We seem to have had a lot of Bank Holidays recently. Of course in Romania we didn't get Good (Big) Friday off or the subsequent Friday to watch the big (good?) wedding. Mind you, I don't watch Coronation Street, so I'm not quite sure who it actually was that got married - The telly in the club room was on the blink a bit, but the patients seemed to recognise the couple (was it Gail and Brian?).
Kiki and I worked over the Bank Holidays since it seemed daft not to. We are really not sure if today was a Bank Holiday in Romania or not. May 1st used to be a big deal for all communist countries in the past. Maybe they are pleased here to have shaken off that particular catagorisation and want to move on. Anyway, weather is absolutely Bank Holiday - it poured with rain all day!
Two wheels better
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| Only two things I can't figure out; where the engine is or how to start it! |
I finally went out and bought a bike. It is slightly better than I had originally intended, so it will be coming back to the UK with me. Although when I mentioned this in the shop (in very poor Romanian) the lady looked horrified thinking I meant to cycle it back to England.
I am really looking forward to exploring some of the countryside and getting off the beaten track a bit (not that the beaten track in Romania is particularly 'beaten'). The first couple of hundred yards were not too auspicious. For some reason, Romanian bikes have the brake for the front wheel on the left and for the rear on the right. I nearly fell off straight away. Then, despite having driven a car here for a week, I forgot to ride on the right. Car drivers seemed unperturbed but I felt quite shaken after I realised what I had been doing.
Children
I mentioned about not giving the children down the street any Easter Eggs when they knocked on the door last week and that I feared we might have a few left over and that I could have given them some. We had loads left over. I do feel bad. To make things worse I was walking back from the bus with Kiki on Sunday. A bunch of young boys were playing football at the end of our street. The ball bounced up to me and they looked at me expectantly to kick it back (probably thinking, "there's that mean man who wouldn't give us any Easter eggs - bet he won't kick our ball back". I kicked it hard, it bounced off a parked trailer and straight out onto the main road. I did retrieve it, but I don't think they were at all impressed.
Club Work
Not much about the club or patients this week. Easter time is quite difficult for a lot of patients. Some people get a visit from a son, mother or brother. Some don't. Some get a phone call from a (once?) loved one. Some don't. We are trying a few interesting pilots in the club this week. More about this next time.
Transylvanian Saxons
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| Tarneveni is towards the top to the left. Biertan is in the bottom right hand corner. Nearest fortified church to us is Bagaciu, just to the South East of Tarneveni - a good cycling destination. Click to enlage map. |
A real interest for me when I came over here was to explore some of the Saxon towns. And by that I really mean the Saxon towns with fortified churches. There are about 150 of these in the Translyvanian region (Siebenbürger as the Saxons (Sachsen) call it).
Biertan is a delightful small Saxon town, although not very Saxon any more. Less than 5% of the population are German speaking. Biertan was the see of the Lutheran Evangelical Bishop of Transylvania from 1572 to 1867. In 1900 there were about 230,000 German speaking Saxons in Romania. Now there are only around 60,000. Many moved out after the second world war (or were moved out - 70,000 arrested and sent to Ukraine by Soviet Troops). Many more moved after the events of 1989. One inhabitant of Biertan, Sara Römischer, wrote a short and moving story of her experience from 1944 for the Siebenbürgische Zeitung Click here for Sara's story in German or here for an English translation .
All Romanian Saxons have Auslandsdeutsche status (German living abroad) which means that they are entitled to live in Germany with full rights (legal disclamer: I don't know if that is true, but I think it is), which possibly explains why so many found it tempting to leave their old Heimat for a new one.
Anyway, whatever the history. The towns and architecture are a picturesque delight. Here are some pictures of Biertan until next week.
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| The settlement of Biertan taken from inside the fortification |
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| Inside the covered steps up to the church |
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| Same steps from the outside |
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| The church in the centre of the fortification. In need of quite a bit of renovation |
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| I used to know what this was, but I've forgotten |
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| One of the many towers surrounding the church |
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| Inside the double skinned fortified walls. |
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| I did get permission to take this picture inside the church - from a real German speaking Saxon. |
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| Apparantly the Organ works and they have occasional concerts. The church is not in regular use itself. |
Pe Curand
Paul
