Here are some snapshots from the past few weeks:

A Prized Possession

Cooking for some other volunteers.

From the Local Synagogue

Man from the Targu Mures Jewish Community – Survivor

Brightness Beyond the Clouds

This past weekend I went to Bucharest, the capital of Romania. It was a pretty cool trip, and I got to meet some new people and see some that I hadn’t for a while. Of all the exploits (and a bit of drama) that occured, the thing I’d like to share is how I got my dinner on Saturday night. Now, Bucharest, compared to the rest of the country, is expensive. Although there are lots of fast food type options, for a real sit down meal you should be prepared to shell out a good amount. Being Peace Corps volunteers, however, gets in the way of this. So on the advice of another volunteer, a groupmake of mine and I tried to get a good cheap meal. The plan was simple. A certain fancy hotel has a casino (casinos are everywhere here,) and this casino offers a free buffet to all gamblers. So my partner and I head in to the casino, proceed to bet about $10 at the tables, promptly lose it, and then head over to the buffet. The selection was great – I had fish and rice. For desert, there was cake and a lychee pudding. Considering that similar food would have cost twice as much at a regular restaurant, we got a 2 for 1 deal. Smart, eeh?

I had received an invitation to an event held today at the local synagogue to commemorate the Holocaust in Romania. I headed over with another teacher and a small group of students. When we arrived at the synagogue, almost all of the seats were full – a first. The program consisted of a few speakers. The most interesting were two eyewitness accounts and a summary of a report made in the past few years by the Wiesel commission. The report on the Holocaust in Romania is unique in that it is the first comprehensive and governmentally approved account of events in this country. Whereas most education on the subject tends to focus on other countries (thereby minimizing culpability,) this report will be the foundation for more authentic studies of the subject. I spoke to this man afterward and received his card – he mentioned that he had copies in English, so I will check it out myself soon.

The two survivor accounts were quite powerful (although I only picked up about 50% of what was being said – I got the idea.) One man had a power point slide show with photographs from the time showing people on/around the cattle trains. After the speeches, the old men of the congregation sang “Hava Nagelah,” and performed the mourner’s kaddish. Following the part in the temple, we visited the local monument to the Holocaust in a nearby square and symbolically places small stones on the base of the statue.

Interestingly enough, I met the chief Rabbi of Romania. He noticed my Romanian was not very good when I was trying to talk to another man so he addressed me in English. I found out that he is an Israeli; he was quite kind and interested in my work here. It was moving to see all the people, although, after today, many will be moving on to other cities throughout the country. I appreciate the effort to remember, and, importantly, set the record straight. Photographs will be forthcoming.

As I’ve mentioned before, my city here has a symphony orchestra (tickets about $1.75.) Tonight was one of the best performances I’ve seen here yet. The first half of the show featured a man who played a kind of archaic flute. This along with the rest of the symphony, which included a harpsichord tonight, conjured images of ancient times. For the second half of the show (and I’ve found that the best stuff always seems to come after intermission,) the orchestra performed a piece called The Titan by Gustav Mahler. Although the musicians, especially the horns, were superb, much credit belongs to the conductor, a Japanese man named Shinya Ozaki. Ozaki is the resident conductor, who is well known in Japan and the USA. Mahler’s symphony was quite long, but flowed superbly – it appeared to contain some folk Jewish inspiration, and the finale was mind blowing. That’s the conductor.

The boy. There is this boy in town who I keep bumping into. At first I just figured it was a coincidence that I kept seeing him, but now I’m starting to wonder. This kid is, I’m guessing, about 13 or 14. He is quite small and walks around with a strut as if he owned the entire town. I see him at odd hours – like tonight after the performance when I headed over to McDonalds to use the bathroom. Sometimes he is hanging out in front of a non-stop bar, and other times, just at a street corner. Tonight he was talking with some other boys who hang out in front of the McDonalds and beg for food and money. What throws me through a loop is that I’ve seen him a few times going into McDonalds and buying stuff. But, he seems to have some connection with the street kids and other assorted odd folks around town. Just the other day, he walked by the lady with the scale and she gave him a cup filled with, I’m guessing, money. Is he the kiddie mafia? I wonder if he himself is a street kid or what. What makes me think that he is not is the fact that he always has fairly nice clothing on, and he always seems to be going somewhere quickly. Odd.

So the conductor and the kid – as it is here,