Noroc!

Salut, noroc!

Noroc essentialy means cheers in Romanian. I just got back from Piata Mare (Big Square) in Sibiu which is only 3 blocks away from my apartment here. I had a few beres (beers) and watched a musical performance on the outdoor stage by Hawaian & Tahitian dancers...who would have thought hula dancing in Sibiu, Romania? It is the National Teatru (Theatre) festival here in Sibiu until June, it is one of  the largest in Europe and every day and night there are performances throughout Sibiu. I by chance met my neighbor who is from Brazil on the Piata and had a couple of beers with him; nice guy; he has been traveling europe for the last few months and works remotely on the laptop as he travels...pretty cool! He speaks fluent English, so it is nice to speak with him; I have noticed you get homesick for your own language after a while,; he stated that he felt the same way because it has been rare that he could speak to anyone in Portuguese, except for in Southern Spain.

Earlier today I met with a wonderful girl named Emy, and she took me to the church archives and helped me track down where to find all the records for my family's village. I put in the request to view records and will take a look at records for birth. marriage and death from 1723 to 1863 tomorrow. If I did not have her assistance it would have been very difficult to check the archives, because no one spoke english. Thank You Emy!!! Tommorow I will also go to Sebes and Alba Iulia to check other records for th years 1863 to 1959...hopefully i can put all the missing pieces together about my family, birth , marriage and death dates and when the first came to Transylvania from Bavaria, Germany! Below are pictures from today of the small square, liars bridge, council tower and my apartment. Oh I almost forgot, I washed mt clothes in the kitchen sink today, their are no laundromats in Romania and there is no washer here. When I was hanging my clothes, the older Romanian woman upstairs watched me, she seemed fascinated that a man was doing his laundry. LOL

Salut! Pa

Tom

My studio apartment in Sibiu is very simple, but a great location to main square and great water pressure and lots of hot water. I have a small kitchen to cook in and cable TV too... however I have to admit I have not watched a TV since I left Denver...maybe I will get rid of my TV back home too?

Emy, who helped me at the National Archives! She is studying Dental at the Local University.

The Romanian Otrhodox Church of Sibiu! Beautiful! I cannot wait to see inside!

 Images taken from the Piata Mica (small square). the church is the Evangelical Luthern Church. the tower is the old "Council Tower"

The "Liars Bridge", apparently if you tell a lie on it it will collapse!...Must be some honest trustworthy people in Sibiu? Still standing! LOL!

I dont think this "tagger" knows what this means in English? Or maybe they do. hehe!

Map of old Sibiu with its fortress walls, the walls still surround the city!

The "eyes" of Sibiu...these attic windows are a unique architecural feature only found in Sibiu! They seem to follow you!