so far so good...

So, over the past few days some surprising things have happened. The team Tomis played on Saturday, Dinamo Bucharest, was surprisingly good. The home team was exhausted - they didn't get in until 3am on Thursday night/Friday morning so were not in top form... and barely squeaked by in the 4th set winning 27-25. The poor refs were horrible - they missed several out of rotation calls, and didn't have a clue what to do with the out-of-control-crazy libero who was taunting the crowd and, frankly, being a total jackass. Apparently everyone hates them (whether it's because it's a police team or not I'm not sure) and Constanta's fan club was continuously shushed by the announcer mid-rally - they were singing a song that apparently said all sorts of bad things but the jist of it was F@*# Dinamo. Classy. So anyways, it wasn't a total suprise that they won, but they just barely pulled it off.... phew. Saturday night we watched Anchorman... a classic in the realm of stupid movies. On Sunday night we watched Will Smith in Seven Pounds and liked it. Great acting and interesting but sad story line. And then Steve packed up his bags and left for a week! An entire week... boo. Their schedule is insane - they play Wednesday, Saturday, Sunday and then drive home on Sunday night. They bussed to Busteni yesterday (six hours), the rest of the way to Zalau today (another six hours) and then bus to Dej after their game on Saturday (an hour) before making the entire trip back here (10 hours give or take) on Sunday afternoon. Blech.

Zalau is way up in the northwest corner of Romania - just north of the midpoint between Oradea and Cluj - it's far.


Okay! My surprise is exciting... A few weeks ago I talked to the people at the gym to see if they might be interesting in having a yoga class. I've done lots of yoga but never taught... but decided to see if I could convince them to hire me to give a class or two. They agreed to give it a try, but I kind of got the run-around for two weeks - yes we'll put it in the schedule (they didn't), yes we'll put up a sign (they didn't), yes it starts on Tuesday (it didn't) - and was wondering if it would happen or not... and it finally did!! I gave my first class this morning to all of five people and I think it went well. I can be better - but at least I've got that first class out of the way. Most people speak English well enough to understand, but I know there will be challenges in that department - language. But! Oh well! I'll give it a try and see what happens. If people come and it's a success they'll pay me... and if not? I'm getting some teaching experience and doing yoga. So there you go - that was a surprise!

I've missed all sorts of important days: Chinese New Year (26th), Burns Night (as in Robbie Burns; he was born on the 25th), National Compliment Day (US, 24th), and National Pie Day (eating or throwing? US - 23rd) , but today, January 27th is a multitude of days. It's Family Literacy Day (yay for reading) which, through ABC, is chaired by Robert Munsch, of the the best all-time children's authors. I remember so many of his books and the illustrations... fabulous. Paper Bag Princess, Love You Forever, Angela's Airplane, and Millicent and the Wind - oh so awesome. I can't wait to buy children's books and read aloud with my kids... yay.

On less of a celebratory note, the 27th is also International Holocaust Remembrance Day, and a national day of remembrance in many countries: in the UK it's Holocaust Memorial Day, in Poland, Memorial Day for Victims of Nazism, in Italy, Memorial Day, in Denmark, Auschwitz Day, and in Germany Commemoration Day for the Victims of National Socialism. On this day, in 1945, the largest Nazi death camp, Poland's Auschwitz-Birkenau, was liberated by Soviet troops. One of Romania's most famous Jews, Elie Wiesel (Nobel Prize-winning author of Night), was at Auschwitz-Birkenau for some time, and his legacy lives on here; the Elie Wiesel National Institute for Studying the Holocaust in Romania seems to be the foundation for research and education in this country so devastated by the policies and directives of that time. On an entirely different note, it's apparently also Thomas Crapper Day ("Happy Crapper Day!") which means what you think it does. Check out Crappers Quarterly for more information, if you like.

Okay, I can't leave on a crappy note (pah!) so I'm leaving you with a few pictures and one last interesting tidbit... On January 27th, in 1926, Scottish inventor John Logie Baird gave the first public demonstration of what he called a televisor. His first television program showed the heads of two ventriloquist dummies - and, though transmitted to less than 100 "televisors", it was the beginning of a massive revolution in communication and entertainment.

Horse and cart (and people) on our street... not much transportation revolution there...

Puzzle progress!
Some daffodils to brighten up our kitchen ")