Growing Up and Other Thoughts

Growing Up and Other Thoughts


This past week Nancy and I had the opportunity to take part in a presentation on diversity during the training of the latest Peace Corps group to come to the country. We were accorded expert status on age diversity issues. These were trainerees with only two weeks in the country and they were all excited and curious about just about everything. It seemed a little strange to me to realize that it was exactly two years ago that our group had been in the same stage of curiosity and excitement. Now we are within six weeks of our check out date, preparing to take a slow journey home.

One of the preliminary tasks to that check out was to undergo a physical examination and dental check up. This took place in Bucuresti and we passed both segments. One thing about the physical, is that should we decide to reapply for another stint of Peace Corps duty, we’ll not have to redo that portion of the application process – good for six months.

While we were in Bucuresti we met with Oana. Oana is the young lady who was our gazda ‘sister’ while we were doing our ten week training in the town of Rasnov. She was then in high school. Now she’s finishing up her first year at university and we were both taken (I would say enchanted but that might give the wrong impression) with her progress in becoming a delightful young lady. She is an example of all that is right with Romanian young people. She is intelligent and natural, attached to her family, but understanding that there is a wide world surrounding her.

We hope to stop in Rasnov before departing the country to say our good byes to Oana’s parents, Celu and Betty. They acted the perfect host to us and we’d like a chance to talk with them about our experiences over the last year. We visited with them at New Year’s 2006 so it’s been nearly a year and a half since we’ve seen them.

Perhaps some of you remember a posting I did a little over a year ago about planting strawberry plants in the little garden that sits in front of our apartment block. One of the neighbors pointed out that the children would just steal the berries should any manage to get ripe. I said that was my plan. Last year, no berries matured but this year I’ve been watching as two dozen berries slowly turned red. I am pleased to report that I did not get the chance to taste them. They were harvested by the local children. I am not happy to report that several of this year’s flower plantings have been stolen as well – impatiens and pansies dug right out of the ground. I don’t mind the loss of the strawberries, because that is sharing, but if whoever stole the plants wanted to enjoy them all summer long they could have done so by leaving them right where they were.

There is a small flower bed alongside an apartment within an easy walk from ours. It’s a full bed with lots of fine flowers, none of which were a variety that I had planted, but the remarkable thing about this bed is the barbed wire that surrounds it.

The pictures accompanying this blog posting are of Oana and of Nancy and friends on her birthday. Every year I try and take her somewhere out of the ordinary. This year was a caruta ride out to a wild flower meadow. The day was perfect and the scenery awesome.