TUESDAY

So it's Tuesday today.
For most people around the world Tuesday is a pretty nondescript day, not the start of the week, not the middle, nor the end, just the depressing day after Monday. 
For us today (Tuesday) is the day when we will be clearing and preparing the wood store and moving wood we already have inside.
Rain is forecast for the weekend so it needs to be moved under cover. The strong sun we have had has dried it well, but there is no guarantee that the sunshine will continue.
The wood we will be moving today is a pile of planks and old cut pieces that were once used as scaffolding or formwork for concrete when our house was extended.
In Romania this type of wood even has it's own name, it's called Scandera. It's not the best wood to use in fires as it is soon gone once it starts burning, but we have a large stack of it outside, and we need to get rid of it, so this year we will use it.
Old planks like this burn well so they provide a quick fire and gives us a rapid heat, which I know we will appreciate when the cold sets in, which can sometimes arrive very suddenly.
It will also supplement the proper logs that will be delivered to us soon and so will make sure that we have enough wood for the whole of the winter.

When our logs are delivered we will get one of the local workers to do the main part of the chopping for us. It's hard work and it takes expertise, which the guys in the village really have as they have been doing it all of their lives.

We will get our friend Blondie to do it, and we will pay him for the work and feed him and give him a little Tsuica, which is the way it is done around here. 
Blondie is very dark skinned from spending a whole lifetime working in the full sunshine in the fields. It isn't our nickname for him, it is what he has always been called by the other people in the village. I was so white when I arrived here from England that Blondie immediately nicknamed me 'Darkie', so for that winter whenever we went to the village bar for a proper warm up, it was always 'Blondie' and 'Darkie' together.
During our first winter here we were desperate for heat. We didn't have the wood burning stove (Cazan) for the central heating fitted, nor had I fitted the free standing wood burner at that time (Soba). All we had to keep us warm was a small open fireplace in the lounge. This fireplace has a very poor chimney so whenever we used it for that first winter it filled the house with smoke, staining from which, I am ashamed to say you can still see. we have been so busy with all of the other work we just haven't had a chance to get up to it and clean it.
I arrived here from England with absolutely no experience of chopping wood, but I knew it had to be done, and I thought.....

 'Well, as long as I have a sharp axe it can't be that difficult can it?'

If you have never tried chopping wood, I can tell you that it is a much more difficult task than it looks to be when the experts do it!
I tried, I managed to get a few small pieces for the fire. In trying I made the logs fly off of the block and hit me in the shins on what felt like about a thousand occasions, covering me in bruises. 

Once I was chopping with a small hand axe and it bounced off of the wood and caught me on my left hand carving a two inch long graze into it. That evening we were sitting in the village bar and I was so embarrassed to have this obvious axe injury on my hand that I tried to keep it hidden under the table, out of sight of the 'experts' surrounding me. Of course it was eventually spotted, by Blondie actually, and all of the guys we were surrounded by pointed at the cut and laughed. I blushed, but as they laughed they all put their own hands on the table, and they all had cuts, grazes, bruises and bandages from their own axe injuries! I felt a really fantastic level of acceptance that evening and also respect from them (as we toasted our injuries in Tsuica) for the fact that I was actually trying. I wasn't doing the usual expat thing of just not bothering and paying someone else to do all of the hard work, I was trying to do it myself. I still have the scar from that injury on my hand, but now I wear that scar with pride.

I tried different axes, I used electric saws, but I just couldn't keep enough wood chopped, so we covered ourselves with quilts and about three layers of clothing, and that is how we spent most of that first winter.

In the end, we relented and we asked Blondie to come over and chop the remainder of the wood for us. We paid him, of course, and we fed him, but we made a mistake with the Tsuica. When Blondie arrived that day we immediately gave him hot coffee, a packet of cigarettes and a bottle of Tsuica, and off he went with them into the wood store and started chopping. The day wore on and we could hear the sound of wood chopping going on all of the time. We fed him at lunchtime and asked him to rest but, typical Blondie, he just kept going. 
At the end of the afternoon it got dark very quickly. There is no light in the wood store, but we could still hear the sound of the axe hitting wood, slower than earlier in the day, and accompanied by a lot of swearing. When we went in to check on Blondie he had very obviously drunk all of the Tsuica we had given him (which was about 2 litres....much more than we should have provided). The axe was waving precariously in the air above Blondies head as he was closing one eye to try and pick out which one of the two or three logs he was seeing to hit. He staggered as the axe came down, it missed the wood and bounced dangerously straight back towards Blondies face. We watched this process for a few seconds before telling him to stop and rest. He had cut an enormous amount of wood, perfectly sized for the central heating stove. it was much more than we had expected him to do, and we told him so. He looked at us, as he rocked from side to side and back and forth in the typical 'Tsuica dance' that we have seen on many more occasions since, and he wafted his hand towards us dismissively. We gave him his coat, we paid him, and off he staggered down the road slurring to us loudly that he would be back in the morning to finish the job.
We didn't really expect Blondie to arrive the following morning, but there he was first thing, bright as a button. Within  an hour and a half he had finished chopping all of the wood we had, and he had given us enough to last the whole winter, and enough to save my hands and shins from further injury!

Real friends in this village really do go that extra mile to take care of each other, and those are the sorts of friends that we have here, but we have learned now to give Tsuica once the work is finished, and not before it has begun!

Steve

MONDAYS

Mondays are the days when the village gets back to all of the essential tasks after the Sunday day of rest.
It's September, and although the temperature is 32 deg C today, the essential task today is to bring the firewood in to be ready for the cold of winter.
There is no mains gas in the village so all of us rely on wood burning stoves to keep warm.
Some have only a simple stove and combined oven (called a Soba locally).
Others have a stove providing heat for a radiator central heating system (called a Cazan locally)
Either way, it takes a lot of wood to keep warm for the whole of the winter.
It's difficult to believe during today's blue skies and hot sunshine that in a couple of months we will be enduring cold down to -20 deg C.
The fires are needed then and they need to burn for 24 hours a day.
So, the tractors are trundling past all day long carrying loads of wood and chainsaws are buzzing everywhere getting the wood prepared for storage.
This year though there is some grumbling in the village. Each villager is allotted a number of trees from the local forest. All trees to be felled are marked with a number corresponding to whichever villager has a right to that tree, and then he goes to cut them down and bring them home into storage. The trees that have been selected this year though are small and thin. None of the older bigger trees have been chosen. Thin wood doesn't burn as well or as efficiently as properly cut thicker wood, so having enough to be able to keep warm over the whole winter is proving to be a real worry.
Anyone who understands these things will also know that the wood that is coming in this year is actually for next year, but last year there were problems too. A number of trees were stolen from the forest which led to a shortage and meant that fresh wood had to be burnt to supplement the seasoned wood. It is likely to be even worse this year, so some of the wood on these trailers going past today will have to be burnt this winter.
Keeping the fires going 24 hours a day during winter is also a trial, because it means only ever sleeping for 3 or 4 hours at a time to be able to keep the fires built. 
Really looking forward to it!!!
As there is little else that can be done over winter, apart from chopping logs and keeping warm, it is actually quite easy to sleep/fire/sleep/fire/sleep/fire way of life throughout the day, pausing only to eat or maybe to drink some warming tuica! 

Anyway, enough of the coming winter, it is still so warm.
The children are playing noisily in the street outside, the older people are sitting on their benches in the shade chatting, the ramblers are passing through the village to continue their treks through the forest, and the occasional quad bike goes past roaring in anticipation of the fun that is to come when they reach their forest tracks.

Monday is a day when the whole village buzzes with activity, and it only stops as the sun goes down. It started at dawn for many, so it is a long hard day. This evening though they will all be in the village bar discussing their day again, and anticipating more tomorrow and always with a smile.

Steve

SUNDAYS IN THE VILLAGE

Sundays mornings  in the village are different days.

Everyone here respects the tradition that this is the one day in the week when we rest. 

Early in the morning, the drum beats, or on special days the single bell sounds to summon everyone to the beautiful painted church on the hill. Today the bell sounds insistently, to celebrate St. Mary's Day, another one of the saint and 'name' days celebrated within the Romanian Orthodox Church calendar providing the people of Romania with a second 'birthday'. If your name is Maria, or any other derivative of Mary, you will receive the traditional salute of La Mult An ('La Mooltz Anne') many times today. During the service we will hear the priest sing, almost in plainsong, with the male members of the congregation singing the responses and these will be the only sounds we will hear.

Those who attend process peacefully and serenely through the village and then in single file up along the path on the hill, passing the gravestones of those who have passed here before.

The tractors, which on other days during the week rattle and stutter past constantly, taking families out to the fields to work, are silent. Even the dogs and the chickens stay quiet and respectful and the children are either at church or at home respectful of this time.

Here, where we are separated from the main town by five Kilometres of hills and woodland, so all is quiet.

There are only a very few places in Britain now, where, when it is quiet like this, you can't hear the buzz of traffic on nearby main roads, but here in this village in Romania, and in thousands of villages like it across the country, all is absolutely quiet.

Today is warm and sunny, so even the birds remain hushed in the shade in the trees.

It doesn't stay like this for the whole day though.

Sunday afternoons and evenings are a time when families and friends visit one another, so half-familiar cars will arrive later bringing sons, daughters, grandchildren, cousins and good friends to visit.

The weather is good, so later on the sound of children playing and the smell of freshly lit barbecues will fill the air followed by the scent of mici ('Meech' - a delicious traditional sausage shaped mixed meat patty, slightly seasoned) and chicken cooking on the hot coals. Then it is a social time with people catching up on the news about those they know and just chatting about whatever is important to them.

Most importantly, this is a relaxed day. 

Other days in the week are full of work, hard work for those whose lives depend on what they can grow and breed to eat, or early starts and late finishes for those who commute to the town to work in offices or factories.

The local bar will be buzzing, with village people talking animatedly about what has happened over the past week, and what has to be done next week, all over a bottle of local beer and the odd glass of Tuica ('Tsweeka'- a strong home brewed plum vodka).

As the afternoon wears on and the sun begins to cool, the older ones will emerge form the cool of their houses to sit on the benches lined up outside in the one village street and they too will chat, laugh and joke until dusk comes and it is time for them to sleep.

This is real life, lived by real people who care for each other and are born, live, and die with each other.

It is completely contrasting with the normal lives of  many visitors who have come here to stay with us from all over the world, and today is, I think, a major one of the many reasons that so many of them want to come back.

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

Steve

BOYS FISHING TRIP 02/09/2012

Had a great afternoon out fishing in the sun last Sunday.
Went fishing on the River Mures, but where we fished it widened out so it was more like lake fishing.
A great bunch of friends, all together, fishing seriously of course, and drinking a beer or two. Ali did all of the driving and took all of the photographs so it was legal to have just a taste of the beer, would have been rude not to.
The surroundings there are beautiful, the river, the reed beds, the open plain behind and with the mountains as a back drop. Add the sunshine and the warmth of the day and the great company and it really couldn't have been better.
OK we didn't catch any big fish, but we caught a fair few between us, some of which went home to go into the pot.
Will definitely do this again very soon, came back feeling more relaxed than I have done in ages, and it helped to remind me why I love this country so much.

SO? A SUNSHINE HOLIDAY FOR ABOUT £300? YES!

So?
Is it really possible to have a really great, warm, fun packed, worthwhile holiday away from Britain for just £300, including the cost of your flight?
The answer is an emphatic YES!
And here is how.
Flights are available from Luton Airport for £100 return and upwards (it depends on how far out you book your flight obviously!). Look at the Wizzair website (no they don't have outside toilets!) to see for yourself  www.wizzair.com.
Airport transfers by bus and taxi to our home city, Deva, will cost around £20.
Seven nights stay with us on a hostel basis will cost £70.
Total so far £190, leaving £110 to spend.
So, I can hear you say, What will £110 cover? Not much!
Wrong!
Let's play a game with the money, after all it's not real yet is it?
£110 will buy you around 180 50cl (just under a pint) beers here (and the local beer is great!). Even I can't drink that much in a week!
£110 will buy you around 40 really good pizzas here.
£110 will buy you around 55 cocktails here.
£110 will buy you around 110 glasses of wine here.
A night of drinks at the best karaoke bar in Deva costs around £15 a head, but only if you drink a lot, and it doesn't close until the last customer leaves! (Have you ever gone into a bar at 10 o'clock at night only to re-emerge and find out that it is light outside? We have and it's great)

One ticket to get into Corvin Castle in Hunedoara (One of Draculas!) will cost about 80p.

A return train ticket to Sibiu (2007 European capital of Culture) will cost you around £12.
If you travel everywhere by taxi for the whole of your stay it will cost you around £45 for the whole week! But buses are great and cost almost nothing! Or do what all of the locals do and hitch a ride because it's safe to do so.

.A trip up to the Cetate (The fortress on the hill overlooking Deva) about £1.50, and the views from up there are fantastic!
A set breakfast will cost you around £3, and a set lunch about the same. Local food but it's great.
So you can enjoy sitting on one of the many bar terraces on a warm evening, eating the food and just watching the world go by, as almost all families come out to enjoy the evening until about midnight. But the bars stay open as long as you want them to!
The weather here is fantastic too. Up to 40 deg C throughout July and August, and even throughout September the temperatures go up to the mid 30's.

It might cool a bit and we may have a little rain in October, but we are still talking of temperature well into the 20's. 
A walk in the beautiful countryside surrounding us costs nothing, nor does a chat with the locals in the village who love the fact that people visit us from all over the world and love to chat.
Most younger people here also speak at least some English (which is making it almost impossible for me to learn Romanian properly because they love to practice it!) so language is no problem either.
So I think my case is proven Dr Watson, you CAN have a sunshine holiday in a beautiful country, full of wonderful people for about £300.
 I would love to know if anyone thinks it can be done more cheaply anywhere else!

Just go to www.holiday-romania.co.uk to get started!

Steve

So?
3 months since I last wrote on here, not very good is it? 
Must do better!
It shows how busy we have been though over the summer. We have been helping to care for orphaned and disabled children together with 2 volunteers from Ireland, as well as a number of local people who helped enormously.
If you want to know more have a look at volunteer site on www.volunteerromania.eu.

We also attended the Annual International Art Camp at The Waldorf School in Simeria. This was our second year there and it really is a great time. Last year we had a volunteer here who taught Still Frame Animation, as well as two others, one who taught Traditional Chinese Crafts, and another who led a Music Workshop. This year we continued with the animation, and I was the teacher!!! 
The Art Camp is attended by people of all ages and also includes traditional crafts such as woodworking, quilling, macrami, and dance, as well as Theatre in the English Language, Orchestra, and Gymnastics and much much more. It's open to anyone from wherever they are in the world to come and teach, or just to join in. Just like every other activity at the Camp the animation went fantastically and we all had a great week. Take a look at all of the results on their webpage, 

http://waldorfsimeria.ro/galerie-foto-video/activitati-extrascolare/tabara-de-arta/tia2012foto.html

Don't worry, Google translate will do if you don't speak Romanian!

Apart from all of that we have continued the work on the house, continued to tend our garden and also eaten or preserved the produce we have picked from it, which is a wonderful thing to be able to do.

So, it has been a really really busy time, and that's my excuse for not blogging as often as I should, so let's hope I can do better in future.

Steve

STEVES ROMANIA BLOG 1 - SPRING

Spring is a hopeful time, the new sunshine and the warmth bring optimism and make the coming year full of promise.
It is a time full of smiles and a time full of optimism.
This is my first blog here, and I hope it will be the first of many about our lives here in Romania.
This is a country we love, and I hope that in some small way this blog will show others why we do love it so much. It is such a beautiful country, full of lovely people, and help to reverse some of the negative publicity the country and it's people get in the UK.
Our lives here in a small rural village are totally diverse to the lives we lived in the corporate world in the UK. We have spent the winter mostly just chopping wood for our fires. An absolutely essential task to keep ourselves and our loved ones warm, in complete contrast to just being able to press a button to be warm back in England. Although we still have some wood to chop to keep ourselves warm in the evenings, we don't have to spend so much time on it, so we can plan for the summer.
Our main aim this year, on top of continuing to repair and renovate the house, is to have our own kitchen garden and to build a greenhouse so that we can plant earlier next year and get ahead of the weather. We planted several fruit trees last Autumn, including apples, pears and plums, and we now have seedlings growing for spinach and lettuce to plant out under cloches when they are ready.
This is all so new for me. I had no interest in gardening in the UK, but I am encouraged and inspired by the friends who live around us, many of whom still live purely on what they can grow and breed to eat.
For those of you who do see my blog, I hope that you find it interesting. If there is anything in particular that you would like to know about, let me know and i will do my best to inform you.
For other information on what we are going to be doing here look at  www.volunteerromania.co.uk, or  www.holiday-romania.co.uk, and follow those blogs too.

Steve