An example of what I (sometimes) go through here in Romania

So, I am sitting at the internet cafe on a chilly October night here in Romania. I am sure, what pray tell, is he doing out and about when it is chilly outside and there are things that are needing to be done inside. The reason for this is exemplery of my struggle with my apartment.

As you have read, I had some problems with the single electrical plugin in the kitchen, so when I need to use the hot water boiler, I have to unplug the refrigerator and re-plug it in when I am done. I have a few dishes to do tonight so I thought I would waste a bit of time in doing just that. Haha...

I unplugged the frige and when I started to plug in the hot water boiler, sparks flew from it and the whole place went dark. The times before when this has happened, the lights didn't go out so we could see what we were doing. Therefore, I did the usual thing that I have done in the past when fuse blew, I called my counterpart Judith.

I told her the trouble and she said that though we knew what to do, since it is night time and dark, it was impossible to tell what the problem is, and that I should just go to sleep and we would fix it tomorrow. Now, is this just me or can a flashlight be used to see what to do so the the problem can be resolved? I mentioned this but was told that it didn't matter.

So here I am. I took a nap this afternoon so there is no chance of sleeping at this precise point so I came out to use the net and rant a bit. I am also lucky that it isn't too terribly cold out tonight because I will not have heat and I am in for a cold, cold morning tomorrow. Ok, enough ranting for one night. This is the Peace Corps and I knew that stuff like this would happen but it seems to me like something that can be solved just like every other time this has happened at night throughout the world.

On a brighter note, I don't work tomorrow but I will be taking the morning bus to Timisoara to get some more pots and pans for the kitchen. The school is having their Freshman Ball tomorrow evening and I have been invited to come and view the festivities. The kids (and teachers) are excited and are willing to come because the school has got Fornetti to come and make their little sweet delights for the evening.

Ok, ceau until the next exciting episode of,

Chris Bennett and his life in a (former) 2nd world country!

Update:
Just after I finished typing my rant last night, my "unofficial" counterpart Romeo, and the local electrican found me at the internet cafe and we went to fix my eletrical problem. Afterwards, I went and had a beer with the electrician, Puio, at the local watering hole and hung out with some other locals. This mroning, Pulio took me to Timisoara so that I could buy some pots and pans and other things. It is things like this that keeps my opinion of Romania and it's people high. I have met people that have gone out of their way to help out and without any monetary assistance, though I have tried to give it to them.

Wish List

As promised, here is my wish list for those of you who would like to send me things during my sojourn in Romania. I will make the list into things that I would really like to have, things that I would like to have but can live without, and things that I would love to have but I realize that it is mostly a fantasy. If you want to send me something from the second or third group, just let me know so that I can cross that item off the list. Thanks and here goes:

1st Group
-pancake syrup (regular or maple)
-macaroni and cheese (in a box)
-Hamburger Helper or anything like that
-oatmeal!
-cream of wheat
-brown sugar (can't find it here)
-candied pecans
-spices such as red chile powder, curry and other good things like that
-plastic squeeze bottle of mayonnaise (Duke’s or Hellman’s)
-can(s) of LeSeur baby peas
-can(s) of other yummy vegetables
-can(s) of Campbell's soup such as chicken noodle, tomato, cream of mushroom, etc.
-bags of pinto beans and/or black beans
-all-in-one chili packages
-chipotle-en-adobo (that is in a can)
-Sriracha chile sauce (it is the one with a rooster on the bottle)
-flour tortillas
-brownie and cake mixes with icing (no peanut butter please!)
-tea (Republic of Tea makes awesome tea, especially their blueberry)
-dried blueberries
-packets of ranch dressing
-any kind of good book that you have seen lately and you think that I would like to read
-sudoku booklet(s)
-food magazines that I can cook recipes out of
-other magazines that I can read and use in my classes
-anything and everything that you think I would enjoy or take pleasure in

2nd Group
-oven thermometer
-a good chef’s knife
-potato ricer
-casserole dish (make sure it is packed so that it isn’t broken when it gets here)
-a power adapter for an Apple Computer Powerbook G4 (1.5 Ghz); it is having problems
-european plug adapters
-metal tongs
-a few pie pans to show Romanians what really good pie is like
-an American flag

3rd Group
-enameled Dutch Oven (Le Creuset or similar type)
-cast-iron skillet (Lodge makes the best type)
-a brand new Macbook (haha, kidding about that one)

This is going to be a permanent feature in the sidebar of this blog over the next couple of years. I will be sure to update it when I am wanting something that I cannot get here. Thanks!

Hello all. Life is starting to settle in here in Ciacova. I am (slowly) building up the arsenal of things that one usually has when they move into a new place; pots and pans, furniture, and the like. It has started to get colder here at night, one night was 2 C. That means I have got to test out the heater that the PC gave me. Lest you think that this is an ordinary space heater, you would be mistaken. It is a Whirlpool radiator with seven individual compartments that in little time puts out enough heat that I have to turn down the dial to stay comfortable. That is another excellent feature that the heater has; the dial on it is like that of a clock, you can turn it from naught to sixty and everywhere in between.
That said, I have had a myriad of small, little problems that are in various stages of being solved. The electricity went out for a while a couple of days ago. I bought here in town a multi-socket outlet plug because there is just oen plug-in in the kitchen that I would like to be able to run the hot water there as well as the refrigerator. This was not to be with my new purchase. When I plugged in both at the same time, poof, all the sockets in the apartment where without electricity. We got an electrician to look at the fuses here (they are different here than in the States) and figure out which one was the problem. All of this taught me a valuable lesson to me; buy anything involving electricity in Timisoara, which I did just that yesterday. I bought two multi-socket outlets there and I am happy to say that I still have electricity.
I am hoping that I am buy a dehumdifier here because the apartment stays a bit damp and towels do not dry in the normal amount of time. I also need to buy a rack to hang my laundry from while they dry. This is but a sampling of the things that I need (or want) to get in the near future. The bad thing about this is that to get these things, I need to go to Timisoara and that usually means that I go by bus and am limited by what I can carry and the relatively high costs of consumer products here in Romania. I will keep you posted on my adventures.
School is going pretty good at the moment. As well as teaching, there is a project that I am going to have going on over the course of the next two years. The library does not have a single English book in it and I am going to start having people from home send in books that they wish the school to have. There will be more about this on here soon. I promise.
I am coming up with a list of things that I would like to have but I am still in the phase of determining what I can get here. There will be a future post soon on just what I would like the wider world to send me here in little Ciacova.
Overall, I am pretty good. Things here are a lot like home when I was a child. The only difference is that I don't have the family and social network that exists at home and and I am pretty sure (for the moment) that I will not me able to get the net in my apartment; at an internet cafe at the moment.

Ceau!

New address!!

Here is the addy for my apartment that I will be moving into next week. Now that I am permanent here in Ciacova, I expect those of who I know to start mailing me and maybe even sending a few packages here and there.

Bennett Christopher
Str. Cetaţii, nr. 2
Ciacova
307110
Jud. Timiş
Romania

I will be posting a list of things that I might want, things like brownie mix, hot sauce, things that I cannot get here in Ciacova or in the rest of Romania.

Ceau!

The way things are

Life is good.

I arrived in Bucuresti on Saturday afternoon, took and cab to the Peace Corps office and then to the hotel and promptly fell asleep. I awoke to my surpise at 2 am in the moring, stayed up until around 6 and then slept until 10. Jetlag is a bitch. Sunday was spent doing much of nothing except waiting for my train to leave that evening. Most of that time was spent at the PC office playing on the internet.
One note of advice about buying train tickets here in Romania. Do not wait even until a couple of hours before the train leaves. I wanted to buy a ticket on the Intercity (IC) train that runs from Bucuresti to Timisoara at 3:45 pm but that was not to be. Instead, I had to buy a ticket that left Buch at 9:45 and would arrive in Timisoara at 8 in the morning. The problem about this train is that instead of taking the normal route through the southern sector of the country and then cutting north, the train went straight into the mountains and went north of Arad and then cut south of Timisoara. I was nervous for a while that I had taken the wrong train but I was reassured by the other man in the compartment that indeed, the train was bound for Timisoara.

I was picked up by the school driver and taken back to my gazdas house where I promptly again fell asleep. I can't really sleep on trains. I slept until that evening and then spent time with my family here in Romania.

The next morning, Tuesday, was my first introduction to the school, its teachers and its students. I met with the director of the school and then went into the teachers lounge where I shook every single persons hand and introduced myself to them. After that, it was time for the students. Professor Romeo (haha, he is a funny guy with a funny name) took me around each classroom in the school and I told each class a prepared piece about me. After all of that, I sat in a class that my counterpart, Judit, teaches and discussed different things about English and about me. I only had to teach one class that day. I would like to tell you that it went perfect and everyone was engaged. That was not my experience. Much of that class was the students just staring at me and me trying to think of things to say. Luckily, I was prepared for this by the second time I taught and the subsuquent classes I taught where much more lively.

On Tuesday, Roxana (one of the TEFl directors) came by one her route of making sure all of the TEFl volunteers here in Romania are okay. Most of the time, she expects to sit in a class but luckily she understood that I am running around like a chicken without a head and we jsut talked. After that, we all sat around the table, talked about different issues that are going on. We then discussed the matter of my housing here in Ciacova.

An apartment has been found for me here in Ciacova. It is in the center of town, above the post office. I will have two rooms, plus kitchen and bathroom. The only problem is that the apartment has not been lived in in a long time and the place reflects that. In what will be the beroom, the wooden tiles have got wet some time in the past and rotted so that is in the process of being replaced. In the lack of being lived in for a long time, there is the expected dust, spiderwebs and all around mess that will be cleaned up. The water heater in the bathroom is bad and is being replaced. There isn't a servicable refrigerator or stove in the kitchen and newer ones that work will be provided for me. Speaking of that, there isn't furniture in the place so Caritas, a service organization that has a branch here in Ciacova is providing this for me. Outside the door of the apartment was an open area to the roof of the building that pidgeons have over the past years roosted in and therefore shat all over the place. Thank goodness that has been sealed off and been cleaned of detrius. And now for the coup de gras, ladies and gentlemen. The heating system in the building is controlled by the post office downstairs and at night and on the weekends, they turn it off. Unfortunately for me, that means there isn't heat provided when I will be needing it most during the winter. Thank God that Roxana had a portable heater that they were going to give to another volunteer and she reappropiated it for me. :) It won't be cold enough at night for a while for me to actually start using it but I probably will starting sometime in late October or early November and will have to learn how hot it gets and how much electricity the unit uses. The Peace Corps provides us with extra money during the winter months and if we go over that, I think there is a rembursement form that I can fill out to cover the expense. Needless to say, there might be some cold nights here in Romania and I am thankful for the massive amount of winter clothing that I just brought back from America. I think I might need it. Over all though, I am really excited about getting my own place (even though I really like my host family here) and hope to get settled in either this upcoming week or the next.

I went to Timisoara on Friday to have photos taken for my legitimata. That is basically the national Romanian ID card and all Peace Corps volunteers are required to get one. I have heard that it takes a lot of paper work and even cost quite a bit of money, but the PC remburses us for that too and I hope it won't take too much time or headaches to complete.

Ok that is all I have to say. I got a camera when I was back in America and will taking many photos of my life and travels here. I am really appreciative of the notes of condolences and of encouragement that you all have given me and that really helps. Take care for now and have a wonderful day.

Ceau

Back!

I have returned to the land of cabbage and vampires. When I get settled in Ciacova, I will tell more about my travels.

See y'all.