New Years in Transylvania

12-29-12

Jesse and I started our journey up to Chisinau at about 3:00 in the afternoon. We had a 3 hour bus ride to Chisinau and then had time for some dinner before hopping on the overnight bus to Romania. The bus was pretty empty and John nearly missed it, which meant we all would have missed it since he had our tickets. But we were 3 of 6 people on it so we were able to stretch out and sleep. It was about a 10 hour ride with a half hour stop at the borders. It was pretty damn cold.

12-30-12

We arrived in Brașov, Romania (pronounced brah-shov) at about 7:30am. It was brutally cold. Our plan was to hop on a local bus, head to the train station, drop our bags off and buy our tickets to Sinaia and then explore the city. Without knowledge of the city bus system, we hopped on the first one we saw. It was immediately boarded by the bus 'security' and since we didn't have a ticket, we were fined 45 RON (about $12). Romania was not endearing itself to us very quickly. We were all pretty irritated but went on with our day. We made it to the train station and stored our bags and bought tickets for a 3:00 train to Sinaia which was about an hour away. We got back on the bus (tickets in hand) and headed into the center of the city. It was quite beautiful.

City center.

Jesse and John enjoying a hot cup of mulled wine.

But it was freaking cold! So we found a coffee shop and warmed up. After that we walked around, found a museum about the local history, had some Chinese food (!!!!) and did some people watching. We headed to the train station and jumped on the train...it was the wrong one. Quickly jumped off, ran across the tracks and jumped on the right one just as it was leaving. (Never a dull moment). It was a lovely ride through the Romanian countryside down to the Ski Resort town of Sinaia. (Sin-ay-ya)

The train pulled into the station and where we had to go was about 1000 stairs up...I may be exaggerating but it sure felt like 1000. It was more like 100 but still...
When we got to the top I was NOT happy, but we found the place we were staying. Our friends Lindsay and Conrad had booked an apartment with Conrad's parents and they were being kind and letting us crash there. They had left a key for us at the front desk. It was a tiny hotel in the mountains with an apartment in the back for us. It was great. 

Our 'apartment.'

The front of the hotel.

The boys wanted to put their stuff down and go for a walk. I rolled my eyes and bid them farewell as I passed out on the couch. I had a nice nap before Conrad's parents arrived. Had a lovely chat with them before the boys came back and soon Lindsay and Conrad joined us after their day of skiing. The group of us headed into town and had dinner together. 
Back at home we all shared a nightcap of "Maker's Mark" that Conrad's Dad had brought for us from the states and we all fell asleep watching 'The Shining.' (I know...)

12-31-12
Staying at the hotel included breakfast, a luxury we volunteers were SO not used to. John is an early riser (and is NOT quiet about it) so he and Jesse got up and went to breakfast early. Lindsay and Conrad joined them soon after. I slept in, as did Conrad's parents and the three of us went to breakfast at around 9:30am, a more feasible time to wake up! We all kind of went our separate ways for the day, which was great. Lindsay, Conrad and John went skiing, Jesse went hiking and Conrad's folks went walking through the town. I bet you can't guess what Jenn did? Yeah...I napped. Ha ha. That's vacation! I was awoken by the housekeepers who were SO nice. They loved that I spoke Romanian and we chatted for a while. After they left, I went for a walk of my own. Walked through the town, people watched and enjoyed the cool but fresh air. 

Yeah...I did a double take too...

A view from the bottom of the hill.

I went back to the hotel and read outside for a while, it was quite relaxing. Everyone arrived back home and we decided we would go shopping and make dinner since we had a full kitchen available to us. Conrad's Mom, Lindsay and I cooked up a dinner of Spinach Dip, Tortellini, Vegetables and sauce. It was a big hit and very nice. The plan was to have dinner and then go out and enjoy some New Year's celebrations but everyone was really wiped out from the day. Instead, we chose to stay in, chat, watch some TV celebrations and enjoy the fireworks outside our front door at midnight. It was way more low key and uneventful than I was expecting, but so much better. The new year was here. We all toasted and each said one resolution we'd like to accomplish in 2013. 

1-1-13
We got to sleep in since the free breakfast wasn't starting until 11:30am. (Of course John was up again at 7...). The hotel had a lovely brunch and we all enjoyed it together before saying our goodbyes. Conrad, Lindsay and the folks were headed up to Brașov for the day and had hired a private car so they had to head out. We all said goodbye and the boys and I headed to the train station. We were going to the mountains. We had to meet our ride at 5:00pm. We got back to Brașov and had some time to kill. We had to find a grocery store to buy some food as the place we were staying was quite remote and we were told to bring supplies. We could not find an open store anywhere. We asked a local and he almost laughed at us. Nothing was open on New Years's day. We got to the train station to meet our host, Joseph. He was the owner of the place we were staying in the mountains and he was going to drive us there. He managed to find an open store and we were able to buy some food for the next few days. The road up to his place in the mountains was very steep and very dark but the stars were SO bright and so beautiful, I don't remember the last time I saw so many. It was great. We arrived and he took us around. It was SO quiet and we had the place entirely to ourselves. It was 7:30pm and we were ready to sleep. And we did!

1-2-13
AGAIN, awoken by John at 7am, but I didn't mind this time since I had been asleep for about 11 hours. When I walked outside, it took my breath away. I literally felt like I was on top of the world. Just surrounded by the Carpathian mountains, fresh, clean air and just silent. It was heaven. I went to the kitchen and Joseph had fresh milk and cheese for us that they had made there at the farm. John and Jesse had decided to go on a hike so they were getting directions from Joseph. I was going to stay behind and spend the day reading. I went outside and sat on the porch and read for about 6 hours. The house dog laid across my feet which normally would have annoyed me but I didn't mind because he was quiet and he kept my feet warm.

My view while I read.

The boys showed back up at around 4:00pm, they survived and we all had a simple dinner together. We played cards for a while and looked at photos that they (and I) had taken during the day. They were pretty wiped out from their hike so again we were all in bed by 7:00pm. We laughed at the absurdity of it but were asleep within the hour. 

1-3-12
One final morning of being woken up by non-subtle John. We woke up and Joseph gave us a full tour of the farm. It is a self-sustaining farm, they don't mass produce anything, it is just for themselves. The hostel doesn't see a lot of business in the winter and we found out we were their first guests in a few months so they were pretty pleased to see us. Joseph is a very smart man who loves the country. He is very interested in eco-friendly lifestyles and asked us a lot of questions about what he could do better. But to be honest, he was doing great. I was very impressed by him. He was a hard worker, he loves his country, he loves his home and yet is not 'old school' at all. He uses the internet as a tool to constantly learn new ways of improving his home and his life and is just a very smart business man. 

The sign at the gate.

My friend that kept my feet warm.

John looking at the mountains.

The front of the common room.

Where we slept.

We left around 1:00. Joseph drove us down the mountain. And I will say, it was a beautiful view...but maybe the scariest drive I have ever been on. It was a single, one lane dirt road down a steep mountain, covered in ice with no guard rails filled with twists and turns. And yes...we did face cars coming the other direction. It was terrifying. I kept my eyes closed the majority of the time. The drive back to Brașov was about an hour and a half and Joseph dropped us off at the bus station. We said our goodbyes and thanked him for a wonderful experience. Jesse and I were leaving that night on an overnight bus back to Chisinau but John was going to meet up with some other volunteers and stay a few more days. Jesse and I tried to buy our bus tickets at that time but they said we had to wait and pay the driver that night. So we headed back into city center and decided to have more Chinese food while we could. John left us and went to drop his stuff off at the hostel he would be staying at. He re-joined us with 5 other volunteers in tow. So the 8 of us had dinner together before Jesse and I had to head out. We went to get on the bus but there was no place to buy a ticket. Having learned our lesson, we wound up walking to the bus station. The bus left at 7:00pm. We arrived at 6:45pm and got the last 2 seats. Whew. It was packed and it was HOT! They pumped the heat so much I was sweating. It was a long ride and this time, since it was full and a big bus, we were at the border for 2 hours. Ugh! We arrived back in Chisinau at 4:30am. There wasn't too much to do and PCHQ doesn't open until 6:00am so we headed to Tucano coffee and hung out there for a few hours. Finally headed there and received a Christmas package from my loving sister. Yay!
New Years. 
So, 2013...I get to go home this year. Only 6 months of service left which is a little weird. I can't decide if it's flown by or dragged on. I am dreading the inevitable goodbyes that will happen but at the same time, I am ready to go home. I miss the good old US of A...especially the cheeseburgers.

Wrapping up 2012.

I had to spend one full year in Moldova. 2011 was a half year, 2013 will be a half year, but 2012, I was here. And I made it. Some days are harder than others but overall, it's okay. The thought that seems to inspire the perseverance is "I will not be here the rest of my life." When I encounter people I do not care for, or slip on the ice, or can't communicate in Russian that I want Tuna in water not oil, this is the thought that pops into my head.
The world didn't end so that's a good thing. On Friday, Dec. 21st, I invited a group of volunteers down to celebrate. In case it did end, these were the people I wanted to be surrounded by and since it didn't, there was cause to celebrate. There was a lot of snow and it was cold so we decided to stay in the apartment all night and eat and drink. There was a lot of laughter and it was desperately needed.

Natasha, Lindsay, Conrad, Ross, Jesse, Chris, Kitsy and Holly. A great way to celebrate the end of the world.

Kitsy, Me and Lindsay. When we arrived there were 11 girls in our program, we are the only 3 left.

My boys that keep me laughing. Conrad, Sasha, Chris, Ross and Jesse.

Soon after, everyone went their separate ways for Christmas. Michael and John came to visit for the holidays. On Christmas Eve, we decided to go out to dinner with Jesse at one of our favorite restaurants, the Flamingo. We were the only ones there so it was like we had the place to ourselves. It was quite pleasant. Christmas day was a lot of cooking and a lot of Skyping with our respective families. This is what my holidays look like now. 

My loving brother Bob sleeps through the family Skype call...he woke up later. It's okay, he works hard.

Then on to the family in Georgia.

The guys all left the day after Christmas and now I get a few days to myself before leaving on my Transylvania excursion to Romania for New Years. So in looking back, here are my Top 10 things I loved about 2012:

• The End of the World (December 21, 2012)
• As noted above, I gathered together with some of my favorite volunteers to celebrate the world not ending. It was one of my favorite get togethers of the year.
• Trip to London/Paris (May, 2012)
• The first two weeks of May I spent exploring London and Paris with all my old pals from Too Faced. I am still in awe that they all came at the same time and we were able to do that. I know that they didn't come specifically to see me, but the fact that we all made it work and had such a blast together will remain in my heart forever.
• The Election (November 6, 2012)
• Without getting into politics, it was kind of cool to watch this all unfold from halfway around the world and stay up all night until we heard Barack give his acceptance speech at 9:30 in the morning. 
• Wednesday afternoons at Mamma Mia
• Throughout the entire spring, all of us here in Cahul would gather at our favorite restaurant on Wednesday afternoons and have dinner together. Pretty much the entire gang is gone now and Mamma Mia (the restaurant) itself has closed down, nonetheless, it will always be my favorite memory of Moldova.
• The perfect kiss (April 27, 2012)
• After flirting with the waiter at the restaurant mentioned above, we finally went out one night in April. He didn't speak English, I barely spoke Russian and yet at the end of the night he kissed me. Just that perfect kiss that reminds you that you are attractive to people regardless of language and you are still alive.
• Summer Barbecue (June 1, 2012)
• Ryne's going away barbecue/Sasha's birthday. It was a giant party at the local lake to kick off summer. Pretty much every person I knew in Cahul was there and it was the last time we were all together. Bittersweet, but a fantastic night.
• The Walking Dead
• I know, it's so lame to be happy about a TV show, but no show has had me this excited and provides buzz points to discuss with everyone the next day since LOST. It's one of those guilty pleasures that just pushes you through.
• Trips to the Ukraine (January, July & August)
• I went three times. Once in January with John, Jeremy and Chris. It was freezing cold but a great time. Once in July with my dear group of friends for my birthday and lastly in August to Zatoka with my Moldovan friends. For never having visited the Ukraine before, I sure made up for that this year. Funny, as you think of it as being a frozen tundra and I spent 2 out of the 3 trips at the beach of the Black Sea.
• U.S. Embassy 4th of July party (July 7, 2012)
• The big shindig thrown by the Embassy for the ex-pats, state workers and volunteers is always a great time. A time to let loose, listen to good music and all be together. They have decided to discontinue it so unbeknownst to me at the time, it was the last one. 
• Viktor
• Viktor is the Moldovan that I grew the closest to. Unfortunately (for me) he decided to become a volunteer in France so he moved away for the rest of my service. But he was definitely a highlight of this year as I have countless memories of him. The best ones being our long talks learning about our different cultures. He changed my perspective and my life forever.

Signing off for 2012 and heading into Transylvania, another sentence I never thought I'd say. See you in the new year.

So This is Christmas...and what have you done?

How is it Christmas already? Last year at this time I was prepping for my journey to Vienna and Prague with Lyndsey. I can't believe that was a year ago. Last week, Lyndsey left. I knew it was a possibility for a long time, but she finally decided to go. She was my best friend here and it was really hard to see her go but even harder to see how unhappy she was here. So she is back in Pittsburgh now and with her fiance and she is happy. I know I will see her again. It is hard to imagine the next 7 months without her as she has been by my side since day one, literally as we sat together on the plane here. But I shall persevere.

As I've said all too often, I think she is the last one to leave for now. We do only have 7 months to go so I'm hoping the rest of us can hang in there. 
So Christmas is next week. There are a few of us who are staying behind. The plan is to have Christmas dinner and lie around all day and watch movies. We'll all have Skype dates with our families so it will be all right. I will have to make cinnamon rolls just to make it feel like a holiday.
For New Years, I am heading to Transylvania. (Things I thought I'd never say). I will be going with Lindsay, Conrad, Michael and John, 4 of my best friends left here. We're only going for a few days but it will be nice to get out of here as well as explore Transylvania. Yes, I will nerdily visit Dracula's castle, sue me! I like kitsch! 
We are covered in snow here and it is glorious. It is so pretty and crisp and clean. I know I will get annoyed by it in a few months but right now it is really cool. 

Locals building snow men.

The view from my apartment window.

Lastly, the worst part of the week was the shooting in Connecticut. Personally, there are three side effects of this ridiculous tragedy that are incredibly frustrating.
1 - Social Media - I know this is a time for discussion. I believe this is THE time for discussion. But why can't it be just that? A discussion? I know there is passion and anger and confusion and the need to place blame, but man, ignorance is so, so blatant under the microscope of social media. I have just seen sides to people I do not like. I really don't care if you are pro-gun rights or anti-gun rights or religious or atheist but why oh WHY do people feel the need to post their points of view as if they are the end all be all on the subject. Everyone is entitled to their opinion. That is one of the glories of freedom of speech. But that means EVERYONE, not just you. Oh the senses of entitlement is just plain sad. It disgusts me. I daily contemplate why I am a member of Facebook. It really does bring out the worst in people. And if ONE more person posts one of those status updates where they're 'daring' me to copy and paste it if I care, I swear...

2 - Living Abroad - It is so difficult to have a conversation with Moldovans because they're question is always "why did this happen?" How do I answer that? Why are there school shootings? There is no answer. It is despicable...and honestly? Embarrassing.

3 - The f@#king media - Explaining the freedom of the press is a little difficult too. Where is the line of decency? Is there anyone out there really hoping to get a statement from a traumatized 6 year old about what just happened? Do they need to clutter the streets of Newton with camera trucks and journalists just in the hopes of getting footage of people at funerals or getting a soundbite from a neighbor? Is this what we've come to? And worst of all, why are we plastering this guy's face and name all over the place. I don't want to know his name. I don't want to know what he looks like. I don't want him to get any credit or notoriety or fame for this. Why do you?

I will get off my soapbox now. It is a worldwide tragedy that is being experienced. We feel it here, you feel it there and in that we are all together.

**Side note - Please stop using "Hallelujah" by Leonard Cohen to pay tribute to the victims. I know it has a haunting melody and a religious title but it is not a hymn. It is a song about an orgasm. Read the lyrics and not the title, it's getting awkward.

Jeff Buckley's cover of 'Hallelujah'

Thanksgiving with the locals.

We held a Thanksgiving dinner for all of the volunteers in the South and their Moldovan counterparts. We had a total of 47 guests. Cooking a meal for that many people isn't easy, but we succeeded. The turkey was raised in the neighboring village of Brinza. We killed it, plucked it, gutted it, cleaned it and cooked it. It was primal...and awesome. Holly, Jesse and I had the most guests mostly because it was held here in Cahul and we invited all of our Moldovan friends and their families. But in total we had 14 Peace Corps volunteers and 2 local Fulbright scholars. I'm still pissed I didn't get any pumpkin pie, but whatever. Peace and friendship...

Our friends Vica and Natasha.

The crowd awaits.

Jesse carves the turkey. RIP, Leonard II...

Some of the spread.

Gicu, a local student who not only got us the turkey, but helped us prepare the entire meal.

The Moldovans dig in. Most of the foods they have never heard of or seen. All were labeled with descriptions in Romanian and Russian. We had to hand out the recipe many times for stuffing and pumpkin pie.

Me, Holly and Jesse.

Me and my best friend, Sasha.

Jesse posing with Sasha and his family.

The full group of Americans.
Front - Victoria, Kim, Maggie, Bethany, Rachel, Liz, Tom, Ross and Frances.
Back - Holly, Jesse, Sylvia, Kelly, John, Gene and Me.

One last T-Day in the former Soviet Union...

I don't think it's any secret that the last few months have been challenging. And here we are at the day of thanks as celebrated by the U.S.A. In trying to explain the holiday of Thanksgiving, I have learned it is not easy to tell people why we celebrate it since the origins are sketchy at best. But instead of delving into the horrors of the origins, I choose instead to just find things to be thankful for, here is what I came up with:

• I have a roof over my head, a nice apartment, a great roommate and indoor plumbing.
• I have survived 2/3 of my service and only have 9 months to go.
• I can read Russian.
• My 15 year old niece is my best friend.
• I have said goodbye to way too many friends in the past few months, but as Winnie the Pooh said "I am blessed to have something so special that makes saying goodbye so hard."
• The Walking Dead
• After being gone for nearly 2 years, the gang at Too Faced still care enough to not only keep me in their thoughts and hearts but also still send me things from home that only they know I miss.
• That my family took the time to learn how to use Skype just so they can talk to me. I know it isn't their preferred method of communication but they figured it out...that's love.
• Learning to make food from scratch. Definitely proves just how lazy we have become when it really isn't that difficult and is SO much better.
• I have been in 8 different countries this year, some of which I probably never would have even looked up on a map if I weren't here. (Moldova, Romania, Ukraine, Czech Republic, Austria, Germany, France and the UK)
• Comedians on Twitter. 
• Best friends...in CA, in PA, in NY, in NC, in family, in Moldova, in France, they're freaking everywhere.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving day and we will have a small gathering to celebrate the day (if we get paid that is...otherwise it's bread...lots of bread) Saturday we will be making dinner for 15 volunteers and about 40 Moldovan to once again teach them about this uniquely American holiday. And thus, the holiday season begins. Makes me start to wonder, where will I be next year at this time? (Oh God...please don't ask me...)

Jenny from the Eastern Bloc

I can't comment too much on politics per regulations, but I will just say, watching the election from outside the US is pretty eye opening. The results started coming in here around 2:00am. I stayed awake all night with my roommate, Holly and our friend, Maryam. They were a little delirious...

But we made it through the night and at around 6:15 we heard the news. Around 8:30 we heard the speech and we were asleep by 9. Interesting night. But a very pleasing one. I pulled up the FOX News site because that was the one that was most pleasing to see. Love you, Todd. :))))))

What good is sitting alone in your room...

I am a theater person. Have been since I was a wee child since my Mom first put me on the stage. I love everything about it. But, as with everything, there are pros and cons.

Pros:

• Growing up learning life lessons from movie musicals.
• Finding strange people just like yourself to relate to.
• When math and science don't make sense, finding something that actually does.
• As an actor, transforming into someone completely different to forget reality for a few hours.
• As an audience member, losing yourself in someone else's story.
• As a director, watching scared auditioners turn into superstars 6 weeks later.
• Becoming skilled at poker faces when you can't react in the moment to strange situations.
• The ability to completely tune out of situations by going somewhere else in your brain.
• The exhilaration of curtain calls whether your bowing or applauding.
• Finding generic things to comment on when you've witnessed people you love in horrid productions.
• When listening to music, staging it in your head.
• Noticing artistic elements of stage and movies that are tribute to connoisseurs. I can often be found saying "oh NIIIICE back-lighting, there."

I could go on and on about the pros of having an artistic background and majoring in theatre in college and loving music and dance and being truly grateful that I grew up in an artistic family yada yada yada.

Only recently, have I noticed the cons of being this type of personality. Through a series of very strange events, I have noticed just how much I plan events in my mind. I tend to 'stage' different scenarios or rehearse reactions so that I am prepared for what may come at me. I'm sure it stems from my 'control-freak' problem that I want to be prepared for any possible outcome. The problem is, here in Moldova, and probably mostly everywhere, it's pretty rare that you can predict an outcome or more to the point, predict others actions or reactions. To top all that off, I can't be as eloquent with my words in Russian so even though in my head I sound like Jon Stewart sounding off against Fox and Friends, I wind up sounding like a 4 year old trying to negotiate an extra cookie. It's exhausting. And I am always disappointed, rarely pleasantly surprised. Because I have inadvertently created a series of un-meetable expectations and unless I have an untapped psychic ability, it just isn't going to happen. It's so easy to say 'relax...whatever will be will be' and yet in the moment, you really want to be prepared. I want to have to cool one liner that is delivered like in a perfect theatrical moment that leaves the audience oohing and aahing. But, I can't. Because I'm not living off an Aaron Sorkin script here, unfortunately, I am stuck in reality. I'm in a constant state of improv, every actor's nightmare. I stopped being an actor in the late 90's and transformed into a director. Every director is a control freak, they have to be to get anything done. And that somehow transfers into real life. I'm not sure when it happened, but it did. I went from being an easy going actor into an OCD riddled control freak. Life here is anything but in control. There is an entire gamut of emotions in play every single day and it is emotionally exhausting. 

And now I'm caught in the middle of a long stream of consciousness about diagnosing this problem...how do I get out of it? The condition and the stream? These are just late night revelations that come to me as I can't sleep. Things I do know? I miss my family and hope they're all okay during this crappy storm that has hit the Eastern seaborne. And even though some of my friends here have really disappointed me here in the last week or so, I am truly grateful for the lessons I have learned. They are certainly ones I will never forget.