Transylvania At Last

Today is my fourth full day in Transylvania and my third day of teaching.  I've settled in with my host family and, despite being sick with an eye infection and a cold, I'm very happy.  I left Budapest at 5:30am on a train that only got riper each hour.  (Although I'm sure I didn't exactly smell like a wild strawberry patch myself).  After 14 hours of scenery, I finally made it to Siculeni where I was met by my host father and sisters, K and S.  We drove to their village and I was warmly greeted by my host mother with a kiss on both cheeks.

Home for the next several weeks

Unfortunately, I had picked up some germs in Budapest and my sore throat merely allowed me to croak a greeting to my new family.  Thankfully, they were quite gracious and showed me to the shower and told me to come down for dinner when I was ready.  The first problem occurred when I couldn't get the water to come from the shower head.  After several fruitless (and waterless) minutes, I decided to just wash my hair under the bathtub faucet.  A little cold, but effective.  A few minutes later, I tried putting my left contact lens in my eye and something immediately felt wrong.  I tried retrieving the lens in between my bloodshot eye's blinking spasms, but I couldn't find it on my eye; it seemed to have disappeared behind my eyelid.  (Which, oddly enough, has never before happened to me in the 10 years in which I have worn contacts).  By this point, I felt that I had kept my host family waiting long enough so I decided to focus only out of my right eye and went to the dinner table.

A rose from the garden was waiting for me in my room

I must say, the home-cooking in Eastern Europe is unparalleled.  But the expectation to eat... and eat... and eat... is also constant.  My host family generously served me chicken, potatoes, bread, and cake.  Everything was delicious but there is only so much I can cram into my stomach, especially after 2 weeks of inconsistent meals.  All I know for certain is that I undoubtedly made the right choice when I gave up on vegetarianism.  In Eastern Europe, meat is part of the culture and not eating what you're served is an insult.  (In the past three days I have been eating as much as I can, but my host mother's most commonly said phrase to me is "Please, Rosa.  Eat."  It's not a suggestion).

After dinner and some conversation I went up to my room (which K has given me for my stay here, bless her!) and tried once again to retrieve my contact.  Of course, I googled various methods for my problem but nothing worked.  Worse, I clicked on a story with a headline to the effect of "Woman Loses Eye, Blames Contact Lenses"and mentally leapt to the worst case scenarios: a future version of myself sporting an eye-patch over a hollow socket, attempting to convince myself that Xander Harris or that kid from Newsies looked cool with theirs...  I didn't have much choice but to go to sleep before full-fledged panic set in and I begged St. Lucy, patroness of eye ailments for her intercession against blindness as I went to bed.

(Cats appear to exhibit vampiric qualities in Transylvania)

The next day, I still couldn't locate my contact but I was feeling better in the respiratory department thanks to copious amounts of Romanian medicine and tea.  My host family offered to take me to the doctor the following day, which they assured me wasn't a matter of money since she was a family friend.  At 10:00 in the morning, I got my first glimpse of the school, my classroom, and my students.  It was overwhelming to see a classroom with 50+ bright-eyed children and their eager parents staring at me, the American Teacher.  Through my host mother and an English speaking teacher, (and in what little voice I still had) I introduced myself to everyone.  Classes didn't actually begin until the next day so I was free to go home for lunch and a nap.  (Oh. Eastern Europe is amazing with nap-time, I've found).  Later in the evening, K brought me to the park to meet some of her friends (around 17 and 18) and we talked and hung out for awhile before going home for supper.  I've found that the teenagers and young adults here (excepting my teenage students with whom I haven't been able to adequately communicate to form this assessment) are quite mature and broad-minded.  I suppose that part of this comes from having fluency in two or three languages.

 

The first day of teaching was a little shaky and I chalk most of this up to the fact that I was under-prepared.  However, I came in with educational ammo yesterday and today which did the trick, at least for my three younger classes.  (You wouldn't believe how enthusiastic Hungarian children become over "Head Shoulders Knees and Toes."  It's adorable and definitely fills a portion of class-time).  My last class, however, has been awkward at its best and catastrophic at its worst.  The students are ages 12-15, and I am yet to determine whether they know less English that the 8-11 class, or if they're simply uninterested in the subject.  Thank God I had K and her friend Sz with me to come up with a last-minute word game.  Still, I'm at something of a loss with the teenage class.  (Suggestions are welcome if you care to comment!)

As far as my rogue contact lens, I finally retrieved it in two separate halves from my top and bottom eyelids.  Gross, but at least now I simply have a mild case of conjunctivitis which is presently treatable by eye drops.  I guess I won't be needing that eye patch.  My cold is clearing up and my voice is still a little hoarse but I could hit all the notes to the Alphabet song and "Head Shoulders Knees and Toes" for what it's worth.

Well.  I think supper is about ready so I will not keep my host mother waiting.  For now, viszontlátásra!