BABES-BOLYAI UNIVERSITY

Dr. Donald Davis

Almanac

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

February 2006

The first week of  February my duties shifted to Bucharest, where I attended a two-day orientation session for the new Fulbright scholars. Earlier arrivals such as myself were asked to attend as we did not have the benefit of hearing directly  from State Department and other U.S. Embassy representatives headquartered in Bucharest (the fall orientation  session was held in Cluj-Napoca). The seven new Senior Fulbrighters will be in Romania only for spring term, a roughly five-month tour of duty.

At the orientation session, we were warned about stray dogs in Bucharest, money and passport scams, and the usual problems associated with living in any large eastern European city. The briefings were highlighted by an evening  reception at the home of Kathleen Kavalec, the Cultural Affairs Officer of the U.S. Embassy. Also attending the soiree was the new Ambassador to Romania, Nicholas Taubman, a Bush appointee from Virginia, and his wife Jenny Taubman, a native of Bulgaria who speaks five languages. I spoke briefly with His Excellency Taubman, and was surprised to learn he has hiked the Appalachian trail on several occasions.

On February 1, the entire group of Fulbrighters boarded a bus to Sinaia, a small resort town near  Brasov that is famous for its local architecture and expansive ski slopes. The highlight of our excursion was a visit to the Peles castle (pronounced Pay-lish)   which is Romania's version of the Biltmore House. Built roughly during the same period as the Biltmore mansion, the castle was the summer residence of Romanian's longest-serving monarch, King Carol I, and boasts 160 rooms. The castle also houses some of the most breathtaking furnishings in Europe, including Turkish silk and Asian alabaster. We also visited the nearby Sinaia monastery, which was built for and by Romanian Orthodox monks in 1846.

On February 2, I attended the plenary session of  "New/Old Worlds, Spaces of Transition," a conference sponsored by the University of Bucharest, Center for American Studies, and the Fulbright  Commission. Opening remarks were made by Ambassador Taubman as well as Valentine Naumescu, Romania's Secretary of State from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The plenary speaker was American scholar John Carlos Rowe, who gave a provocative lecture about the book Reading Lolita in Tehran. Rowe argued quite convincingly that this best-selling book has a hidden political agenda, despite its critical acclaim in the United States and abroad.

After returing to Cluj, I had only a few days to pack and prepare for my ten-day trip to Hungary and Serbia. We left for Budapest by train on the 9^th of February, arriving there in the afternoon. This was my third time in Budapest, truly one of my most favorite European cities.

The cobbled stone-lined promenade, which dates from the 18^th century, is frequented mostly by tourists  and stretches for more than a kilometer  along  the Danube on the Pest side of the river. The day after our arrival, we walked along the street down the the market place and then across the river to the Gellert Hotel were we inquired about using their famous hot baths. Deciding not to partake of the waters because of their limited daily schedule, we returned to the apartment and planned for our road trip to Serbia.

After two nights in Budapest we left for Serbia by car, our driver being Gabor Kiss, a violinist who plays for a number of classical symphonies in and around Budapest.  Gabor's car was a classic late 1980's Jugo, and we stopped to take our photo with it  as we neared the Serbian border. Our final destination was Subotica, a large Serbian town in the Volvydyna region of northern Serbia.

Visually, Subotica is  very interesting place, even though its architecture is hard to categorize stylistically. Part of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire during the nineteenth century, the Imperial Hapsburg style is evident in many of the towns main structures. However, Ottoman and Slavic influences are also visible in some of  the buildings, as well as neo-classical features, especially the Opera House, which features tall Greek columns with Coriathian crowns.

After settling in at Michaels home in Subotica, which has been closed up for the winter, we visited several of the newest restraunts in the center of town. Like in Cluj, chestnut puree could be found on local menus, so I treated myself to the dessert on more than one occasion. We  were very fortunate to have Michael's grandmother prepare us some classic Volvydyna dishes, including Sarlma, the Hungarian version of Sarmale, a similar dish found in Romania. I was also able to take a nice photo of Michael and his grandmother after one of our meals, which clearly shows her cooking  talents. Visible in the photo is homemade cremish, a Hungarian dessert that, when eaten fresh, literally melts in your mouth.

Spending nearly a full-week in Serbia, we had plenty of time to explore the countryside. One place we visited nearby was the site of NATO bombing raids during the Serbian war. Michael and his friend Zholty  vividly remember the raids as young teenagers so they had a good recollection of  where we could find the military bunkers and bomb craters. It was surprising to see an old American tank (c. 1952) among the ruins, probably a purchase made by the Yugoslavian military during the 1970s.

Another full day was spent  traveling by car to Novi Sad, Serbia's second largest city. There I got to see the ruins of the Petrovardin Fortress, built overlooking the Danube river during the 17th  and 18^th centuries. The strategic location of the fortress ensured its periodic expansion, so that by the late eighteenth century the site was virtually an autonomous township, complete with numerous structures and passageways both above and below ground. After eating lunch in the center of Novi Sad,  we visited the oldest high school in Serbia, a large gymnasium founded in 1810.

After spending several more days visting with Michael's friends and family in and around Subotica, and patronizing local  establishments such as Boss and Amadeus, we bought our train tickets back to Budapest. We needed a full morning to prepare our baggage, as we had to make room for our newly acquired Serbian souvenirs, which included local wine and spirits. On the train, I had a most interesting conversation with Jelena Misic, a native of Serbia who works for the United Nations in Copenhagen, Denmark. Both of us enjoyed watching the antics of  a group of  university students from Belgrade, most of whom spoke perfect English as well as French.

Back in Budapest, Michael and I stayed close to the apartment, venturing out in the evening to patronize the infamous Old Man's Pub, an establishment  popular with Brits and other English-speaking tourists. We both bought  t-shirts to commemorate the occasion as the price for each was less than $5 U.S. dollars. Before catching the first-class train back to Cluj, we had brunch at Central Kava , a famous Budapest coffeehouse not more than 100 meters from Michael's third-floor apartment.

Back in Cluj, the cold weather had abated some, though it still felt like winter by Georgia standards. I had only a few days to prepare for my two new courses: Social Problems and Qualitative Methods. Because I am permanently leaving Cluj for Brasov in early April, both courses will be taught in an abbreviated and intensive fashion. Fortunately, I will have many of  the same students in both of these courses, so the shortened semester should be a good one. I will have little time for anythng but teaching, however, and weekends will be spent hauling my many books and research materials southward to the "Prague" of  Romania.