On the Road Again

Well, technically Google Maps wasn't wrong when we followed its suggested route to Harghita but we went from this:

New section of the A3, a VERY aspirational hwy
that should go 584 km from Bucharest to Oradea. A lovely
piece of deserted heaven, if only for a short 68 km.

To this: 

Hard to capture the actual bumps and jolts,
but I assure you they were there.

which was about an hours' drive through ruts, cattle, and tiny dilapidated villages during a conveniently timed downpour.  It's always an adventure, and the whole car load (Jim included) were quite good natured if not a little dazed when we rolled into town to see our lovely friends for a short weekend. 

It was a bittersweet visit since a friend of Mark's during Peace Corp days suddenly died the week before, and the funeral was the same weekend. The whole town was shocked by the loss of this well known gentleman who served in Odorheiu's city government and the streets were packed with mourners to pay their respects. On a lighter note, there was also a Hungarian music, dance and craft fair we went to. Apparently, all the cool and popular kids dance to traditional folk music and they were good! I wondered what would be comparable traditional dancing to the US would be. Square dancing? Disco? Could folk dancing ever win a popularity contest? Well I will tell you, if marching band still isn't these days, it probably never will.

Bring it on.

As usual, the food spread was impressive: honey, palinka, cheese, and cured meats with original animal skin intact. I could feel my blood pressure rising just from the decadent smells as we enjoyed the beautiful wood work, embroidery, and felted wool products. I managed to buy my unborn daughter her first strapless too which I unashamedly put on Deets (for sizing purposes only of course). The highlight of the trip however was watching Deets play with the rabbits, who really did multiply... like rabbits! They must have tripled their numbers since our last visit in May.

Heading back on Sunday, we made fantastic timing until we ran into backed up traffic in the mountains. It literally took us one hour to drive 14.4 km along the 2 lane highway between Predeal and Busteni, reminding me of the seemingly endless I-70 traffic we frequently encountered in Colorado but with two differences: 1, the traffic was entirely due to the MANY crosswalks and lack of traffic lights in Busteni and 2, no where on I-70 do you get to buy baskets of berries freshly picked by the locals. Like a scene fresh out of Office Space with the geriatric man hobbling past our car faster than the crawling traffic, the berry sellers were making considerably better headway than we did!

Sixty minutes until the nearest bathroom stop at nearly
8 months pregnant... it wasn't pretty.

Doritz? You want?

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