Tidbits & All That Jazz

I've Waited Two Years for This!

2007-05-21T20:25:00.000+07:00

My final day of school has come and gone. When my director interrupted me during my morning tea and biscuits to come to the school to take pictures I was annoyed. It was the annual “Safety and Security Day” when the students prepared for earthquakes, gas leaks, and other disasters by donning surgeon masks and dressing as nurses. My task was to follow the teacher in charge of the day’s activities to take pictures of the students. After a simulated earthquake (which was accomplished by ringing the school bell for approximately ten minutes without stopping) there was a gathering outside of the school to talk about what the students learned and to evaluate their responses.

I should have known something was going to happen involving me, when the assistant director dismissed all the students except those who had me as their teacher. Uh oh, I smell another spontaneous speech brewing. The assistant director thanked me for my hard work, and the students applauded me. I was almost teary eyed until I found out that I was to receive gifts. I love gift time here in Moldova. You absolutely have NO idea what you are about to receive or how you should respond. This time, like all the others, did not fail.

I received a small angel figurine from an 11^th grade class, a larger angel figurine from a 12^th grade class. Then my fun students from the other 12^th grade class. By fun, I mean the class is composed of about twelve boys and two girls. The boys are extraordinarily cheeky and flirt with me non-stop during and outside of class. They are cute though and mean no harm so I go along with it. They first presented me with a ceramic vase. Nice. Next they gave me a flour sieve for when I make mamaliga in America. They know how much I like Moldovan food, especially mamaliga, and wanted to give me something to remember them by when I make Moldovan specialties. Very nice and thoughtful. Then a boy in the class approached me with a box. What could be in the box? Candy? Flatware? A small Moldovan child? As I began to open the box the boy flipped it open to reveal a small baby bunny with a red polka dotted string around its neck. I gasped and all the students roared in laughter. I have wanted a bunny rabbit to play with for the last two years. My host mom and I talk about it about once a week and we always make plans to go to the market and buy one and later we will eat it once it has grown. This was an adorable white and grey spotted bunny. The students asked if I would be taking it home with me to America, which I promptly answered with “Of course not, I will be eating it tonight.” Good answer I thought.

So now the rabbit is at home with me. I took the bunny in the box home with me and let my host niece open the box. She claims it is hers now. My host mom loves animals and took to it right away setting it up a rather large area and giving it food and water. I will be leaving it here in America but at least I got my wish to have a bunny rabbit, even if it is for only two days.

*update: My rabbit ran away on Friday. It got out of its holding area and ran in the garden and under a corn shed. We were unable to catch it and decided to wait for it to come back out. It did but didn't come back to us. *sniff *sniff

6 Packets of Mayo and a Murderer

2007-05-10T21:35:00.000+07:00

I recently had the opportunity to travel to my good friend, Stephany’s village, Taraclia. This weekend was a special weekend, as she had other volunteers at her house as part of their Travel Club. Travel Club is a wonderful after school activity created by Moldovan Peace Corps Volunteers (Group 16, of course) to give students in Moldova a chance to travel around the country making new friendships and learning about their land. Even though this country is quite small, most of the students here have rarely ventured out of their village. They are very excited to be taken away somewhere for the weekend. They have a chance to meet other students, play games, team build, and learn new hobbies. So that is Travel Club. I do not have a Travel Club, but joined in on the fun and came to help Stephanie.

I arrive on Friday afternoon and we have a great time playing basketball and this unknown game known as “The Belt Game.” It involves chasing people around and whacking them with a belt. Children at school play these games. It isn’t nearly as deadly as it sounds, but instead is extremely funny. We enjoyed fried potatoes with cheese for dinner and called it a night.

The next day there were several activities for the students at the school. Steph taught hip-hop and the boys played basketball, table tennis, and volleyball. Later that afternoon we were to reconvene at the school where we would leave for a camp located outside of the village to spend the night. At the appointed time (rather 45 or so minutes later) we left the village for a camp. The camp has not been in use for about 10-15 years. Our plans…to cook chicken over the fire, play games and sleep in old cabins. We arrive after walking through an overgrown trail in the woods, with 20 students, and are greeted by an old wrinkly man and his two dogs. We immediately acknowledge his creepiness and make a mental note to avoid all interaction.

The afternoon progresses with yet another round of The Belt Game and once it starts getting dark we begin the fire to grill the chicken. The students take over the grilling process so I appoint myself to cutting several loaves of bread. After dinner us volunteers are tired and while the students wander around the campfire we take the moment to escape to our cabin to sleep for the night.

Now is the point of my story where I describe the cabins. Like I said, they have not been in use for 10-15 years. There are no glass in the windows, the walls are now comprised of cracked cement, the ceiling, when present, is worn. But, we were lucky to pick one that had all of its flooring. So that mean we got to sleep on 10-15 years worth of weathered dusty floor. But we were lucky to have the floor. We spread out our various sleeping devices, some with sleeping bags, others with plastic and blankets. One of the volunteers is terrified of someone coming into the cabin at night and killing us. It isn’t highly unlikely as we found out, through a student, about the past life of the man staying at the place. The words from the student go like this…The man was in a bar one night drunk and a fight broke out over a bottle of water. The man got mad and stabbed the other person, which happened to be his sister-in-law. I decided to not let the rest of the volunteers know, but by the end of the night it had already reached their ears. The children did not seem to be frightened so I was a little bit at ease. With a knife secured under Ryan’s pillow and Stephany clutching her flashlight, we attempted to sleep. I got about an hour of sleep that night until we all had to rise at 5.20 to pack up and meet the driver who would take us back to the village.

We all arrive back in the village unharmed and unslept. Upon returning, we discuss our evening with Steph’s family and find out some interesting news. Apparently, the entire town knows about the killer that lives at the camp. Their word is that he didn’t kill just one person, but three…his wife, his brother, and his sister-in-law. They don’t seem concerned that we slept under the supervision of a killer but gave the excuse that he served his time in prison so he is ok now. But not okay enough to have a job around people, so they placed him out in the woods to look over deserted cabins.

The message to this story…when camping, make sure you know the people around you because it will be unlikely that anyone will hear your screams should you come into danger. And if you decide to grill, you can never have too much bread or packets of mayonnaise.

"Here we have an outhouse problem, but keep that a secret."

2007-04-23T20:48:00.000+07:00

Sunday I attended by first Cumetrie (Baptism Feast). The director of the school invited me to her daughter's celebration and I was honored to go. The holiday started at 1pm and I had to call it quits by 10.25 or so pm. The party was still going strong and the people were dancing a long time after I was in bed.
In America, we don't have a big celebration for our children's baptism. Here, it is the party of the year. There was a live band that played traditional Moldovan music. It was a treat for me, I don't think I have heard live music since I have been here. Maybe one time. To begin the celebration everyone gathers around a table and the God-parents begin to place their presents on the table. They aren't wrapped, but proudly shown so that everyone knows what is given and how much. Soon, the table is overflowing with clothes, toys, and blankets. Now it is time to eat!
All the guests arrived to wonderfully full tables at the school, filled with different salads, meats, fruits, vodka, cognac, house wine, champagne, and water (for the wussies). It is always great for me to see EVERYONE dancing together. Back home, only the young people dance at celebrations, or the people dance with hesitation. Here, men, women, old, young, really old...they all dance with such enthusiasm. At one point, Blue Suede Shoes was played and everyone started doing the twist and swing dancing. One guy was extremely into his dancing, swinging his arms around and puckering up his face in concentration.
At a Cumetrie there are several pairs of God-parents. At this particular Cumetrie, there were around 9...I lost count. Everyone says nice words about the child and the parents and wishes the family a bright future. Dancing, eating, drinking, celebrating lasts for about five hours.
Next comes another batch of food placed on the table, this time lamb and meatballs in mushroom cream sauce. It was all delicious! After the hot food and more dancing (of course) a team is gathered to present big rings of bread and presents to the God-parents. The team dances around with the bread high above their heads and arrives at each pair to present them with their gifts. Then begins the "let's give money" phase. Starting with the God-parents, each pair presents money to the family but not before saying a few (or a lot) of well wishes. They also make it known how much money they are giving (God-parents usually $200-$400...yes $) to the guests. This continues until everyone in the room has spoken and presented money. There were about 50-60 people at the celebration, so you can imagine how long that took. Afterwards, everyone toasts to the family and the dancing continues. That is when I called it quits and took my tired feet home.
I met many wonderful people at the Baptism feast. I met a merry man while preparing myself coffee at the desert table. There is a famous book (famous in Moldova and among volunteers here), "Playing the Moldovans at Tennis." I have yet to find the book in our PC library because it is always in demand and bouncing from one person to another. I heard it is excellent and a must read for anyone who has stayed here for a long time, maybe travelled here, but mildly interesting for those who have no idea about this country. So I meet this man, who happens to be a large man in an organization in Chisinau that helped fund our Kinesthetic room for students with disabilities. The man that wrote the book stayed with him in Chisinau during his stay and wrote about him in the book. I was in the presence of a celebrity! I was ashamed to say that I haven't read the book but I was sure to make my desire known. We began discussing Moldova and how I am enjoying it. Then he begins talking about the outhouses. He says they are disgusting and not healthy and that he hates him. Before parting ways for the evening he made me make a pact with him not to tell anyone this problem...it would be our little secret.

Let's Go Shopping...

2007-03-30T12:05:00.000+07:00

Most people in relationships, at one time or another go shopping together for clothes, a car, furniture, mother’s birthday present, etc. Never do they share in the conversation that I had at 8pm last night. “Hey, do you want to go to Radeni with me? I am buying a goat.” Having never actually witnessed the buying/selling process of farm animals and having the opportunity to ride in a car, I accepted the invitation. Radeni is a beautiful town situated on high hills covered with dense forests. However, it being 9.30 at night when we arrived, I saw lots of dark. The ride to Radeni, a mere 17 kilometers, jostled every bone out of place and back again. We made the farm animaltastic journey in a large boxy van. His friend came and picked me up and we all rode in the front bouncing around the poor roads. How poor? Think South Georgia back roads (of course, dirt). Now pour on golf ball size rocks. Add concrete in some places, not all, just sparingly. Now that is the road we were traveling on. The driver of the vehicle seems unmoved by the poor road conditions and we bounce along at high speeds. There were several moments where the road gave way to enormous pot holes and other times when we seemed to be traveling on our side. All the while, the driver continued on at his furious speeds. These are the times that an American driver would look at the road, decide it was impossible to pass, turn around, and go home. Nothing like this would be attempted in the states. Ok, we make it safely to some obscure house in the middle of no where at 10pm at night. We’re on a goat mission. My friend gets out to fetch his animal and his friend and I stay in the car to listen to such classic hits as “I’m Blue” and the Romanian version of “Who Let the Dogs Out.” I am always surprised and pleasantly discomforted at the music selection in this part of the world. We have the goat, it’s name is Greta, the customary food for us (because, our journey would make us utterly famished), and my friend stays in the back to tend his goat. Half the road’s conversation was filled with him talking to his goat until “Smack That” came on, in which the volume was increased and everyone proceeded to have a good time mumbling words that are lazy attempts at the lyrics. Greta is safe and comfortable in her new home with other various farm animals, turkeys, chickens, dogs, sheep, and three new little lambs born yesterday. Easter is coming, I’ll let you know how they taste.

Hail to the Chief and Me

2007-03-24T15:24:00.001+07:00

It was a regular Friday afternoon, around 4.30. I had just finished my Tae Bo workout (Billy Blanks is my personal hero) and was resting. My neighbor comes running in to announce that there is drinking going on in my host family’s house. Not one to miss an opportunity of tasting house wine, I joined in. This time, the guests at the party were a policeman, and later, the mayor. Glass after glass the conversations increased in vulgarity. The policeman informs me that I teach his two daughters so we briefly discuss their behavior at school, pausing to munch on salami, cheese, and pickled cabbage. My four glass limit was up and I decided to visit a friend in the village. I can not walk anywhere here without tripping or falling down (especially when snow or mud is involved). I think this can also be said about my walking days in the states. I meet him and we begin our nightly journey up a hill and round corners to arrive at his house. Halfway to my destination I fall and twist an ankle. A few minutes pass and I fall and twist the other ankle. My friend must either think I am severely walking challenged or that I completely obliterated myself at the wine table. The end result, one ankle is bandaged and elevated and the other is calling out for a little attention too. So much for Billy Blanks this week.

What Time is it?

2007-03-12T19:46:00.000+07:00

America’s daylight savings time began earlier than last year. I know this, because I saw the information online. Usually, everywhere has daylight savings time on the same day. This is not the case this year. After discovering that we (at least the USA) would be turning the clocks an hour ahead on Sunday night I asked my host family if they knew about this. They did not. After consulting the nightly news, in both Romania and Russia, nothing was said about the time change. I did not want to arrive at school an hour behind or ahead so I had to absolutely know for sure. I asked a neighbor, my host mom asked a neighbor, I asked a friend, he asked a friend or asked a friend. No one knew a thing. So this morning I woke up an hour ahead, as if the time had changed. I got ready and waited around to see if the children passed my house around 8.15 for 8.30 school. They did not. But why would they, it was actually 7.15. So, the conclusion to this rather longwinded story is that Moldova’s (and probably Romania’s and Russia’s) time did not bounce one hour ahead like in the USA. I don’t know how this works exactly. Maybe Mr. Bush thought that it would be fun to turn the clocks ahead of everyone else. I know it was something to do with saving electricity and the economy but that is as far as I desired to venture into the matter. Whatever it is, you folks in the USA are only 6 hours behind me. If you keep it up, maybe you will be on my time in a few months.

After signing online I noticed that my country director had written an e-mail explaining the whole "time change" ordeal. I guess I should have paid more attention to my inbox. I could have avoided all my confusion. But then where would my weblog post be? Hmmmm.

Crazy Spring Break

2007-03-12T19:44:00.000+07:00

Spring is here. Or at least the supposed “First Day of Spring” has come and gone on March 1^st. This past week we had our Spring vacation but it was anything but for me. I was in Chisinau participating in a seminar for the group of TEFL volunteers that came a year after I did. The topic was Environmental Education and we discussed ways to incorporate environmental issues and activities into the curriculum. It wasn’t as exciting as it sounds, but it gave me the chance to get to know other volunteers and to be out of my village for a little time. In fact, I was out of my village for more time than I cared to be. After the seminar (more correctly, the last day) I became ill with a stomach virus and spent the next three-four days hovering around the bathroom area. The end of the week I helped in the administering of the oral exam and the grading of the written exam for the Moldovan English Olympiad. This means I was stuck inside from morning till night grading papers and doing things while it was sunny and beautiful outside. I came home on Saturday night and got one day of vacation on Sunday before starting back with lessons today. Next vacation (Easter break) looks to be more of a vacation. Or at least I hope so.

A Great Quote

2007-02-09T19:04:00.000+07:00

“Life is no straight and easy corridor along

which we travel free and unhampered,

but a maze of passages,

through which we must seek our way,

lost and confused, now and again

checked in a blind alley.

But always, if we have faith,

a door will open for us,

not perhaps one that we ourselves

would ever have thought of,

but one that will ultimately

prove good for us.”

- A.J. Cronin

Prague, Take One

2007-01-07T22:56:00.000+07:00

We just can’t seem to have a vacation that doesn’t reek of Chevy Chase in the “Lampoon’s Family Christmas.” After riding in a half full bus, stopping every 2 hours and for the borders, we arrive in Prague. We are excited and ready to taste, smell and see all that this fine Czech city has to offer. The bus drops us off at the bus station in Prague and we immediately try to obtain a taxi to our hostel. I am full of courage, and step up to the first taxi driver, who is vigorously cleaning his money mobile. “Hostel …,” I say, providing the address. The man does not acknowledge my presence or the fact that I spoke. Prague isn’t looking so good yet. We find another taxi driver who tells us that he won’t accept dollars, only Czech crowns. Ok, we can simply exchange money at the bus station. Oh, no…we really can’t. We arrived the day before Christmas, which means that all businesses close early, even the “exchange-your-foreign-money” place. How do we get to our hostel having never been in this city, we don’t know where it is, and we certainly don’t have a map? Racking our brains, we decide to go to the nearest ATM and take out money in crowns. Finally, we arrive at our average hostel room, which we will be sharing with 5 other people in bunks. Not bad.

Christmas day we find ourselves walking around the touristy Old Town of Prague, and after a night of dancing at a vacant club we aren’t in tip top shape. We spend Christmas dinner at a traditional Czech restaurant in the center and Steph and I aren’t feeling as disco-y as Ryan is. She pleads for us to go out dancing, seeing how it is Christmas. We concede and begin walking to the famous 4-story disco, supposedly the biggest in Europe. However big and great it is, we don’t make it there. Instead, we stop at a disco/bar along the way when we here great Hip-hop music spilling out if it into the street. It can’t be that bad, right? No cover, even better. We get up to the top floor and notice that no one is dancing…yet. We initiate the night of dancing, meeting interesting characters along the way. There were enormous dutch guys dancing around thrusting their pelvises like characters out of movies, and underage boys dancing with their mothers, or so it seemed. Even some guys from America and Canada were there with their overly intoxicated friends who I pawned off on my friends in order to dance with a yummy Italian. The hours passed like clicks of the clock and before we knew it, we were the only ones left dancing on the dance floor. It was 3.30am. We started the club and we ended the club. One heck of a way to celebrate Christmas Day.

Christmas/New Years Trip – Act One – South Bus Station, Chisinau

2007-01-07T22:34:00.000+07:00

The three of us arrive by taxi at 11.00 am, giving us a comfortable hour to find our bus, load on our luggage and get settled for the 30-hour bus ride. Fifteen minutes into our Prague bus search we realize that our bus isn’t parked in the designated bus area. We circumnavigate the bus station several times and come to the conclusion that it simply isn’t here and will arrive in a few minutes. I pace around nervously, thinking about a Christmas spent in a Chisinau hotel room and begin to panic with each passing minute. We decide to ask around, someone at the bus station has to know where the bus to Prague is, right? So one of us, me, stays with the mound of baggage while Steph branches out to talk to the lady selling bus tickets and Ryan seeks out to communicate with the locals. The diagnosis; the bus to Prague does not exist. Does not exist? How is this possible, since we obviously are clutching the tickets were purchased weeks ago in our glove bound hands? The hour…11.30. I am starting to panic and thinking about the options we have remaining, which are catching a bus the following day and traveling on Christmas. I am a diva and simply won’t allow this. Frantically, I race up to the ticket counter and explain the situation. “I have a ticket to Prague for a 12.00pm bus, which I cannot find. Some people say the bus doesn’t exist and I want to know for certain if the bus will be here,” I state. The ticket woman simply replies, “The bus will be behind this building.” “I know this, but it is not, and we have ten minutes before the bus is to depart for Prague and it is not here, can you tell me if it is here or if it exists at all, since I am clutching a ticket for the phantom bus and you are the one selling tickets for all the buses leaving here. Obviously, you would have this information,” I scream in desperation. “The bus will be in the back, I don’t know if there is one, but that is where it will be,” she replies indifferently. How can she not know if the bus exists? She sells tickets for buses! Grrr. I return back with no happy news. We wait a little longer…approximately 3 minutes, and I fill the silence with obscene remarks about the efficiencies of this country’s transportation. After a few minutes, a guy approaches us and asks, “Are you going to Prague? Give me your tickets and passports.” Hehehe, riiiight. I am giving no one my ticket that says I have a rightful spot on a bus leaving this country and my one item that says I am an American citizen. I allow him to gander at them but quickly snatch them back. He begins to tell us that the bus is waiting at the Chisinau Hotel (definitely not the South Bus Station) and leaves from there. This is after the woman who sold us the tickets, weeks ago, told us, adamantly, that we would be leaving from the SOUTH BUS STATION! So we are persuaded into his buddy’s car, give over our passports and tickets so they can refund our money, and head to the Chisinau Hotel at around 12.05. We are told the bus is waiting for us. All three of us our confused and frustrated, and our trip hasn’t even begun! Everything ends well, we arrive at the bus, which is waiting for us….sans passport and ticket. The guys in the car drive away and we begin to worry about our missing passports. Apparently, they drove to the ticket store to buy us new tickets to replace the bogus ones that we bought. What great guys, right? Steph is nice enough to offer to share some of her American chocolate from her mom’s Christmas package, but they drive off before we get the chance. We are securely on the bus, it is moving, we are 30-hours away from our destination and I am already burned out. Happy Holidays!

The Talk of the Village

2006-12-09T23:35:00.000+07:00

Well, that is exaggerating a bit, but I am at least the talk of a few people. My host mom mentioned to me, over a bowl of borş, that everyone is asking her if she feeds me. A few women in my village have noticed my slightly svelter self and come to the conclusion that I don’t eat, so my host mom does not feed me. They meet her in one of the many stores in the center of town and inquiry about my well-being. Whenever I go to school and am in the presence of my director, she practically pins me down and force feeds me cookies or whatever food is within reach. She tells me I have simply lost too much weight, and that it scares her.

I have been engaging myself in Billy Blanks, and his many Tae Bo exercises, since August. I have toned up and am proud of my lost pounds, the one or two of them. I often get the “oh, you are exercising so you won’t be fat,” or “you aren’t eating bread because you don’t want to be fat.” To which I reply, “I exercise because it makes me feel good,” and “I would rather have room for the delicious food my host mom makes.”

I have come to understand that weight loss in this country is not a New Years resolution or a personal goal for many. At least, this is the mind set of the older women in my village. I am pretty confident the 40+ crowd throughout the country also share this thought. If you lose weight, in this country, then you aren’t eating and it is a serious cause for intervention. This is a country that enjoys hosting visitors and presenting to them a large table full of food. This country, from my personal experience, loves entertaining people and food is just an expression of their appreciation and respect for their guests. Gaining weight is the result of being respected and invited to many masas (gatherings with tables of food). It also means that you have the means to eat well. If you gain weight in this country they say, “Bravo! You are eating well; your host mom must be a great cook! Congratulations!”

In America, if you are a little heavier than the last time someone saw you they think, “Wow, she really let herself go. She is lazy and isn’t taking care of herself.” Taking care of yourself, in this country, means eating well. Eating what you want when you want. How much someone is eating isn’t a big issue and isn’t what keeps people up at night. People aren’t spending thousands of dollars a year on toning devices, unused gym memberships, and diet pills that cause heart attacks like oh so many people in America.

It is really true, that in some countries, being a little plumper is something to be proud about. It isn’t a cause for stress or low self-esteem. There are many other things floating around in the world to keep your self-esteem low. Don’t let your weight be one of them.

Don’t get me wrong, being healthy and exercising is good. Your weight shouldn’t be a main point in your life, subjecting you to happiness or despair depending on which way the scale tips. Just be happy with yourself. That is a lot easier.

And remember, not everyone in the world thinks skinny is best, just Americans. Maybe you just need to move to a different country. J

Thanksgiving...a late Blog

2006-12-01T20:22:00.000+07:00

Happy Late Thanksgiving!

I am late in writing this blog, but I wanted to speak of Thanksgiving. All the volunteers gathered in Chisinau to celebrate this totally American holiday and to have a few conferences. One Thanksgiving day we even played a little flag football. I joined in and tried to catch the ball a few times. I conclude that it was the throwers error and not mine in catching, so we will stick to that. The dinner, as usual, was FABULOUS and tasted just like America! I created a slideshow that played while everyone ate, and it was a success, if I say so myself. It only took me about an hour to track down the projector and another fifteen to twenty minutes to discover that the projector screen was in the same room as me and I just didn't know.
Employees from the Embassy and even the Ambassador arrived to eat the fantastic meal prepared by some of the volunteers. I had turkey, homemade biscuits, stuffing with gravy, corn, and there was even green bean casserole! For dessert...you guessed it, pumpkin pie! I will have to remember next year to mail a big box of the french fried onion things and canned pumpkin. It was great!
After the meal, there was the annual talent show. It was great, with even the Peace Corps staff joining in to encourage a few laughs. There was singing and dancing and harmonica playing.
On Saturday, the volunteers attended a seminar on the bird flu. Conclusion: the bird flu is not in Moldova and if it gets out of hand, could kill millions. We learned about what we can do to prevent the spread of bird flu and how we can protect ourselves in the event of its appearance in Moldova. It was all kinds of informative.
I hope every that is reading this had a great Thanksgiving and gained a couple of pounds!

Correction to the Fortune Teller

2006-12-01T20:13:00.000+07:00

I made a mistake in the last blog, which was cleared up by my host mom. The cards show four types of people that coincide with the four symbols in the deck. I am not sure which goes with which but here they are:

Doba - fair skinned, light hair, light eyes (usually green)
Rosu - light skinned, a little red to their skin color, light to medium brown hair, light to medium eyes
Cruce - medium skinned, medium to dark hair, medium to dark eyes (ME!!!)
Verde - dark skinned, dark eyes, dark hair

So I will have two men in my life, one will be a Doba, and the other Rosu. The Doba man will not be good, will begin to drink and lie to me, going places and not telling me where. The Rosu man will be the one that is meant for me. Ok, glad we got that all cleared up, and I hope we are now all on the same page.

Just another day at the Fortune Tellers

2006-12-01T00:03:00.001+07:00

She isn't really a fortune teller, she reads playing cards. I have been wanting to go to one of the ladies in the nearby city to have my cards read. My host mom talks about all the times she has gone, what they have said, and whether or not they turned out correct or not. So, this week we made an agreement to go track one down today. We arrive at a nine story apartment building. Don't think its like your Spring Creek apartment complex...more like Soviet style cinder tower (if you can imagine). We have to wait a few minutes on the stairs outside of the woman's apartment while a couple is in there. Once inside, and shoes off, we get down to business. My host mom gets her cards read and is told about the things her husband is or isn't doing while working abroad. Not that interesting. Now on to me! She hands me a card (the card that I am...I believe based on eye color) and I am supposed to hold it and think good thoughts while she shuffles the deck. Now the fun begins. She puts cards on the table in varying patterns and begins to tell me that I will have two men in my life. Both will be blonde, one with green eyes and the other will have blue. The green eyed man will not be good, he will begin to drink, leave and not tell me where he is going, and lie. So I should not be with him. The other, the blue eyed blonde, I will meet here in Moldova. He will be nice and he is the one meant for me. One of my friends, a blonde green eyed girl will also like him, but he will not like her. I will not be as crazy about him as he is with me, but I should just go with it and it will come step-by-step. I will know it is him because he will give me a present. After that (who knows how long), he will ask me to marry him and I must not refuse because he is the one I am supposed to be with. He will be slightly older than me, and of course, taller. He will leave with me to go live in USA when I go, completing all paperwork and everything. Also, blonde hair green eyed people in my life are not good, male and female. I should be very attentive when crossing the street, because that is the one bad thing hovering over my life. My host sister's is water. My host mom's is climbing trees (go figure). I don't think I believe I will meet my man in Moldova, seeing how unlikely it is that I will meet men here, and I already checked out the new volunteers. I think she mentioned me taking him back to my country and finding him here because she knew I was not from Moldova. Otherwise, I think the reading was very interesting and now I have a lot to think about. Oh yeah, she also said that I would have two children. Ha!

Help Send A Girl On A Trip of A Lifetime

2006-10-23T19:43:00.000+07:00

This Christmas is a great time to go explore other countries and help make your dreams come true. A while back I began to plan how I would spend my Christmas vacation. With my best bud in on the scheme we decided to hit up other countries in Eastern Europe. Original plans of travelling to Budapest, Prague and Krakow were changed to do lack of funds until only Prague and Krakow remain. Still, funds are EXTREMELY low and unless I decide to join the urban entrepreneurs club (becoming a call girl/prostitute) than my dream will not come true.
So, what can you get me for Christmas? You can send me money. :)
I am over here working hard to spread the culture of America and to absorb all the culture knowledge of Moldova to bring back to the states. I am working hard to make our people look good and to help those that need help over here.
Whatever amount you want to pledge I will be willing to receive. If you want to send me a few benjamins email me and I will let you know how to do it...which would mostly be sending the money to my parents and them sending it to me all in one large (rather large, i hope) lump sum. So think it over. This holiday season, give the gift that keeps on giving.

An Early Halloween

2006-10-19T23:57:00.000+07:00

Last year I handed out candy for Halloween and that was the extent of my sharing this American holiday with the students at my school. This year, I was bent on doing something different…larger, if you will. So, with my fellow English teachers we came up with a great contest of sorts. Every class in the school would decorate their door to celebrate Halloween. They would also create a mask and a presentation for the mask which would be held after school as an assembly. Six judges would rate the classes according to the three categories, door, mask and presentation.
Because of other events happening next week, our contest was pushed up to today, giving the students two days to prepare. I was a little worried about what would come out of it, but the other teachers assured me it would be just fine. Students leave everything till the last minute anyway, so why plan it for a week in advance?
So today we celebrated Halloween. I dressed up as a pirate, with a painted on beard, black eye, and even missing teeth. Everyone at the school loved it and children would peek in during the breaks to check me out. I would smile my toothless smile and say “arrr.” It was very entertaining.
The students’ doors were AMAZING! They did such a great job and were so freakin’ creative! One of the classes went as far as setting up their room as a sort of haunted house, without any prompting from others! Above is a picture from their room. I almost got teary eyed seeing how the students enthusiastically celebrated an unknown holiday. Other students decorated their room as a crime scene with police tape, blood and chalk outlines.
The presentation went well and was done entirely in English. I did read the final scores off in Romanian, so no one would be confused. And of course, afterwards there was a disco. And, of course, I danced.
Overall, it was great and I was proud and honored that my school would embrace Halloween with such energy and excitement. Some students came to school with made up bloody faces and others yelled out “Happy Halloween!” to me. It was really really great. I am excited for next year (although I will not be here) when the celebration will be bigger and better. The students are already planning for it!!!

Wine Festival & Haram

2006-10-16T20:13:00.000+07:00

This last few weeks have been busy in Chisinau. The weekend before...October 7th, was the fifth annual Wine Festival in Chisinau. Wine is a big part of the tradition here, and there are tons and tons of wine factories throughout the country. The all took part in the festivities, each setting up their own booths for people to sample and buy their wine. I was lucky enough to be in town and with my friend Steph. We caught up with one of her friends and cruised around the place with the mission:wine. We sampled a few and bought some bottles of several white wines and a champagne to try. Then came dancing the hora in the center of the capital while watching concerts. It was a great time and one of the top 10 best times here in Moldova, if not the number one spot.
This last weekend...October 14th, was Chisinau's Haram. Every village, city and whatnot has their own day. This is a chance to boogie on down with your friends and relatives and eat and drink the day/night away. I was in town with my host family and we stopped in the center to check out all the fuss. There were a lot more people here than for the wine festival and after about ten minutes of being pushed around decided to head back to my sister's apartment. Before the concert the men cooked barbecue and the women went on a beer run and prepared the rest of the food. I haven't ate that much food..well, since the day before.
I will put up pictures of Steph and I's good time when she sends them to me.

It's Wine Time!

2006-10-01T16:01:00.000+07:00

This is the time of year when families pick their grapes and start producing home-made wine. I have never tasted as delicious of wine as I have here in Moldova. The flavor is fresh and goes down easy. I would venture to say it is a little bit more potent than the supermarket variety. If you are lucky, you will be a guest at a house where the wine is completely natural. This means that nothing was added to the grapes in the process of making wine. No water, no sugar…just grapes. My host family makes natural wine, and I am quick to point out to guests that what they are drinking is straight from the earth. No wine in America that you find in the supermarket or wine store can claim theirs is homemade.
So we head to our garden in the back and begin filling buckets upon buckets with grapes. I ask if there is a special process or selection and they tell me “no, everything.” So everything goes into the wine. The small grapes, the withered grapes, the stems, the bunches, it all goes in. Of course, we don’t fill our buckets with the grape leaves, because that would just be silly. In about two hours, the grape vines in the garden are barren. All the grapes get sent through this sifter type device that is a wooden box sitting on top of the enormous wooden wine barrel. As we dump the grapes in, my host dad begins cranking the sifter, which mashes the grapes, coaxing out all the juices. I get the honors of climbing on top of the shed to collect the grapes from the vines on top of the shed and surrounding the house. This requires several positions, sitting, kneeling, squatting, standing, lunging, as the vines are low and tangley. By this time, my hands are covered in grape particles and grape juices. I am quite certain my hair is matted down with grapeness and the bees have named me their queen by the looks of all of them swarming around me.
After the barrel is full of squished grape bunches it is covered and allowed to sit and marinate and ferment a bit. Within three or so days, depending on the weather, you have wine. But it is “new wine” which means it is not fully fermented and still contains a little bit of bacteria. As volunteers, we are not encouraged to drink “new wine” unless we want to be ill and camp out in the outhouse. But as the wine was pouring out of the barrel and into the barrel where it will finish fermenting, I couldn’t help but take a taste. “New wine” is very tasty and resembles grape juice with a kick. I had a glass and savored it. Hours later and I still feel fine. I escaped the clutches of the “new wine” monster. Now I will have to wait a few weeks and/or months to taste this year’s wine. Happy Drinking!

Let's Get Physical...

2006-09-28T18:30:00.000+07:00

This week I started an After school Exercise Program for Teenage Girls at my school. The idea came to me this summer when I was sick of stagnation and wanted to exercise, but not by myself. It seems that the teenage girls in my school do not exercise, beyond the walking to the store or participating in gym class. They are also not educated in health issues pertaining to being with a female, and even a human. So my goal was to start an exercise program for them, encouraging physical fitness and educating them on health issues that they are unaware of. So it begins…
I wrote posters, only to change the time and days of the exercise, so they did not go up. I informed my students during class. I decided on two days a week, Monday and Wednesday. It seems that I am out of my site a lot of Fridays or there are assemblies/concerts on Fridays which would conflict so I only proposed two days. If, in the future, it is popular then I will try to extend to three days, when possible. Mondays are Tae Bo days and Wednesdays are Yoga days. Both have music appropriate to each activity. I am lucky to have a great Psychology/English teacher at my school this year, and she has helped assist me in getting my project up and running and in participating.
Monday. The exercises didn’t start until after 3. I had planned on 2.30-2.45. It is ok, I had four girls and Inga (fellow teacher). Everyone seemed to get the hang of the kick punch combinations I was throwing there way and enjoyed my butchering of Romanian as I tried to speak and do simultaneously.
Wednesday. Exercises started at 3. I had said 2.45. Four girls came and Inga. It was soothing and calming. Yoga is a good thing to do during the middle of the week when we are all stressed and tired. I played music from the Ultra Chilled CD collection, which I happen to love, so it was fun for me. It was funny trying to explain the breath in for four counts, hold for four counts, and exhale for four counts. I am not totally sure of the verb “to breath in/to breath out” so I kind of mumbled something close to it and hoped they followed.
Overall, the first week was a success. Things didn’t start on time and we were waiting for other girls but we did start. I am excited to see my students participate in something that I planned and was passionate about. It makes me feel good to know that I have implemented something that has an interest within my school and is beneficial. Some of the girls even asked why we weren’t having exercises on Friday. Two girls in my 12th grade, when I informed them of the Yoga classes, immediately flipped open their cell phones and set an alarm to remind them. They are really excited to learn Yoga and even Tae Bo.
If you stumble open Yoga mats, water bottles, or anything else exercise related, please send them my way. The girls in my school would love to use anything you send. Any health information (pamphlets, or simply e-mails with facts) would definitely be appreciated. The girls here need to know about specifics about their bodies and ways they can stay healthy and prevent illness. Wish me luck on week 2!

Febreeze, Sharpies, Jiffy Pop

2006-09-12T16:28:00.000+07:00

Enough said.

The Freshest Bologni

2006-09-10T10:18:00.000+07:00

Truths (as told to me by my host grandmother):

-Fruits make you fat
-If you eat prunes you will be fat
-My host mom is fat because she drinks too much water
-If you eat tea and prunes everyday, you will be fat
-Bread and Wine will make you skinny (she didn't really say this, just thought it would be funny)

Additions to my Wish List

2006-09-02T19:50:00.000+07:00

Crunchy Peanut Butter
Tazo Tea - the Green Tea Zen kind
More beads (like the ones you bought Jen...they are great!)
Toe Socks (they are great to wear with flip flops when it is semi-cold outside)

That is all for now! :)

My last first day of school

2006-09-02T19:39:00.000+07:00

The first day of school was Friday. The kids have been coming to school since Wednesday to clean the classrooms and the outside. We have people who work at our school cleaning it, so I am not sure why the children come to do their job.
The first day started with a ceremony that began at 7.30am. The priest from the big church came and sang/said prayers for the beginning of school. This was a special ceremony and first day, as the minister of education from Ungheni came, the mayor and other big people in education to view our school and help celebrate. A group of children performed a traditional Moldovan dance, complete with traditional clothes and the new first graders were paraded around ringing the first bell to start their education.
Of course, I received many flowers and wishes for a great school year. I was lucky in that I had no classes scheduled for Friday. I simply arrived at school, late for the ceremony, received flowers, and sat down to a masa. I was back home at 11.30 with a buzz and went to bed for a bit.
So really Monday is my first day of school. I am excited because this year there is a new English teacher. She will be the school counselor and teach a few Englishes classes until my counterpart goes on maternity leave and she will take over for the other classes. She just graduated college and is excited to teach and is looking for me to help her and collaberate with her. We will have a great time and have some interesting classes because of it.
I have a pen pal, finally after waiting a year. It is a school in NE Georgia with a woman who teaches Elementary school students. Not only has she adopted my classes, but the entire school. They have included information about Moldova in a special section in the library, with maps and such, and are planning on purchasing books about Moldova to have in their library. What a great chance for young children to learn about a different culture and for my students to learn more about America, the schools, the culture, and practice their English. So three cheers for the beginning of a great school year!
.

What Would Make Me Happy...a list

2006-08-19T13:25:00.000+07:00

I am starting my second year of teaching in a little less than two weeks. Here is a list of things that would make my second year as a teacher and volunteer that much greater.

Spanish books (to teach myself Spanish over winter)
Teeth Whitener (the strips)
Crystal Light On the Go (they orange ones)
Twizzlers
Marshmallows
Markers
Stickers
Candles
Lip Gloss
Fun school supplies (to give to students)
cute pens, pencils, notebooks, pencil cases
World Map
Socks
Yarn - sparkly heather grey...if possible :)
Christmas decorations (takes three to six weeks to mail, so plan ahead)
Starbucks Coffee (ground, not whole bean) - Sumatra or Sulawesi
Socks - booty style...below the ankle, that is
Bath and Body Works stuff - body cream, spray, antibacterial soap (w/o water)...
Tropical Passionfruit, Crisp Citrus Herb, Fall/Winter
scents

EXERCISE DVDS!!! I have advanced Tae Bo, but would like more Tae Bo, Yoga, Dance...a variety. I am going to start an afterschool program for girls in 8-12 grade to do aerobics everyday after school and teach them a little about nutrition and their health needs. I NEED DVDS so they have a variety of exercises and don't get burned out on the one I have. Thanks!

- this list could and will change

The Doctor is In

2006-08-15T18:16:00.000+07:00

I arrived at my village to a sick host mom. She has a tremendous cough and has trouble breathing. The doctor says she has bronchitis and I think he is pretty much correct. She caught this sickness by drinking cold water. She has drank cold water many times in the past, but this one last time was the one that did her in. "Never in my life will I drink cold water from the refrigerator again." My host mom has been to the doctor every day since I have been back, taking blood, taking urine samples, x-raying her chest... Every time she buys a new set of medicine (injections, pills, teas, etc.) and none of them seem to help. The medicine here is lacking and most of it, I am sure, is the same thing but in different packaging. The doctor tells her different things to concoct to help with her breathing and coughing. A mixture of lemon, honey and aloe which you drink by the tablespoon. The most recent suggestion is the most fun. The doctor told her to melt parafin wax and then place it on her chest. I guess it holds in the heat and sort of works like that icy hot theraflu stuff. So we melt the wax and after lunch we begin to play with it. It is too hot to touch so we let it cool a little. Once the wax cools, I begin to experiment with it, by rubbing it on my chest. My host mom sees how I am doing it and she too begins rubbing this semi-hot wax onto her chest. Imagine, two women standing at the kitchen table over a bowl of melted wax, globbing it on their chests. I stop midway, I am not the one who is sick (although I have a slight cough which I think I caught from someone in America!). I begin to help her, because she has concentrated only in the spot directly above her cleavage. So, now, imagine two women standing at the kitchen table over a bowl of melted wax, the older with her shirt pulled open, and the younger one globbing wax onto the others chest. My host mom now has a chest covered with parafin wax which she has covered with a plastic bag, and then a towel to keep the wax from falling off and to hold in the heat. Her response, "Never in my life did I think I would have to put wax on my chest just from drinking cold water...never again!"

Back in the Outhouse!

2006-08-15T18:15:00.000+07:00

I am back in Moldova after being in the US of A for three weeks. I had a great time and was a little sad coming back on the plane(s). I realized I was not in America the moment I got in the taxi and proceeded to put on my seat belt. The taxi driver gave me a quick glance over and I was too dumbfounded to take it back off. The day after I got back I said goodbye to a good friend of mine, Maria/Masha, who has completed her service. She is starting her new life in America and waiting for her fiance, Mark/Marcel, to follow her in October. I will miss them both. Ah, school will begin soon, and I have to get my stuff together. I am both excited and sad to start the new school year. I don't want to, yet I want to. The first year was full of errors and semi catastrophes, so this year, hopefully, there will be less of them. I can take the things I did well and continue doing them, and take the not so wonderful activities/events, and improve on them. Wish me luck as my days of summer come to a close and I begin school on September 1st.

Back to the Motherland!

2006-08-01T03:39:00.000+07:00

This summer, while out of school, I used up some of my vacation days to surprise my mom and sister back in Georgia. My brother and dad helped plan and finance the trip for me and we have been scheming since April. I arrived in Atlanta on a Friday and my best friend, Chet, and I went out to dinner for some stir fry. YUM! Of course, we went out drinking after that and then back to his house to concoct drinks with some more friends. I attempted to play pool, but once again, was unsuccessful.
The next morning I drove down to my parent's house where my brother and dad were waiting for me but my mom was still in the dark. I surprised her while she was vacuuming and she almost fell over. Imagine not seeing your child for a year and you can get a mental picture of what kind of homecoming it was. We piled into the car and drove to my sister's house. Immediately after stepping out of the truck I heard "oh my god, oh my god, oh my god, oh my god..." through the front door. I guess she caught a glimpse of me walking up to the door. It was a good time.
So I have been back in America for a week and some odd days and I am halfway through my vacation and my time left in Moldova. I have ate Panera Bread, Sushi, Donatos, Burger King, White Castle, Chinese food, Hamburgers, Chipotle...and there will be many more added to the list. I am glad to be back home and to see my family and what is going on in their lives. I am now in Ohio visiting the rest of my family and running here and there checking things out. So, if you are in the USA area, call me...if you don't have my number then you are just out of luck. Maybe if you email me or catch me online I will give it to you. If you want to see me, you have to come to me. I made it to the Eastern time zone, you have to travel the rest of the way.

Trying New Things

2006-07-15T11:42:00.000+07:00

...not me. I have tried enough new things. This morning while drinking coffee and eating fruit with my host mom I was telling her about a chinese-style meal and she was very interested. So interested, she laid out some chicken on the counter to thaw so that I could make this so-called "stir fry." Going about my early morning business (a.k.a reading, crocheting...) she began cleaning carrots and onions and set them out for me to use and even cleaned rice. I began the fun task of making stir fry, which I am all too used to doing in America. I cooked the chicken with a little seasoning and even less oil and then began cooking the carrots and onions in a little water, to cook them with oil. I added some squash and whipped up a sweet and sour sauce made from tomato paste, vinegar, sugar, and compote. Yummy right? The rice finished up and I added all the chicken, vegetables and sauce together to simmer a bit. The finished product looked great. I showed my host mom how to eat with chopstick, she declined. She asked, "Why don't they just grab a fork and eat with that? It is a lot easier."
My host mom tasted the finished product, and after saying the chicken was too tough, finished off the bowl for me. She really enjoyed it and after hearing about Mexican food you can imagine what I will be up to soon.

Istanbul, Part Two

2006-07-07T14:17:00.000+07:00

I am trying to think of some of the great things we did. Emily and took the first day and a half visiting the different mosques and touristy places. We visited the Blue Mosque, Hagia Sofia, Topkapi Palace, Maiden's Tower, the Obelisk, Grand Bazaar, Spice Bazaar, and everything along the way. We made friends with a Turkish man while watching a nightly light show at the Blue Mosque. He recommended places to eat, invited us to his friend's carpet shop, and answered some of our questions. We ate great Turkish food (a lot of lamb and eggplant), tea, and I (of course) indulged daily in Turkish coffee. I even broke down and ate Burger King twice. It was soooo good and I think it will hold me over for another year. I was sad to leave the place and am begin to plan for a second time. The people are extremely hospitable, in part because they hope to sell you something, but also because that is their culture. We ate at a restaurant that had a Whirling Dervish performing. Dervishes are dressed in white with big skirts and they spin with arms in the arm, calling to God. We took ferries to the Asian side of Istanbul and got a 360 degree view of the Forbidden City. Anyone want to go to Istanbul???

Istanbul, Part One

2006-07-05T16:24:00.000+07:00

I arrived in Istanbul late Friday night and met up with my best friend, Emily, at the hostel. The hostel picked me up from the hotel and I got a fast view of the beautiful city at night. We drove by the sea coast, weaving in and out of traffic, and raced around the Blue Mosque, lit up at night. It was absolutely beautiful. During my stay I have used that word too much, I fear. My host mom sent me off with a bottle of housewine, so we drank that and ate some Ukrainian chocolate to celebrate our first evening in Istanbul and seeing each other after a year.
The next morning we woke up and ate breakfast at the hostel. Black and green olives, bread with jam or honey, goat and cow cheeses, hard boiled eggs, cucumbers, tomatoes, coffee and tea. It was a great start to what would be a long walking day. Because we are girls, we headed to the Grand Bazaar first thing and we were in for a big adventure. The Bazaar is HUGE, I would say it is as big as two city blocks, if not more. There, you can buy anything from rugs, traditional dress, shoes, jewelry, paintings, hookahs, tea...
Immediately entering the bazaar we are attacked by venders yelling at us to come look at their shop. They are saying funny phrases to lure us in, such as "it is my turn now," "are you sisters? we're brothers and single," "did you drop something?" "do you want to buy something you don't need," and the list goes on. The venders can speak several languages and Emily was enjoying the men speaking Spanish to me, thinking I was Spanish. Silly men. Whenever necessary, I would break out my Romanian in order to avoid them.
The venders at the Bazaar are very friendly, but also very pushy. They make a living on selling things, want to make you happy, and want you to walk away with something of theirs and less money in their pocket. They constantly offer you tea and to step into their store so they can show you something. You quickly learn to be blunt, say no, and walk away if you are not interested in something. If the price isn't right, offer your own, and if they aren't down, walk away and they will more than likely head to your offer. I left a lot of money behind in Istanbul.

"I Want to go Home" Ball 2006

2006-06-27T17:38:00.000+07:00

The 12th graders' ball was last night. Compared to America, it is like a graduation and prom all rolled up into a never ending dance and food fest. The festivities go all night and in the morning the girls and boys watch the sunrise. I arrived at school and sat on the stage as diplomas were handed out. Students gave their teachers and the director flowers, and everyone clapped while the students climbed to the stage. After the ceremony, everyone piled into rutieras and headed to the restaurant. The restaurant, who's name escapes me, is set back in the woods and looks like a big cottage. The upstairs was set up with two long tables, one for the teachers/parents, and the other for the students. The tables were filled with salads, vegetables, meats and cheeses, various rolled fish, baked chicken, bread, water, soda, wine, vodka, cognac and champagne. Let the festivities begin! We begin our celebrating, I would say, at 11. After the food, there was dancing. Dancing, oh dancing, the hora. If I haven't explained before, the hora is, apparently, the national dance and consists of people joining hands and dancing in a circle using various footwork. We danced the hora and by the time 1 rolled around, I was ready to go home. The director snuck out earlier via a full car, so I could not make my escape. Every two hours the restaurant would roll out more food, flattened chicken, placentas, potatoes, crepes, and everyone gathered around the tables to eat and drink again. Myself and another teacher were in the same boat and sat staring out the window for most of the evening for signs of daylight.
Long story short, I got home at 5. I spent 3/4 of the time sitting in a chair wishing someone would offer me a ride home. The restaurant is about 3 miles away from Pirlita and most of the people arrived in the rutieras provided for the evening. That means, we were all stuck. I did not really realize this, as people said the day before and the day of, that I could leave early if I wanted to. LIARS! So I had to practice my patient skills (which before last night, were running thin). I had never felt so happy to ride in a rutiera. I climbed into my bed around 5.30 and slept until 1.

Great Music Video

2006-06-20T23:04:00.000+07:00

Go to this link for Peter's blog and you will find a great music video that depicts my life in Moldova. I have no idea who the people are, but they sure know how to drink wine out of a big pickle jar.
http://www.bbqbacon.com/moldova/2006/06/buna-dimineata_09.html

Bees Are Not Our Friends

2006-06-19T14:38:00.000+07:00

...although they make excellent honey.

I have started using the roof of the pig shed as my own personal beach. I climb up a homemade ladder, lay down a winter jacket and a towel, and begin the bronzing process. It has only been two days since I have started using this recently untapped resource, but I have no doubt I will soon be reaping the benefits.
Today, however, was an experience. I climbed up to my oasis and laid down to enjoy a bit of the summer sun. Fifteen minutes into it and something is buzzing around me and lands on my arm. I look over and see it is a bee. I forgot to mention that the neighbor grows bees and this morning they somehow got out and were swarming around our house. I heard about it during lunch but thought they were under control and all accounted for. Silly bees. The bee, upon noticing that I noticed it, proceeded to stick its big stinger into my arm. I swatted at the bee, which was now secured to my arm and finally detached it from my throbbing limb. In the process, I failed to remember that I unhooked the top part of my bikini top, to avoid a weird tan line. My boobs were flying around while I was busy combating the bee. Luckily, I was facing other gardens in the neighborhood and today was not a gardening day. Having contained my boobs, I heard more buzzing coming from my hair. Two bees secured themselves into my hair and were trapped. I was freaking out by this time and on my feet on top of the pig shed. I was screaming and throwing my head from side to side trying to dislodge the bees. My host mom and host grandmother were watching the process and were also swatting their only personal fan club of bees. My host mom was laughing at the situation, actually mostly me, and was asking me where my camera was because she thought it was worthy of a Kodak moment. Keep in mind I was in my bathing suit, flapping around about ten feet in the air. I was balancing myself on the not so straight roof, gathering up all my belongings, trying to put on my shoes, kill the bees AND shuffle down the ladder before anymore harm came to me. My host mom was laughing and telling me to kill them all while my host grandmother was thinking I was going to fall off the roof and be eaten alive by the bees. After the whole ordeal we all laughed despite our numerous stings. Now, I will use my bandana before going outside when the neighbor is having "problems" with his bees.

2006-06-16T16:01:00.000+07:00

MORE NEW FOOD! Cherries! Yum. I have eaten 2 kilograms (approximately 4 pounds) of cherries in two days. My host mom can't eat a lot of them so I have enjoyed them all to myself. I wonder what my stomach will look like after this.

2006-06-16T15:59:00.000+07:00

NEW FOOD! We bought baby ducks yesterday at the piata! They are THE cutest thing and run around in a bunch. They drinks tons of water. My host mom and I like sitting near them, watching them, and chatting. Hey, it's better than television!

Grilling with the Guys

2006-06-01T03:13:00.000+07:00

Today was the last day of school. Our school had a ceremony, where teachers spoke and students gave their teachers presents and flowers. I received flowers and some coffee cups, that are really cool. After the ceremony the teachers had a barbeque, minus the red checkered tablecloth and being outside. Mainly, the guys grilled meat and brought it into the cafeteria and we had a masa. I went home to change out of my school clothes and into something more appropriate for the supposed picnic. When I got to school I noticed four of the male teachers grilling. I took a peak inside the school to see what was going on. The women were sitting around in the teacher's lounge, director's office and library, staring at each other and occassionaly engaging in conversation. Not a fun picnic for me. I headed outside to watch the men grill. They welcomed me and one of the teachers gave up his chair so I could have a prime viewing spot. Of course we had to test the meat, it was tasty. They marinated it for two days in vinegar, wine, beer, onions and bay leaves. It was really good. I taught them the word(s) "pre-game" and they quickly picked it up and used it while partaking in cognac and grilling. 3 pre-games later and they were asking about what happens after pre-game. I told them "you have pre-game, game, and (I guess) after game." They said "after the after game there is the feeding of the horse." I was a little confused until they explained that after you have a party or guests over, you have to go outside to feed the horse some oats or sugar, and you have some wine or other beverage for the horse. That is, if they arrive in a cart, if not...then I guess you have one for the car. So America, there are now four phases to the party; pre-game, game, after game, and one for the horse.

2006-05-31T01:03:00.000+07:00

It has been raining here and it is warm, which means it mushroom time in Moldova. On my way to my daily run my neighbor screamed at me, "come to the woods with us." After five minutes of saying "another time, I don't want to, I want to go run, etc..." I gave in and climbed in the car after convincing my host mom an 3 yr old niece to join in on the fungus fun. I was a little nervous about the adventure, thinking hunting for mushrooms in random forests was illegal...I was wrong. We arrive in the supposedly "frumos" woods and I instantly and swatting at mosquitos. We begin to crawl through the woods, stepping over tree branches and pulling leaves from our faces. After about 20 minutes we exit the woods with empty pails. Guess it isn't the right time. What to do now? Go home, right? Nope. It is time to camp outside of the car to drink goat milk from a jar, tear chunks from bread and down vodka. I did not partake, but managed to pass a drop of goat milk past my lips. Not too bad. It would be even better if it were pasteurized. Our journey ends at home, but not before going to the store for some famous Chisinau beer.
Once at home, the mushroom search party convenes at my house and we enjoy some pig fat, banana bread that I made the day before, beer, and hot cognac liquor stuff. I did not enjoy it and after one go around I switched to beer. The neighbor man tried to convince me that the Russian equivalent to "f*ck you" was not a bad phrase, rather a verb that you can use in your everyday conversations. I knew better and just shook my finger at him. It was a relaxing time and the day concluded with a 50-something year old man putting a 30-something year old woman into a headlock. Good times.

2006-05-27T17:44:00.000+07:00

Chicken Time!

We have about 25 chickens and yesterday my host mom found one with red plastic string wrapped around its tongue. So she killed it. Another one has a bad leg and can't walk around. It is camping out, as you can see by the picture, outside until my host mom is ready to kill it...probably today. So here is a picture of what I will be eating for supper. People always ask me what I eat here, so there you go!

A Jogger's Journal

2006-05-17T15:06:00.000+07:00

I have started a crusade to rid myself of the Winter flubber, now that it is warmer and I no longer need its warmth. I have started, once again, to jog. I don't know that you can call it jogging, as it is just a mere second faster than walking. Still, it is a reason for me to be out and about and to work on my tan even if I am still bundled up in a 3/4 length shirt and capri pants. I am lucky to have a handful of neighboring villages that I can run to, Todiresti, Agronomovca, Alexeevca, Bumbata, Tescureni, and others that I haven't ventured upon. The sign pointing towards Alexeevca says it is 5k but the trek there is shorter than my journey to Todiresti, which is 3k. I asked my host mom if she knew anything about the validity of the sign and she said, "people just write something." Solves that mystery.

I have confirmed everyone's suspicion of me being crazy, by running in the rain yesterday. By the time I completed my run, I was dry again.

I see some interesting things while running.

Here are some of the things I have seen/done/heard/gone on my, so far, week's worth of running:
Two ducks fornicating in my path
Running through a herd of sheep
Using Cows as indicators of distance
Outrunning cars on the road (not saying anything as to my running speed)
Several people stopping to ask if I need a ride
Leaping over cow/horse piles
Being the only person for an approximate 2k circle amongst green fields
I haven't passed a drunk man, but I am sure they are just covering it up well
The many varieties of cow moos
Cars driving off into the dirt on the side of the road to dodge shallow potholes that could potentially damage some part of their car (geesh)

Wrap-Up

2006-05-17T15:05:00.000+07:00

The school year is coming to an end. I have about a week's worth of classes left and my patience is dwindling down. I am ready for the summer and ready to rid myself of students. Most of my students are nice and attempt to do their work, it is just the horrible ones that stand out. Isn't that always the case. My summer plans: To ride my bike (which I have yet to buy...hopefully on Saturday) to friends' villages, Falesti (36k) and such, meet Emily in Istanbul to rock the face of it for a couple of days, conduct lectures/lessons/information sessions for the incoming TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) volunteers coming the beginning of June, start a bike group in my village with the female students in grades 8-12, hang out in Falesti with my friends who I miss, and whatever else seems to pop into my hyperactive head. My friends and I have a big project of conditioning ourselves and being about to bike ride to Iasi, Romania this summer. I would venture to say it is probably 50 miles. And then it will be to Brasov, which will probably take 2-3 days. We can do it, we are Peace Corps Volunteers!

WANTED!

2006-05-13T13:38:00.000+07:00

Give me please FLIP FLOPS! The weather is getting nice and I am tired of locking my feet inside shoes and shocks. My birthday is coming up and I figured I could be a little greedy, whiny, and pushy about something. Any color, any style...although platform and/or heeled flip flops would not go over so well on the dirt roads. Size 7.5-8, use your best judgement. Just stick them into a padded envelope and send them my way! PLEASE!

2006-05-06T23:40:00.000+07:00

A late picture. My English Club girls painting Easter eggs. Thanks Aunt Dot for the package, it was an EXCELLENT idea! They LOVED it!

Back to School

2006-05-06T23:30:00.000+07:00

Spring Break is over. I spent most of the time hanging out with my wonderful friends (Priya Levi Masha and Mark) in Falesti. Priya and Levi have their own apartment and I have christened it as my second home. I even have my own mug there and hopefully after this weekend, my own slippers! It is a great time there, I get to make food for them and play hostess, and just relax.
So...back to school....or is it? I had vacation until this past Tuesday and continued on, in normal Moldovan fashion, with classes till Friday. This upcoming Tuesday (May 9th) is Veteran's Day...to celebrate the end of fighting during World War II. Nope, that isn't the actually end of the war, just when Moldovans claim the war ended, or at least they stopped fighting in it. What does this mean for me? It means I don't have school Monday or Tuesday. 3 days of classes next week? Nope, I don't have class on Friday because my 10th and 11th graders are testing. We have a makeup day of classes on Saturday for the two days we are taking off for Veteran's Day. They are not normal classes, they will be shorter than normal and students from other villages will not be coming. So, it is school, but not really. Then, the Tuesday and Friday after that I don't have classes either, due to testing. The week after that is the last week of classes. Just a few more days to go and I am done! I love the month of May, and not just because it is my birthday!
I bought my plane ticket today for Istanbul where I will spend five glorious days with the lovely and always spontaneous Emma Chic. Should I be worried that the lady wrote my ticket herself? I guess anything goes here in the land of holidays!

2006-04-28T16:55:00.000+07:00

Hristos A Inviat - Easter...the Moldova way

Easter in Moldova is the Sunday after Easter in America, but the basics are the same. Instead of saying "good morning, good afternoon, hello..." you greet each other saying "Christ has risen." So for the entire week, you are saying this and the other person is responding back. It is fun, at least, to me. When you wake up in the morning you have to wash your face with a red colored egg and some bani (coins) in a bowl of water. The previous night, everyone goes to the church to have their bread, eggs, and anything else, blessed for the upcoming holiday. Pasca, is the traditional Easter bread. Every house makes their own. The ingredients consist of about 30 eggs, milk, sour cream and butter, among the regular ingredients needed to make bread. The bread is then rolled out thin, covered with various toppings and then rolled up. My host mom used crushed walnuts and peanuts, apricot jam, crushed sunflowers, and a chocolatey sauce. Inga and I had full intentions of taking a two hour nap, waking up at 11pm and going to church. The appointed time rolled around and Inga refused to get up, so it was a bust. Maybe next year. I wasn't crazy about standing around in a church from midnight to 5am, the way it goes here. The rundown of the day goes like this:
We set up and wait for guests at our house. When they arrive, we sit down to a table full of fish, pork, lamb, salads, candy, bread, vegetables, wine and vodka. We eat generous portions of the (as always) amazing food.
About and hour after eating, we pile into the car and head to the neighboring village where my host grandmother lives. We are welcomed by yet another masa complete, once again, with wine and cognac. We crack eggs with each other, and whoever's egg does not crack, will have a very fulfilled life. I played there and won...so watch out! Inga, her friend, and I venture around, taking silly pictures of ourselves. At least, mine were silly, while there's were attempting to be model quality, right down to the expression. From there we go to my host dad's aunt's house. She is really sick and he wanted to see her. When I arrive, of course, they introduce everyone and I am immediately the conversation of the week. The uncle there was immediately glued to me and pulled a chair right up next to me and began talking. He told me all about his cows, sheep, goat, and his garden. He kept saying, "I will show you, do you want to see?" and, of course, my response was yes. So after drinking and eating some more, he took me on a tour of his place. It was great, right down to the hand holding. He showed me his baby pigs, which I attempted to pet, to the horror of my host mom who was screaming " they will bite you!" I saw his enormous raspberry, onion, garlic, watermelon garden and his wine vineyard. He took me to see the sheep and the baby lambs. I held a baby lamb, once again, to the dismay of my host mom. Then we went out to the field to gather the cow, the baby cow and the goat. I attempted to feed the baby cow but it was always out of my reach. It was fun to see an old man run around chasing a cow and a goat in the countryside.
Once the animals were secure in their places, the tour did not end. I was shown his immense piles of wood for the winter and his cellar. In his cellar, we tasted some wine, straight from the barrel. He gave me canned green beans, apple jam, and strawberry jam. He was truly great. I said "I have a new boyfriend," and everyone laughed.
Easter day did not stop there. We went to my host dad's cousin's house. They began setting up a table, loading on it a big tort, tea, crepes, salami, bread, pasca, and was even going to place alcohol on the table before we all started screaming no. It was a good wind down of the day to have some tea and cake, even if it was 10 pm. It was a long but interesting day.

2006-04-18T01:41:00.000+07:00

Me and my girls. Masha, in white, and Priya, in red.

Weekend Time... Game On

2006-04-18T01:39:00.000+07:00

We all gathered in Falesti this past weekend to hang out in Priya and Levi's apartment. Along for the ride was Levi and Mark's co-coach for the children's baseball team, Sergio. He abandoned his wife and children for the evening to spend it with loud Americans who constantly forgot there was someone in their midst who couldn't understand the words they were saying. We read stories from a crazy book and Mark proceeded to translate them for Sergio...even the innapropriate ones. He seemed to have a great time and stayed until the wee hours of the morning..midnight. It was a great time and I love my new apartment! I have my own bed and mug there. Soon, I will have my own slippers! Can I come home this weekend Priya? :)

Left to right: Masha, Priya, Sergio, Mark, Levi

2006-04-11T13:50:00.000+07:00

This is one of the funniest things I have seen in a while. There are two things in this picture that seem to be a little off. Can you guess what they are?

2006-04-11T13:49:00.000+07:00

You gotta make sure a guy sprays down your transportation vehicle before you cross the border. I think he had koolaid in his container. Yum, koolaid.

2006-03-27T01:12:00.000+07:00

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

2006-03-27T01:11:00.000+07:00

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!

2006-03-27T01:10:00.000+07:00

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

2006-03-22T15:13:00.000+07:00

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!

2006-03-16T21:26:00.000+07:00

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

2006-03-16T02:18:00.001+07:00

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.

2006-03-16T02:18:00.000+07:00

The neighbor twins and Loridana making fish faces.

Vrei un Altoid?

2006-03-15T02:15:00.000+07:00

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!

2006-03-15T02:13:00.000+07:00

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...

2006-03-04T02:54:00.000+07:00

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

2006-03-04T02:51:00.000+07:00

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.

2006-03-02T22:19:00.000+07:00

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

2006-02-27T13:33:00.000+07:00

Evan, Steph, and Inga (my host sister) raising our adult beverages to the wonderful successful that will be our Steak Dinner.

2006-02-27T13:29:00.001+07:00

I was in Chisinau over the weekend and stayed with my host sister. I had a few of my friends stay there as well, because it was cheaper than a hotel. On Saturday night we bought us some big chunks of steaks, mushrooms, and corn and whipped us up one hell of a dinner. We even had dessert and adult beverages. The food turned out amazing and we all felt energized after eating beef. We are ready to face the world again!

2006-02-27T13:29:00.000+07:00

Here is the final product of our wonderful endeavor Saturday evening. No, this is not a restaurant. Yes, we made it ourselves.

My Chinquain to All

2006-02-24T03:21:00.000+07:00

Mama-
grainy, soft, pure
fierbinte, usor, bun
round and round in the pot it cooks
-liga

Go Fish Sucka!

2006-02-17T19:09:00.000+07:00

This week was my second go around with English club. The first week I had five students, 3 of which were younger than the 8-12 grades that I specified. At least they came right. So this time there were 17 students. I explained to them the game of Go Fish and wrote the different suit names and words they need to know to play the game. It was really great to have all the students speaking English at their own will, when they could speak Romanian easier. There was only two decks of cards, so students had to wait their turn. They were really patient waiting for their turns and then getting up to let someone else play. I put on some Love themed music (Valentine's was the day before). It was humorous to hear (Everything I'd Do) I'd Do it For You by Bryan Adams playing while Moldovan kids played Go Fish. So this week was a success and I am thinking the number of students will double for next week. So I better get crackin on things to do.

Happy V Day!

2006-02-17T19:02:00.000+07:00

I knew the day was going to start off well. Walking out of my gate, an old man walking by, stopped to wait for me. I didn't know what he was wanting to do but he began talking to me. He had to be about late 60s or early 70s and I could actually understand him. Most old people here mumble their words and it is very difficult for me to follow them. But he articulated very well. He was talking about English and how hard it was to learn. He wanted to know if I would teach him English. I told him I was busy with school but if he saw me around I could teach him a few words at a time. On the walk to school we started with hello and goodbye. Simple enough. In the five minutes it took to walk to school this man knew two words in English. He was very happy and that made me happy.
Valentine's Day was great here in the good old country of Moldova. During our daily tea and cookies students were waiting for me outside with presents. One girl wrote a poem, copied from an English book, on really nice paper with stickers. The poem was about love and how my love is her life and my life is her life. It was sweet. My other students gave me an angel figurine. I loved them both. I had my studnets in 11th grade write valentine's to their family or friends. At the end of the class they all hand me their valentine's. They had written them to me! I am so lucky to have such sweet students. Or maybe they were just trying to sweeten me up...they are my worst behaved class.

Lights on for Safety

2006-02-15T03:51:00.000+07:00

With the Odyssey of the Mind Competition called off because of undesirable weather (lots of snow and icy roads) I had a lot of free time in Chisinau. I got in on Friday and did not have an appointment till Sunday midmorning. Normally, I would have stressed out, worrying about where I would go, what I would do, who I would have sleeping in my room. Thinking I would be a failure if I did not do what was "acceptable" in the eyes of others. Success meant (in my head), being in a group of people, going out to eat, watching movies, drinking beers, maybe going to a club... Failure (in my head) was going to the hotel, reading a book, all by myself. Well that was what I wanted to do, and that is exactly what I did. I am slowly breaking through this notion I have in my head that says if you are not out with people, don't get invited places or have plans with other people, you are a failure. I am not one of those "people persons" that HAS to be around people all the time. Hell, I live in Moldova, right? But, when I am around other volunteers I feel the need to be around them and be accepted and liked. I don't compromise who I am or act differently, I know that would be stupid. I like being by myself, but I feel paranoid about being invited places and having plans with others. This is something I have to work on and I have plenty of time to do it.
Ok, on to better things. I hung out in Chisinau, drank tons of milk (not whole milk from the neighbor's cow), ate breakfast, watched the Olympics (we are an hour ahead...aren't you jealous America!!!), and vegged out. I got to spend time with Steph and Jess which always sets up my upcoming week for success. As always, I hate to leave Chisinau. But I didn't want to stay. It just takes effort to go to the bus station, buy a ticket, board the bus, and make the ride. I want to be home, but don't want to go through the means necessary to get there. My body was giving me the signs, I just ignored them.
I got on the 4.40 bus and off it rolled at its designated time. We went through all the normal villages and on our stop in Calarasi the driver noticed our headlights weren't working. He opened a box under the cassette deck and began tugging at some wires, while a cigarette dangled from his lips. He didn't seem to worried, although nighttime was closing in...it was about 6 o'clock. The other four people riding the Greyhound type bus loaded back on after having cigarette and pee breaks and we were on our way. Cars were passing, honking and flashing their lights at us, to warn us off our nonworking lights. It wasn't totally dark and thank goodness for the blankets of snow and bright full moon, we had a little light. I was calculating how much longer it would be till my village and how dark it would be then. And the bus's destination wasn't my village...it had another 45 minutes after Pirlita to get to Falesti. I wish I didn't have the seat in the first row as the bus climbed up steep hills where visibility was nil. I began text messaging my friends telling them that I loved them and to pass it on to my family and friends if the bus crashed. I have never been so scared riding in a vehicle. People standing along the rode could not see a huge bus approaching until it was right beside them. I hoped children hadn't decided to play in the street, their mothers warn them all the time. The driver seemed to steer the bus a little faster but dodged cars on the road, steering the bus into patches of untrodden upon snow, a little more than I desired. I nervously tapped my leg against the side of the bus and brainstormed plans in the chance of the bus leaping over a cliff after sliding along the road. My plan was to wrap my scarf around the metal bar in front of me that is used as a handlebar to board the bus and a divide. Obviously (or I hoped), it was bolted to the bus. I would then tie the scarf around my torso. This is all assuming, of course, I had at least a two minutes notice. The other option, if I had merely seconds, would be to wrap my arms around the metal bar running along the window down the entire bus and screaming the most offensive vulgar English word I knew.
Needless to say, I made it home safely, and almost broke out into a run after stepping off the bus. Thank you Mr. Moon for lighting the way for us. If it had been overcast or cloudy, we wouldn't have made it. I hope they reached Falesti.

Moldovan Superstar

2006-02-15T03:50:00.000+07:00

Yeah, being stared at makes me feel special. I did not write the last web log to whine or complain or attempt to be rude or make fun of the great people of this country. They are amazingly helpful, hospitable and generous. As anyone that has been in a country in great contrast to their own can attest, being the center of attention takes its toll after a while. Most days I don't notice, as I went through many phases growing up that made me susceptible to long stares from passerbys. It is only the days when things seem to go wrong or I am agitated that I take note and detest it. Yes, sometimes I am being overly sensitive or easily disturbed. Rarely, in my going on eight months that I have been here have I been annoyed and this is a first for me. I do not find myself getting annoyed or getting pissed at my family members (my host family, that is). Ok, only when my host niece is screaming bloody murder for the fifth time in an hour...but those episodes are becoming rarer as she gets older. My co-workers are nice and I do not get frustrated at their counterproductive ways or annoying habits, as I did in America with the people I worked around. My friends do not wear down when I am around them. I appreciate and treasure the time we spend together (how cheesy, right) and have a tinge (alright, a touch) of sadness when I have to tear myself away from them. I am slowing stripping off the material things that defined me and helped shape me in America. With the layers of material, undesired qualities and behaviors surface but it is a lot easier to change who you when you have a bare bum.

Ma Doare Capul

2006-02-10T23:02:00.000+07:00

Today has been weird. I went to one of my classes before embarking on my journey to Chisinau for the Odyssey of the Mind Competitions (which turned out to be cancelled). The snow started last night and is still going as I am typing this. When I got here I started noticing strange things. At the hotel, as I was trying to give my room key to the lady at the desk to hold on to, I noticed five guys standing there attempting to speak Romanian. I knew they weren't from Moldova/Romania and their attempt to speak a foreign tongue made me smile. They were doing a good job communicating and I hope I look that and sound that way.
At the statue of Stefan cel Mare while waiting for the OM group, that would never show, I saw five guys signing to one another and acting goofy. It made me smile that people were enjoying themselves in the snow. Now I am just sitting in the Peace Corps Volunteer lounge trying to decide what to do with myself until Sunday morning when I have a meeting. Maybe I will venture outside for a stroll in the snow...

What Are You Looking At?

2006-02-08T02:27:00.000+07:00

This situation has come up numerous times so I finally feel the need to address it. Staring in Moldova. It may be that I look funny or am dressed strangely, but people in Moldova roam about freely, staring at people. I have not only noticed them staring at me in a rude manner, but also other people who are native to this country. While walking up a street, the people on the other end (who I am walking towards) stop what they are talking about (probably the price of vegetables) and stare for a solid minute. They don't try to be inconspicuous and don't care that you know they are staring at you. They just stare to their heart is content. It isn't just a normal glance, it is a good and long stare. It is as if I am a multiple facial piercing unnaturally colored Mohawk wearing person making out with my same sex lover in a church parking lot on Sunday blaring anti-semantic rap while chopping off the heads of baby kittens to make juice to sell to the parishioners after mass. But I'm not. I mean really people? Sometimes I smile at them as I pass, other times I walk past, roll my eyes, stick out my tongue, and make a noise, to myself to feel better.

Picture Day!

2006-02-08T02:25:00.000+07:00

Last Thursday was picture day for the teachers, and students in the 9th and 12th grades. Also, the best students from each grade in the school had their pictures taken for a kinda "Who's Who" of the school wall. A teacher, the day before, was discussing the process and said that I could have my picture taken with different animals. In my head I am thinking, "why would I want to take a picture holding a stuffed animal squirrel?" like in my preschool and kindergarten days. Oh well, I have seen stranger things before.
Picture day came and I was supposed to have my picture taken but as in Moldova style, no one could tell me when that would take place. The consensus was, "they will call you to take your picture." I waited and waited, went home to eat, came back for my final lessons and still no one had called me to take my picture. I took matters into my own hands. Upon entering the lunchroom/auditorium/picture studio the table in the far corner immediately drew my attention. On the table were layed out live animals...a baby alligator, a chinchilla, a small spider-type monkey, an iguana, and an owl perched on a pole. Well I will be darned! To have you picture taken you had to pay 15-30 lei depending on if you wanted the picture on the spot or in two weeks. I decided I would think about it and instead went to the line where the students were having their headshots made. I was immediately spotted and told to move to the front of the line. "Why didn't you come earlier? You are late." the teacher assisting asked me. Ugh, go figure.
I eventually yielded to the idea of posing dangerously close to such wild beasts and decided I could not live without such a picture. I gathered the three girls I tutor and we had our pictures made, I held the baby alligator. It was a fun moment, holding an alligator and trying not to strike a Moldovan no smile look.

2006-02-05T03:34:00.000+07:00

This one is cute of the picture of Jennifer and Joey/Steffy

2006-02-05T03:30:00.000+07:00

"This nice child wants to become a businessman because she likes to give many phone calls.

2006-02-05T02:55:00.000+07:00

Ah, vodka is seeping through the roof!

2006-02-05T02:53:00.000+07:00

Seductive "do you want to come use my outhouse?" look.

2006-02-05T02:52:00.000+07:00

Me trying to cross my eyes...unsuccessfully.

2006-02-05T02:51:00.001+07:00

On Friday my students wrote stories about photographs that I brought in. Here are some of the things they said

2006-02-05T02:51:00.000+07:00

Fun with my camera day!

2006-02-05T02:48:00.000+07:00

About my mama.

2006-02-02T18:28:00.000+07:00

My old kids, the 12th graders. They are a little more advanced in their posing.

2006-02-02T18:22:00.000+07:00

it's picture day and I brought my camera. i tried to have the moldovan look, but i wasn't too successful, seeming how I have a smirk on my face. this is my 8th grade class.

Shameless Plug

2006-02-01T16:29:00.000+07:00

This is a shameless plug for things that I need/want. Feel free to send them my way!

People Magazines - or other cheesy celebrity tabloid magazines. If you have a subscription, great, you can mail me your old ones
All Purpose Wipes
Teeth Whitening Strips - Walmart brand are perfect
Rent DVD
Narnia DVD
Any DVDs that would be good to show to my students for English Club
Board Games - Monopoly, CandyLand, Life, Sorry, UNO...The Classics
Play Money - American Dollars of course :)
Holiday Candy - This is a big one! My students LOVE getting them as prizes and rewards. Easter, Valentine's...whatever is out now.
Holiday Decorations - probably Easter, so they will get here in time
Stickers and other small knick knacks I can give out as prizes. Stuff in the party section of stores...small and simple.
Coucous Mix- love the stuff and I miss it dearly!
Peanut Butter
Starbucks Coffee - I am running a tad bit low
Happy Comfy Things - use your imagination!
Pictures!!!

Oh yeah...

2006-01-30T22:29:00.000+07:00

I am a head judge for the Moldova Odyssey of the Mind competition happening this upcoming weekend. My group is judging The Jungle Bloke problem (if you know the OM problems this year, if not...look them up). I am excited about seeing what the students in Moldova do during the competition and really can't wait to talk to them in English and see what they have to say. It is something different in Moldova, where people aren't so quick to think outside of the box and nothing in their day to day life needs creativity. Students here are slow to think critically, independently and creatively and so I am glad they have the opportunity to do this through Odyssey of the Mind. I will take pictures and put them up soon.
Also, every school in each region sends students to the regional center to compete in every subject. I am hopefully going to send a student for English, but all the best students are going to the competition for other subjects and the times conflict. I don't know what the says about the students here, but there are extremely bright and motivated students who excel in every subject, and then the rest, it seems, excel in nothing and just merely get by. The teachers also compete in little competitions as well, such as Volleyball and table tennis. I was approached today by another teacher who asked me if I knew how to play table tennis. She competed in the sport the last year and wanted to give up her position for someone who could do a better job. So I had to display my ability to her by playing with a 7th grader. After a minute she was like, "Yeah, you will do well, yeah, you are better than me. Good Good, you will compete in table tennis." So it is settled. I don't know when this competition is, but wish me luck!

2006-01-30T22:23:00.000+07:00

Yet another picture for the blog. From left to right: Inga (my host sister), me, Krista, Steph, Priya, Jess, and Levi. My great Moldova 16 friends outside my house after the lovely Christmas dinner Steph and I made.

Snow Days

2006-01-30T22:22:00.000+07:00

I haven't wrote in a while on this thing, despite the abundance I have time I have recently acquired. This past week the weather was around 2-8 degrees as the high and school was canceled. Not snow days, but cold days. Who would have thought? But, the children walk to school, some five minutes others 35 minutes. The weather being as cold as it was, was not making the trip any easier for them and made the school harder to heat. I got to school this past Monday only to learn that classes had been cancelled for the day. I went home and hung out with my host mom and neighbor. The neighbor mentioned that school was cancelled for the entire week for her children, who are in elementary school. I wondered if my school would be in the same situation. Good thing I called my counterpart who told me that there would be no school for the rest of the week. Woohoo! Another long break for me. We had just returned from Christmas vacation and had only gotten through one week of classes before we stop again for another week. So I slept in, read a lot, watched television and all in all, was very lazy. I went to the piata in Ungheni on Thursday morning and when I returned my host mom said that the neighbor's children went to school and that there was school. Hmmm, no one told me. So I did not go, even though I had classes yet to happen later in the day. No one called to let me no, so good riddance to them. I asked my host mom how people in the village knew that the school would open for Thursday and Friday. She said, one person calls another and it spreads like that. Everyone just calls around gossiping and that is how they find things out. Interesting. I did manage to make it to school on Friday to finish out the week. Even then, there weren't that many students in the classes, it still was a little cold. But this week it is back to normal, except each class stays in their homeroom for every lesson instead of moving around. The teacher's move around to them. This somehow helps to combat the cold weather. Go figure.
Today my 8th graders are learning about the U.S.A. We learned the great lakes, different important cities (Atlanta is even included in the book's vocabulary...sorry, they left out Columbus), and big rivers. They really enjoyed it and liked hunting for the places on my map that is under the chalkboard. For the optional class today after school I started to teach the United States Song. The song that lists all the states in more or less alphabetical order. I wrote the words down, had them pronounce all the states, and sang it for them. We have gotten through 1/4 of it and I am going to finish teaching it to them on Thursday. I will be sure to take pictures and even video. So kudos to Matt who had to memorize the song in elementary school and I had to listen to him practicing it for an entire evening. That is how I learned it and am now able to teach my students. They are loving it and enjoy memorizing things like this. They will be excited to know the song and want to impress their family and friends that they know all the states in the United States.
So that is all I am up to right now. I am still crocheting my blanket, I am almost done with the 2nd ball of yarn. Only five more of them to go and I will be done. My host mom is impressed with all my crafty abilities. I am also beginning to read some great books by a great British author, P.G. Wodehouse. He is very funny in, of course, a British sort of way and using the most interesting words to describe and explain things. His stories are so incredibly hilarious and absurd. It is just what I need to add to my daily regiment. I am reading "Laughing Gas" right now and am looking at "Very Good, Jeeves!" sitting beside me waiting to be opened. I highly recommend them! That is all, I am signing out now!

I Met A Boy and I Have Packages

2006-01-21T13:41:00.000+07:00

I had to wake up this morning at 3.20. That's right, 3.20 A.M. The train in my village leaves at 4.30 for Chisinau. I had a meeting at 10.30 and so the train was my only option of transportation. I could have taken a rutiera, but with inches of snow and ice covering the roads, it isn't such a safe option. So I got to the train station at 3.55 expecting the train to arrive at 4.10. I wait and wait and wait, but luckily a boy (20 years old) approaches me and asks me for the time. We start talking and discussing things, as much as he can in his moldovan language and as much as I can in my Romanian. He asked me if I knew Moldovan and I said "yes, I know Romanian." But he claimed that Moldovan is different than Romanian. I asked him how the two languages were different and he just shuffled his feet and tried to sputter some response.
The different between Romanian and Moldovan language as a fellow volunteer expressed is "in Moldovan you can throw in Russian words whenever you want." How true that is.
So finally the train arrived at 4.30. I don't know whether it was slow because of the weather conditions or that the train has a new schedule. Regardless, we got on the train and the boy, Victor, sat across from me. Pretty soon after, he asked for my phone number, and I gave it to him. I need to start making friends in my village, or with people close to my village. He happens to live in the neighboring village. He got off of the train at an earlier stop and my travels took me further to Chisinau.
I got packages! That's right, two of them! One of them was from my parents and filled with yarn, crocheting needles, shirts, cds, and my old favorite flip flops. The other was from my Great Aunt and had hot cocoa, a chocolate bar, toe socks, and BUCKEYES...my favorite holiday treat. I had to walk about a mile to get from the train station to the Peace Corps Office. It was about 10 degrees outside, but I had multiple layers and was moderately warm.
Upon asking for my packages, the guy searched for them, and at last they were mine. When he handed them to me he said "just smile, be happy." I laughed a little at the comment and didn't quite understand what he meant by that. When I got to the bathroom I realized why he had said that. The mascara that I applied before leaving the house was all underneath my eyes. My eyes teared up in the cold weather causing my mascara to run. He thought I had been crying. So I had been walking around Chisinau looking like either a homeless prostitute or a bawling baffoon. Oh well, I got a good laugh out of it.
After my meeting today I am heading straight back to my village. I can't wait to see my bed and dive into its warm blankets.

2006-01-18T01:02:00.000+07:00

Finally, I can showcase my hat in all its glory. This isn't my best picture but the pile of fur on my head and the sparkler in my hand help. Thanks Krista...I snatched the picture from you!

The Party Is Over, Kiddo

2006-01-17T02:27:00.000+07:00

It's now back to work. My vacation seemed rather short and I don't think I really had a chance to simply rest. I did manage to do a lot...hosted a Christmas party, partied in Chisinau, had a great time with my brother, hung out with my host sister/brother-in-law/niece, celebrated Christmas with my host aunt/uncle/cousins, celebrated New Years, celebrated New Years (Old), read a book and a half, and even managed to write lesson plans (both long-term and short-term).
The first day went by smoothly. I was expecting the schedule to be all mixed up in a funk with some crazy ceremony, but I was wrong. There was only a teacher's birthday, everything else was completely normal. Although, when I say it was a ONLY a teacher's birthday, that means bottles of champagne, cake, cookies, chips, coffee, soda, leaving the students lurking around the halls and waiting in their classrooms until we finish. I ducked out of the party semi-early. Excuse me if I wanted to teach a lesson and impart a little knowledge on my students in lieu of downing champagne and burping with the faculty.
On Mondays I have six classes, usually starting at 11 and ending at 4:30. I deem a day a success if I get to teach at least half of the classes planned for that day. That doesn't mean half the students, that hasn't happened since the first week of school. Today, I taught 4 out of 6 classes. The 12th graders simply skipped out, although two of the students came. I didn't feel like putting them through an entire lesson, so I had them write down a few vocabulary words with translations and sent them packing. One of the students lingered behind and we talked, in English, till the next lesson. We talked about Moldova and Russia's relationship with Moldova and impact on them. What makes Moldovan's Moldovan? Stuff like that, it was very interesting. The optional class for one of my 10th grade classes simply skipped out as well. But unlike the 12th graders, none of them showed up. It is hard in the winter to keep students at school. The nights come earlier, and the school is colder in the afternoon when they stopped feeding the fire and the school isn't full with warm bodies. Also, about a quarter of the students live in other villages and do not have transportation past a certain time, so they fail to stay after for the optional lessons. What can you do? It gets frustrating, but you can't punish them for something they have no control over, right?
So that's all. School has started again and I have something to fill my To Do list again.

Book List

2006-01-15T23:49:00.000+07:00

I have read more books during the 7th months that I have been here than I have ever in my entire life, I believe. I am going to begin listing the books as I read them so I can keep track. And also, so I can brag about my newly found literary mind. I have read a lot of amazing books and would love to share them with others.

(These are in no particular order, as I had to rack my brain to spit out the titles)

1. The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck - AMAZING book.
2. High Fidelity - a classic...and also a film
3. Twice Told Tales by Nathaniel Hawthorne - a very good read, what a talented writer
4. Zen & The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance - took awhile to get through, the material is very heavy and intense, but thought provoking
5. Hypocrite in a White Poufy Dress - clever stories about a woman's life growing up
6. Stolen Lives - AMAZING, and terrifyingly true
7. Catching Alice - could almost be considered a chick book
8. Icy Sparks - Oprah must have been on something when she put it on her book list.
9. Justice - AMAZING, and also, terrifyingly true stories about how the justice system failed
10. Widow for One Year - I like how the story is divided...great story
11. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe - a classic and quick read
12. Nickel & Dimed - this book let me down, I thought it would be better...not worth the time, doesn't prove anything
13. Bushwhacked - a GREAT book!
14. The Handmaids Tale - an AMAZING book. Sad that it took me this long to find and read it
15. The Girl with the Pearl Earring - AMAZING book!
16. Wicked - because I love The Wizard of Oz I checked this book out. Wasn't what I thought it would be, it turned out to be better!
17. Devil Wears Prada - very good story about the devil of the fashion magazine industry
18. On The Road by Jack Kerouac - such an AMAZING book, makes you sad that you didn't live when the story took place
19. Guns, Germs & Steel - a very very good book. I pick it up on and off because the information tends to be a little scientific and you have to really pay attention.
20. Weekly Newsweeks - cover to cover baby!

Oh What A Night

2006-01-15T23:44:00.000+07:00

Today is yet another holiday in Moldova. Luckily for me, and my liver, it is the final celebration of the holiday season. This whole big Hoo Ha started with New Years, of course, on December 31st. Drinking eating and dancing. Next up was Christmas on January 7th. In Moldova, most of the people are Orthodox and follow the Orthodox calendar. Only Russia, Belarus and Moldova (I believe) celebrate Christmas on this date. Finally, the Old New Years. Yet another oxymoron in the land of Moldova. Every Moldovan I have spoken with has said that New Years (both Old, and...well New) is a bigger holiday than Christmas. Who would have thought the beginning of a new year is more important than the birth of our lord and savior Jesus Christ? I don't question, I just tip up my glass of cognac after saying "La Multi Ani."
The plans for this last holiday of the season are normal, I suppose. My host family (Aliona, Mihai and Loridana too) are traveling to the nearby village of Bumbata where my host grandma is preparing the feast. There will be other relatives there, including the family I spent Christmas with. I'll be sure to count the people crowded around the table and let you know the final number. I think I currently hold the record of 12 people around the table in my room. I will also try to count the number of drinks, as well as types of alcohol, that I consume today. I said I will try...things start to get hazy after the 8th shot of vodka/shot of cognac/glass of wine and the nonstop Moldovan conversations don't help to clear my head.
The people of Moldova are incredibly interesting in horoscopes, the year and the month you were born. They use these things to figure out your personality and why or why not the person you are with is good for you. This year, 2006, is the year of the Dog. I was born in the year of the Dog and so this year is going to be a great year for me. Whenever I talk about a family member my host mom always asks "what month were they born in? ... oh, capricorn (or whatever sign they are) they are spicy and make quick decisions." A newspaper in Moldova even published an entire spread devoted to horoscopes for the new year. The pages had a grid, with each monthly sign down the left side and then across the top of the spread. You are supposed to find your sign on the left and the sign of your partner on the top and then look at the box where they intersect. In the box are symbols to tell you how the next year will be for you with that person. Love, Money, Fighting, A New Child, Problems with Children, etc. My host mom in Costesti was quick to evaluate her and Slavic's relationship and to question Olesea about her boyfriend prospects. She tried to prod me for guys that I like so she could check out what lies ahead for us. I politely declined.

The Year of the Dog

2006-01-15T23:42:00.001+07:00

Today (actually yesterday because I am late in posting this) is yet another holiday in Moldova. Luckily for me, and my liver, it is the final celebration of the holiday season. This whole big Hoo Ha started with New Years, of course, on December 31st. Drinking eating and dancing. Next up was Christmas on January 7th. In Moldova, most of the people are Orthodox and follow the Orthodox calendar. Only Russia, Belarus and Moldova (I believe) celebrate Christmas on this date. Finally, the Old New Years. Yet another oxymoron in the land of Moldova. Every Moldovan I have spoken with has said that New Years (both Old, and...well New) is a bigger holiday than Christmas. Who would have thought the beginning of a new year is more important than the birth of our lord and savior Jesus Christ? I don't question, I just tip up my glass of cognac after saying "La Multi Ani."
The plans for this last holiday of the season are normal, I suppose. My host family (Aliona, Mihai and Loridana too) are traveling to the nearby village of Bumbata where my host grandma is preparing the feast. There will be other relatives there, including the family I spent Christmas with. I'll be sure to count the people crowded around the table and let you know the final number. I think I currently hold the record of 12 people around the table in my room. I will also try to count the number of drinks, as well as types of alcohol, that I consume today. I said I will try...things start to get hazy after the 8th shot of vodka/shot of cognac/glass of wine and the nonstop Moldovan conversations don't help to clear my head.
The people of Moldova are incredibly interesting in horoscopes, the year and the month you were born. They use these things to figure out your personality and why or why not the person you are with is good for you. This year, 2006, is the year of the Dog. I was born in the year of the Dog and so this year is going to be a great year for me. Whenever I talk about a family member my host mom always asks "what month were they born in? ... oh, capricorn (or whatever sign they are) they are spicy and make quick decisions." A newspaper in Moldova even published an entire spread devoted to horoscopes for the new year. The pages had a grid, with each monthly sign down the left side and then across the top of the spread. You are supposed to find your sign on the left and the sign of your partner on the top and then look at the box where they intersect. In the box are symbols to tell you how the next year will be for you with that person. Love, Money, Fighting, A New Child, Problems with Children, etc. My host mom in Costesti was quick to evaluate her and Slavic's relationship and to question Olesea about her boyfriend prospects. She tried to prod me for guys that I like so she could check out what lies ahead for us. I politely declined.

What Is Odd About This Picture?

2006-01-11T02:37:00.000+07:00

A. It is snowing
B. Someone hung out their laundry to dry in the snow
C. The fact that someone actually felt the need to wash their shorts during the winter

2006-01-11T02:27:00.000+07:00

What is odd about this picture?

Hunch Punch, Sparklers, and A Big Furry Hat

2006-01-10T01:20:00.000+07:00

This Christmas I had a few of my friends over for the night. Steph, Jess, Levi, Priya, and Krista all came to my house to partake in a Christmas dinner and foul play. I surprised them by preparing Christmas dinner and had it on the table when they arrived. Steph came the day before and she helped me get it all together. The menu consisted of both American and Moldovan food. There was chicken (prepared with the help of my host mom), mashed potatoes (which my host sister Inga prepared, and they tasted EXACTLY like from the States), mushroom gravy, stuffing, cabbage corn and crab salad, and a few salads my host mom through on the table for our vegetarian friend Priya. Levi mixed some Hunch Punch up to perfection and Steph used her magical baking ability to make double chocolate chunk-ness brownies, banana bread, apple lemon bread, and deep dish apple pie for the next morning.
I insisted my host family join us in the feast and they were interested to check out what we made and to taste it. I live in a casa mica, which is a little two room house beside the house in which my host family lives. Think studio apartment. Using my table that I do schoolwork on, we crammed in about 12 of us onto the little table in my little house. It is amazing how you can fit about three times the people a table can normally hold. But here they use plates the size of the ones you use with teacups, so they helps increase the space. My host family enjoyed the Hunch Punch and couldn't believe it had a whole bottle of Vodka in it, because they couldn't taste it. Levi is just that good. They enjoyed the stuffing and gravy. All in all, the dinner was a big success. Getting it all together was a lot easier with my host mom and sisters helping look after the chicken, bring in plates and dishes, and their little comments that, although at times annoying, seemed to make it a little better.
After dinner, more drinking, and desert, we sat down to play Dirty Santa. We all purchased gifts of 50 lei or less, wrapped them, and put them in the middle of us. We drew numbers (1-6) and whoever has #1 gets to pick a present first. They open it and then #2 can either pick #1's gift or chose one from the circle that they don't know what it is. This is a very fun game. Priya's gift was this awesome white rabbit fur puffy winter hat. At first Krista had the hat and I had Levi's awesome present of a wooden pipe and a mortar and pestle. I loved it, but I had my eye on the hat. It was Priya's turn and she picked someone else's present and the other person picked my present. So it was my turn to pick a present, either the one left in the circle, or one that someone else has. I went for the hat and snagged it away from Krista. So, at the end of the game I had in my possession the wonderful hat. I think Krista is still bitter about it (ha!) but it is definitely one rockin' hat.
After the game we sat around and sang Christmas songs with my host mom sitting in listening to it. It was really nice to sing with everyone, even the silly Christmas songs. Then we went outside with Levi's newly acquired sparklers and firecracker. We all went into the street and danced around with our sparklers. People must have thought we were nuts, these adults acting like children. And of course since there was snow we had to have a snow fight.
Christmas was a great time and it was wonderful to share it with my friends. It almost felt like a regular Christmas...almost.

Weeeee!!!

2006-01-10T01:17:00.000+07:00

Steph came into Pirlita the day before Christmas to hang out. On Christmas Eve we decided to take a walk around the town. Upon reaching the hill next to the school we saw children on 1950's style sleds flying full speed down the hill. What a great time they must be having! I thought "I can get one of these kids to give up there sled for me." So I walked up to a kid I remember from school and asked him if we could use his sled to go down the hill once. He said sure and Steph and I crammed on this sled. The sled is made for one small child, but somehow we thought there would be room for two adults. After cramming onto this old style sled the boy insisted on pushing us down the hill. We were zigzagging down the hill screaming the entire way. It was fun, but we wanted better.
I noticed a sled in the neighbor's yard when starting the walk and so we went back to snatch it. The neighbor wasn't home so we just snatched it up and marched back to the hill like two kids up to know good. We were going to show this children how to sled, even though we have little to know experience. After all, we are American AND adults...we can do anything...and better!
So we get on the slightly larger sled, with me in the front. My feet are propped up on the front parts of the sled legs with Steph's sticking out the side. We put our feet out and start to gain speed. It was sooo freakin fast, we didn't realize how steep the hill really was. After a few times of landing in the ditch, we figure out how to steer the darn thing. The plastic rope reigns just weren't working. Steph was in the back with her feet sticking out straight beside me. I would push down on her ankles, pressing her heels to the ground in order to steer. If we wanted to go left, I would push down her left foot, and likewise for the right. Finally getting this down, we were off on our best ride down the hill. The hill goes from pavement to dirt near the bottom, with about a six inch drop off when the dirt begins. We were feeling courageous and took the sled down to the end. When we hit the drop off we flew in the air. We swear there was at least a foot of air. We were screaming the whole time we were sledding. It was either the wine buzz we had or the shear joy of sledding with children in the snow on Christmas Eve.

2006-01-09T01:31:00.000+07:00

I haven't had much time or motivation to write anything for a while. So here is a little teaser of Loridana and I from Christmas (January 7th) with my host family and aunt and uncle. Maybe I will conjur up some motivation to actually write something....soon, let's hope.

2005-12-31T04:11:00.001+07:00

In the city

2005-12-31T04:11:00.000+07:00

Striking a pose!

2005-12-31T04:09:00.000+07:00

Matt I and some volunteers

2005-12-31T04:08:00.000+07:00

Matt and I at a restaurant in Chisinau