A Wanderin'

I like the Interwebs.

Where else can I settle an argument in a matter of seconds, see a cat doing pretty much anything and catch up with old friends without having to go through the rigmarole of actually speaking with them? Nowhere, that's where.

However, it's made traveling way more work. In the last month, I've been fortunate enough to see some of Europe's coolest places in the form of Santorini, Athens, Budapest and Prague. When I toured Europe in 2006, I didn't have a blog, nor was I on Facebook. What I remember from that trip was enjoying it, getting home and getting on with my life. This time around, six years later, I got home and had homework, with my 1,100 professors (friends) breathing down my neck.

I'm kidding, of course. Posting (bragging) about my travels is a labor of love. In the words of Joe Walsh, "My Maserati does 185..." Wait, no, wrong one, "I can't complain, but sometimes I still do. Life's been good to me so far."

Anyway, on with it. As previously mentioned, I spent the last three weeks traveling, first hitting Greece then meeting some friends at București airport to swing through my village, and then on to Budapest and Prague. Because I think chronologically, that's how I'll organize this. Also, I'm only going to hit the highlights. I put full picture albums on Facebook with commentary. I'll link to each one in the city name. (They'll also work if you don't have Facebook, if those people still exist.)

First off, Santorini. Santorini is a small island in the Greek isles whose beauty has been displayed by such cinema classics as Summer Lovers with Peter Gallagher, his eyebrows and Daryl Hannah; Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life; and of course, The Sisterhood of The Traveling Pants 2.

Basically, it's a rim of a super volcano that erupted thousands of years ago. Although this brought about a violent end to a whole civilization of people, their loss is our gain, as the result is a narrow slit of land sitting high above the water below providing spectacular views. More specifically, the views from Thira are pretty surreal. Thira is the island capital that faces west and is perched on the caldera (basically the cliff-face).

Views like this:

And this:

The sunsets from Santorini are also world famous, or more specifically, the unobscured sunsets from the northern tip of the island in a town called Oia. We also spent a couple days there, wandering, eating, drinking and figuring out where we're going to take in the sunset. Yes, this sunset:

After an unforgettable week on Santorini, we took the ferry back to Athens for a day to hit some of the most famous sites. I particularly enjoyed the Acropolis, even if my pronunciation slid from Acropolis to Acropolypse to Hypotenuse and everywhere in between.

And given my love of sports, Olympics and hard seats, I also really enjoyed touring the old Olympic stadium.

And cheering...

And VIP-ing...

And running...

And WINNING!

After Greece -- I carried on my gold medal -- we met four of my friends from back home at the airport and took them to my site. The next 36 hours was a blur of palinca, beer, wine, translation and hiking.

Then on to Budapest. I'd heard nothing but good things about Budapest but had never been there. With its cool architecture, natural beauty, rich history and welcoming people, Budapest is definitely nagyon finom.

It was a whirlwind two days where we hit many of Budapest's most famous landmarks, but what stands out for me was the nighttime boat trip we took on the Danube. Budapest is a great place, but after dark -- ohhh yeah -- it becomes magical. The combination of the muted city and the illuminated medieval buildings and bridges gave the experience a cool eerie, surreal vibe.

And then there was Prague. As mentioned, I had been there in 2006, but for some reason, this trip made me fall in love with the city. Sitting here now, I can't put my finger on why. There's simply a feeling in Prague that I've never felt anywhere else.

There's Old Town Square with the Clock Tower, Astronomical Clock and Týn Church:

The Charles Bridge:

Wenceslas Square:

And, of course, the Castle:

Like I said, I can't explain it, but Prague just takes me there. Guess you'll just have to come see for yourself.

And never forget:

I miss you, Coach Taylor.

I'm now back in Tulgheș for a few weeks, working on some miscellaneous projects. This week, I'm trying to put together some information on Tulgheș for a site called villagelife.ro, which is an NGO that promotes rural tourism in Romania by offering tourists a real-deal rural experience. Here in Tulgheș, we have that, by the bunches. I'll be sure to post something once it's live.

Then it's a conference, then HOME! Once I come back from HOME!, I'll just have nine months remaining of my 27 here in Romania, which is a pretty overwhelming thought.

In conclusion, I always struggle with ways to end these rambling blogs.

Hitchhiking Gone Good

Hitchhiking -- a safe activity here, fret not -- can unfold into a vast array of experiences. I've made friends, enemies and everything in between. This experience, though, is by far the coolest yet.


Sara and I were headed to Recaș Wineries for a final wine-tasting before she left Recaș for good. First, a little background on Recaș Wineries: They produce, by far, the best wine in Romania. They've also been critically acclaimed internationally, and anecdotally from this uneducated palate, they're all well deserved.


Anyway, because a vineyard doesn't typically fall into the category of "walking-distance," we decided to hitch a ride. Within a couple minutes, we had a taker.


Sara: Mergem la crama. (We're going to the winery.)
Driver: Bine. (OK.)
(We get in the car, Sara in the back, me in the front.)
Me: Do you have room?
Driver: So where are you guys from? (in perfect English)
Me: We're American.
Driver: Oh, cool, I just spent nine months in Napa Valley, studying wine.
Sara: Oh, do you work for the winery?
Driver: Yeah, I'm, um, kind of the owner's son.


This unfolded into a great conversation on Napa, his experience there, then into a tour of the grounds in his car, where he shared with us not only the present, but his "dreams" for the future. Formally, and now formerly, a lawyer by trade, Narcis, a twenty-something, traded his robe for flip flops and went into the family business. Following his nine months in Napa, he was making a brief stopover in Romania before moving to Paris for three years. His plan is to simply find a job in a restaurant, doing whatever -- washing dishes, busing tables -- and studying wine there. He'll then bring whatever he learns back to Recaș.


I'm not saying this because, despite what his name suggests, Narcis was simply a cool guy, a laid-back fella wearing board shorts, flip flops and a Hollister shirt, who gave us a free tour. Nor am I saying this to brown-nose because someday he'll probably own my favorite winery (although, admittedly, this is part of the equation), but I think they have a bright future. He's intelligent and passionate and has a fresh outlook on a business that certainly has room to grow. There was even a point in the conversation where I suggested he get his MBA because it's one thing to know the wine side of things, but he's also going to have to know how to run a business. His response? "Yeah, good idea! Thanks! I think I'll do that."


Anyway, after our tour of the grounds, we went through the factory, saw the tanks and the wine being bottled (below).

And then, the tasting began. We had a Riesling, a Roze (surprisingly good considering my Roze experience is limited to anything in a two-liter bottle or a box) and a Feteasca Neagra, which is a Romanian grape and means "Black Maiden." It all went with some potatoes and unbelievably tender pork.


Then, because it was a beautiful day, and life was coated with the glossy glow of afternoon wine-drinking, we retired to the outdoor area to enjoy an afternoon-cap overlooking the vineyard.

And, the day wouldn't have been complete without a picture with our new homie.

In the words of Ice Cube, "It was a good day."

A Venit Vară!

Scoală e gata! Am scăpat de griji!

As of today, June 21, 2012, I am officially done with my first school year in Romania.

One year. According to a real sing-y group of New Yorkers, it’s merely 525,600 minutes. What I found in those minutes is that I’m staggered at how much I can come to care about my students in that time.

Teaching has a plethora of challenges, one of them being devising a way for students to remember the word “plethora.” Patience. Flexibility. Adaptability. Perseverance. Compassion. Chalk dust. It’s the hardest job I’ve ever done, and that takes into the account that some days are only 2-3 hours long.

However, amidst those challenges, I found a wealth of relationships. Never did I think a group of fifth-eighth graders could affect me the way these kids have, but I now know that I’ll be invested in them long after I leave here. It may sound cliché – probably because it is – but I guess I hope I had a fraction of the effect on them, that they had on me.

OK, that being said, in the words of the poets Will “The Fresh Prince” Smith and DJ Jazzy Jeff, “Summa summa summa summa time. Time to sit back and unwind.”

On the docket for this summer are some pretty great travel, a few camps and the continuation of some projects.

First, I have another volunteer’s camp at the beginning of July, then Greece! We’re going to hit Athens for a few days, then unwind (see above) on Santorini. And no, it has nothing to do with The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2. (Read: It has EVERYTHING to do with The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2.)

Then, we fly back into Otopeni, eat, drink a beer, and wait for four of my friends from back home to fly in a few hours later. I’m then going to take them to Tulgheș for a day and a half, translate and pretty much overall impress them with my skillz, then we’ll move onto Budapest for a couple days, then Prague.

Come August, I’ll be compiling information for my village to be included on a cool NGO website called www.villagelife.ro, working with a few volunteers on developing a yearlong kindergarten curriculum to leave when we close our post here, doing another camp and having a meeting.

Then school starts again in September. Oh yeah, speaking of September, I’ll be in Minnesota Sept. 7-17. The Fat Kid is getting married, and my mom’s memorial golf tournament, the Janette Paulson Classic, is happening. You might also want to reserve a front-row seat at Ham Lake Lanes Karoake night, because “Walkin’ in Memphis” has been aging for more than a year now, and it’s starting to smell pretty sweet.

I guess that’s all for now. Prepare yourself for some radio darkness for a bit, as this summer already looks to be all fulled up. However, I’m sure I’ll be putting up musings on Facebook and Twitter, so you can feed the need over there.

I wish you all a great summer, and remember, whether you’re, “riding around in your jeep or your benzos, or in your nissan sitting on lorenzos,” don’t forget to sit back and unwind.

Wait, what? An American?

So ever since I arrived in my village, I’ve had these fantasies about coming across a lost American in need of help.

“Why, yes, sir or ma’am, of course I speak English. I’m American! You too? Welcome to Romania! Come! Let me show you my village! Meet all my friends! Yes, of course I can translate for you because I speak another language! Yes, it is very impressive. Why am I here? Well, I’m a Peace Corps volunteer; I teach English. What’s that? It’s an extremely noble and selfless thing to do? Well, I wouldn’t go that far, but I appreciate you saying so. Yes, I’m so glad I could help too. I just figure, if we can’t help each other, what are we doing here? Yes, my parents did raise me well; that’s very kind of you to say. What’s that? I saved your life, and you want to put me in your will? I’m not sure I… OK, if you insist. Yes, that would be fine. Coincidentally enough, I have always wanted a house in Tuscany.”

Despite the fact that I’ve thoroughly choreographed this hypothetical meeting, I had long ago accepted that it’d never happen. You see, I'm pretty isolated. The only way in or out is via one winding, mountainous road with nauseating mountain passes about 15 miles on either side of us. Despite the fact that it's well worth the journey, Tulgheș is not exactly a random stop. If you're here, you mean to be here.

Well, last week, it happened. Maybe not exactly like the above fantasy, much to my chagrin, but it was in the ballpark.

It was Friday evening, and we were waiting for the bus at the “station,” which is really just the intersection where the main road passes through my village.

A guy pulled up on a bike.

“Market?”

“Yes.”

“English?”

“Yes.”

“American?”

“Yes.”

“Me too! I’m from Boston.”

“Ummm, what? Really?”

We soon found out that our new friend, Denis Beaudry, whose blog can be found here, is a 50-something doing a solo ride across Europe and into Asia. It’s the 12^th international trek for Denis, who’s also ridden across the U.S. At that point, he had left Madrid 25 days ago and had been averaging about 90-100 miles per day.

We were, in fact, the first Americans he had met on his journey so far. And needless to say, he was the first American I’d met in my village, at least the first American I’d met in my village whom I hadn’t brought there.

Unfortunately, Denis couldn't stay long. Darkness was approaching, and after I helped him decipher what was to come via his map, he was off to his final destination for the evening, a slightly larger village about 18 km down the road.

However, before he left, he casually slipped in, “So should we do the picture thing?” I was pretty glad he did, because it was certainly cooler than how I had recited doing it in my head: “This is sooo cool! Can we take a picture? Can we take a picture? Please please please please!”

And then, just like that, as mysteriously as he arrived, he was gone.

A few days later, I checked back into his blog, and sure enough, there we are, just as he promised. Unfortunately, no mention of his will.

O Săptămână Bună (A Good Week)

It all started Saturday, when I and four of my best students went to a English conversation camp about three hours away. It started at 9 a.m., so if you're doing the math, that means we had to leave about 5:30 a.m. Well, just to be safe, we went with 4:45 a.m.

The contest lasted about eight hours, so we were back on the road about 5 p.m. With an ice cream pit stop, we made it home about 8:30, so that would be... OK, pencils down: just south of a 16-hour day, a 16-hour SATURDAY.

Anyway, I'll get to the now-buried lead. The kids from our small village took fourth out of 15 teams from throughout the county. This fella was – and still is – proud. They were initially disappointed, but after some pickup – and ice cream – from Dle. Matt, they were "delighted" by Monday, or so my counterpart reported. I'd call that mission: accomplished.

OK, fast forward to Tuesday night. I was a bit sick but determined to get my adult classes restarted after a month-long break for vacation and some other miscellaneous obstacles. I was on my way to school when I happened upon a gaggle of bikers from Radio Mures, a big station that broadcasts throughout our region. After a short discussion, I discovered that they were doing a bike tour of the region promoting local tourism, and after a bit more discussion, I had committed to a radio interview after class.

So, as promised, I swung by after class.

I was greeted in perfect English, "OK, are you ready to do an interview?"

"Sure."

"In Romanian?"

"Umm... sure."

So, this is the final product. (Just scroll down until you find my name.) For those of you who can speak Romanian, be kind. For those of you who can't, it's super interesting.


And for those of you who don't know what a remote radio interview looks like these days, here you go:

Also, the text above reads: "Surpriza cea mai mare a venit când l-am cunoscut pe americanul devenit tulgheşean, Matt Paulson, şi care le predă copiilor din Tulgheş limba engleză. Minunat om, vorbeşte perfect româneşte, iubeşte Tulgheşul, Ardealul şi România, a învăţat să facă sarmale, a îmbrăcat portul popular din Maramureş şi a călătorit cât nu au reuşit să o facă mulţi dintre noi, probabil."

...and translates to: "The biggest surprise came when I met an American turned Tulgheșan, Matt Paulson, who also teaches the children of Tulgheș English. A wonderful person (oh yeah), he speaks perfect Romanian (boom), loves Tulghes, the Ardeal (name for the area) and Romania, has learned to make sarmale, has dressed up in our traditional costumes from Maramureș (another area) and has probably traveled more than many of us have (in Romania)."

I also did a live interview with their main news program, also in Romanian, and even told a joke! I dare say, am ajuns! (I've arrived!)

And here are some of the bicycle enthusiasts on their way out of town, escorted by some of our kids:

Come Wednesday, I had an observation from the county inspector. In the name of brevity, I’ll just say… NAILED IT. To make things better, the new principal was all smiles after she heard the report.

Then, two classes later, I found this when I entered:

Yes, of course I promptly chided them for the incorrect use of the pronoun, but I privately enjoyed the moment. 

So, in conclusion: four kids who loved the competition I was fortunate enough to bring them to, a live radio interview in which I was told I speak “perfect Romanian,” a stellar observation from the county inspector and an affirmation from my eighth graders.

In the words of Sam Elliott in "The Big Lebowski," "Sometimes you eat the bear, and sometimes, well, he eats you." Well, so far this week, Stranger, I got him.

This weekend, we have the second “Let’s Do It, Romania,” a nationwide day dedicated to cleaning up Romania. After that, another week of school, then a language weekend, where we’ll learn slang from another volunteer’s high school students. It should be a weekend that would make Ghița Carlin proud.

Then, more school until the end of June when summer starts. I find it hard to believe that I only have a month and change left of my first school year, but we’ll leave the deep soul-searching for another day. Now? Ready, set, vin.

Un An

One year in the books.

I've learned a language, am working on two more, made more lifelong friends than I can count, seen parts of the world I'd never dreamed of seeing, experienced things I'd never dreamed of experiencing, learned to teach, learned to learn again, and learned to appreciate a new -- albeit sometimes strange -- culture.

Here's to the next one. Abiă aștept.

Școala Altfel

New this year to the Romanian school calendar is a week called Școala Altfel. Essentially, it’s a week dedicated to extracurricular, fun, unique activities.

Now, many of my fellow volunteers planned some pretty cool stuff. I, however, missed our school’s meeting waiting for the plumber, so Școala Altfel was planned fără Americanul.

But, no harm, no foul, because they ended up planning a bunch of cool activities, many of which were environmental, which is what I wanted to do anyway. Now, I got out of the planning stage and just got to tag along and “introduce” English vocabulary where appropriate.

Monday, April 2, Day 1:

There was originally a tree-planting planned for today. However, because we live in the Romanian arctic, the ground is still frozen and not quite ready. Alas, we moved “Ziua Sportiva” to Monday.

“Sports Day” was precisely what you would expect: a day of sports. First, there was a soccer tournament, then a handball tournament for boys, and another for girls. At the end, there was about 5 minutes of tossing around the American football. Hey, imperialism doesn’t happen in a day.

Anyway, see the below pic. We even had a pretty sweet A/V setup courtesy of the IT teacher, Tüsi. I eventually took over this job as inactivity took over me.

And after the festivities, to celebrate the completion of Day 1, we drank țuică.

Tuesday, April 3, Day 2:

I went with the eight graders and two of my favorite teachers – Dle. Constantin and Dle. Aurel – to Aurel’s church to clean up the yard and trim some trees.

Aurel, a priest and the religion teacher, is a really funny guy who likes to try out his English on me. He’s also dead-set on converting me to Orthodox and finding me a girl in Tulgheș to marry and keep me here.

Dle. Constantin is something akin to Romania’s version of “The World’s Most Interesting Man.” Seriously, he’s into his 60s but defines suave. I want to be like Dle. Constantin when I grow up. Nay, I want to be like Dle. Constantin now.

Anyway, Dle. Aurel and a neighbor (pictured) donned the chainsaws, a handful of students donned axes and the drones (this is where I fell) raked and dragged the downed branches to piles throughout the yard. We then made a fire, because what’s a spring cleaning-day without a fire? Less fun, that’s what.

In addition to learning about trimming trees, or something like that, the students of the eighth grade also found out that Dle. Matt can hold his own as a goalkeeper.

Finally, after working up an appetite in the yard and on the pitch, we ate a giant meal prepared by the students (and Dle. Constantin): something of a soup with pork and potatoes, sarmale, this really good salad with cabbage and pickled something, and a variety of desserts prepared for “post,” which basically means they were prepared without ANY animal products, which to me, sounds like some sort of wizardry.

And after the festivities, to celebrate the completion of Day 2, we drank wine.

Wednesday, April 4, Day 3:

Mergem pe deal! We’re going hiking!

In case you haven’t noticed, I live in a beautiful place surrounded by mountains. (And seriously, if you haven’t noticed, I’m a bit worried about your receptivity, because it’s pretty much all I talk about here, on Facebook, via messages, chat, Skype…)

Anyway, one of our greatest natural resources is simply the ability to hike pretty much anywhere surrounding the village. So on Day 3, we teachers and about 150 students hiked a few hundred meters vertical and had something of a picnic on this great weedy plateau that’s one of my favorite places here (pictured).

Each class then had to prepare a cold-food platter with as much as possible “de casă” (homemade). Dle. Matt was thankful to be among the judges, as it was all delicious. Among the offerings: homemade lemonade, a really good potato salad, salami, veggies, cheese wrapped in a ham blanket, homemade zacuscă (a vegetable spread I’ve fallen in love with here), a variety of cheeses and olives, and slanină (basically straight, raw pig fat that I’ve grown to at least tolerate and sometimes even enjoy. Sometimes).

We then headed back down, and given that it was a perfect day, Dle. Matt was perfectly content to “supervise” from the rear. (Read: Take his sweet time.)

Haideți, Dle. Matt! Vă asteptăm!

 Thursday, April 5, Day 4:

Day 4 began with a bit of uncertainty for me. Because of the cancellation of Monday’s tree planting, everything was sort of moved up a day, leaving me a bit in the dark as to what was going on Thursday.

However, upon arrival to school, I found out the majority of students and teachers were going back to Pintec (see Tuesday) for a literature and religious session. Although I knew it’d be in Romanian, anything that encourages the kids to read, I want to be a part of.

What I found was something much more religious than literary. However, it was a really nice program where the kids talked about what they prayed for, why they pray and told stories from the Bible. While I enjoyed it, I couldn’t help but laugh at how quickly something like this would be squashed in a public school in the U.S.

Now, I’m not attempting to open a religious debate here, but I can honestly say that it was really nice to see a program like this where kids could openly express what they believe without someone becoming outraged. Because, let’s be honest, in the U.S., outrage is quickly overtaking baseball as our national pastime.

After that, Dle. Aurel read the legend of St. George to honor our outgoing principle (Gheorghe). After it got a bit long – even Dle. Aurel said he was bored of listening to himself read – ca de obicei, soccer ensued.

Then we ate sarmale, again, and drank wine, again. Not that I’d ever complain about either of those things.

And without further ado, the man, the myth, the legend, Dle. Constantin:

Friday, April 6, Day 5:

Suntem liberi! We’re free!

Our new principal informed us that Friday of Școala Altfel will be a pretty sweet experiment called, “Don’t come to school.” I’ll bite.

So I’m on vacation. As usual, I’ll be spending much of it traveling. On tap this break is a trip to Maramureș, a richly historic area in the northern reaches of Romania. After Maramureș, we’re heading to Salzburg and Vienna, two places I’ve never been and am anxious to see.

Pictures and pithy anecdotes to follow. Until then, Happy Easter!