List of resources for Romania

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Following is a list of websites for additional information about the Peace Corps and Romania and to connect you to returned Volunteers and other invitees. Please keep in mind that although we try to make sure all these links are active and current, we cannot guarantee it.

A note of caution: As you surf these sites, be aware that you will find bulletin boards and chat rooms in which people are free to give opinions and advice based on their own experiences. The opinions expressed are not those of the Peace Corps or the U.S. government. You may find opinions of people who were unhappy with their choice to serve in the Peace Corps. As you read these comments, we hope you will keep in mind that the Peace Corps is not for everyone, and no two people experience their service in the same way.

[edit] General Information About Romania

http://www.countrywatch.com
On this site, you can learn anything from what time it is in Bucharest to how to convert from the leu to the dollar. Just click on Romania and go from there.

http://www.geography.about.com/library/maps/blindex.htm
This online world atlas includes maps and geographical information, and each country page contains links to other sites, such as the Library of Congress, that contain comprehensive historical, social, and political information.

http://www.psr.keele.ac.uk/official.htm
This site includes links to all the official sites for governments worldwide.

http://www.state.gov
The U.S. State Department’s website issues background notes periodically about countries around the world. Find Romania and learn more about its social and political history. For the U.S. embassy in Romania, go to www.usembassy.ro.

http://www.cyberschoolbus.un.org/infonation/info.asp
This United Nations site allows you to search for statistical information for member states of the U.N.

http://www.worldinformation.com
This site provides an additional source of current and historical information about countries around the world.

http://www.aboutromania.com/
Check out this comprehensive site, which offers good photos, menus, and advice.

http://www.cimec.ro/
Learn about Romania’s cultural heritage project. (Not in English)

http://www.culture.ro/index.php
This site offers a wealth of information on Romanian cultural resources.

http://www.dictionare.com/english/dictionary.htm
Look up Romanian words with this online dictionary.

http://students.missouri.edu/~romsa/romania/index.html
This site was designed by Romanian webmasters. (last updated 1999)

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/peacecorpsromania
Yahoo Group for past, current and invited volunteers in Romania.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/we_love_romania
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Ro-maniacs
Two large Yahoo Groups for use of general public membership of those with an interest in Romania (English language).

[edit] Connect With Returned Volunteers and Other Invitees

http://www.rpcv.org
This is the site of the National Peace Corps Association, made up of returned Volunteers. You can find links to all the Web pages of the “friends of” groups for most countries of service, made up of former Volunteers who served in those countries. The site for Romania is www.friendsofromania.org.

http://www.peacecorpswriters.org
This site is hosted by a group of returned Volunteer writers. It is a monthly online publication of essays and Volunteer accounts of their Peace Corps service.

http://peacecorpsonline.org/messages
This site is billed as an independent news forum for returned Peace Corps Volunteers.

http://www.ebrd.com
European Bank for Reconstruction and Development

http://www.rec.org
Regional Environmental Center; environmental NGO in central and eastern Europe

http://www.soros.org
George Soros Foundation, including Open Society

http://www.undp.ro and www.undp.org/rbec changed to http://rbec.undp.org/
United Nations Development Programme’s work in Romania and southeastern Europe

http://www.unicef.org/
UNICEF

http://www.usaid.gov/countries/ro
USAID projects in Romania, with links to other organizations supporting development in Romania

http://www.worldbank.org
World Bank activities

[edit] Travel Sites

http://rotravel.com/romania/
Information on Romanian’s history and regions, including maps

http://www.inyourpocket.com
One-stop travel portal for central and eastern Europe Sites with travel advice about almost any country in the world

http://www.traveldocs.com/ro/index.htm
Travel Document Systems’s website; guidelines about everything from vaccinations to visas

[edit] Recommended Books about Romania and Eastern Europe

1. Drakulic, Slavenka. Café Europa: Life After Communism. New York: Penguin Books, 1999 (paperback).
2. Drakulic, Slavenka. How We Survived Communism and Even Laughed. New York: Harper Perennial, 1993 (paperback).
3. Fonseca, Isabel. Bury Me Standing: The Gypsies and Their Journey. New York: Vintage Books, 1996 (paperback).
4. Gal, Susan, and Gail Kligman. The Politics of Gender After Socialism. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2000 (paperback).
5. Hoffman, Eva. Exit Into History: A Journey Through the New Eastern Europe. New York: Penguin Books, 1994 (paperback).
6. Kaplan, Robert. Balkan Ghosts: A Journey Through History. New York: Vintage Books, 1994 (paperback).
7. Klepper, Nicolae. Taste of Romania: Its Cookery and Glimpses of History, Folklore, Art, Literature, and Poetry. New York: Hippocrene Books, 1999.
8. Magris, Claudio. Danube. New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, Inc., 1989 (paperback)
9. The Rough Guide to Romania. New York: Rough Guides, 2001 (paperback).
10. Verdery, Katherine, and Sherry B. Ortner. What Was Socialism, and What Comes Next? Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1996 (paperback).

[edit] Books About the History of the Peace Corps

1. Hoffman, Elizabeth Cobbs. All You Need is Love: The Peace Corps and the Spirit of the 1960’s. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2000.
2. Rice, Gerald T. The Bold Experiment: JFK’s Peace Corps. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 1985.
3. Stossel, Scott. Sarge: The Life and Times of Sargent Shriver. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 2004.

[edit] Books on the Volunteer Experience

1. Dirlam, Sharon. Beyond Siberia: Two Years in a Forgotten Place. Santa Barbara, CA: McSeas Books, 2004.
2. Casebolt, Marjorie DeMoss. Margarita: A Guatemalan Peace Corps Experience. Gig Harbor, WA: Red Apple Publishing, 2000.
3. Erdman, Sarah. Nine Hills to Nambonkaha: Two Years in the Heart of an African Village. New York, NY: Picador, 2003.
4. Hessler, Peter. River Town: Two Years on the Yangtze. New York, NY: Perennial, 2001.
5. Kennedy, Geraldine (ed.). From the Center of the Earth: Stories out of the Peace Corps. Santa Monica, CA: Clover Park Press, 1991.
6. Thompsen, Moritz. Living Poor: A Peace Corps Chronicle. Seattle, WA: University of Washington Press, 1997 (reprint).
7. Townson, Annabelle. We Wait for You…Unheard Voices from Post-Communist Romania. Hamilton Books, under Rowman and Littlefield Publishing Group, New York, Toronto, Oxford, Boulder and Lanham.