed" through post-Communist downtown. Exciting.

We ate lasagna tonight for dinner, the one made by our neighbors and it was good, not Amy-Baures good though. I will admit they did a great job considering you can't get ground hamburger or turkey around here. She used ground pork and added some fennel and a few other spices to fake the taste. Yum. Washed it down with a Christmas Brew and now we are perched in the loveseat watching Parks N Rec.

I am sending you pics of downtown-fun-day, but I apologize as it's just from the car.

The UAB Delivery to: Sclink, Mark, Joseph

UAB (aka: schtuff we "need" sooner than later) arrived in 5 giant cardboard boxes. Hello Sclink, Mark, Joseph! Not the first time butchering the name, and not the last. Reminds me of the time in India when the driver had the name Mark Shpleenk waiting to pick us up.

Now Deets has all his toys and some more kitchen stuff. First thing that went up were pictures on the fridge and a shot of espresso made possible by our boxy converter. Lynette Zavodny Dillon, Deets' tiger slippers are a perfect fit now, he loves wearing them, preferring to alternate them with his ridiculous Uggs. Now, if only the rain would stop, then he and I can head downtown on the bus for some park jaunts. Until then though...