Buna Seara!

This country keeps me laughing and learning. I have seen Russian ketchup and mayo come out of massive packets instead of squirt bottles, more house wine than what the state of California probably produces in a year, dogs eating chicken bones and not choking to death (sorry Carharrt, I should have trusted you), noodles and butter on my plate for breakfast and ham omlets for lunch, Cognac and Coke served in a martini glass, the freshest lemons that would have put the lemons used at work in Vail to shame and more than one women drunkenly sing Ava Maria or well, the first line over and over again as if they were Italian superstars.

So much has happened since I posted last so I will try and catch everybody up... My host family, the Padures and I went to to the padure (the forest) for a family picnic. Besides us, about 10 other relatives showed up and roasted chicken with a bunch of veggies and pineapple for desert. Although I had no idea what they were staying it was still awesome. I am so glad my host parents take me along to their social events instead of leaving me in the house to study, they laughed when I said "The Padures in the Padure" and enjoyed the attention of my fancy little camera.

Last week I passed into my 23rd year of existance and the celebrations started at about 6:30 in the morning when I was sleeping, topless in the hot summer morning. My host parents flung open my door, threw rose petals all over my room and handed me a small boquet of roses picked from the garden outside and gave me a necklace and perfume as gifts. It was sweet even with the ackwardness of clutching my bed sheet around my body as I registered what was going on an hour before I was supposed to wake up.. Haha I loved it. At school my language teacher also suprised me with roses, they all sang happy birthday in English and Romanian and some of my coluges even hooked up a cake for us to split at lunch. As a kid I got to avoid ackward birthday celebrations in school because of being a June baby but I am not complaining about recieving a delicious piece of chocolate cake in class this time around. This fiesta may or may not have continued after class with a bit of cold Moldovan beer in the pubic cow grazing field outside of town...

This past week went by so fast, we went to the capitol, Chisinau three times last week, once for lectures, once for an agriculture meeting and one time for an evening piano concert. Want to guess how much I paid to see four different pianists and a mini orchestra play for about an hour and a half? Less than the cost of bus fare in the states, 15 lei. Our language teacher caught wind of the concert sponsored by the French embassy and was nice enough to invite us on her evening adventures into the big city. This adventure also allowed us to avoid meat and potatoes for dinner and indulge in Andys Pizza, a pizza chain in Moldova (it was alright pizza but a great change of pace).

This Thursday we find out where our permanent work site will be and we are all super excited!!! I hope mine has horses and a river near by.... I will find out and let you know soon!!! :)