more pics from sfanta ana lake 2

more pics from sfanta ana lake

Saint Ana's Lake

Last to last Saturday, (20^th Oct) we took a road trip to Sfanta Ana Lake with Laura and a couple of @ Brasov alumni. The lake is situated in a crater that was formed by a volcano some time back. It’s a couple of hours outside Brasov and is a favourite picnic spot in the summer time. But since we won’t be here for the summer we decided to visit it in the winter.

While waiting for the bus to take us to where we were meeting the rest of the gang, we were approached by a fellow tourist. (I wonder what gave us away : P) He asked us where we were headed and us soon as he uttered those words I knew where he was from! I mean how could I get an Aussie accent wrong! : P After I inquired about that and he confirmed my suspicion, I told him where I was from. Immediately after that the conversation shifted to the recent Aus-India series and the trashing we received at home at the hands of the Aussies. Oh well, what can I say! :P

Our bus arrived and that ended our little chat, but it was nice talking to someone about cricket- it has been a while. We finally arrived at the point we were supposed to meet everyone else and after a quick pit stop we began our adventure. The car journey was hilarious, I mean any moment spent with Liviu and Andrei is a laugh out loud moment! Laura and I were just sitting at the back laughing away for most of the journey.

Romania is a beautiful country; and I am not sure how many adjectives I can use in one sentence before my sentence becomes grammatically incorrect, but it really is gorgeous. The colours of the landscape are breathtaking and inspiring. The winding roads that lead us to our destination were arched by trees of shades of yellow, orange and red.

It was around 7 in the evening and we were on the highway on our way back to Brasov and I noticed something very interesting. While driving at night in Gurgaon, the ‘universal’ signal for ‘dim your #@$%^ lights’, is flicking your headlights at the oncoming insensitive driver. But over here, if a car flicks their headlights at you, it means ‘look out, them cops are ahead’. What a difference, eh!?

Back to the road trip- Andrei was hit by a lightening bolt and came up with the idea of up pulling into the gas station and me talking to the clerk in Hindi. So we stopped at a gas station, Anca and Andrei went into the convenient store first pretending to be regular customers. I walked in a few minutes later trying hard to be this lost tourist who did not speak a word of Romanian or English. I was basically asking her directions to the sea side, which btw is the opposite direction of Brasov. She looked at me like I was a lost tourist asking her for directions in god knows which language and decided to call another person for help. They gave me a pen and some paper to draw what I was trying to say and I tried very hard not to burst out laughing. By this time the guys showed up at the counter to pay for what they had bought. I was trying every 70’s dance move that had to do with waves and water and then she finally said Apa. (water in Romanian) But that is as far as we got and I finally decided to walk out to the car. She saw us all get into the same car, so I guess she figured out we were in it together.

Anyway, it was a fun trip- a beautiful place and great company, I think in the end it is the latter that makes all the difference.

first snow :):):)

One of my wishes for this trip was that I get to experience snow as I have never got the chance before. Everyone we (Jenny & me, she too has never seen snow) asked, said that we had a 50/50 chance and that we would be lucky if we did get a glimpse of it. But all that changed last to last Sunday (21^st Oct). 

It was around 10 in the morning and we were still recovering from clubbing the previous night (a completely different story altogether). I then received a message from Alessandra saying look through your window – I thought she was outside and wanted to wave out to us, since there was an AIESEC meeting happening in the office and you can see the office from our room. But I was still not ready to wake up and since I sleep on the top bunk I convinced myself to stay put. Seconds later I received a message from Corina saying it’s snowing; I jumped off the bed, drew the curtains and started to scream and shake poor Jenny!

After jumping around for a few minutes we pulled out our cameras and started clicking pictures, we were like little children all over again. Our next reaction was to call home and share our excitement with them. We then went to the AIESEC office and everyone was really happy that we got the chance to see snow.

Snow in October is not a common sight here but thank God for the unpredictable.

Skater Park

n the new part of the city, amongst the high rise apartment complexes and corporate towers lies the civic center park. It’s basically a big park that includes a play area for children and there are pathways that run through it for people to run/walk. (their dogs) On the other side is the area where the big boys play, you have the chess tables for the slightly older gentlemen. Just adjacent to that is the playground for the slightly younger chaps, this includes a basketball court, a concrete football ground and the part that I like the most, the skater park! You can find in-line skaters, skateboarders and BMX bikers riding up and down their creatively designed {read as graffiti} RAMP!

One of the places we eat at is situated just a few minutes from the park, so at times we go there and watch in awe!

Now I am not the biggest X games fan there has ever been, but I have watched my fair share of Tony Hawk, Cesar Mora, the Yasutoko brothers and crew burn the ramp with their tricks.

The X games did not always receive the same kind of ‘publicity’ that some of the other sports did; in fact it was only recently that the X Games had its own category in the ESPY Awards. But I don’t think that bothered these athletes too much, they really love what they do, and that is all that matters! The reason I like watching the X games is because of the camaraderie that these guys share. On the one hand they are fierce competitors but they will always be the first to encourage and support each other. Whenever one of them attempts a new trick and manages to land it you will always find the others knocking their skateboards and helmets on the ramp in acknowledgment.

In the skateboarder park in Brasov, you find the same kind of comradeship. The only point of worry is that these guys don’t wear any kind of protection gear, no helmets, knee/elbow pads nothing! I wonder if their mothers know! : P

I wish I could try that one day!

World Citizenship

We finished our first week of school last Friday. There are 5 high schools that are involved in this project and we meet each school once a week for about 2 hours. Each week we shall be talking about a different issue and last weeks topic was Communication and Feedback. We got off to a rocky start as the number of students that showed up was lesser than what we expected, but we were right back on track the next day.

I wasn’t quite sure of what to expect as I had never done anything like this before. Getting and holding the attention of some 20-30 teenagers, after they had had 7 classes through the day is not the easiest thing. You cannot act like one of their teachers but at the same time you cannot try too hard to fit in. They appreciate you being yourself and you have to be willing to let your guard down completely and put yourself out there. It usually takes me a while to warm up to people before I can bring out my wild side. : P In this case I don’t have time on my side, it is their time. But then that’s the learning, right?!

The students are very friendly and volunteered to show us around the city, go on treks and also invited us to play basketball with them. The students are quite confident of themselves and eager to learn. The feedback that we have received so far is very encouraging and rewarding. They think the project is great and very useful; they enjoy the games and movies we play and want to learn more about our cultures and our experiences. There are also a few students who want to join AIESEC!  woohoo!!

I really appreciate the fact that the students stay back after school hours to attend our session and even if they are half dead they don’t show it. Another point that I like is that some of them feel that they are not very fluent in English, which is not the case because when they start talking they do just fine! But the point is that they make the effort and that is what pushes me out of my comfort zone.

After I decided to accept this traineeship I never doubted my decision and each passing day is just another affirmation. My only wish is that it was longer!!

More Pics

View of the old part of Brasov from the Black Tower, the new part is covered by the tree.
with a guy promoting Kiss FM and Laura in teh city square
with laura, alexandra and jenny
on a bench in the main park in Brasov

Bran Castle Pics

Pics from our trip to Bran Castle.
Baturay, Ashley, Jenny and Dogukan