Somebody, somewhere, posted a photo with a few of my primary school (Scoala Generala nr. 197) teachers. The fear of forgetting gets me to share some memories here.

Here’s the photo:

Scoala Generala nr. 197 Teachers, 1985, from left to right:

1. Georgescu (history) – her own story – not to be confused with Iosif Sever Georgescu, CNSS.
2. Ritivoiu (music), previously mentioned in Prokofiev II. She fought Mihalea (Minisong was in our school) over his idea to have a bigger musical footprint with her own group, as she felt left out and pushed aside. NobodyFewer really cared for her group, Mihalea was far more popular and charismatic, but she did manage to stop him. Maybe he needed the lesson as well.
3. Stanciu (French + pioneers). She was very agitated and ambitious, always being the one pushing the “pioneers” association – possibly the school principal or vice-principal. I remember going to a simple movie in my spare time and noticing her with her husband and kids having cried while me and my friends have been laughing.
4. Grigorescu (math). This dude was a Nazi angry German adult. He had a choleric temperament, you never knew when he was going to explode. Every now and then, if there was noise behind him while writing on the black board, he’d turn around and instantly throw his chalk into the student he suspected of not paying attention. One time he had closed the school doors early or exactly on time, not allowing the late students to come in. He then proceeded with a show of force, telling the late ones in a theatrical voice that they could go enjoy the outdoors. When a tramp proclaimed loudly “let us all now all go enjoy the outdoors” he attacked him hysterically. He left (or was kicked out of) the school among rumours he had sex with a student or her mother.
5. Voica (chemistry). She was a very “strong” woman, but had a sweet “dimpled” smile. She sometimes entertained us with Maria Tanase songs. Other times, she’d chase through the class some students with a glass (or was it carbon)-fiber stick. She did everything “passionately”, including checking the smell of test tubes, while vigorously venting with her hand. She would also sometimes stare in a certain way and even blush. Whenever I think of her I imagine that only my lack of experience and virginity prevented me from exploiting and bringing to fruition the chemistry between us.
6. Deaconu (geography). Nicknamed Pinguin, she had a very nasal voice and she spoke very slowly, enunciating every word, as if to ensure that everybody, even the slow ones, could take notes. One day, Gociman, an easily excitable classmate with a quasi-permanent tan glued to her back a piece of paper on which he wrote “vaca proasta” (dumb cow), just before she left the class. After she walked down the hallway full of laughing students for a few minutes, somebody told her what happened and who did it. She went back and bitchslapped Gociman into oblivion. I had not seen anyone as red as both had been at that moment (him from laughing and the massive facial slaps, her from embarrassment and fury). It was also quite surprising for me to discover that even dark complexions turn visibly red.
7. Popescu (painting). Popeasca – as we called her – had this habit of talking very monotonously, punctuating words almost randomly with a quick, unexpected and very short-lived raising of her voice. It was as if she wanted to make sure that nobody could fall asleep or if they did, it’d be for less than a minute.

We had more teachers, just not in this photo.

Do you remember your teachers? Did you ever write about them?

Sources / More info: fb, mt