Home Sweet Porolissum

Finally we're back in Romania! And it feels so good to be here again. It took a seven hour train ride from Budapest to get to Cluj, and there were a few stops in between. So, it was a long way, but any trip pales in comparison to the trans-Atlantic one we took to get to Hungary! Once in Cluj, we called Eric (our dig director) and let him know we were on our way. One fidgety hour-and-a-half later, we were in Zalau and had a happy reunion with Eric. He took us up to Porolissum, and it was so nice to be back on familiar streets.

Another happy reunion was had with Alexandru (the other dig director), and Erin, who was with us last year. I met the seven new students. They're all very nice and I'm starting to get a feel for each of them, and I'm pretty sure I can remember all their names now, which is a good start! Alexandru made us "kiss the bottle" of tuica, which was just as horrendous as I remember, but then, I still regard the drink fondly (it made for lots of good memories last year!)

Yesterday was our first day digging and I'm already feeling sore, both from the physical work and from slight sunburns. I feel like today was more productive, because I had more variety in my work, like digging, cleaning, brushing, and sifting. It was good to see the Romanian workers from last year, like Anna and Cristina, who brought us seven jars of homemade strawberry and cherry jam (Val, Erin and I all took some jars for our very own stash, but we'll probably share anyway).

It's Canada Day tomorrow, so we'll dress up, share stickers and Canadian souvenirs and have a fun day. I think the actual celebration will be merged with Independence Day, and we'll have quite the feast.

That's pretty much all to report for now. We're going to hang out together downtown for awhile, and probably eat dinner at Pizza King, a beloved hangout from last year.

'Til next time!