Running with Bears

For the past thirteen years I have had a love-hate relationship with running. I love the satisfaction that it brings me when I accomplish milestones (quite literally sometimes) and when I feel completely worn out, both physically and mentally. I love that it is time for me to think, not think, or a perfect combination of the two. I hate the pain in the moments where my muscles feel like they are about to burst through my skin, but then again I enjoy pushing myself to that point. I hate getting lost frequently when trying a new route, but sometimes getting lost is just what I need to meet interesting people or find secret places. I hate getting covered in dirt and mud, but I love taking a good shower afterwards. I hate the injuries, but love the renewed passion I have for running when I am healed. The list of things that I love and hate about the sport that has become such a prominent part of my goes on and on.

Since I have arrived in Viscri, Romania I have spent a good portion of my time outdoors, which is natural when you are living in an area that is as close as I have come to unspoiled nature. I am lucky to be minutes away from the forest which is filled with kilometers of mountain biking trails that I use for my running pleasure. There are also the dirt roads that run through the rolling hills if I am in the mood for a more relaxed run. It really is the perfect place for a former cross country runner to spend her time training. Many days I don’t get a chance to run until around noon, so I opt for the shade of the forest. Running in the forest comes with many challenges: the steep inclines and declines, sharp twists and turns in the trail, debris on the trail after afternoon thunderstorms, and wildlife. The first three obstacles I am very accustom to navigating; however, the last one I am not. I was actually terrified at the idea of running in the forest by myself when I heard that brown bears and wolves live within them and that the shepherd dogs are almost as bad as either of the previously mentioned animals that might come across my path. I had heard that the main thing you should avoid doing was startling a big predator and you do this by announcing yourself before they or you see one another…how do I do that?! Well I started listening to my music out loud as I run, and when I get to darker regions of the forest where my footfall is muffled by the soft earth I even begin to sing along with the music. Belting out a little Brandi Carlile’s “Raise Hell” or humming along to John Anderson’s “Seminole Wind”; I am bringing a little bit of the South to Eastern Europe.

This technique had been working really well at preventing any bear sighting for me until last Friday, June 19^th when even Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the U.S.A.” failed me. I know how ironic the song is, but how can you forget which song is playing when you see a bear run right in front of you? I stopped immediately as the brown fluff ball bounded past me on the trail and headed further into the forest, and I focused on its rather voluptuous rear end which bounced up and down as it ran away. I was in shock. I had seen a bear. I quickly turned around and sprinted as fast as I could in the other direction, desperately wanting to evacuate that section of the forest. I could feel my heart beating against my ribs and felt every fiber of muscle in my calves as I ran past a group of older hikers who were taking a break looking at the plants. “Did you see a bear?” One of the men asked me as I ran past. I just nodded in response and kept going, while they turned in excitement in the direction I had just come from.  

Ironically, I had gone bear watching the evening before and didn’t encounter any bears…

View of Viscri's Fortified Church from the hills surrounding it. Another selfie taken while running of course!

The canopy of the forest is so dense and green that it is actually quite dark the further you get in. 

Where I went bear watching. No bears were encountered that time...but it was beautiful to be there!

Changing Playlist

I press shuffle and an eclectic mix of melodies and rhythms reverberate throughout the air. From Linkin Park to Eisley to Ingrid Michaelson to REM.

I have always listened to music constantly. I am one of those girls who walks around with her headphones in, tuning out the world, focusing on the lyrics trying to find meaning and truth behind their words. However, when I moved to Romania I removed the headphones and started letting the music resonate in the air and world around me. I allowed it to become a part of the nature I am surrounded in.

There are numerous reasons as to why I started listening to my music out loud. The primary one being that I spend a significant time running in the forest and I do not want to startle the bigger animals aka brown bears by running up on them, so I play my music loud and sometimes even sing along to let them know I am coming. After doing this for a few times I started noticing that I heard the music differently than before; it became a way for me to hear English out loud and to interact with my native language by singing. Surprisingly, this little act of singing in the forest while running or hiking has brought me so much joy, a sense of complete freedom I hadn’t experienced before because I knew that the forest was mine in that moment. It made me feel tiny and huge all at once.

The main change is the meaning behind my favorite songs. I have gained a whole new playlist without changing a single song by finding new meaning in the words I thought I knew so well. Previously the majority of songs I listened to took on a meaning surrounding romantic love in some sense, but now I’ve noticed a deeper layer of meaning in these same songs. Many songs are a commentary on the loneliness that humans experience on a daily basis no matter what the situation it. We can be surrounded by family and friends or completely alone in the middle of a forest, and we will still long for connection and understanding and that is what makes music so powerful. It is a way for us to realize we are not alone in our desire for connection and never will be. No matter how strong we are; we are still fragile, and that is where the beauty in life lies.

**My current anthem for the past year is The National’s England. I suggest that you give it a listen if you haven’t already heard it; it is fantastic and so are its lyrics.

Someone send a runner

Through the feeling that I’m under

For the feeling that I lost today

Someone send a runner

For the feeling that I lost today

Someone send a runner

Through the feeling that I’m under

For the feeling that I lost today

Someone send a runner

For the feeling that I lost today

You must be somewhere in London

You must be loving your life in the rain

You must be somewhere in London

Walking Abbey Lane

I don’t even think to make

I don’t even think to make

I don’t even think to make

I don’t even think to make corrections

Famous angel never come through England

England gets the ones you never need

I’m in a Los Angeles cathedral

Minor singing airheads sing for me

Put an ocean and a river

Between everybody else

Between everything, yourself, and home

Put and ocean and a river

Between everything, yourself, and home

You must be somewhere in London

You must be loving your life in the rain

You must be somewhere in London

Walking Abbey Lane

I don’t even think to make

I don’t even think to make

I don’t even think to make

I don’t even think to make corrections

Famous angel never come through England

England gets the ones you never need

I’m in a Los Angeles cathedral

Minor singing airheads sing for me

Afraid of the house, stay the night with the sinners

Afraid of the house, stay the night with the sinners

Afraid of the house, ‘cause they’re desperate to entertain’

"My House in Budapest"

“My house in Budapest.

My, my hidden treasure chest.

Golden grand piano.

My beautiful Castillo.”

The song echoed on repeat in the playlist in my mind as I sat in the cab in the middle of the night whipping through the outskirts of Budapest heading into the center of the city. To ### József Krt where a friend, Manuel, who I met while travelling in Panama lived and had offered up his apartment to me during my stay. I was in a strange city, suffering from extreme exhaustion and jet-lag, and heading to a strange apartment in the middle of the night with a phone that couldn’t contact my friend if I got lost. What could go wrong? So many things crossed my mind that I had worked myself into a tight knot of tension by the time the cab stopped and I looked out onto a dimly lit street hoping to see the number on one of the many identical buildings. In the shadows I see Manuel standing there staring at the cab. Thank goodness! I am where I need to be, which is perfect because all I want to do is go to sleep.

The next day I had every intention of getting up early and getting my train ticket to Brasov, Romania so I could spend the rest of the day exploring the city. My plan was shot to hell when I slept in past noon…and subsequently got extremely lost trying to find the train station. What should have been a ten to fifteen minute walk turned into a three hour stroll through the Jewish district of Budapest where I saw numerous signs of the persecution that they experienced. It was unsettling, but it was a chance to explore a section of the city in which I hadn’t intended on visiting. After eventually finding Keleti Train Station I then had to figure out where to buy my ticket…I wandered around aimlessly pulling out my Eastern European phrasebook hoping to find guidance. I didn’t. The next step was to try to find someone…anyone who spoke English; I found someone who could understand me I think because she pointed to where I needed to go. All in all I got my ticket (or at least I hoped I did) and rewarded myself with a cappuccino and some delicious pastry filled with custard!!

At this point it was nearly five o’clock and I had agreed to meet Manuel at his apartment when he got off work, so I headed there and managed to find my way back in 15 minutes, how long it should have taken on the way there. I didn’t want to risk getting extremely lost again so I stayed put, and waited for Manuel because I figured he would serve as a good tour guide for the rest of my time in Budapest. I was right!

Lets hope this gets me to where I am supposed to be going...

 

Keleti Train Station 

I saw all the sights. The iconic Hungarian Parliament Building, Buda Castle, Hero’s Square, Vajdahunyad Castle, Széchenyi Thermal Bath, St. Stephens Basilica, walked across the chain bridge, Margit-sziget Island, and I got acquainted with the bar and club scene! All of which was packed into two days! 

The Hungarian Parliamentary Building

The back of the Hungarian Parliamentary building.

Buda Castle from Chain Bridge! 

Hero's Square!

Vajdahunyad Castle

Széchenyi Thermal Bath

The Truth Behind “You’re so lucky!”

This phrase has been repeated to me hundreds of times throughout the past three weeks, and I agree. I am very lucky to have the opportunity to live and work in Romania this summer! However, after being away from the U.S. for three weeks now the struggle is still very real and the simplest tasks are monumental and exhausting.

Laundry…I have to plan to wash my clothes days in advance and hope for good weather so that maybe they will dry by the time I need them. Not to mention figuring out which bottles contain bleach, detergent, and fabric softener in a room without internet. Bring along the Romanian/English dictionary!

The store…or getting anywhere outside of the village. This is a real doozy. There is no store in the town I live in or even the next, which means if you need something once again plan in advance.

Step 1: Find out who is driving into town in the near future.

Step 2: Contact said person and try to communicate with them or find someone who can.

Step 3: See if they can pick up something for you or better yet if they have room for you to come along! (Last time I was squished in the back with a bicycle and groceries to get back to Viscri, while two guys I didn’t know sat in the front, but they had been vouched for by someone I knew so that counts for not getting in a car with strangers right?)

Step 4: Figure out what you are trying to buy. (Once again bring along your dictionary, currency converter, and patience. You can do this!)

Step 5: Hope you are getting the right thing because you only have one shot!

Communicating…I moved here without knowing a single word of Romanian, which is definitely my own fault, and is a constant source of frustration for me as many people here do not speak very much English, if any at all. In the village of less than 200 people there are multiple languages spoken by its residents, and only a handful actually speak English. There is Romanian, Romani (what the gypsies speak), and the Transylvanian Saxon families speak something similar to German. Pretty neat right? Except that I speak none of these languages…but I am working diligently on figuring out Romanian! If only I could stop pronouncing the words as if I was speaking Spanish…too many foreign languages at one time.

Conversation…This is the main problem plaguing me. I constantly feel like a burden trying to get my point across because it takes so long, and normally I leave the interaction confused or frustrated. Also, I have no one to talk to. No one to talk to about anything going on around me or what I am thinking, so I am definitely not hitting my 20, 000 words a day, I feel lucky if I hit even 1000. I am starving from lack of conversation! And when I get the opportunity to talk to people from back home, which is rare due to the enormous time difference, I word vomit all over them about anything and everything just enjoying the sensation of using my vocal chords. Not the best way to keep friends, that’s for sure. So to all I have done this to, I am profoundly sorry; I really am trying to be less dependent on y’all, but thank you to everyone who has taken anytime to talk to me (or listen), I do really appreciate it!

At the end of the day, I am still very grateful to be here and have this opportunity to learn so much about a different way of life and myself simultaneously. I guess I am just experiencing some growing pains.