(electronic music)
- Good morning.
I'm Dave.
I'm in Romania.
I'm from Florida originally,
and I've been teaching and working here.
And I'm gonna show you around Bucharest.
In the meantime, say hello.
Usually, I start the day with going to teach at a school,
and then, the afternoon go to work
at Salvation Army Armata Salvarii,
and then teach online in the evenings.
But today is different.
I don't have to teach this morning at the school.
I have off, so I am teaching online,
and then we'll walk around Bucharest and see some of that.
So, this is the start to my walk each day,
on Calea Victoriei,
one of the oldest roads in the city.
So I took the course at ITA online,
and completed it in February 2017.
Well, the practicum I actually completed in April.
And then in September, moved here, and...
So I started contacting schools in June,
and heard back from some of them,
and had some interviews,
and then followed up in August,
and chose one school here in Romania to teach at.
It's a gloomy day today, but this is some more of my walk.
The Romanian National Art Museum,
which was the former palace of the king.
And the Romanian Athenaeum.
And some more--
Here's some buildings.
I love the architecture in Bucharest.
And at the entrance of Cismigiu Park
is this palace that was Princess Elena Kretzulesku's,
now is the UNESCO European Center for Higher Education.
Many people ask, "Why Romania?"
And I worked for the Salvation Army
and came for a visit to volunteer.
So, I fell in love with the people, the country,
the culture, and the history,
and always wanted to live in Europe.
So I teach at a private school here in Bucharest,
elementary age students.
And that's at the Finland Romanian school.
And also teach online, adult students,
and do some private tutoring.
This is one of my favorite passageways in Romania,
in the Old Town, in Bucharest, the city center.
(crowd chatter and footsteps echo)
Everybody in Europe knows the brand Illy, the roaster.
The original founder of it, Francisco Illy, was Romanian.
Biggest learning moments moving abroad?
I would say was the language barrier,
getting it, still is a challenge,
figuring out the visa requirements,
and finding where to get an umbrella.
There's a lot of good food here in Bucharest,
and a lot of good pizza,
and this is one of my favorites, Latin Pizza.
So, I am going to go get some lunch.
(employees speak in Romanian over restaurant music)
Taking a walk through the city center, Old Town,
and home to Carturesti,
which is one of sixteen world's best bookstores.
Not a bad place to stock up on new material for classes.
(crowd chatter and footsteps echo)
I'm over by Pasajul Latin,
which has a map of the Dacian Empire and the Roman Empire,
and a monument from the Roman Empire,
because Romania was under the Roman Empire for a while.
And most people don't know
that Romanian is actually one of the five romance languages,
and Latin languages.
Portuguese, French, Spanish, Italian, and Romanian.
And now I'm here at one of my favorite cafes,
Tucano Coffee, near Piata Romana,
to get some work done.
And on Saturday, you can join us here for a Meetup,
an ITA Meetup, at 4:00.
I'll see you there.
(patrons chatter over restaurant music)
Now I'm on my way to teach a tutoring lesson,
but first, I need to grab a quick snack.
These are the best.
You'll find these shops everywhere in Bucharest.
In here it is...this one's with cheese.
Some of them you can get with sweet, with apples,
or other fruits,
and yeah, that's it.
(train brakes hum)
(train signal buzzes and rings)
And I just finished a tutoring lesson,
and so heading back home now
to go feed my cat
and eventually go to sleep.
I stopped here at Piata Victoriei,
which is home to the Prime Minister's headquarters,
Victory Palace.
Victorie is victory in English,
and it leads to Calea Victorie.
Well this is Romania,
and I have so much more to share with you,
and how much I love it.
And if it weren't for getting my TEFL certification
for the ability to teach,
I wouldn't have been able to make it a reality.
And many private schools offer double pay,
and some schools teach completely in English,
and all you need is a TEFL certification.
So it's great.
That's it.
This is Bucharest, Romania,
and I have much more I could tell you.
If you wanna find out more info about teaching,
or want to come visit,
hit me up on Facebook or Instagram at davehaasjr.
(electronic music)