80s Flashback

Halloween in Romania is a tough sell. We Americans love it to death, get all excited to dress up in funky clothes and go get crazy for free candy and apples. They know what Halloween is here but the idea they have is of the goblin and goul version so generally when PCVs throw Halloween dances or parties at their schools they end up with 18 witches and about 20 zombie vampires.

The West siders decided to take the concept of Halloween back a few decades to the time of big hair, bright clothes, and bad music in the form of an 80s prom at one of the volunteers houses.

The infamous 10 lei lime green pumps

Me and My new bestie Sara rockin the big hair

80's cast of Friends maybe?

Power hour mixes, reese cups and blow pops thanks to parental care packages, recas wine, and petrosani palica all rolled into one turned into one unbelievable holiday. Thanks guys

Who Said You Can't Go Home?

Someone who clearly does not have the amazing friends I do apparently. Due to their extreme generosity I am able to take a three week break and head back to the States for the interim period between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Its the perfect time too, Christmas songs, Santas at the mall, sales galore, Holiday Ales, and lets not forget, PEOPLE! And also the perfect time because A- my driver's license is about to expire and needs renewal, B- Sallie Mae needs a stern talking to, C- I haven't been out of the country since June, and finally and almost more importantly D- It has been 1 year, 6 months, and 3 days since I last had Taco Bell and that's just wrong.

Rough Program for Howard's Kinda Christmas Trip

29 November - Arrive to Chicago O'Hare -
30 Nov- 2 Dec - Playing the Tourist, Cookies/Carols/Dinner, Pizza gets its category-
2 Dec- 5 Dec - University of Dayton Reunion '10- shenanigans and snaking
6 Dec- 11 Dec - Tigertown- Mother's commandeered a whole week and she can because she's my mother
12-16 Dec - Friend Time...PCRO in Ohio (and yes Jos that includes you), Construction Activities
16-17 Dec- Columbus Reboot - hello Hyde Park martinis
18-21 Dec- White House Christmas
22 Dec - Arrive back to Romania

wow I'm going to be a busy lil bee...

Eat.Pray.Love

Went to see this last weekend with some fabulous lady volunteers from group 27 and this quote from the movie has been lingering in the back of my head ever since


Liz: I'm sick of everyone telling me I need a man.
Felipe: You don't need a man, Liz, you need a champion.

truer words were never said.

Great Music

Two words that sum up this past weekend.

It all started when Sara got me down to Recas since I was feelin a lil homesicky and stir crazy here in Arad. Her site is so super adorable, wine capital of Romania so naturally she has Cramalele on every corner and vineyards on every hill.  Since she's one of the newer volunteers I decided to introduce her to the powerhour website and the idea to use skype to hangout with your friends. We immediately called up another volunteer who took a whole two seconds to decide he wanted to play too. Six liters of beer, one mid powerhour emergency beer run, three instances of spontaneous dance parties and 2.5 hours later... we had danced, laughed, and sung old 80s hits and rock jams to our hearts content.

Naturally the only way to start the morning after a rough night like that is with the Lion King's opening song.

Hitching into the nearest big city gave us sing along quality tunes, and everything culminated in STEP UP 3 in 3D.  Hot moves, hot guys (dangerously hot guys, almost torturously hot)  and hot dancing. And yes all that joy in 3D. Did I mention the theatre had nachos?? No? Well they did, they were the price of a movie ticket but it was worth it.

Looking for a cure for the lonelies? Try the above weekend that I have trouble conveying how fun it actually was :)

We Did It Romania!

3,400 volunteers. 6 hours. 7,000 bags of trash collected from all over Arad county.

The largest ever social action project in Romania went off without a hitch and was a TREMENDOUS success. Congratulations to the organizers and participants!!

I of course got the great job of team support which included smiling when they got stressed, fetching coffees and snacks, and taking notes while they talked on one of three phones to the villages. And I got to take pictures too lol. Hey somebody's got to do it

Zi's Got a Girlfriend

So you know how in second grade when you like a boy and you follow him around and poke him and when he runs away you just chase after him and do it again? Well Bianca's kitty Miti was doing this to Zi. I had taken him with me over to Bianca's after the oven exploded because I was all paranoid and didn't want him walking in the glass.

Hey, I just want to give you love and kisses!

After about an hour of touch and chase, Zi follows her outside and onto the top of a pharmacy where Bianca had to climb down onto from her balcony to get him, because being an indoor only tomcat he didn't know how to get back up. Oh the crazy things we get ourselves into in the name of LOVE.

KABOOM!

So I've become quite a baker since my arrival in Romania, its a great way to spend an afternoon, make some friends and fill your house with delicious aromas. Cookies, Muffins, Dumplings, you name it I've at least attempted to make it. And people loooooooooooove themselves some of my cookies :) They generally last about five minutes on any given table.

Today at the request of the previously mentioned hard working friends of mine from Let's Do It, I was preparing a batch a chocolate chunkers, getting just ready to pop the first batch in the preheated oven when KABOOOOOOM!!!!! I turn around and there is glass EVERYWHERE in my kitchen and aluminum insulation hanging precariously from the door --->


Now for all you smarty physics lovers out there

1. No I did not recently clean it (though it needs it)
2. It was room temperature in my kitchen before turning it on
3. It had been on for a maximum of ten minutes heating up.

Now WHat the hell went wrong??!?!??!?!?

All You Have to Do is Call...

This week has been oddly rough. All pollen, dust, kitty fur, and any other irritant has found its way into my apartment rendering me nose-less for the past ten days. Grey skies do not help boost one's mood either.

What has helped is getting back in touch with people I love and miss dearly, I have been fortunate to talk to every single one of my best friends from the States these past few days and while it makes me wish I was home with them, they are all so excited to see me that I know the wait will have been worth it, and the eventual reunion will be one I remember for the rest of my life.

opie- yeah, its all about the people howard.

In other news, some dear friends of mine here in Arad (and all of Romania) are putting together a nationwide clean-up in a single day. http://www.letsdoitromania.ro/en/ Something to pay attention to...

Back to School...

This morning in Romania, all the little kiddies had to go to classes for the first time after summer holidays. After talking to some fellow PCVs, turns out the the first day is pretty much like syllabus day in college. You go, find out who your new teachers are, where the classroom is, and then everyone goes home. Not too bad eh?

With the beginning of school again, it brings to mind so many quotes

"the fall always makes me want to buy school supplies..." You've Got Mail

" I bet in high school, everyone made somebody's life hell" Romy and Michele's High School Reunion

and of course Billy's back to school song

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVFT7i94zQU

Around Romania in 8 Days

What began as a whirlwind tour of Transilvania complete with folk festivals and hitchhiking, followed by intellectual talks while waiting for late trains in Bucuresti, getting tanned (and sunburnt in awkward places) at the hippie hideaway of Vama Veche, then a long long long impossibly long train ride back to my kitty kitten wrapped it up. Though for this gal I never stay in one place too long so I immediately packed up and headed out to our one year conference in Sibiu for the week.

One Year.

Damn.

I'll have to think on this one.

Tirgoviste Redeux

Back to the first city I lived in. Back in time one year plus a few days. Back to the strangers that had become family.

This time around I was only staying for three days not three months and had the entire time free to spend with the Ionescu family. I got to see what they actually did while I was away at school all day, and as I had suspicions they napped after I left (for almost a year I believed they ran on less than four hours of sleep a night, waking up with me at 6am and going to sleep after midnight)

Three days of nothing but Romania really made me realize how much I've learned and how much better it is now that we can talk all day. Mariana is as funny as ever and has learned two sentences in English, Iza still refuses to admit she speaks any at all, and Denisa and I got to catch up like in person instead of my awkward written Romanian. We went to the pool, the park, out for drinks with the whole family, and pizza with just the girls. Not a bad couple of days, and definitely made me homesick being a part of a family again but at the same time made me realize that I was part of the family. Mariana says I'm not allowed to leave Europe because then I'll never come back to see her again and will forget all my Romanian so then I won't even be able to write her. Really do love that woman.

best quote of the visit- "the crazy girl has come back to us, now stay here and talk to me all day, those grandchildren of mine are boring" from the bunica (grandmother)

Be Italian!

It has happened again, that my travels have led me to another beautiful city full of things that Becca and I had no idea what we were looking at until we broke down and finally bought a guide book to inform us.

The most fascinating stories I suppose come as always from the people we meet

-the group of Romanians who bought us drinks the first night

-the twins from California who upon hearing we were Peace Corps volunteers spent the rest of the night saluting us whenever they saw us

-our couchsurfing hosts who taught Becca how to dance using her whole body

- the nice man who helped me find a church and turned out to be Romanian and wanted me to stay with him for free the rest of the summer so he could cook for me, (english, romanian translation)

--Can I help you?

---Yes, I’m looking for this church to meet my friends.

--You go here? It’s on the way to my store come with me, I know. Sorry I don’t speak much English. Italiano?

---Romana?

----You’re Romanian??? I am from Craiova!!!

-----No, I’m not Romanian I teach there for the past year

---- Oh what luck, how long will you be in Rome?

----I leave today actually (first attempt to leave)

------Oh no, you cannot you must come stay with me for the summer! I will not charge you anything, you must come back to Rome its only 40 Euros, and I will cook for you all summer. It’s such a pity you should leave this day. Come to my restaurant tonight for dinner, bring you’re colleagues.

----Ha I’m sorry but I have a plane at 7, but it was nice to meet you. (second attempt)

-----No its too sad, I will come to Romania in December you must meet me there, its so wonderful to meet an American who speaks such nice Romanian. I will tell my mother about you, though she will not believe me

- meeting up with long lost pen pal friends (congratulations on the engagement again greg!)

-going on possibly my first date ever with a guy that took me to the beach, dinner, and for a rain soaked run to get gelato.

-helping out the Spanish girls trying to go to st.peters by selling them our scarves so they could get in (you to have thighs and shoulders covered we come to find out) (this is also where they hide all the cuties and try to disguise them I funny clown-like suits and where we solidified our ticket to hell for thinking impure thoughts at the most famous church in the world)

Other adventures include running through train stations trying to find our bus to the airport, then running through the bus station, then getting stuck in traffic, being laughed at by the customs officer as we stood panting at his booth because we thought we would miss our plane, and then finally amusing the man in our row on the plane by listing as many four letter words we could from A to Z that could be taken in a dirty way (childish yes, but entertaining nonetheless) the final scurry to a taxi that would not rob us blind with a fee and convincing the poor kid at the hotel to give us a room without a reservation brought our trip to a close

Dayton and the Delta

One year ago I left my best friends in the world to come to Romania. The University of Dayton became my home in so many more important ways than it can ever possibly be understood.

This past month I got the chance to meet up with a group of UD students traveling around Eastern Europe for a study abroad sustainability course. They had invited me to join them on the last leg of their tour on the Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve. (Yes I have dozens of pictures but not on this computer, check the facebook album I will eventually post for visual aids) We spent a full week on a floating hotel checking out endangered bird species, frogs, floating reed beds, infinate amounts of breathtaking landscapes and intense intellectual discussions on science and the future of the planet. I was in heaven as you can imagine.

One of the main reasons I was asked to join the students was to talk about Peace Corps and Romania, and the projects I have done and are trying to get done. I found that in talking about not just myself all week, but about Romania that I have come to fall deeply in love with this country. The more I talked about it and described all the little quirks of the people and culture and in talking to some of the staff on the boat, and translating the questions of the students, I realized how happy I was. I also got a much needed boost of support and appreciation. I can't think of how many times I got praised for my work, even though I basically play with kids all day it seems not so much to me, but I was able to look from the outside for a little bit and recognize that in a small way, teaching the web of life and its connection to us humans, is a small but important lesson to learn.

One of the professors asked do I feel like a better person because of my time here and I honestly shocked myself when I said yes immediately. And I do. I think that not everyone needs to be a volunteer for two years, but everyone should spend some time alone abroad to learn about what you can actually get through as a person, learn from it, and then find out a passion you never thought you had before.

Bottom line. Thank you Dayton, for reminding me why I came here. And for believing in me that its the right choice.

A Trip to the Village

This was not the first time I had been out to Hasmas to see Jimmy. I had lost track of the amount of times I had randomly decided to hop on the bus to get out of the city. So most of the 300 people recognized if didn't know exactly who I was, a friend of Domnul Jimmy the American English teacher was enough of an identifier.

Since I had been out a few times I have been able to cultivate a relationship with a family Jimmy spends alot of time with. Alin and Lili and their two kids Carmen (4) and Raul (2) and the grandmother known affectionately as Baba Tuta.

It's a slower pace out in the countryside, on a walk to the park with Lili and the kids everyone was gathering for a rare chance of seeing a bridal party march through the town and to the one large room suitable for a reception that will last until dawn. While waiting Carmen and I played games ( its tricky as all get out trying to play animal charades with a four year old in Romanian by the way) and ran around the swings, Raul caused the mischief that two year old boys do, and the older women sat on the benches maintaining a running commentary just like sports announcers. But I more than once while being trying desperately to remember what a horse is called stopped and looked around at the community that is a small village like this. Sure there are teenagers on cell phones and satellite dishes on the ONE three level bloc but its not that far a stretch to imagine that life has been moving on like this for centuries. My love for Hasmas infinately swelled when Baba Tuta let me climb into the corn bin to remove the kernals to feed the chickens from a bucket and stack the husks to make fire for hot water in the bathroom. "Facem chocoloi!" was the motto. Jimmy was definately better but I held my own for a first timer though nowhere near as gracefully or swiftly as Tuta.

Thank you Romania for allowing a place like this to exist just an hour outside the bustling metropolis that is Arad.

Feeling Useful

How To Do It 101

step one- write grants to build cool structures out of recycled materials.

step two- go on field trips with colleagues and their students to museums and zoos

step three- assist counterpart in developing thematic units for educational activities

step four- play with kids outside all day and simultaneously work on your tan and teach them about teamwork.

step five- bake cookies. you can never go wrong there.

Not creative enough to deserve a title

Greg, ( and everyone else)

I apologize for the staleness of my blog. I'l try harder to entertain you with stories of adventures while you are stuck in an office-ish setting all day.

that is all.

Half Full Thinking

So not to be happy at the misfortunes of others but I sure am glad this volcano has stranded Group 24 and kept them in Bucuresti for a few extra days because that means I get company the whole time I'm in town for medical appointments. I feel super bad because I can't really provide much support except a listening ear for their laments when all they want to do is get home after two years.

Which also makes me realize that the halfway point is coming up fast!! (may 29= 1 year in country) been rough going but I am hopeful that this next year I'll really be able to hit my stride and get some good works going. Didn't end up getting my grant the first round but I'll rewrite and resubmit and try again. Things have been going pretty well lately, planning another trip with Becca, we found super cheapo tickets and it will be good to get away after a long haul from our last excursion. Rome this time.

I started tutoring again and aside from all the language practice it entails Claudio is teaching me lots of cultural diddies and stories so sometimes its more him talking than me but they are interesting, for example the word for straw "paie" doesn't actually mean straw its referrring to the dried stems of flowers and plants they used before the plastic versions were available.

Wish me luck on the rest of my appointments, I've been poked and x-rayed all week and the end is almost near. Then its on to spend some girl time with Becca before heading back to work and teaching the kiddies about how awesome the environment is.

Sun and Storms

So you can definitely tell the arrival of April showers when out of nowhere on a previously sunny day, a thunderstorm rolls on in lasts about seven minutes and then continues on its way. This little guy was caught taking shelter on my balcony.

I'm very much looking forward to the May flowers...

Capital of Culture

Sibiu. 2007's European Capital of Culture. My new favorite city in Romania.

My original plans to spend Easter here in Arad were changed when I was invited to go to Sibiu and Sighisoara for the weekend two of the oldest cities in Transylvania, that were able to maintain their old world european charm and did not fall victim to communism's hammer of destruction.

Driving back up in to the mountains we passed by the fortified churches and towns. Learned that Romania has a king and queen, they live in a small town about an hour from Sibiu and he has some political influence though he is mostly a cultural overseer and mayor of his area.

Sibiu or Hermannstadt(as the Germans who founded the city call it) was named 2007s European Capital of Culture for a very good reason. It looks nothing like the other cities in Romania, and has the "feel" of a city that has been in existence for centuries. Historical placards are on virtually every other building in the old part of town and there is so much history to breathe in it almost takes your breath away (and not just because of the altitude).

Sibiu is also where the son of Dracula is buried. He is the only Romanian buried in the German church. The story goes that he came to the church asking for sanctuary and protection from his enemies, and the priests way of doing that was to kill him and bury. He has the simplest sarcophagus on the wall, only a cross decorates among the elaborate and intricate covers of the other rich and influential German people. Unfortunately they didn't allow pictures inside the church so I can't show you.

Whilst sightseeing and obviously looking at buildings and artworks rather than looking at where I was going, Claudina and I had quite a little tumble that her husband naturally felt the need to capture on film. (Little did I know at the time that I'd be on pain killers the rest of the week as a result of my own clumsiness)

At midnight on the night before Easter, in the Orthodox tradition, the people gather outside to recieve the light of Christ and pass it on to others in the form of little candles. It was gorgeous and quite a sight to see, I look forward to next years service since I know what to expect now. Since we were first time visitors to the church we were allowed to make three wishes after having our candles lit. The giver says "Hristos a inviat" (Christ has risen) and you must respond "Adevarat a inviat" (Its true he has risen) and this greeting is repeated for the rest of April. Outside the church is a small room with two tables filled with burning candles. One table is for the living and one table is to honor the dead, and their lights will burn all night long. Again you are allowed one wish here.

Moving on up to Sighisoara the next morning we got to see the birthplace of Vlad Tepes more commonly known as Dracula. Delia says that while his more sadistic personality traits may be the source for Bram Stokers character, the real man was in no way soft on crime. To the extent that you could leave a pile of gold in the middle of the square and two weeks later pick every piece back up and take it home. He is in that way a national hero for having no crime rate during his reign.

The city is also known for its series of towers that protected the city, and each one was manned by a different trade guild. This is another German city and the cemetery is actually tiered into nationalities, Germans at the top, then Romanians, Hungarians, and finally Gypsies at the bottom. I'm kinda a weirdo that I like cemeteries but I feel its justified because they are all ivy covered with fancy headstones and flowers arrangements.

Absence

So some of you may have been wondering where I've been lately. Well this is no April Fools joke but my computer has committed suicide so my connection to the world outside of Arad is severely limited. The IT guy at my office is working very hard to try and find me a reasonably priced second hand computer for me to use for the next year so keep your fingers crossed. 

In other news

~My new site is just fantastic. I have fallen in with a diverse crowd of Germans, Hungrians, a few Scots and a Brazilian with naturally a few Romanians as well. They are all part of an ENglish conversation club that officially meets on Wednesdays and gather socially three or four other times during the week. I also love my new apartment and have finally finished decorating it with oodles of pictures from home and here enough to make it feel cozy. 

~My new workplace is great too. I really feel like I've gotten a new start and am eternally grateful for it. Tomorrow morning I will submit a request of financing to build a greenhouse from plastic bottles with some street children, a playground made from tires, and to hold a contest at the local art school to build sculptures from recycled materials. 

~This weekend is Easter and its kinda a big deal. I'll be back later with details but it involves running around the church (literally) and smashing of eggs (boiled)

~Thank goodness Spring-like weather has finally arrived. FLippers and shades are no longer unacceptable though I still catch hell for it from jsut about everyone I walk past but they can't  stop me my piggies need some sunshine!

Lator Gators

Martisor

Now some of you might be thinking, "Spring is in just three weeks!" and ordinarily you would be correct. However...


Here in Romania is has arrived with the holiday of Martisor. It is celebrated on the first day of March to announce the arrival of spring and the warm seasons. I particularly like this tradition because it means we ladies get flowers and gifts and kisses from the boys we know or work with. They give little pins that the girls wear on their shirts for a few weeks to bring health and wealth for the coming year.

Happy Spring!!

Paris Holds the Key to Your Heart

I have fallen in love with a physical place twice in my life. My first love is an always will be the University of Dayton campus, but I have a new mistress and its only proper that Paris is it. Paris draws you in slowly with her charm and subtle hints at history and elegance. By day, she is bursting with cultures from around the world, filled with other travelers who have come to experience the magical spell that is cast. Once the sun sets and the cafe candles are lit the city comes alive with style and still remains completely familiar.


Becca and I were fortunate enough to be able to stay for free in this beautiful city and so that afforded us the ability to do exactly what we wanted everyday, mainly sit in cafes eat cheese and drink good wine and breathe in this centuries old city to celebrate our birthdays. Our first afternoon of exploration lead us to the quintessential bistro overlooking the Seine and was two blocks from the Eiffel Tower. We made up many fantasy stories about the passersby, that we suspect some of them overheard.thats me getting caught saying the man across the street is meeting his lover on the corner-->

Notre Dame, Montmarte, The Louvre, naturally the Carrie and Big Bridge (we have no idea whats its called but you all know the one I'm talking about), The Opera House, Moulin Rouge, Champs-Elysees, the Arc, Tuilleries, Concord, Bastille, the Latin Quarter and so many more wonderful squares and plazas and building that I couldn't name in a million years but was captivated by every single one.

Favorite piece from the Louvre was not the Mona Lisa which is fairly anticlimactic and crowded but was actually the Seated Scribe. I think I stood and stared at it for at least twenty minutes.

We unfortunately did not make it to Versailles or the other museums because apparently life is closed on Mondays in Paris. Guess that means we'll just have to force ourselves to go back. But maybe next time in the spring.

Simina

I first met Simina while teaching here at the high school in BH. She was the most active student and the teacher was proud to present her to me as their prized pupil since she had taken the Cambridge Exam (I'm still not entirely sure what that means, but its an advanced English exam thats a super big deal). Anywho, she was so excited and nervous to meet me and speak with me that she could barely speak Romanian that first day.

We became fast friends, she soon got over her "girl crush" and forbid me to speak English to her wanting to help me improve my Romanian. By the way, explaining girl crush is a linguistic adventure I think everyone should undertake at some point in their lives. Simina has been my first true host country national friend, and at times she has helped me in ways she wouldn't know about just by her random texts and invites to walks it made me feel welcomed in a town I was very unhappy and lonely in. Our talks would range from physics to the inappropriateness of the n word, she insisted on me wearing slippers in my own home and gave me a few tricks on how to speed up building a fire. She taught me how to sling together an insult effective enough to get the children to stop shouting bad words at me, and I taught her how to make her new favorite food:cranberry walnut cookies.

I'm going to miss her very much when I move up to Arad. Thankfully she will be going to university in Bucuresti this fall so I will be able to see her when I go down for medical visits and things. She came by today to say goodbye and brought me her good luck sweater for my first day of work on Monday at my new site. It's such a comfort to know that I've made an impact on someone here, and her me. It was not a fun farewell, but a necessary one that thankfully she understands. I look forward to continuing our friendship and will hopefully get to see her again.

Tomorrow morning I will move to Arad to begin my new job at Parcul Natural Lunca Muresului. Wish me luck.

Arad

Good News Everyone! I finally have my new site placement and will be moving to Arad on February 6th after I return from Paris. Arad is a metropolis of 200,000 residents and is the country seat for judetul Arad therefore no more traveling eight hours roundtrip to pick up packages! The town borders Hungary and is located in the Transylvanian region of Romania. It has a theatre, two malls,a trolley system, an airport and half a dozen major grocery stores. It will be quite a change from my small town of 4,500 and I'm a little nervous about moving and getting lost in the shuffle of a major city but i was fortunate enough to be able to visit this past weekend.

Within the city are two other volunteers from my group, Tom and Shaneka, about an hour outside of town are Justin also from my group and Jimmy from group 25. Jimmy is very familiar with Arad and has many influential, English speaking friends there and so was nice enough to organize a gathering so that he could introduce the newest volunteer to them.

So after one of the most awkward afternoons in my office while I worked up the courage to tell my counterpart Diana that I was being moved, and then going on to disappoint my Environmental Class by telling them that Peace Corps decided I was needed somewhere else and wouldn't be able to teach them anyore, I went home and started packing. Saying good bye to my kids was...uncomfortable, they were the one thing I had going that I would have wanted to stay for but there is just too much else that isn't working here. I did nominate their school to have a TEFL (English Teacher) PCV from the group that is arriving in May and I really hope that they are happy there.

Friday night I packed up everything I wasn't taking to Paris, left enough socks and undies for a few days for when I return and stuffed two HUGE suitcases and another two canvas bags full of things to take with me and leave at Tom's. Hauling around all that stuff I really wished it hadn't been winter and I had to deal with icy sidewalks and freezing toesy on top of it. But I arrived in Arad and was met at the station by Jimmy and Justin who gallantly helped me carry everything to Tom's apartment. We headed out to try and find a pizza place they knew about, but it was closed, as was the second option, and we finally stumbled upon a third restaurant called Pizza OK!

After dinner the group all went out to a lounge that is a favorite of the Romanians we were meeting up with and they were all thrilled to have another volunteer among them. (There have been a few volunteers placed in and around Arad for the past ten years and they had befriended them all.) What better way to bond with a new group of people than by singing kareoke? Well I had to swallow my pride and pick a song from the fishbowl and make a fool of myself singing "UnBreak My Heart" by Toni Braxton. First time I had ever been tricked into actually singing kareoke but it was actually quote enjoyable and Cosmin and I went on to sing "Like a Virgin" and then "Boom" by the Vengaboys.

I think I can be happy there. The new park that I will be working with has had experience with PCVs before and already have a few things they would like me to work on, and I've been introduced into a group of really great people. So a new Beginning is just around the corner.

Next stop. PARIS,FRANCE!!! for five nights and six days all for under $400.

I Get By With a Little Help From My Friends

1 instance of spencer finally downloading skype and getting to talk to him
+
1 semi-surprise mailing with a completely perfect book and a tear-jerking inspiration card from train
+
1 incredibly thoughtful and lengthy email from michael
+
and 3 squeals of excitement over realizing that there is a week left til we go to paris from becca
= a very happy me


oh. and it snowed all day today. so ive been walking in a winter wonderland

The view of the other side of the valley from my apt.
Complete with the smoking chimneys of neighboring blocs.

A Chance To Redeem Itself

The people here have a wonderful way with words (as humourously seen a few days ago), here is an example of one of their more famous authors, Elie Weisel who would go on to win the Nobel Prize.

Frienship marks a life even more deeply than love. Love risks degenerating into obsession, friendship is never anything but sharing.

Elie Weisel

Mihai Eminescu is Romania's most beloved and famed poet and lyricist. He's even on their money. One of his more famous poems in English and then Romanian just because its a pretty language.

Mihai Eminescu "The Sleepy Birds"

All those sleepy birds

Now tired from flight

Hide among the leaves

Good-night!

Only the spring whispers

When the wood sleeps silently;

Even flowers in the gardens

Sleep peacefully!

Swans glide to their nest

Sheltering among the reeds

May angels guard your rest,

Sweet dreams!

Above a night of sorcery

Comes the moon's graceful light,

All is peace and harmony

Good-night!

Somnoroase păsărele...

Somnoroase păsărele

Pe la cuiburi se adună,

Se ascund în rămurele

-Noapte bună!

Doar izvoarele suspină,

Pe când codrul negru tace;

Dorm şi florile-n grădină

-Dormi în pace!

Trece lebăda pe ape

Între trestii să se culce

-Fie-ţi îngerii aproape,

Somnul dulce!

Peste-a nopţii feerie

Se ridică mândra lună,

Totu-i vis şi armonie

-Noapte bună!

We Can Insult You Better Than Anyone Else

http://www.cracked.com/article_16275_the-9-most-devastating-insults-from-around-world.html

oh romania....you make me so proud....sadly not for its beautiful mountains but for its creativity in profanity

A Girl and Her Soba

So if any of you have had the pleasure to talk to my these past few weeks, especially during my evening hours, you will likely have heard me battle with lighting my soba. A soba is a clay brick enclosed fireplace that you shove wood into so it radiates heat throughout the room. Soba's are traditionally for country dwellers, everyone's grandparents have one in every room. Here in Herculane we do not have gas lines that run to our town so everyone has one as the only source of heating their homes.

I wasn't exactly the best Girl Scout in the world, our troop preferring to go shopping and have overnights in hotel rooms over learning how to build fires and take care of them. ( My mother actually once took us all on a walk at night and left our fire untended in the middle of Camp Lakapodia, but thats a story for another day) So maintaining a fire all day requires trips to the wood pile.

The selection of the right combination of log sizes has taken me weeks to perfect.

The other thing about soba heat is that there is virtually no way to regulate the temperature your apartment will inevitably reach. Its pretty much...cold or tropical heat wave. The following is a discussion I had with a fellow volunteer and dear friend

[8:09:25 PM] Joel Piche: whatup
[8:09:50 PM] Elizabeth White: contemplating a shower
[8:09:56 PM] Joel Piche: not a terrible idea
[8:10:03 PM] Joel Piche: but being cold? brrr
[8:10:35 PM] Elizabeth White: sobas= no control over how warm your apt gets
[8:10:39 PM] Elizabeth White: ergo
[8:11:01 PM] Elizabeth White: the necessity of clothes because you are on the ground floor and your window is like a display at the zoo
[8:11:13 PM] Joel Piche: lol. not good
[8:11:15 PM] Joel Piche: no walking around naked
[8:11:16 PM] Elizabeth White: clothes become the... instigator of stinkiness
[8:15:02 PM] Joel Piche: that's my least favorite part about cold weather
[8:15:06 PM] Joel Piche: bundling up at home
[8:17:13 PM] Elizabeth White: agreed bundling is only fun when snowmen are involved
[8:17:51 PM] Joel Piche: word
[8:18:07 PM] Joel Piche: but....
[8:18:11 PM] Joel Piche: i like not wearing clothes
[8:18:15 PM] Joel Piche: more than making snowmen

Today I Met the Boy I'm Gonna Marry

Yesterday was my first full day back at work since Thanksgiving. Obviously in two months you would expect a few changes, new hairstyles, maybe a new picture on the wall or something. Well that didn't exactly happen, in fact everyone was wearing pretty much the same thing when I left. Though you couldn't honestly tell because they all hide inside their coats since October. Anywho on to my husband...

There were an extraordinary amount of new people coming and going from the office yesterday morning so I inquired of my counterpart just who exactly these new individuals were. I should have known better. The following exchange was all in Romanian my thoughts in parenthesis:

-They are working with our engineer on a road. Are you interested in any of them? That man there talking to the boss he is unattached.
(uh oh.)
-He has a good job with the Forest Service.
(and now the traits will be listed off...in order of importance)
-He comes from a good family, has a big car...a Jeep!, he is young and attractive
(...aaand wait for it...)
-Would you like us to introduce you? He knows a little English. Are you interested?
--No thank you, I'm not interested in anyone these days.
-But Alizabet we want you to get married and be happy and that way you will stay here forever.
-(:gulp:)

and then they proceed to discuss his multiple traits that would indicate a good match and they didn't understand why I was uninterested in him.
-(...and now they will ask what happened to Chris..)
-Alizabet you had a boyfriend when you came here, why don't you see him anymore. When did you stop dating, why did he never come to the office to meet us? You need to be with someone its not good to be by yourself. A man will make you happy.
--I need to go have a cigarette. (no I did not take up smoking but it's the only acceptable excuse to leave in any situation.)

So yes. I'll send you all e-vites book your tickets now because if they have their way, I'll be engaged by Friday.

a wise man

I hold it true, whate'er befall;

I feel it, when I sorrow most;

'Tis better to have loved and lost

Than never to have loved at all.

~Tennyson

ken

We will be getting a new country director in March and i must admit my immense sadness at the thought of my crush major supreme on Ken Goodson, our current CD. Ken is probably one of the most fantastic people you will ever meet and it is a rarity that a country director meets all of the volunteers in their respective countries due to travel and communication limitations. Here we are blessed (other countries say spoiled rotten) with cell phones, internet, and reliable transportation so Ken has developed a personal relationship with about 98% of the volunteers here. Just this past Wednesday he treated me to a Starbucks coffee latte after saying to hell with Dr. Dan's orders of no caffeine. This is a man who you literally bear your soul and all your troubles to in four minutes. ( And I of course inappropriately asked the Ambassador on Thanksgiving if Ken has the same effect on him that he does on us volunteers, to which he classically responded "Well no actually Ken does that to me :)"
We're gonna miss you Ken.

My Year in Pictures

So this collage is definately not chronologically correct and definately doesn't encompass everything but as far as being a good reflection of my happenings for 2009 I think it fits the bill.

the imagaes are as follows beginning in the top left and moving across

1. Me on the top of the third highest mountain in Romania. Parungal Mare- September
2. An impromptu visit to Valerie's with Becca as my life was slowly falling apart - November
3. Fourth of July party where Deborah promised to include me in her will-July
4. Making tacos at Chris's with Simona- July
5. Building birdcages for Noah's Ark with Scholl and Michael-March
6. There were four of us from Ohio one this hike so we just had to do it for a website of O-H-I-O's from around the world-July
7. Mother Dearest busting a move at my going away party-May
8. Learning how to dance the Brascoveanca- a traditional couples dance and my favorite folk dance ever!! July
9. Visiting Chris in Bucuresti-August
10. My best friends drove multiple hours to come to my going away barbeque-May
11. Joslyn and I at the Heroes Cross. THE hardest climb we had ever been on. July
12. New Year's Eve in Belgrade,Serbia-December
13. Arrival to Serbia- December
14. My wood pile. Before the daily battles to light a fire began I was super excited about it. October
15. Swearing in Ceremony when we became Official Volunteers to Peace Corps Romania-August
16. Our last night in the States-May

I'm going to go now and search through my Pictures folder to fill in the blanks but I can't promise I'll be back because I'll probably get lost on memory lane....

Home Again

hey friends and loved ones,
so this time I really do plan on staying in one place for more than a few days. Being on the road/train rails for almost two months straight is draining in more ways than one, and as I was just starting to feel like I was going to be a couch surfer for the rest of service I finally got the good news that I will be moving to a new site next month. Things here in Herculane while beautiful and picturesque no doubt have been more than a little bit difficult and PC has decided that the best solution to the multitude of problems is to move me a few hours northwest to Arad a major metropolis up near the boarder of Hungary. I am really hoping things work out better there and I will be able to accomplish some good works, make some friends and take home even more unique memories.

I am very happy to be reunited with my computer. David was able to save all my pictures which are in my personal opinion the most important thing on my hard drive so I was eternally grateful for that.

To celebrate my return to my little slice of concrete heaven I stoked up a huge fire in my soba, filled all my water bottles with fresh stream water from the middle of town and called Simina to make a date for a walk. Simina is one of the coolest high school students I have met here in town, she's fascinated by my American accent since she speaks much more proper British English, and more grammatically correct English too (she sometimes has to explain the rules of accusative and dative to me. don't worry i'm properly ashamed...) anywho I might introduce her to some good ole peanut butter and banana sandwiches since I'm finally going to be here long enough to buy bread :)

C'est la Vie

oh yea and happy birthday to me! this year for my big present to myself (courtesy of the family) ill be going to Paris,France with another volunteer to celebrate our birthdays together on top of the Eiffel Tower with a bottle of champagne!

La Multi Ani la mine!!!!

S'mores

Now we all know and love these bonfire staples and have all watched the classic Sandlot scene where Ham teaches Smalls how to properly prepare the meal. Imagine a world where S'mores are unheard of and a new concept :gasp: I know. During one of the sessions for our IST this past December the magical words were said "...and then Wednesday night we'll have a bonfire out back and we will be making... Sa More es? Am I saying that right?" to which 38 pairs of previously unattentive sets of ears perked immediately up.





Two of our language instructors learning how to properly brown the mallow.

And our trusty Dr.Dan chief medical officer having his first ever taste of the glourious S'more he ahd seen in movies since he was a kid.

Later on I'll include the movie I took of him describing the experience.