Spring Visitors - 2 (part 1)

My next visitor was Martha, whom I have known since I worked at Novant Health in the mid 90s.  She arrived in the afternoon of Tuesday, April 16 and departed May 25.  Her first evening she and Amanda went out to dinner together while I went off to teach class. So our visit really started Wednesday morning. We started with a trip to Herestrau Park.  We were looking for bicycles to rent, but learned they would not be available until May 1.  And so we walked...

Emerging from the park, we encountered the Press building, a 1956 Stalinist structure that looms over that corner of Bucharest.

The sculpture in front is an abstract intended to evoke Romania's intersection with the rest of Europe.  It replaces a statue of Stalin...

From the park we went to the market at Obor.  While the fresh fruits and vegetables were bright and plentiful, we were also interested in the fish market.

Thursday we toured the Palace of the Parliament.  One must pay a fee to take pictures inside, which Martha did, so what follows are hers...

Stefan cel Mare (Steven the Great), the one whose street and Metro stop we are living closest to, is the one in the center front of the arrangement (far left in the picture).

The building has, indeed some fine workmanship and there are many details that are visually beautiful.  I am intrigued by the facts that most of the materials are native to Romania, that it is second only to the Pentagon in area, and that when one finishes the tour one has covered 2 or 3 km of walking, but has seen less than 10% of the whole.  All this is true and yet, knowing as I do that people in Romania were literally starving during the time of its building, that Ceaucescu ordered many fine historic buildings and homes razed in order to have the area for his vision, and that craftsmen and women were ordered into creating what they did, I cannot enjoy the building. 

Thursday evening we attended the Blue Ball (see blog post on Autism Awareness month).

On Friday, Natalia, a friend of Martha's from Moldovia, arrived to visit.  After a welcome breakfast of American French toast, the two of them went off for the day while I took care of a few others things (and in the afternoon attended Amanda's panel discussion - again, see blog on autism).  We caught up later that evening at a concert at the Athenaeum, one of Bucharest's most beautiful buildings in my humble opinion.  In the main concert hall, there is a marvelous fresco depicting the history of Romania (described here).

Saturday, Natalia, Martha, and I roamed around downtown Bucharest a bit more.  I have passed the urban art depicted in the next two pictures numerous times, but it wasn't until Natalia stopped to talk about it that I really took notice.  It is clearly protesting the lack of natural surroundings and the destruction of the environment in building the city (with additional graffiti at the bottom).  Natalia has visited Bucharest numerous times and says she especially enjoys seeking out unusual aspects of the city.

I also like it when I can observe the contrasts that make up Bucharest as clearly as in the picture above.

One of the sights we happened upon - unusual for tourists, but common for the populace - was a baby's baptism.  We had gone into the church simply to see its artwork and were invited to observe and even photograph the baptism ceremony.  The baby was happy enough playing with the crucifix the priest was waving about, but squalled loudly when undressed for full immersion.  I felt lucky to be a part of this family's joy that day.

Yet another church...

with a lovely painting of the archangel Gabriel...

We parted from Natalia in the early afternoon as she had other places to go and people to see.  Martha and I wandered the city, slowly making our way back to the peasant museum and the book studio.  I introduced her to Razvan and shared a little of the progress we are making on the edition of "Romanian Doors".  I am very pleased with the progress and expect we will have all 30 books completed by mid-May.

And then we walked home...

On Sunday we traveled to Brasov to begin our 2-day hike...  Continued in Part 2.

April - Autism Awareness Month

We have participated in a few activities related to autism awareness this spring...

On April 2 we joined a number of folks from Invingem Autismul, the center where Amanda volunteers, and from a variety of other schools and centers to release blue balloons in honor of International Autism Awareness Day.

On that same day a short article was published about Amanda and me in Romania Insider, an online, English-language news source about Romania.  I was pleased with the tone of the article and it has led to another set of interviews, by another news group interested in our story.  See the first article here.

Then on April 18, we (and our friend Martha, see the post titled "Spring Visitors 2") were honored guests at the Blue Ball, a major fund raiser for Invingem Autismul.  Martha took the first two pictures below.

 The next two pictures were taken by official press at the Ball.  Amanda spoke for a few minutes about overcoming challenges related to her autism and then her short film, "Sweet Tooth" was shown.

I managed to make Amanda happy and contribute to the center at the same time by being the winning bid on a 3-day trip to Innsbruck, Austria and a visit to the Swarovski crystal factory.

The day after the Ball, Amanda participated in an international panel discussion of 3 young adults with autism who spoke to an audience of parents, other adults on the spectrum, and professionals who work with autism.  Pictured below are Amanda's fellow panelists, Josef Schovanec from France (far left) and Scott James from England (far right) along with the translator whose name I did not get and Andreea Sorescu (in blue), the director of Invingem Autismul.

It was amazing to me to listen to the three of them.  In the first place I was impressed by how well they each spoke and shared of themselves.  It was also interesting to note how much their stories overlapped - wanting friends, but feeling isolated; being bullied and teased at school; struggling to make sense of the world.  And yet each has achieved some sense of success and is in a position to give to others.

The day ended with Amanda spending time with yet another autistic young adult, Alexander, who was born and raised in Germany, but who now lives in Bucharest.  I suspect we will see more of him.

Spring Visitors 1

Our first visitors this spring were Mariah, Kai, and Kate who came during Mariah's and Kai's spring break from school.  They stayed in the apartment below me, which gave them some privacy along with the convenience of being so close.  (Unfortunately for future guests, the apartment has now been rented to long-term folks, a family from Austria.)  M,K,K arrived midday on March 28 and left early morning a week later. During that time we: visited Herestrau Park and the Village Museum; played at 3 or 4 different playgrounds; visited a classroom of 5th graders; talked and caught up; ate street food, restaurant foods, and home-cooked meals; toured the historic center; played UNO; and they went off on their own to Brasov and to Bran Castle...  And I am sure I am leaving some things out.  Oh yes, we went to the market, walked around the neighborhood, and they toured the Parliament building.  I was so glad they had come to visit us and I believe they enjoyed themselves.

On the morning after they arrived, the four of us got moving early (Amanda slept in) and met Jessica, my American friend who is an English teacher here in Romania.  Jessica was a Fulbrighter last year in Montenegro and decided that she liked living abroad well enough to apply for English teaching positions.  Anyway, we met up with her and then with her two 5th grade classes.  She had the students begin by writing some questions they would like to ask American visitors and then we broke into smaller groups and had conversations. I was very impressed by their English language skills - which of course they were busy practicing while talking with us.  Some of them asked good, depth questions, but there was also a lot of "what's your favorite food?" and "do you have pets?".  It was an enjoyable to get some insight into another aspect of Romanian life.

At the Village Museum...

At some of the parks and playgrounds...

Romanian playgrounds, unencumbered by threats of lawsuits, have way cooler equipment than American playgrounds...

 The parliament building...

Unfortunately, on their last day with us, Ralph was hit by a car.  He and Amanda were right in front of the house, having just finished a walk in the neighborhood.  Since both of them are deaf, neither heard the car coming...  We are VERY impressed by the emergency veterinary care Ralph received.  A vet and assistant came to the house and checked him out, then took him by vet ambulance to get x-rays, then to the vet hospital.  Here he is the first day, then with his leg splinted prior to surgery, then walking home two days after surgery to repair his broken leg.  He is mending well now.

And to top off the trauma of the end of the visit, Mariah lost or had stolen her camera on the very last day as well.  Bummer of a way to end their week!  

Despite it all, we had a good time and I think they got an excellent taste of Romania.