Apologies to Blog Readers

To anyone who might have hoped to follow more of my blogging this winter:

I apologize for not keeping up with blog updates through the winter months.  A couple of big things have contributed to this: 1.) Tax Season- which comes along once a year and shocks me with its all-consuming power and 2.) Wedding Planning- that's right!  Rob & I are getting married this June!  Don't get me wrong; these are both very good things.  I'm more than satisfied with the way my International Tax Consulting Business is going and have thoroughly enjoyed corresponding with clients based in interesting posts around the world, but it just doesn't leave much time for other activities from February through mid-April.  I shouldn't complain, though, since for the most part, I have it pretty good the other ten months of the year.  And wedding planning is a unique and memorable once-in-a-lifetime experience, so I want to do it to the best of my abilities, though again, it seems like as soon as I cross one item off of my "To Do" list, several more items pop up. 

So, please bear with me as I take another blog break, and I'll be back eventually.  In the meantime, I've found it fascinating to see how many people (from all over the world) have logged in to this blog to check out a post or two.  I've also had the amazing chance-experience of re-connecting with a former friend because she and her husband found me through the blog (and it turned out we were both in Kigali, Rwanda at the same time- seriously, what are the chances?)  Even though I haven't been an active blogger recently, it seems that there are still some benefits to having this blog out there on the blogosphere-- unintended consequences/benefits of this experiment.

Thanks for your patience through this busy time...

Marsha 

Zone V Qualifying Tournament- Feb. 2011 in Kigali, Rwanda

A big congratulations to the Rwandan Men & Rwandan Women National Teams for winning the Zone V Qualifying Tournament, Feb. 2011 in Kigali, Rwanda.  The win secures a place in both the African Cup of Nations and the All-African Games later in 2011!  

2011- Reflections on the Travel Bug

A few weeks of a blog break quickly turned into over a month.  It's good to be back, though, and 2011 is certainly promising to be a very exciting year.

After a four-week whirlwind trip home, sandwiched in between two extra-long days of flying halfway around the world, I can't help but to do just a bit of reflecting on travel. 

First, the numbers.  Since departing the U.S. for Rwanda on August 29th, 2006:

-I have lived in 6 different apartment.
-I have attempted to learn 4 different languages.
-I have spent time in 13 different countries.
-I have flown approximately 200,000 miles.

I can say without a doubt that I've loved every minute of this non-stop series of destinations.  I had gotten bit by the Travel Bug, and fed the fever in a major way. 

It's also safe to say that my travel-stamina is dwindling, that every time I leave home it's just a little bit harder and a little more draining.

As 2011 begins, I have a goal: one more year and a half, max, living outside of the U.S.  After that, sure I'll get the Travel Bug and plan vacations and look forward to returning to visit friends in places where we've lived, and maybe even take a temporary assignment overseas at some point, but there'll be a difference: we'll have our own home base in the U.S., near family, friends, or both.

So, that means I have a year and a half to make the most of life overseas.  Sounds good to me; it's a challenge I'm definitely willing to take!

Home for the Holidays

I made it home to Pennsylvania last night, after a full day of traveling from Cluj to Bucharest to Paris to D.C. to Western PA.  I'm sure I'll be posting soon, but for the next couple of weeks, I'm excited to just be home.  Thanks for reading!

Third in a Series of Four: Endless, Numbered Days

If you've been following my blog, you know that I've been working on a series of four paintings, which I've entitled the "Endless, Numbered Days."  Here's a link to my second painting (with a link to the first one included in that post): http://leftside-rightside.blogspot.com/2010/11/second-in-series-of-four-endless.html.

For today, here's a glimpse of the third painting in the series (the nautical scene on the painting stand- I'll post a close-up of it eventually), plus a feel for the inside of Maya's studio (I've posted about Maya before, as well as the outside of her studio.)  That's me, with my instructor Maya and some of her work in the background.  (Photo credits: Jennie Durant)
 

Maramures Trip Itinerary & Highlights

This trip was Round 2 of European Adventures with Jennie (an American friend who's currently living in Italy.)  Here's the link about our first adventure together, when I went to visit her in Italy back in October: http://leftside-rightside.blogspot.com/2010/10/ristorante-il-caminetto-cooking-class.html.  We were thrilled to have another opportunity to see some new sights together, and Jennie even came to Transylvania with a trip in mind: to see some of the places (and eat some of the food!) featured in Anthony Bourdain's TV Show, No Reservations.  I haven't seen the "Romania Episode," but I understand that he didn't have a very good overall experience, though some of this was his own fault (i.e. he didn't hire a local guide.)  Whatever the cause, he didn't end up giving Romania the respect that it deserves.  At the very least, though, he inspired a trip for us, and we were so glad we went; Maramures far exceeded our expectations!  Here are some of the highlights of our trip:     

• Picking up the Rental Car from Andrei at Pan Travel in Cluj:  The reason this task made the highlight list is that in addition to providing me with helpful maps, Andrei gave a full five-minute briefing on how to navigate around horses and bicycles.  "Allow the maximum distance when passing because horses, although used to cars, can be unpredictable.  Allow the maximum distance when passing bicycles, because if the biker has been drinking, he could also be unpredictable."  

• Entering Maramures on a holiday (Dec. 6th- St. Nicholas Day): As we worked our way from Cluj to Botiza, the roads gradually became narrower and narrower until we suddenly realized that we were sharing a small two-lane paved road with more horse-carts than cars.  Almost every horse-cart had a live pig or sheep in it, and several had large packages or barrels.  We later found out that two Mondays per month, there is a market where locals can purchase live animals.  Because it was a holiday, the streets were packed with people walking or clustered together on the road, having a conversation. 

• Meeting our guide, George Iurca (botizavr@sintec.ro), in Botiza: Hiring a local guide was by far the best investment we could have made, and from what I've read, heard, and experienced, George is the best of the best of Maramures guides.  Fluent in four languages including English and coming from a family who has lived in the area for generation after generation, George knows the Maramures Valley like the back of his hand.  He and his wife run a small, clean and comfortable guesthouse, where we stayed. 

• Oldest Wooden Church in Maramures- Ieud:  Maramures is famous for its wooden churches- old and new, big and small, Orthodox or Greek-Catholic, constructed in a very traditional style, in all wood from the shingles to the floorboards.  Set off the road and surrounded by tall pine trees, this wooden church survived fires set by invaders that destroyed many of the churches throughout the valley.  Now a UNESCO Heritage Site, this church features beautifully painted murals.

• Demonstration of making clothing out of hemp fiber and a tour through a Maramures homestead:  A chance to see the ingenuity of the people of Maramures, who have developed ways to feed, clothe, house, and subsist solely on materials that they grow themselves using traditional farming practices and lots of good old-fashioned manure (seriously- manure is King here.) I saw more piles of cow, horse, and pig manure and horse-carts transporting manure in these two days than I've seen in my entire life.  The Valley has refused the use of artificial pesticides or fertilizers, and you really can tell, from the water quality in the stream, to the clean, fresh air, to the taste of the fruits, vegetables, and even the meat that we sampled there.  While on the topic of farming, the other thing that you see in all of the fields is hay bales, tall and thick, standing vertically since they're wrapped around a wooden pole, resting on sticks rather than directly on the ground, with a little wooden roof on top to keep some of the water out of the inner core of the hay.  If constructed properly, these hay bales can provide nutritious feed for the animals for up to two years.   

• Barsana Monastery:  This monastery was built almost entirely by the residents of the small town in which it's located.  Donations of time, money, and physical labor have produced several buildings where nuns reside year-round, a wooden church, a front gate, a museum, and a guesthouse for people who choose to make a pilgrimage to this site. 

• Dinner and Breakfast at the Guesthouse: Fantastic, home-cooked Romanian food by our guide George's wife.  Everything was organic, local, sustainable, traditional, DELICIOUS.  We stuffed ourselves Monday night, slept/digested, and were ready for a fabulous breakfast early the next day.

• Traditional Woodcarver: In addition to many wooden gates displayed throughout the nearby villages, this father-son team (the son is an Orthodox priest) is in the process of hand-carving the decorative paneling that will be installed in a Romanian Orthodox church currently being constructed in Roebling, New Jersey.   

• Tallest Wooden Church in Maramures- Sapanta: Another UNESCO Heritage Site, this newly-built wooden church has a 75 meter steeple.

• Merry Cemetery:  It was raining when we reached the cemetery, but we still left feeling more upbeat than sad, thanks to the cheerful colors and humorous epitaphs on the headstone-crosses.  It's all the work of one man and his apprentice, started in 1935.  Here's the Wikipedia link for a description of what makes this place different from your average cemetery:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merry_Cemetery.

• Farmers' Market- This was my request.  It was interesting to see a lot of Ukrainian products for sale (which makes sense, considering that Sapanta is on the Romanian-Ukraine border.)  I was happy to go away from the market with a couple of interesting purchases to sample: smoked pork fat, fresh sour cream, and dried fruit.  

• Sighet Prison- (separate detailed post below) 

• Small-scale Waterworks Industry: Corn Mill, Felting Wool, Distillery, Washing Machine:  Although the original equipment was sold to the Astra Museum of Romanian Ethnography, located outside of Sibiu, this practical water-powered family-run industry was both impressive and ingenious. 

(Photo credits for all of the pictures in this post: Jennie Durant)

Sighet Prison- Memorial of the Victims of Communism and of the Resistance

One of the most memorable stops that we made during our trip to Northern Transylvania was the Sighet Prison, located only one mile from the Ukraine border.  The Sighet Prison, originally built in 1897, became part of the network of prisons used during the 1950's-1980's to incarcerate dignitaries and intellectuals deemed to be in opposition of the Communist regime.  Many of the political prisoners were Greek- and Roman- Catholic priests, former democratic party leaders, historians, artists, and academics, and were frequently males over the age of sixty.  The prison has been transformed into a fascinating and thorough museum, with each cell block featuring one aspect of Communism, Imprisonment, and/or the Resistance.

Exterior of the Sighet Prison; Shutters covered the cell windows to prevent prisoners from seeing anything outside other than the sky.

For additional information, here are some links:

http://www.memorialsighet.ro/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=51&Itemid=93&lang=en (The official website of the museum, including a description in the "virtual visit section" of each of the cell block exhibits.)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sighet_prison (An overview of the prison and list of some of the political prisoners incarcerated in the Sighet Prison.)

http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowUserReviews-g608955-d622822-r71790078-Memorial_of_the_Victims_of_Communism_and_of_the_Resistance-Sighetu_Marmatiei.html#REVIEWS (Reviews of the prison museum and logistics on how to get there.)

Perhaps the most fascinating exhibit in my opinion was a cell focusing on "Poetry in Prison."  Here's an excerpt from the website on the topic:

"Born without pencil and paper, transmitted from cell to cell through the Morse alphabet, this poetry was equally a mental gymnastics exercise, one of spiritual unloading, of human solidarity, of spiritual raising, of ascesis [self-discipline] through the acceptance of anonymity. The authors of some of the poems are still not known, for others famous authors have been found, but we preferred to mix them without names, as in the moment of their birth lacking vanity, when those who memorized them were as important and necessary as those who composed them."