Category: Breana Coco-Marks
UI professor searches for Romanian Roots
Posted Saturday, May 30, 2009 by Breana Lee Coco-Marks
University of Illinois Journalism professor Matt Ehrlich is trying to follow his family’s roots in Hungary and Romania. He found some things in Cluj and is now tagging along with Illinois journalism students.
View Matt’s success while in Cluj in this video!
To learn more about the Ehrlich family geneaology click here.
See and hear Matt's story:
See and hear Matt's story
Seperated By Staircases
Posted Sunday, May 24, 2009 by Breana Lee Coco-Marks
At Liceul Teoretic “Paul Georescu” school in the village of Tandarei the means to establish authority for teachers is by creating two separate staircases.
I spoke with the director of the school, Rita Chris and a junior, Alexandru Stoica who gave me insight into what really goes on in the student staircase.
Stoica says that in between classes the students will gather to gossip, play music, and even smoke cigarettes.
“Paul Georgescu” school has all levels of schooling from Kindergarden to twelfth grade. When you get to the ninth grade the students are assigned to a classroom with about twenty students and the teachers of each subject will rotate to these rooms at different periods. The students are given seven minute breaks in between each subject and are free to do what they would like.
Stoica says that him and his friends will meet in the staircase and talk about what happened during the last class. He says girls participate in the most gossip about what their friends and what they are wearing. Also, students will play music on their phones throughout the halls and while in the staircase. Stoica admits that many students smoke, but they are not allowed to on school property. However, sometimes students break the rules and the staircase gets out of control.
Teachers stay in their staircase unless the students get too loud and they need to come and monitor the student behavior.
Stoica says that there is not any specific punishments for their actions, although if they are continuously getting in trouble this will reflect poorly on the students success in the classroom.
This system is designed to give some freedom and authority to the students in attempt to gain respect for authority, for the teachers. Director, Rita Chris, says that the teachers obtain a huge level of respect, especially the older teachers.
Could something like this work for the United States school system?
Remembering Romania’s Communist Past
Posted Saturday, May 23, 2009 by Breana Lee Coco-Marks
Friday night in Bucharest we decided to check out a local event: A nostalgic party to remember Romania’s Communist past.
Around one hundred young Romanians gathered in a social setting to reminisce about the communist past.
This was one of the first attempts by young Romanians to remember the Communist era. At the gathering, people used ration coupons to receive food and drink. The party shed light on the situation in Romania before the 1989 revolution. Two Romanians talked to me about childhood memories during Nicolae Ceausescu’s rule. They told me of their earliest and most prominent memories about life in Romania.
Many memories involved food. They said crucial food items were scare, such as milk and bread. At the party they were giving out a chewing gum that looked like Bazooka bubble gum. One woman claims, "I still have the hundreds of comic wrappers I collected before the revolution and I am going to add to my collection tonight".
Other memories were not quite as good. The women told me about the hardships in not having feminine products, birth control and diapers. Communism took a great toll on many families and their ability to function in a healthy environment. At the party there was a area sectioned off and set up as a typical bedroom during communism. The room had limited space and fit only the basic necessities. Often times the children would share bedroom space and were unable to have childhood toys. Ioana remembers that everyone envied the children who had Barbie’s and other valuable toys. Additionally, the party had big screens that were playing cartoons and music videos that traced back to the early 18th century. People were standing in large groups talking about the good and the bad times of their childhood.
Currently, the communism nostalgia is growing in Eastern Europe. Doris, 28, and Ioana, 22, they enjoy their memories during communism, because just like everyone else it was their childhood. They described it as a time where they played with friends and were close as a community, even thought times were tough. When asked about her outlook for Romania today, Ioana said, "We love living in democracy".
5 Things We Discovered in Romania
Posted Friday, May 22, 2009 by Breana Lee Coco-Marks
On our first day in Bucharest, Romania, we found various interesting things. We noticed numerous cars parked anywhere and everyone. For example, on sidewalks, in the middle of streets, and inches away from one another. Something to take note of was the culture of drivers not stopping for anyone, the U.S Embassy advised us to look both ways when crossing the street… they weren’t kidding. If you are crossing the street and a car sees you, it does not slow down. In fact, they just might speed up!
We were excited to leave the tornadoes behind in Illinois and come to the 80 degree Romanian weather.
As mentioned in a previous blog, walking the streets of Romania you will find many flower stands on the street corners. If you want to know more about the traditions Romanians have about flowers, check out the other posts.
Also, one of the first things noticed, by myself and the rest of the group was the abundance of casinos seen on every street. One of our cab drivers said on the first day laughed at our comments about the casinos and said, “Yes, it is like Vegas here, but much less money.”
Lastly, after our long day at the Embassy and being warned about Romanian stray dogs, Shaina decided to attempt to capture a photo of a stray dog in front of the television station. Apparently, you must as the stray dogs for permission to take there photo because once they heard the click of the camera they became territorial and scared us away.
So far in Bucharest it is very interesting and based off our first day, we have a lot to learn 
View my slide show here!:
View my slide show here!
Add your comment: