Swearing in.

After our ten weeks of training all we needed to do was
raise our hands and swear in to be official Peace Corps
volunteers. We did that on Friday the 28th of July in
the city of Ploiesti. The mayor was there and we heard some
very nice speeches. Also, we had a slide show of pictures
taken throughout our training cycle, it was very well done.

The next day we were off to our sites and as I mentioned
before mine is Nadlac, a border town. After a 9 hour train
ride followed by another hour car ride I arrived to my new
home.

I have placed my things in my new residence and it is a very
nice little old house about 3 walking minutes from the center
of town. So I have time to basically hang around till Monday.
On Monday I am going to meet the mayor, police, doctor and
probably a few vendors in the stores because I need to get
settled in. It should be a very hectic first week with those
types of activities surrounded by not much else to do. I will
meet the members of the NGO that I will be working with
either Wednesday or Thursday. They are a brand new NGO
so it will take some work to get things started.

One of the issues that should occupy my time here is in regards
to Romania entering the European Union. There will be a lot
changes made, and fairly soon. Romania will join the EU on
the first of January. It should be interesting to be here
for the beginning of this transitional period.

Nadlac - that's the name of the my new site.

Well ... last Saturday we all (70 of us) headed out to visit what
will be our homes for the next couple of years. I think that
everyone seems satisfied with what they have received.

As I have written, the name of my site is called Nadlac which
is an Hungarian name, if I understood correctly. I have to say
that this will definitely be a different Peace Corps experience from
my previous ones. This place is actually beautiful and if I walk
about the length of a football field (American Football that is)
I can see Hungary. We have border stations and the main road
of the little city (population 8,000) is an international highway.
Despite that, this place is just pretty, it is an almost 50/50 mix
of Romanian and Slovakian peoples. There are also some Serbs
and Hungarians and also Roma (Gypsies). 

There are Slovakian dance troupes and the greatest thing of
it all is that there is a 200 year old Evangelical Church that
has this unique custom. Everyday for 200 years there has
been a trumpeter sounding the times of the day. From about
5 in the morning till dark there has been men and their sons
walking out on the walkway of the steeple of this church and
in all four directions and playing their trumpets. Seven beats
for 7 in the morning or evening ... etc.

Needless to say again this is as different as different can be
for me. My Peace Corps experiences have been in villages of
350 and 300 people respectively. I am sure that there are
problems as equal in intensity in a little city of 8,000 as
there is in a village of 300, probably more, but a of different
flavor, obviously. They will be topics for future postings,
hopefully.

I am not too sure about the work yet but in two weeks when
I return we'll start figuring that out.

Other than that I guess I will be going to a lot of cultural festivals
right outside the door of my house.

New Home;

We finally received the info on our sites which
will be our homes for the next two years. At this
point in our Peace Corps Romania service these
sites are really only names. We don't know if these new
homes will be good to us or not. We don't know the
people there and conversely they don't know us.
We don't even know where we will be living
or if we will be able to accomplish anything.
The name of my new site/city (pop. 8514) is called Nadlac.
It is located on the border between Hungary and
Romania and is supposed to be the place where
most of the people cross the border. Also, the
population is predominately Slovakian and this
may require that I learn another language or bits
of two others ... Hungarian or Slovakian. They are
Slavic languages and they don't have much in common
with Romanian. We will see how that pans out.
Tomorrow we meet our counterparts and then
Saturday it is off for a 3 day site visit. I am sure that
a lot of questions will be answered over the
next week. I am sure that those questions are not
only from me about them but also from them about me.
'Vom vedea' ... Romanian for ... we shall see.
Next week I hope to be able to write about some specifics.
Inchallah.
For you people who know this word ... sure fits
the instance this time.