Our visit to Romania! September 2012
DAY 1
On the 17th September 2012, Estefanía, The History and Geography teacher, Ana, the ICT teacher and Charo, the English teacher, got on a plane to visit the Scoala Generala "Gheorghe Popovici" in Apateu,
Romania.
We were very excited about the prospects of visiting such a distant and different country, but it was the first time for all three os us in Romania and we didn't know what to expect.
When we arrived, we were recieved by Daniel, our host teacher, and driven to our hotel by one othe parents of the children of the school.
The next day, we set off to visit the Primary School in Apateu, where we also met the rest of the visiting teachers and the Headmaster of the Secondary School and our Host, Claudius.
We visited the classrooms and we wactched the children sing and recite in delight. We were very impressed to see that our visit had been so carefully planned and that we were so welcome.
When we finished, we went back to the Scoala for a breaktime snack, which consisted of flour waffles filled with potatoes, cheese or boiled cabbage, that were absolutely delicious.
We also had a delicious homemade lunch, cooked by Alina, also our host teacher and the Headmaster's wife, who also teaches at the school. We tried CHORBA and some other local delicacies.
Then we carried on to do our first work session, during which we decided our plan of action for the next two years and how we would share the work.
DAY 2
On our second day, we went for a tour of the town and were recieved by the Major of Apateu, in his best. We were taken by his words and the fact that he had something complimentary to say about all the countries of origin of the visiting teachers.
He also told us about how the best people form Apateu had gone to live and work in some of the countries of the visiting teachers and how proud the people form Apateu were that they were sending us their best citizens.
We also visited the local Orthodox Church, so different to the Catholic Churches that we are used to in Spain.
We visited the village and we met some of the locals and after that, we set of to the Secondary School, where Claudius and the rest of the teachers were waiting for us.
The students had prepared a tour of the school and showed us the premises, the classrooms, the "cabinets", the library and the computer room.
We then carried on to do some more work and agreed on the calendar for the activities and mobilities still to be done.
After work, we were, yet again, in for a very pleasant surprise. We were taken to one of the classrooms, where the students and teachers of the school had prepared a traditional music and dance session.
We learnt that day that Apateu and its Secondary School are the home to a unique music and dance group, that has been acclaimed all over the country in traditional music festivals. Undoubtedly, something to be proud of!
DAY 3
We rose early and got ready for a day of cultural visits.
First, we travelled to Chiscau to visit the Cave of the Bears, which was one of the most impressive caves we had ever seen.
Then we continued to Arad, one of the biggest towns in that area of Romania. There, we enjoyed the Ethnographic and History Musseum and visited the town centre and the Orthodox and Catholic Cathedrals; the first one still under construction.
We had lunch in a lovely restaurant and continued on back to Chisineu and to our hotel. Our visit for that day was unfortunatley cancelled, so we stayed around the town and in the afternoon we walked to Chisineu Criss to visit the town. We had dinner at the hotel with the rest of the teachers.
DAY 4
On the fourth morning, we went back to the school for our final work sessions and said goodbye to some of the visiting teachers who were already leaving. It was pouring down with rain.
In the evening, we had our farewell dinner with averybody else. The place was magnificent; a new hotel- restaurant, where the waitresses were dressed in the traditional costumes and the food was superb!
DAY 5
We were leaving that day. We all had planes to catch, so we went to Timisoara.
We were early, so we would have a good walk around before the flight was due. Timisoara is an incredible city. It has beautiful buildings and lovely streets, churches of varoius kinds, that give the city a cosmopolitan look and colourful rooftops. It is a city in construction, like the rest of the country, but we didn't mind that. For us, it was a good sign that things in Romania are moving in the right direction.
All of our countries have been through historical struggles of some kind, the only difference is the time when they may have happened. As Claudius explained to us at the school, Romania is still coming out 50 years of harsh represion and lack of freedom. That is still present in the buildings and the lack of certain things that other countries already enjoy, but we are convinced that it is just a matter of time, that Romania and the Romanian people will succeed and build the country they are working so hard to build.
All we can say, as foreigners visiting, is that all we found in Romanian people was hospitality, generosity and hard work, and we inmensely liked that. We would like to tell the people we have met, not to be shy about what they have to offer, Romania, at least for us, seems to be able to offer much more than vampire stories.
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