Mosna and Medias
Our three weeks in Mosna went by too quickly. Teodore and I communicated in broken English, pantomime and the very few words of French that I spoke. He learned Russian during the Communist Era (had no choice - all Romanians were required to learn Russian), French and German before and now had his little English primer.
Behind their house was a carefully tended garden full of fresh vegetables. Most of the people were farmers in Mosna and everyone had their own big gardens to supply their food. Teodore also raised pigs, chickens, turkeys and a flock of ducks. The ducks were the most hysterical little things, almost like household pets. (Albeit, household pets that were going to be eaten somewhere along the line.) Every morning, Teodore let his ducks out the front gate to swim in the creek and look for bugs and worms. Around 4:00pm, we'd hear all this rukus, the ducks quaking to high heaven. Teodore or Maria woud come to the front door, throw more food out to the ducks and then let them back in when they were finished.
When it rained, we washed pottery all morning and took the local bus into Medias (population around 55,000) in the afternoon that stopped right by the train station before making its rounds around the town. There were so many beautiful Romanian women - tall, gorgeous and blond! We'd internet, go for pizza or dinner (when our stomachs could no longer take the traditional, repetitive Romanian food cooked by our hosts), eat very good food and order bottles of excellent Romanian wine.
There was even an old abandoned moorish-style Synagogue in Medias but no one could tell us anything about it. I have since found out more information from this website Jewish Art and Architecture in Western Romania. Take a look if you are interested.
The end of the dig season was here and Andre and Stelliana worked like two golphers, laying grids and photographing all the important finds....
...and as a farewell, several of the Mosna locals prepared a barbeque for our group. Now that was good!
The dig was over and it was difficult saying goodbye to our new families. The villagers all went out of their way to make sure the time spent in Romania was interesting and it's hard to express how deeply appreciative we were. The Romanians treated us with courtesy and kindness and I loved my total immersion home stay and Mosna. It's just unfortunate that Teodore didn't have an e-mail address so we could keep in touch but that is an alien luxury for most Romanians.
Kisses and hugs goodbye and on the train back to Budapest. No worries this time since the end of the line was Budapest. No worries about what stop to get off at. Crossing the Romania-Hungary border, customs and guards came on the train and worked their way from compartment to compartment, literally taking off the ceilings and taking apart all the seats, looking into every possible hiding place for people trying to leave he counry illegally.
Filled with castles, Dracula and that lovely Predeal mountain area, I can't wait to return to Romania. Romania has just been admitted to the European Union and we hope it is just the beginning of good things for this wonderful country. Many tour operators are now running trips to Romania. Sherpa Expeditions, Explore Worldwide and lots of others. Put Romania on your "to visit" list and marvel at these ancient medieval sites. Have fun...
