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| I had this note.. all written out.. and then IE decided to randomly close.
F you IE. F you.
Let's try this again... On Firefox!
Sinaia
Sinaia was very pretty. We didn't get there until like two hours after we were supposed to because our stupid train was late. But we got there. We took a taxi to Peles Palace and went on the extended tour. I really enjoyed seeing all of the gorgeous furnishings in the castle. Definitely more extravagant than Bran! Every inch of the place is just covered in detail.. it's like impossible to take it all in! We had to wear slippers over our shoes because all of the carpets were actual 18th century antiques, and the dirt we tracked in would ruin them. I particularly like the armory room, the dining room, and the ladies in waiting rooms (which were two stories!). We had like no time for shopping, and ended up taking a taxi back to the train station (where we got ripped off by the driver grrr). But before we left, we had to pee. So we went downstairs into these restrooms where we had to pay to use them. Well.. the word "toilette" does NOT guarantee an actual TOILET! We were presented with porcelain holes in the ground. O.O;;; Paula opted out but Jessi and I braved them... Traumatizing.. But then we got on the train and it was just like going to Hogwarts! It had compartments and we sat in ours feeling like awesome wizards off to fight the bad Voldy lol
Bran
The next day Jessi went with me to Bran castle and it was pretty ok. Not as cool as Peles but since it's renowned as Dracula's castle it gets points. The inside of the castle is very bare of impressive furnishings but I still wouldn't mind living there. The tourism there is very good. The shops are awesome. I loved all of the vampire stuff. I bought myself an Ocarina that looks just like the one in Zelda. Soo cool. I want to go back and shop some more but I don't think I'll be able to with the amount of time I have left :(
Movie Night
We watched a Romanian movie one night. It was pretty cool with English subtitles, although sometimes the subtitles would only flash for a second and they were too long to read. It was about a young woman trying to get an abortion in communist Romania (they were illegal then). It was different. I enjoyed it though.
Dance Night
We also had a dance lesson night where we learned some traditional Romanian dances. When I come home you guys have to learn them too so you can do them with me! They are fairly easy in theory, not a lot of steps. But still kinda hard sometimes lol. Maybe we can youtube them... I even heard some people doing the dances at a wedding I passed by one day here! So cool!
Work
Work has been fun. I work in Prejmer, a littler town about 30 minutes by bus from Brasov. I work at a summer club type thing that has activities for the children to do in the summer time. I rescued a kitten from underneath a car, which was fun. I got dirty. :P
Sighisoara
Sighisoara was very cool. We went to see the clock tower there. Our train ride there was in the end nonexistent.. We got on one train, and then got off cause we realized it was the wrong one. When we tried to get on the other train a man told us to get off (in Romanian). We asked an official looking person who also did not speak English and she seemed to say that it was the wrong train and that we should get on the train at 9. We waited till 9 and got on that train and they told us to get off (in Romanian) and kept pointing to the time on our ticket. We went downstairs to the ticket office and tried to communicate what happened (again, no English). We finally called Jessi's host mom who communicated the situation for us (she could speak Romanian and English) and she told us that we had been told wrong and should have stayed on the second train. Ugh! So we ended up taking the bus. We missed the clock tower turning at noon, something we had wanted to see. The clock tower has these figures on it that change everyday at noon. It was still very pretty. Then when we got on the train to go back to Brasov we met these Romanian guys who kept making kissy faces at us. They took our picture and spent about 10 minutes just trying to get Paula's picture. Jessi has pictures of them.
Well that's it so far.. I will try and update soon about Sibiu (which was awesome).
Only one more week in Romania! Ahhh! Where has the time gone?! | | |
| Sooo I am at the office waiting for my laptop to start up. I'm on the community computer, but it is very slow. My battery charger for my laptop seems to have died, so I'm wondering if my laptop will continue to work at all... I might have to rely on some friends' computers for uploading pictures because at this rate I can't turn my computer on to download the pics onto a flash drive. I am rather frustrated.
This weekend we are going to Sinaia to see the palace there. I am excited about that. It will be my first touristy thing to do since I don't think I will get to see the black church this week if I don't go tomorrow. Maybe I will wait to do that until my parents get here?
Oooo! My laptop! It's on the login screen! Breakthrough!
Oook what has happened... I had my first day of work which was fun. The kids were all trying out the different games I had. They played things like rainbow tag, duck duck goose, red light green light, and simon says. I had to tell the instructions in English to one teacher who would translate in Romanian for me. The other teachers speak more English than they let on but they won't really talk to me in English. I got to try some Romanian food. They gave me what the children were eating, which looked like a piece of bread with a sort of bean paste spead on it. I ate it and it tasted pretty good. I asked what it was and they said it was made of cow organs o.o; It was still good though. I told them I wasn't afraid of food lol. I also had an apple which was not like in America where we produce very big, pretty, shiny apples. It was a small apple with some brown on it. It tasted like any apple, but the texture was similar to a pear.
On the way back I got lost o.o;; I got off on the wrong stop because everyone else was getting off the bus I felt like I should too. Well it turns out I got off one stop too early. -.-; I called Dani in a bit of a panic and she told me how to get home. Once I got home.. I stayed home..
The other day Jessi and I went out for ice cream. The ice cream here btw is AWESOME! I wish I could bring some back so you guys could try it!
Tonight is Sophie's last night so we're going to get together andhave pizza. I will take pics of that.
I got my pictures onto a flash drive.. I might be able to upload them real quick before I have to go to work. I will try and do that now.. I also have like three videos... but I don't have time to upload them right now. Maybe I can go to an internet cafe later and do that... On second thought I don't have time to upload pics -.- Sorry! I will find a cafe tonight and try to see if I can...
Miss you all! | | |
| Wow! Brasov is so much more fun when you have others to experience it with! I woke up from a nap on my second day to find another volunteer in my room wanting to take me out to see the others. We went to an Irish pub where I met the others and we shared a bottle of wine because one of the volunteers was leaving the next day. It was a sad/happy event. We then went to a Scottish pub where I had a Sandria and we played pool. My team won :) I didn't get back until midnight.
The next day I met up with Jessi and Sophie and we walked around the center for a bit. I bought a Romanian phone because my phone wouldn't call the other volunteers' phones. It works for international stuff but that's kind it... I tried to get just s sim card but we couldn't figure out the passkey, so I just bought a new phone. It was cheap, just 80 lei (about 25$).
Then we walked around the park and Alex came to take me to lunch. I had some traditional Romanian food. It was interesting. I wish I had taken a picture.
Then I went back to my host family and slept until 7am the next morning.
Today I went to the Projects Abroad office where I was shown how to go to my work and I met the people there. They were very nice but only one girl seemed to speak English. I told them all about the different activities that I have and everything. I think I'm going to like it.
Oh and yes. I have internet. But I don't know if I will ever be online at the same time as you guys. 4pm there is midnight here. And I only get free wireless at the office from 9am to 5pm. >.>;
I have pictures and a video, but I dunno where my camera chord is. Did I bring it...? >.>;;; I HOPE!
Miss you all! TTYS. | | |
| Back in B-town for now. Going through all my stuff and deciding what to put in boxes to keep in storage and what I need for the summer months. Peanut and Neko are safe at home. I like having Peanut out in the open instead of in my closet. Apollo and Magic seem to be showing very little interest which means that I don't have to close my door all the time.
Reading the newest Sookie book made me realize I don't remember what happened in the last book, so I think I'm going to re-read the last book then read the new one. Sounds like a good plan to me. I'm also re-installing the sims 2 cause I can't wait for the sims 3. I'm that bored already.
Hanging with Mercedes tonight. Hope to have fun. yay!
Romania in 21 days! | | |
| I'm going to Japan next January! If enough people sign up for it that is... | | |
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