Primavara promisings

Smiles all around from (shotgun?) wedding!
This is from a few months back. Took the editor a long time to turn us all into creamsicles.

Spring has sprung more or less with the first two days of April with the first glimpses of the sun. The sidewalk was full of all-wheel-drive baby carriages and stroller gangs, public intoxication and mini-skirts. It heated up to 70 degrees to fall back to tolerable damp, cloudy rainy days but its ok, Moldova needs all the rain it can get and I'm not quite ready to whip out my daisy dukes.

Best part of this week was the announcement of the Peace Corps grant winners this round of SPA applications. My partner and I headed to the capitol last weekend to sway two staff members and a panel of 4 PCVs on our small community gym project. We received the prized email this week congratulating us on being selected to receive $3,500 to put towards gym equipment. I'm not a fan of grant writing (with reasons that could take up an entirely different blog post) but it sure feels good to win this one.

I'm still in the move-in process of my new flat, not because there have been any problems but because after packing up one apartment and moving into another I've lost my Mrs. Clean motivation and there was a thick layer of dead spiders and dust between me and moving my clothes into a hallway closet (took me four hours to clean the fridge.. but I have a fridge! yey!).

Never the less, I invited a good friend over to help me celebrate the news with a bottle of Cabernet and chocolates sent from the states. I also invited her over to make sure I wouldn't mess up making Borscht for the first time. As my luck would have it, I fell into my normal role of assistant and watched her talents in the kitchen. From that, I've written up this recipe in case you are dying to get your hands on some healthy Russian soup.

*Disclaimer: If this recipe is wrong, I don't care. There are as many ways to make Borscht on food.com as there are ways to cook an egg if Kate instructions are distracting or crappy.

Borscht

For one medium size soup-cooking pot:

4 smaller beets cooked whole initially

¼ head of cabbage, sliced and diced thin

1 chunk of chicken, pork, beef or bacon cut up into lil chunks, they prefer meat still on the bone here or beans… or both if you’re going big

3 small onions diced(or to your preference as all of these ingredients are)

3-4 cloves of garlic grated

2 medium sized carrots grated

1 big tablespoon scoop of tomato paste

3 medium sized potatoes (I skipped these guys… dieting..)

1 bullion of chicken or beef soup broth stuff

Splooshes of vegetable oil

Salt and pepper to taste along with fresh parsley, bay leaves and any other seasonings you wish to add

¼ cup of Borscht acru (sour yellow looking water sold in a plastic bottle… in Moldova, maybe skip in America?)

1.       Grab a pot and start boiling the beets first. These guys take a long time to cook, around 45 min. When they are easily pokable with a fork they are done. Smaller beets will take less time to cook then the big suckers. When they cool down, peel/cut off the outsides and then slice the insides into little french fry strips.

2.       As the beets are boiling, throw the meat into the main soup pot with the bouillon cube and enough water to fill the pot half way. Some people add small uncut onions to this now; others go do the next step… I think grabbing a lean chicken breast was the wrong choice of meat. It ended up tasting like dry meat in the soup. I would go for fattier meat on the bone or fully skinned chicken legs/wings.

3.       Add minced garlic and onion to a big frying pan or pot and start frying with a big sploosh of oil on low heat. I added the spices and whatnot to this pot/pan now then added in the cabbage and carrots. Swirl all of that and add a little water or the borscht acru water stuff AND the tomato paste now so you are basically swirling around a mini really really thick soup. Towards the end add the beets and let it simmer.

4.       While all of that is going on you have to check on the meat cooking and skim off all “spumos” or foam that collects at the top of the water. When that crap stops conglomerating for sure, add the veggieness from the other pot and let it all cook for a while adding more spices, salt and pepper to taste. Fill the pot almost to the top with more water if needed.

You're on your own with when to add potatoes. I like my soup super thick so I added cabbage, onions and beets to my little thick-soup-hearts' delight. I also added Portuguese hot sauce I received the other week from a tenor in the choir (I knew there would be hidden benefits of joining the choir!). They will offer a mildly hot Chile on the side at restaurants here if you like to turn up the heat. They also like to add a chicken claw and sour cream. Those as well I have decided to write out of my soup creation. 

Poftă Bună!

-Kate

Holy Bananza Pants

I'm saying Holy Bananza Pants because I don't know how to reallllyyyy curse in Romanian. Only Russian and I only know the words phonetically, not in Cryllic. Sigh. I'm cold.

My newly loved apartment is falling apart on me probably as we speak. I would take a picture of me in my lounging getup for a visual of whats-what here but I don't want a picture of me in my exercise wristbands, three layers of sweaters, fuzzy bear cap and concealing scarf floating around the internet.

I moved out of my host families house (on good terms) the middle of February to a "cozy" apartment a short sprint from work with a soccer field DIRECTLY outside my front door in a quiet part of town. The week after I left my host brother received a saxophone from his dad in Italy, my least-loved instrument and is probably bane of all residents of his soviet block. Bam! Perfect Timing!!!

The silver linings of my newly beloved acasa started turning to rust and before I knew it, I've rented an apartment with a spurious fridge, oven (sad face no pizza or pecan pie!), bathroom faucet, balcony window, kitchen pipes annddd as of a week or so ago my one-room gas heating unit took a dump too. Now, now, don't freak.. I now have two space heaters and have pulled out my extremely warm sleeping bag for extra snuggling support (best birthday present!).

I'm not exactly suffering.

But I am a bit annoyed.

I moved in acknowledging:
- I need to buy a hot water heater unless I fancy ice baths (with the agreement of rent reduced for the price of the unit).
- No heat in the kitchen or bathroom. And there is a testy window by the oven that likes to stay open n free from work retirements (see bird story below).. Meaning I will not be spending much time in the kitchen (in the winter). Which isn't much of a big disappointment or unusual if you ask anyone who has ever lived with me.
- Everything is old. Everything. But the place comes with free use of any of the four different shot and cocktail glass collections displayed in glass cupboards in the main room. This is not unique to my situation but almost standard in Moldovan apartment renting terms.
- I have a sofa for a bed. Its not too bad.
- I get a naturally cold apartment with or without the open balcony window because of its first floor location. Groovy for Moldovan summers but people damn near shudder when I tell them its on the "prima etaj" and say its too cold of an apartment location (colder would be on a side of the building with vacant rooms below and above but I am not good at debate in Romanian enough to care).

I moved in and accepted the challenge with a background in cold weather. First floor, crappy, or not I was wanting a place of my own and I wanted to tough out the things I knew I was getting into.

Luckily, "The Adventures of Cold Kate in the Tundra (that's what we named it)" are coming to an end this weekend and I get a second shot at solo apartment living in Moldova. The unrefrigerated food I lost during the warm days of sun in the balcony made me mad. Then the window in the door between the balcony where the oven is and the kitchen just shattered when closed one day. Between that and accepting the daily trick of using-a-pot-under-the-kitchen's-faucet-as-a-mini-sink-because-the-pipes-below-are-clogged-like-a-poisoned-artery-then-running-it-to-the-pisssmellingtoilet-to-get-rid-of-the-water-used... put me over the edge. I'm not here for the next two years to volunteer my stipend for the reconstruction of this humble-la-bode and I need a fridge, dammit.

-Break- Bird story debriefing for those who didn't get the low-down...

One morning when I was waking up but still in bed I heard a bird outside my bedroom's door in the hallway to my bathroom. I sat and listened to it chirp around and decided a bird chirping around is better then a bird flying around having a heart attack if I came out of my room to check him out. Later on, after layering my cold-kitchen-battle-clothes, I left my warm room and ventured to the bathroom. In the bathroom I had three big soup pots from the bucket bath I took the night before. One, closest to the toilet had the evidence that the bird checked out my bathroom and took a pop in a pot for shits and giggles (assuming birds giggle...I would guess they do) before getting out and going on his birdish way. Someone just said to me... getting pooped on by a bird is good luck! Well I say having a bird who is smarter and closer to being toilet trained is far luckier!!!


My sympathetic Moldovan Peace Corps boss came up and approved yet again another apartment my work partner helped me find. We made sure this apartment's refrigerator works and everything is all good. And I get not one but TWO beds! Think of that! Or one bed, one couch. Whatever. Still awesome. I'm feeling spoiled with hot water, double the balcony space to test my green thumb and a second chance at apartment living. Could someone please teleport my dog here so it can really be my Moldovan palace??

Next week will come with new apartment adventures that I'm beyond looking forward to. A weekend trip to the Russian second hand piata in Chisinau will help me fill my apartment with handy stuff and rekindle the relationship I had with second hand shopping back in the US. If nothing, it is one of my favorite places to walk around to look at all the old soviet loot and test out my Romanian.

Happy Weekend!!! Hope you get pooped on!!

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!

Time flies when you are... Volunteering!

So whenever I get home from work, choir, wherever and have time on my hands I think, now would be a fantastic time to work on my blog... But I could also just sit and read a book or watch a movie... Just for you I took the first step by typing "bl" into the magic white space that teleports you to places on the mystical internet and before you know it I am here, typing away at my blog. I'm as loyal as a dog. One with a mind that definitely wanders from time to time.

So in my absence I have...

~expanded my waistline by feasting at multiple masas with Moldovans (say that five times fast), including Hram (city celebration, think heritage days with twice as much free food and booze aka a masa) with my training host family...

~took shots of vodka and cognac with Moldova's longest standing female mayor, got fed by her mom and sister, danced the hora with her husband (this is NOT perverted, you just kinda do a funny little jig with your feet until you get dizzy, the song stops or someone calls for more shots) and went out dancing for her nephews birthday with a group of people til the wee crack of dawn...

~executed two Halloween parties without drama for students in Rezina and a nearby friends village complete with pinatas (that I thought my host brother would like to help make but didn't because they were too gooey, crazyness I say)... 

~went monastery hopping again fo free with the Rezina choir (yes we sang songs on the bus, yes, it was awesome)...

~hopped on a horse bareback at a monastery in a dress.. got laughed and stared at by local teenagers...whatevers I was in love... 

~filled the shoes of a substitute English teacher for a day at a local school, nearly got eaten alive by 5th graders...I would like to say more but I'll sensor myself... I don't know how you teachers do it...

~introduced myself in front of a full audience attending "Two Hearts", a dating competition held by the youth club I am helping out...

~chaperoned a trip with the youth group one day.. felt more aged than ever in my 23 years to be invited to be that responsible for teenagers... guess this is life as an adult, right?

~helped with a grand opening at a youth center in a different town and became the local beloved artist among a few kiddos and teacher of the games Mancala and Rummikub...

~been referred to as a little Asian (from my little punches and kicks in a taebo class), and have been asked if I am Italian, Romanian and Moldovan... it's awesome.. I'll take the integration (and or) compliments any day...

~enjoyed the wonderful packages of love and warmth from people...(its colder in Wisco then Moldova btw, I should call you the little troopers)...

~spread the love by handing out hot chocolate packets and successfully making pecan pie (big shout out to my mom on that one- there are no pecans, brown sugar or corn syrup in this country!) and corn bread for a Peace Corps thanksgiving with 15 volunteers, a German and a three room apartment...

~helped out Help Portrait in the capital the day after giving thanks with my homies... this was the first time a movement/activity like this has happened in Moldova (I made it onto their homepage!) and got warm and fuzzy feelings from it...

~got laughed at for wearing my mittens one day last week... I read that as, "it's too early" in Moldovan interpretive language

~received a call at 8 in the morning from a Moldovan on an unrecognized number announcing who just became the United States' president and wanted to hear my reaction... that was really neat... its was this old guy who pays the accordion or something in this guys traditional folk group and is a mad table tennis player...

...and...

watched the Nutcracker Ballet (for about 10 bucks) with three friends followed by a dinner WITH LETTUCE!!! 

So yes, besides being served the cold chicken chillin in its own chicken jello, the dark nights starting at 4, squatting in holes, the nasty diesel vodkas I've had to drink and the experience with the evil 5th grade monsters, I have many things to be thankful for here and back at home. I really like how much volunteering I have been doing lately since starting my job as a Peace Corps Volunteer. Da, its ironic I say that but during training and the beginning of my days at my job (trust me, it feels, and is, just a typical desk job) at the NGO, I felt like it was time either dedicated to learning the ropes or following the ropes. No warm fuzzies. No off to save the world one small step at a time moments. Just whatever. Now the fun stuff is finally starting.

The next month will be busy with visits to Orphanages for Christmas, more time with the youth club here in Rezina and at my friends' youth center, a choir concert, a visit from the tv station at choir this Thursday and a possible cheap getaway to Romania  I guess to add to this cheesey casserole I'll finish by saying I am still happy to be here and love that this is what my life is right now, full of new friends and random conversations, volunteering and giving a LOT, a good group of Peace Corps friends to help not ever feel homesick (besides in my dreams) with new events and adventures turning up every day. 

I think a life filled with warm and fuzzies keeps you feeling warm and fuzzy. Its too bad more people don't see it that way or have that sort of mindset just a little bit. (I know parents you will read this but luckily) I have my parents to thank for the volunteerism mindset. And 4-H. I think if you don't grow up with the willingness and time set aside from your life to give back, you may never really give back and spend more time munchin in front of the tube or computer rather then with your community or the world.
(: Food for thought :)

Anywhos... I have photos.. for the future.. Its almost midnight...

Happy late Thanksgiving, hope your festivities were as great over there as they were over here!!

Kate

Missouri->Wisconsin->Missouri->Florida->Missouri->Wisconsin->Mississippi->Florida->Tennessee->Wisconsin->Maine-> Wisconsin->Minnesota->Wisconsin->Cancun->Wisconsin->Maine->Wisconsin->Maine->Wisconsin->Tennessee->Ohio->Wisconsin->Ohio->Rhode Island->Massachusetts->Illinois->Wisconsin->Missouri->Colorado->Vegas->Colorado->Utah->Colorado->Wisconsin->Minnesota->Wisconsin->Puerto Rico->Wisconsin->The Republic of Moldova!

For a more fun/ funnerrr view of this nonsense click on this little Google map thingy I made here:
https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid=206440230904767013433.0004cc17441862d12397f&msa=0&ll=45.39845,-83.847656&spn=36.926643,79.013672

This is how flight itineraries go when you take a puddle-jumper (in this case, some of my puddles are HUGE) from one place to the next for connecting flights and stuff right?


I think this is the official layout of where my butt stayed for a minimum of two nights between graduating college and where my butt is now...(I finished in December of 2010 so that's two years come this December I believe). I didn't want to post the states that I drove through and whatnot because that sounds like a redundant hassle that no one wants to read about. Many people wonder where I have wandered, why my mom calls me her gypsy child and where I get all my great memories and stories from. I thought while in one my fits of boredom to map it all out and give my memory a run for its money.

31 States, 1 Providence, 1 Unincorporated Territory of the United States, Mexico for a hot minute, a "Turkish Delight" (type of squishy powdered sugar candy thingy..delicious) layover in Istanbul has added up to be my whereabouts life between 21 and 22 years old.

Not to shabby with a shoe string budget, a car over 10 years old, a mutty Golden Retriever to house and amuse and what some people would call an "inconsistent source of income kinda lifestyle"...


Off the top of my head, in random order here are some of the highlights of my pre-Peace Corps life and travels.

Flying in Sea Planes: 4 times. Count it. Saw some moose, some of my favorite hikes, where I live and the changing fall leaves in Maine all by a plane that could take off and land on water. Groovy. Plus a friend and I in exchange for a ride helped a pilot friend write a stellar resume for a pilot position available in Alaska. Priceless.

Moved 30 rows back, dead center in front of Bob Dylan in concert on the Bangor Waterfront on a pretty summer night in Maine when a drunk guy claimed my seat and gave the security dude grief when we asked him to leave. Because I wasn't a b-iotch and told the security guy I've been in his shoes before (brief and terrible job at Mizzou football games) he hooked me up with a sweet spot to watch the rest of the concert. After that I slept in my tent in a campground full of camper driving Canadians looking for summer deals on school clothes instead of driving 2 hours in moose+deer+bear country at 2 am. Karma.

A dozen or so days up and down Vail and Beaver Creek Resorts blues and greens for less than $75 a day. Not a bad place to learn how to downhill ski, eh? A lot of times were completely free thanks to newly found friends who were lifties, ski shop rental dudes and hotel concierges. Also add a day of snowmobiling in the Rockies to that too for 30 bucks. Networkinggbazingaaa.

Learning the ins-and-outs of the term "all inclusive" vacation in Cancun with my besty. The whole sunny beaches and comfy lounge chair experience and "order whatever you want" was a great get away from the weather in Wisco and a reward for the busy horse show season I just finished up. Need I explain more? There are karaoke videos of us out there... somewhere if you really need me to explain more.


Also include two weekend trips to Quebec City via machina (car). One of which included a parking ticket. All in French. Hmpf. Yes I paid it, no I am not 100% sure if I sent it to the right address (two were listed). I would hate to get refused at the border of Canada, fly rod in hand because of one dumb parking ticket (I blame the French parking meters.. it was a Sunday). There are far too many fishies to be caught and places in that cool country to explore to not go back. Plus they had really good food in French Canada (not including poutine, I am not its biggest fan).

Road tripping to and from Maine were also pretty awesome journeys. People here talk about travels around Europe and they sound so exciting with so many different countries. One way from Wisconsin to Maine is about the distance from Paris to Warsaw (don't quote me) and I did that two times without a layover. Ever. I recall freaking out in Northern Massachusetts on my way there in May because I thought I was going to run out of gas at about 12:30 in the morning. Surprisingly there is little going on in Northern Mass. I thought the entire east coast minus Maine was full of cities everywhere. Little did I realize I would go forever and ever without seeing an exit with a gas station. When I was finally able to get off the highway I went to this tiny little town and met a couple who had a Golden Retriever who's daddy was named Carhartt. That contact with civilization and a Pepsi got me through the next 4 hours of driving in the dark was all I needed before crashing my friends couch sucessfully in South Portland, ME. The trip back to Wisconsin in September was with a girly friend from Tennessee. I convinced her to "come see Maine how it should be seen" and drive back with me to Wisconsin. I remember we stopped for the original buffalo wings in Buffalo, NY and sat and ate while watching kids learn how to yacht on Lake Erie.The cities Buffalo and Albany had very old, depressing feelings driving through them and seeing "once have beens" industrial areas covered in soot and grafiti and not a whole lot else going on.

Fishing. Fishing could have its whole chapter in my "I love my adventurous life book" but I won't bore you, yet... Maybe after many years of international success as a kick-ass chick fly fisher, but not now. What I will say is fly fishing in Colorado has topped everything else I have fished puffer fish and other little guys on the riverways of Eastern Florida, trolled around in Northern Maine on Moosehead lake and the Kennebeck River, fished for pan fish in Wisconsin with friends and family and stuck into some Makerel off the coast of Hartford, New Hampshire. Oh yea, and one time in Puerto Rico while setting up my kindle-reading-perch on the beach I saw a dude sitting next to a big ol' salt water fly rod and after walking over and talking to the Massachusetts-residing-Maine-lover who owned the rod, I got to try it out for an hour or two. Must have been wearing my lucky bikini at the time. ; )



$10ish live lobster and a bottle of wine with friends in Maine. Learned how to cook em and crack em like a Mainer on different occasions.


Free crawfish boil/traditional cajun dishes and live music for anyone attending/working the Gulf Coast Classic Horse Show in Gulfport, MS every Friday for about a month. Met people down enough to earth to actually hang out with after work including a talented local guitarist and friends I would continue to keep in contact from Tennessee well after the show hit the road. Also drove over to Fat Tuesday/ Mardi Gras on my day off  in New Orleans and had the original Cafe Du Monde roast and beignets (Anyone interested in sending over a can of the Chicory Coffee is gladly encouraged, I was introduced to Chicory coffee as delicious "Vietnamese coffee" in College and has loved it ever since; its easier on your stomach than regular coffee :).

Tennessee has left memories of late nights with great friends, dancing in Nashville in a bar where everyone swing dances and whatnot like you would before the bump and grind was created, an Amishish run restaurant with tasty southern food and a friends mom with magic healing hands. And boys that played Rugby. Saw my first live rugby game at MTSU; was way cooler than American football, sorry.


Riding in Wyoming and anywhere else I sat on a horse. Recently in Moldova has been fun too. I sold my horse when I was in college and I do not regret it. He is with a great girl with an awesome family and is fat and happy in Missouri. I do however miss riding daily minus the whole expenses part. Probably one of the prettiest places I have ever ridden was when I went up to Wyoming and visited a friend who lived there and had horses (my former horses owner whom I have stayed in contact with ever since buying him in 2004/5ish). We were right on the border of South Dakota in Black Hills country, the weather was clear and nice and the horses were great. Kinda makes me want to be a real cowgirl just thinking about it.


FOX HUNTING! How could I forget?? Talked to a fox hunting guru at a horse expo outside of Chicago before Thanksgiving and before you know it I was on my way to the first hunt under my belt (for about 50 bucks instead of the usual $200 plus). It was cool. Kinda like a rich person's trail ride because you ride in stylin' hunt clothes and don't actually hunt/kill anything (we never saw the alleged coyote we were hunting).  I highly recommend checking it out if you are a horse fan. Or dog fan. The 40 some dogs were fun to watch.

From my pictures from Puerto Rico its pretty obvious that I was a kid in a candy shop with horses running around next to the ocean and stopping traffic on the island of Vieques. That was a pretty unique place to spend some beach time before Moldova. Ponies + Non Busy Beaches= Loverly. However, I could not be an Island person. One week and I was bored of driving around and around, circling the island and drinking lots of rum.

Hmmm... What else... I'm sure I'm leaving a bunch out...

Want to go to Vegas and barely spend anything but still have a good time? Come with me. I'm glad I checked it out since I was "just a car ride away" when I was living in Vail. In my car destined to the Sin City were two dude co-workers of mine. One was from Argentina and the other from South Africa, both fresh out of university. Besides having  handsome cargo/ company, the trip was alot of fun; we met up with another friend of ours from South Africa when we got there. They showed me how to gamble long enough to get free drinks at the bar with computer blackjack and cash out when you are even. Foreigners can be so handy. I met two guys from Denmark and a couple from England in the hotel hot tub when the boys were gambling during the day and we all went out one night... Talk about a good looking multi-national group to explore Vegas with :) ... I still talk to all of them and hope to visit the love birds in England when I am finished working in Moldova.

The day-to-day life I had in Maine and Colorado could easily out-brag the Kardasians (sp?) I'm pretty sure. I hiked alot; Kathadin and Eagle Rock were my favorite places in Maine but I can't count out the number of times I hiked or snowshoed up Colorado's mountains with friends between work. Carhartt and I always had a blast, it was a fun way to stay in shape and the views were always breathtaking (all exercise that high up is breathtaking actually). I went a number of "Full Moon Hikes"where we owned Vail pass with the moon on our side and only still, crisp air to listen to instead of busy runs and rude tourists. Posted is a picture of a drive to the Ice Castle, constructed in Silverthorn and some creativity behind a friends camera. Another fun time was taking in a group of South Africans to a Avalanche game in Denver. And another time a buddy and I drove these stranded Argie kids (Argentinians.. there were alot of them here for the skiing) through a snow storm back to Frisco through Vail pass after they knocked on my car asking for help (we are all happy little friends now too). I felt like such a good little tour guide/ sofer.

I lived on the second floor of the big white house on the left.

My living situations were always sweet and swell too; couch surfing via friends or rented. In Maine I lived in this old hunting shack for $200 a month across from the Mt Kineo ferry dock/ Rockwood boat ramp on Moosehead Lake where Carhartt got to jump off whenever he pleased. My friend and I while driving one day had a baby bear cub run across the road to the woods directly behind my house. Scary kinda but more cool than anything.




I think that't it.
I feel like this is enough. :)
Thanks for reading! More on Moldova laters :)


Sit, be still and listen, because you're drunk and we're at the edge of a roof.
-Muslim Poet Rumi

Where. To. Begin....

Sorry for the delay... I have been doing great. Busy and great. Great and busy. I wrote this like a week....  or more like two weeks ago and don't feel like changing it. Training is over. I'm back at site, exhausted from the fun times of training/socializing and hopefully back in the grove of things here tomorrow. :)

Sometimes when I have the time to write, I don't and I admit to being slothy (slothful, I know..) then amidst sitting and watching the Russian version of Jerry Springer with a Russian host sporting a velvet blazer and skinny-tie-wearing-Beatles-wannabe outfit and the contestants curse at each other with toothless snarls and confused kids get passed around on peoples laps as often as the bread basket at dinnertime, my writing muse just makes me want to start clicking away at my keyboard. I had no clue what was going on between the "lovely" bunch as the show was in Russian and not Romanian (one of those times where I wished I was chosen to learn Russian out of our group) but I did get a kick out of the bladder control medicine commercial that followed with the main actor dude guy driving around a 1960's American (convertible) Mustang. Made me feel right at home, corny bladder advertisement and all.

I'm a day into staying two weeks with my original host family and my training village for a bit more limba Romana education and training for Peace Corps. Some people were bitching about coming back (surprise surprise) but I am delighted to. I love hanging out with this family, its one of the few times we are all together and I could use some ass kicking in the language department. I posted an open invite to the volunteers back for training cribbage and a beer if interested and I got great response... Hopefully I can pull a "Hanes" and either have a hand of all fives like Ryan or skunk people like Grandma :)

Last night I came into town for the arrival of the parents of the year before's volunteer (who lived with my training host fam the year before, sorry if this hard to understand, my English is fading rapidly) and helped welcome them with a little masa (food eating good time, masa=table). I had flashbacks of when I showed up to their house for the first time, multi-jet lagged, very much welcomed and completely bewildered by the people with funny words coming out of their mouths. I knew the bug-eyed look well and did some reflection on how far I have come with the new language and new digs strangely similar yet wildly different then the US. I'm looking forward to hosting friends and family when they come :) :)

Following the masa I had this funny dream where I was back to work at Quarter Horse Congress (a big horse show held in Ohio every year in October) working for Chick's and admiring the Packers/Aaron Rodgers horse grooming brushes, clothing and horse equipment as I was setting up the store. Talk about goofy. I guess I must be shopping deprived (this is not a bad thing, my friends and I got excited when we splurged and purchased much needed sunglasses the other day gratitude 101), more interested in football then I thought and reflecting on where my life was a year ago.

Oh yeaaa...Anddd....Since I wrote last, I had my international choir debut in the center of town and it went great. Only two songs followed by cute kids dressed in fairy tale type costumes and teenagers in traditional Moldovan clothing (like in the picture in my last post) for the Day of our Language, an easy intro. Pictures will follow.. soon.. someday...I assume more fun is to come with the choir when my city celebrates Hram, a day based around the official saint of the church in my town. I don't know much more about it other then its a pretty big deal (food fest) and its the 14th of October.

Enough. I am so far behind on this little blog its not cool. I debate the efficiency of a video blog over writing. I am too putzy and take advantage of clicking draft on this thing instead of just posting right away. More delayed news to follow soon. It will include mumblings of riding ponies, potential fishing and other random acts of funness.





Let the beauty we love be what we do. There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground."- Rumi

If a picture is worth 1000 words, I can sum up Moldova (so far) right here, right now

Here it is, the picture I've been waiting for. With the exception of one of these people not holding a bottle of house wine this picture takes my cake as, "Moldova. In one picture." Also, Youtube "Moldova Music Accordion" to add to the senses overload.



I feel more and more integrated every day. My language is improving, I've met more people in Rezina I can call prietenii (friends) and I can hold a few opinions and observations I would like to share here. This picture was "liked" by a Moldovan friend of mine on the Facebook page of Flamingo Night Club in Chisinau, Moldova and I would like to "like" it here.

For starters, the women here are beautiful. Absolutely gorgeous. And the luckiest thing they have going for them is that I don't think their metabolisms are effected by the oily, fatty diet here. No long hours in the gym for them, just hours in front of the mirror. Not fair. The men... Eh... To keep it brief they do not compare to the women (please reexamine picture above). It is fairly understandable why a dude volunteer would date someone here. From a young age pretty girls know how to do "pretty", walk long distances up hills both ways in high heels, cook, clean and become obsessively interested in finding a boyfriend to obsessively obsess about when they are not obsessing about their looks, clothes, whatever. I get this feeling the girls here are very competitive with one another and its too bad they don't get involved in sports/have the opportunities like American girls do to vent this competitiveness through instead.

But seriously. If I ever get bored I'm just going to set up a chair on the staircase of Rezina to watch and count the number of women who don't just walk around, they high heel around like its no big deal (the stairs would just add to my strange amusement/bewilderment). When I wear heels here I do the street walkin' and stair climbin' in my Tevas and switch over to my heels when I get to my destination as discretely as possible.

Its like in other cultures you see the obvious "bizarre" customs where people poke sticks in their noses and get a kick out of tattooing their faces up or make an effort to stretch out their ears or keep their feet tiny...That stuff is immediately noticeable. Here it is more subtle, definitely not so dramatic but if you showed up in a city center here, cracked open a few beers (that will run you between $.80-$1.50 USD per bottle) during a busy hour you will notice more women then not wearing some sort of high heel (torture contraption), a  few short skirts, nice dresses and lots of beauties. Pretty freaky (literally).

Moving on... The clash of old and new Moldova... Traditional clothing and the modern. Generally the folky looking clothes in the picture are worn for special occasions and weddings (the people working at the reception halls wear stuff like this I believe) and to greet important people to Moldova (i.e. German Chancellor Angela Merkel last week). I am curious why they are wearing it at a night club but Moldova is a sort of "Anything Goes" kinda place (which this picture shows respectively). As an American I can't say we could even agree on something like that to wear in the States yet alone be willing to be caught dead in such an outfit. I would want to dress up as Pocahontas where it might be more correct in your opinion to dress up as John Smith or a baseball player or something. Regardless, it is neat to see it still being worn semi-frequently here instead of fading out fashion in these hip, modern times.

Next lets look at facial expressions. I would say they are open to interpretation of course as with everything I am doing with this picture but I am just about guaranteeing all of these people are in fact smiling and having a fabulous time, Moldovan style. Somewhere behind the deer in headlights look or whatever expression you want to consider the couple in this photo to be using is in fact a nice big smile you would see in the US for a photo op like this. I swear.. pinky swear. People just prefer a dead stare over a toothy smile here when they get their pictures taken. No shame in that, just not what we are used to.

Moldova is definitely a country in transition, its a great time to be here. Almost the entire country is wifi accessible but if you live in a village, expect to poop in a hole. Even if you don't live in a village. Expect to poop in a hole. Plenty of women dye their hair and have fake long nails to go with their natural beauty and high heels but you will find more people without a full set of teeth then with after the age of 40 and half of the schools without safe sanitation. You can buy a BMW or Mercedes for nothing compared to US prices and drive around like James Bond but will still be passing horse drawn carts on the "highway". People walk around talking on iPods and smart phones but curse you if you have more than one window open on the bus and blame the air current on their ailments. I could continue but I think you get the point.

Well I would say I've reached the 1000 word limit. Hope this is better insight to this goofy little country then prior blog posts and Google searches. If I come across another picture like this I will be sure to post again!

Happy Trails,

Kate