Inside (Ride) story about a visit in Întorsura Buzăului

11 noiembrie 2014

The loud creaking noise of the brake signals us that we have arrived. In big blue and white letters sticked to the wall of the station it says: Întorsura Buzăului. One thing is already clear before the arrival: It will take some more months of language lessons to pronounce this tongue twisting name properly. But regarding all other aspects, my image of this 7000-inhabitant-place where we will spend a lot of time in the upcoming months is more than blurry.

Getting out of the train, the light of the morning sun, embedded in a clear blue sky, touches our sleepy faces, a big crowd of commuters flocks towards the city centre, we take an alternative route. Certain associations run through my mind. Rural areas.. carriages with lots of hay.. people in traditional dresses preparing potato dishes for dinner.. Following a dusty path along corn fields we approach the first station of our very first visit here, a primary school with mostly Roma children as students. 

I expect to enter a classroom, with children strictly sitting at their tables, busy with different kinds of exercises but I could not have been more wrong. Immediately after arriving the school gate we are besieged by approximately 20 little pupils yelling „Voluntarii, Voluntarii“. With our more than basic Romanian skills we try to start little conversations but soon I realize that it does not matter at all what I tell them, they are just happy about our presence and it shows me one more time that communication, especially with children, works on so many different levels besides actually speaking the language.

After introducing ourselves with a few short and active games it is time for us to move on to the next stop. The students say goodbye even more warmly than in the beginning and we leave the place with a pretty big smile on our faces. On our way to the High School we pass the centre and another, even though unconscious, expectation of mine proves to be wrong. A lot of people busily cross the streets, young people spending their breaks outside, it seems to be pretty much going on, the first glimpse does not give me the impression of a sadly abandonded rural area where most people move away. 

The High School is clearly another place, we meet people from a different age group with completely different interests than the ones in the primary school. This gives us chances to realize different ideas for projects or events in the course of our voluntary year and at the same time, it forces us to adapt to the different target groups. I guess it will make our experience way more challenging and demanding. Our short presentation here is mainly about telling our names and stating that we will come back several times but from what I observed, I saw apparently interested students that we will hopefully be able to offer something to.

This introduction day gave us a lot of new impressions about the place where we will be busy most of the times, and on the way back I felt that each of us tried to process what has happened, thinking about ideas for the upcoming ten months. I am sure that in this rural community each of us will be able to find their own special field to be plowed. We will all find out in which way we four will do so, stay tuned!

Daniel