I think it's been a couple weeks since my last update. I could very easily check that right now, but I'm not going to, so let's go with "a couple of weeks."
I'm currently sitting on my front steps on the beautiful final evening of Zile Tulgheșului (Tulgheș Days, some photos starting here). A storm passed through a bit earlier, leaving behind a wicked rainbow (single) and clearing the skies for the fireworks set to start in about 50 minutes (went forward in time and already got pictures before it happened). I was one of three judges this morning at the cook-off, which was ironic because one of the categories was "traditional food." I've been here four months; clearly I'm qualified to judge this.
I spent the last two weeks in Odorheiu Secuiesc at a couple English camps. The first had a young group of kids -- aged about 6-8 -- and an older group -- maybe 10-14. The second week was all little ones: 21 4- to 8-year-olds.
Each age has its challenges. With the younger ones, it's really easy to make them love you; you just bring enthusiasm and a bunch of games. But it's also much more exhausting because their attention spans are shorter and energy is higher, so you need more activities to keep them engaged, and more energy to keep them excited (and to keep up).
What made it even more difficult is the language barrier. Odorheiu Secuiesc is the Romanian name of the town we were in. Udvarhely is the Hungarian name, which is what we'll use moving forward because it's 96-percent Hungarian, and if you don't speak Hungarian -- and I don't -- you're actually better off with English rather than Romanian. This fact made classroom management a bit dicey when we couldn't communicate above some very simple vocab and superficial exchanges.
A quick history lesson: I live in the Szekély region of Romania. It's largely ethnic Hungarian because this used to be the eastern border of the Austro-Hungarian empire, and the ancestors of the Hungarian families here were charged with protecting the borders from the Ottomans and all their furniture.
OK, we're back. Anyway, the students were sweet and adorable. I had my favorites, and my "less favorites," but overall, it was a great experience. Not only did I enjoy meeting the kids, it's nice to get some camps under my belt with this age. Oh, and I now know the Banana and Moose songs by heart. And "by heart," I mean I fall asleep and wake up with them frolicking around my brain. (If you're not familiar, just youtube it. There will be about a million videos. Warning: Do it at your own peril.)
In between the camps, Meg and I took a trip to Sighișoara. It's this really cool medieval citadel town about 50 km from Udvarhely. The highlights are the great hilltop Clock Tower, Church on the Hill, the old German cemetery, and a bunch of other cool buildings dating back over 600 years. (Check out the photo album for more info, and I put up a few videos of some live music we stumbled upon. Also, here's more historical info. Big ups, Wikipedia!)
Oh, and it's also where Vlad Tepeș was born, which not only adds to its history but also provides for a buttload of kitschy Dracula stuff to be sold. I do not encourage this, which is precisely why I bought an awesome Dracula bottle opener. Wait, what? Actually, it is indeed super corny, but it's also endlessly amusing, so I approve.
And now I'm back in Tulgheș for a week before a weeklong Peace Corps conference in Sinaia, a few hours south. After that, school's in! I'm excited to get started. This time of adjustment has been nice, but I want to get going, get teaching and really start figuring out what kind of projects I and -- more importantly -- my community want to pursue.
Until next time, keep your stick on the ice.
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