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