on the job: accentuate the positive; eliminate the negative
This week was quite an education for me at my NGO. I won’t go into specifics, but I learned new information on everything from funding to decision-making to local politics to office dynamics — and how all of these interact in our small town. And while it was overwhelming to get all this information (quite […]
earworm: music transplants
Recently I’ve heard two American tunes pop up in our Roman Catholic Mass as hymns and hearing these “music transplants” make me smile and warm my musical soul. The Sanctus (Holy, Holy) of our Mass is set to the tune of Go Down Moses. This tickles me to no end because here is an American […]
in the kitchen: smantano, unde esti?
Oh iubito mea, smantano, unde esti? Oh my love, sour cream, where are you? Seriously, there is NO sour cream in our entire town. NONE! There’s yogurt, sweet cream, whipping cream, but NO SOUR CREAM!! And we have baked potatoes on the menu tomorrow night. What are we to do?? My guess is that with […]
in the kitchen: potatoes
The piata is full of root vegetables right now — beets, parsnips, celery root, and the ubiquitous potato. Like good Romanian-wannabes, we bought a 10 kg (over 22#) bag of potatoes (for less than $3) last week and hauled it back to our place. My goal is to find interesting ways to cook these potatoes […]
in the community: “I have grapes in my pocket.”
I was at work yesterday when one of the Orthodox priests came by to invite us to City Hall for a “New Year’s” presentation to the mayor. He asked us to recite an uratura (a poem granting wishes and health) to the crew. While it was last minute, we were up to the challenge. When […]
O Sock Garland
(sung to the tune of O Christmas Tree) O sock garland, o sock garland You decorate our bathroom. O sock garland, o sock garland You decorate our bathroom. Although you are not evergreen You make it seem like Christmastime. O sock garland, o sock garland You decorate our bathroom.
about Romania: Christmas Eve
So Christmas Eve in Romania is kinda crazy. Our usually sleepy little town came alive. Santa comes on Christmas Eve so there was definite present carnage with Larisa’s family. (christmas carnage) We had knocks on our door almost constantly — kids caroling for money and cookies, people begging for money. [flickr video=http://www.flickr.com/photos/daveronica/4231159278/] (kids singing colinde […]
on the road: Anniversaries in Bucharest
We were fortunate to be in Bucharest for a few days before Christmas for a few important anniversaries. In December of 1989, a change/shift happened in Romania. Some call it a revolution; others have the view that it was a violent bit of theater. Regardless, the last weeks of December that year are historic. We […]
on the road: Thanksgiving in Bucharest
After our massive Moldovan pre-Thanksgiving, we headed to the capital to have another Thanksgiving, this time with the new US Ambassador to Romania and his family. Since we hadn’t really had an opportunity to sight-see in Buc, we made a short list of places we’d like to visit. Along with our pals Gretel and Courtney […]
guest blogger: Ben and Erik do Europe ’09
Yes, dear readers, I’ve been on a blogging hiatus. I promise that with the holidays, I’ll update and get myself back in the swing of things. In the meantime, here’s a post written by my brother. He wrote it on Facebook and I’ve “stolen” it to put here. I did add a picture or two. […]
