Last Thursday I ventured to the Culture Palace to see a performance by the local philharmonic. Although I was not expecting much, based on some lackluster reviews I’d heard, I was blown away. For just around $1.50, I was able to enjoy a night at the orchestra. The evening’s guest conductor was an American, and at one point in the program he addressed the audience, stating how much things had changed since his last visit in 1991. Another treat in the program was a piano solo by a Romanian from Germany. It was absolutely captivating, and he needed to come back onto the stage three times for his ovation. I was a bit shocked at the quality of the performance, and that it is right here in my little city. So perhaps now I’ll add a little classical music education to my weekly schedule!
It’s funny, life here. There are two big box stores (Costco like) throughout the country, Metro and Selgros. I prefer Selgros and have been making a few trips there to get things for my apartment. Well, since these places are usually on the outskirts of cities, I am forced to take the bus to get there. So as I’m waiting for the bus back home, with a few bags in my hands, I see a sight that is quite Romanian. By the bus stop a bunch of cars are coming and going, carrying people, goods and whatnot. Then, from a field next to the store, emerges a horse drawn wooden cart. It trots up to the bus stop, and a family, also waiting with bags in hand, puts everything in the back of the cart. The old man gives the horse a little whack with the whip and away they go. Imagine two horses pulling a cart up to Sam’s Club or Target. Anyway, it made me chuckle.
Yesterday I went to a bull show. I guy who I’ve gotten to know works at this company that, don’t laugh, sells semen. Specifically, they breed big healthy bulls and sell their semen to farmers in other countries who want to improve the genetic stock of their herds. So, once a year, all the Germans come and the company parades around its prize bulls. Now, I’ve seen cows before, but these bad boys were huge! See the picture below:
So yeah, that’s what I do with myself here. On the school front, things are trudging along. School here is messed up and seems designed for failure. For instance, let’s look at the schedule. Students must go to school from either 7 or 8 in the morning until 3. Classes are 50 minutes and there are 10 minute breaks between them. The students stay in the same classroom working with the same people for the entire day. Teachers rotate from classroom to classroom. There is no lunch break. There are no electives. There are no free periods. Students study all subjects – that is, instead of studying Bio freshman year and Chemistry sophomore year, they study both the same year. The end result, as I see it, is that students gain a superficial knowledge of most subjects, and simply don’t have the time to go any deeper because they are so busy juggling the requirements of so many different classes. After school, most students just go home and do whatever (play computer, watch TV, study for national exams.) The teachers here have one goal, and that is teaching for the national exams. There is very little learning in these halls, and there is nothing of extracurriculars. All in all, it is overly regimented, dull, and outdated. Although there are shiny new businesses and restaurants all over town, the schools are in dire need of help.
So I think I’m going to revise my expectations (lower them,) and begin looking into secondary projects. I try hard to make lessons interesting, and though I think that I succeed with most of my classes, I don’t think there is a bigger picture in it for most of the students. I mean, I am teaching in segregated schools – so how to discuss diversity (as I see it) when the Romanians and the Hungarians won’t even deign to sit in the same classroom! The challenges here are more nuanced than in Uzbekistan, and I do think it will be good for me in the long run. But sometimes I get quite disappointed when I meet somebody promising, only to hear the same old tired negatives from his/her mouth not long thereafter. I’m still not sure how much of this is attributable to the Communists and how much is just part of the picture here.
On a happier note, let me leave you with some traditional Romanian folk music:
Click Here (MP3)