June 19-22

Have made my way to Eferding and Waizenkirchen... both in Austria.....Here the family worked until they were sponsored to go to the US... it is absolutely picture post card beautiful here... mountains everywhere...valleys, little streams, the aschach river and the danube... all within 10 km...breathtaking!!

don't have a reliable internet connection so I havent been able to post any new pictues... but as soon as I get to Germany I hope to have better internet... :)

The weather has cooperated pretty much my entire trip... until today... got caught in a thunderstorm and about pooped my pants... i HATE lightening and thunder... the thunder seems to echo off the mountains and be ten times louder and I swear i was closer to lightening than i have ever been...

i have added to my romanian tan... got a nice austrian/alps sunburn on my cheeks...:) 

I am staying with friends of my aunt here in austria... they are super nice and i feel like i am staying at a5star hotel...  they have fixed all sorts of authentic austrian dishes... ( liver dumpling soup, some sort of marinated pork, great freen lettuce salads fresh from the garden, semmelknoedel ( bread type dumplings ) griesknoedel soup,,, ( dumplings made out of farina ... )schnitzel, crokettes, beer, wine, marillen ( a fruit like a plum/apricot  DELICIOUS)  and great bread for breakfast.... phenominal coffee with real cream

looking forward to traveling tomorrow... :)  

June 17 -Really random thoughts from the train

June 17  ( again.. if you are offended by misspellings and lack of punctuation and grammar... don't read  LOL 

                                          435 pm  pulling out of the train station… wow… I’ve been to Romania.  It is such a pretty country but yet lots of ugly old too… trying to figure out why this old is so ugly and not quaint like other places Ive seen.  I guess I would have to call it “angry I don’t give a crap old”  .. 

Passing by the outskirts of the city… and ther In the middle of no where … two girls sunbathing… out in the middle of the field… a cow on a rope about 50 yards away..

Ooo now passing old train cars… still in use… the old brown rusty wooden kind you have seen in every concentration camp video clips….

Old signs of communism everywhere… concrete  buildings  … none are unique… not even made in mind with apurpose.. just structures

I think I like the sheep the most… herds everywhere…. And a shepard…d ressed like a shepard… on a cell phone

Oh yeah… and the train crossings… a little itty bitty hut… with a man that comes out and lowers the crossing arms with a pulley cable thingy…   some have little enchanting gardens.. ( that’s what I would have… others look like a chicken coop !

And the DOGS  everywhere dogs… dogs the way we see robins  .. last night I looked out the window and counted 30 stray dogs just from where I stood.

I see an oil well rig thingy,

Their crops don’t look as healthy as ours do… not sure why.  Thy don’t irrigate around here maybe that’s why.  I do know they use pesticides… in fact they spray at night over fields, road ways etc to get rid of the bugs… they way we do hydrant flushing on a rotation they do pesticide spraying.

Just going past   the town of Baile Caiale

Lots of wheat fields and sunflower… then corn

Rmind me to look up the name of the bird that looks like a pheasant when it flies up but it black and white and likes to steal shiny thngs… ( found out it is called an Elster)

The whole livestock thing cracks me up… every 30 yards or so… a cow… on a rope… then 30 yds and a horse on a rope… then 30 yrds and a goat on a rope . No herds .. except for sheep

Just passed the town of Sags

People on the train:  seats are facing each other… no one across from me.  Across the aisle a guy in his 30s with an ipod.. and a woman with with man hands sitting across from him.. pretty sure they don’t know each other… caddy corner from me is a guy in his 20s reading a manga book or story on his lap top..and his cell phone tone /ring is “what child is this( greensleeves?)”

It is gorgeous outside. This train car is nice… air conditioned… smooth and has electrical outlets. This train ride was 538 lei … which is about 200 isch  dollars

The 4 people sitting behind me look as if they could have brought their goat if they could have… but they have so many shoppingbags and plastic bags.. and reusable bags that they would not have had a free hand.

I like listening to Romanian.. it reminds of Spanish with a sing songy Italian accent.

Poison ivy doesn’t grow here.

Kicking myself for not having a map in my purse

What mountains can those be in the distance … to the east of Arad

Making a big high way near the city of Arad…

Pipeline along the train tracks here… I think it is oil.  Aradoul –nord  is the city we just passed.. the piple line is rusty and patched

Amzing how many lines, cables and wires are attached to one pole… and if there is too much line they just make a bundle and call it good..

Stores and businesses.. – poclain ( poclane)  - heavy equipment –

pruatos , mambo, ,=milanodue- big farm  Penny markt,.. pepsi, Fanta, orbit,

Concrete grain elevators the size of small sky scrapers

Paint the trunks of trees white to keep away bugs and trees… every tree.. fruit, decorative etc

nice… all the pipelines run right up to a nuclear reactor…. Yikes… it is right here… I can reach out and touch it….

Homes within feet of that nuclear thngy…not exaggerating at all… can they do that

Stopping in Arad…. Hope no one sits next to me

Romanian Beer.. Ciuc- is the brand

Nice two lane highway next to the train tracks… not many cars….. I see one about every 45 seconds

Gypsy houses-huge palaces …made with money stolen from people according to Romanians.. most Romanians would like to eradicate the gypsies.  Even Cora who won’t kill a fly but rather shoo it out the window,saves spiders etc… says that gypsies can’t help being bad.. its in their blood.  Arghh - really ??!!

Cora’sdad says immigration laws are in place to protect us.  Protect us from bad people. If people were good they would stay intheir own country. Some immigrants/ migrant workers etc are good but the law is blind and has to protect everyone.   arghh  ..interesting view points from actual romanians

Cora’s dad worked illegally in new york off and on .. for ten years… as a mover.. lived in harlem, worked in a restaurant too… says that all restaurant workers are illegal.

Syngenta  Cornfields ( like Monsanto)   little blue signs every 10 rows or so

                                                                                                                          l

Little Extras

I can now count to 10 in romanian ( except for 5 and 6... keep forgetting those )
say yes /no
thank you
how are you
how and what ( same word but different tone )
good
a little

For my history buff friends :)

http://www.exulanten.com/trails3.html

So why didn't they go back?

So why didn't they go back?  Not sure if they knew exactly ... but it is a good thing they didn't.. I am sure people were hearing and telling stories and I imagine that if you think only half is true, it still doesn't look good.

In January of 1945 ( my relatives left in Sept 1944)  most of the German- Romanians had been deported to Austria by the Soviets. Those that remained were ( if caught )  sent to Russia as slave labor.

Anyone in Hungary, Romania or Yugoslavia who had declared themselves German (even though  most of them had never even been to Germany) in any census were considered to be enemies of the state.

So the Americans and Soviets ( because they were on the same side) rounded all the "germans" up and put them in refugee camps in Austria and Czechoslovakia  so they could be sent back to Germany. 

It was during this time that my grandma decided to apply for a sponsorship to the US.   They listened to a radio program called "the voice of America" who advertised immigration information. So after the paper work was done they were ready to go in 1951- but because my great grandpa got sick they delayed the plans ( he dies a short time later )  then they plan to go in 1952 but get after military interviews etc they get delayed again because Henry II gets quarantened because he worked on a dairy farm... finally all is good and they leave in April 1952

So why were there Germans in Romania ?

Several people have asked how is it that I have German relatives in Romania... here is the readers digest version :)   -   Actually the Germans were in the area known as Banat.... it includes the areas around Timisoara that expand into Hungary and Serbia  ( if you look at historical maps you'll see that WWi and WWii mess with the borders )  After the Turks were pushed back, in the 1700s  the Austrian monarchy ( ruled by  Joseph and Theresia wanted to expand their kingdom while at the same time protect it. They offered free land and tax exemptions to the people in south west Germany ( alsace, wurttemberg etc ) ... so a bunch of them went. Turns out the area was all swamp because of the rivers in this area had no real direction, but then they permanently directed the rivers and all was good.  

Timisoara

Found out a lot about this city today. Walked everywhere and was amazed at how "European" it looked in some places,  how communist it looked in other places and then in other places it had an Ottoman feel to it....

Came home and looked up some stuff on the internet and found that Timisoara was a Habsburg province in the early 1700s ( Explains the European feel) after they drove back the Turks -who had ruled the region for over 200 years- ( ahaa - explains the Ottoman feel )  For those of you History fans... here is a wikipedia site that  summariizes this... ( i know wikipedia isn't reliable- but it serves its quick purpose here :)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Timi%C5%9Foara

June 15

I just got done adding comments to some of the latest pictures.... Hope you all find them on the flicker photo stream.  Not sure if you can see them or not... let me know :) 
 
Tomorrow heading out on what will either be a detective hunt or wild goose chase.  I know that my grandpa's brother owned a hotel in a town called Bocsa.  It was near a mountain and  it was big.  He ad a daughter named Elsa ( who could still be alive )  That's what we have to go on LOL    That side of the family wasn't heard from again after Sept 1944. It is about 94 km from here.  Doesn't sound far but it could be a whole day event.

Cora doesn't think there are dirt roads to get there. But in Romania the max. speed limit is 60 kmh. -- a sort side note-- driving here is like, bumper cars and golf carts... lanes which no one uses, no shoulders so people just stop, don't worry about what is behind you, if your vehicle can make it through the opening it is allowed, signs are just a guideline-not a law, and just because busses are bigger does not make a driver afraid of them... in fact they welcome the challenge :)

Walked around downtown Timisoara today.  Ok- did see a Mc Donalds... If you eat at Mc donalds you are rich. Stood on the square where the revolution started in 1990 against the Communists.... ( which I guess was total chaos ( of course) .. because at first the soldiers were on the revolutionists' side and then  they got cold feet and started shooting at the revolutionists.  The bullet holes are still in all the buildings.

Second hand stores are located about every third door way.... its like a garage sale.. but a legit business the size of my bathroom.... Most people shop there.

When cora heard I liked to knit and that I wanted to maybe buy some romanian yarn... she suggested we go to a second hand shop and buy old good quality sweaters and she would show me how to unravel them... and use that yarn.....  :)   

that now leads me to recycling...  people look for empty plastic bottles ( all sizes all kinds from dumpsters trash street corners etc)    Then get this--- they bottle preserves / juices etc in them !!!!  

I am getting more and more cautious about what I eat  :)

June 14-- The "Kopftuch" !!!

Yikes before I forget and some of you look at these pictures..... I had to wear that outfit so as not to call attention to myself as an American. ... LOL    People who don't live in the big cities ( which is everywhere- not even exaggerating a little....) beg.   Not standing on a street corner holding a sign... but real begging... not for money but for a "little candy for my children"   " a dress like yours"   " some shoes that you aren't wearing now"  stuff like that.  

June 14 - first impression of klein schemlak

WOW the things i have witnessed the last few days... for those of you who are going to be offended at run on sentences, misspellings, and lack of punctuation..s top  reading now.. because this entry is going to be a stream of consciousness... :)     Let's see... well first of all I went to visit the towns that were often mentioned when my dad, uncle, aunt and grandma talked about "the old country'... They aren't far from Timisoara  - my 'home base' and really close to a monestary where Cora and her dad like to go ( 35 km ). 
Side note 1- cora's dad is a computer programmer / informatics graduate in the university library here in timisoara.. he likes to get away from the hustle and bustle of city life and heads to this monestary... the nuns there rent little rooms for extra income... and he is good friends with the priest there.
Side note 2 - everyone here if they practice any sort of religion is romanian orthodox... this past weekend was pentecost for them... let's see long story short.... Saturday night 2 hour service  Sunday morning 5 hour service... yes I went to both ... that will be another entry :)
Ok back to the villages... so Cora's dad is really interested and he wanted to go with Cora and I- turns out he knew a lot about the German settlers in the region... ( history lesson in yet another entry to follow)  So on the way there we have to take a million detours because roads have washed out and are impassable by car... all the horses and carts were being used for gathering hay and since it was raining it wouldn't have been very comfortable for us... ( yet... believe it or not... it came to be a very close possibility- for those of you thinking WTH?  yep... that'swhat Ithought.)    We aren't talking muddy road we're talking BOGS !
We finally reached Semlacu Mic ( Klein Schemlak as it was called prior to 1946)
Turns out that on the way there Cora's dad knows the place because on the outskirts of that town is a monestary that he has been meaning to visit.   He got so excited that it was the same place....

The town itself is maybe the size of my subdivision.. with half that many people living in it.

When we arrived, I had no idea how emotional it would be for me.... to walk on the streets that my dad walked on was absolutely heart wretching...   I imagined things to have changed and be much different... but the street has not been touched since 1944 when they left Romania.  Its like when they left, time stopped...The church ( Lutheren) absolutely huge.. ( the size of st. vincent in Elkhart, st jude in south bend- to give some of you an idea) stands without a roof.. the clock stopped at 11:30 the doors are chained shut and the crows have built nests in the bell tower.   But... in front of the church and along the side the chestnut trees that they talked about still stand.  Cora's dad had a great expression that translated into English means "the tooth of time has been here"  

2 am and all's well

its 2 am  I finally made myself lay down around 4 and I must have zonked OUT  just woke up and made myself get up and look out the window.... DARKNESS as far as the eye can see with 3 lights on in various apartments.... total communist style housing blocks   no street lights nothing

The stairwell is worn concrete and the walls are even more worn...handrails iron... and that old familiar foreign sulfur smell everywhere

but outdoors the smells are different !   Linden trees are in bloom and roses like I have never seen before... little courtyards... no one mows... just weeds.....knee high ... dirt sidewalks in places... you can tell they are trying to modernize things but change is slow... too bad they are changing. 

Cora told me that the communist buildings are now being sold back / given back to former owners if they were taken away by the government. a lot of people took back their buildings but now can't afford to fix them up on the outside... just like this building
When Cora and her dad left I ventured out into the streets and did a little exploring.... stores look like someone's apartment with the door open and a little sign outside ( like our classroom room numbers size)   no advertisement although some did have cardboard signs out front.  LOVE IT!!

anyway bought a pack of gum in the first place..... Orbit ...he he he... had to point and say una (one)  LOL
second place was tons smaller.... the size of my bathroom... no Joke !  I bought a tiny loaf of bread for .69 lei  Still need to look that up and see what the equivalent is... Here I was a bit braver...Pointed and said una a bit more confidently.... then that bubble was burst when she started babbling and cut her  off with "nu romaneschte"  she laughs and then asked what I spoke... or at least thats what I THINK she said  !  lol    I was able to tell her... she counted back my change ( they do it back into a little plate like in Germany so that you don't have to try and pick up money off a flat space)  I was able to say thank you in romanian ( mutszu meshke) and in the third place it was a bit more modern... I think it was someones apartment and they opened the front door.... and each room they put grocery items ...stacked full...  i mean full... like a horders episode....must not be afraid of shop lifters... or else shop lifters are afraid to steal  :)  Here I bought a little bottle of juice... peach I think ...

I am HERE

Holy Schmolly !

I don't even know where to start ....  The flights and connections were all smoooooooth... the best flights I have ever flown on... and I didn't have any problems anywhere !   Cora couldn't pick me up at the airport because she had a final exam but that was ok... she had emailed me that her dad would pick me up ... ( he was there with his little sign )    Timisoara on a map looks like a big city but the airport is smaller than South Bend's.   It's like the land that time forgot... old comunist government buildings everywhere, crumbling and falling apart. Lots of concrete buildings  and then right next door you see a brand new Toyota dealership.

Cora's dad speaks German and English so we communicated just fine .   Cora met us about an hour later and took me to stay in her friends apartment for the night so I could get a good night's sleep and be rested for her plans for me :)

I was left with a loaf of bread, and a bag of cherries - bananas, apple and an orange on the table.  She made me some rice /vanilla pudding and then some sort of noodles with white cheese to heat up for later.  The stove is gas and she left me matches to get it started. :)

Despite the simplicity- they all have cell phones and I am stealing internet from someone in this building :)

Cora is picking me up tomorrow around 11... then having lunch with her family.  She and I will then start exploring the villages I came here to find.  We will end the day by sleeping in a monestary where she knows people so that we will be fresh and ready to go for "pentecost" festivities... whatever the heck that means !  :)   
heading out to explore the neighborhood now and then back here to sleep!   I am exhausted.... Hardly slept a wink on the plane... much too excited.

Ok5:00am. Have waited waited long enough, I am gettin'up ! Romania here I come. Yippeee :)

June 1

In the single digits now until I leave. Thanks to all of you who are excited for me ! Aunt Joan and Uncle Henry stopped by this afternoon and we chatted about places I will come across during June. It was lots of fun and I added to my list of things to hunt and find.  A cousin of mine, Meta, was in Klein Schemlak this past year and managed to find the "old homestead" and cemetary.  She sent some pictures and Uncle Henry and I had a fun time trying to figure out what they were and where they were taken.

Sam graduates tomorrow and right now I have that on my mind.  This weekend I hope to pack or at least get started :)