The trip began on November 14th at Pearson International and about fourteen hours later, I got my first glimpse of Bucharest.
The bed in my Villa Paris boutique hotel room was a welcome sight!
This is the view outside my room. Two restaurants across the road and TONS of cars everywhere.
Each day, AISB sent a van to pick me up. Here’s one of my friendly drivers and here’s typical traffic. This city is wall to wall cars.
Here’s the outside of the American International School of Bucharest.
Here’s me and Dr. John, the secondary teacher-librarian at the American International School of Bucharest. Stacey, the elementary teacher-librarian, was my main contact and organizer extraordinaire, but she doesn’t like getting her pic taken.
I did a dozen presentations over three days at AISB and really enjoyed the students’ questions and enthusiasm. The primaries were particularly enthralled with Adrift At Sea, and we had some great discussions about the tough choices Tuan’s parents had to make. Many students wanted to know more about Tuan’s youngest sister, Van.
With grades 3, 4 and 5 we talked about Last Airlift and One Step at a Time and also Aram’s Choice and Call Me Aram. My favourite scene to read aloud from the Tuyet books is Tuyet’s first birthday party in Canada. The students really enjoyed it too.
For students in grade 6 and up, it was all about World War II, modified, of course, for grade appropriate discussions.
Classes finished early on Wednesday so I had an opportunity for sightseeing.
I walked up and down the streets near my hotel and in to the center of town. Beautiful old buildings, some restored, many not. And tons of cars. People would park anywhere — blocking streets, on sidewalks.
It’s always nice to see friends’ books on library shelves, especially on the other side of the earth. I was thrilled to see two friends’ books side by side — Lesley Simpson’s Purim Surprise and Lee Warlaw’s Won Ton!
The three days whizzed by! Soon, it was time for the last session, the last Bucharest dinner, and the last glimpse of Vila Paris Hotel before being whisked off in a taxi in the wee hours of Saturday morning to the airport for the next part of my adventure. Many thanks to Stacey, John and Louise for their careful planning and coordination.
