At home

Hi all, I am now at home. On Monday I took a flight from Bucharest to Amsterdam and then flew from Amsterdam to San Francisco. I left Bucharest at 6:00am and arrived in San Francisco at 1:00pm. Sounds like a short flight but because of the 10 hour time difference it actually was 17 hours from start to finish. The guy in front of me on the plane kept his seat back the entire flight so that made it hard for me to lift my foot at all so it was not a fun flight. I did get a wheelchair ride from the check in counter at Bucharest to the gate, from the gate at Amsterdam, to a waiting area, from there to the gate and from the gate in San Francisco to pick up my luggage. So the airlines took care of me. Well other than in Amsterdam where they were late picking me up so the flight had already started boarding and I had to join the cattle line to get to my seat. On Tuesday I went to visit three doctors. Two for my ankle and one for my glasses. My glasses broke on the next to the last day I was in Bucharest, somehow it seemed a fitting end to my time there this year. The first doctor was my primary care physician who wanted to look at my ankle to see if there was any infection. She was a little concerned but sent me to the orthopedic doctor to have him look at it. The orthopedist was only a little concerned but started me on some antibiotics anyway. He took out the stitches and took some x-rays to see the work. He said that the  doctors in Bucharest did a very good job repairing my ankle. I got my first look at the damage too. I have a steel plate on the outside of my left ankle, held in place by three screws. The area where the leg joins the ankle is where I broke it and I apparently did a good job of breaking it. So the plate is holding all the bones together while they heal. I also have one long screw that goes all the way through my ankle holding the two leg bones together. Normally there is a ligament that perform this function but of course that was torn when I broke my ankle. On the inside of my ankle they repaired the tendon that was torn free during the accident. All in all he said that the repair was good. He said he is always worried when patients have surgery in foreign countries but that the Romanian doctors did good. He did change the amount of time that I have to be off my ankle. The doctors in Romanian said to immobilize my ankle for three weeks and no weight on it for six weeks. He said immobilized for 6 weeks and no weight on it for twelve weeks. He would have put it in a cast but he wants to be able to look at it because of the infection concern. He gave me a big boot to put it in. The boot looks like a ski boot and it immobilizes my ankle. I will take a picture and put it on my next input. So that means no weight on it until the first week of October. So I will have to figure out how to teach one-footed for a while, that should be fun since I like to walk around and write on the board. My foot looks better each day, almost all the swelling is gone now. I

want to take this opportunity to thank all the great people in Romania who went out of their way to help me during this time.  To do all that you did for a me says so much about you as wonderful people. When people ask me if I want to go back again next year, I say how can I not go back, the people in Vaslui are the greatest people in the world. So, thanks to all of you who helped me when I needed it, I can never repay you for your kindness and concern. 

Talk with you soon

Mark

My new home

Hi all from Sector 3 of Bucharest. The city is divided into 6 Sectors for administrative purposes and I am staying in an apartment that is in Sector 3. I took these pictures when I was out on my daily exercize, walking to the open air market up the street. It seems like many miles away but I am sure that if I had two good feet I could get there in like 3 minutes. In my current condition it takes me like 15 minutes to get there. I have three places that I have identified as resting places on the way there and while I am at the market. I get my Diet Coke, or Cola Light as they call it, there and some fruit. Although I can't get much at a time since I have to carry it all back with me. That can be a problem when your hands are busy helping you walk with the crutches. So, the first picture is of the apartment building, or block as it is called here, that I am staying in. I took it from across a parking lot on my way back from the market. The second picture is of the small park across the street where I spend some time sitting on the benches. The third picture is of the entrance to the building. My apartment is just to the right of the entrance, the rectangular window that you can see clearly is the window into my kitchen. Thankfully, the entrance does not have many steps to conquer. Many blocks here in Bucharest have seven or eight steps to climb to get inside, and the steps here are not disabled friendly. Inside the entrance there are four steps but they are not to hard to get up. Then just to the right is my door. So for the condition that I am in now, this apartment is perfect for me. I am feeling much better today, my foot does not ache and the swelling is almost all gone. Talk at you all later.
Mark

Coming home early

Hi all, here is a picture of my ankle in the splint to keep it immobilized so that the tendon has time to heal back where they have sewn it into place. Because of what you see above my touring has been terribly limited. There is an open air market and a few small stores not to far from my apartment that I manage to hobble down to on my crutches. I am not allowed to put any weight on my leg foot. For those of you who have not had the pleasure of hobbling around on crutches you have no idea how hard it is. I come back from the market exhausted and covered in sweat. So any touring kinds of activities like visiting museums or riding on the subway are out of the question. With this in mind I spent some time trying to figure out how to get Tarom Air and United to change my tickets but with no success. I finally went on line and found a flight from Bucharest to Amsterdam, then on the San Francisco with KLM. So even though it was a little expensive I booked it. Instead of heading home on August 7th I will come home on July 28th. I am hoping that I can sweet talk the flight attendants and get into business class or first class so the I can put my foot up. After a little while of having my foot down it starts to ache. So all a few more days here and then the end to Mark's Amazing Adventure, Version 2, teaching English and taking a trip through the Romanian Medical System. Talk at you all soon.
Mark

Any of you miss me?

Hi all I am back! Did any of you wonder what had happened to Mark? My last post was over a week ago. Well I decided to take a short detour through the Romanian Medical System. Last Sunday July 13th I was at a Bar-b-que kicking a soccer ball back and forth. I missed one of the balls and as i ran down a little slope to get the ball, I stepped into a hole and my ankle rolled to the inside. It was quite an ugly picture that I will gladly share with any of you that have a strong stomach and an interest. Anyway, I knew right away that I had done something so I went to the hospital in Vaslui to get an x-ray. Turns out that i had a displaced fracture on the outside of my left ankle and the deltoid tendon on the inside of my ankle was torn loose. All the people in Vaslui said." Don't do the surgery here, go to Bucharest." So I did. I am now in Bucharest, post surgery. The surgey was on Wednesday July 16th and I got out of the hospital on Thursday. I have two great big scars on my ankle now (I have pictures that I will gladly share someday but I will not post them for fear of making people sick). The surgery went fine, they put a plate and 4 screws in the outside of my ankle and had to reattach my tendon on the inside. I am not sure when I am coming home because right now when i put my ankle lower than my hip it hurts and I don't see how i can possible take 20 hours of plane time like that. Every day it is getting better. So now that I have internet access I will post more. Any of you that don't want to comment on this post can e-mail me at mjohnson625@sbcglobal.net. Talk with you all soon.
Mark

The Scores are in

The scores from the high school exams that the graduating students were taking last week are in. Actually they are on, like posted on the wall of the school for anyone and everyone to see each of your scores and whether you passes or failed. They have 6 parts to the test. Romanian, oral and written, a foreign language, math, science and most of them had a physical education section. Each section is scored from 0 to 10, with 10 being a perfect score. A score of at least a 5 allows you to pass that section. Then they average the scores and to pass your average has to be above 6. So you can not get a 5 in each section and pass. Also if you get less than a 5 in any section, regardless of what you scored in the other sections you fail. About 25% of the students here did not pass the exam. From my own personal look at the scores posted on the wall, it looks like math messed up many of those who did not pass. These exams determine which college you can go to and whether you can get a scholarship or not to go to school. So for all you high school students in California who are complaining about the exit exam be glad that is all you have to take. These exams take place over two weeks and many, many hours of time.

Today, Thursday, I had the pleasure of meeting a group of students from this school. They came to see me and showed me a presentation from a project they are working on in conjunction with several high school across Europe. They went to Dresden, Germany in June and learned about setting up a computer network. They spent three weeks there and said that they had a great time. After they showed me their pictures I showed them some of mine. They were interested in how high school was in California and what Livermore looked like. They were interested in how much money I made and whether that made me rich or not. There were 14 students and their teacher present. Their teacher is one of my advanced students. The pictures they were most interested in were of the teachers from last year in class, they thought that was funny.

Talk at you all later, have fun

Mark

Sunday's Trip to the Village

This Sunday it was my special privilege to go visit the parents of Eugen in their village. Their village is not too far from Valsui. We were able to spend several hours at their house and enjoy their company. The video shows Eugen's mother mixing mamaliga. Mamaliga is a specialty in Romania and is made from corn meal. It is similar to corn bread but more moist. I tried to make it last year after I went home but it did not turn out very good, it was dry. Eugen's mom is showing me the correct way to mix the mamaliga. She told me one of my problems might be that I did not have the correct wooden spoon to mix it with. The first picture shows the results of Eugen's mother's work. That is the mamaliga and you just cut pieces off and eat. It is kind of like having mashed potatoes with your meal. The other picture shows the family "car". It is a one-horse power vehicle and you can even see the one horse in the background. The family has one horse, a cow, four pigs several ducks and a whole lot of chickens. The have some land on which they grow vegetables and corn and several fruit trees. We picked some apricots from one of the trees for dessert. The stove that you see Eugen's mother cooking at is in the "summer kitchen". It is fueled by a corn cob fire. I told her that I remember my grandmother firing her stove in exactly the same manner when I was young, throwing corn cobs in to stoke the fire. The building to the right of the stove is their winter kitchen. They have a stove indoors so that they can cook in the winter without being freezing cold. They also have a modern gas stove but she prefers this one because she says the food tastes better. I will tell you that the food she made tasted very good so maybe she has a point. During the summer most of the living is done out doors and the house is a place to sleep. I had a great time a fell very lucky to have spent time with these wonderful people. Talk at you all soon.

The Weekend

The weekend has been quiet. The first picture is a different view of Vaslui. It is from the top of a hill looking into the city but also into the countryside that surrounds Vaslui. I also spent some time at Parcul Copou, Copul Park. It is located not far from the school and is a very beautiful place to sit and spend some time. It is also a good walk up a hill so it is good exercise. The park is the second picture that you see. The third picture is of Stefan Cel Mare, Steven the great. It is located at a place called podul inalt, or tall hill. It commemorates the victory of Stefan over the turks in 1475. The battle took place right here just outside Vaslui. This is a nice place to go and sit and talk. The last picture tells about the statue I thought you might like to see some things written in Romanian. It says basically that this statue of Stefan Cel Mare was erected in 1975 to celebrate the 500th anniversary of the Moldovian victory led by the great Stefan that took place at Podul Inalt in Vaslui on 10 January 1475. It goes on to tell that the statue is 6.9 meters tall and sits on a pedestal that is 8 meters tall. Thats all for now, talk at you later.

End of the Second Week

Well week two is done. It has been fun. (hehe that rhymes) The classes are going well. In the beginners class today they were even brave enough to ask me some questions about school in America. They were most interested in High School since that is what they teach. They were interested in the fact that the high school students pick their classes and that the students change classes during the day. In Romania the students are given their schedule and they do not get to choose. Also it is the teachers who move between classes with the students staying put in one room. So the room belongs to the students not to the teacher. The teacher has an office and run from class to office to get the necessary material for the next class. Also the students are together as a group through all 4 years of high school. So you start with 25 students and they stay together all day in every class for the whole 4 years. You better hope you like the students you are with because you are stuck. The pictures I have posted are of a horse and cart that was out in the street right in front of the school. The first picture is from just outside my front door. I came down and there he was and I thought oh can I get my camera out fast enough to get this picture and he stopped right there. He was still sitting there when I got out to the street. The part of the car you see belongs to Florina, we were on our way out. I guess he was sitting there like that because he had run out of gas. hehe. Speaking of gas they are paying about $8 a gallon for gas here so when you go fill up just think about that before you complain too much. And remember they make a whole lot less money than we do. Well all talk at you soon.
Mark

The second week

Ok the video loaded this time if you listen you can hear Romanian being spoken, but please don't ask me what is being said. The second week of classes is underway and everything is going well. The beginners class has grown to where there were 10 students there today. I guess the word is out that there is a crazy teacher teaching English and they want to come and see this for themselves. Today we were working on the parts of the body and after we learned them we sang head, shoulders, knees and toes. I explained that in my class if you don't sing with the group then you have to come to the front and sing by yourself. It is amazing how loud the room got during the next time we sang. No different then my class at Portola. We also talked about opposites and sang a song about them. I had them doing gestures for inside, outside, up and down, long and short, smile and frown, hot and cold, fast and slow. So for all you teachers we had a great day of total physical response (tpr). It is actually fun to see it work, especially with a group so willing to learn. If only all our students were this excited about learning. We played Simon says after that. Simon says show me your shoulders, simon says show me your eyes, then I added simon says show me long, simon says show me inside. Of course I threw in some without simon says. And just for fun sometimes when I said Simon says show me your head I would point to my hips or something else. They got better as we played. In the advanced class we had groups of 4 words and they had to decide which one did not belong and why and explain their reasons. We also did two words and they had to explain how they were the same and how they were different like canary and eagle. It was fun and really works on building vocabulary and oral practice. Well when I started this today I was wondering exactly what I was going to say and i have been going on and on. So I guess that shows that I am having fun. I am meeting a group of students (teachers) for a walk in the local park and theh we will probably drink a juice, mine will probably be a cola zero tonight. La revedere for now talk at you later.

Romanian Bar-B-Que

On Sunday I got to attend a bbq Romanian style. We went to a wooded area outside of Vaslui and had a great time. We ate mici (pronounced meech) a Romanian staple at the bbq. It is wonderful. We also had chicken, and steak and sausages. There were tomatoes and of course beer. I also got my first mosquito bites this year, which is great compared to last year. Last year there were so many in my room that i would go on a mosquito hunt every night. This year there have been none in my room, (shhhh don't tell the mosquitoes that I am here, maybe they don't know). The first picture shows the meat that was sacrificed for the bbq (the mici is on the left). There was plenty of it to go around. The second pic is of the area that we gathered. As you can see many people from Vaslui had the same idea. The video shows how they started the fire. A stack of wood and paper. They added some charcoal after the fire was blazing. When I told them that with my bbq I only turn on the gas and turn on the flame and it ignites they said yea but it does not taste as good without the wood flavoring. It is back to work today, Monday after 3 days off. We will see how much the beginners remember. Talk at you all soon.

The zoo and Brucer's hill

On Friday a group of us went to the zoo in Barlad. I made a new friend Razvan. He is 11 years old and speaks great English. He taught himself watching The Cartoon Network and playing video games. He not only speaks great English but he loves to talk, and talk, and talk. So the zoo was nice, although the animals were in small cages. We stopped at a place in the zoo to get a juice before we left and got under cover just in time for another great thunderstorm. Lightning, thunder, and lots of rain. It rained hard for about 1 1/2 hours and probably rained more than 2 inches. The fields around here loved it. The crops look so much better this year than last year, they have had plenty of rain. They told me that last year was so bad that food prices have gone up about 10% this year. Anyway after the rain stopped we headed home.

The trip to Brucer's Hill was also fun. Brucer was a soldier for Stefan Cel Mare who was injured in battle, he lost an arm, and was given this land to watch for the invading Turks. The Turks would come up this valley and Brucer would light warning fires so that Stefan and his soldiers could prepare. The view from here is wonderful you can see for miles and miles. So thats all for now. Talk to you soon.

Bowling in Vaslui

On Thursday night we went bowling in Vaslui. Bowling is still new to Romania and the people that I went with had not been bowling before. The first photo shows the bowling alley at the Silver Mall. Silver Mall is a new mall here in Vaslui and is very modern and very nice. What you see in the picture is not the part of the bowling alley that we were in but in fact is the entire bowing alley. There are 4 lanes in all and we were the only people who were bowling. By the way if you want to see the pictures bigger click on the picture and it brings it up full size. In the second picture you see me demonstrating the correct form for bowling. Hehe ok I was just being funny but they were depending on me to tell them the rules and show them how to bowl. I believe that everyone had a great time.

We finished the first week of teaching. I think everything is going good. The beginners are learning and in the advanced group we are working on polishing their English usage. There is no class on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday. We are going to the zoo, zoo, zoo, how about you, you, you. on Friday. It is located in a town called Barlad, located about 40 or 50 Km south of Vaslui. I will take some pictures of the zoo and post them later. We are planning a BBQ on Sunday. I hope they are planning to serve mici, a Romanian favorite at BBQs. Talk to you all later. Pa (Romanian for bye)

A visit to a local Monastery

Romania has many monastaries. Most of the population is Eastern Orthodox. The churches are beautiful and beautifully decorated. We went to a local one about 12 miles outside of Vaslui. It was located on the top of a hill and has a beautiful view. You can tell that the priests were in charge at one time because the monasteries have the best views. The pictures above are from the monastery I was able to visit last night.
The first picture is from the outside looking at the entrance. If you look to the left of the entrance you can see some of the original wall. The monastery originated about 400 years ago. Also to the left of the entrance you will notice the preferred method of transportation for the people from the local village, a horse and cart.
The second picture is of the church. They are in the process of restoring the inside of the church at the present time. The government has just fixed the roads well enough to drive to this church. You pass through many villages to get there and the roads are not always very good. But because they have fixed the roads there are more people going to visit this monastery so they are fixing it up. The third picture is of my local tour guides. On the left is Alexandra, she is 4 and is the daughter of Florina, one of my students and my "guardian angel". The other is Andrea and she is 7 and is Alexandra's cousin. They decided to pose for this picture. There ws cow poop in the road and they asked "cum sa spune", they wanted to know what we call cow poop. When I told them that we call it cow poop, Alexandra said cow no poop. Florina started to laugh because in Romanian poop is a little kiss, and Alex was right cows dont give you a little kiss.
Class was great again today, we finished our first week. The beginners are getting more comfortable with English and the advanced class is making great progress. Next week I will have the advanced group practice reading and writing. Reading is not too hard but writing will be tougher for them, just like it is for all of the people who speak English. Thank God for spell check. (I spelled Monastery 3 different ways before I got it right, just don't tell any of my students. They think it is very weird that a teacher might not know how to spell something.)
Bye for now, talk at you later. Keep the comments coming.

Downtown Vaslui

So the rain stopped, and I walked downtown to "drink a juice". Here are some pictures from downtown.

The first is a look down one of the main streets. The people are out enjoying the fact that the rain stopped and for a while it was almost comfortable outside> The second pictures is in the main square of the city, in front of the city hall. The statue is of Stefan Cel Mare. Again the people are enjoying the fact that the rain stopped.

Class is still going well. The beginner class is starting to understand. The funniest thing is one of the students, when she does understand something she tells me what she understands in Romanian and thinks that I will understand. She did that about 5 times today. I just smile at her and shake my head. Actually there are many things they say that I understand and many things that I say that they understand. We worked on simple commands today like stand, sit, pick up, put down. Good Morning, Good afternoon, good evening and good night. We also worked on I see, I hear, I walk and other things like that. The advanced class is working on contractions, verb tenses asking questions and other things. I think everyone is having a good time and learning things.

Talk with you later and don't forget to post a comment, and yes Mom and Dad I got your comment.

The first day of full classes

Hi all,
Today, Tuesday was the first day of classes. I have two classes, one beginner and one intermediate. They meet from 9 to 11 and then from 11 to 1 Monday to Thursday. I was worried about the beginner class. Last year all the students had a pretty good grasp of English, but this year the beginners class is truly beginners. I gave the the ADEPT test which tells the level of English knowledge and most of them could not get out of the beginners level. The test starts with the command to pick up a pencil and many of them could not do that because they did not understand. So when class started today I was worried. But there was no need to worry, they are all there to learn and are working very hard to learn. We started with very basic things like "Good Morning, how are you?" "Nice to meet you" I think they were more nervous then I was and by the end they were ok. We sang the abc song and a song about the days of the week. They were good sports and sang with me. The intermediate class is made up of people from last year, their English level is from early intermediate to early advanced. So the first day is done. It is weird I am typing this at 7am California and my day is already over as far as teaching goes.

After dinner tonight I am going into town to meet several students to "drink a juice". Last night we went out to Podul Inalt (tall hill) outside Vaslui where there is a statue of Stefan Cel Mare (Steven the Great). Those of you who followed this last year remember Stefan. He was the first ruler to unite what is now Romania and as such he is like George Washington, and you find his name everywhere. I went there with a couple of students and their children. One of the kids was 7 and has taken English in Kindergarden. So we had fun with her say "cum sa spune" (how do you say) and then give me a Romanian word to translate. She got to practice her English and I got to practice my Romanian. It just got done pouring rain and lightning and thunder. I bet there was about an inch of rain in about 5 minutes. It was raining hard. But that is good as it does not feel so hot now. I will take some pictures in town tonight and hopefull post them tomorrow. Talk with all of you tomorrow.

Arrival in Vaslui

Well, I am here again. I took the train from Bucharest to Vaslui on Sunday June 22nd. It is a 5 hour train ride and of course it was hot but I got here. Florina, my guardian angel from last year was waiting for me at the train station and took me to my room. I have the same room as last year, so all of you that remember pictures of the shower, well I am there again. We had the first class meeting today. Only 12 people showed up but more will be here tomorrow. Many of the teachers were taking an exam today, in Romania, the teachers have to take an exam every year until like the 5th year of teaching and then one every 5 years after that. Also right now that high school graduates are taking their exams, these are not exit exams like California has but these exams determine what University they can go to. So they are very important.I will be teaching two classes this year, one beginning and one intermediate. The beginning students are very beginning, some of them speak very little English. Last year most of them spoke a little so it will be different this year. My classes will meet from 9 to 11 and from 11 to 1 Monday through Thursday. I will go out tonight and "drink a juice" with several of my students. It is a great way for them to practice their English and a great way for me to get free beer, hehe.
Now about my plane trip from home to Romania. Last year my luggage did not arrive when I did. Well there is good news this year my luggage and I arrived together. The bad news on this trip was that while we were over Canada (I flew from San Francisco to London) the pilot declared a medical emergency. It seems there was a sick passenger on board and so we diverted to Calgary, Canada. In order to land there we had to dump a lot of fuel because the plane was too heavy to land. The flight attendants were talking later that it was about one million dollars of fuel. So, we spent three hours in Canada. Luckily for me I had a 5 hour layover in London, so to all of you who said 5 hours that's too long, it turned out to be just about right, and I made my connection. Many people of the plane did not. So I guess my advice to you is that if you ever plan on flying to Romania make sure that I am not on board or there might be problems. I will write more as things develop. Leave me a comment so that I know that someone is reading this and I am not just writing to myself.
Bye for now
Mark

Last day of school

Well we made it to the last day of school. Now it is on to packing and getting started on this adventure. Since I am going to the same place I was able to send some of my material ahead by mail. Hopefully, this will make it possible for me to travel with only one checked suitcase and a carry-on as opposed to last year when I had to tote around two big suitcases. Also, with only one suitcase hopefully it will be lonely enough to want to make the trip all the way to Romania instead of stopping part way like my suitcases did last year. I probably should not mention this as it might give the suitcase ideas. My plan is to write here at least every couple of days. So instead of sending e-mails to that huge list like last year if you want to know what is going on with me, just come here every few days.

Mark

First try

This is a first time trial. I am thinking of using this for my adventures in Romania. This will be my second year teaching English in Romania and it should be great fun.