It's Almost Official

Two major developments have taken place since my last post.

1. My medical clearance to go to Romania was approved!
2. I received email attachments of the terms of my grant as well as a detailed handbook on being a Fulbrighter in Romania.  The hardcopies are making the lengthy trek over Europe and the Atlantic to get to me and have subsequently not yet arrived for me to officially sign.

Thanks to the helpful handbook, I now have a rudimentary list of things I simply must pack with me.  Most surprising for me to read, was an oven thermometer.  Apparently most Romanian ovens do not have thermostats, so an oven thermometer is necessary and more affordable in the US.

I was also excited to learn that I have the privelege of shipping my teaching supplies via pouch.  Which means I can send my packages to Washington, DC and they will be forwarded to my university in Constanta at no extra cost; I pay from domestic shipping instead of international mail.

I have also learned that my orientation in Bucharest to the Fulbright program will be October 6th and 7th.  I plan on arriving earlier and settling into Constanta before I return to the captial for my orientation.  I will likely be departing the US on September 25th, since tickets are usually cheapest on Tuesdays.

My fun and helpful tidbit for the day is the country code for dialing Romania from outside of Europe.  If you need to make a call, the country code is as follows: 01140.  If you want to call Constanta specifically from abroad, you dial 01140 241 +the phone number.  That's a lot of numbers, so if you're trying to call me, just use Skype!

I have also been in contact with a professor at Ovidius.  She was most informative and gave me a nice overview of what my duties will be as an ETA (English Teaching Assistant).  I know have a good idea of what I'll need to do to plan and teach my classes.  So, now I would like your help in deciding what topics about American culture I should share with my college students!  If you have any ideas for topics or media to show to my students or books or essays to have them read, please share!