Final day of work

Well, it's the final day. We meet the Inspector at 9:00 AM to discuss our findings and what we can do to help. During the meeting, we detail our findings and (what I believe they already know) that there is a change in attitude that needs to take place. I explain that it is my belief that education is the issue and that if the teachers could experience distance education technologies themselves, that there would be less resistance to the topic.

We also talked about a possible solution to their computer problems (the classrooms are woefully lacking in computer technology.) I mentioned that as the college system is struggling with computer disposal, it might be possible to re-route these to-be-disposed computers to Romanian schools. I also said that most of the disposed computers should be capable of running Windows XP, and most likely could be upgraded to Windows Vista. I think this idea is met with acceptance. Gerald seems to think that we need to get ADECA involved in the transfer.

The Gates Foundation is working in the area to connect the local libraries to the Internet, so it is possible that the schools will be included. If not, there is a plan to connect the Delta area schools by next year.

We also discussed the possibility of getting access to Dr. Connell's classes for the Romanians, so that they can experience the technology first-hand. I am to work on this as we get back to work Monday (actually, Gerald suggested that I do this before the evening. I tried to make time, but didn't have time to fulfill the request. It will have to wait until Monday.)

Gerald will create a memorandum of understanding between the us and Romania so that we can be sure that there is no misunderstanding. We just want to supply computers as we dispose of old ones, and make sure that they understand that, for us, that is the end of any support. They will have to support and maintain the computers on their end. Also, they will have to supply any software (operating systems included) for the computers.

We ate lunch, toured the town a bit more and retired to the hotel in time to get ready for the TAG's reception.

After the reception, a few of us went back to Argentina's parent's restaurant. We had a nice evening, and got back in time to pack for our return in the morning.

Upon returning to my hotel room, I get a revised schedule for the morning, pack, call home, and go to sleep. It's going to be a long day of travel in the morning!

2km walk.. Yeah right

We started the morning at 8:50... Well, make that 8:15, or 8:30... Depending on who had the message. Our team thought that 8:50 AM was the departure time, but the Romanian team thought that they had told us 8:30, and the military folks thought that we were to depart at 8:15.

Needless to say, this was the day that I wanted to sleep in and get ready to go at 8:50 without going down for that breakfast!

I am stepping into the shower at approximately 8:30 when the phone rings. I step out. Walk to the phone, answer it, and the other party has hung up. I think "wrong number" so I go back to the shower, since I now have less time to get ready. I get in the shower and the phone rings again. I ignore it, since I am in the shower. Moments later someone starts rapping on the door. It's the military person, telling me that we were supposed to meet at 8:15... I apologize (even though I wasn't told of the change!) and speed up my preparations.

Moments later the phone rings again. It is the military person again telling me that it is OK since the Romanians are not yet here... I got downstairs in time for all of us to leave at 8:50. It was no big deal, eventually, since the school-master at the first school was not expecting us so early.

Communications seems to be a big problem here.

We meet with the teachers at Crishon for a couple of hours, talking about mentality of the teachers and whether they will accept distance education. It was determined (as we expected) that a shift in mentality at all levels will need to happen, as well as computers in the classroom, and Internet connectivity. We follow up with a tour of the facilities, then go out back to look at the frogs and water snakes in the small lake area.

We then depart for a LONG (supposedly 2 km) walk to a restaurant called "Sunrise". It has 4 stars on the sign out front. We don't exactly think this is a measuring stick for comparison, but the place looks really nice. Matter of fact, it is a hotel/restaurant for the tourists.

We eat various foods, but I have fish... Well, that's what I thought I ordered. It turns out, I ordered sesame chicken fingers (de pui) and mashed potatoes. It was very good! (No ketchup today!) Oh, and lots of water (plain water. No bubbles. Seems that mineral water with carbonation is all over Europe. I didn't know that before coming on this trip!)

All of the music here is a disco style / techno style beat. We are listening to a song called "Give me a man after midnight", and a Billy Ocean disco version of "I'll be thinking about you." Yes, it was a different beat than the original (at least I think it was...)

After lunch, we hop another boat for the second school. I think is was called "Mills Dolche", but I only heard that name. I did not see it written anywhere.

Essentially the same as the other school, except that these people have 75 students with 8 teachers and the other has 40 students with 8 teachers. They have the same attitudes, which are to be expected, since the have little (actually zero) experience with distance education. I'm beginning to feel like they need to experience it firsthand to see the advantages. We will see if we can talk to the Inspectorate about that tomorrow.

We toured the school to see much the same conditions as the first school. This school actually seems a little bit worse off. They only have one computer where Crishon has a small computer lab in one office (approx 6 computers on a local area network).

We then left the school and departed for Tulcea. This time we took the long route back to see some more of the Delta as well as a few small lakes on the way back. If these people have one thing going for them it is the Delta itself. Absolutely beautiful!!! The variety of wildlife is outstanding. It seems a bit strange to see that you are traveling along in this wildlife preserve of an area, and happen on someone camping and fishing on the bank.

We eventually get back to the hotel, and some of the folks are going out to Argentina's (one of the interpreters for another one of our groups) parent's restaurant. This group consists of the flight crew and the civilians. The civilians take the flight crew out at least once as a small token to thank them for the safe trip.

As me about this night sometime and I will tell you personally what transpired (well some of it!)

We get back to the hotel later that night and hit the sack. We have another long day tomorrow!

Day 1 in Romania

UGH! The alarm is going off at 6:30 AM local time (Romania). Breakfast starts at 7:00 AM, so I need to get up and get moving. I take a shower (by the way, Europeans do not believe in washcloths, amongst other things, so I brought my own. Just thought you might like to know...), get dressed for the day, and head down for breakfast.

I wish I hadn't. From a cultural standpoint, it was interesting. The breakfast was a nice spread of fruit, scrambled eggs (underdone, by my standards), a kind of eggplant with unusual spices, black olives, chicken fingers (my kids would have eaten that... Maybe), figs, bread, Turkish coffee (with milk that looked like it was not our ultra-pasteurized kind... It had the buttery milk fat stuff on the top. It was tasty, none-the-less), and a very tasty pineapple-orangy juice.

Believe it or not (well, if you know me, believe it), I had seconds!

At 8:30 AM we depart from the hotel lobby. We received our Romanian/US flag pins, and met our escorts for the day (Daniela Stanica, Inspector for the school system, and an interpreter... I can't remember his name at the moment, but he was VERY funny and made the day very relaxing.) The escorts will be with us during the rest of our excursions.

We walked the block for the morning and met the subprefect Bango Corvin-Laurenţiu. We spent almost 2 hours discussing the educational situation with him, and we discussed that we would see some of the Delta area tomorrow and will return Thursday to discuss possible options.
At this point, the team is beginning to visualize the similarity to Alabama's situation in that we have rural communities that need distance education. We are thinking that something akin to Alabama's ACCESS program might fit here. We still have more to see before we can make a definitive recommendation.

At 11:00 AM, we met the Tulcea County Schools Inspectorate. We spend approximately 45 minutes, again, discussing the situation with the inspectorate, and possible solutions. I brought up the question as to the model that they would prefer to implement (asynchronous vs. synchronous) and mentioned that we have both in Alabama, and asked which approach would be preferential.

The situation is a bit different from Alabama, in the respect that, they see asynchronous as the initial implementation, with the goal of the addition of synchronous educational infrastructure in the future. The difference lies in the fact that most of the Delta schools do not (currently) have network connectivity. There seem to be plans in the works to remedy (thankfully) this in the near future.

I also asked for a response to the attitude of the instructors as they consider distance learning as an addition to their classroom. The question was met with an "I don't think that the teachers can express their opinion" which was an odd response to me. Later I was able to get clarification as the conversation worked its way back to the topic. The attitude is that the local teachers do not want to go to the Delta region, even though they are offered 80% increases in salary if they do so.

The situation is becoming a bit clearer. Dr. Connell and I are really attempting to fit Wallace State Community College into the picture in any way possible, but I am not so convinced that the administration sees that (yet) anywhere within their vision. I am not, at this point, sure if it is national pride, near-sightedness, or ignorance that is the obstacle. We will discern this in the next couple of days (I hope).

Inside the inspectorate, building is a restaurant (I think it is called "Phobus", if my itinerary is correct). We had a sour soup that reminded me of my mom's soup. It brought back many fond memories. We also had a shish-kabob of steak and chicken and french fries. One thing to note here: Ketchup is NOT the same in this country. I tried to eat it with the fries, but it was too different. Ah well, live and learn!

We had 2 hours scheduled for lunch, but we did not spend the whole time there. We departed for a monument to (one of the) independence of Romania. The History and Archaeology Museum (“The Independence Monument” Park. Gloriei st.) – situated on one of the hills of Tulcea, in “The Independence Monument” Park. The Park got its name from the Independence Monument built in honor of the heroes from the Independence War. The Museum, by the pieces and materials exposed, makes an incursion from the antique times up until the medieval age of the history of North Dobrogea, presenting a large archaeological patrimony – almost 90,000 archaeological, numismatic pieces and old documents, all of these being organized on special collections: ceramics, bronze, sculptural and epigraphic pieces, jewels, paleo-Christian objects, numismatics. We spent almost an hour here, searching the museum, and viewing the city from the monument platform atop the hill.

We departed for a school within the city of Tulcea (labeled a "Classic Romanian School"). We discovered a school that is not unlike some of the primary education schools within the state of Alabama. Again, we see a similarity between our people. The staff at the school were very welcoming. They had bowls of fresh cherries (with pits, mind you) and plates for us to put the pits in, once we had eaten the cherry. Our group was so interested in seeing the school (no students. They are on summer holiday until September) that we did not eat the cherries (later we were asked back to eat!)

We toured several classrooms, and Gerald Dial gave the teaching staff several pins to give their students and an Alabama state flag (we have pictures!) Dr. Connell is seeing possibilities of a partnership between an Alabama school and their school in Tulcea. I (in my usual way) am thinking of technologies that they can use to help solve their problem. I keep going back and forth between Tegrity 2.0, Wimba, and Blackboard. I am thinking, at this point, that Tegrity would be a great solution.

We depart for the hotel but stop in a local "folk art" museum to pick up a few artifacts to bring home. I've picked up some hand-painted objects (a couple of hand painted eggshells, and a bowl. I hope that I can get them home without breaking them!) On the way, Gerald wanted to stop in an art gallery to possibly purchase. Most of the artwork is priced at around 500 Lei (approx $220.00 US or so). I'm not sure I will be purchasing any of that!

At 6:00 PM, we depart for a river/dinner cruise up the Danube River. We essentially made a loop, and returned to the hotel at 9:00 PM, although it didn't seem like 3 hours! We had a dinner that was another cultural experience! The first plate had some smoked salmon and some other unidentifiable fish. On the top of the plate was this strange mayonnaise wad that I was not so sure about. One of my table-mates mentioned that they had had some of that earlier and it was mayonnaise based caviar. I can honestly say; it was not that bad. It went well on the bread (they way you are supposed to eat it.) As part of the plate, we have a couple of wedges of cucumber and something else that I cannot identify (and could not eat all of...)

OK. Once this plate is complete, I am interested in a pallet cleansing with something like a fruit plate or some sweet dessert. I am thinking that, when we return, I will go to the local restaurant and order a pizza! Guess what? Here comes another fish plate! This time it is cooked fish. Again, another unidentifiable fish. They call it a "sleeping fish". We think it is catfish but of a saltwater variety. On the plate are roasted potatoes with something like carrot. After this dish, I see a (what looks like) a dessert being delivered. At first, I think Baklava! (or something like it)

It's not! It was a sort of cheese like baklava, without the honey or nuts. I ate it, none-the-less (what else did you expect!)

Afterward, we retire to the balcony of the boat and enjoy the trip back to Tulcea. I took plenty of photographs of the sunset, the moon, the locals, some of the boats on the river, and the city as we approached.

All in all, a good day! I am still a bit overwhelmed, and still wanting this visit to make a difference. A small group of us visit the local restaurant to get some sweet ice-cream (I was hoping for a Gelato-like experience [it looked like that], but it was ice cream, and I was happy, anyway!) If you want an entertaining story sometime, ask me (personally) about the beggar that approached us during our ice-cream relaxation experience!

We headed for the hotel to retire for the evening (long day tomorrow, visiting rural schools on the Delta, up to the Black Sea [I think]).

One more thing. Apparently, Romania is in some kind of "football", or as we call it, Soccer, competition tonight, and the bar area is full. I had planned on going to the pool, but I'm not going to go into the middle of that crowd to swim. I will wait for another opportunity (if one exists!)

Good night!