The Back Nine

Vasile and I returned to Pianu de Jos today and played the back nine at the Paul Tomiţa course.  Dan Ratilff had to cancel Monday's scheduled match.  He got a more appropriate offer for a new Fulbrighter, and chose to visit a Roma community with his wife Nancy and daughter Cami.

The morning drive was swift.  No traffic to speak of at 8:00 on a Sunday morning between Cluj and Alba Iulia.

The course is again in November condition, though obviously far more polished than in 2008.  The fairways were quite nicely mown, and the new tee boxes are flat and well-grassed,  The course has numerous new groves of sapling oaks between the fairways, which bode beauty and shade for twenty years hence.  The greens were sanded over and punched, and not in use.  Temporary and tiny circles were mown short in front of all the greens, with cups and flags placed in their centers, so this was a practice round, not a golf match.  But it was great fun, and Vasile birdied a par 5 with another miraculous chip-in.  So, all told, it was a lot of fresh air and fun.

Tonight I met for supper with Valer Olimpiu Suteu of Satu Mare, the first FSEGA student I ever met (back on 29 September, 2008), who will graduate next June, and who is investigating the possibility of taking his MBA at Plymouth State University.  I learned more about Valer tonight.  He, too, had spent the day outdoors and exercising, but he did so dressed as a Roman Legionaire, carrying a heavy shield and short sword in a reenactment of a battle between the Romans and the Dacians.  Clearly, Valer is a young man of diverse interests.  I hope he applies to PSU, for I look forward to writing him a recommendation, and to having him one day as my student.