To Stay or Go; Already Past the "Half-Way" Point

26 November, 2009. Universitatea de Nord din Baia Mare, camera șase, cāminul trei ('cause that's pretty much where I always am).

Officially I have one month left before the completion my ICCS Teaching Fellowship here in Baia Mare.  Since arriving (even before) there's been talk of finding a way to hire me and keep me longer. To date: no answers.  Although it appears Canadian Studies could certainly use another mind/body around here -- especially since Dr. Olos was told last week (yes, last week, mid-term, after she'd already begun her classes) that as a retired Prof. the university would no longer continue paying her -- people with actual solutions as to how I might stay here in any other capacity than as an illegal volunteer (which I am not willing to do) are apparently in short supply.  With the coalition government having fallen in Bucharest only days after my initial arrival in late September, no one (apparently) has been returning or answering phone calls at the Ministry of Education, which ultimately holds the cards in relation to me actually getting hired here (a requirement, in my understanding, for a work visa that would keep me here legally beyond the 90 days I am allowed as a tourist) (and the largely indecisive Presidential election held here last Sunday suggests there won't be a change of government anyway). But given the treatment retired faculty are shown here (despite an apparent lack of qualified young people to fill their shoes) I am not hopeful that a foreigner such as myself has any chance in drawing a pay cheque here (at least, not within the public system, as it currently stands). So, with this in mind I have applied for a "Canadian Leadership" grant through the Canadian Embassy in Bucharest. This will be my only hope for getting any funding to continue teaching here.  I'm told not to expect an answer on my application until at least mid-December -- a mere two weeks (at best) before I should be departing (not only Romania, but the EU) as a tourist.  So I am now faced with the dilemna of buying a ticket already to "go home" at Christmas (prices are rising considerably everyday I wait) or not. If I'm staying on here, it would make financial sense to just stay (and finances are a big problem in my life nowadays), but obviously if I'm not staying, then there's no need to stay here through Christmas (my time here is lonely enough, I can just imagine how lonely it would be over xmas).  And then there are days (like today) when I wonder if I should stay at all....  Yes, I'd like to stay "academically busy," and I suppose here is as good a place as any (thanks for nothing, Canada, on the wealth of opportunities presented to me thus far for the 2010 term), but I have to admit to a growing frustration with the sense that aside from a few people, I'm not certain I'm even appreciated here.  My students (pretty much the only "friends" I have) would like to keep me, so it seems, but if the institutional will is not present....?  I'm also a tad tired already of the noisy dorm I live in, the persistent smoking amongst the vast majority of the population here, and the fact I constantly feel I'm censoring myself against the sensibilities of religious and social conservatism.  Maybe these observations are entirely off-base, I'm not sure, but more and more I'm beginning to think not.

These Grapes

22 November, 2009. Universitatea de Nord din Baia Mare, camera șase, cāminul trei.

I arrived in Romania in the midst of autumn, at the height of grape harvesting season.  When I was in Cluj, my friend Maria had some grapes that with one glance and one sniff I immediately recognised.  These were the same grapes that I'd grown-up eating off the vines of our neighbour, old "Gramma Rosa."  Years ago, when Rosa moved away from her house in Courtland (she has long since passed away), her granddaughter purchased the house. Unfortunately one of the changes the new owners made was to completely remove Rosa's extensive gardens, including the vines that bore these grapes.  Our family salvaged a few of the vines and replanted them, but until the last year, these vines did not produce much fruit because they were in too shaded an area (I once again transplanted them last Fall, and this year they showed signs of once again producing delicious grapes).  So I was very surprised to see and smell (and eventually taste) these same grapes in Maria's dormitory room in Cluj (she'd brought some with her from her parents' garden).  A few days later, back in Baia Mare, I could smell the unique fragrance of these grapes as I walked the streets.  Clearly they are widespread here, and I was privately amazed that I'd come once again into contact with this fruit.  You see, despite growing up eating these grapes, I'd never seen them available anywhere else -- until I came to Romania....

Fast forward a month, to two weeks ago.  I received an email message from my parents in Courtland passing along greetings from Gramma Rosa's granddaughter, Suzie, who was curious where exactly I'm located in Romania.  She was particularly curious if I was anywhere near "Sutmar," because this, she said, is where Gramma Rosa immigrated to Canada from. I was amazed!  I'd grown-up believing that Gramma Rosa was Hungarian because she spoke the Hungarian language.  So I was rather surprised to learn that in fact she was actually Hungarian-Romanian....  Small world, I thought!  Well, I took a look at my map of Romania, and not finding any "Sutmar" listed, I went to the internet to see if this was a Hungarian translation of a Romanian city/town.  Sure enough, I discovered that "Sutmar" is a bastardized spelling of "Szatmar," which is the Hungarian word for the city of Satu Mare.  Satu Mare is only about an hour by car from Baia Mare, and is something like a rival city in the Maramures district.  Small world indeed!

So this new knowledge relating to the coincidences of my past got me to thinking again about those grapes.  Could Rosa have brought seeds or branches to Canada with her and replanted them there?  I suspect now that she did, and that gets me to wondering how many of her other fruits and vegetables in her once huge garden were transplants from Maramures. She often brought extra fruits and vegetables to us, so I'd long ago had a taste of northwestern Romania, so it seems.  It's a pity Rosa is not still alive today (nor her gardens), as I'd love to speak with her about this.

I've since asked some students to help me with finding out more information about Rosa's grapes... the same variety so common here in Baia Mare and Maramures....  With the help of Catalina, Anamaria, and Cosmin, I have learned the following:

Known as Roşcă, or Othello, they are a hybrid variety now banned in the European Union because of their high rate of sulfates, and apparently when turned into wine, they produce methanol. Still, this type of vine resisted very well most of the diseases that destroyed many of the vines in Europe in times past, and they resist well against the frost. The noble version of these grapes are known as Burgund or Merlot.
Apparently within 10 years the EU has dictated that all traces of these grapes must be removed.  I wonder how much of this is politics, and how much of this is actually health related.  The smell and taste of these grapes are very distinctive, and not at all like typical table or wine grapes I've encountered. I for one very much enjoy the flavour of this fruit, and have fond memories particularly of the jelly my Mother used to make from them. I can't imagine how the EU will police the phasing out of Roşcă vines, as if Baia Mare is any indication, this variety of grapes is extremely widespread in northern Romania.

Weekend Away

10 November, 2009. Universitatea de Nord din Baia Mare, camera șase, cāminul trei.

This post has very little to do with Romania.  In fact, I left the country for a few days this past weekend to attend a special event in Slovakia, which I report on at my old Slovak blog here. 

It's raining here again in Baia Mare... surprise, surprise! 

Tolvaj Hill, and Sea Sick in the Carpati

1 November, 2009. Universitatea de Nord din Baia Mare, camera șase, cāminul trei.

Last weekend there was an international conference here on Edgar Allan Poe, celebrating the bicentennial of his birth. Although I know/knew next to nothing about Poe, I was invited to attend on the basis that many of the conference participants were foreigners like me. As it turned out, I had a good time at the conference, and even learned a little bit about Poe (I can say almost certainly that except for an awareness that Poe wrote "Murders in the Rue Morgue," I was/remain rather ignorant of the man - but I do now have a greater appreciation for the Iron Maiden song of the same name). The conference was unfortunately plagued by last minute cancellations (I guess participants couldn't quite make the connection between Poe and Baia Mare, Romania), but folks did arrive from Turkey, Italy, France, and the U.S. I had some interesting conversations with most of these folks, at least two of which were foreigners working/teaching abroad (one an English woman teaching in Turkey, and the other an American teaching in France). I can't say much with regard to the academic achievements of the conference, but I can say it was a great social event. Although I teach on Fridays and Saturdays, and thus could not attend much of the academic part of the conference, I was pleased to attend (at the organizers' insistence) their dinners and a tour of Maramures on Sunday.

But before I get ahead of myself...  Baia Mare from above...

After my class last Saturday, I was invited by a few students to enjoy the last day of daylight savings time in Romania (the clocks fell back here on 25 October), and the nice weather, to climb Tolvaj Hill to get a look at Baia Mare from above (the city is surrounded by the Eastern Carpati Hills). With Cosmin, Anamaria, Robert, and Raluca, I climbed Tolvaj (it took about 30 minutes) and shared a few sips of wine while taking in the view.  If you're curious where the main university campus is located, look for the little cluster of bright orange buildings in the panoramic view, pretty much right in the middle of the photo.

Back to Poe.  On Sunday I was invited to join the conference participants on a bus tour of the Maramures region.  I took a similar tour when I was here a year and half ago, but this trip promised to show me new places.  We departed Baia Mare at about 9am, on a rented city bus.  Very soon into the trip, as we crossed the Carpati hills, several of us began to feel sea sick - me included.  The road through the Carpati hills is very, very windy, and the city bus was not the best vehicle to experience such curves.  I felt very sea sick, and unfortunately this put a damper on an otherwise wonderful trip (I never really "recovered" the whole day, even after we returned to flat ground).  The trip took us to the small city of Sighet, on the Ukraine border.  At Sighet we visited the Memorial of the Victims of Communism and of the Resistance . This museum is located in a former Communist prison, where many people suffered and perished (including the relatives of some of our hosts, who although they suggested we go there, were visibly shaken being there).  Unfortunately we did not have a lot of time to take in all the museum had to offer, due to time constraints, but it was an informative visit nonetheless.

After Sighet, we visited the village of Budesti, which includes a traditional Maramures wooden church (Budesti-Josani Church). The cemetary surrounding the church was active with old women and thier granddaughters (mostly) cleaning and arranging the graves. Last weekend, and this weekend, are considered "days of the dead," when living relatives visit and clean-up the graves of their relatives who have passed on.  Budesti-Josani Church was first constructed in 1643 and the inside is covered in wonderful/simple religious murals.   We were also all-too-briefly entertained in Budesti by a traditional children's choir and dance troup, before crowding back onto the city bus to head once again back over the hills.

Our last stop was in Baia Sprie, just outside of Baia Mare.  Here we visited the "Potter's House."  And small world, I'd already met the potter, Daniel Les, at Raluca's cottage a few weekends previous.  Mr. Les operates a pottery studio and small hotel in Baia Sprie. Before getting a demonstration of Mr. Les' skills in pottery (he's considered the best in Romania), and touring his workshop, the organizers of the tour treated us to a banquet of traditional Maramures foods.  Unfortunately I was still woozy from our trip through the hills, so I could not fully appreciate the bounty that we were presented. 

I hope to return to each of these sites (and others) in the future - but preferably not by rented city bus!