So much has happened today, it feels like more than a day. We were met at our hotel by Christine, the tour guide we had pre-arranged for "Jewish Bucharest." We started out with a lot of pointing to this used to be...or once stood.. lots damaged and destroyed during WWII, but much torn down by Ceausescu. A huge shopping mall and city park which we had seen yesterday stand where the Jewish neighborhood (emphatically not a ghetto) once stood. We did visit the Tailors' Synagogue, begun by the tailors' guild in the fifteenth century and now a museum of Jewish life in Romania. On to the Great Synagogue, also known as the Polish Synagogue, which is still functioning as a shul, but has holocaust exhibits around the perimeter. It will become a museum when the Choral Synagogue reopens after major restoration is completed. All this in a city with only 2500 Jews. There were 800,000 before the war, but many who survived emigrated to Israel.
The Tailors's Synagogue
The Great SynagogueSince we still had time before heading to the airport to meet the incoming Road Scholars, we stopped at the Eastern Orthodox Cathedral, the seat of the Church in Romania. Lots of gold, lots of icons.
We were met at the airport by Kayla, an adorable American girl from AZ. She had collected 6 Americans and sent them off to "the village" in a van with a driver. We waited for arriving flights until we were 6 (1Canadian, the rest from U.S.) and headed out in a second van with driver. She is a full time volunteer, teaching English and working with the young mothers, teaching life skills. The drive took about 2 hours, through suburbs and into the country through many small towns and villages. Most of the countryside looks more prosperous than Bucharest. Though there were plenty of ramshackle homes and outbuildings, there were many more newer or well-maintained ones. Many cars on the road, but a few horse drawn wagons too. Sheep or cows in the pastures, fields of corn. Couldn't take pictures because we were going too fast.
Our arrival here was a very pleasant surprise. Many of the developmentally delayed adults greeted us with great excitement and a little English. Our room is very clean and WARM and has an EN SUITE BATHROOM! Turns out all the rooms in the Volunteer House do. We all joked about what a thrill it was and speculated on why they had so undersold the accommodations. The group is extremely well-travelled; many have done other service projects abroad. The oldest is 78 and I'd guess the the youngest to be about 63-ish.
Pro Vita
The volunteers' house. The window on the right, on the first (second U. S.) with the orange backpack is our room
After settling in we went outdoors to get the lay of the land. I'll have to post a ton of pictures to give any idea of how many buildings there are, and in what stages of construction they are. Most are occupied (whether or not they are completed, or on the verge of collapse.) I don't know if the piles of junk are sitting there for potential reuse or if there is no way to haul it off (or no place to take it). We counted seven stray dogs in one small area but there are dozens hanging around. There are cows, pigs, horses, and chickens and the barn is right behind the house next door.
The young people are very exuberant and know no boundaries. I took my iPad out to take pictures and they were all over me, wanting me to take their picture, wanting to take their own, wanting to see all the pics in my albums, and very disappointed that I had no games or music downloaded. Each one had to grab it from the other and one boy took it out to photograph the pigs! Held my breath that it wouldn't drop in the mud.
Came in for a DELICIOUS dinner of roasted chicken, twice-baked potatoes, cole slaw, a cooked carrot dish and vegan zucchini bread. The latter baked by Cori, another cute twenty something American girl from LA. This one has just been here a couple of months as a full time volunteer in charge of volunteers. I think her motives may be a little suspect since she has a boyfriend in the village. Would love to be here in two weeks when her parents come to visit for the first time from Brentwood!
All the caps signify my great pleasure and relief over the things I feared would be my major issues. Of course new ones could arise. Apparently there was wi-fi here but it isn't working. One of us is a retired electrician, but not particularly techie. He said he'd take a look, but wasn't too hopeful. Don't know when I'll post.
Only 3412 steps, since we were driven around all day and it was raining.
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