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!!! :)

Hey Hey Hey

Buna Ziua!

Yet again I have relocated. I could have made my blog title be "Where in the World is Kate Van Oostburg? but it just dosn't sound right. Plus, for the next two years I know I will be residing in the Republic of Moldova, a former communist, former Soviet country near the Black sea no bigger than the size of Maryland. I took an opportunity to volunteer here with the Peace Corps and so far, after about a week of struggling through daily language lessons, I have absolutely no regrets.

I realy do have an addiction to being in transit and traveling to a completely new, unaquainted area and I have met 67 other volunteeree people with the same mentality or atleast part of the same mentality. Its realy cool how different our backgrounds, reasons for joining and goals while in service really are. Getting to Moldova took a long time to travel to, I think we were traveling for about 48 hours straightish but I wasn't a complainer...I would say the top three things during the march to Moldova include:

1. Completed homework for a NY Lambert Airport security guard with another PCT, he was nice.. I think there is a picture of us somewhere I will try and get...

2. Peoplewatching and sampling just about every kind of perfume/ colonge known to man in the huge duty-free shops in Istanbul's airport with a fellow PCT (because we had so much time to kill, not because we are smell snobs) and mooched samples of just about everything else we could get our hands on (Uzo= gross, Turkish delights and Kinder chocolate= delightful).

3. Talked instead of sleep throughout the flights with fellow volunteers who were just as excited as I was to make new friendships (when I really should have slept).

Alrighty, so I am here. But where is really here!?!

For the next two months I will live with Vera (age 51), Miheal (53) and Miheala (17); my awesome host family in my training site where I will try and learn Romanian and more about my job as an Agri-Business Rual Business Development volunteer. Life is good here. Besides being overly suprised that I don't squat over a hole outside to do my 1's and 2's and bathe in a bucket, I live in a house where the daughter speaks English, the back yard is one big fruit and veggie garden and its not a far walk to and from my language/training classes. My town has a bar, small market, Russian school and regular school, an auto service shop, a party place where people are always getting married, a hospital, and not much else. And goats. There are goats that hang out and eat the grass behind the school, goats on the side of the roads and goats in this town field thing. The people are nice and the kids are pretty curious about our strange group. I would say this is more like a vacation from reality but to be honest, if my brain could burn calories with how much it worked, after one week of classes I think I would look like I have exercise-induced anorexia.

Its not every job that you get paid to learn a second language and live with a host family that thinks you need to eat up. I gotta say, Moldova so far is pretty sweet. I hope to speak Romanian well enough soon that its not wierd if I try and play soccer with the boys in town. My mentality towards not being able to learn the language? Study, practice, get used to being completely out of my English speaking bubble. Not showering daily? Enjoy the musk and get used to it. Noisey dogs and roosters screeching 24 hours a day including the neighbor "guard" dog who's location conveniently echos directly into my room and the constant I-will-eat-you-lunge of dogs chained behind fences as I walk through my town? Learn how to sleep through just about anything and have some hot dog from my lunch saved as sacrifice and deal with it. 

Homeworkman in NYC

The countryside outside Chinsinau

At Home and Lazyish... For Now!

"Oh let the stars beat down upon my face, stars to fill my dream. I am a traveler of both time and space, to be where I have been..."

Right now I am "packing." By "packing" I mean sitting on my bed next to my snoozing dog, Pandora on blaring Kashmir by Led Zeppelin, Facebook on a tab (just in case) with about every inch of my room cluttered with clothing, shoes, cds, books and things I either want to take with me when I leave for Moldova, pack up in storage, or never see again. How many days do I have to pack again? About 17. Plenty of time for a procrastinator like myself to get everything ready that I may possibly want for living in a multi-weather/four season country for two years...and be less than 100 pounds. 


Piece of cake, piece of crumb cake. Or is it?

My confidence might be my demise but it hasn't phased me yet. I still have time (spoken like a true procrastinator). The best part of being home I will admit is my eating habits. Call me Porky the Pig but I have been pigging out on whatever I feel like. You never know when I'm going to eat Cousin Subs, Culver's cheeseburgers and Ben & Jerrys  again right? As excited as I am about trying my next country of residence's food, this is pretty cool.

The second to last day in Vieques (off the coast of mainland PR), I jumped on a ferry for two bucks and headed to Old San Juan for the night. With live music, an art fair and a guest house/hostel right in the heart of it, I was all set as a happy camper. This wouldn't have been quite as exciting if I hadn't met two friendly swimmers on the Blue Beach (also the coolest beach) on Vieques. They convinced me to head to San Juan a day early and we spent the night shopping, eating and exploring Old San Juan. Its amazing how easy it is to make friends. One shop we stopped in had a guy in dreadlocks behind the counter wearing a cool red t-shirt with Jimi Hendrix on it. One classic rock conversation led to another and it turns out he took my guest house reservation for his Mom that owned the guest house I was staying at! He showed us the view of Old San Juan from the roof of the guest house, and site of his newly built roof-room-home before going through and showing us all of his artwork. We loved it. I hope his hard work and eye-catching designs will cover many touristy shirts, posters and other memorabilia for many many moons.

Last week I flew home from Vieques, Puerto Rico and couldn't be more relieved. Don't get me wrong, the beaches= beautiful. The culture= crazy, just how I like it and the chance to see Puerto Rico with someone who lived and breathed it for 15 years was a great way to see it. AND, ANNDDD there were horses running around and grazing on the sides of the road everywhere! How cool is that?!? It felt like the Hispanic version of Misty of Chincoteague. Anywhere I can sleep and hear the gait of a Paso Fino running down the street at night and get stopped in a mini traffic jam because of some mares and foals in the street is a good enough place to check out. But, it is nice to finally get home, off the road for a little breather with the family before shippin' out.

Now I have my sights set on cleaning my car... You can never have too many projects to tackle, right? Wrong. I'm up to my ears in them! Where are those organizing freaks of nature on HDTV when you need them!?! :)-Kate

The Wheels are in Motion...

Want to know my secret to happiness recently? Here's what I did....
1. Move 500+ miles away from anywhere near what you are used to. Move somewhere that moooves you.
2. Get a job. Not a serious job if you are looking to relocate soon. Go serious if you have it in you and will stick around longer then a typical tomcat...
3. Never let homesickness or loonies talk you out of your little adventure. Stay away from drugs and boozin and you should be able to budget just fine on your own... If not talk to a financial planner seriously..
4. Keep the "Yes Man" mentality up in everything you do, who knows what you'll miss out on...free snowmobiling tours, ski rentals, a chance to meet a celebrity, sushi, concerts... you never know!!! These little connections, freebies, whatevers are what make my world go round. I sit back and think, there is no chance I would have done this stuff this week had I lived at home still!!!
5. Take whatever friends you can get. Mine rock and roll. Without them my experiences wouldn't have been much of anything and I owe it all to them.

That being said, my spontaneous move to Vail, Colorado has been a great decision. Community sponsered free concerts? Hook-ups all around the valley because of where I work or who I know? People my age who like to have fun at night and outiside just like me?!? Nice people and good vibes are what little towns in Eagle County are made of.

Colorado has me converted into a mountain women but my time here is coming to an end. My paitence for goverment hoops to jump through has worked and I have been accepted into the Peace Corps. I about sent myself into diabeitic shock when my parents told me a letter from the PC came and said they wanted to send me to Moldova if I was down. Moldova! I could write a blog on me geeking out about Moldova but that will definately happen on its own for the next two years of my life. Of course I said yes and will be leaving early June as a rural business/agri-business chick!

More to come... hopefully sooner then later on my travels... Next up, Wisconsin and Puerto Rico!

Reflections on the Road, Providence RI

G'Day Mates!
Today I write from a friends house in Providence, Rhode Island. Rhode Island = pretty groovy. It's teeny weeny, fun-size and cute enough to try and sneak home in your front pocket if you want my travel critic opinion :)

Yesterday I toured and putzed around Newport, Rhode Island; home to beautiful mansions on Ocean Drive, lovely beaches and historic Fort Adams to name a few of its beauties. :) If you took the nice shops of Mequon and Cedarburg, added it to Port Washington's lakeside downtown, added 20,000 people and mixed the classic, rich and traditional east coast culture, you have Newport. Go vacation there. Bring a sand castle kit, all your nautical clothes and a big appetite for fresh seafood and local microbrewed beer and you will have a great time.

It's funny how being a Packers fan can come in handy no matter where you are in the World. In Ireland I sat down in front of someone wearing a Packer hat and also a Wisconsin native. This week I was sitting in an awesome Irish bar (next to the Tennis Hall of Fame, I forget the name) watching the Packers beat up on the Vikings with a friend and had a great time chatting with locals who also liked the Packers and Wisconsin. Right now is a great time to be a cheesehead!

Before chillin' like a villian streets away from the ocean and Brown University, I worked an expo horse geeks call the Equine Affair. It's an annual yeehaw horsey shopping spree held in Springfield, Mass. The East has alot of money, alot of english riders and enough strip clubs and seedy men to go around the world twice (ok compared to the midwest it does, I might be a little facetious when I say seedy men and strip clubs but there were alot by us!). What a cool place to travel to though, the area is so old and historic! It was crazy seeing all the tree damage along our scenic drive to our hotel every day, the houses were so old and rustic I wanted to take the view and put it in a snowglobe.

Before the East Coast I spent a month in Columbus, Ohio, home to the American Quarter Horse Congress. If you ever get the chance to go, do it! My favorite week is probably the first one with the reiners. With plenty of cowboy butts in wranglers and French speaking Canadians, you will be highly amused both during the day and at night. Quarter horse people like to work hard and play hard, making the Corral, a round bar located on the showgrounds a common stomping ground. Its amazing how much horse people vary, horse lovers come in all shapes and income sizes...

Tomorrow I'm off to Mt. Vernon, Ohio and then to Chicago where another small expo will be held right before I head toThanksgiving in Wisconsin. This year without my Granny K is going to make for a strange holiday. Its wierd how you move on after death but you think and miss someone daily,  more so then what I miss my little redheaded dog right now. My friend here has a silly slightly neurotic cat that I'm trying to love in replace of him but its not working...Maybe I'll teach it to fetch....

Hope all is well and groovy in your neck of the woods,
Kate

September 11th, 2011... sitting in an airport

The last plane ride my tall, teal Ospry backpack traveled with me to was a graduation celebration to Cancun with my best friend, her mom and her mom's friends. Today it accompanies me back to Oostburg to say good-bye to the person that three months ago gave me the opportunity to see Cancun in the first place. I'm usually excited to travel and should probably be commenting on how wierd yet not wierd it is to travel on the ten year anniversary of 9/11 but this post is a much needed brain release and reflection on how crazy this world turns.

Last night as I was packing and getting ready to go out and have a drink with friends in Greenville, I picked out my favorite tan h&m blazer to wear that I bought years ago, I believe while with my best friend Jill in Gurnee Mills. Unbeknown to me as I slipped it on and put my hand in the right pocket was a plane ticket stub dated May 18th, 2011 headed from Milwaukee to Houston. In the left pocket laid a handful of Spanish flashcards I had made to prep for conversations in Cancun. This may not have taken me by surprise any other time but it startled and shook me up when I realized their significance; the last time I wore the jacket I was with Marcy, Jills mom who passed away unexpectedly. I may not believe in God, I may not follow horoscopes or superstitions but this may have made me a believer in angels (or atleast softened up my tough exterior).

To anyone that has had the pleasure of knowing Marcy Fitz Maurice, you know how awesome, spontaneous and funny she was. Between her and her family, the feelings of love and friendship are mutual and she will forever grace myself and others with nothing but great memories. From watching VH1 at her house with my bestest friend to catching a tan (or a buzz) in Cancun, I will never forget her.

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Bugs in Maine have no Mercy!

So I've been busy. A little chicken shit towards writing.Slow to sit in internetland  for any period of time. And very much tied up in making new friends, working and counting sheep in between. But I'm alive, happy and well.

I moved out to the great north woods in Maine aboot a month and a half ago and I must say, this place is fantastic. Between the mindblowing in-your-face nature to the down-to-earth hospitality I've received here there is no question I have found a secret little place in the US to work, play and have a great time for a little while. To help visualize, I live in a town of 98 people in what Maine considers "Unorganized Territory". Basically hardly anyone lives here year round and there is no government. Yeeeehaw! There is however, one gas station/country store, 2.5 restaurants (one is only open Thursday- Sunday nights hence the .5), a marina, a bunch of rental homes and lodging places, two real estate businesses, two churches and a post office. There are easily more moose around then people. To get to Greenville, nearest town, its an 18 mile drive and I think only about 2,000 people live there.

I work at a cute (but masculine) hunting/fishing lodge that sits on Moose River in Rockwood. It rents cabins and hosts breakfast and dinner in a 92 year old dining hall. I could, and probably will go on and on about how wonderful this place is and the people who work here. Every time I work I leave with a full belly or a take-out box stuffed with one of the specials of the night. Free food? Free Ribs every Saturday!?! Heck yes! I also work as a sales associate and barista at a really unique store called Northwoods Outfitters. Any camping, biking, kayaking thing you need, they've got it. It's also home to guided services, moose safaris, rentals and hotel accommodations so its a daily battle learning how to answer tourists questions as a tourist myself.

So far I've indulged in the landscape with Carhartt on my days off. I've climbed Kineo, Eagle Rock and Little Moose Mountains, or Mounts, or really big hills. I'm not sure what to call them. Here they call them mountains but in Colorado I think they would call them hills... Either way I feel like this area is as beautiful as you can get. Plus the best part about Moosehead Lake? Its not over developed like lakes in Wisconsin or anywhere else. The 38 mile long lake can be seen without boats and water toys more often then not and there are dozens of ponds and rivers that are great for fishing and kayaking too.

Off to hit the hay! Gnight and thanks for reading! Pretty soon I think I'll have a fancy camera and will attempt to capture some of this place on film. Below are links of where I'm at :)

maynardsinmaine.com

maineoutfitter.com

mooseheadlake.org

themainehighlands.com