‘Ey up!

As the jet engines rumbled into life, my stomach somersaulted itself into 50 knots and my emotions began churning up my breakfast. The plane lurched forward and after a nail biting 30 seconds of uncertainty we were airborne; I was off to my new life in Romania. Rising above the clouds I thought of all the people I was leaving behind, the familiar places and my comfortable life in the South of France, as well as my beloved family and friends in England. I wondered what on earth I was doing dropping everything to start from zero, once again.

Landing in Cluj airport, what hit me first was an overwhelming wave of heat rising off the tarmac, and I instantly regretted wearing as many of my winter jumpers as I possibly could to avoid the excess baggage charges; it had seemed like such a good idea back in England….. After a tense 20 minute wait for a bus in a “bus stop” which only the popular opinion of the Romanians on the street indicated to us that we were waiting at the correct location, I was incredibly relieved to finally see a FANY bus approaching us. Following Onoriu’s instructions that the bus would not stop unless we flagged it down, I jumped into the street and started leaping up and down waving like a woman possessed… no way was that bus not stopping for me!!

Driving across the beautiful Romanian countryside, as we passed a farmer waiting to cross the road with his horse and cart laden with hay, I remembered what I came here for: an adventure in a completely unknown country, a different way of life with an exciting new culture to discover and learn. I hope that this year will be both a challenge to my comfortable Western European way of life, and a chance to reawaken my passion for teaching, which has somewhat gone to sleep in my last year of teaching to listless, sleepy students in France.

Since arriving in Baia Mare, I have, of course, been stuck in the awful black hole that is the paper work of arrivals administration. This endless box ticking, form signing, people to see, accounts to set up, and the never-ending shopping list of things that I need for the flat, or forgot to bring with me, is the reason that every year I swear that THIS will be the town and country I will stay in for the rest of my life, that I will never move again, that this is just too much hassle to go through it all again. But of course once I get stuck into my new life, I forget all about this painful limbo of the first few weeks, and before too long I’m ready for the next adventure…..

For now though, I’m staying in the present, getting established in Baia Mare and preparing myself for the looming invasion of children which, no doubt, will turn the now peaceful office of AIST from a paper-work factory into a dynamic and lively mad house of fun and learning. And, oh boy, am I excited for that day to arrive!!

Ta rah a bit now