McCarty'sMoldovaMoments: November Romanian Trip, Soroca trip and class for presentation

November 8, 2010

It's another beautiful day here in Chisinau with current temperature at 3 p.m. around 66 degrees. We also had great weather for our trip to Romania on November 1-3 and my visit with university professors to Soroca to see the business incubator there as well as the famous fortification and nearby monastery. I made several presentations on business functions after my return so these are the topic's for today's blog.

We hired a dirver to drive to Romania and it was a good decision because of a combination of hairpin turns on the hills around Brasov, roads where turns were not well-marked, fog for an hour on the return and a one hour delay leaving Romania at the border for what seemed to be pure inefficiency and lack of concern by border guards.

I'm no longer teaching a regular class, but instead making different presentations for the classes of various professors, for small and medium businesses, law students, and groups who simply want to learn a little about the U.S.A. and to practice their English.

The trip to the Brasov area of Romania (2nd largest city) took about 90 minutes to exit Moldova. Once in Romania, we had another 5-5 1/2 hours until we arrived at our hotel. We went on good roads in Moldova, driving through the countryside, but mostly saw farms and vineyards with villages mostly just beyond the roads. Once in Romania, the roads went through the villages. Good because we could get a good glance at the life there but bad because our drive had to slow considerably for travels through each of probably a dozen different villages. This eastern part of Romania is poor. We saw many villagers travelling on carts--some packed with straw, cornstalks or wood for burning--mostly pulled by one or two horses or perhaps a pair of oxen--travelling down the road becaause there was no other path for them to use. These people all looked old and the sights seem from times even before my parent's time--perhaps life in our rural areas around 100 years ago.

As we moved along, we came to hills or small mountains and the roads were better, but always only two lanes--one in each direction-with switchbacks and hairpin turns every other minute. I was glad to sit back and watch the scenery rather than drive in an area that lacked clear directions. The small towns looked better, but still mosty soviet style buildings that seemed to be built 40-50 years ago or so. Some new buildings could be found in the center of such towns, but they were the exception--not the rule. Of course here, the traffic was almost totally cars with a few motorbikes and busses.

Brasov was bigger than I expected--quite spreadout--with a population that is somewhere around 400,000 --less or more. It took a while to get into town and the places I had identified as possible hotel/inns were not in a great location so we drove into the center of town and looked there for a place. At first, I thought the place we eventually stayed was too expensive, but finding no great alternative decided it would be all right. Turns out we loved the hotel, its location, restaurant and rooms and paid what was a reasonable amount for what we found (around $105/night with breakfast). We looked around the town a bit that night, then spent the next day touring the countryside and seeing the Braun castle famous as the home of Vlad Dracula. The castle is actually furnished with items from the 1900s when Romanian monarchs and family lived there for some time. Dracula lived in the 1400s, but of course is famous for being the basis--in part anyway--for the Dracula book written in the 1900s by an English author-who had never been to Transylvania, the area where the castle is located.
We spent another half day or so in Brasov on the 3rd before leaving. Photos are of the town and castle and nearby area. We loved the town--great old town area and very easy to sightsee and visit interesting spots.

I returned and found an invitation to go with faculty from the state university and other Chisinau area universities to visit Soroca--the site of a business incubator for emerging businesses and also the site of a famous fortress and monastery. I went with 30+ other faculty for the day and just before that trip and on my return gave several lectures to combined student groups.
The professor for these students was clearly in charge, had them stand up to greet me and hushed any attempt on their part to talk during the presentation. Several good questions emerged and it was an enjoyable experience.
Hope you enjoy the photos and my commentary. Let me know if you have any questions!
photos below! I put Alma in most of the photos because she is leaving in a week, so future blogs will unforunately not include her photos.
Bill