Dear Diary,

For a few days,8th -12th October , I stayed in my school Szent Imre Katolikus Általános Iskola. We all teddy bears coming from 7 partner countries attended the project meeting in Eger.

It was so good to see my teachers and the pupils. Then on early Sunday morning, 12th October 2014, we sadly said goodbye to my Hungarian colleagues and their parents who hosted the Romanian pupils during the meeting and set out to Romania.

On the way back to Sibiu the Romanian pupils and teachers stopped in Budapest. They went on a sightseeing tour of the city on a Hop on-Hop off bus.

Late at night we arrived at School nr.13 Sibiu. The pupils’ parents were waiting for us to come. The school was closed so I went to one of the teachers’ to rest for the night. The next day she took me back to school. The children were so eager to meet me and find out all things about me: who I was, where I came from, what I had in my suitcase, what it was written in my diary...

Week 13th -17th October 2014

The children read the story of Boribon written by Marék Veronika so they found out where my name came from.

They all wanted to learn more things about my school and my beautiful hometown Eger.

I told them that it is a famous historic place, and is also the administrative centre of Heves Country, and the centre of the Eger wine region. It lies at the south-western foothills of the Bükk Mountains in the valley of the Eger Straem. Blessed with beautifully preserved baroque architecture, Eger is a jewellery box of a town with loads to see and do. In return the children told me a lot of things about Sibiu. The county of Sibiu is situated in the centre of Romania, in the South-East part of Transylvania, at the border of the Carpathians. The county has about 400.000 inhabitants (most of them Romanians and a small community of Saxons and Hungarians). The capital of the county is the town of Sibiu, having around 160.000 inhabitants. The famous tourist guides in the whole world say that Sibiu is one of the most beautiful towns in Europe. The town of Sibiu means history, traditions, architectural patrimony, events, stories about knights, lords and princesses, villains, heroes, artists, personalities and simple people. During its almost 800 years of history, the people of Sibiu, be they Saxons or Romanians, contributed to the development of the city. They built a strong fortress that faced the continuous attacks of the enemies and which finally became a famous town.

Week 20th-24th October 2014

Mihnea,a boy in class 4A,took me around the district where the school was. I saw the statue of Empress Maria-Theresa who gave the name “Terezian”to the district.

It was a sunny autumn day and we stopped in the park close to school and played together.

We walked along the tree-lined streets enjoying the canopy of red, gold, and orange leaves. It was an amazing day!

Mihnea and I had a lovely time together playing and talking about the schools and countries I had already visited: Ireland, Italy, Portugal.

Salt Mine Praid

I heard a lot of things about the salt mines where people go to cure some diseases or just relax. So one day Denis, a classmate of Mihnea, and his family, took me to such a famous salt mine in Praid. Denis’s mother and brother took me to the galleries 120 metres underground.

Here people can do sports, as there are ping pong tables available and they can also attend gymnastics classes provided by a coach. There is wireless access to the Internet, while those who want to drink tea or have a snack can go to a café and a restaurant. Denis, his brother and I went go karting and had lots of fun.

One Friday Tudor,a boy in class 4A,made me some fruit salad.Yummy! I felt like home in Romania because they grow the same fruit as ours:apples,pears,plums,cranberries and of course grapes. The reception class children and I arranged “an autumn corner” in their class and we took some pictures of it.

Then we all learned some English songs and poems and watched a cartoon together. Felicia promised to take me one day to their house in the country to play with her brother Ionut and see the cows and pigs.

Week 27th- 31st October 2014

The whole week was dedicated to Halloween and preparations for parties.

Most of the pupils created their own costumes. I also saw the children working to decorate the classes. In Romania Halloween is celebrated around the myth of Dracula on 31st October but is not a public holiday. Alexia told me that the most successful Halloween Party in Transylvania takes place in Sighisoara, the citadel where Vlad the Impaler, a Romanian medieval ruler, (also known as Dracula) was born. However, regarding the fact that Dracula is a fictional character created by Bram Stoker this should not be considered a tradition in Romania.

The children had costumes that imitated scary beings, vampires, zombies, skeletons and most of the girls dressed like witches. They put me a wig on the head and dressed me in a “mad doctor” or a witch. We all laughed and have fun together.

Week 3rd – 7th November 2014

It was mid-term holiday. I went to Tudor’s house but unfortunately we couldn’t go anywhere because he was sick in bed with a cold. I stayed with him in bed, drank tea, helped him to take medicine.

Week 10th -14th November 2014

Back to school! I was happy to meet again my friends. I attended a lot of lessons and had fun with them at Art, English, Math, Geography and English. At breaks they played with me and their toys in the classroom or in the garden behind the school.

Week 17th -21st November 2014

As they promised, Felicia and Ionut took me to the country for a visit. Ionut showed me the farm and the barn full of corn. He took me for a ride on the big red tractor. Then he showed me the pigs, the calves and the cows.

I also kept company with Ionut when he did his homework. Felicia was happy because this school year she didn’t have any homework to do so she watched cartoons on TV.

Then Felicia and Ionut dressed in their folk costumes and put me on the waistcoat a cockade with the coat of arms of Romania. They also showed me how to dance traditional folk dances. I watched them dancing and it wasn’t difficult as the dances were similar to our “csardas”.

Week 24th -28th November 2014

I went to Alexandra’s house, a girl in class 3A,to spend the day with her family. Alexandra’s grandfather took us at noon and I spend the whole afternoon and evening playing with her little brother. We ate together and had lots of fun. It was lovely.

Some girls showed me the place where the new wing of the school building was going to be built. It is a bit difficult for all the children at the moment until the new building is ready but in a year’s time the building will be a very modern school.

Now it’s time to say good bye to my Romanian friends and pack up my belongings. It was a short visit but a very enjoyable one. I learned a lot of things about their country, town, history and culture. The Romanian cuisine is very much like the Hungarian one. It was a pleasure spending 7 weeks in this school, but it’s time for me to leave. I will come back to School No.13 in May 2015 but for a short visit. I know that the pupils and teachers will miss me and I will miss them too! Goodbye Romania!