Donnerstag, Dezember 21, 2006

romania, first visit


this entry deals with the first visit in romania from the 19th of august until the 28th (in 2006) and displays a part of the project's documentation.






let's start with our roadtrip. we were ready to go at 10am in the morning of the 19th of august. the first hours had been quite adventurous. we were lucky to realise very soon that the luggage trunks locking mechanism was defect, so we were able to fix it in vienna at the last moment. our luggage was filled with lots of cameras and lenses, losing weight on the motorway might sound funny, especially while driving through hungary and romania. anyway this is clara pimping our vehicle with vignettes short beyond the austrian-hungarian border:


we've spent one day in oradea, which is my birthplace. i've been living there for six years, the first six actually. some random captures:




we've been sitting in a fancy restaurant which was almost completely emtpy, maybe because it was 11 am or because most people have anyway no money, check out the smooth water clearing dirt on pari's closed eyes (the girl on the left):



...leaving oradea, some sideshots out of the car:


we've been sleeping in altina (alsen), a village 36km outside of sibiu, in a simple house which belongs to the evangelistic church. we had to use water from a font for cooking, washing and showering, which was quite an experience. there was a big backyard as well, i liked that since i'm accustomed to life in a flat and noise from the street all day and night.






some kids...



romanian police...


in the past there have been a lot of sachsen-germans in alsen (just like in many other parts of romania), most younger inhabitants left the country westward. usually seniors still remain there and their offspring visits them every summer for a few weeks. we've met the family schöpp, they've been very kind to us. we've been at their place many times, they provided us with information where we could buy essentials to eat. the sheep's cheese was way to delicious for example. they also invited us in order to taste their home made wine ;-). so we've been sitting there and talking about sibiu, romania's situation before and after communism, but also simple things like nature or hunting, mister schöpp proudly presented his collection of trophies.








rosi is a sachsen german as well. she is a teacher and the administrator of the church in alsen. her relatives live in germany too. she was kind enough to give us a tour in her small farm and garden and supply us with vegetables, much tastier than the stuff we usually buy in supermarkets.












franzi was very pleased, she found our dinner...


one day we wandered over the hills in order to see sheeps and shepherds, i don't need to tell you how beautiful it was. on the other hand, considering that i'm not often confronted with nature, my ability to judge may not be tiptop in this case.



he asked me for cigarettes, and i had only two more left, i handed him those but he seemed to be kind of disappointed. i had the impression that he has been frustrated...


here's another shepard:


relaxing at the church's house...



clara decided to have a haircut, i really like the film's colours in this case (agfa ultra 100):


before sunset...


...lots of animals...




...these are fascinating, the story is they stay from early morning until the evening alltogether up the hills in order to graze. at the end of day herders escort them back to the village and each single one exactly knows how to find home, they wait patiently in front of their fence or door until their owner let them in...





some digishots / a village on the way to sighisoara


a few church shots...





eating langos in sighisoara (actually a typical hungarian eamn) / from left to right - clara, pari, leni, franziska



leftover impressions...







all of the above were taken outside of sibiu. i thought it would be the best if i sort the frames by location instead of time flow. the following pictures will provide my insight into the city itself and the people living there.