It's been 3 months so far since I've been home. I've been working for one month at a language school...not in Romania, but back home in my own country, the one place I promised myself I would never return. What is the big deal you ask? I want a home, but whenever I do come home, I have to live with my mother! Remember, I'm a traveler, with no permanent residence.
So to keep you up to speed. After spending a peaceful and memorable month in Bucharest, I bought a train ticket to Sighisoara, the birth place of Vlad Tepes. Who? The man that Braham Stoker based Dracula on. The ticket seller didn't speak English. I was only able to communicate thanks to this young Romanian lady who was in line before me with her mother. She somehow reminded me of myself many moons ago, assisting my parents and others before I became a selfish cynic.
I arrived in Sighisoara in the evening. I looked out and it was one of those times in your life when you say, "What did I get myself into?" I got off with my 2 heavy suitcases and laptop case. The platform at the train station was not smooth. The cement was broken and I had difficulty lugging my suitcases. The wire was broken on the bottom of one of the suitcases and was making a loud, terrible sound against the cement. One gentlemen felt he had to help me, and did. I think he just took pity on me. Ha! I soon realized the hostel was a few meters from the train station, but the taxi driver helped me anyway.
I didn't make a reservation at the hostel, but I wasn't really worried. It was Sighisoara, Romania in April. As I was settling in, a French guy walked into the room (co-ed) and we started some of the usual small talk. "Hi. Where are you from? Are you on holiday? How long are you staying? Where are you going next." I asked him if he had eaten dinner, and ee'd said no, so we went to eat some Romanian food in a local restaurant. After dinner, we then headed up a steep slope to the cemetary of the town church (which he had visited earlier that day). It was spooky going to Dracula's cemetary at night....under the full moon. To make it even more interesting, there was a big black dog behind the gate. We tried to carefully step back and leave, but the dog ducked his head under the fence and voila...he was standing right in front of us.... no gate in between! Both of us were scared, the fear coarsing to our vains. And then, the dog started wagging its tail! Thank God! The dog passed my friend, and I held out my hand. It came to sniff and lick my hand!
After taking some pictures in the cemetary with his mobile phone, or trying to anyway, we went back to the hostel, met some more people and went to sleep. Everyone had different plans the next day, so we went our separate ways. I explored the old town, took some photos. I'd never been in a creepy medieval town before so it was kind of cool. They didn't paint it up to look all touristy. There weren't rows of shops that sold the same souvenir items....maybe only two. Actually, I bought this interesting wooden box that looks like a book on the outside, but on the inside, was empty. You could stash secret items inside.
This concludes my trip to Romania.
