Ok, I know I said this was weird and I wasn’t going to do it anymore and I was probably going to delete it. well I lied. Just one more.

I must be ready for winter:

-there is a gas station I walk past on my way home from school and this past week I came home earlier than normal to study and go to bed early so I was walking through this gas station in 100degree heat instead of the dark. Anyways in the quiet heat(with a slight wind) of early evening it brought me back to all the gas station stops in the middle of no where on the way to big bear!! I cant believe there is no big bear cabin… what are we going to do when I come home?!?

-we visited the peace corps office in Bucharest today and I got a coffee from one of those coffee vending machines (not the cold in a bottle ones but the kind where it drops the cup down and makes it right then and there). It was coffee with chocolate. It tasted like a hot chocolate with a hint of coffee but it brought me back to taking a break in the lodge after a long day of skiing. Even though im pretty sure I never got hot chocolate because I had an issue with hot drink so I just got soda, but for some reason my mind when straight to the mid chalet in mammoth!!

-both those memories came up this week, so like I said I think im ready for winter or something!

What else, what else? I took my LPI (language test) today. Its finally over and done with. We have a short school day tomorrow followed by a party for our staff then swearing in on Friday!!!!! And then im off to site on Saturday. This week has been the longest week of PST and its only Wednesday but im thinking the rest of it will fly by. Get ready for more pictures!

Other quick updates:

-im still getting eaten alive by bugs.

-ive realized it’s the pet dogs that are psycho no the strays, but then again the pets only sound bad, once they are outside the gate of their house they are scared-y cats!

-everyone said august was going to be super hot, way hotter than the rest of the summer, so I took all my jackets, sweatshirts, long sleeve, basically anything warm in any way shape or form up to site. Not so! Its been warm, yes. But there hasn’t been a day when I haven’t wished I had at least my thin sweatshirt. Oh well. Only 3 more days!!

I guess its time to update again.

Sean said he liked the one liners so here goes:

-I tried to tell my gazda I like black tea (hot and cold) she wouldn’t let me get it because its not good for you… green tea is better

-chicken pate… not my thing

-herion mush/spread… not my thing

-I cant figure out my favorite beer yet

-white plastic shag carpet is awesome! Haha

-yoga after a long day of school is amazing

-I need some spicy food.

-I cant find spicy food

-I had a few days without ciorba and I actually wanted ciorba

-I finally bought some minutes on my phone so no more getting suck in the house

-ps: I got stuck in the house the other day

-other craziness: I came home from school to find a boy waiting for me. Yep a Romanian 32 yr old who needed to get married. Haha. Blind date and our next one is already planned with no input on the subject from me… or him! Haha.

-I found peanut butter. It was expensive. I didn’t care. Im enjoying it!

-my gazda did my laundry for me.

-

Post 2

Ok sorry I haven’t taken any more pictures of food. I might just give up on that… it’s the same thing pretty much every meal, everyday. Not to say its not good, its just the same. Ciorba twice a day for a week with a chicken leg in it then more chicken and its usually fried. Im able to communicate with my gazda pretty ok now. And by pretty ok I mean we can talk and laugh at my poor Romanian and play charades but we can understand eachother unlike the quiet of the first 2 days. and with this new found communication I explained I don’t eat as much as she is making me! Haha. But I think she was starting to get that anyways, I would finish and leave a bunch but say tarziu (later). Haha. It worked!

I haven’t really listened to my music or looked at pictures since ive been here, don’t really know why, but when I finally did, it brought me back home, so I went through my computer and looked at a bunch of videos from cal poly and this past year in Oxnard I had my screensaver as a picture slideshow (like always) and my reggae on in the background as I did my homework! It was amazing. I felt like I was at home for a minute, other than the fact that the homework was doing a couple pages in my Romanian workbook! Haha. And that I called it tema and not homework!

Please: can everyone have skype open automatically when you turn on your computer and leave it on in the background so that when I get the rare chance to sign on I can call you :) thanks.

I just though of that while typing this in word so that I can copy it whenever I get the actual chance to put it on line.

One liners:

-I have so many mosquito bites! I didn’t expect that.

-pretzels are circles and not salty…. But everything else is salty.

- there are no shower curtains

-dogs are everywhere.

-I was lucky to get a gazda that doesn’t smoke and has no pets!

-coffee isn’t filtered.

-coffee is super strong :) but in tiny glasses :(

-I haven’t had my ice tea fix, but I get a lot of hot tea.

-i like walking around targoviste and feel totally safe.

-people stare at us.

Post 1: I wrote this really late at night on my new tiny tiny tiny netbook. So I am still getting used to the keyboard. Please excuse the lack or punctuation, capitalization, and sense in general! Haha. Im assuming those whose thoughts I care about won’t care, so enjoy your first update on my life!! Haha.

Ok so ive been internetless for a while. Heres an update. Staging was in dc. Loved the city way more than expected. I could do a walking tour of the national mall everyday. Its so peaceful! Well maybe that’s just at night so lets say I can do a walking tour every night. I did that! Haha. Other than the tours we actually had staging. We basically met every one, checked in, and had and orientation. Bringing all our stuff down and trying to load them on a bus was pretty funny. So many people so many things!

Ok. Bus ride to airport. Then the same hilarity while trying to check in at the airport. Will always remember the old man keeping us in order! Haha. Then waiting 5ish hours for the plane to leave. I had potbelly’s for dinner (my last in the states). 2nd time ever. First was with jen and stig in Chicago after route 66. so I sent them both a text. :) then more waiting. And drinking ice tea of course!! Then boarded the plane. There were two people who dropped before staging but one was still on the planes passenger list and was next to me alphabetically so on our really long flight from dc to Amsterdam I had an empty seat next to me!!! Awesome (or channeling Damien… ahwesome – or however you would spell his version). But the weather kinda sucked (lightening and thunder) so all the planes were grounded. Finally after 2 hours sitting on the runway we took off. The last time I saw US ground was out the window at 5:30pm California time. :) flight was fine, especially with the extra seat (oh and I was on an isle!!) but we landed just after our connector took off. So we had a full day, like 8+ hours in Amsterdam. Pretty much everyone took off to the city in a few small groups. We walked around like tourists, found a place to eat (so cute), and took a tour of anne franks house! We headed back and had still had a lot of time. I was feeling pretty sick at the time. Everyone was, but I was so off my normal self it was scaring me. Everyone was sick because of sleep deprivation. Haha. But I felt like I was constantly in an earthquake. I couldn’t stand without holding on to something. :) I called my mom with a 5 minute calling card and got cut off after telling her I was dying! Haha. It took about 4 days for me to get in touch again! Talk about stressing your mom out! haha. but as soon as I got some sleep I could stand, but I still felt sick, I talked to the doctor first thing, my voice sounded like a man! He said just to rest and try and not talk… not an option… I had to meet everyone!! :) at the hotel in Romania we had some meetings, including Romanian lessons, safety lessons. And an idea of the next few days. I think we’ve made it to Sunday. Sunday we woke up early for breakfast then headed in a small group to the piatza to buy flowers for our gazdas as a gift. We actually ran into justins gazda while we were there, but we didn’t know she was justins at the time. When we got back to the hotel we had a quick what to expect info session – coffee break – then met the gazdas!!! Mine doesn’t speak English so we have a fun time communicating. But we get much more accomplished than you would think! Its cool!! We go to school from 8:30-5ish. I meet shaneka in front of our old hotel in the mornings because we both live on either side of it, its perfect! Ok. Sorry it took so long for an update, but I don’t have easy internet access so this will have to do. But basically I eat. Go to school. Eat at school. Go home. Eat again. Go to bed. Haha. Busy days concentrated around food, which is new to me. Im full all the time, but I like the food (so yay!) oh. They have holupci. They just call it sarmale. I tired to take pictures of my food like Natalie in Tanya in Belgium and France but it hasn’t worked out to well… I made it through two meals! haha.

ok. its really weird to write this knowing its not just for me but for you. i said a lot of goodbyes yesterday and have some hard ones coming up. i of course woke up super early unnecessarily and have been dressed and ready at the door for about 30 min. no one else is awake! haha. but in another 30 min. we are heading to the airport :) i dont think it will actually hit me till im sitting alone in the terminal but i wont see my family or friends for 2 years. thank god for skype!!

well... im off to the biggest adventure of my life!!!

see you in 2011my family: