Eastern Europe

We've been back from our trip to Vienna, Budapest and Romania for almost two months, but the glow lingers. Vienna, where OLGS was working with Austrian colleagues, is rich, accessible, clean and very western. Budapest is more gritty, with many remnants of Soviet-style architecture, a significant police presence, and fewer English speakers. But that's OK, 'cause OLGS speaks Hungarian. And there are the broad boulevards, the elaborate fin de siecle apartment buildings, the cute trams, and an atmosphere that conveys, "Yes, we were once grand and could be again. Just give us time." But Romania?

In some ways it's a throwback. Donkey carts, lumbering, exhaust-spewing trucks, and many, many Roma people who are universally despised by the Romanians. It's what I imagine Alabama to have been in the 1920's. And the reminders of the Ceaușescu regime -- huge dams and factories, extreme poverty, suspicion and fear -- linger still. But the Hungarian-speaking village where we stayed in Transylvania is both very poor and very rich -- self sufficient in so many ways, dedicated to the children's education and improvement, and living out their heritage every day.

Will we return?  You betcha.