Planet Petrom

Currently I'm having my on-arrival training in Natural Park Lunca Muresanului, close to Arad. A lot of intercultural learning, games and drinking. Campfire included. The training will last until tuesday, after which we still have two days for a workshop in photography and video. I might write a seperate message on this world in itself.

Before leaving to this beautiful forest/river-area, Kaie and I had the chance to visit the third possible destination: a village called Suplacu de Barcau, 70 km. from Oradea. It took us almost seven hours to reach it (including a three hour stop in border city Oradea). The spring sun did its best to make us forget the lack of sleep due to the pubquiz the night before. After leaving the bus in Suplacu, our noses took over. It wasn't possible to avoid the smell of petrol. Everywhere in and around the village we stumbled upon oil installations and chimneys, runned by Romanian oil company Petrom. The volunteers ( a French girl, two Spanish guys) we met there told us that one can get used to it. As a compensation for the omnipresent oil money came available for a new youth center.

A second peculiarity of the village is the number of ethnic communities. Romanians, Hungarians and Slovaks are living next to each other. The Roma part of town however looks like a completely different world. We had the chance to see the volunteers in action during an English lesson in the Roma school. It's hard to stay clear from the cliche images when describing it. Fourteen year old girls taking their babies into class, a fight between two boys. The volunteers however did manage to make small steps in breaking the stereotypes.

All in all was this a very impressive day. I got to a see a new side of Romania and it made me wonder where I'm going to stay.

(see slideshow for pictures)

Time is flexible

Only a few days in Arad and I already have to admit that the title of this blog is not entirely accurate. Romanian time is very flexible and not necessarily always flying. Sometimes it walks, it crawls or it takes a tram. Sometimes it's caught in a traffic jam on its way to one of Romania's new palaces of consumption, the hypermarkets. And occasionally it stands still.

It happened when I had to wait in a minibus at Ferihegy Airport for the last customer to arrive. Four hours is a lot of seconds. Since friday I'm discovering Arad and surroundings. I arrived together with Estonian girl Kaie and we're waiting for the rest of the volunteers for our project to arrive. This means that our one-week on-arrival training will start this friday and that we still don't know where we will end up after that. O sa vedem, we will see. A large part of the project is carried out in three villages (far) outside Arad: Covasant, Abrud and Suplacu de Barcau. So far we visited the first two, to get an impression of the work in the local youth centers.

Two funny facts to conclude: the first pub I visited here is called Time to Time... And the clock of the city hall plays Vangelis on every hour (but don't ask me which song it is).

Arad City Hall

Exitus

8 March: Goodbye party in the good old Koningshut. The countdown is running...

"Exitus", sagte der Groβvater, "was das bedeutet? Zunächst heiβt Exitus bei uns das, was ihr heute vorhabt: Abschiedsfest einer Schulklasse. Ferner: Exitus trinken, den Becher bis zur Neige leeren, wenn man Blutsbrüderschaft schlieβt. Ein Wort mit vielen Bedeutungen. Von Exit kommt es und besagt: Er geht hinaus. Er tritt ab. Ausgang. Aus. [...] und manchmal heiβ Exitus Erfolg."
Eginald Schlattner (1933, Arad) - Der geköpfte Hahn