this is the result of our partaking in the box of wine....nonsense pictures! 

steph and i partook in some boxed wine from moldova. yeah, we didn't think they would have it here either. we sunk low but it was a great wine! 

i went to chisinau and this is what i bought for myself for women's day (which was in the beginning of march). they are completely FABULOUS and i can't wait to wear them! 

The Bath Challenge

Sunday I took an extremely primitive bath. I finally realized how my life has changed since moving to Moldova...and not in a bad way. Just different. The previous night I packed a metal bucket full of snow from outside my door. We haven't had water since our pipes froze in December. Now that it is warming up the city's motor for the water pump has burned up. Everyone in the village threw in 50 lei and supposedly we will have water this past Monday. Hahahhaa, jokes on us I guess. So Sunday the snow in the bucket had melted. That night, with the fire in my house burning, I heated up the water. After about 1.5 hours the melted snow was at a good temperature and I began to strip down and hover over a plastic bucket. I have a metal cup, it probably holds 3 cups of water. I dip the metal cup into the warm water and then proceed to alternate between soap and water. I then wash my hair and feel amazingly clean, having used snow. I heated up a bucket of water and when I finished, there was still 2/3 of it left. So my challenge to you is to try and take a complete bath/shower...washing your hair as well, with about 10 cups of water. Doesn't sound hard enough? Try it hovering over a bucket and not dripping water on the floor around you. But why bother attempting to prove you can handle my lifestyle by bathing in such a manner when you don't have to? Even if you tried, and succeeded, you don't bath in that manner everyday....or once a week, like I do. So you still wouldn't have succeeded in claiming you could handle it. So I'll just continue to bathe alone.

I Have Friends!

Who cares if they are only in the 4th grade! The girl that I tutor at my house, Iana, has a little sister, Catia (short for Ecaterina) that comes with her to English Club. She is the darn cutest little girl I have ever seen in Moldova. Probably the cutest girl you've ever seen in Moldova too, if you were to see her and be in Moldova. After school there was a mini piata in the lunchroom to raise money to buy a bust of Alexei Mateevici, whom the school is named after. After buying some sweet treats I retired to my classroom to read before my optional classes began. In walks Catia and her friend. We start talking, and at first it is akward, I don't know what to say to them (although I do know how to say it once I did) and they would just stand there staring back at me. They rushed off after I explained to them where I lived, showed them on the map, and then compared the size of Moldova to the U.S. Ok, so they left. Nope, they returned five minutes later with sweets for me, that they had bought at the piata. How cute is that? So I insisted that they teach me Russian, how to write the alphabet in lower case and in cursive. Let me tell you, you think you can't understand a drunken toothless man on the subway? Trying to figure out what the crap you are looking at when it is in Russian AND cursive, is far harder. But at least Russian cursive doesn't smell of spirits or try to grope you.
My students didn't show up, big surprise, so I packed up my things and the girls and I headed out of the class. After we bundled up (yes, there is STILL snow on the ground, about another 6 inches fell this morning) we headed outside. They insisted on holding my hands, and it was just too darn cute. When we parted ways we said our goodbyes, mine in Russian and theirs in English.

Gunter, Hansel and Peter Pan

Today comes close to marking the 3rd month there has been snow on the ground. Waking up to freshly laid snow on the ground and blowing around did nothing to damage my mood. I don't know what I did, other than totally rock, but I had a great day. It has been a long time since I have been excited and felt great about the day I had. I did only have two classes today starting at 1pm and English Club, but I accomplished great things. My two classes involved many word games, provided by a wonderful activity book. The students enjoyed it and it was a break from the boring text. I get tired of the text and if it isn't fun for me then it isn't fun for them. In English Club we created our own crossword puzzle, made a monthly expense chart as if we were living in America, and played a detective game using a fake dollar bill (made by me, of course). Next week I will break out a dvd to show them...probably Mean Girls.
When I got home, my host mom had the ingredients set out to make pizza on slices of bread, and I jumped around gleefully. She lets me make it, and I am more than happy to, for I was the one to bring it to Moldova. Single-handedly I am sure. She is observing post (which is like lent, but you can't eat meat or dairy for the entire 40 days and not just on Fridays) so I got the cheese on mine. Yum, it was good. I sat down with my Starbucks coffee (thanks Chet) and pizza, and was satisfied. After dinner, of course, I had to play with Loridana. I taught her, or tried to, How are you? and What are you doing? My host mom really enjoys her attempts to learn, gets discouraged and laughs at her pronunciation. She will get it, I have confidence in her. Loridana is still trying to complete 1-10 but has a short attention span, as do all 2 year olds. After speaking English together, it is time to make like a fish. I am proud to have taught her to make a fish face, among other facial expressions I make on a regular basis. She does the blinking of one eye and the click of her tongue like a season pro. I showed her the story about the kid on the motorcycle with his dad where you scrunch your face up with your hands and then flattened your face at the end. She laughed. Afterwards, we flipped through a cd cover (3 Sud Est, heck yeah) and she would go through the three guys asking me if each one was my brother. I gave them all names, like Gunter, Hansel and Peter Pan and she would point to one, I would say the name and she would say it back to me. I had to giggle at her saying those names, it was just too easy. That is about all that happened today, but it was a great day. It makes me excited about tomorrow which is always a good thing right? So here's to everyday being the best it can be and to going to sleep with a smile on your face*.
*Imagine, of course, that I am holding a double shot of house vodka.

The neighbor twins and Loridana making fish faces. 

Vrei un Altoid?

Ok, this is an issue I must touch upon. Moldovan Old Man Breath. I have experienced it in public places, and in tight enclosed rutieras in the summer heat. This is not a pleasant experience, mind you. The most recent occurrence was while riding on a train to Chisinau. The benches are arranged back to back. I was keen enough to pick a seat situated behind a man with this aforementioned signature breath. I guess I have reached the point in the story where I need to describe the Moldovan Old Man Breath. Imagine, if you will, your grandfather after a night of drinking vodka and house wine until he sees three babas instead of one. He also has been smoking a carton of cigarettes, and eating a bucket of sunflower seeds. He goes to bed, wakes up, enjoys a bit of the three again and heads out to face the world. He didn't brush his teeth. Did he do the standard "Blow in Your Hand" breath test, I think not. Wouldn't help if he did, he probably doesn't own toothpaste and never touched a toothbrush judging from his brown stained teeth. Imagine what that would smell like, add in a tight situation which is inescapable and oila! Welcome to hell. During the first hour of the trip I could avoid inhaling his appalling breath by not looking out the window. If I turned my head towards the window the man's breath would flow towards the window, bounce off, and head straight for my smelling device. The last hour and a half of the trip I was forced to breath in the toxic fumes which had consumed all of the air around me. I am sure everyone else in the five foot circumference was subjected to the same pleasantries. When the train halted to a stop, I clawed my way to the front of the line and gasped for clean air after jumping off the train like CEOs jumping off Enron stock. I have vowed to carry gum with me whenever I use public transportation and offer it to any man guilty of the Moldovan Old Many Breath. I only have about five pieces, so any donations would be greatly appreciated.

Woodstock...HA!

I like the feeling of mud squishing underneath my shoes. I like sliding in the mud as I trek to school in the morning. I like the way the mud deceives the pedestrian into thinking it is stable and firm, when in fact it is actually gushy and unstable. I welcome mud into my life when the sun comes closer and the snow decides to change form. All is good and I am giddy about the changing of the seasons, fall to winter, winter to spring. But there is the shoe issue, which completely smolders any fire sparked by thoughts of mud. When I go squishing, sliding, and gushing my way through the mud, my shoes become undistinguishable as shoes. If I want to go traipsing through the mud, then I must wash and/or wipe off my chosen shoes of the day afterwards. This becomes time consuming and quickly irritating. I have to squeeze 10-15 more minutes into my daily regime to clean my shoes, before heading to school where they will get dirty en route, once I reach school, in order to enter the school where everyone has spotless shoes which you could slurp borsch off of, and after returning home in the afternoon. It is all just too much for me after one day of wiping and, heaven forbid you let the mud dry, scrubbing. I try to outsmart the situation by wearing different shoes the next day. This is quickly squashed when I look down at the two pairs of shoes I can choose from that are fit for the current weather. At least I can go two days without cleaning a pair of shoes, but then I have to clean two pairs instead of one. Hmmm, I could wrap bags around my feet and take them off when I get to school. This would work if grocery bags weren't as sacred here as cows are to people in India. It isn't like I can avoid the mud like I can my host mom's racitoare or the frog size spider guarding the outhouse. Thank goodness I bought Kleenexes in bulk and have plenty of elbow grease. Oh, this is going to be a long spring.

Oh Moldova's Holidays...

The first of March is a holiday in Moldova known as Martisor (marts-ee-shore). Supposedly, it marks the arrival of spring. As I woke up and looked at the knee deep snow outside my window, I knew for sure Mother Nature was playing one of her cruel jokes. Other then trekking to school with my pants legs tucked into my calf high boots feeling like an elf, the day went well. Students and friends give you flowers to pin to your shirt in the colors of red and white. They are fake flowers and are given as a sign of respect. My counterpart, Antonina, gave me my first Martisor. I was bombarded with students when I got into my 8th grade class. I love those kids. Now that the left side of my shirt is COVERED with these things, I am thinking how much longer it will take me to get ready in the morning if I have to pin them to each shirt I wear. Well, it isn't like I wear different shirts everyday, so that makes it a little easier. I just have to be careful when taking the shirt off and putting it back on, three to four days in a row.
Then came March 2nd, a Russian holiday. My counterpart approaches me on the 1st and invites to come to The Day of the Pancakes. I am thinking "awesome, what a great fundraiser, a pancake breakfast." I knew better than to assume American events happened here. I was curious to see what this holiday was all about. Apparently, each grade of Russian students (our school has Russian and Romanian students) make pancakes/blinzes/crepes and provides jam, honey, nuts, apples, candy, cookies, juice, compote and other goodies. They put on a concert complete with singing dancing and interesting skits. Everything is in Russian and the only words I can understand are hello, goodbye, thank you, please, I want, coffee, tea, I know, I don't know, and what. I would say I did pretty well under the circumstances. After the concert and everyone has pigged out on various crepes and the like, the place two scarecrows in the schoolyard and like them on fire. The lighting of the scarecrows is to do away with all the sadness, poverty, pain, and other bad things so spring will be great.
Yes, yet another holiday after the Pancake-Like Day. Women's Day is March 8th. We have a short vacation until March 9th and so some students chose to give presents today. But first, I had a student from the university come to teach my class today. She tried to make it on Monday, but due to short lessons, she arrived late. She taught my class, I took a break, and afterwards she gave me a box of chocolates and some cognac. Heck yeah, great teacher! So that was nice, because I didn't do anything! Then a student in my 11th grade class gave me a white and red carnation for Women's Day and said "I wish you happiness and a long life and that you will be as cute as you are now later." Yes, in English. So I am feeling good, carrying my bag of goodies home. Later in the afternoon, the girl I tutor once a week stops by my house to give me a box of chocolates, three carnations (even number of flowers is only given to the dead) and a big card. It was soooo sweet! Moldova has made me love receiving flowers. I realize what they mean to people here. It is no light matter to receive flowers, it is a sign of respect and love.
Now it is vacation time and I am heading to Chisinau for an Environmental Education In Service Training. There goes my vacation!

Last Weekend Recap

I was in Chisinau last week for the Odyssey of the Mind competition. It was a great time and I got to meet some amazing Moldovans. I was a head judge for the Jungle Bloke problem and I had four volunteers and three nationals in my judging group. The three nationals were alumni from the FLEX program. This program is for students from the 9-11 grades who speak near perfect English. They take a test and if they score among the highest they go to America for a year where they attend a high school and live with a host family. The girls that were in my judging group spoke damn near perfect English and were spitting out slang and making fun of each other using English phrases. When they were alone with each other, they would converse in English. It was really great and I hope to spend time with them in the future. It was a long day of judging but made me realize what an impact English has on these students lives and how much they enjoy the hard work and dedication of their teachers. I camped out at my host sister's house, which was free and had a great time. Fellow volunteers crashed there too and it was like a slumber party. The last night we were there we made steaks. They were amazing! We bought 4 cutlets of beef, an inch thick for only 49 lei, which roughly translates to 5 dollars. I cooked mushrooms with garlic and green onion and we had sauteed corn. Steph made some lovely peach and orange juice cocktails and we had a sample of desserts to round off the meal. It was truly great to sink my teeth into some juicy beef. I almost forgot how it tasted. Now I wish I had eaten more steak when my dad fixed it every other night instead of having him throw a piece of chicken on the grill for me.

A picture to hold you over until I can get on this thing for an extended period of time and write some stuff!