GRADE ME, PLEASE

---

I have 30 or so people who have been reading my adventures and I am looking for your honest opinion of my words. I know some entries were boring and some were very good. I'm sure some were too vague and some too detailed.

I seek feedback to make any future travel blogs better for you and for me, too. Please give a 1 to 10 number (5 being passable and average) and any comments I can learn from.

---

Comments

[Vali]

Not boring at all
John, I enjoyed reading about your recent Romanian adventure, and I must confess that I was looking forward to each new episode. None of them seemed boring to me, even if they probably felt boring to you -- after all, you lived them, I just read about them. My grade for you is 10.

[Radu]

A 10 for what you're doing
Dear John, It’s obvious you’re not a writer or a journalist. When reading your blog I was interested about your perception on a foreign contry, Romania, my native country. I can recommend one thing: when writing about a travel day don’t waste your time on describing routine activities but the most interesting/challenging event of that particular day. This way you will capture everybody’s attention. I will give you a 9 for the blog and a 10 for what you’re doing for the Romanian kids and Rom/Am teachers. Good luck and see you next year.

[Steve]

Comments
I'd rather not rate your blog by numbers, but I will leave a few comments. Bear in mind that I'm an English teacher over here in Europe. Also, this is my opinion, that's all. I would have liked more description of people, places, etc. A bit of local color always spices things up. What did the markets look like, smell like, sound like? What did you buy? Gifts? What were they? Why did they catch your eye? I would like to read more description of local food. What is ciorba, for example? I only know that it's soup because the word is similar to Turkish. What did it taste like? You and friends went to a club that "suited your tastes." What does that mean? Loud? Quiet? Dancing? Awash with hot nubile women? I think you get the idea. You seem to want to compress the whole day into two paragraphs, where two paragraphs about the most interesting f minutes would be more satisfying to read and to write. You chronicle your movements, but don't seem to observe as you go. Please check my blog at http://bearsmentioning.wordpress.com. Please feel free to leave a comment there if you like. Thanks for taking me along to Romania. Steve

[kathie]

more photos?
hi, I think your blog would be more interesting if you add a few more photos to show a little bit of the things you are seeing. Kathie

[dodo]

All the best!
Hi John! I am reading almost everything you write lately and I really enjoy sharing your experiences in Romania. People are busy but you really manage to to take us on your trip and we are very thankful to you for the fact that you are so kind to let us know. We also apreciate your work with the books and your passionate goal in linking two beautiful cultures and societies..Romanian and American. I hope you will continue to do so and you will acomplish even more then you aimed. I am reading your post from time to time in the Chicagoromania yahoo group also God Bless!

[JohnUSA]

YEEEEESSSSSS.....
Exactly what I needed to hear. And something I may be able to address in a post-mortem assessment of the trip. I will say that there was a lot of compression of time, as access to a computer was very limited, at best. Thank you all so much for the critiques.