Cram it

Springtime welcomes me back to the dismal city of Berlin. Two months of relative sunlessness are over and everyday shall be in celebration from now on. Until it starts raining. Ah but I had a nice break from city living while traveling through Romania. With the whole crew of Lexia students from Berlin, and the addition of the two students from Krakow, the trip started with two days in Budapest. A short time to see such a beautiful city, yet full of great sights of the hills rolling around the Danube river, the parliament building on the bank of Pest and the royal palace atop the hills of Buda. Yes, once it was two separate cities. I could try my best to give a history lesson about Eastern Europe but that is not wholly my intent. following Budapest we spent a week bussing through Transylvania (which makes up 50% of Romania, and no, Dracula does not have a castle), traveling the Carpathian mountains to stay with Hungarian families and experience traditional life in small farming villages. Seven days on a bus was tiresome, and bumpy, especially for me in the backseat, but the view was unsurpassable. I spent most of my time looking out the window or giddily drinking a two-liter bottle of beer (the thing was too ridiculous not to buy!) from one of our frequent gas station stops. I'm sure I saw no less than a hundred churches with copper or silver roofing. We visited a good number of churches ranging from the 1300s to more modern and reconstructed ones. Mostly the population is Orthodox so it's very traditional and some of these places have amazingly fancy ornamentation, mosaics, silver chandeliers and huge altarpieces. Some terrible misfortune of poor overseeing led me to leave my camera at home, so my only evidence can be found spread throughout various cameras of my friends (I have to gather those), or in the souveniers I bought. It was kind of a relief though, just to be able to take in the surroundings, but I wish I'd been able to capture some of the striking views. I bought local specialties like hungarian salami with paprika, and

My favorite moment of the trip was staying in Torocko, an old village set in the valley of some beautiful mountains. This morning of the day after I arrived I woke up at 5 from a dream about waking up at 6 to go walking in the mountains. It was a surreal experience because just before I awoke I was watching magnificent colors shooting over the peak of the mountain as the sun refracted in the sky, with the night's expectations of what I was going to see in the morning. So I woke up and it was still dark, and I set out on my journey. I'd spotted a nice outcropping of rock on the way into town the day before, but I didn't stop just there. It was so rejuvenating to keep walking, to keep climbing, to breathe in the fresh air and listen as the town came to life further and further away, the sounds of the roosters and sheep echoing off the treeline on the mountainside. Conquering nature early in the morning makes the rest of the day seem humbled.

Each day was bookended with home-cooked meals, fresh jams and wines made by the families, and copious amounts of sumptuous soups and meats. I'm terribly saddened at the loss of a half-liter jar of rosehip jam I bought from one of my hosts, as it was confiscated at the airport at the end of the trip since I didn't think to check it. Jam is a pretty suspicious substance, I'll admit. Most of our events and group meals were welcomed with shots of Palinka, high-proof alcohol. Maybe no-proof. There's no proof it won't kill you. This stuff is moonshine and it burns. Even though I couldn't really speak with anyone they were so gracious to share their homes and their food. I had some help in translation from the group's guide Haigny, and the driver, Laszlo, who spoke some English.

In the end I'm only glad to be back in Berlin because it is nice here, everyone is outside in the park and the cafes are overflowing into the streets, and people start taking their clothes off. It's time for progress and activity, time to have fun and get work done and find a confluence of the two. I have a lasting niceness from my vacation from this larger vacation which is life in Europe. I don't agree with this word though, which takes root in some absence. To vacate? Get the hell out of here!? No, it's nice to take breaks though, to change scenery, to breathe air you've never tasted before. Then again, I miss some familiar sweet tastes that are far away across oceans. Oh, my Jersey produce, the kind that grows in my heart.

I bought a bike today.

~Elijah, On the other side of the woods.