The Holidays Approach...

Things here in Cahul have suddenly started moving at a very quick pace. 2 weeks ago, a gang of us went to the local orphanage and played games with the kids for a few hours. When I think of an orphanage, all I can think of is Annie Warbucks and that awful place she grew up in NYC while she and a bunch of young girls in tattered clothes cleaned all day and sang jaunty musical numbers. Turns out, that's not reality. I was pleasantly surprised at this orphanage. It was actually a pleasant place to be. I'm not saying that I didn't feel for the kids, but they certainly had formed their own families. The women who ran the place cared for them each deeply, the kids were very much 'siblings' in the traditional sense. The older boys clearly had control and if they said something the younger ones listened but they were also their protectors. One of the little girls was shy about participating and the older boy went over and talked her into it and stayed with her until she felt comfortable. (Pause for political snide remark...isn't it amazing that families in the non-traditional sense sometimes still work?) 
We were there for a few hours and it was nice. Dylan, another volunteer, ran the project and is trying to make it a monthly thing. There were 7 of us volunteers there that day but he would like to get more as well as some Moldovan youth volunteers to make it sustainable .
Since then, Holly and I have been trying to make our apartment seem more 'homey' furnishing it with rugs and personal items and we have proudly held some actual dinner parties for the Cahul people. We have adopted the Fulbright scholar from the University, Erin, as one of our group. She's only here for a year but her boyfriend is from Moldova so I have a feeling she'll be staying longer. I've also made friends with a few Russian students from the University and they have agreed to teach me conversational Russian in exchange for help with their English. This pleases me greatly as I have learned Russian is a necessity for survival. 
I am insanely lucky to have such a great group of volunteers with me here in the South of the country. 
As for the impending holidays, I think it will be strange but okay. It will be my first non-traditional Thanksgiving in my lifetime. The majority of volunteers are throwing a traditional party in the Capital this weekend but we 'southies' have elected not to go. Instead, we are throwing the 'anti-Thanksgiving' which means Mexican food. (I don't know why). On December 3rd, we are throwing a traditional Thanksgiving dinner for our work partners to educate them on what the holiday means to us in the U.S. This of course has been misconstrued amongst juvenile volunteers as an exclusive party that only certain people are invited to and not a professional event in which we are doing our job and promoting peace and friendship among Moldovans. Sometimes I am in Peace Corps High School. 
November has flown by and it is less than a month before Christmas. I have never spent a Christmas away from Honesdale, PA in 38 years so it will be strange. Thankfully Vienna, Austria and Prague, Czech Republic will help with that. Last Christmas was a pretty hard day in dealing with the aftermath of the death of my nephew but it also showed what a strong family I have. The end of Christmas day last year didn't feel like a holiday was ending, it felt like we had all survived together. I'm sad that I can't be there this year where there will be some laughter and happiness again but on the same level, knowing that everyone is so much better now gives us all the strength to be happy wherever we are. I never thought last year at this time that i'd be celebrating Christmas listening to Mozart in Vienna but I'll be doing it. 
One thing I am TOTALLY psyched for is the lack of Christmas commercialism here. There is no Black Friday, there is no 'shopping season.' There is not marketing shoved down your throat on TV commercials and store windows and billboards, it's wonderful. Plus, the Orthodox religion celebrates Christmas on January 7th which means I will be in country to witness their traditions and have no work for a few weeks. I think I may enjoy the Christmas season this year. 

It Only Takes a Moment...

So we got summoned back up to Chisnau for a few days for some more language trainings. We were back in the school we were in all summer but it's a little bit different in the winter...it's freezing. They don't use a lot of heat here and since all the students were off for the week on Winter Break, they certainly weren't heating the school. We all sat in the classrooms in our winter coats and gloves and tried our best to stay warm during classes all the while desperate to look forward to the coffee breaks. Because of our love of coffee, well yeah, but also to hold the warm cup. We were all in the hotel for 3 days. The English Education and Health Education volunteers were there for a week. But the weekend was the first time we had all been together since the summer. It was evident that people had become more comfortable now and the groups of friends had been established. In summertime, it was all politeness and pleasant greetings but as with any situations, now there were groups. I hesitate to use the word cliques because it wasn't a vicious thing, there wasn't a competition or anything mean spirited, you just migrate towards the people who make you comfortable. 
Lyndsey and I met up right away when we got into town and headed out to lunch at a greek restaurant with Brittany. The food was a little pricey but it sure was delicious. We met up with Maria and Maryam and we all headed to the hotel. Maria, Lyndsey and I decided to share a room and since we checked in so late, we were on another floor from all the volunteers which proved to be quite nice. Another volunteer Craig was COS'ing (Close of Service) the next day so everyone was meeting up with him at a local restaurant. I usually don't like to go places where EVERYBODY is going because I don't like being a part of a loud group of Americans. However, I did want to say goodbye to Craig so worst case scenario we would just go and then leave shortly after. As suspected, it was a LOUD group of Americans and Lyndsey and I couldn't wait to get out of there. Fortunately, as we were trying to leave, a table opened up at the opposite end of the restaurant so we grabbed it. We were joined by Pat, Sarah and Dahnika and then Brendan and Natalie. I had spent a lot of time with Pat during the previous training and he's fantastic. His wife, Sarah and he are both from CA and I had met them at the farewell dinner. Dahnika is in Sarah's program and Brendan and Natalie are English Education. Brendan is down in the South near me so I had already known him but I didn't know Natalie too well. Regardless, it was a nice, low-key group and we had an enjoyable dinner. We headed back to the hotel soon after as we were pretty tired from the day. Lyndsey and I met up with Maria there and wound up just hanging out in our room and doing nothing. We had to wake up early the next day for language class. It was a long day and hard to focus in a cold classroom but it was good to see everybody. For lunch we headed to the delicious, Italian place we had discovered the last training. That night I wound up going out with another huge group for dinner against my better judgment and again wound up going back to the hotel early. There was a bunch of people in my room watching Dirty Dancing and I could tell they were quite impressed that I knew every single word and dance move to the entire movie and its soundtrack. (FYI; impressed = annoyed). 50% of them weren't even born when it came out so I didn't really care...
The next day we had more language and then most people decided to take off. Lyndsey and I headed over to Lindsay and Conrad's new apartment. We had been planning for weeks for a 'cool down' dinner after training and it was awesome. When we got off the bus, Lindsay M. ran to the piazza to pick up some vegetables and Lyndsey R. ran down the street to get some water. So I was just standing there at the bus stop with my luggage. 
This man in very broken English came up to me and asked if we were Americans as he had heard us speaking English. I told him we were. He asked what we were doing in Moldova. I explained to him that we were all volunteers and we moved here for 2 years to work on community development. His eyes widened and said "Why?" I didn't know how to respond so I smiled and said "Why not?" The man smiled at me with tears in his eyes, took my hand and said "Thank you. Thank you for helping me and my country." I smiled. And he walked away and got on the bus. I just stood there and got teary eyed. Lyndsey returned and asked what was wrong and I said "absolutely nothing" and I told her the story. She cried too. By the time Lindsay returned she was convinced something horrible had happened but we assured her it was quite the opposite. Because after 2 days sitting in a cold school and learning a foreign language, it took one moment to be reminded what we're doing. 
From there we headed back to their apartment and Lindsay made Buffalo chicken dip and Conrad made us blue cheese burgers. It was so awesome and just the night we all needed. 
But now it's back to reality. Headed back here yesterday on the cold rutiere. Although can't lie, I much prefer that to the hot summer ride. I can bundle up enough now to be comfortable. Summer was insufferable. When I got home Jesse was visiting along with Rachel (who lives in a neighboring village) who had missed her bus and Holly was making Tortilla soup. Home at last.

Month #5

And so November begins. Have I really been here 5 months? It doesn't seem possible. In some ways it feels way longer and in others it feels like I just got off the boat (metaphorically). I moved into my new apartment this past weekend with the help of my friend, Jesse. My new roommate, Holly, had been there for a week. Of course I would move halfway around the world and end up with a roommate from Huntington Beach. Our apartment is pretty big and we're really getting it at a steal but the lady really wanted to rent it out so she didn't haggle to much with us to get us to pay more. It is on the 8th floor and thankfully, for now, the elevator is working. We don't have a refrigerator just yet but it's ok because the porch is cold enough to keep things cold. The landlady is supposed to deliver a fridge any day now so it won't be a problem either way. I think the only downfall to this new found independence is having to do hand washing. I have been spoiled the past 5 months living with host moms who not only had washing machines but liked to do my wash for me. Boy am I paying for that now. I did it for the first time last night and it is a giant pain in the ass. Not only do my hands ache from scrubbing and ringing clothes out, the detergent tends to burn your skin if you touch it before it dissolves in the water. I'm sure I'll become an expert at it and for the first round I don't think I did too badly, still sucks though. And since the weather is getting colder now, they are going to take forever to dry. After hanging them out the window (on the 8th floor) last night, I touched them this morning and they are still sopping wet. Should be interesting. I'm still nervous to have them fly away as I don't have a lot of clothes and finding pants that fit here would definitely be a challenge. I have lost a lot of weight so the pants I brought are way too big now and I have to use belts to keep them up. But I'm not nearly skinny enough to fit in to the European skinny jeans that I swear are tailored only for 12 year olds. 
The Cahul crowd have definitely found our regular hang outs that we go to as now when we walk in we are greeted by the staff members. When I walked into one yesterday, the owner not only greeted me with kisses but didn't even take my order because she knew what I would get. It's nice to have that familiarity. I've also been trying to pick up some Russian. Cahul is mainly a Russian city so I'm not sure why I was taught Romanian. I mean most people speak Romanian but EVERYONE speaks Russian. And just for basic things like ordering food, buying something in the market or greeting people, basic Russian is good to have. Plus it's a really fun language; tough, but fun. 
Thursday I have to go back up to the capital for 3 days of in service training. I'm dreading the trip but at least I get to hang out with Lyndsey, Lindsay and Conrad. I only see them when I go to the capital so it'll be fun in that respect.
Lyndsey and I have finalized our trip to Vienna/Prague for Christmas. It's really creeping up on us quickly. I really can't believe it's November already. We are planning our Thanksgiving dinner already and plan on inviting some Moldovans to teach them how we disguise the reality of the holiday with a feast. (Soapbox alert...) 
And I also booked my trip in May to Paris/London where I'll be meeting up with some friends from CA. It'll be so nice to see faces from home and I'm so excited to explore London again and see Paris for the first time. 
On the work front, it's still pretty slow at my organization. I hope that things will pick up soon. In the meantime, I went with Dylan, Brad and Holly to visit one of the local orphanages here in town. It was actually really nice and the conditions were impressive. The kids were all pretty excited to see us and we are trying to set up some sort of monthly program where we can go in and do a day of activities for them. 
And I also did 3 TV reviews and 1 film review for the upcoming issue of Hai Davai, the PC Moldova magazine. It translates to "Let's Go, Let's Go" Hai, being Romanian and Davai being Russian. That issue will come out in December before the holidays. 
And that's about it from Cahul this week. I'm trying to keep up on this more regularly and stop being distracted by the creativity sucking internet.
And one last thing (Soapbox alert...), I hope that the defenders of the sanctity of marriage are real proud that one of their own, I refuse to type her name, dropped $20 million on a sham wedding to get 3 months of publicity. If that isn't sanctity, I don't know what is.

Stalemate

I've been here about 4.5 months now and you would think that things would start to make sense a little bit. But quite the contrary...I never know what's going on from day to day. For a control freak who's obsessed with planning and details, that's something that's a little hard to get used to. I think I've gotten pretty good at it, going with the flow but there are still days when I'm like 'what the hell is going on?'
So training ended at the beginning of August and we were told all throughout the summer that the first 3-6 months at site were going to be pretty slow. I mean you are now a stranger in a new community and you have to take the time to get to know people and have them trust you before you can start doing things. I mean I guess it's the same at any work place. I can remember a workplace where a new person would start and we would all be cold to them until we made the universal decision on whether "we" liked them or not.  (you know who you are...) Imagine that on a city wide scale. I'm one of the lucky ones, there are always Americans here in Cahul so it's a little bit easier. But on an individual basis, I still have to get a few people in my corner before I can make things happen. For one thing, I haven't lived in a 'cold' climate in nearly 15 years. The weather has begun to get cooler here now. Don't get me wrong, it's WAY better than the scalding hot summer days with no A/C but it's still unpleasant. But the interesting thing is, when it is too cold, people just don't go to work. Work is so secondary to personal safety, health and family it's inexplicable. And it's lovely. It's an interesting case study. Why do we risk life and limb just to go in to the daily grind. There are still things that we can get done from our homes when the weather isn't satisfactory. But I digress...
So, it is a few months of going into the office, getting to know people but not really doing anything. It's hard to explain this to people back home. I constantly am questioned, what is your day like, are you teaching, what do you do and I never have a good answer. There's an American mentality where you have to be in the grind working your butt off to be productive. Whereas here, I can walk downtown and say hello to 10 people. If 2 of them, say hello back because they know me and trust me? I've done my job. Part of my job is promoting peace and friendship, having people know and trust Americans so yes, that was part of my job. I know there are many of you shaking your head right now saying that's bullshit and 'this is what my tax dollars pay for?' But if there are 120 of us in this country and each of us get 2 people to trust Americans today, we just changed the minds of 240 (right?) people. Now imagine that effort all over the world. If all we did was that. But that's not all we do. We are in NGO's (non-profit organizations), we are in schools, we are holding seminars and starting clubs with more than just 2 people a day. That's all to come. However, in the meantime? What am I doing? I'm earning trust and it is a full time job.
In other news, the weather is getting really cold which is a shock to my system after nearly 15 years in Southern California. But I do have to say, I like it. I'm sure I'll be singing a different tune in February. 
On the good news front, I am moving into an apartment. As much as I love my host mom, being a 38 year old woman, I would rather live somewhere else. I will definitely keep in touch with her and invite her over for meals though. I will be living with Holly, another volunteer here in Cahul. She and I were roommates at staging in Philadelphia so it's funny that we will be living together here. Holly and my lives are opposites as she grew up in California and moved to the East Coast whereas I grew up on the East Coast and moved to California. But we both love to cook, especially Mexican food and we get along really well. She's in her early 20's but has a good head on her shoulders. While I was at training over the past few weeks, she went and found us a great apartment with 2 bedrooms, a huge living room, a kitchen, bathroom and the most challenging part...it's on the 8th floor. And the elevator works...sometimes. Well, worst case scenario, I'll have a finely tuned asset by the end of this service. Holly's host mom moved to Bulgaria so she'll be moving in to the apartment this weekend whereas I have to wait a few weeks since I paid my host mom for the whole month. We're very excited especially since we have a great group of people here in Cahul and have started a Sunday Dinner tradition. You have to create your own family overseas I guess.
And lastly, the latest is keeping in touch with friends from back home. I know I have it pretty good being away in this day and age with all this digital technology but I'm still surprised at how hard it is to keep in touch with people. Being from a huge family, I'm pretty proactive at keeping in touch with people. Or at least I think I am. But there are some people who just aren't like that and learning to accept that is difficult. I know that people have lives and are busy and sometimes Facebook and email aren't their first priority but it still saddens me when I don't hear from people. Then again, I remind myself that it isn't always about me. And life does go on. I know they are not all sitting around missing me and waiting for the second that I send an email or a chat. Maybe they're thinking of me but they have problems too. Long distance relationships are hard, whether it be romantic, friendships, family or what. I'm grateful for this medium to be able to keep in touch as frequently as we do. But I would like to thank people who go out of their way to keep in touch. Especially those certain few who I talk to more now than I did when I was there. Your messages and emails and chats mean the world to me. Just seeing a familiar name in my inbox is so comforting. You may think that news and tales from back home seem minuscule to me but they are heartwarming and enjoyable. I appreciate them so much. 
This was another midnight ramble brought to you by Starbucks Via. 

PS3

Yeah, it's been a while. Sorry about that.
Buuuuuuut, in my defense, I had to go back to training for a few weeks. This had been something to both look forward to and to dread. The pros being I got to go back to Stauceni with all my original friends as well as live with my original training family. The cons...having to go through more language classes, traveling on public transportation with awkward luggage and being stuck in between seasons so do we dress for summer or cold? Minor inconveniences, I know.

Anywho, so I went up a day early on September 24th. Our security officer, Alex, had gotten married and was moving to the Philippines and his last appearance with his band was that night. So a bunch of volunteers were going to support him. I had seen him perform previously, he's a harmonica player, and the band was fantastic. So I got in around noon and met up with pals Jamie and Tom and we went to go get some lunch at the Kebab House which is pretty infamous with volunteers as it is DELICIOUS! We had rented an apartment in Chisinau for the night. It is cheaper than getting a hotel room and we usually load in about 10 people minimum so it winds up being pretty cheap. The other draw is that they have full kitchens so we're able to cook instead of going out to eat. We had a group of 11 people joining us and even though there were so many, everyone had a bed to sleep in thanks to the inventive furniture that all pulls out in to beds. Quite clever. So for dinner we all went shopping and decided to make a Mexican feast. It was challenging since only one burner worked so it was a group effort. I made guacamole, Tom browned the meat, others made desserts, chopped up vegetables, sauteed onions and peppers, etc. It was delicious and we all had a wonderful big meal before we headed out. Alex's band was playing at a bar called "the Flying Pig" which is a pretty American style bar. There were already tons of volunteers there as Alex was pretty popular amongst the volunteers. We heartily enjoyed the performance and all danced and Alex thanked the volunteers as well as all the Americans (the Embassy guys came too) for always supporting him and we said goodbye. He played some American songs for us including "Wild Thing," by the Troggs, "Light My Fire" by the Doors and "Surfin, U.S.A." by the Beach Boys. It was very enjoyable. The night in the apartment was interesting as various drunk people wandered in and passed out but we all survived. 
The next day we had to head back to our respective training villages. I went to the Peace Corps headquarters with Andrea and hung out for a while. She didn't feel very well and since it would take some serious effort to travel to Stauceni. After a few hours, we made the trek to the bus tugging all of our luggage up the hill. It was unseasonably hot out so that didn't make it any better. It took a while to get to Stauceni but we made it. I walked into my family's house and was showered with kisses. I truly do love these people and for some reason they love me. Mama Gazda told me to go shower while Papa Gazda took my luggage upstairs and she cooked me dinner. Yeah, it was awesome. When I got to dinner, it was a feast. Mama yelled at me for losing so much weight and she needed to fatten me up. She is so wonderful. I ate a LOT before going to bed.
From there we had a week of language classes and tech training. There was one new feature in Stauceni that made it fun though, we had a bar. While we were there this past summer, whenever we wanted to hang out socially with the rest of our trainees, we had to travel to their sites because there was nowhere to go in Stauceni. They were building this new place but it wasn't open yet. But it was open now...and it was across the street from our school. (Not a lot of zoning laws here...) It was a BEAUTIFUL open wall bar, a coffee shop upstairs and a huge supermarket. It was amazing. And that's where we ended up every day after class. It was just so nice to sit and socialize with these people who 4 months ago were strangers but now are friends. We had to go into Chisinau once for a "gallery walk" where each volunteer presented their organization to all the others so we could all get a sense of what everyone was doing. The boys from Ciorescu in the ARBD program were ALL sick. They were dropping like flies so all of my 'bees' that I was looking forward to seeing were all out sick for the first 4 days of training.
Our first weekend was pretty low key. We mostly hung out at the bar in Stauceni and Lyndsey and I spent some time in the coffee shop using their free Wi-Fi. Another great thing about training was Lindsay and Conrad weren't eating lunch at their host family's house so every day they went to Lyndsey's house. So after I would eat my delicious lunch at home, I would wander up there and the four of us would sit around and bullshit for an hour between classes. It was quite enjoyable. It was anything from us watching stupid You Tube videos for an hour to planning vacations. It was really fun. Lyndsey and I decided to go to Vienna and Prague for Christmas and invited our other friend Maria to come along. Then in the spring, Lyndsey and her boyfriend, Art along with Lindsay and Conrad are traveling to Amsterdam for a music festival. Yes, all that got planned on our lunch breaks. 
The second week, the ARBD boys had recovered a little bit and all was well. On our trip to Hub Site we had some sessions of training. On one day me and some of the boys decided to trek to the Kebab House for lunch. It was risky since we only had an hour and it was a 15 minute walk one way and they're usually not the "quickest" at customer service but we were starving. We arrived back late and were chastised but the tastiest of kebabs were worth it. That night in Chisinau, we participated in a trivia contest. I was on a dream team with 3 of the smartest guys i know; Michael, Pat and Jesse. I wanted to do well as I love trivia, but my main goal was to beat my friend, Rich, from the Embassy as he is from my hometown and was the valedictorian of my brother John's class. When I told John I was competing against him, John had said "good luck, that's the smartest dude I've ever met in my life." There were 8 categories. I know my strength was in pop culture so I was happy to see a music category. And we did kick ass in that category. But there was also a 'pictures' category which you don't know what the pictures will be of but they turned out to be stills of movies so we got 9 out of 10 of those. The only one we missed was a Russian movie so I think we did pretty amazing. However, the rest of the categories were pretty difficult. So we wound up placing 5th. Not the greatest, but still the highest of the Peace Corps volunteers that were there. And yes...we beat Rich's team. A small victory, but I'll take it nonetheless. Rich is a great guy. He's been in Moldova for a few years with his wife and their 3 small children. I don't know him very well but it's still nice to have someone from home to be around. 
Our last day of school we were given an LPI (Language Proficiency Inquiry) where we had to speak in Romanian for about 20 minutes. We find out the results in a few weeks. I don't think I did too badly. I think with a tutor, I could do quite well. So that was our last night in our training village. The next morning I had to once again say goodbye to my wonderful host family and promise that I would visit over the next few years. They truly are great people. From there we had to go into Chisinau to check into a hotel. Yes, they were lodging 60 of us in a hotel in downtown Chisinau for 2 days for a conference. It was obvious right away that it was basically dorm living. We were all on the same floors so everyone was just sitting in their rooms, listening to music, drinking, doors open, people walking from room to room visiting...and yes, one bathroom shared by all; dorm life. But it was pretty fun to hang out with everybody. The seminars were on Thursday and Friday from 9am to 5:30pm. We got to learn what everybody was doing, secrets of surviving the winter, project opportunities to try out, clubs to join, travel tips, safety and security, etc. Our last night in the hotel, a small group of us decided to stay in and just chat and have some wine. This lasted until about 4:30am. It was a small group; me, Lyndsey, Courtney, Jessica, Jesse and Maryam so it was enjoyable and we all got to know each other a little bit better. 

So training was officially over and we could leave on Saturday. However, the annual Moldova Wine Fest was that day so we all decided to get an apartment for that night. Wine Fest was amazing. It was like a county fair. Tons of food, tons of crafts and homemade trinkets (I bought a homemade scarf) and of course wine!  Lyndsey, Courtney, Jessica and I headed there in the afternoon after a lunch at the (what else?) Kebab house. It was beautiful. Not to mention that this is the first time I have experience "fall" in about 13 years. So walking through this atmosphere, with colorful leaves blowing through the air, walking with my great new friends, at that moment I was truly in love with Moldova.One of our favorite moments was when Natasha's host dad invited us into the VIP tent so we could taste some 40 year old Cognac. The Moldovan man who was the President of the Cognac company poured us all a glass and toasted to the US and Moldova. It was amazing. The worst part was that earlier in the day it was sunny and hot but as the evening approached it was getting quite cold. Me, only wearing a T-shirt and my new scarf (well and pants and stuff...) was starting to get quite cold. People kept giving me pieces of their clothing so I could stay warm and I wound up looking like a second hand super hero. Regardless, it was fun. After the wine fest we met up with some other volunteers at another bar in Chisinau. While we were in there, the rain started which made for an AWESOME walk back across town to the apartment. Sunday morning the rain was in full effect so we walked in it to Peace Corps where all our luggage was. Since pretty much everyone was in town for Wine Fest, Peace Corps was filled with volunteers. It was a little overwhelming. I located Rachel (who lives down South by me) and found Tom and the three of us shared a cab to the bus station. The bus ride was a little chilly and of course long but it is good to be home. I got here and Rachel and I met up with Jesse and Ryne for some dinner. 
So we survived. It was interesting this time around because through our first training session this past summer we were all strangers and this time around we were all friends and knew each other pretty well. There were some clear segregation as the groups of friends became established. However, conversely, I was able to get to know people I never really got a chance to before. Courtney, Jessica and Maria suddenly became very endearing to me and I barely knew them prior. I was hoping to spend time with some of the boys and but their illness and time constraints prevented that from happening too much. Overall, I am glad it is over even though I miss my friends even more now. 

19 reasons why I'm happy today...

Today I received a care package. It's been a freaking long time since I have gotten to open one of these; since college! And this one was a doozie. It comes courtesy of my dear friends at Too Faced who haven't forgotten me even though I've been gone for 3 months. It's pretty clear that we worked together for a long time because they all know me so well.  Here are just a mere 18 reasons why...
1 - Mexican Seasonings - There is nothing here in Moldova that equals the flavoring of Mexican seasoning. Sure we can doctor some things, come up with similar tastes, but just to have these simple packets of heaven certainly will make some up coming dinners incredible.
2 - Game of Thrones - My friend, Kathryn has been annoying me to watch this show for months now. So much so that she sent me the DVD...
3 - Lily - Kathryn's dog who she thinks I love but I really don't like.
4 - Tissues - Seems pretty random, but so needed! Plus, there are cute sayings on the box. I brought them into the bathroom with me last night (TMI?) and the side of the box I'm looking at? I'm here for when you run out of toilet paper. Destiny?
5 - Beef Jerky - Meat is my favorite thing and I'm pretty sure this is the only type they could air mail me without paying thousands of dollars in overnighting something. It is greatly appreciated.
6 - Starbucks Via - Brewed coffee isn't too big here, instant is. I've never really liked instant coffee until Starbucks came out with theirs which is strong and delicious. 3 flavors; Italian Roast, Vanilla and Caramel.
7 - Crushed Red Pepper - You never know how much you miss this until you don't have it. Went out for pizza today, brought it with me. It was heaven.
8 - Del Scorcho - Ah, Del Taco. Voltaire saved up (and stole...) a bunch of Del Taco sauce for me to flavor my meals with here. Plus the packets make it easy to travel with!
9 - Hot Sauce - Oh how I love my hot sauce. Juli was thoughtful enough to find one made in California so I have a little 'taste' of home.
10 - Dirty Chips - The night before I went to Chisinau to pick up this package, I dreamed about these. And in the morning I thought, 'that'd be funny if they sent me some' and lo and behold they did. They are my favorite brand of chips ever. The one bag in the pic is empty...I ate them on the way home...
11 - TF Bag - One of the latest of Too Faced's glamour bags that is the perfect size to carry my lunch to school in every day. I'll be the 'envy' of all the girls there.
12 - Love Lisa - The best lip balm in town.
13 - Logan Book - Jules sent me a tiny picture book of all of her newborn son, Logan's, pictures of his first few months of life. He is adorable and it sits by my bed.
14 - True Blood Comic Book - One of my favorite TV shows and they sent me a comic book of it.
15 - Lollipops - Comfort food that I can pull out of my bag at work when I need that sugar fix.
16 - iTunes Gift Cards - Jeremy, sweet, Jeremy knows how I love my iTunes. Gift cards to this website will be used quickly! (In the interest of full disclosure, I used them last night...)
17 - Where's TF - It's actually a Where's Waldo book but Juli and her husband Jason went through and superimposed photos of me and my TF buddies all throughout. They are so silly but have no idea how much joy it brings me.
18 - Cards - Juli, Jeremy, Andrea and Eileen sent personal notes to send their love.
19 - The people that it is from. I've worked with these people for years and they are truly great people and I miss them so much. They were what made it hardest to leave Too Faced. And here it is a mere 4 months later and they are still making me smile. I am in great debt to you all; Juli (and Jason, of course!), Jeremy, Kathryn, Jules, Andrea, Eileen, Marion and Voltaire.

Travel Plans

On these slow days at work my mind tends to wander. So a fun thing I have found to do is to plan my vacations. I realize what a terrific opportunity I have being where I am to see the world. That was definitely a contributing factor in joining the Peace Corps is the ability to travel. We get 6 weeks of vacation over our two year stint. It sounds like a problem everyone would love to have but my biggest issue with all of this is where to go? I am in a position where I can literally go anywhere in the world. Where do you begin? It's a little overwhelming when you think about it. Granted, money is a factor. Isn't it always? But it's way cheaper over here to get around and I'm 38. Who needs a savings account? It's not like the States is any kind of financial trouble that I should be saving for, right?
Anyway, the best thing I could think of to do was a wish list. Without money factors or time constraints, where do I really want to see? Not because I've been told to go somewhere or because someone wrote a book about places to see before I die (which duh, of course it'd be before I died...that one's for you, Diehl!) but because I have a genuine interest in seeing them. (In the interest of full disclosure, most, if not all of these have to do with pop culture references, but hey, it's my list so just deal with it.) So here's what I came up with:

1. Austria - Numero Uno. I have wanted to go to Austria forever. (Figuratively). The Sound of Music is one of my favorite movies of all time and Mozart is, without a doubt, my favorite composer. Austria is a country dedicated to these two things. I want to explore Vienna and Salzburg to my heart's desires.
2. Greece - I am a sucker for theatre, no big shocker there so of course i have a desire to see the original Greek Theatres and worship at Dionysus altar. But yes, Mamma Mia also played a key role in the desire as well.
3. India/The Maldive Islands - I have always been fascinated by the culture. The heat is a big drawback as I hate heat but the thought of seeing the Taj Mahal in person is still very attractive to me. (Yes, Slumdog Millionaire helped in this desire...) The Maldive Islands are a pipe dream and I'm fully aware of that as even from here it costs thousands of dollars just to travel there but I can keep it as a dream.
4. Ireland - Yes, I'm a sucker for my heritage. I love everything about it. And the though of seeing all that green is very appealing. Not even a pop culture reference here, just a genetic one.
5. Bangkok - I have never been anywhere near Eastern Asia but this city is tops on my list. I'd love to visit Vietnam, Cambodia and Japan too but Thailand has always been tops. (Fine...The King and I.)
6. Egypt/Casablanca - Very touristy destinations, I know but still a desire nonetheless. 
7. New Zealand - Lord of the Rings...
8. Sicily - I was in love with Italy even before I went a few years ago. I visited the tourist sites in Rome and Florence and the not so touristy Naples to have the best pizza of my life, but I'd still like to get South to see some more of this fascinating country. 
9. England - I've done London and Stratford on Avon, but I'd really like to get to Canturbury, Salisbury to see Stonehenge and Liverpool to see where it all started. 
10. Peru - Machu Piccu. Enough said.

So how many, if any, of these are going to be feasible while I live here in Moldova. I research pretty much daily what is affordable and possible and no, not all of them are. (I guess I should say not probable...anything is possible.) I can safely cross Peru off the list this time around. Can't even imagine the cost for flying to South America from Eastern Europe.

I figure, we can start traveling in November so I can plan a trip every 3 months until I leave. So I guess the best thing to do is to take it one day at a time and remember that I don't have to do everything all at once. I love traveling and seeing the world and know just how fortunate I am to be able to. 

The first project will be the Christmas trip. It will be the first time I have ever been not at home with my family on Christmas in my 38 years. I don't know how that will be. Some people rarely spend Christmas with their families but we always manage to come together.  The last two years at Christmas have been particularly emotional with losing Selena then Dad and Cris so it would've been nice to get back to a regular holiday where we all just tease each other and argue about who hates/loves Penn State and of course the usual political wars. However, it wasn't in the cards. So instead, I am looking to find somewhere fabulous. Lyndsey and I decided we would try to travel together and hopefully get another few girls to go with us. At first we were looking into the island of Cyprus which is nestled in between Greece and Turkey. It is still an option on the table. Also, we're looking into Barcelona. 8 days in a beautiful seaside city with delicious food doesn't sound too shabby. Another option was going Nordic and exploring Finland and Sweden although the thought of going somewhere colder than where we were didn't really overwhelm us. Although the thought of seeing the Northern Lights was pretty appealing. My first choice was to go to India but it really is expensive. I'm still going to push for that as much as I can but I don't think I can convince her. Lyndsey is much more frugal than I am. I know you're thinking, "the majority of these are not even on the top 10 list." I realize that but I want to travel alone just yet.

The other factor is that I have people from back home who say they want to visit or meet up somewhere. So say someone says "oh I want to meet you in Ireland" I have to 'save' that destination for that person. However, if that person (s) decides against it, I'm out a wish destination. But then, is it really a bad thing to go to Ireland twice?

These are such first world problems.

Anyway, that was my day today. Exploring Austria/Prague adventures, looking for the best way to see a bunch of cities in England/Ireland, comparing and contrasting Barcelona and Cyprus (so cliche, I know), finding the cheapest way to see Cairo and Casablanca on one trip. It hasn't been a bad Thursday, must say. There are definitely worse things in the world.

Side note, Cahul has no gas for 3 weeks. Yay! They can just shut the gas off on an entire city. That means no hot water, no stove, should be interesting. Guess I should be grateful it isn't winter and the heat is gone.