27 Luni

With the fully content mindset to stay home alone on New Years Eve, I was ready to bring in the New Year silently cheering in my quiet school side home.  However, as fate would have it my Peace Corps Volunteer neighbor, Aran, in nearby Ploiești convinced me to venture down to Bucharest with him and another Volunteer, Anthony, to see what the Romanian capital city had to offer on “Revelion.”  Somewhat exhausted from the events of the past few months, a big Volunteer get together was the last thing of interest on my list, but the idea of hanging out with just a couple of the “fellas” struck a chord as the right mix between vociferous socializing and relaxing solitude.  As usual, little did I know what plans Aran actually had in the works; plans that would make for one of the best New Years I’ve ever had.

Aran is the type of unassuming character that I tend to liken to the old detective character from the TV series Columbo.  Quiet and modest, Aran is humble to the core, but always has something up his sleeve that leaves more than meets the eye.   Just when you come to the realization that he has been checked out of the conversation for the better part of half an hour, he chimes in with a surprisingly profound quip that takes the topic to another level.  The events of New Years Eve 2011, as orchestrated by Aran, held true to his character.

As luck would have it, Anthony was on a holiday tour of Romania and happened to be down visiting our neck of the woods during this period.  So on Saturday morning, December 31^st, the three of us met up in Aran’s Ploiești bloc apartment and made our way to the Autogara for a bus to Bucharest.  Now, if you know me at all, you know that I am not one to comfortably step off the cliff blind folded; I like to have a plan, I like to know where we are going, when we will be leaving, what bus number, how many rain drops are forecasted to fall from the sky that hour, etc., but for this trip I left everything up to my comrades.  And, I have to admit it, though nerve racking, the experience was quite liberating and probably more inline with the typical seat of the pants behavior of Peace Corps Volunteers.  Anyway, we arrived in Bucharest in the early afternoon and checked into a great hostel, that Anthony had found online earlier in the week, just a few blocks from Gara de Nord, called The Green Frog.

As another quick side note, the more I stay in hostels, the more I think I want to own and run one someday.  Hostels are the perfect mix of inexpensive and eclectic, with the personality of a charming Bed and Breakfast, but without the stuffiness of a hotel.  We only stayed at The Green Frog the one night but quickly made friends with the staff.  They not only offered us free coffee upon our arrival that afternoon and a complete complimentary breakfast the next morning, but also champagne to celebrate when we returned at four in the morning on New Years Day.  In fact, as circumstances would have it, I unexpectedly ended up staying in Bucharest another night a few days later and never considered staying anywhere but The Green Frog.  Though I will say, walking from Gara de Nord to this Hostel during the day is perfectly fine; walking in any direction at night, alone and with a giant backpack even just a few blocks from any Gara let alone Gara de Nord is not so smart; invest in the very short cab ride.  Even though there were a couple sketchy moments including, but not limited to, an abrupt exchange with a woman of the night, I did manage to find a new Chinese restaurant!

Okay, so back to the story.  After the three of us threw our packs on to our respective spots in the eight-bed room, we relaxed for a moment being reinvigorated by the free coffee and the great conversation with the hostel staff, namely Roxanna and Marius.  We also met a construction working Irishman, puzzlingly searching for work in Romania with possibly the worst English I have ever heard, and a Spaniard traveling the Balkans on holiday.  With our stomach’s growling we decided to head out for a bite to eat.  This is when the true plans for the evening began to be revealed.  Unbeknownst to me, Aran had made arrangements for us to join one of our two Peace Corps Volunteer Leaders at her flat in Bucharest for dinner.  As it turns out, her Romanian boyfriend had recently caught a wild boar and was cooking it up that evening.  With renewed excitement at the prospect of eating Romanian wild boar we hopped on the metro and made our way across town.

After picking up a few bottles of wine and finding our PCVL’s apartment among a maze of Bucharest blocs we were welcomed with open arms and big smiles.  With the corks popped, conversation quickly got underway.  In time, our group slowly grew to seven, with the addition of two more Volunteers who had just returned from a four-week stay back in the States visiting family.  Admittedly, their stories of big box stores, chain restaurants and gigantic SUVs made my stomach turn a bit; my U.S. reintegration is definitely going to be difficult, if at all possible.  Fortunately, the wild boar cutlets, wild boar sarmale (best sarmale I have ever had) and all the fixing you’d expect from Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner brought me back to a much happier place.  Another highlight of dinner centered on fish scales. In addition, our hosts baked fish for dinner and dried a handful of fish scales in accordance with an apparent tradition to bring financial good fortune in the coming year.  We were each required to place several scales in our wallets in observance of the tradition; keep your fingers crossed.

Wrapping up our dinner party at around 10:45pm, we decided that we should make our way to the city center for the fireworks display.  Months earlier, one thing that had peaked my interest about New Years in Romania was the thought of seeing fireworks in front of the People’s Palace or Palace of the Parliament.  This building represents the largest administrative building in Europe and the second largest in the world, second only to the Pentagon outside of Washington, DC.  From what I have heard it is quite amazing when lit up at night.  With no place open to buy bus tickets this late at night, we toyed with the idea of risking the fine of a free ride.  Thanks to our tight timeline on getting to the Palace and the slow frequency of buses we opted for cabs instead.  Within minutes, despite roadblocks, we were dropped off just a stone’s throw from our destination.  As we walked along side droves of people making their way to the Palace we could hear music playing from the free concert that was taking place for the evening, with Smiley as the headliner.  In addition to the music, the sounds of store bought fireworks were tearing through the atmosphere around us.  On either side of the main tree lined Bulevardul Unirii heading to the Palace, inspired by Paris’ Champs de Elysees, are thin strips of fenced in grass and rows of balconied bloc apartments, from which Romanian’s shot off enough fireworks to rival the forthcoming State sponsored display.  My favorite of the homegrown variety, was one balcony towards the end of Bulevardul Unirii, where the residents were launching Chinese styled floating lanterns.  The official fireworks show was quite impressive, though the one I saw in Cluj earlier in the year was somehow better.  The real disappointment was that the People’s Palace was never actually lit up.  Regardless, with the count down progressing and champagne corks popping off all around, I couldn’t have thought of a better way to spend this particular New Years.  The evening continued, as we hopped from the center of town to our friend’s hotel and then back to our hostel for the aforementioned champagne nightcap.

The next day we slept in a bit, had a late breakfast, packed up our stuff and headed out for a stroll around Bucharest.  Mustering energy from the unknown, we toured Parcul Cișmigiu, Parcul Izvor, Piața Constituției, Parcul Carol and Parcul Văcărești before making our way back to the bus station.  We covered a lot of ground that day, running solely on fumes, but it was worth it.  Though not as well maintained, Parcul Văcărești reminds me a lot of Central Park in New York City; definitely a good place for a picnic on a spring or summer day.

Another great thing about Peace Corps service, in addition to cultural exchange and helping the host country with wanted skills development, is the simple randomness that can accompany service if you let it.  A welcome lesson regularly bestowed upon me by my fellow Volunteer colleagues is that of simply going with the flow and having faith that even with a minimum of preparation some really memorable times can be had.

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