Friday evening, I and six others hopped on a bus to Pitesti. We arrived there at 4:30 in the morning. We wandered into the first hotel we saw, the three-star Hotel Yaky, and chatted with the receptionist for a bit. The plan was to leave our bags at the hotel and reserve a room for the night so as to escape the extra-day check-in fee, but the receptionist just shrugged and said since it was already Saturday, we could get our rooms early and pay for the one night. It was a wonderful start to the day, and much-required because after that eight-hour bus trip, we were feeling like zombies. I was in a room with Ashley and Lauren, and after a two-hour nap, all of us were feeling more human.
We ate a quick bite and then hopped a maxi-taxi (sort of a large van) to Curtea de Arges, the town near Poenari Castle. Once in Curtea de Arges, we got taxis to the castle and we were finally at the destination I'd been hoping to see each trip in Romania. However, it's no easy trip - there are 1480 steps up to the fortress ruins. We slogged our way up, taking occasional water breaks. But once we reached the top, all the tiredness melted away. The views were wonderful and the ruins were neat to see up close. It also afforded great picture opportunities and I got lots of myself with other people, and good solo shots as well. It was definitely a good bonding experience.
When we left, we had lunch at the one restaurant at the base of the mountain. After that, we hitched rides back to Curtea de Arges.. sort of. Lauren, Charles and Sean managed to get their own car. I successfully flagged down a ride for myself and Chris, but Nick and Ashley stole our car, because it pulled over near them. But we let them have the car and walked four kilometres more in attempt to get another car. In the end, we just flagged down a maxi-taxi coming from somewhere up the road, so that was sort of a failed attempt to hitchhike, but it was an interesting experience.
Back in Curtea, we stumbled upon this really neat monastery that happened to be featured on the 1 leu bill in Romania, and houses the tombs of very historically-prominent people.
We managed to catch the very last maxi-taxi back to Pitesti. At the hotel, we all had lovely showers in actual bathrooms (and ours had a whirlpool, though I didn't make use of it). Then we set off to find dinner and selected Matteo's, where we had the worst possible experience: the waitress forgot to enter our orders until an hour after we'd arrived. We sat at 9:30, waitress put in the order at 11:00 or so, then we finally got to eat at 11:45. It was terrible, but we made the best of it.
After a good sleep, Sunday morning we got the bus back to Cluj. But we arrived in the city after all the other buses and trains to Zalau had stopped, so we weighed the options - stay a night in Cluj, return Monday morning and miss some work, or get taxis. We opted to just get taxis that would take us directly to Porolissum. We finally got home just after midnight.
Tuesday night was Rob's birthday, and always a big cause for celebration here. There was chicken, hamburgers and mici, and lots of beer and wine to drink as well (and tuica, of course!) That ended up being a late night, but it was worth it, because Rob got totally plastered and he was incredibly entertaining, truly in rare form. He remembered none of it the next morning, but we had great fun filling in the blanks.
That's all for now. I read Go Down Moses by William Faulkner, which was all right. And now I'm reading The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle.
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Maramures
Friday, July 9th: Slow day at work, Lauren and I sifted excavated dirt with a screen in order to try and find more pieces of a particular vessel that we dubbed "Man Vase"; some pieces of of pottery with a man's face, an eagle's head and wings were found, so we were hoping to find more of it, though I don't think we did or will. The popular hypothesis is that it's Ganymede being carried away by Zeus who is in the form of an eagle. It's pretty cool. In the afternoon, I levelled down trench 23b with a spade, but there's absolutely nothing there, so it was pretty boring. I did manage to get away for the afternoon water run to replenish bottles of water for all the workers.
Saturday, July 10th: Maramures! I look forward to this trip every year, since it's always such fun. We did the usual, visited the tallest wooden church in Romania (if not the world), went to Baia Mare and explored the Museum of History and Archaeology there and dined at the same pizza place we always do where the food takes ages to come out (very few Romanian restaurants are equipped to take big group orders.) We picked blueberries on a tall hilltop where you can see across to the Ukraine. Then after a stop at the Barsana Monastery (rather, it used to be a monastery but is now a nunnery) we went to the hotel. I split a room with Lauren and Vera. Dinner was slow going but after that, when the wine and beer were ordered, the party began. It was a lot of good fun and conversation.
Sunday, July 11th: We went to the Communist museum in Sighet (a former prison that had exhibits explaining the prison and Communist history in Romania), and Elie Wiesel's house that had been made into a small Jewish culture museum. We ended the trip at the Merry Cemetery in Sapanta, which is always a joy. We did not, however, throw rocks at the Ukraine (there's a river that marks the northern border between Romania and Ukraine, so there's usually a contest to see who can get a rock across the way) nor the other wooden church that we usually visit. Instead we drove the long way back to Porolissum. Once there, I watched a bit of the World Cup with the others, the final game between Spain and Netherlands (though I think I was rooting for Spain) but it seemed to be dragging on a bit so I tucked in early. I heard the game went on for a good long while, but Spain won in the end.
Monday, Tuesday and today, I alternated pottery-washing and work in the trenches, so nothing terribly exciting as far as work goes. I did watch Raiders of the Lost Ark with a few others on Monday night, which was fun.
Folks have been discussing taking a trip away for this upcoming free weekend. We're hoping to go to Poenari Castle, the castle actually built for Vlad Tepes, aka Dracula. I've been wanting to go for ages, so if it works out, it will be wonderful.
Saturday, July 10th: Maramures! I look forward to this trip every year, since it's always such fun. We did the usual, visited the tallest wooden church in Romania (if not the world), went to Baia Mare and explored the Museum of History and Archaeology there and dined at the same pizza place we always do where the food takes ages to come out (very few Romanian restaurants are equipped to take big group orders.) We picked blueberries on a tall hilltop where you can see across to the Ukraine. Then after a stop at the Barsana Monastery (rather, it used to be a monastery but is now a nunnery) we went to the hotel. I split a room with Lauren and Vera. Dinner was slow going but after that, when the wine and beer were ordered, the party began. It was a lot of good fun and conversation.
Sunday, July 11th: We went to the Communist museum in Sighet (a former prison that had exhibits explaining the prison and Communist history in Romania), and Elie Wiesel's house that had been made into a small Jewish culture museum. We ended the trip at the Merry Cemetery in Sapanta, which is always a joy. We did not, however, throw rocks at the Ukraine (there's a river that marks the northern border between Romania and Ukraine, so there's usually a contest to see who can get a rock across the way) nor the other wooden church that we usually visit. Instead we drove the long way back to Porolissum. Once there, I watched a bit of the World Cup with the others, the final game between Spain and Netherlands (though I think I was rooting for Spain) but it seemed to be dragging on a bit so I tucked in early. I heard the game went on for a good long while, but Spain won in the end.
Monday, Tuesday and today, I alternated pottery-washing and work in the trenches, so nothing terribly exciting as far as work goes. I did watch Raiders of the Lost Ark with a few others on Monday night, which was fun.
Folks have been discussing taking a trip away for this upcoming free weekend. We're hoping to go to Poenari Castle, the castle actually built for Vlad Tepes, aka Dracula. I've been wanting to go for ages, so if it works out, it will be wonderful.
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Party Weekend
After the events of the last post, we all went to Pizza King, a favourite dining spot for us Porolissum folks. It was tasty as usual. From there, we headed to Diesel for drinks and to kill time until we could meet up with Ioana - a Romanian friend from last year - at the new club Level. It was a lovely reunion, and we hope to see her again soon. She had promised to visit Porolissum for the Fourth of July but her brother was ill.
Speaking of Independence Day, I had expect mici and beer but instead I went to a wedding. That's right, a wedding. Alexandru's son Cristian was marrying and I decided to join Lauren, Neville and Eric for the ceremony. It was a lovely ceremony, held in a heavily-painted church in early afternoon. We thought that would be all we got to see and we'd have to head back to camp, but instead, Eric took us all to the reception and we spent several hours there.
It was an amazing time. Lots of delicious food, open bar, carafes of palinca sitting on the tables. Midway through the evening, Eric got called by someone at Porolissum who asked him to find a grill, and he disappeared for three hours. We later learned he got sucked into helping out. But he returned at about 9:00 to take us back. I'm fairly certain we're going to be in the wedding video for being the only ones to dance to Jailhouse Rock.
Back at camp, the rest of the group was getting along just fine without us, and several were already pretty drunk. Hilarity ensued until Sean and I had to be the responsible ones and try to get people either to bed or leave the camp for being too loud. Three people ended up sleeping in the castrum until early morning.
Monday and Tuesday proceeded as usual. On Monday, I cleaned some trenches, filled out some context sheets (a page detailing the information of a particular layer of a particular trench). On Tuesday, Kelci and I helped Alexandria do a rough sketch plan of a trench, then I helped Rob and Kelci with their sketches of a different trench by giving them the measurements. That was the misty morning, when we saw fog settling into the nearby (and lower) towns; it was a really neat visual.
Wednesday July 7th, the weather got really ugly. It was raining in the morning, and Eric told everyone to go back to sleep for another hour. When we all got up, there was no trench work done. Some people cleaned pottery, and others (including myself) sorted older bags by categoring them into newer bags of pottery, bones and bronze. The rest of the day was spent napping and reading, so I got that Bill Bryson book finished.
Today, once more, the weather wasn't cooperative enough for trench work, so this time my day was spent drawing worked bone and bronze artifacts, practicing the sort of sketches that go into artifacts collection books. At least it wasn't as rainy as yesterday, and even managed to be somewhat sunny and warm for an hour.
Right now I'm in the Internet cafe in Zalau with some others, and we'll have dinner together downtown. I'll probably do a bit of grocery shopping as well, get some snacks for camp. Hopefully tomorrow will be more pleasant and we can get back into the field.
Speaking of Independence Day, I had expect mici and beer but instead I went to a wedding. That's right, a wedding. Alexandru's son Cristian was marrying and I decided to join Lauren, Neville and Eric for the ceremony. It was a lovely ceremony, held in a heavily-painted church in early afternoon. We thought that would be all we got to see and we'd have to head back to camp, but instead, Eric took us all to the reception and we spent several hours there.
It was an amazing time. Lots of delicious food, open bar, carafes of palinca sitting on the tables. Midway through the evening, Eric got called by someone at Porolissum who asked him to find a grill, and he disappeared for three hours. We later learned he got sucked into helping out. But he returned at about 9:00 to take us back. I'm fairly certain we're going to be in the wedding video for being the only ones to dance to Jailhouse Rock.
Back at camp, the rest of the group was getting along just fine without us, and several were already pretty drunk. Hilarity ensued until Sean and I had to be the responsible ones and try to get people either to bed or leave the camp for being too loud. Three people ended up sleeping in the castrum until early morning.
Monday and Tuesday proceeded as usual. On Monday, I cleaned some trenches, filled out some context sheets (a page detailing the information of a particular layer of a particular trench). On Tuesday, Kelci and I helped Alexandria do a rough sketch plan of a trench, then I helped Rob and Kelci with their sketches of a different trench by giving them the measurements. That was the misty morning, when we saw fog settling into the nearby (and lower) towns; it was a really neat visual.
Wednesday July 7th, the weather got really ugly. It was raining in the morning, and Eric told everyone to go back to sleep for another hour. When we all got up, there was no trench work done. Some people cleaned pottery, and others (including myself) sorted older bags by categoring them into newer bags of pottery, bones and bronze. The rest of the day was spent napping and reading, so I got that Bill Bryson book finished.
Today, once more, the weather wasn't cooperative enough for trench work, so this time my day was spent drawing worked bone and bronze artifacts, practicing the sort of sketches that go into artifacts collection books. At least it wasn't as rainy as yesterday, and even managed to be somewhat sunny and warm for an hour.
Right now I'm in the Internet cafe in Zalau with some others, and we'll have dinner together downtown. I'll probably do a bit of grocery shopping as well, get some snacks for camp. Hopefully tomorrow will be more pleasant and we can get back into the field.
Saturday, July 3, 2010
My time so far
The weather is much improved; it's not been so ugly anymore and the sun's shining every day (though we do get the occasional drizzle). I've not had much excitement in the Forum, as I've been mostly levelling down trenches and cleaning walls. Some coins have been found, mostly by Romanians. And Little Claudio (there seem to be so few names in Romania, that we have to append each repeated name with a descriptor: Museum-Adi, Boxer-Cristi, Creepy-Claudio, and so on) uncovered a beautiful, mostly-intact kiln. I will have to remember to take my camera with me to work on Monday and start taking pictures of these trenches and various finds.
Canada Day was a blast. I wore my "Eh?" shirt (which has a maple leaf forming the point on the exclamation mark) and Kelci, my fellow Canadian, wore a Canada shirt as well. I made poutine for dinner, or the closest approximation of it since there are no cheese curds here but the french fries were made fresh and I made gravy from packets I bought in Canada. The meal was rather successful, and was served with a side of sausage. I also brought out the maple syrup - sadly no gogosi or crepes were made but Lauren very kindly gifted me with kurtos-kalacs, a kind of pastry usually topped with sugar, and it went well with the syrup. There were two large rolls and with my extra offerings of Smarties, Turtles and York Peppermints, it was a tasty dessert.
Lieutenant Dan visited (note: he is not an actual Lieutenant) and brought some friends and tuica just for the Canadians. I shared most of it among the group. The rest of the night was spent playing Rummy and Bottlecaps (played with actual bottlecaps, and points are awarded based in how they land when you throw them), and lots of good conversation.
Friday, July 2nd, we went to Otilia's bar, where I had a small bottle of wine for myself, and it was just a night for casual drinks and hanging-out. Tonight, the 3rd of July, we're all in Zalau for dinner. Tomorrow is, of course, the 4th of July, and there will be a much bigger party and we'll finally get some proper homemade mici. It promises to be a fun time.
I've finished my Socrates book, and I've moved on to one of Ashley's books; it's by Bill Bryson and it's called Neither Here Nor There. It's about his travels in Europe and it's rather funny.
I have to pass the computer on to someone else now, so I'll write again next week.
Canada Day was a blast. I wore my "Eh?" shirt (which has a maple leaf forming the point on the exclamation mark) and Kelci, my fellow Canadian, wore a Canada shirt as well. I made poutine for dinner, or the closest approximation of it since there are no cheese curds here but the french fries were made fresh and I made gravy from packets I bought in Canada. The meal was rather successful, and was served with a side of sausage. I also brought out the maple syrup - sadly no gogosi or crepes were made but Lauren very kindly gifted me with kurtos-kalacs, a kind of pastry usually topped with sugar, and it went well with the syrup. There were two large rolls and with my extra offerings of Smarties, Turtles and York Peppermints, it was a tasty dessert.
Lieutenant Dan visited (note: he is not an actual Lieutenant) and brought some friends and tuica just for the Canadians. I shared most of it among the group. The rest of the night was spent playing Rummy and Bottlecaps (played with actual bottlecaps, and points are awarded based in how they land when you throw them), and lots of good conversation.
Friday, July 2nd, we went to Otilia's bar, where I had a small bottle of wine for myself, and it was just a night for casual drinks and hanging-out. Tonight, the 3rd of July, we're all in Zalau for dinner. Tomorrow is, of course, the 4th of July, and there will be a much bigger party and we'll finally get some proper homemade mici. It promises to be a fun time.
I've finished my Socrates book, and I've moved on to one of Ashley's books; it's by Bill Bryson and it's called Neither Here Nor There. It's about his travels in Europe and it's rather funny.
I have to pass the computer on to someone else now, so I'll write again next week.
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