Today was much needed. With all of the traveling and meetings I needed a day off. Luckily I was able to get that today. After breakfast I, I was introduced to Romanian TV. I found the few channels which play American programming as well as CNN International. Most interestingly was MTV and VH1. Not that they would play Romanian music, but the fact that they actually played music videos. There's a thought, maybe MTV and VH1 actually have something to do with music instead of the Jersey Shore and the countless other horrible shows destroying America's youth. Okay, maybe that's harsh, but seriously.
I spent a good amount of time today doing some self studying of Romanian using the dictionary, info given to us by the Peace Corps, and the Byki program I downloaded. I studied for nearly 2 hours before going downstairs for lunch. We had it out on the back porch (and hey, no rain or hail this time) and afterwards I talked with Ofelia about why I was attracted to the Peace Corps and then we eventually talked about the current situations in each of our countries. It was great to hear about how at least one person feels about what has been happening in Romania for the past few years.
I then went back to studying for another 3 or so hours. I had no idea I could even study like that anymore. Heck, I never even did it in high school or college. I think I just realized that I absolutely need to know this if I am going to be able to survive the next 2 years, let alone just being a successful volunteer. I went downstairs for dinner which was cartof (potato) și (and) pui de gâină (chicken) și pește (fish). And like every Romanian meal I have eaten yet that is not breakfast, there was salad and soup. This has to be one of the best things about Romania yet. I have yet to eat any type of food which I have not liked here.
After dinner I gave the family my photo book on Chicago which I bought for them so they could see where I am from. I figured a book would be much easier to transport than a Chicago style deep dish pizza. After I gave them the gift and looked through it with them I watched TV for a little while with Julian. He went upstairs for a little while so then I flipped through the channels to see what was on. First I found the Germany v. Sweden IIHF hochie game. Then an episode of ”Scrubs" was on so that was great to see and give me a little feeling of home. I watched for a little while then went back up to my room and back to trying my best to learn the language.
Tomorrow we start our formal language training. I’m slightly nervous but I know I will do okay as I have started taking on this whole language thing head on. So I'm off to bed but I figured I'd write down one of my thoughts every day from this point on.
"Language can be a barrier, but love and compassion are universal. People are people regardless of what they speak or where they live."
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