From my August 2013 trip
Me with Târgu Ocna's city hall and Mount Magura in the background
The fountain behind me is called the castroane (bowls). This is right next to my old apartment, so guys giving me a lift would go crazy that a foreigner knew to say "Drop me off at the castroane" because the fountain hasn't looked like bowls for years LOL
Looking too adorable next to a soviet cemetery
This is a Romanian cemetery for WWI heroes
Adina with a piece of cheese shaped like a bunny!
Walking to the Armenian church, this is a street sign you get to pass :)
Werkin it better than a Kardashian could in front of the Armenian church
LOVES IT! Giving you my response to the Kardashians' best assets...the Benintende bootay
Posed pics are overrated...in the moment is awesome with my friend Emilia
Aren't we adorable?
So this is the sign and the stone you find at the entrance to the Armenian church. Basically, the stone was brought from a town in Armenia to be put up in the church in my town in Romania in 1825!!
Armenian writing
The roof is so gorgeous
This is totally morbid and all my friends think there is something wrong with me, but I LOVE walking around the cemetery and trying to figure out people's stories.
This is the priest
It's just so serene for me
Emilia found my fav fall tree food...walnuts!!!
Let me show you how to crack them....
Monica SMASH!
I went with Adina to Bacau (the county capitol) and they had this wall of old Jewish drawings in the Ministry of Education.
It kind of blew my mind
See...it's Hebrew!
Slanic Moldova mineral springs are the best!
This had totally reminds of the tip o a part of the male anatomy...so of course I did my Bridesmaids impression for a pic ;)
My cat's name is Georgiana...here's the saint she was named after...he's slaying a dragon...just like my cat would LOL
My old school!!! That fence was super new.
The hallowed halls of education
I love my little town SOOOOO much!
On the way home, I visited United Way Romania in Bucharest. The staff there was so great and the work they are doing is amazing. Check them out at: http://www.unitedway.ro/
At the music hall in Bucharest
For some reason I really liked the corner, can't remember why I wanted a pic with it LOL I'm wearing the iye that my former students gave to me as a present.
Freakin jack ass American ;)
Here I am at the People's Palace with my friend Mady (on the left) who I met at a reggae fest, and my friend Dana who worked at the Peace Corps Romania office. Quick tid bit about the People's Palace, built by the dictator Ceausescu, it's the second largest building in volume on the planet next to the Pentagon. And, according to a cab driver, one of three man made objects you can see from space: the Great Wall of China and the Pentagon being the other two.
Indian food in Bucharest?! This is my fav place Taj Restaurant: http://www.tajrestaurant.ro/
Arabic Food!!! My first time trying that place. The menu is a rug! How awesome is that?!
Super cool placemat
Iraqi Kebab!!! For all my Iraqi friends :)
Me and my Buch buddies enjoying the food! http://www.alibaba-restaurant.ro/
This is the box the check came in!!
Me in front of Gigi Becali's house!!! He is the owner of a soccer team, and one of the most in your face rich guys in Romania. Indian friends: It's kind of like getting my pic in front of SRK's house. American friends: It's kind of like getting my pic in front of Mark Cuban's house.
This is the "Heroes of the Air" monument...it hits home for me because my dad was in the Air Force and was a career long Air Traffic Controller.
Of course I find an Italian festival!
Cheers with gelato!! OMG and I remember the guy selling it to us looking at me like I was insane when I asked for spumoni. He was like "I lived in Italy, and that's not a flavor" and I was like "Bitch, I'm Italian, and I KNOW that's a flavor!" (That exchange happened in Romanian of course).
Lookin like a jack ass...always
Citrus from my motherland (grandfatherland to be exact)
This SUPER cute bar that Mady took us to!
I love this pic of her
They had Moscow mules!! I was so excited to get one of my fav drinks
At El Torito!!! My Mexican fix that got me through 3 years of living away from San Diego. http://eltorito.ro/?lang=en
We ran into a huge bike fest happening in front of the People's Palace.
And there was a huge protest happening my last night in Bucharest
They shut down a major thoroughfare and everything!
Lots of the same places I hit up on my September 2014 trip.
English department trip to Bacau to see "The Giver". That movie was so great cuz Jeff Bridges was in it and he soooo reminds me of my dad.
Going down the stairs in the mall in Bacau
Stefan Cel Mare...the man, the legend. He's the guy that when my friends were trying to tell me about Tagore's escapades, and I was like "Dude, there was a ruler in Romania who, every time he won a battle, he would build a monastery and father a child."
One of the days I met with some former students to do some yoga.
It was SOOOO peaceful to do yoga in this field
The yoga aftermath :)
Selfie at my old stomping grounds, the teacher's lounge for the first day of school.
The typical chaos. It was so sweet, all my old colleagues who saw me called me "Indianca noastra" meaning "Our Indian Woman".
Getting ready for the first day of school opening ceremony
The articles the priest uses to bless the school and the students for the year to come.
My former student who was djing the event. Please watch the vid so you can get an idea of how awesome my school is...they let that kid play that song!!!
Place here
The crowd was no joke!
The principal mcing the event
The priest gearing up to bless the school. Watch the vid to see the fun :)
I go to take this kid's pic and this is how he poses...gangstah
Emilia doing an impromptu parent teacher conference.
Back in the classroom. And of course I got to confiscate a phone the first hour of the first day of class....reminded me of the old days
Yeah, you get a mountain of flowers the first day of school
I really don't like flowers this much....but it was a pic that had to be taken
Flower selfie
Emilia taking her flowers home
I got to live a dream twice during this trip. I took a dance class with Ms. Stoica, who ran the aerobica dance troop that some of my students took part in. Can you see how excited I was?
We had so much fun dancing, and I taught her a couple of the Bollywood dance moves that I know :)
My friends took me out to dinner at Casa Creanga
Food in Romania is no joke
But I try my best to make it into a joke :) These are papanasi...delicious donuts covered in cream and blueberry sauce
My love for these people is no joke though
Tuesday was my preggo day. I met up with Lucia, another English teaching colleague.
We went to a pretzel place that she recommended
They had vanilla, chocolate, sour cherry, and blueberry filled pretzels. SOOOO good!
I went food shopping with Emilia and look what I found! Bengal is NEVER far away from me
You get 3 Reeses per pack in Romania!!! When I lived there you couldn't find Reeses at all!!! ARG!
And I met with Emilia's cousin and her husband
Mihaela is preggers and so awesome!
Panorama from the castroane. That building with the red and yellow balconies is my old apartment building
Goodbye selfie at the bus stand
Saying goodbye from the bus...always so hard to do!
Just a church I saw on the way from Onesti to Brasov
This town's mayor's office isn't playing around. The sign says that beggars make 5000 lei from you (under $2000) while retirees make 600 lei ($200), so don't give the beggars money.
Look what I found right by the bus stop
A synagogue!!!
So pretty
Just in time for Jewish New Year
In Romanian
The only pic I got from Cluj LOL But I had a great time catching up with a fellow RRPCVRo (Returned Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Romania...since we both came back to Romania)
There was one vendor that came through with coffee my entire 13 hour train ride from Cluj to Bucharest...SUCH a different from India.
But it was a pleasant surprise of a difference!
A vendor came through with berries! I'm used to guavas in India LOL
Beautiful mountains coming out of Sinaia
Love the plane coming up the side
Serenity for me
Beautiful way for Romania to tell me good bye, this gorgeous sunset.
I almost got stranded due to the Air France strike (thank you to my mom for making the emergency phone call to Delta and getting me rerouted home), but what is a trip without a little drama? I got to see Dana, who talked me through my stress and drama from the last minute travel changes. It was amazing to catch up with her.
It was such an amazing trip and I hope to make this an annual tradition where my heart gets its fill from its second home.
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