A ROMANIAN VILLAGE ENGLISH CHRISTMAS

The sounds of the single bell tolling and the drum beating emanate from the beautiful small painted church on the hillside, echoing down through the valley and all of the way around the village.
Those simple sounds announce that it is Sunday, December 2nd, the start of Advent, and it is the first day of a traditional Romanian Orthodox Christmas. For those who still follow the old traditions, and there are many in the village who do, it marks the start of the Advent Fast, which means that no animal products are eaten until the Fast is broken, on the evening of Christmas Eve. No meat, no fish, no poultry, no milk, no eggs, which can't be easy in a society whose basic diet is entirely made up of these items, and who's favourite vegetable is Pork!
The bell and drums will sound each day during Advent, just as they do on every important day in the religious calendar, and they will count each day away as the four weeks progress.
On December 6th, St Nicholas Day, decorations go up, small token gifts are given to those children who have been 'good' throughout the year, and small decorated sticks are given to those who have not been so good. The tradition of the sticks is that those 'not so good' children are symbolically beaten with them to remind them that they still have three weeks left to be good, and maybe still redeem themselves enough to have presents delivered by Mos Craciun (Father Christmas) early on Christmas morning.
The evening of Christmas Eve then is when the traditional Christmas family meal is eaten here in Romania, even for the many who no longer follow the tradition of fasting for four weeks beforehand.
These weeks are also when the ceremony of 'preparing the pig' takes place. It isn't called that at all, but it is the way Romanians talk about it, and even those who live in the City refer to this special family occasion with fondness. Unfortunately that also means that this is the time when we hear the sounds of pigs being slaughtered around the village. It's not nice, but it is over very quickly, and it does help us to understand the reality of things, particularly for those of us who have been used to buying meat in shrink-wrapped plastic from supermarkets and have therefore been able to shut out this essential, but ignored part of the process of getting it there. It's part of 'living a 'real' life', which is often how we describe our lives here. Once the animal is gone it is used to make sausages, it is smoked, parts are minced to make Mici, the skin and fat are dried to make Slănină (which is basically just pig fat eaten as part of the basic diet), and great lumps of meat are smoked and reserved for that ever so important Christmas Eve family meal, and the whole family gather together after the pig is killed to help to prepare each item.
It is wonderful to see and to be a small part of it, as Christmas comes slowly here, and the build up to it is such a busy time. We have been invited a few times to join in, but as yet we haven't been able to, for lots of reasons, but one day we will, and I know we will enjoy it.
It will be no worse than going to a barbecue in The Lebanon, which I have also done, when the first thing that happened was the delivery of two live sheep on the back of a pick-up truck.......first, select your sheep, .......second. slaughter it, ..........like I said, it's real life, and it was a great and very very tasty barbecue.
We try our hardest to live our daily lives as our Romanian friends and neighbour's do throughout the year, only occasionally reverting to type and cooking in a traditional English manner (in other words...curry!). The only exception to this being tea, which we just can't give up. We simply can't get good English tea here, so when we do receive the odd packet from our visitors or friends it is a real treat.
However, Christmas is different. Christmas is something that we want to do in the way we have known it for so many years, but it isn't simply a matter of going to the supermarket to buy all we need as we would have done when we lived in England. There are so many more things that we simply can't get here, and it is at this time of year that you realise it most.
So, just like our neighbour's are doing, we have been preparing for it for weeks. We may not have been doing the same things, but in our own way we have been just as busy as they have, and we have gathered everything we need to make our little Christmas perfectly English, but there is so much of it that we have to make for ourselves.
Our first essential is to have logs cut and ready for the fires to keep us warm, all done, and it is very 'unRomanian' of us to be this ready as we often hear the sound of logs being chopped around the village on Christmas day itself.
Our tree is up in our lounge, decorated and looking beautiful. Unfortunately we couldn't afford to buy a real one this year, nor did we have time to go into the forest and fell one, so it's our old artificial tree, but it looks beautiful all the same.
We actually made  a pretty good job of our traditional Christmas last year, without really  trying, but this year we determined ourselves to do it better, much much better.
We have our turkey, in the freezer and waiting for the day, we have potatoes, which we will cook in pork fat to be perfect, golden brown and crispy on the day. We have Carrots and Parsnips, as well as Brussels Sprouts, sadly not home-grown, but next year they will be. 
We can make our own gravy, we can make our own Yorkshire Puddings if we want them (and the other 'alf does make a particularly nice job of them!).
We have a still-in-date unopened jar of Cranberry Sauce and we have a few Christmas Crackers that we saved from last year, so we can wear the silly hats, enjoy the little tokens, read and laugh at the silly jokes and the not-so-wise sayings from within as we eat.
So what else could we possibly want?
It's when you ask yourself that question that you realise that it isn't actually the 'big' items that make the perfect Christmas at all, it's the small additions that just finish things off and make them perfect.
Like stuffing!
How could you eat a Christmas Turkey without stuffing? It just wouldn't be right would it?
And chipolatas to be wrapped in bacon? Where would Christmas be without those?
So we''ll just pop out to the shops and get some Paxo shall we? Oops! No!
Now I am sure that there will be many reading this (at least I hope someone else reads it!) who are good cooks and who will say 'Hey making your own stuffing isn't difficult!', and I am sure you are right, but when you have never done it before it is a daunting prospect. 
Just as it was for me when we created our own cottage garden this year to grow our own produce for the first time. Having never, ever, had any interest in gardening whatsoever in my life, it seemed miraculous to me when this rough patch of ground that we had painstakingly fenced off from our dogs and prepared produced, Spring Onions, Lettuce, Potatoes, Red and White Onions, Garlic and Tomatoes in abundance! I have really caught the bug now and I am so looking forward to Spring arriving early so that we can get on with it again, and I am determined to build a Greenhouse from old windows too!
We managed to make stuffing well last year but had trouble getting the ingredients as fine as we would have liked them to be, as a result we had chunky Sage and Onion stuffing. It was very nice but this year we will do better....why?.....well we  bought a meat grinding machine!!!
Having this marvellous tool in the kitchen has opened our eyes to a whole world of new possibilities. It has a sausage pipe, so the first, obviously, was good old-fashioned English Bangers. 
Hooray! sausages WITHOUT garlic!!!
There they are ready and waiting in the freezer. We got a bit carried away though, we have about 100 of them, of all types, plain pork, pork and herb, pork and leek, etc., and as the other 'alf, (she who must be obeyed in all things) isn't really that fond of sausages it means that John and I have an ample supply to keep us going for a while! We have now found good bacon too, unadulterated with garlic, so Pigs in Blankets, Angels on Horseback, whatever you want to call them are simply no problem this year.
Our stuffing's will be finely minced as well, so who needs Paxo anyway?
There will be three on the menu, Sage and Onion, of course, Chestnut, and a sausage meat stuffing.
We have a Christmas Pudding too, two actually, thanks to a good friend. No cream, but we can make custard OK.
We also have six PG Tips tea bags stashed away, so we have good tea on the day too. These are what remain of a box that a volunteer bought with her at the beginning of December, having heard about our plight. We have been fortunate enough over the last few years to host many wonderful volunteers and guests here, but this lady is very very special. The week she stayed with us was a wonderful one, re-awakening us to the real reasons we are here in Romania. We have all become great, lifelong friends, and one day I will write more about her, but at the moment she is too greatly missed, and I know that if I write as we truly feel then there will only be more tears, as there were on the day she left, and have been occasionally when we have spoken since. Suffice it to say that when she arrived, she bought the beginning of our Christmas with her.
We also have some new but already very good friends and family sending us parcels full of goodies to help our Christmas along, and we are looking forward to their arrival with some excitement. They will have the things that we can't really make in them, including more tea bags,   English biscuits (Ginger Nuts and Custard Creams.....what else?), a few little surprises too I should think, and a bottle of Glenfiddich from a very very generous friend.
Having all those sausages, and having found good bacon, also means that next years weekend treats of a homemade Full English Breakfast are no problem! (And here I was earlier, talking boastfully about trying to live life like a local! Oh well, the occasional treat can't hurt can it?)
Christmas Day then is sorted. We have all of the food we need to make our perfect meal, local wine is excellent and very cheap, and we can also top it up with Ţuică
We'll be in English Christmas heaven for the day, and there's bound to be a daft English, Australian, or American movie on Romanian TV that we can sit and watch as it all goes down in the evening.
Last year, for some reason we don't know, we all woke up at 3.30 a.m. on Christmas Day, just like over-excited children. Having nothing else to do we switched the television on to find a film called 'Malcolm' beginning. It's a fairly odd but amusing Australian movie about some unlikely people who commit a robbery, and it was perfect for that day and time. If we could we would have made it part of all our traditional Christmas's from then on.
However, we then have Boxing Day don't we? It is as an essential part of the traditional English Christmas as the day is itself, and it is the day that provides my favourite meal of cold meats, mashed potatoes, and pickles.
So this is an easy day huh? It's just leftovers.
OK yes, we will have the cold turkey, we have a tin of Ham (only in a tin because this year we couldn't afford the complete leg of smoked Romanian ham that were on sale in the market, but maybe next year). Mashed potatoes are obviously no problem either, but pickles??
Now I have already written at length about pickles and the British love of them on Boxing Day in an earlier Blog, 'Creating The Perfect English Christmas',  and about the fact that to have them we have had to make them, throughout the year, so that they mature sufficiently in the jars to be perfect on the day. So we have chutney, pickled onions, simple pickled vegetables, and most important of all Piccalilli!!! Along with bread and butter it will be great.
Anything that is left over after these feasts will be used to make a pie and also some curry to keep us going into the New Year, or will be shared with our dogs, which is the best way by far to recycle.
So, our Christmas is sorted, and has already started, in  a very very Anglo/Romanian manner, and all of the hard preparation will be worth it, I know.
In the 7 days we have remaining before the big day we have been invited to spend time with many of our friends at their houses in the village. 
December the 21st will also be a special day as we have agreed with a number of friends on Twitter to have a Christmas sing-a-long at 12 midday GMT. We will all be singing along to Slade's 'Merry Christmas Everybody' and then posting links to the videos on  twitter for all to see. As long as the Mayans aren't correct and it isn't the end of the world that day, it should be great fun, and it is a fantastic thing to be able to do with people from all over the world. If you fancy joining in after reading this, just get in touch on Twitter using @HolidayinRomani, it really is  a case of 'the more the merrier'.
We have also been 'told' to be at the village bar on Christmas Eve afternoon by the boss there, Gica, to join in with the singing of traditional carols, (and probably singing a few English ones in return), the drinking of hot Tuica, and lots of general merriment. It is a very very good job though that we have ourselves as prepared as we are already, because I know that spending that afternoon at the bar is very likely to render us incapable of doing anything worthwhile during that evening.
Christmas is so much more of a special occasion when it has to be prepared for and planned in this way, and with all the hard work and effort it entails. Also when it will be spent with genuine friends and neighbour's who do actually care about us and our welfare. Although I know we will greatly miss our parents, brothers, sisters, grown up children and grand-children and British friends on the day, I also know that our British Christmas could not be any more special than it will be here, in a tiny village in the heart of Transylvania, Romania. 
It would be fantastic if one day, somehow, someway, we could get them all over here so that they can experience this special time in this very special place for themselves, but we will talk to them all on the day anyway so that we can feel that little bit closer.

What could make Christmas more perfect then than this? Well everyone's dream is to have a white Christmas isn't it? Sorry to boast, but we already have that too! About 8 inches of snow lying and more to come!














So may I wish all of those of you who read this as good a Christmas as we will have, particularly those of you who will be away from family as we are.


Craciun Fericit!!!


Steve, Alison, and John


For more information about why three Brits should be crazy enough to be here in this tiny village in a remote part of Romania (Transylvania) please have a look at our websites www.volunteerromania.co.uk and www.holiday-romania.co.uk or just read some of the earlier Blogs!

THE BEAUTIFUL DANCING FOUNTAIN OF DEVA, ROMANIA

Just a few snapshots that Alison took last night of the fountain in Deva. The fountain was completed this summer and is situated in front of The Casa De Cultura, Deva It 'performs' it's light and music show very evening to the delight of the many families who just come out to sit and watch.

See the whole slide show on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4w08ArsEqXQ

Steve

www.volunteerromania.co.uk
www.holiday-romania.co.uk

FACE PAINTING - THE HIDDEN DANGERS

When we are with the children on the programme with Volunteer Romania, one of the things they love most is Face Painting
It doesn't matter where we are, or which group we are working with, if we open the back of the car and the children see face paints amongst the goodies we have with us on the day, that's it, they will nag forever for us to start painting faces, and usually, at some point during the day, we give in.
Now, before  I came to Romania to work with the children I had never painted a face in my life. Being the father of two daughters it may be a sad and guilty omission on my part, but if they were somewhere that they could get their faces painted, I left it to others far more expert than me to do a good job of it.
I also think that this is a task for women, not men. Now calm down all of you, it's not that I am sexist or anything, I am just a realist. From an early age onward's, women are looking at themselves in mirrors and painting their faces in some way.
I can hear the howls of derision out there in the ether already from thousands of enraged ladies who don't spend too much time doing this, so I will admit that some spend more time than others and some have more success in doing this than others. However, the basic fact still exists that, in general, women will have had more practice than men at painting their faces, so they are better suited than men to this task with children.
So, imagine how I felt when on one of these occasions when we had about a dozen children all  screaming at us that they wanted to have their faces painted and Alison pushed a face paint set into my hand and sat a child down in front of me.

I looked at the child, fresh faced, healthy pink skin, and an enormous grin in anticipation of the masterpiece that I was about to produce upon her already very pretty face. I smiled back, trying to project an air of confidence and some optimism that I might be able to achieve something worthwhile and that wouldn't scare her too much when she looked in the mirror. She had come to me an Esmeralda, I didn't want her to leave as a Quasimodo.
I gulped, held my breath, smiled again and asked;

"So? What would you like to be?

She half leaped out of her chair, bouncing with excitement as she shouted;

"A tiger!!!"

My first thoughts were 'Oh no, I'm leaving'.
I looked at her oh so pretty face, I looked down at the face paints in my hand, and I had absolutely no idea how I could blend both to achieve anything that looked even remotely like a tiger.
I looked around me, towards three volunteers who were already busily applying paint to little faces (and who were all female, I might add!), then towards Alison who was doing the same, all with a lot of chatter and giggling, and all well advanced with the task in hand.
Briefly, Alison glanced in my direction, and she must have immediately recognised the chagrin in my face, the pleading in my eyes, the silent 'HELP ME!'.
With a slight sigh, and that little knowing smile she has when she can see that I am just a mere man and I need help, she placed her paints on the table next to her, excused herself for a moment from the child she was with, stood up and walked over the few paces towards me.

"What's wrong?", she asked, still with that patient, virtuous smile.

"This one wants to be a Tiger!", I whispered, hiding my words behind the cardboard packaging containing the face paints. Alison knew straight away from my tone of voice, and the look of panic in my eyes that this meant that I had no idea of where to begin, so she took the packaging from my hand and turned it around slowly so that I could see the printing on the front.
There, in glorious technicolour, and perfectly clear, was an illustration of a child's face painted to look like a tiger, using the colour's that came in the pallet in the box, and all I had to do was copy it.
She looked at me again, with that slight, patient, knowing smile. You know, that smile that only a woman can use, that smile that says more than a thousand words, and on this occasion meant things like;
'Don't you think I've got enough to do!'
'Use your brains Douglas!'
'Come on! You're supposed to be Arty'
'Typical man, never reads the instructions!'
etc, etc, etc, .....sure you get the point.

Sheepishly, I studied the illustration and made a plan from it as to how I might create something that came within a million miles of it, and started to apply orange paint to the child's face.

By the time I had finished, about twenty minutes later (all of the others were managing a rate of about one child in five minutes!) I thought that I had achieved something that looked like a cross between a manic marmalade tabby cat and road kill, but when I showed the little girl the end result in the mirror, she seemed happy enough, and didn't run away from me screaming in anguish and terror. As she left, I breathed a sigh of relief, but it was short lived as a little boy leapt into the chair in front of me and shouted;

"Spiderman!!!"

This time I thought to look at the box, and sure enough, there was Spiderman, just like a tiger............... only with a spiders web instead of stripes.
Now, it is fair to say that some of the volunteers achieve better results than others, as can be seen from the pictures here, and I have actually learned that sometimes the best results are achieved when you give the children the face paints and let them paint each other. Your simple task then is just to be on hand and watch to make sure that the paints don't end up everywhere!
I learned this one through painful experience, when after applying this strategy to an afternoon's face painting, I got the job of cleaning up afterwards. It only took me an hour!
There is one warning though that should be given, and that is about allowing the children to paint your face!
There are no 'mixed' results here, there is just a mess. Yes, one child asks if they can do it, and being a nice person, you say "Of course" and sit back in the chair ready for another masterpiece to be created upon your visage. (In my case you might call it an 'Old Master')
At that point a riot begins, as you end up with about ten children all trying to paint your face at the same time, brushes poking into your eyes and disappearing up your nostrils, your mouth filling with paint, your hair ending up a sticky mess, and the results can be seen here. 
My face is never a pretty sight at the best of times, but when 'enhanced' in this way it becomes the thing of nightmares, or of horror movies (but maybe I could get a job as a Glam Rock star!). All of that paint also took about a week to wash off!

So, please if you are an expert at face painting, or even just a woman, wouldn't you like to come and make the children happy in this way?


Wouldn't you like to come and just make me happy by taking the task away from me?
Save me! PLEASE????????????? (After all, I am only a man!)

Steve

www.volunteerromania.co.uk

ONE SPECIAL LITTLE MOMENT WITH THE CHILDREN

Think I have said here before that I don't get many chances to be with the children when we are on programme, because my role is more of a support one.
You know, all of those essential daily chores, like driving, shopping, cleaning and cooking (Just call me Cinderella!)
There are so many special moments for me with the kids though, and maybe those moments are more special for me because they occur only occasionally.
There was one late afternoon, when I arrived at the Special Needs Centre to collect a group of volunteers from what I know would have been a long and tiring day. When I arrived though, all of the volunteers were still outside with the children playing ball games and obviously having a great time, so I just sat back to one side and watched while I gave them all a little more time to enjoy the end of their busy day.
I spent a few minutes watching and shouting encouragement and occasionally fetching the odd stray ball and throwing it back into the melee.
As I watched I looked over and I saw one of the little girls who was resident at the centre sitting on some steps. As usual she was just sitting there, staring downwards and rocking to and fro, it was what she did most of the time, seemingly lost in her own solitary world concentrating her vision onto the cold bare concrete below her feet.
I moved slowly and went to sit on the steps too, but not too close.
I am no expert with special needs children, but one thing I do know is that every one is different and very few enjoy having their private space invaded by a stranger.

As I sat down, I was aware that she gave me a very brief glance out of the corner of her eye, so I just sat still where I was while she carried on rocking backwards and forwards. I stayed quiet whilst I was sitting there, no more raucous conversation with the volunteers on the field and playground, I didn't want to disturb what was happening next to me. 
As I sat there I heard her talking quietly to herself, her words matching the rhythm of her rocking, she was speaking her usual words. Words that we had heard her use so often before;

"Shut-up!   Be Quiet!"

It was in Romanian, of course, but these were the only words we ever hear her speak. To hear them almost breaks your heart, because you also knew that when she was at home as a baby, these were the only words that she ever heard. They were her only means of verbal communication.

"Shut-up!   Be Quiet!"

After a few minutes of sitting I leaned forward and picked up a couple of small stones from between my feet and started to play with them and roll them around in my fingers. As I leaned forward I noticed, or at least I thought I noticed, that this little girl also leaned forward further, matching my movement, I also noticed that she had stopped her usual quiet chant. I looked over at her briefly, and for an instant she looked at me too, out of the corner of her eye.
I wasn't sure whether I was correct in what I had seen, so I decided to try again, and I leaned forward, slowly. As I did I looked at her and she too leaned forward further, matching what I did. As I sat back up I rocked slightly further back to match her movements and then, very slowly I continued rocking matching her movements exactly.
She was in charge, if at any moment she showed any sign of upset by what I was doing I would have stopped and if necessary moved away. Instead of being upset though I was aware of another movement from her, as well as rocking to and fro she slid herself slightly along the step to move a little closer to me. as she did so she also gave me another of her sideways glances, I knew I that she too was being as cautious with me as I was being with her, we were both trying each other out. This time though, she looked for a little longer, slid a little closer, and she smiled! It was only a very slight smile, but it was definitely a smile!
I felt great, in such a brief time, by doing something as simple as rocking backwards and forwards with her I had made some sort of contact with her, she knew it, I knew it, and although I had instigated it, almost by accident, she was the one making all of the decisions on how this contact would go.
We carried on rocking backwards and forwards, slowly, in unison, matching each others movements, but we were a team now, 'Rocking' in every sense of the word.
Slowly, bit by bit, millimetre by millimetre, she moved closer, I also moved closer to her, which seemed to give her confidence, it was almost like an invitation, and in no time, she was sitting right next to me.
She looked at me, fully into my eyes and she grinned!
It was an enormous grin too. It was almost as if she was saying;

"Got you!"

I just looked at her and I laughed, while she carried on grinning.
We had both stopped rocking, she became intent on my watch, holding my arm, playing with the strap. 
We sat like that for about twenty minutes, her holding tightly onto my arm, playing with my watch strap, and occasionally watching the volunteers and the other kids playing ball, and occasionally giving each other a little smile. 
While we were like that though she didn't say a word, although with another child that silence would have been worrying, with this little girl it was wonderful not to hear her chanting those horrible words, even for a little while.

Then one of the children's carers came out to call them all inside, to get ready for their evening meal. As she heard the call, the little girl grasped my arm a little more tightly, and at first I thought that she didn't want me to leave, but actually I think it was her way of saying goodbye. Within seconds though one of the other children arrived and sat on the other side of her, as he sat down she immediately let go of me and grabbed hold of his arm. 
This little boy, a little older than her, was her occasional companion, I had seen them together at other times, smiling at each other and arm in arm, just as the little girl and I had been. He had been playing ball with the other children until the call to go inside had come, at which time he had come over to escort her home.

Sometimes it really is just the littlest things that can make a moment so special. This was definitely one of those moments. Just a few minutes when I been allowed into the world of this little girl, a world that always seems so dark, so full of horrible history, but a world which I had just discovered also contained a little cheek, and a little absolutely normal childhood mischief.

How many more of those special moments do we have to come when we work with the children?
I know there will be many more moments, but how many could be as special as this?
I'll tell you for myself, there will be many many more moments and some even more special than this.

Steve

Wouldn't you like to come and create your own special moments? Moments like this that will last you a lifetime?                                               www.volunteerromania.co.uk

WITH VOLUNTEER ROMANIA AND THE CHILDREN - WHAT LIFE IS ABOUT

When I'm working with Volunteer Romania, I am as much of an unpaid volunteer as those people who come from all over the world are.
Unfortunately, I get very few chances to actually spend time with the children, my role is more of a support one, running people around, getting materials, doing most of the cooking (not many complaints there I'm pleased to say), etc. So, the chances that I do get are really precious to me, being with all of the children in the various places we work is such a pleasure, always full of smiles. I can't come away from a day when I have been with the children without feeling good, if absolutely dog-tired! (I really do wish children could give energy transplants too!)
The times that I do spend with the children will all stick in my mind forever, whether it be helping to teach English at The Waldorf School or just cuddling a young orphan at the children's home, every one of those times is such a special moment.

When we were asked to help to teach children here English, the first thing we did was ask the children what they would like to know about the UK.....although only a few of the children put their hands up it was a real mistake! The list was enormous! The kids who weren't confident of their English would tell the few who were what they wanted to know and for a short while it was Bedlum!
They wanted to know about all of the different regions in the UK, how 'one' country could be so many 'different' countries, and what the differences were with each.
I said OK that's what we will do, but set off home not really knowing how I could achieve something that seemed like such an enormous task in just five lessons over five weeks, and as soon as I got home started my research to make myself ready. Thank heavens for the world wide web!

We decided that the best thing to do was concentrate on each region separately, so I prepared Powerpoint presentations for each country, starting with Scotland. For each country we did our best to give a clear representation of the different customs, different countryside, different wildlife, different (and joint) histories. With Scotland the kids loved it when I put on my kitchen apron with a kilt on it to show the 'traditional' dress, but of course what they wanted to know most about was The Loch Ness Monster!........."Is it real Steve?"
We carried on talking about Northern Ireland and England itself following much the same subjects, but it was when we got to Wales that it really became fun. I don't know if many of you realize that Prince Charles has homes here in Romania, he loves the country for the same reasons we do. So to the kids he is as much 'Prince Charles of Romania' as he is 'The Prince of Wales' and it gave all the children a sense of being linked up with Wales somehow.
The lessons were a great laugh, and at one point the English teacher accused me of being more of a child than the kids in the class (which I have to admit is true).
The lessons seemed so chaotic to me, and even though I looked forward to each one, I wasn't too sure how much English the children were actually learning, or if they were really of any benefit at all.
When we had finished the initial set of five lessons, we were asked to continue, which I took as an enormous compliment. so, again, we asked the children what they would like to know about. This time when we asked, almost every child in the class put their hands up to ask for something and they all spoke to me in such clear English. It felt fantastic.
I'm not sure that they learnt anything new form us, but I do know that they became more confident in speaking.

Whenever we see any of those same children now, whether it is in town or at the school they all come running up and they talk..........In English!


It's a fantastic feeling.


English is so important, apart form still being the first language in the world in all of it's various forms, it is also the first language of computing, of the internet. having a base knowledge of the language is therefore so important to help these children on their way upwards in the world.


It's  a privilege to be able to assist in a small way with something that is so important, as well as being a real pleasure, and if I can do it, anyone can!    

Steve

www.volunteeromania.co.uk
www.holiday-romania.co.uk

THAT'S WHAT IT'S REALLY ALL ABOUT

It really is the little things in life that can lift your spirits the highest isn't it?
Sometimes those little things can come from the most unexpected sources and happen in the most unexpected places too.
To be honest, times are a little tough for us at the moment and occasionally it is difficult to keep smiling
We have spent almost the whole of last week on our computers night and day just trying to spread the word abut Romania, and yes, to be honest, trying to drum up some business which has been really slow this year.
So, having been in the house all that time, last night we scraped together some change (and it really was that!) and went down to the bar for just one drink each (total cost for two beers and one tuica is about £1.10, so honestly it wasn't too frivolous of us was it?)
After a slow amble down the road, we got our drinks and sat down with about a dozen friends who were already there.
A short while later, Momo arrived. 

A sneaky picture that we took of Momo last winter

Now, what can I say about Momo? He is a man I have enormous respect for. He has a severe curvature of the spine which bends him over all of the time, and makes it difficult for him to walk. He has a speech impediment which makes it very difficult to understand him, and to be honest, he is a little smelly so he is made to sit apart from the others in our local bar. This man though, walked all of the way from the other side of old Yugoslavia to get back home. (That's a walk of over 900 km, through some pretty inhospitable country) Doing it he lived on nothing but nuts and berries he could pick from the side of the road. His strength and determination are an example to everyone of how to overcome personal adversity to be where you want to be.
(I learnt this morning that Momo is actually 84 years old, I can only respect him so much more now)
He lives on a small pension, and every day he goes into Deva to collect yesterdays dry bread from shops and restaurants, which he uses to feed the stray dogs he meets on the way home. They know him and they wait to get their daily bread from him, always wagging their tails in delight to see him.
When he feeds them he always says, "Please don't bite me", as if they would.
For a couple of months now Momo has been playing a game with us, giving our friend John the free children's toys he gets out of a snack packet. Now John is in his mid 20's and we aren't really sure what made Momo start doing it, but he always gives those toys with a  smile and a little giggle and it has been a real delight for us to have this connection with him.
Last night Momo decided to give me the toy for a change, laughing loudly while he did so. It was a white plastic lollipop shaped toy that when you switch it on it flashes alternatively red and blue, a little like a light on top of a police car.
We joked that we should use it in our car to clear the way when we are in a hurry.
As we sat enjoying our drinks slowly, the evening wore on and it became darker and darker, so obviously the lights in the toy could be seen more and more clearly.
I switched it off and left it on the table in front of me.
As we sat talking a few more people came into the bar to sit on the terrace, including a two year old boy, Alex, and his grandmother Rodica. Alex is a lovely boy, full of smiles, and he and his grandmother sat next to us while he drank his fizzy orange drink.
Alison was talking to Rodica and playing with Alex, and I looked at the toy on the table and thought that it was wasted on me, so I lifted it up and handed it to Alex, switching it back on as I did so.
"Vrai?"......("would you like it?")
Alex's face lit up brightly, just like someone had also flicked a switch on inside him, just as I had done with the toy. He had an enormous grin on his face as he reached out to take it from me. Alex spent the best part of the next hour playing with that toy, smiling and laughing.
Momo had left before Alex arrived, but I wish he could also have seen the delight that Alex took in having that simple toy and watching it's flashing lights, he would have loved to see it.
We walked back up the road to home with Alex and Rodica, and we were all smiling and laughing all of the way.
What had started out as being a 'low' time for us yesterday evening turned into a real highlight, typical of the magic that is Romania, and is the village and the people of the village.

We also have to say thank you to another good friend, Sebby who bought us a couple more drinks while we were there, returning a favour we had done him some time ago.

That hour or so in the bar though did so much to lift our spirits and to remind us what life here is really about. It's about the people,and the children, and the smiles on their faces, which are so infectious. They are smiles that you carry home with you in your heart and they are smiles that sustain you through the night.

Steve

www.holiday-romania.co.uk
www.volunteerromania.eu

MY AUDIENCE!

I feel so honoured.
Thank you all so much

Recent Pageviews

United States - 103

Romania - 74

United Kingdom - 50

Switzerland - 2

Germany - 2

Russia - 2

Austria - 1

Canada - 1

I will try to do better

Steve

APPLES

I understand that Britain is suffering from a shortage of apples this year.

Well it isn't true in our garden here in Romania, we have an abundance of apples from 3 old trees that have hardly ever given fruit before.

Our poor apple tree, so weighed down by fruit that it's branches broke

Ironically, we have always planned to make cider for ourselves, because you can'y buy cider here in Romania, so (because of the lack of fruit from the old trees in previous years) we planted five new apple trees in Spring. I think the older trees must have realized and got the hump, because they have given us so much fruit this year we aren't sure what to do with it all.
Anyway, today has been all about collecting the apples. We have already eaten a fair number directly from the tree so today is about collecting those that are left before any bad weather sets in.
I think we have, as a rough estimate, about 1 Ton of apples to collect, in three different varieties.
It would take an expert to identify each type of tree and I am no expert, but one tree gives relatively large red/green sweet apples, one gives small green sweet apples, the other gives small green sharp apples.  
I have done some internet research and I think that these would make a nice mixture of apples to make cider with, which we are definitely going to do.

Two older trees still waiting to be picked

Unfortunately we don't have all of the right equipment to make cider in large quantities, so we are going to adopt a simple American method using kitchen equipment to make a couple of batches.
I know, I know, we are Philistines. British, from the home of the best ciders in the world, with all of these apples and we are going to use an American recipe???. This time though it is a matter of 'needs must'.
Homemade wine as well as a home made spirit called Tuica are very popular in Romania, and as a result the equipment needed to produce large quantities of home made booze is relatively cheap.

Just some of the apples picked so far

Fruit pulper's, fruit presses, large barrel's, demi-john's in all sizes, botlles, corks, airlocks, are all readily available, however I'm afraid that we just don't have the money to buy everything we need this year, so we are stuck with the kitchen appliance method.

Using this method though there is no way we will make use of all of the apples we have, so, rather than letting them go to waste we have offered them to our friends in the village, and it turns out that they can make a version of Tuica from them.
Now Tuica (pronounced Tsweeka) is a home made hooch, normally made from Plums. It's a sort of strong plum vodka, normally made to be about 40% proof, but can occasionally be as strong as 70-80% proof. It's powerful stuff, but it is absolutely delicious, if something of an acquired taste. 
If you can't make it for yourself (and let's face it, not everyone has a Still at home do they?), a 100ml measure of it can be bought from the local bar for 2 Lei.
Time for an amount and cost comparison I think.
A standard single measure of spirit in Britain is 25 ml, so 100 ml is the same as 4 single measures in Britain, i.e 2 doubles.
Now a cheap shot of Whisky, say, in a pub in Britain costs I believe in the order of £2.50 in bars in and around London (I know it is variable across Britain but this is just a comparison exercise after all), so four Whiskies (i.e 100 ml) would costs around £10.
Well 100 ml of Tuica in village bars costs 2 Lei, roughly the equivalent of 40p!!!!!
Is it a surprise that it is  a popular drink amongst the workers in the villages?

Now don't get Tuica confused with the poisonous stuff they are finding at the moment in other Eastern European countries.
That is a blend of industrial alcohols that the makers know are poisonous, they just don't care about it.
Tuica is made at home by experts and is checked by experts, and a duty is paid on it before consumption, and it is safe. After all, the guys who make it want to drink it too, so they are going to make sure it is good.
The making of Tuica is a social occasion and can go on for two or three days, during which much of last years brew will be tried. The plums, once nicely matured and soft (and as I have said sometimes apples) go into a large barrel to be heated and they are stirred for hours, sometimes days, depending upon the size of the barrel. Effectively this does all of the pulping and pressing for you as well as reducing the water content of the juice and taking out a lot of the poisons that might be there. Only when the resident 'expert says it is ready is the fire put out and the juice extracted and strained to leave the pulp behind.
The juices are then distilled, once, twice, three times, until an acceptable clear spirit is obtained and Tuica is produced.
I am giving a very rough description of the method of production , because, so far I haven't witnessed it personally. With 1 Ton of apples to give away though, I am hoping that I will be part of it this year, and I will write again when I have been.
I will also let everyone know how the cider goes. The recipe looks very simple, so lets's hope it works!!

Steve


www.holiday-romania.co.uk
www.volunteerromania.eu