craftiness: my main man, Stefan
As a Moldovanca (a Romanian from the Moldavian region), when it comes to historical Romanians, I’m partial to Stefan cel Mare (Stephen the Great) who built many a monastery in Moldavia after his victories in battle (or in the bedroom, depending on who’s telling the story). But if I’m honest, the real reason for my […]
on the job: crafting with beneficiaries
Radu Update Radu has been regularly mentioned on my blog (here and here); don’t tell, but he’s a favorite. He’s the kid who’s really into crocheting and knitting on a loom. So much so, that he wants to crochet 24/7 — at home, at the center, in winter, in summer. I taught him to use […]
keeping traditions: Valentine’s Day
So the title is a little misleading. I’m not typically one to put much emphasis on Valentine’s Day — it’s overly commercial, too couply and more about gifts than love. But this year in Romania, David and I have been trying to celebrate holidays with a bit more pizazz. As I’ve mentioned, being far from […]
keeping traditions: Christmas decorations
As I said in my last post, David and I didn’t do ANYTHING last year along the lines of decorating for Christmas. This year, I’m trying to be better about it — because it keeps me busy, it keeps me creative, and it’ll feel better on Christmas Day for it to look Christmasy around the […]
craftiness: our advent calendar
Last year, we did very little to prepare for Christmas. No shopping, no decorating, no listening to Christmas music. It was our first Christmas far from home and we thought that if we skipped the sentimental stuff, maybe we wouldn’t be too sentimental. But that didn’t pan out — it was tough and sad not […]
on the job: radu makes a fular
This is Radu. He’s one of my beneficiaries. Radu loves weaving and making rag rugs, really anything that uses a gherghef (a loom). He talks and talks and talks all about his dreams of having really big gherghefs and really little gherghefs for any project he can think of. There’s even a dream of a […]
about romania: martisor
You can tell that Romanians across the ages have gotten tired of winter by the end of February because when the first of March hits, they celebrate by pretending it’s spring. Martisor is a holiday that welcomes spring even though it could be snowing. It’s celebrated with children giving men presents (booze and hygiene products […]
craftiness: crocheting madness
It’s cold, icy, grey, and dreary; It’s dark by 4:30PM. Romanian reality shows aren’t helping my language or my nerves. We only have so many books. So, I’ve been crocheting. Bunches. I started an afghan on my train ride to Bucuresti back in November (a few interesting stories from that) and I finished it last […]