Memorialul Victimelor Comunismului şi al Rezistenţei

On Wednesday, we visited Memorialul Victimelor Comunismului şi al Rezistenţei (which translates The Memorial of the Victims of Communism and of the Resistance). The memorial is housed within a former prison in Sighetu. I have to say that the US school system does a great disservice to all of Eastern Europe on what is covered in history classes. I remember spending a large amount of European history on the British monarchy, on Hilter and concentration camps, and on Russia and the Cold War. I don’t think Romania was ever mentioned, outside of referring to the entire Soviet Bloc. Their history though is unique and complex. I am currently searching for a book that gives a good account of 1940-1990 in Romania and other Eastern European countries. I would appreciate any recommendations from the history buffs reading my blog. Suffice it to say, I was not prepared for the magnitude of what had happened in this prison and prisons like it. Before I visited Dachau, I had an idea of what to expect and therefore prepared myself. What I imagined happened in Romania were work camps like the Stalinist one depicted in “A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich”. Work camps were one aspect of what happened in Romania but in addition there were “re-education” programs. These consisted of brain washing using extreme methods that wiped any negative thoughts against the communist regime. Anyone that opposed the regime was able to be sentence to a labor camp or a re-education program. Immediately after communism gained control, the prisoners were mostly well educated individuals who posed the greatest threat to communism. Other crimes that were punishable were giving food to someone and tell a joke at the expense of the communist regime. For now, I am going to hold off an adding any additional history information, until I find a good book, and I am able to give an accurate account.

If you would like additional information on the memorial that I visited and a virtual tour, visit http://www.memorialsighet.ro/index.php?lang=en. On the left hand side click on the British flag to translate the page to English.

My pot would be fairly low...

While traveling through rural Transylvania this past week, we noticed many trees like the one below. We stopped to ask someone the meaning behind the pots and learned that families with daughters have them. The red pots signify if daughters are ready to be married, the closer to the top the red pot is the closer to marriage the daughter is. Mom and Dad if you want to hang some pots on the tree in the front yard make sure mine is low. Meg, what about yours???

Sighetu

I have a lot of information to share ranging from my trip to some more history of Romania (I hope there are some people enjoying the history) to future plans while I am here to a little literary analysis.

First of all, the trip: Romania is about the size of Iowa but there is virtually no highway system and the roads wind through mountain ranges and pass through cities. I believe we covered a distance that would be equivalent to travel to Des Monies if you would a straight shot on a highway; but instead of an hour and a half car ride it was about five hours. On the way to Sighetu, we stopped at a potter’s house a little outside of Baia Mare, Romania. We had a nice cup of coffee in his gorgeous backyard and got a tour of his workshop. Below are some pictures. I of course also got some pottery to bring home, just have to figure out how to pack it.

In Sighetu, we stayed in a traditional Romanian hotel with a restaurant that served traditional food with waiters and waitresses in traditional dress. So now I have had “traditional Romanian food” and let me tell you, I’m in love. Listen to this dinner:

First, an appetizer of baked eggplant and onion on bread with tomatoes; then an entrée of mushroom paprika stew with polenta and fresh tomato salad; followed by a dessert of chocolate and sweet cheese crêpes all washed down with plenty of wine, espresso, and mineral water.   

The next morning was our trip to the orphanage. I wish 20/20 would go back now and do a story on what hard work and dedication can do in twenty years. Though there are still orphanages open that just work to meet basic human needs, the system we were shown goes far beyond. The woman in charge traveled to the UK and studied their foster care system. She described to us that before she went to the UK she couldn't understand or think of a way, with the volume of children institutionalized, to expand beyond basic needs. She knew they were doing a disservice to the children, but the magnitude of the problem was too great to tackle. After studying in the UK she came back with a plan; however, when talking with others in her position in different regions she found the same ideas implanted that she previously had. In Sighetu now, there are three different programs. First, there are maternal nurses. This is like foster care in the US. Women can take a 60 hour course and become a maternal nurse. They are then matched to one or two children that will live in their homes as part of their family. Second, there are maternal homes. This program is targeted at mothers who are at a high risk of abandoning their child. They stay in this complex, for up to a year, and have support to help them transition to being mothers, find productive jobs, and reconnect with the child’s father. It seems like a domestic violence shelter mixed with the Ronald McDonald house in the US. The mothers are expected to do cooking and a set amount of cleaning and in return are provided with a safe and nurturing environment to learn their new role. The third is family homes, which parallel group homes in the US, where twelve children between the ages of 4 and 18 live in a home with staff. We toured both a family home and the maternal house and the walls were bright and covered in hand painted Disney characters and art projects and there was plenty of room for playing. I was truly taken aback by how much the system had advanced. The system here in Sighetu is definitely on the leading edge of the change in Romania and they couldn’t have accomplished all they have without the Italian NGO that supports them (I will post the name after I confirm it). For the holiday this summer the NGO is also paying for the kids to go to Italy. Truly FTK!!!

I wanted to add a few supplements to my last blog post. In addition to everything I listed that led to high birth rates, abortions were also illegal. Of course this triggered numerous illegal abortions in hazardous settings to be performed. The film 4 months, 3 weeks, and 2 days is a story of a young woman in the 1980s in Romania struggling with the decision of if she should get an abortion and how to go about it. If you are interested in getting a glimpse of what life was like for young woman during this time I would recommend this movie. Also as I mentioned in my previous post when 20/20 aired the story of the state of orphanages in Romania many Americans were moved to help. The “help” many Americans thought they were bringing to Romania was not necessarily so. Americans flooded into Romania with the intention of adopting a baby. Many people went through the process as they should, spending time with the child and making sure there was positive relationship, getting critical medical information, etc. Others however came got a baby and left, showing little interest in taking time to make sure the adoption was positive for all involved. This flood of people and the lack of an efficient system to facilitate the international adoptions caused the government to make international adoptions illegal. This is still the case today unless the foreigner is a family member of the child. Adoption is not used much within the country either. The woman running the institutions in Sighetu said she has never had someone come forward wanting to adopt. Since Romania’s induction into the EU in 2007 there has been pressure to reopen international adoptions, to fit better with the EU’s policy on abandoned children; however large amounts of legislation have to be developed to make sure the system will be effective.

After visiting the orphanage on Wednesday morning we did some sight-seeing around Sighetu. First we went to an open air museum of houses from different times in Romania set up in the Carpathian Mountains. Then we went to an Orthodox monastery that had one of the best gardens I have ever seen. Grandma Barbara would definitely approve and no doubt steal some of the flowers to plant when she got back home.    

Finally, we went to a prison memorial, but I am going to saving this for a separate post (as well as my future plans and the literary analysis) because there is a lot of history to provide and this blog post has already become lengthy. Sorry for the long gap since the last post. This morning, I have set up camp in a coffee shop so there will be several in the next few days.

J Kait

This week will be interesting indeed...

This week, I will be heading to rural northern Romania with my mentor Andra, Iowa’s visiting professor Anne, and one of the Romanian interns Alex. We will be visiting orphanages and a center for institutionalized children in preparation for a course University of Iowa Public Health students will be taking in August. No doubt some of you remember the images of the 20/20 report in the 90s on the state of Romanian orphanages. My family frequently recounts the story of my cousin Daniel begging my aunt and uncle to adopt a Romanian baby after seeing 20/20. Though you may remember images I doubt you know much about the history that lead to these devastating reports. I will not doubt be able to shed more light after this trip; but for now I have done some research and will give you all some information to hopefully put those images and my future blogs into a better context.

As I have mentioned in previous posts Romania was under the communist rule of Nicolae Ceausescu from 1965 until 1989. One of the main goals of the communist regime was to increase the labor force. To do this, many different policies were pushed that lead to too many children with too few caregivers. First of all, no medical information for citizens was allowed from outside the country and the information provided in Romania included nothing on birth control methods. Secondly, people received an increase in wages for each child they had and in addition could be taxed up to 20% of their wages for not having children. This tax was regardless of if you were married or not. Together this increased the birth rate and family size. With the family size increasing there was a need for a caregiver in the home; however, women were essential for and required to be part of the labor force. Combine this with increased maternal death rates and no social system for child care and the burden families were under is monstrous. Together these factors increased the amount of children that were sent to orphanages or institutionalized.

There has been significant change in the past twenty years in the orphanage and institutional structure of Romania. I will reflect more on that after I visit, but it has been and still is a large hill to climb. One of the residual effects of all of this is the increased HIV/AIDs rate in Romania. Under Ceausescu’s reign only thirteen cases were reported to the WHO, but in the early 90s when the real figures began to be reported Romania had the highest number of cases in Central and Eastern Europe. Over half of those cases came from children who had been institutionalized or put in orphanages. The tight unsanitary spaces and shared needles for vitamin and antibiotic injections in the orphanages and institutions contributed greatly to these high numbers.

I will blog when I return from the trip if I don’t have a chance to while I am gone. I anticipate these next few days will prove to be thought-provoking and I will have a large amount to share.

For now ciao,

Kaitlin     

Catrhythm

For those of you that want to check the group that I talked about in my last post, Catrhythm, here is the link to their myspace with songs.
http://www.myspace.com/catrhythm

Sa bea

So this was probably clear to you all before it was clear to me but this is most likely going to be an every other day blog. I hope you have been enjoying the first few posts and keep checking back throughout the summer but there probably won’t be something every day. Today however as I promised there will be pictures.

Now on to the first weekend in Cluj… First Friday afternoon one of the biggest rain storms in Cluj happened. I luckily had already gotten home from work, but my roommate Lindsay was still at the center and had to catch a taxi with water up to her knees and cars just wadding through. We had plans to go to this party with music that I love, when I saw on the facebook invite that the music would include The Smiths, Of Montreal, and MGMT I was sold; but, the club where the party was to be is underground (like most bars here) and got flooded during the rain. So instead some of the interns from the center went to Janis la stuf (a different bar) and I learned some things that will come in useful for the rest of the trip.

1. Ursus is the local beer in Romania and it is pretty good. Dad I don’t know if you can find this at home, try it and give me your opinion.

2. Sa bea means let’s drink and it is their form of cheers!

3. Don’t try to predict the next song that will come on because you will be wrong. The songs in this club went from Euro techno to Avril Lavigne’s Skaterboy to Lady Gaga’s “Born this way” (yes Meg I have finally heard it) and then to Nickelback (unfortunately) in less than an hour.

Saturday we first slept in. I am on Romanian time now but just a little tired from all the transitioning this week. Then we just went to explore some of Cluj. We were successful in finding a restaurant that was not Italian or Indian, but still no luck on Romanian food, what we found was Mediterranean. It was a fun little café in an alleyway and the meal was great as you can see here.

Then we walked around the plaza in the city center, people watched a bit and looked through some second hand clothing shops.  The picture below is me in the plaza with the large Catholic Church behind me.

Saturday night one of the doctors from the center, Dr. Coman took Lindsay and I and a visiting professor from Iowa, Anne Wallis, to his sister-in-law’s band’s concert. Let me tell you, I can’t remember the last time I enjoyed a concert so much. The band was formed about two months ago but you would never know it. They have another concert here in Cluj in a couple weeks before heading to the Netherlands for a set of concerts and I will definitely be going to see them again. I will get the band’s name up when I remember it because Emily Jarman you would love this girl’s voice so much. The picture below indeed shows a man playing a guitar while standing on a bass while the bass player is still playing.

Today we decided to give into Western pressure and go see a movie. We saw Bridesmaids (great recommendation Mary Beth) and it was only 12 lei. Conversion $4. At that price I may be seeing numerous movies here. Now it is off to dinner, tonight is sushi night. I hold out hope that I will eat Romanian food before I leave.

For now ciao,

Kaitlin

Chocolate, cheese and tomatoes do I need to say more…

I have no picture for today because mostly I have been at work and out to meals and I need to get in the tourist photographing mode again (Leah Caputo you know how hard this is for me). But I do have lots of information to share. My mentor for my project is away until Monday so my workload has been light to say the least so far, just reading up on old journal articles in the areas of public health that I will be working. Now just some random things that I have found noteworthy so far:

Something I found interesting here is that the dorm you get depends on your grades. Maybe if Iowa implemented this policy GPAs would sky-rocket. The dorm I am in is considered one of the hardest to get because you get your own bathroom and kitchen and the water is turned on 7 days a week. When we arrived however our shower was broken. It is now completely fixed thanks to the wonderful intern, Dumy, who has been helping us this week and this morning was my first shower here. That is five days without a shower. On Wednesday night my roommate Lindsay and I use pots and pans to wash each other’s’ hair. But the photo for my ID here was done on Wednesday so you can imagine how good that picture was.

Another interesting thing that I wasn’t so aware of before arriving is that they aren’t that many restaurants with ‘Romanian food’. Still unsure what is considered Romanian. What is present however are Italian and Indian restaurants. So far I have had 3 Italian meals and 2 Indian meals. Great for me being a vegetarian and all. I have had so many tomatoes and so much cheese I couldn’t be happier. Gabby you really need to come back to the homeland and eat tomatoes and cheese and drink wine with me all day.

Two more things and then I will save the rest for another day. I may boycott all American candy when I return unless they start selling Uria’s Dots or an American version of it. Listen to this: sweet cheese wrapped in chocolate, it is like cheesecake in a candy bar. Also in Romanian Kaitlin or Kait is Katalina. I am only respond to this version of my name when I return.  

Ciao,

Katalina

Collision

Since I didn’t get to post a blog yesterday it will be a double header today. The picture above is the view from the balcony at work. You can see from the picture a collision of different times in Romania. There is the gorgeous large Orthodox Church in the center. Off to the left you see a gas station and on the right an old communist built housing complex. Romania was under communist rule until 1989 when they had a revolution and removed Ceausescu, the leader, and his Securitate from power. After the revolution a Constitution was drafted and signed, however communist ideas were still strong among the leaders. Not until 2004, was there a president that wasn’t a former high-ranking communist. Buildings like the one seen in this picture are very common throughout Cluj. In addition, to these communist buildings and old churches there are several new buildings. We were at the mall earlier today and it felt like I was back at Coralridge, complete with free internet in the food court. All these contrasts make the city so interesting and I can’t wait to explore more.

But Ciao for now!

It wouldn't truly be my home if I didn't get locked out...

I may try to blame this one on being awake for 24+ hours but within the first few hours of being in our new dorm, my roommate, Lindsay, and I got lock out. However, unlike numerous other times when I have locked myself out of a house this time I had my keys with me. We didn't know that in Romania there are double locks on the doors. One turn one lock, two turns two locks. Very confusing when you are turning between one lock and two locks and thinking the bolt is stuck in the door. After about 45 minutes of trying and many phone calls we got back in. So for all you future travelers to Romania or another Eastern European country I hope my foolishness spares you. Another tip for future travelers; bring blue pens! Most official documents have to be filed in with blue not black?!?

Besides the key mishap the trip to Cluj was long but uncomplicated. Passport control was shut down for a while in Frankfurt for unknown security reasons but we had two hours to make it to our flight to Munich so it was no problem. Also there were no giant airplane drops over the ocean which made me very happy.

Ciao