Hi, and welcome to my blog. My name’s Kate Neidhamer. I’m originally from Boyne City, Michigan, which is a very beautiful (and small) town in Northern Michigan. I have two sisters, one of whom is my identical twin. Together with my sisters, I lived with my parents, our two dogs and our six turtles. Boyne City is where my parents grew up, and most of my extended family still lives there too, so I’m very close to all of them-my two aunts, two uncles, grandpa and eight cousins. You can see more pictures of my family here.
The real reason for this blog is to keep you all updated about my life as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Romania. The Peace Corps was started on March 1, 1961 by John F. Kennedy. Since then more than 187,000 volunteers have served in 139 countries. The PC has been in Romania since 1991, two years after the revolution that ended the communist rule here.
Romania is a country in Eastern Europe about the size of Oregon. The official language is Romanian, and the capital is Bucharest, or Bucuresţi in Romanian. To the north lies the Ukraine, to the south is Bulgaria; to the east is Hungry, Serbia and Montenegro; and to the east is Moldova and the Black Sea. About 22,000,000 people live here. Click here to learn more about Romania.
I live in the area known as Transylvania. Transylvania used to be a part of Germany and then, later, a part of Hungary. Because of that there are a lot of people in this part of the country who speak either German or Hungarian as a first language, and learn Romanian at school as a foreign language, like you would learn Spanish or French. Zalău, my city, is 20% ethnic Hungarian, so it’s really common to speak.
Life here is very different than life back home. For one, it’s very rare for a family to have a car so people walk everywhere-or take a bus or a train. And people are allowed to bring almost anything they want on a train-a bike, a dog, I’ve even seen a guy with a fridge. Riding trains is fun though, because you get to see the beautiful landscape.
Well, I think that’s enough for the first blog. Be sure to ask questions and let tell me what you want to hear about, so this doesn’t get boring for you. Enjoy!
5 comments:
WOW!
I always wanted to travel the world and i think it is great that you are. I jsut wanted to know how much did it cost you to do this trip, since I would like to travel when i grow up.
thanks,
Maddie
Hi Maddie, I'm glad you asked. Well, what I'm doing now isn't really a trip; it's a job. So, I actually get paid to live and work here in Romania. I'm technically a volunteer, but Peace Corps pays me enough money to cover basic bills; like food, heat, rent and stuff like that. And since I'll be living here for two years, I have my own apartment and have to cook for myself. It's really a lot of fun.
But there are lots of exchange programs you can look into if you want to start traveling early. When I was 13 I went with a 4-H program for the summer; and then when I was 15 I did an short-term (6 weeks) exchange in Austria with the Lions Club. Go to their website (http://www.lionsclubs.org/EN/content/youth_youth_exchange.shtml) for more information on that.
Now I have a question for you; where are you from? This blog is being seen by students all over the US, and I’d just like to get an idea of who’s reading it so I can talk about things that are more important to you. Like, if you’re from Florida I probably won’t talk about how much I miss ice hockey.
I hope you are enjoying you're live in Romania. I wish I could travel the world. Looks fun.
I think that it is very nice at what u are doin over there. I wish that i could be you.
Wow
i wish that i was u. I have always wanted to travle the world. I have been to 2 different contries. I wnent to mexico and canada.
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