Lately I've felt like I've abandoned post in anthill apartment city I call home. A vacation to Romania, two Christmases, two New Years' (believe it), two birthdays, one snowstorm, a week long Peace Corps training seminar, my first Moldovan wedding and many more off-site adventures have led me astray from not only my blog but also my community the last month and a half.

No need to grumble, I have been having a blast!

Winning a 100 lei gift certificate for describing the pizza.

Shortly after Christmas number one in Rezina, celebrated with two brief Christmas choir concerts and a trip to the snazzy US Ambassadors house for a warm Christmas celebration with great food and drink we never once ate, yet alone saw for sale in our work sites, myself and four other PCVs took a midnight bus to Bucharest, Romania. I won't admit to feeling like we woke up and arrived in a new world, but the change from Moldova was refreshing, fun, and not too bad on the wallet.

Decisions made in Bucharest came from our bellies. McDonald's breakfast! Yesss! See something that looks like Chinese food? Lets eat it. Want to try the place with "Tex-Mex" in the name? Think they have Tequila? I think we are using, "Since everything else was closed because of New Years... that's all we could do" as a main excuse to our gluttony.

I did spot a Texan when I saw cowboy boots and a big brown leather jacket walk in with what looked like his NorthFace entourage, ironically at a Tex-Mex restaurant in Bucharest.  Between him hitting on different waitresses as if the restaurant was in his honor, I walked up and asked him what kind of boots he was wearing as an ice breaker to see where he was from...

Starts with an "a" you say?? .... Ariat maybe?

I panicked thinking my bet was off at the onlooking Peace Corps table..Maybe he wasn't from Texas... I thought it brought shame to Texan Gods or something equally condemnable if you were a boot strappin' Texan.

But.. Sho nuff. He says hes from Corpus Christi, Texas and he's here as a private pilot hanging out with his other pilot friends. And why yes he does believe his boots are Ariat's now that I've said it.

Bingo.

After ringing in the new year in Bucharest we made our way into the mountains for some Medieval Mountain time. Our first stop was at Sibu, an old German/Hungarian town dating back to the 12th century. It had this big wall and the cities claim to fame is that it was home to one of Europe's first pharmacies and schools for pharmacy and is home to the first book ever written in Romanian (but in Cyrillic??).

The last stop was my favorite; Brașov. Located more in the heart of the Transylvanian mountains, a short drive to Braun's Castle (home of the story of Dracula) and home to a popular ski resort, Brașov brings in many tourists to the region. I felt like I was back in Vail with Swiss chalet/German architecture and happy go lucky tourists everywhere. Unfortunately the time there was unlike my routine with Carhartt in Vail. No hiking, no skiing, no dogs. Hot wine, strolls through the old city center and more mouth stuffing filled our two days to the point we were full to the brim and light in the pockets returning on the 8 hour bus drive back to Chișinău.

First vacation in Peace Corps successfully completed.

The same day I got back from the trip my sleep-deprived presence was requested at my training host mom's birthday and sauna party. I got whacked with this cool leaf thing in the sauna and whacked with a lot of alcohol that night but it was great to see everyone from my training village again and a great way to ring in Old Christmas (Christmas number two).

Moldovan's find every reason to party. January 6th/7th they party on the old calendar's Christmas and again the same on the 14th with the old New Years. I'm still not sure how people get anything done between big feasts and hangovers in this country. Not that I'm opposed to it I'm just unsure when work gets done.

Somewhere in this time kids bang on your door reciting holiday poems with the hopes you will fill their pockets with cash and their shopping bags with candy, you eat daily special bread, gain weight and a chance to turn diabetic with all the food and sweets consumed and a priest comes to bless everyone's house in town with a broom and load of water to spray everywhere he pleases. I had to hide my electronics in my bed and was out of the house when it happened so I missed getting sprayed. Oh darn.

I can't leave out the part I mentioned earlier with my first Moldovan wedding experience.

A brief snow storm led to the rescheduling of a week of Peace Corps training but opened a door to play tag-a-long with a Peace Corps friend at a small wedding. Because I wasn't equipped for wedding crashing that weekend I got to take a trip down to the second hand store and whip together an outfit. Oh darn. Endless of supplies of cognac, champagne and house wine juiced our dancing feet up for endless hours of hora dancing. I started off step but somewhere between 11 hours of straight up hora-ing and people boozing I either figured it out or people started dancing as poorly as me.

Since Moldovan weddings are an all night affair, we ate twice. It's common to eat three times. I have no complaints to this as this was the only time they didn't give you crap for sitting down and was a chance to sober up. At the second feast everyone was greeted by a microphone and a tithing plate. This is the time where they/we pay for the bills. One by one people would stand up, drop some money down and proclaim, "I am giving ___ Lei/Euros/Dollars for the newlyweds and good luck, have fun, hoorah hoorah whatever." Not that big of a deal but you hear how much people give which can be embarrassing/awkward if you are poor.. or a Peace Corps volunteer with limited funds.

Before we ducked out at 4:30 am the hora-ing paused for the newlyweds, wrapped up in a bunch of blankets sitting at a table to open all of the wedding gifts received and then they cut the cake. My feet throbbed in my second hand heels so we surrendered a little bit earlier than others.

No taxis, sore feet and a tired brain led me to sprinting down the street, heels in hand, in my pantyhose. Mind you this is the night after the snowstorm day that cancelled our Peace Corps conferences and there was still snow on the ground. When I ran out (literally) of road with the road surface showing and hit the snow I would retreat to piggy-back portages to the next strip of potential sprinting surface. My pantyhose survived and my feet applauded the efforts made to avoid the death march in heels.

We made it back around 5:15 am (about exactly 12 hours after we showed up to the wedding) and slept until noon. Only in Moldova.

After the Peace Corps conference to improve grant writing skills and a two focus days on improving our limba Romana, I went back to work with new ideas and a lot of work on my plate for the next few months. I have a few ideas of projects for the youth club I am working with I hope to get started soon.

Goals for this month and next include a grant for a business club, a grant for work out room equipment, meeting with resident entrepreneurs at the new business incubator, networking and brainstorming with the local county hall on potential parks and city improvements, improving websites and promotional stuff, finding funding for choir dresses and moving into an apartment.

Tonight I am off to make modified rice crispy treats, tomorrow night chocolate chip cookies and the following night brownies. This week is Peace Corps week (which I don't really understand... I have Peace Corps week for the next two years...) where we are encouraged to show off American culture and whatnot in our community by doing random American stuff. I am going to bake and hope youth and members of the community will come in to the youth center from 1-5 this Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and buy my goodies. All the proceeds will go towards youth club activities.

I will let you know how everything turns out and (try to) keep you updated!! Wish me luck!!


-Kate

P.S. The Chirstmas care packages were a great hit. Thank you friends and family! Multumesc foarte mult!!! I love passing out the gifts and treats to my Moldovan friends and family, everyone really appreciates it as much as I do!