Looking outside the box

Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans. These famous words by John Lennon are especially valid for an EVS experience. After three or four months as a volunteer you start to develop some kind of routine. The same way to youth center, the parties with other volunteers and even the small irregular things -a ridiculously delayed train- become predictable.

Just as some planned things won’t fit in the pattern. In July I spent a week as a 'native English speaker' at an adventure & language camp for children in Muntele Mic . I was not allowed to speak or understand Romanian for a week. The world upside down, but a good experience to see how my fellow volunteers have to deal with children. Out of the blue, Irishman John appeared with his bike on the last day. On his way from Budapest to Istanbul he passed the camp. You can find the result of our spontaneous meeting here.

Romanian alpinist & camp organizer Coco Galescu and me, picture taken by John Hennessy

I already wrote about Mostar. My trip to Bosnia & Herzegovina, Croatia and Serbia was another example of an experience you wouldn't find in a random Romanian village. Another language barrier to cross. The visible past. The amazing seaside. The way people drink their coffee. One thing remained the same however: the ever-returning question why, for gods sake, I'm staying in Romania.

So far, my EVS stage has been quite a local project. This changed with one phone call from Millennium Center. Am I interested in going to Greece? Not once, but twice? Hmm... From the 6th until the 16th of september a youth exchange called Creativity 4: democracy & participation takes place near Thessaloniki. As a group leader I already had the chance to visit the place, and the countdown towards the project is running.

The group leaders of Creativity 4

Another clock is ticking as well. The official end of my stay is coming near. On the 20th of september I'm flying to Amsterdam. What will happen next? In october I'll return for another youth exchange. And then I just might stick in Romania. Who knows? I'm getting used to surprises.

Mostar

There is no better city to look for the blues than Mostar. A stunning beauty combined with a visible painful past. The bridge has been repaired, but mostly tourists are crossing it. Did I ever mention that Romania is a country full of paradoxes? In Bosnia & Herzegovina they are even more striking. It's like comparing the Neretva river (green! blue!) with the Mures.
The timing of my trip has been exceptional. First of all there was the demasque of the alternative healer dr. Dragan Dabic, also known as Radovan Karadzic. I missed the celebrations in Sarajevo, but obviously it was the talk of the town in Mostar as well. I thought Romania to be the country with he most bizar stories and personalities ( just to mention Gigi Becali ), but once again there is fierce competition.
Secondly, and of a completely different order, I was lucky enough to wittness the Mostar Blues festival. It presented blues music in all its varieties: sad and tormented, but also lively and full of energy. With the famous bridge as a stunning background.

The soul of Mostar: Mostar Sevdah Reunion

Mid-term blues

Three months have passed since my arrival in Romania. Time for an evaluation. Last week we spent six days with all the volunteers of our project in holiday resort Moneasa, for a midterm training. A kind of Babylonian garden, part two. Fresh air, forests, hills, and a swimmingpool without water on the day I wanted to swim. I will spare you the details of flip charts, markers, coffee breaks, teambuilding games and the extensive lunches. You can imagine the evenings, filled with social gatherings, more alcohol, philosophic conversations, football (yes, Russia was the better team) and dancing in a cheesy and worn out club.

More interesting might be my personal evaluation. Am I still glad I decided to come to Romania? Will I manage until september? Yes, but... Is my stay here what I expected it to be? Yes and no. It is clear that life here follows high peaks and deep valleys. Currently I'm slightly fed up with false expectations, extreme flexibility, frustrated projects,political games, no running water when it's over 30 degrees, and -since the holiday started- an atmosphere of complete passivity and boredom. On the other hand, i know that perspectives may change very rapidly. One succesful activity can change our world. And fortunately there is still the joy of the little things.

Or is it just my birthday coming up?

Old & New

Yesterday I felt a bit as if a new year had started. No, it didn't start to snow suddenly - temperatures are still reaching 30 degrees. First and foremost: daily business in our host-family has been enriched with a lot of new life on one day: four puppies and ten little chicken. Despite of the weather spring is still in the air.

the pictures of the dogs will follow

Secondly, there were the local and regional elections on sunday the first of june. As a volunteer for the local youth center, I'm trying to stay as clear from politics as possible. But as you could have read before, especially in a village that's sometimes a very hard thing to do. Sunday night was almost like New Years Eve: a lot of expectations, emotions, a countdown and a climax when the results were announced. Then the infamous day after: a slight hang-over, promises to be kept and what will happen with all the good intentions remains to be seen.

election posters the day after

24 hour party people (part 2)

In may the celebrations continued, although with a considerably less religious character this time.

May 1: Labour Day

After 1989 the meaning of International Labour day in Romania has dissappeared. Now people are usually enjoying this day with beer and mici, preferably in the mountains. And so did we. Egija, Ruth, Raul and me climbed up towards the fortress of neighbouring town Siria (for those who know Romanian literature, the birthplace of writer Ion Slavici), where we met mentor Bogdan Calin and enjoyed a splendid view over Romania's western plains. Of course we had our share in the traditional menu as mentioned above, but I can assure anyone that managed to cut down my consumption of alcohol...

May 2: Day of Youth

A good lesson in Romanian planning. On this day we organized several competitions for the local youth: Chess, Remy and Backgammon in the youth center, and football near the edge of the village. During the day, hardly anyone showed up in the center. Only when we had lost all hope –and the football tournament had ended, the kids entered the center to play games. Not according to any scheme, but just to have fun.

The closure of the day was a concert in the local cultural house. Due to an accident it started one-and-a-half hours later, but surprisingly this didn’t affect the amount of spectators. In between the Romanian popular music and a supposedly humoristic act making fun of all the gypsy clichés (the ones present in the room were the ones laughing the most) there was a small award ceremony. For the first time I noticed a rivalry between the Romanian and the Roma kids. Every participant received a diploma and a t-shirt. Everything in orange – you may draw your own conclusions.

May 5: Men’s day

The 8^th of march is international women’s day. According to a survey most Romanians believe they don’t have enough holidays. That’s why one of the biggest beer brands here started a campaign to make the 5^th of may national men’s day. What started as pure marketing now becomes more and more serious. To be honest: I didn’t do anything special this day.

May 9: Day of Europe

Most of the children here have relatives working abroad. And yet, Europe is something very abstract, even despite the fact that you can see the yellow stars on every official building. In the days before the 9^th of may we visited the highest grades of the primary school to give a presentation about Europe. After all, we’re European volunteers. And no, the Unites States are not in Europe.

On the day itself we were invited at the local kindergarten to attend their special event. Not all the flags were drawn correctly, but it’s the thought that counts. Their songs, poems and dances were adorable.

In the youth center we organized a quiz, following the ‘Ren-je-rot’ (who knows the international name?!) formula. After our experience of one week earlier, we feared that no one would show up, but in the end fifteen kids participated in the activities. Especially the goodies (propaganda?) provided through the information office of the European Parliament proved to be a great success. We closed the day with another infamous Villa party in Arad.

May 10: Nunta (wedding)

This was as well the Day of Ecological Action in Timişoara. With the volunteers who survived the night before we went there to participate in a cleaning action. It’s hardly worth mentioning it: since we managed to get lost in the probably-not-so-complicated tram network of the city we arrived in time at the park to see a lot of garbage bags already being full. The Romanian expression for this: a se duce pe apa sămbătei.

In the evening I experienced my probably biggest cultural shock so far. The son of one the George’s was going to marry and Ruth, Egija and me were invited for the party. After spending a day in very international company we ended up in a very local happening. Three hundred guests were sitting at long tables in the cultural house (see also Second day of Easter and Day of Youth). Arriving at 10, we were just in time for the first course of a meal which would last until 3 am, when the wedding cake arrived. In between the courses there were drinks, more drinks, familiar and new faces, and – despite the lack of space – a lot of dancing. On popular Romanian music of course. After half past three we were allowed to leave, but not without experiencing the situation of giving a, for Romanian standards, very modest wedding present to a pair we didn’t know at all. Still, we received our souvenir: a box of cookies and a can of beer. Timisoreana.

May 17: Disco in Şiria

A full week without any special occasions or parties. We had to celebrate this. The kind kindergarten teacher took us to the local disco in her town. It sounds much worse than it actually was. One can actually get used to manele when they play other music as well. The way people dress and behave was simply amusing. (Or is it just me getting old?) Beer was still cheap. Plenty of space outside. There was only one odd thing. Orange posters all over the place and every hour the orange party song. As I wrote before – sometimes it’s difficult to keep things separate here.