English Camp in Hodod (by Satu Mare)

Pictures are above (Hungarian Headlines and Pictures from Camp)

This camp was significantly different from my last camp in Ocland. This time there were a little over 60 kids, they all stayed at camp and there was much more drama between the boys and the girls. This was also the first time they had Americans at this camp (Justin, Heather, and myself). In Ocland, there were only 23 kids and some of them lived in the village so some slept at home.

When we were going to Hodod (from Satu Mare), we met an individual boy named Josh (father’s Hungarian and mother is Filipino), just moved from Canada a couple of weeks ago and now needs to learn Hungarian and Romanian and his parents thought it would be a good idea to go to this camp. He’s about 13 yrs old and was scared about being in this camp since he had no friends and couldn’t speak the language. Justin and I tried to give him a little pep talk but we would soon find out, none was needed.

We had English class every morning for about two hours and instead of going by they lessons, I would usually just talk to each individual which I found much more amusing. For example, I would ask ‘What is your favorite food?’, one boy would say ‘Pizza’, What do you like on your pizza?’, he would answer ‘Ham’. I would then ask, ‘Where does ham come from?’, he would answer ‘Europe’. Questions like, Where does chicken come from?’, you would receive the most amusing answers and it seemed to keep everyone entertained.

We had about 5 different groups and they had to act out the group name and if the other groups can guess your name, you won points. We were the Cannibals ! (nice huh?, hey the kids chose it, I just helped choreograph the cooking of the kids, as my nephews can atest, that is my specialty!). In the pictures are the Ogres, Vikings, and Cannibals.

Hodod challenge: Groups ran around the village doing a treasure hunt and certain challenges such as, eating hanging bread from a tree, wrapping a person with toilet paper into a mummy basically trekking around town to find clues. Hats off to the three teachers who organized the event while the rest of us were swimming at the pool.

The Strand (The Pool): We took the kids to a really nice swimming location. It had three different pools; one really cold, one warm, and one natural thermal heat pool which was really hot (but relaxing). Probably teaching them how to do chicken fights in the pool wasn’t the best idea but we had a blast.

Poker Night: Now, this was a mistake, Justin and I were playing poker and one by one, the kids wanted to learn how to play. Now, talk about having kids learn english fast; some of the ones that were struggling with english were picking up the lingo fast ; ‘I’ll raise’, ‘I knock’, ‘I call’. At first we thought it was harmless but boy did they like to play and wanted to play almost everyday, hey they learned English pretty well through it.

Soccer Game: The local village kids wanted to play a game against the camp. Justin and I thought this was a bad idea and wanted to mix the teams but they insisted and wanted Justin and I to play (one as a goalie and one as defense). Yeah, we were doing pretty well until the first half and then it just went downhill from there. We left some of our pride on the football field somewhere.

Birthday: This was really nice, they had a big chocolate birthday cake for me on my birthday and I received little presents and pupics from all the kids. One boy gave me his wallet, didn’t want to take it from him but I mentioned before that it was really cool, so he insisted that I take it (almost teared there for a second). They sang Happy Birthday and it was anarchy trying to give each person a piece of cake, almost didn’t make it out alive.

Trekking through the mountains and village was really nice. As you can see in one of the pictures I adopted a little baby to hold on my back through the trek.

Drama: You think soap operas have a lot of drama, since there were soo many kids this time, there were boys trying to get girlfriends, girls having to choose which boy they wanted. There were some wars going on between the boys. They also tried to do a lot of sneeking around (I think some of the adults tried to sneak around also). The kids usually did not fall asleep until 1 or 2 a.m. every morning. Josh (half Hungarian/half Filipino) being different had his pick of the girls (Justin and I no longer felt sorry for him and he was having such a blast he did not want to go home – I’m sure you can pick him out in the picture). One kid asked me for advice about what to do since one of the girls lived in Satu Mare and he lives 5 hours away. Now for a kid, might as well try to keep a trans-atlantic relationship. Basically told him to try your best to keep in touch so you don’t have regrets and if things don’t work out, you still have the time you spent together and no telling what the future will bring.

Accomodations:
Let’s just say by the last night, there was such a strong odor sharing a room with 12 other boys and their stinky little feet, especially with that one that just didn’t shower. The odor was soooo strong that I was actually in tears at one point. AND WHO’s BRIGHT IDEA WAS IT TO SERVE BEANS FOR DINNER ONE NIGHT ???!!! Cruel and inhumane punishment! I needed an extra dose of palinka just to get through that night.

Hodod was a very cool little Hungarian village and still used the Town Crier ! He is the man with a drum banging on it and telling everyone what was going on. At this time he was just anouncing an auction the following week.

Too hot, even for the dogs !!

Its been kind of quiet lately since a majority of people and colleagues take their vacation during this time. The highs are from 100-104 degrees for this week and my apartment is on the 4th floor and faces the west, so I get the extra added heat in the afternoon.

I'm still struggling to get a defined primary project that the agency will support but I keep trying... In the meantime, I'm volunteering for english camps since summer is the time to take advantage of these camps. The week of July 23, I will be doing an English camp by Satu Mare in a town called Hodod.

Other than that been soo hot the dogs are even too hot to bark!

Petrosani & Yes, those are eggs on a coffee maker

This weekend I met other volunteers in Petrosani, which is a mining town and in the center of the mountains. Small town of about 40,000 people but it was nice and quaint (about 5 hrs to get to by train and you go through 29 tunnels through the mountains). Travelling back by train I had a family in my train wagon and they literally store at me for some time, while I was reading my book I can feel the hard stares until the mom says, 'Chineza?'. So I have my usual explanation in Romanian and after that proceeded to talk to them for the next two hours. The two sons spoke a little English, the kids wanted to discuss cowboys and indians and try to talk in English, the father wanted to talk about Al Capone, the grandma wanted to know why I wasn't married and how I need to find a Romanian woman soon. The mom just kept correcting the children keeping them very well behaved. They explained, at least from their point of view (with a sad look) that most of Europe and the rest of the world looks down on Romania, took me a little by surprise. I explained that was not true at least from the U.S. perspective (great, that's all we need, Steve talking about the perspective of the U.S., the view of who looks down on who will switch quick if I keep representing) and tried to explain that all countries have their growing pains and issues but so far Romania is some of the most beautiful country I have seen. Hopefully that worked.

Creative Cooking
So we were making eggs and potatoes for breakfast when the gas ran out (some towns like mine and Petrosani do not hav central gas so we have to use tanks). The potatoes just barely cooked but we still had the eggs. Kirstin, using Peace Corps ingenuity, starts using the coffee maker to cook the eggs since we did not want to waste them. I must tip my hat to that, altough took a little bit, she was able to make fluffy eggs off of a coffee maker (golf clap).

4th of July
Thank you to Justin and Heather for making burgers and hot dogs! No fireworks though, I wanted to create some (involved rabid dogs, gun powder, gasoline, and a wick - jk) but after dinner everyone was just too tired to do anything.

Take me out to the ball game in Ocland...

Haven’t updated or communicated in awhile because I have been teaching Hungarian children English in a town called Ocland, which is primarily Hungarian but in the heart of Transylvania. So far this has been one of my most enriching experiences yet. It really started with my travels to Onesti to visit 12 volunteers from my group (and about 10 more from previous groups) and to check out the local unemployment agency.

Onesti:
Travels took me from Severin to Ramnicu Valcea to a very scenic/beautiful tour all around Romania just to get to Brasov (about five hours) then another three hours to Onesti. Needed to go to the washroom but since the bus was leaving right away (to Onesti) had no time, asked the driver if I can go and … DENIED !!

It was really cool knowing that I was going to meet up with Peace Corps Volunteers that I have not seen since Pre-Service Training (PST). Everyone I hung around with is in the north so it’s not easy to see them.

Anyway we had a great time in Onesti thanks to our hosts Bryan and Michele housing a total of 13 volunteers from Group 22. Jumping in a river (makes the Chicago river seem pristine – don’t ask why we jumped in, most likely it had nothing to do with the morning Bloody Mary’s) and created a new game with Geoff to play, stone stickball on the river. (Previous games created were mudball (in Pitesti), and the ever popular chunking rocks at cans (in Ploiesti).

Saturday night (June 23) all the groups reconvened and started the festivities, minus Geoff and Steve due to dehydration. Most likely it had nothing to do with the morning Bloody Mary’s, afternoon beers, and sitting out in the sun all day long.

Anyway, after some rest and a lot of water, I was able to meet up with everyone and enjoy the conversations with group 20’ers who were all pretty much COS’ing (Close of Service) and many were leaving within the next couple of weeks. One of the funniest conversations I had was with another asian who was leaving, let’s just say he had some great advice and really funny stories but feels great that Romania did not get the best of him.

Ocland (Camp Ocland or Camp America):
I don’t even know where to begin with this experience. This has been by far the most beautiful part of Romania I have witnessed yet. This beautiful village is tucked away in the mountains and is as peaceful as it can get. Actually traveling to Ocland from Onesti was a little tricky especially since half of my travels I couldn’t use Romanian since the majority of the people spoke Hungarian. It took me about three maxi taxis (mini busses) and about seven hours to get there. I was very fortunate to meet people who would here me try to speak Romanian and turns out they spoke English and help me translate to the drivers.

Really starts off on the bus ride from Sfantu Gheorghe to Ocland. The ride was very scenic and the bus driver was smiling the whole way through while waving at everybody that passed by the bus. Since he was smiling the whole way through, I felt really happy especially with the scenic tour. After trying to communicate to the bus driver (who did speak Romanian) that I had no idea where and when we would hit Ocland, I kindly asked him to please stop there and make sure I get off the bus, which he smiled and did. After awhile there were roadmarkers to Ocland which made me feel a little more comfortable. After reaching Ocland the friendly bus driver opened the door and let me out. I stepped out, saw the Church steeple and started walking towards it (Eva, the coordinator of the camp said look for the church steeple and start walking towards it). As I approached the church steeple I saw Justin out with Eva which was a site for sore eyes since I really wasn’t sure where I was going or where I would end up.

I need to say, Eva is one of the most patient and kind people I’ve ever met and has an amount of energy to keep up with the kids all day long. The kids gave me a run for my money. The camp had 22 kids from the surrounding villages, 3 PC Volunteers (actually 4, one came mid-week), 1 US volunteer from Oakland Ca (Judy who pressed flowers and the kids really took to it). Their primary language is Hungarian and some can speak Romanian and they were all trying to speak English which they accomplished.

From the introductions on Sunday (June 24th) until the following Sunday (July 1st) I was really taken by the beautiful countryside, the other teachers, the program and especially to the kids. Truthfully, this was the first time I have been in the role of a teacher and seemed to really enjoy it as we were always trying to create new ways for the kids to learn english.

The Camp:
The kids created a memory book or diary and would write down the new words or phrases of the day. In smaller groups we would expand on what we learned.

Camp would start around 10 am everyday and go to about 7 or 8 pm at night. It would start off in a big circle and Eva would let them know what we are going to talk about today. She would make everyone in the circle say something than we would split into smaller groups and each teacher would run each group as they saw fit. We would review the English words discussed, talk about the subject and present something as a group whether it was individual letters they wrote, a play, a poem, etc… This would give the kids a chance to speak in smaller groups and be creative.

Sports:
They first taught Justin, Kirstin, and myself, handball which is really a combination of basketball and ultimate frizbee – played with a ball just smaller than a soccer ball and each team has a goalie and an area around the goal you cannot pass. It was boys vs girls and let’s just say I got into a little bit and took myself out before it got out of hand then was recruited to play for the girls and we would’ve caught up but time expired.

At first, it seemed that the odds were against us that they were not going to want to learn to play baseball. It was Justin, Alecia (joined us mid-week), and myself teaching them to play, it took sometime but as soon as they started getting it they were really having fun out there. They slowly started to understand the rules and by the end they were having your typical ‘OUT’ ‘SAFE’ arguments, it was pretty hilarious. We had to start making the rule, throw the bat and your out. Because noone wanted to be catcher Justin and myself (managers for both teams) were playing catcher and my shins received the bat a couple of times, Justin got laid out and took one in the head – he was literally sprawled out on the ground (part acting to make the point across but did get nailed in the face with the bat).

My funniest moment when Samu (think 9 or 10 years old) was playing third base and when it was a little slow he was picking flowers on the side. One of the balls that was hit went right past him so I called ‘Time’. Went up to him and he’s looking at me with a blank stare so I ask him, ‘How’s the flower picking going? Good? I’m glad, BECAUSE THERE IS A BASEBALL GAME GOING ON HERE AND THE LAST TIME I CHECKED THERE’S NO FLOWER PICKING IN BASEBALL! ‘ of course it was with a smile and not serious but it drew a lot of laughs (of course you can see real baseball managers doing that). To add to the reality Justin and I would be arguing on calls and start kicking dirt on each other’s legs. By the end of the day, some of the kids were whacking their shoes (whacking the cleats) to get the dirt off of them just like real players. Everytime they did that I would laugh. The two following days, baseball was what the majority wanted to play and on the third day, all wanted to play but two.

Ocland Entertainment:

Camp went to a natural springs spa named Dungo Spa created by (I believe) American volunteers in the mountains.

First time we all got to ride on a Carutsa. I like to call it the horse drawn flat bed truck.

Some of the nightly entertainment was watching the cows come home. Everyday the cows would go out and graze and it was the funniest thing to see the cows come how and they would go to their respective house, most of the times without someone leading them. So, one of the pictures shows Walking with the Cows in Ocland (not exactly Running with the Bulls in Pamplona).

One night we were around a table outside drinking Palinka (the drink that is predominantly made in Transylvania) which is like Tuika but on steroids, talk about a powerful drink. We drank a good amount of Palinka, enough where they thought the following was really funny; Eva’s husband, Levinthe (sp?) took one of my shorts that was drying and put a surprise in it and gave it to me. When I took my shorts I knew something was wrong when I felt a prickly feeling, so I unraveled it to find a nice size hedgehog in my shorts. Who else can say they had a hedgehog in their shorts (who would want to say that). The thought crossed my mind to toss it to Justin but I gently put the ever soo soft critter down (it was wrapped up in a ball).

If it doesn’t get stranger than that…

Kirsin, Justin, and myself were sitting on the outside steps ('porching it')of the one local bar. So there we were minding our own business when an old man walking with his sheep (singular) walks into the bar and the sheep follows, we all look at each other and Justin says ‘OK’ and we leave it. Then the sheep comes out, dropping little sheep bombs everywhere and walks over to us and we start petting it while Kirstin is trying to get out of the way asking why is this sheep coming towards me. House broken sheep that acted like a dog... ???

The Letterbox:
SCANDALOUS !!
For the kids (and Kirstin, the other PCV volunteer), their favorite time was Letterbox Time at the end of the day before dinner. The letter needed to be written in English (but they weren’t always) and they were read in front of everybody then delivered to their recipient. Just reminds me of how funny kids can be at that age range (from 8 to 15 yrs old). Actually, not that far from my (and most) mentality : ) There were some scandalous letters written. Girls will be girls and boys will be boys (including the teachers). Let’s just say if it was in English anything goes, statements ranging from … ‘your friend good’ to ‘you is beetiful’ to ‘I love you’ . It was quite entertaining and just one level below an American daytime soap opera.

Food:
For eight days, I had three really good square meals a day. The cook was Eva’s mom, Ibolya which she knew how to cook awesome especially for the masses. My hats off to her ! For those of you who know me, I can easily be won with a good meal.

Justin cooked chilly one day and they had Tabasco sauce which was a HUGE treat. This led to my favorite picture. - and there is nothing wrong with this, you need to understand the village and people to truly understand this is innocent - . After Justin made chili, we decided what would go better with chili then some beer. Samu and Elod were given a basket of empty beer bottles, some money and they each held the basket while they walked to the store. They went out with the empty bottles to the local market and returned with filled beer bottles. Need to see the picture for this one. Yeah, I know, not exactly PC but...

Had a serious argument with Judy from Oakland, California who kept insisting that the best hot dog came from Oakland, California and that ketchup has always been ok to put on a hot dog. This hurt a lot, hurt enough where I did cry for a little bit knowing there are still people like this in the world, people that lack education and knowledge and sometimes you just can't fight ignorance (sorry Judy). I tried to switch to safer topics like politics and religion but nothing worked. I feel for her... Abe Froman wherever you are, please help her see the light.

Overall:
I probably experienced more than the kids did. At the end, the teachers and myself received so many personal letters hoping that this camp would go on next year and if we would return. I definitely would love to do it again and maybe give another stab at teaching.