Safe and Sound

Hello from Romania!

Boy, I have been waiting to type that.

I come to you from an internet cafe not far from my hotel. The key board is one like I used in grad school MANY years ago, so all typing errors are the machines fault. It is not a non-smoking establishment, so my fears that my Eastern European travels could lead to lung cancer have been renewed. (That is an exaggeration.)

My flights – 3 for a total for 11 hours of flying – were interesting. I will only say this. If at first you can’t print your boarding pass, DO NOT give up. I flew in the middle in the aisle that doesn’t recline for 7 hours. That would have been OK, but I sat next to a 5 year old who is related to a Mexican jumping bean. Let me be the lesson.

BTW – I am 8 hours ahead of you. I can report that June 19 looks pretty good on my end. Hope yours goes well, too.

Much to share just from today, but I will hold more for tomorrow – I will share this though. I met a young high school girl who flew here to visit family for 2 months. She was alone, and she was quick to latch on to me as I must have looked either kind, knowledgeable, or in need to conversation. Could have easily been a combination of all three. Anyway, she considers herself Romanian but does not read or speak the language with ease. She was born in Austria, but she carries a Canadian passport. She lives in Peoria, IL. (Could this be the start of a cultural indentity crisis? Who know?)

Anyway, this got me thinking. Is she Romanian? I suppose a person can be anything they wish, but to truly understand a culture I have always felt that being fluent in the dominate language of the country is paramount. (Doesn’t hurt if you live there, too; but that is a tangent.) They say that you aren’t really on the road to learning a language until you dream in that language. Can a similar statement be true that goes along the lines that you aren’t really a citizen of a culture until you know the language of that country?

So can this girl be Romanian without literacy in Romanian? On a broader scale, what impact does this have on my ESL students?

Perhaps language isn’t the key. Perhaps living in a culture, regardless of language, marks us as from a certain culture. But what do I know? I am monolingual, US born and raised. I merely like walking around cities where I can’t read the signs.

I give you a random observations and a lesson.

1. Flying into Bucharest I noticed the farm land. It is ribbon-like strips of land. Beautiful. It reminded me of ribbon shopping for Penny’s wedding. (Many here will farm these small parcels to help support themselves.)

2. Negotiate with cab drivers. I got here in a cab for a mere $28! He started with about $40, but I talked him down. Ah, the power of walking away. (Our negotiated price was actually about $22, but when he veered off the main road onto a dirt road in a suburban area and I have visions of bull riding, he earned his tip. Where else would I have gotten that experience?)

I hope you are all well, and thank you for your prayers for a safe journey – they worked.

- Kristi