BABES-BOLYAI UNIVERSITY

Dr. Donald Davis

Almanac

2006: January | February | March | April
2005: December | November | October | September | August

April 2006
 

The first week of April I still found myself in Cluj, as I needed to finish up my mini-semester courses in Social Problems and Quantitative Methods. In the Social Problems course, my students did oral presentations to finish the term, and all used powerpoint technology to great end. Topics included everything from discrimination against Roma to the environmental degradation of Rosia Montana,  a mountain community that may be destroyed by a proposed gold mine. As a special treat, I ordered take-out pizza for the students during our break, which, to my knowledge, no professor in the department had done before.

One of my last afternoons in Cluj was spent attending an event sponsored by the various non-profits located in the city. Covered by the local media, the BURSA, or community stock-exchange, was their version of a United Way campaign designed to give local businesses and private individuals a chance to donate monies to their favorite charities. Benefactors were announced over a PA system and photos were taken for the local newspapers. After donating $20 to an organization designed to strategically place volunteers at other non-profits in the city, my photograph was taken with the director of the organization and several employees.

The first weekend of April, I made my official move to Brasov. My one-room flat is large, a modified garconiera, the name given to apartments historically made for single adults. Located in the city center, it places me within a short walk to all the favorite tourist spots, including the Saxon citadel walls, the Town Hall, and the Piata Safatuli, the old city's main plaza.

The second week of April, I flew to Copenhagen, Denmark to visit  Jelena  Misic, my now fiancee of one month. Jelena (pronounced YEL-en-a) works for the United Nations as a regional accountant and has been living in Copenhagen for four years. After meeting on the train in Subotica, Belgrade in February, we started emailing or speaking on the phone on almost a daily basis.

After arriving in Copenhagen,  Jelena showed me one of the Queen's Palaces, where more than an acre of blue and white crocuses are planted in a quite stunning geometric pattern. We also took the boat tour of the local canals and city waterfront, passing by the Copenhagen Opera House--The Operaen--designed by famous Danish architect Henning Larsen. At the National Museum - the Statens Museum For Kunst -there was an important Rembrandt exhibit addressing the issue of authorship, as many of his paintings are believed to have been done by his apprentices.

Also of interest in Copenhagen was Christiana, an alternative, "free" community created in the early seventies by squatters who took over abandoned buildings. For more than two decades, the residents there "legalized" soft drugs, including marijuana, and maintained their own laws and local ordinances until a few years go, when city police began periodically raiding the community. Tourists now go there to see for themselves the social experiment, and purchase everything from smoking paraphenelia to hand-made crafts.

On the third day on my visit, Jelena proposed to me—and I said yes!!!! Not sure exactly why she and I know we are truly made for each other, but everything we do together seems to be so easy and effortless. We plan to wed in early August, after Jelena and her beautiful seventeen year-old daughter, Romana, arrive in the states. Romana plans to enroll in the IB program at Dalton High School, and Jelena plans to put her accounting  and language skills to good use in the area. Wish us luck! We are planning an exciting future together, which includes both having children and doing lots of international travel!

After arriving back in Romania from Copenhagen via Budapest , I spent the night for my last time in Cluj-Napoca. From there I made the five-hour train ride back to Brasov, which felt noticeably warmer than Copenhagen. The trees had also began budding out in the lower elevations and spring  flowers were beginning to blossom around the city environs.

My first week back in Brasov, I was invited to the flat of Norocel Nicolescu for an excellent Romanian meal, which included some wonderful desserts and home-made pastries. His son Aurel loved having his photograph made so I took several photos of  him with my new Sony digital camera.

The following weekend, Norocel invited me on a picnic outing to Poiana Brasov, in a large clearing below the ski-resort area proper. Norocel teaches in the Department of Silviculture at the University of Transylvania and has great interest in the growing of our American black-walnut and black cherry trees. Norocel's wife and son accompanied us on the outing as well, which included a volleyball game and more great Romanian food. A warm April day, hundreds of people grilled food out on open fires, while others played manele -- Romanian music with a noticeable Gypsy influence--on their car stereos. I took advantage of the beautiful weather and hiked in the surrounding forest, finding numerous wildflowers to photograph as well as fir trees that had been stripped of their bark. After inquiring to the purpose of the de-barking, I learned that the bark was going to be used to make branza de burduf in coaga de brad, a home-made cheese that absorbs resins from the fir bark, thereby giving it a special flavor.

The last Saturday of April I visited the nearby city  of Sfantu Gheorghe (Saint George) a Hungarian town of about 70,000. I made the trip with some friends of my Fulbright colleague Jennifer Uhler, which included local Peace Corps volunteer Eron Weaver. Sfantu Gheorghe was holding its annual folk festival, which includes the celebration of Hungarian Szekely (pronounced Sey-kay) music and arts.  Lots of craftsmen were there, and I bought one my first Romanian souvenirs, an elaborately carved team of logging horses and transport wagon. The Szekely woodcarver, Istvan Bacs, maintains a website advertising his expert craftsmanship: http://centaur.try.hu.

The following morning, we watched the centuries old tradition, the Juni Pageant or Sarbtoarea junilor, a celebration always held one week after Easter Sunday. On this day, groups of young Romanian men ride into town in traditional costume, carrying swords and spontaneously shouting to the crowd: Cristos a inviat! (Christ has risen!), to which the crowd responds: Adevarat a inviat! (Yes, he has risen!). The young men are followed in the parade by married men, also on horseback, and also wearing costumes that are often more than one-hundred years old. Partly initiation rite, partly a coming out party for the young men, the tradition stems from old Saxon law  that historically allowed Romanians inside the city walls only on this single day of the year. Without question, the young men wanted to look their best on this day, as a marriage to a Saxon girl might bring freedoms not achievable outside the city walls.

That afternoon, a group of us decided to take a hike to the mountains, more precisely to Piatra Craiului, a National Park about one hour from Brasov to the west. We started the trip by city bus, then took a maxi-taxi minibus to Zarnesti, the village situated at the main entrance to the National Park and the Piatra Craiului mountain range.

An artesian well marked the beginning of our hike up the mountains, a two hour long climb up a steep and winding grade. The climb was more than worth the effort, however, as the views at the top of the trail were truly breath-taking. Delicate alpine flowers were blooming everywhere, providing quite a contrast to the massive snow-covered peaks surrounding the high treeless meadow. While the mountain range is home to Brown bears, wolves, Red Stags, and Black mountain goats, I saw little wildlife that afternoon, other than a lone black Raven that flew over as we lay on our backs in the bright April sun. Hiking back down the steep trail with less than adequate hiking shoes, I severely bruised my big toe, requiring me to wear sandals for several days afterwards. 

Without question, April was an eventful month for me in Romania, and one that I will always remember. The month of May could be just as exciting, however, as I am planning a week-long trip to Belgrade to meet Jelena's family and friends!