Last Week in Romania

 Monday the 26th of August was our last night in Casa Butnarului, staying in the valley. We did spend the day at Casa Victoria and Martin gave us a proper walking tour of the forestry on and surrounding the farm, his depth of knowledge is quite astonishing. We spent the next few days and nights living at Casa Victoria, helping with maintenance and finishing our surveying, photographing, writing and editing of our booklet. By Wednesday we had finished the booklet, it contained information about the different buildings on the farm: their original uses, techniques for building, other important cultural notes, and Monica's restoration that maintains mostly the original form. She seemed very happy with it as it gives her a tangible result in passing on cultural heritage to us that can be used in an easy way to disseminate to more people, so the importance of these sustainable farmsteads is not lost in the ever growing modern world. We believe there should be some form of protection and inclusion of these places to show their importance of the growth, survival, and culture of Romania and much of Eastern Europe. 

For the last couple of days at Casa Victoria, we helped with dry stone walling to rebuild the wall that protects the pigsty. We were joined by Jo and Steph, two older women from Yorkshire, Jo was a dry stone waller by trade and they had come to volunteer. They were lovely but got Ethan and I working quite hard, which I found quite satisfying. It was a really nice last 2 days with them living on the farm, on my last full day I went for a lone hike, this ended up being one of the nest days of my life, I managed to get along a mountain ridge a sit on top of a cliff face that gave me a 360 degree view of the vast landscape. I had gotten a taste for it and whilst sat up there I could see the potential to get even higher if I went back and up a different side of the mountain, which is exactly what I did, and boy am I glad because it was the most spectacular and satisfying things I had ever done, I really felt like I was adventuring, as if I had properly accomplished something on my last day in the country and made the most of my trip. On the morning of Friday the 30th it was time for us to leave. This was not without excitement, as when I tried to pull away for the final time in the Zafira I realised the back tyre was flat! So after going to the neighbours to pump it up enough to get us down the mountain we set off and met Monica and Martin in the valley. We said our goodbyes to Martin and got in Monica's car for us to go to Sibiu where we would catch our flight. Monica bought us a lovely final meal in the city and had an emotional goodbye at the airport. I really had made a connection with Monica and Martin, feeling genuinely sad to leave them but also like it was a true friendship made that would last. I hope to see Martin in Cyprus where I look to volunteer next Spring and return to Rimet to visit Monica and Casa Victoria in the Summer. 

What a Summer I have had in 2024! My life feels like it is just getting going, there is no stopping me now. Off the Belfast next to excavate a Neolithic flint mine. 

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