Posting today from and hot and sweaty internet cafe. Today and yesterday, we have been observing classrooms in Ploiesti, both middle school and high school. There are a wide variety of teaching methods here in Romania, both old school and new methods of teaching. We had a be dressed a bit nicer than what we are used to and the weather has been sunny and hot. Oh well, it is the Peace Corps.
This weekend, I broke down and got a mobile phone. Email me if you want it because I am not gonna post it on here for all to see. On Sunday afternoon, my host parents and a friend of theirs went to a park that is near Ploiesti called Parcul Bucov, literally translated as "the park Bucov". We grilled mici (pork sausages), some kind of fish, and chicken wings over a charcoal fire. I consumed massive amounts of meat and bread and they kept on offering me beer and some kind of homemade brandy that was pink. I had to refuse after a while because I was starting to get sleepy and would have passed out if I had not.
Speaking of food, I had my favorite, so far, food in Romania yesterday for supper. Genia, host mom, prepared sarmale for us this weekend. Sarmle are a mixture of rice and ground pork meat wrapped around either grape leaves or cabbage. We had it with grape leaves. It is served with smantana (a little like sour cream) and bread. I ate all of that up and even had seconds.
Language classes are going well. They broke us up from the group we were in the first week and placed us with different people and a different teacher, I guess based on our learning abilities and how well we are doing. The bad thing is that in the past couple of days, we have learned a ton of new verbs and I really need to sit down and memorize all of the conjugations; not a easy thing to do.
Ok time is about to run out here. I will be very glad when the summer is over and we are in our permanent sites but we are all nervous about where in Romania we will be placed.
La revedere
Tuesday, May 30, 2006
Thursday, May 25, 2006
Quick Update
I am posting from the computers that the Peace Corps has set up for us at our training site so this will be brief due to the others that are waiting to use it. Everything is going good but man, PST is tiring. We have 4 hours of language a day (except this Friday, w00t) and then in the afternoon, we have sessions in our sections (TEFL for me). By the time the day is over, I am wore out. I go home, someone there fixes dinner, I study Romaneste and then I go to sleep, sometime aroudn 10 PM. I then get up at 7 AM to do it all over again. I will write longer posting from my computer and then upload them with my flash drive in the future. I miss you all terribly but I wouldn't give up this experience for the world.
La revedere
Chris
La revedere
Chris
Tuesday, May 23, 2006
here!
From the emailsent to my family:
4Hey everyone! After a long and tiring trip, we are finally here in Romania. My flight was delayed for 40 minutes on Monday because the cargo-old door had a four inch crack in it (eek!) but other than that, I arrived in Philadelphia safely. Everyone in our group (Romania 21) is awesome and I have made plenty of friends already. There are 71 of us from all over the United States. Two others are from NC. One of them, a guy named Eric Halsey actually went to Western Carolina the same time that Tim Walters did and there were in the same fraternity. Small world! Anyways, we had session after session about what to expect from our Peace Corps experience, what to do, and what to not do. I had an authentic Philly cheese steak. It might have been that we went to the wrong place but I was not impressed with the sandwich. Ohh, the hotel we stayed at is one of the nicest hotels I have every seen. Someone said that the price for one hotel room that we had was over $300! On Wednesday morning, we boarded a bus to drive from Philadelphia to JFK Int’l airport in NYC. I got to see the skyline of Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty again while on the bus. Our flight left JFK around 6. We flew Lufthansa. It was pretty nice. After a short layover in Frankfurt, Germany, we landed in Bucharest.
Let me tell you, I can already tell my experience here in Romania is going to be one of the best experiences of my life, but that is skipping ahead. We got into the airport in one piece, even though some people had luggage that was delayed a day but that did not happen to me. We took a bus from Bucharest to our new home here in Ploiesti. The Peace Corps put us up in the Hotel Central in downtown Ploiesti. We spent the couple of days in even more sessions dealing with Peace Corps Romania, from what to expect from our gazdas (host families) to what to do in case of an emergency and about routine health policies. I had three different vaccinations: MMR, Hepatitis A & B, and TB. It wasn’t that bad since I had allergy shots while as a teenager. Speaking of allergies, so far, I haven’t had much of an allergic reaction to the trees and flowers here in Romania. I am cautiously hopeful that this will be a continued trend.
Today, Sunday was the big day. We met our host families for the first time. Like all of the other PST trainees, I was very nervous about what kind of family I would be placed with and how we will interact. It turns out that my fears were greatly unfounded. My host family consisted of a husband and a wife with their daughter who is my age. After getting my luggage and checking out of the hotel, we took a car to their apartment. I will post pictures later of what my new home looks like but I am pretty sure that I lucked out. My bedroom is very large with a desk and a large closet to place my clothing. Speaking of that, we get to wear our normal clothes that we would wear in the States to training. Back to the gazda. My host-mother, who I will post her name later because I have forgotten due to the massive amount of information that we have had thrown at us, had dinner waiting for me when we arrived at their apartment. I had some kind of corn dumpling in a broth, carne de porc over rice pilaf and a couple slices of cake. After that, we went to the grocery store near here on the bus to get food supplies. We then spent the rest of the day talking about our lives, what Americans know about Romania, and about my family. I think that I am very lucky with my host family. If any of you have heard about the outbreak of the avian flu virus, H5N1 in Romania, do not be concerned. While we are close to where the chicken farm was, there isn’t a chance of us being exposed. As of right now, the Peace Corps has forbidden our host families to cook chicken until the threat of exposure has past.
I miss you all very much.. As I get my bearings here, I will get in touch with you and let you know how I am. Ok, we have class starting tomorrow at 9 AM; four hours of language and an introduction to Romania.
Pa
Chris
4Hey everyone! After a long and tiring trip, we are finally here in Romania. My flight was delayed for 40 minutes on Monday because the cargo-old door had a four inch crack in it (eek!) but other than that, I arrived in Philadelphia safely. Everyone in our group (Romania 21) is awesome and I have made plenty of friends already. There are 71 of us from all over the United States. Two others are from NC. One of them, a guy named Eric Halsey actually went to Western Carolina the same time that Tim Walters did and there were in the same fraternity. Small world! Anyways, we had session after session about what to expect from our Peace Corps experience, what to do, and what to not do. I had an authentic Philly cheese steak. It might have been that we went to the wrong place but I was not impressed with the sandwich. Ohh, the hotel we stayed at is one of the nicest hotels I have every seen. Someone said that the price for one hotel room that we had was over $300! On Wednesday morning, we boarded a bus to drive from Philadelphia to JFK Int’l airport in NYC. I got to see the skyline of Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty again while on the bus. Our flight left JFK around 6. We flew Lufthansa. It was pretty nice. After a short layover in Frankfurt, Germany, we landed in Bucharest.
Let me tell you, I can already tell my experience here in Romania is going to be one of the best experiences of my life, but that is skipping ahead. We got into the airport in one piece, even though some people had luggage that was delayed a day but that did not happen to me. We took a bus from Bucharest to our new home here in Ploiesti. The Peace Corps put us up in the Hotel Central in downtown Ploiesti. We spent the couple of days in even more sessions dealing with Peace Corps Romania, from what to expect from our gazdas (host families) to what to do in case of an emergency and about routine health policies. I had three different vaccinations: MMR, Hepatitis A & B, and TB. It wasn’t that bad since I had allergy shots while as a teenager. Speaking of allergies, so far, I haven’t had much of an allergic reaction to the trees and flowers here in Romania. I am cautiously hopeful that this will be a continued trend.
Today, Sunday was the big day. We met our host families for the first time. Like all of the other PST trainees, I was very nervous about what kind of family I would be placed with and how we will interact. It turns out that my fears were greatly unfounded. My host family consisted of a husband and a wife with their daughter who is my age. After getting my luggage and checking out of the hotel, we took a car to their apartment. I will post pictures later of what my new home looks like but I am pretty sure that I lucked out. My bedroom is very large with a desk and a large closet to place my clothing. Speaking of that, we get to wear our normal clothes that we would wear in the States to training. Back to the gazda. My host-mother, who I will post her name later because I have forgotten due to the massive amount of information that we have had thrown at us, had dinner waiting for me when we arrived at their apartment. I had some kind of corn dumpling in a broth, carne de porc over rice pilaf and a couple slices of cake. After that, we went to the grocery store near here on the bus to get food supplies. We then spent the rest of the day talking about our lives, what Americans know about Romania, and about my family. I think that I am very lucky with my host family. If any of you have heard about the outbreak of the avian flu virus, H5N1 in Romania, do not be concerned. While we are close to where the chicken farm was, there isn’t a chance of us being exposed. As of right now, the Peace Corps has forbidden our host families to cook chicken until the threat of exposure has past.
I miss you all very much.. As I get my bearings here, I will get in touch with you and let you know how I am. Ok, we have class starting tomorrow at 9 AM; four hours of language and an introduction to Romania.
Pa
Chris
Friday, May 05, 2006
The ground rules
Buna ziua, fellow bloggers and blogettes. As this is probably the last time that I will post before the grand adventure, I wish to inform you in how this little blog of mine will work.
First of all, The opinions expressed herein are not representative of those of the U.S. Government or the Peace Corps and should not be interpreted as such. (the legal portion of today's entertainment)
Secondly, I will keep it tame for the little boys and girls out there (if you want details about all the juicy stuff, send me an email).
Thirdly, if you don't like what I post here, well I don't really care.
Fourth, I will post as many pictures as I can on here but check out my Flickr site for more pics and also see my family for pictures there too since I will be mailing my family discs and discs of photos.
Ok. Now for some information.
My email address ionntag@gmail.com
Training address until August 2006:
Christopher Bennett
Peace Corps/Romania
Str. Negustori, NR. 16
Sector 2, Bucharest
Romania
I will announce my site address when I find out where my site will be.
Training city: Ploieşti, Ţara Românească.
Start of Peace Corps service: May 15, 2006
End of Peace Corps service: August 2008
Phone calls: For those select few that I talk to in real life, feel relieved that there are plenty of ways that you can speak to me. The first will be that of the land-line of my host family. It is free (for us in Romania) to receive calls from the States. The second way that you will be able to get in contact with is a cell phone. Thats right kids, everyone from the eldest bunica to the youngest toddler in Romania has a cell phone these days and I am almost positive that I will have one as well. The thrid option that I have in my disposal is that of VoIP. For those with a computer, an internet connection, a microphone, and a little program called Skype, you will be able to call me for free on your computer. The best way, I think, to get in touch with me is send me an email telling what time you want to talk and I will get in touch. The numbers to dial me will be forthcoming.
Packages: During my PST time in Ploieşti, I cannot receive any packages. I can only receive letters. The reason for this is that the people at Peace Corps headquarters can't be dealing with packages coming in all the time and getting them to us at our training sites. Rest assured, when I am placed at my permanent teaching site, I expect each and every one of you to send all kinds of American delights, books, and magazines.
So I would think you might be interested in what my itinerary will be. I fly from Charlotte, NC to Philadelphia, PA, on Monday, May 15, getting there around 11ish. I will be there for a couple of days doing what is called Staging, which is basically orientation and getting to know the other PSTs. We then board a bus to JFK airport in NYC to board a flight. We fly from there to Frankfurt, Germany on United Airlines. After a very short layover in Frankfurt, we then board a Lufthanasa (sp?) flight to Otopeni In't Airport in Burcharest, Romania where the adventure will begin!
I will miss you all and please, please keep in touch with me. I am sure my sanity will be needing it.
La revedere,
Chris
First of all, The opinions expressed herein are not representative of those of the U.S. Government or the Peace Corps and should not be interpreted as such. (the legal portion of today's entertainment)
Secondly, I will keep it tame for the little boys and girls out there (if you want details about all the juicy stuff, send me an email).
Thirdly, if you don't like what I post here, well I don't really care.
Fourth, I will post as many pictures as I can on here but check out my Flickr site for more pics and also see my family for pictures there too since I will be mailing my family discs and discs of photos.
Ok. Now for some information.
My email address ionntag@gmail.com
Training address until August 2006:
Christopher Bennett
Peace Corps/Romania
Str. Negustori, NR. 16
Sector 2, Bucharest
Romania
I will announce my site address when I find out where my site will be.
Training city: Ploieşti, Ţara Românească.
Start of Peace Corps service: May 15, 2006
End of Peace Corps service: August 2008
Phone calls: For those select few that I talk to in real life, feel relieved that there are plenty of ways that you can speak to me. The first will be that of the land-line of my host family. It is free (for us in Romania) to receive calls from the States. The second way that you will be able to get in contact with is a cell phone. Thats right kids, everyone from the eldest bunica to the youngest toddler in Romania has a cell phone these days and I am almost positive that I will have one as well. The thrid option that I have in my disposal is that of VoIP. For those with a computer, an internet connection, a microphone, and a little program called Skype, you will be able to call me for free on your computer. The best way, I think, to get in touch with me is send me an email telling what time you want to talk and I will get in touch. The numbers to dial me will be forthcoming.
Packages: During my PST time in Ploieşti, I cannot receive any packages. I can only receive letters. The reason for this is that the people at Peace Corps headquarters can't be dealing with packages coming in all the time and getting them to us at our training sites. Rest assured, when I am placed at my permanent teaching site, I expect each and every one of you to send all kinds of American delights, books, and magazines.
So I would think you might be interested in what my itinerary will be. I fly from Charlotte, NC to Philadelphia, PA, on Monday, May 15, getting there around 11ish. I will be there for a couple of days doing what is called Staging, which is basically orientation and getting to know the other PSTs. We then board a bus to JFK airport in NYC to board a flight. We fly from there to Frankfurt, Germany on United Airlines. After a very short layover in Frankfurt, we then board a Lufthanasa (sp?) flight to Otopeni In't Airport in Burcharest, Romania where the adventure will begin!
I will miss you all and please, please keep in touch with me. I am sure my sanity will be needing it.
La revedere,
Chris
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