Thursday, Day 4 -- Constanta, Cats & Pork!

Our hotel, the Ibis, is on the Black Sea. I think to myself, “I am having breakfast looking out on the Black Sea”. It just keeps getting better and better. The history of this port city was fascinating – as is the history of the entire region.

After a relaxing breakfast, Niku drove us to the “Ioan N. Roman” County Library located here, in Constanta. The library is located at the base of a “U-shaped complex that includes some sort of higher learning facility like a university. There were people milling around everywhere. Cars were parked wherever they could find a spot. The young people looked like they all stepped out of a fashion magazine. I would have liked to just sit outside and people-watch, but I had to keep to our schedule. I do not know if it is our “diplomat car plates”, or what, but Niku always seems to find a spot next to the entrance of our destination to drop us off.

Anca and I entered this beautiful marbled facility, but it looked like it was closed. The lights were out. A library employee pointed us to a staircase where Corinne, my interpreter for the day, and another library official, met us. They led me to the administration area to wait for the director. Our hosts were apologizing profusely for something – turns out there were a blackout in this area of the city. No electricity. This explains why there were so many people outside.

I saw something move out of the corner of my eye. “A cat!” They have a library cat. Not only one, but two. What fun to see a cat finally after all those dogs! Other library personnel as well as the director, Liliana Lazia, soon greeted us. Joining us soon after was a representative of the city council, Ms. Ana Maria Musteata. She was a very young, vibrant woman – frustrated with what could be described as the corruption of those in higher power and her inability to find an easy path to consensus-building. She explained that she had tried running for office, but did not want to compromise her ideals or values.

Apparently, those who were in power during the Communist regime were still in power. The general feeling I received was that it was hoped that these people could be moved out of the position of power and the common man elected to represent. But, running for office was too expensive, and it was the very rich and influential who were successful. Sound familiar?

In the office we were visited by a very friendly black cat, which proceeded to make herself the center of attention. I did not mind. I picked her up and stroked her very velvety black coat. The name for “cat” in Romanian is pisica, pronounced, “pē-see-ca”. I miss my “pisicas”.

In a few minutes, a representative of Constanta Public Radio came in to conduct a live interview. She interviewed me for a three-minute segment. After that, the power was restored and we moved to the meeting auditorium. There were close to 60 library staff in attendance. They represented mostly the rural and small one-person libraries in the county. Most of them also did not have Internet access or computers at their libraries. I was told that everything they were hearing was a new concept – far more than mere opening and closing the library each day. My presentation was once again – Management, Advocacy and Marketing. Monika, from Biblionet was there also, and was my experienced “slide-advancer” for PowerPoint. She was wonderful, very funny with a great personality. Her English was almost flawless.

The two-hour session went well, with only a few more moments of blackout. A technician was in and out of the room, readjusting the air-conditioning, etc. It was “no problem” as they say here in Romania.

After bidding my colleagues at the Constanta library goodbye, we walked across the street to an outdoor garden restaurant named “Crazy”. It was a beautiful day. I ordered a very rich pasta dish with four cheeses. Anca, Corinne and I enjoyed good conversation and tried not to notice that we all were dropping food to the four cats that seemed to be fixtures at this restaurant. More cats. Still lots of dogs, but now we were seeing many, many cats. Oh, wait a minute. We are on a seaport. Of course there are cats!

Niku picked us up after lunch and after picking up another colleague, Adriana, we traveled to the Constanta American Corners at Ovidius University. An “American Corner” is basically an American deposit library located in different areas of the county. Students and citizens can visit these libraries and browse through American fiction and non-fiction as well as receive information about our country and studying in America. On our trip over, we passed what was a combination “farmer’s market”, festival, and native craftsman fair. It was incredible! But, we did not have time to stop.

The American Corner was located on the third floor of the campus building. There was no elevator and we walked up the marble staircases. There were about thirty in attendance in this smaller meeting room for the digital video conference and also audiences in Baia Mare and Craiova in the south-central and western part of the country. (Constanta is a port on the Black Sea on the Eastern edge of Romania). Because of technology limitations in the American Corner, my technology friend, Emil, from Bucharest was connected and advanced the slides for me. It was really quite amazing. Here we were in Constanta, Emil in Bucharest, and audiences in the far northwest area of the country and the lower central part. Technology is certainly the great connector for the sharing of information.

The presentation on Management, Advocacy and Marketing went very well. All three audiences were very attentive and appreciative. I was sad to acknowledge that this was my final presentation. We had reached 100s of participants during the week with messages of possibilities for their public libraries. Many seeds were sown. In each location, it was suggested sincerely that I return to visit more of Romania. Who knows? I would love to return at a later to see more of the country and what kind of changes may have resulted from this venture.

It was once again, difficult to say goodbye to my new friends at the American Corner. Our hostess and technology liaison were so very friendly. Niku is always there, waiting with doors open to swoosh us off to our next destination. I could tell he was sharing some sort of secret to Anca because she was smiling, nodding her head and saying, “Da, Da” (yes, yes). To my delight, we stopped at the street festival. Now, try to imagine every type of fruit and vegetable known to man – imagine the largest size – piles of grapes, mounds of meats of all types, fish on ice, etc. etc. etc. Now, imagine the smell of roasted pork, of popcorn of spices… I cannot even tell you the many sights, colors, smells, sounds I was experiencing. It was overwhelming my senses. I looked at Anca with joy and said, “It just keeps getting better and better," – I did not think it possible.

I took as many photos as my weakening camera battery would allow. I tasted the thick, rich first-squeezing of the juice of grapes before it finishes the wine making process. I walked by the pig on the open spit, being carved by a butcher for those waiting in line for pork (this might have made me turn vegetarian if not for the wonderful smell).

Anca led me to the rows of tents were Romanian craftsmen and artists from all over the county were selling their wares. Corinne talked to a friend of hers who worked at the National Art Museum. The woman shared that these were authentic Romanian artists and encouraged us to support them. How could one choose? There was so much to offer. The pottery caught my eye. Beautiful hand-painted ceramics for 3 lei (about $1.50 American!) I managed to select a few items among the thousands to choose. Perhaps my greatest treasure was a hand-hammered silver necklace engraved with symbols of sorts detailing the history of the Gypsies. There were Gypsies set up with many tents of colorful clothing; scarves, handmade copper, silver and aluminum cook ware. Anca talked to this Gypsy about the price after my eye immediately drew me to this beautiful piece. The price was about $250 American. I am sure it was worth it, but I could not afford that much. We started to walk away, and of course the price came down. I think I ended up getting it for less than half that amount as well as a matching earring set. My “Gypsy Princess” as I would like to refer to her, also gave me a beautiful silver and black bracelet as a gift.

I had all my Romanian friends there and they assured me it was authentic. I even watched this woman’s husband making the silver jewelry with all his tools. Well, I was convinced, but even if it was not authentic, I had never seen anything like it before. I’m thrilled!

We strolled back to the car to the accordion music piped through the air. Niku drove us back to the hotel, dropping Corinne and Adriana off at the library. Another surprise – Niku pulled over at the archaeological museum. It was open! We walked through the beautiful excavation from 4th century A.D. of a Roman market place and warehouses on the Black Sea. The floor was a beautiful mosaic with symbols of nature made from local marble pieces. Apparently, during the construction of the building of flats (apartments) in front of the museum in 1962, workers discovered these ruins. They stopped immediately and the site was preserved. Awesome.

The evening included a walk along the Black Sea, delicious salmon, a walk through old town, more sites, much laughter, dozens of cats and dogs and a bonding friendship. I am running late this morning and have to close as I do not want Niku knocking on my door. I will try to write more details about the wonderful evening later – and don’t let me forget to mention the wine! PaPa for now!