So I notice I'm getting these pageviews? From peacecorpsjournals? What the heck is that and why does my stuff show up there? Nothing I write relates to that site at all...

Well, I guess it's fine. I don't mind having people read this, as long as they aren't aware of who I am and as long as they're strangers. I was actually considering linking to this site via my Dragon Cave forum signature to get some publicity, but I decided against it. That would kind of defeat the whole purpose of this blog, wouldn't it? I'm not extremely friendly with the community of Dragon Cave, but still, they know who I am since I've become more active there~

Anywaaaays. Just posting this lil blog to say, here's to another lonely day. :/ Except this time, no mom around, so it's especially quiet. Not that that's a bad thing, since she was in rage and yelling about our computer habits last night. But still, I have absolutely nothing to do today. Except get gas (since it's a Tuesday) and deposit some checks into the bank. Woooo, exciting. -.=.-

I just really miss my girlfriend. When does everyone else in the town get out of school... The 13th? 15th? Whatever the case, I'm ready and waiting for her to get out and do some fun stuff with me. I feel kinda neglected. Which I shouldn't, since it's not like she can just leave school and her work to come see me. But.. :P

You know, now would be a great time for someone from work to call and ask if I can stand in for them...

Not knowing what to do with herself,

~Truffles

*sigh* Such a lonely day today. I'm actually starting to miss the hustle and bustle from yesterday. I had fun at the graduation party. A lot of relatives I haven't seen for a while showed up, I was very pleased. The ceremony didn't really take much time, that was good. Although people shot their confetti wands too early, lol. We were all supposed to do it at the same time after the tassle speech, but some idiot did it too early and started a chain reaction. XD

Anyways, the food was good at my party, I got a bunch of cash for my college savings, and I got to visit relatives and non-relatives too. My girlfriend stayed for a few hours, but I think she didn't like being around a bunch of people she didn't know, so she wanted to leave early. That kind of saddened me, but she did have schoolwork to do too, so~ And I'm glad she came and visited anyhow. We had people at our house 'till like eleven at night.

But today hasn't been all that great. My mom took work off to stay and clean up after the party a little. I slept in until 10:49 this morning, when I had an orthodontist appointment at 11:30. I guess I was just exhausted from yesterday and then mom forgot to wake me. :P But I got home for lunch an hour later and I've just been sitting here on my new laptop ever since.

Ugh. I hate being off school before my girlfriend. The rest of my friends are seniors of course, so ever since school got out, they've all been busy preparing for graduation and parties and open houses and visiting family. Not that I don't mind getting to sit around and be lazy, lol. But I don't know... I'd still like to see my girlfriend again. :/ And she's busy with homework tonight, so I won't be able to talk to her much. Blah...

Looking for comfort,

~Truffles

P.S. I'm now realizing this white-on-black blog text is kinda hard to read... Hmmm. o.=.O

Graduation in just a couple hours. Let's do this and get through it. Then I'm done with all this junk, and I can focus on work and relaxing. XD

Almost time for the girlfriend to get out of school too. She's going to be gone a lot this summer though, it saddens me. She gets to go to band camps and New York and camping trips and all these cool things. While I have nothing. :/ *sigh* Although I do have a UP trip with the family and a family reunion in July. But really nothing other than that. I just hope my girlfriend and I can hang out a lot before I go to school.

But that's another thing. I wish people would stop treating this like it's a final goodbye. Like, I'm going away to college, so people aren't ever going to see me again. God damn, stop it! My college is ONE hour away! I have holidays, I'll have weekends when I'm not so busy and I can come back and visit. Jeez... Thinking that way is only making this harder on ME. I don't see this as goodbye. I see this as getting my life in order so I can see my loved ones more.

Well, best go and get ready. Hopefully we'll be picking up my girlfriend on the way and having her at the party. I hope it isn't too awkward for her, but it really would mean a lot to me if she went and met my family.

Let's see how this goes,

~Truffles

Today was certainly a full day. Needed to help my parents prepare for the graduation party tomorrow. With all this trouble, I just want it to be over with. I went to friend of mine's graduation party today and stayed for a couple hours. I thoroughly enjoyed visiting her family and a couple other friends there and of course the friend herself. I greatly enjoy her company, she's been my best friend for years. And most likely is the only one who will really keep in touch with my after high school.

*sigh* Anxious right now. My girlfriend was quite bothered tonight. We had chatted over Facebook for about an hour? She started off by saying she wanted to talk about deep stuff... Which is problematic because I'm terrible at those kinds of conversations. I'm just not a very deep person, I guess. But she talked about her parents and their stupidity for a long time. It was putting her in a very gloomy mood. Then she said she was "numb". Urg, I hate when she says that. But there's nothing I can do. I love her, I'm sensitive to her feelings. It's left me anxious tonight. But it could be worse. There have been worse numb times for her.

Well, guess I better get to sleep soon. I get to see my girlfriend AND all the relatives I never get to see tomorrow. I'm very, very excited. :3

Ta ta for now,

~Truffles

Today was alright. There was a large bumpy patch in the road of life today. :B But things were going great until work. My mom was more tolerable than I give her credit for, really. Although she did leave to shop towards the afternoon, leaving me in peace for a while.

Work didn't go too well. It was the bumpy patch. XP It was just long and busy and stressful. And I managed to drop two pizzas and a salad allllll over. I felt terrible. v.=.v

But once I got home and started playing Perfect World International with the girlfriend, things smoothed back out again. :3 I hope I wasn't too grumpy to her...

I told her I would stay away from her Tumblr account. She said the only reason she kept it from me was because I'm the only one who's opinion she really cares about. Opinion and reactions to what she writes. I understand, so I will try not to stalk anymore. The one blog on her Tumblr I was able to find is fine enough.

Graduation this Sunday and the grad. party with my family and relatives afterwards. Honestly, as much as I'm excited to see my family again, I just want this weekend to be over. It's the last hurdle I have to jump over before I'm totally done with all this. And I can relax just a bit more until the girlfriend is off for summer.

Cheers,

~Truffles

I have something else to say in addition to my first post. Apparently, when I write about my girlfriend, I tend to put her in a really bad light. She found my journal I had been writing on my computer called "Dear Guardian". She said it makes her feel like crap whenever she sees it (which I think has only been two times now, but anyways). I was surprised when she told me this. I really had no idea that the things I wrote about her gave off the vibe that I thought she was just a big pain. It's really not that way at all. I guess I just tended to write more about our not-so-good times, is all. :/

This'll be different though. I'm definitely going to be writing about more of our good times. We have many. :3 In fact, I plan on writing in this almost daily? Even if it's just like a quote or something? But we'll see how that goes. I'm definitely enjoying being off school right now, I've had SOME good relaxing time. Although really, I won't be 100% at ease until my girlfriend gets off school for summer too. I just find myself really antsy at points throughout the day when she's at school. Thinking about what class she's in and where I would've been if I were still in school. It's like I can't relax properly just yet.

But I'm quite relaxed now. Girlfriend's off watching Harry Potter movies (which I definitely approve of, tee hee :3). And I'm off to play Robot Unicorn Attack and maybe Pokemon Fire Red on my DS.

Toodles!

~Truffles

Well, here's to the start of my first blog. I feel the need to just type stuff out, yah know? And I don't really want to do so on my journal here on my computer or on my DeviantArt journal. My computer journal has been compromised and I feel like I need to write to impress on my DA journal, since I have so many watchers there. I want to have something that no one will see, not for a while anyways. I guess this is the internet, of course, but I don't plan on having anyone read this anyhow. That's completely fine by me~

I was actually spurred to make one of these because of the journals and things that my girlfriend uses online. She will most likely dominate the content of these blogs, simply because I like writing about my experiences with her. Both the good and the not so good. I actually did some looking and found her Tumblr and Twitter accounts today. She didn't tell me how to find them when I asked, and I suppose I understand why. Sometimes when she blogs about things they kinda sadden me. Heck, I was a little saddened when I read the accounts I found today. And I just can't help but feel down when she does. I'm very sensitive to the emotions of people close to me, it's an aspect of my personality that shall never change. And is it really such a bad thing? Is it?? Wouldn't any normal person in a relationship feel put off when their significant other does? :/ But I shouldn't feel so offended by her not telling me. I guess it was just the WAY she told me about it that kinda made me feel v.=.v That she had journals that were for "everyone else but you". Heh. XP Didn't stop me from finding though.

But you know, I didn't read anything on the accounts that really upset me. So I don't know why I felt kinda sick when I reading. I guess maybe it was partially the fact that she feels like no one likes her. But... I do. Very much so. Does that not matter? Because I'm her girlfriend, does my caring not really count? :( It seems she wants to blame me for something too. But she can't, I'm too good of a soul. Hahaha. >D

Eh, well there you have it. This is the opening blog. I'm not in a down mood today at all, even though this might've mad it seem that way. I got to see my girlfriend at lunch and after school which was really cool. As a senior, I've already left school, she still has another week and a half to go. So I definitely don't see her as much. We drove out to Wendy's today after she got done babysitting. She was being "mean" to me, but that's okay, haha. xD <3 Tomorrow was going to be cool, until I realized that my mom had work off and was staying home all day. She wants to get ready for my graduation party on Sunday. I don't know why that requires taking a whole day off. I just really wanted to be alone to relax, I know she won't let me do that. Then I get to go to work at five to make some damn money. Which I need very much with gas prices right now.

Goodbye for now,

Truffles

Well here we are yet again amidst another holiday season. I really can't stand growing up sometimes. I feel like every year goes by faster than the last. I just want to say stop!! wait for me! I want to enjoy this more!But unfortunately that's just not the way it is, now is it?

So as for an update, last weekend I went to a nearby town to have a thanksgiving dinner with other PCVs. It was nice to be able to get together and eat and just.. well, not be alone for our first big holiday in Romania.I finished school for the year (not the semester though- semester ends after 3 weeks in January). Tuesday I will head down to Bucuresti to have another root canal done on the tooth that has been giving me problems. They are hoping that might be the problem, or at least that re-doing the root canal might help to take some of the pressure of the infection off. So I will be down there until Friday, then I will go to Giurgiu (just 45 minutes south of Bucuresti) to hang out with my good friend and fellow PCV for the weekend. Monday night we will go back to Buc to catch the train to Predeal for training. Then, (oh yes there is more..) the following saturday I will hop a train back to Buc so I can get my flight to London! yay!! Just two weeks from tomorrow I will getting ready to land in London and see the parents.. whoohoo!

I'll be back in town for Christmas and maybe New Years.. there has been talk of skiing in Croatia for New Years, so we will see about that. I have a feeling that after these next few weeks of traveling I will probably just want to get home and stay home. But who knows!

Here is a shortened version of my last couple weeks: (fun tidbits)

-All of my 32 5th graders went home with thanksgiving hand turkeys (you know when you trace your hand and turn it into a turkey), that had all the things I was thankful for on them. They were supposed to write on each feather something they were thankful for, but alas.. my lack of romanian skills and their lack of english resulted in them copying my example directly, (which I did not know until it was too late). So now they are all going home being thankful for family, friends, their cat, and their bed. And yes, those were my four things.-I made one of my 11th graders cry over her test grade.. it felt awful.-I had a 9th grader tell me he'd recognize my ass anywhere. wait wait.. here's how it went. i was walking out of the school and he came over to say hello. on his way back to school one of his friends asked (in romanian) how he knew it was me from across the parking lot.. (i look like one of the kids of course), and he replied in english with, "i'd recognize her ass anywhere". haha i'm sorry.. that's probably not appropriate and yet it was hilarious. he probably saw it in a movie and just said it. and yet, it fit.. it took everything in me to not laugh as i walked away. (laughing = putting fuel on the fire).-I had a great conversation with a little old lady today about why the pharmacies were all closed, (budget reasons imposed by the romanian government). she stopped and asked me and we talked for a minute and i told her why and she thanked me.. and never looked at me like i was an alien. take that intermediate-mid!!-i cleaned out my fridge (major accomplishment for me)-i bought gap jeans for 10 lei in near perfect condition. (about 3-4 u.s. dollars)-i saved a little red-eyed puppy from being beat up by a big ugly stray dog. gotta help where i can!

ok maybe next time i'll just do the shorter updates. if you've successfully read this far i applaud you (and not you mom, i know you've read it all).

Happy Thanksgiving, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! (I'll be busy, so I'm covering all my bases now).

stay warm, stay healthy, much love.

as promised, some pictures from Halloween; the first are a few from the party/fundraiser held at a local club (for my high schoolers only). the last few are some of my 7th graders, then 6th graders, then 5th. we had a halloween carnival for them. **and of course the very first is my little man playing a mean game of scrabble :)

ok ok, I know it's been forever since I've written so here's the summary update:

school is going well and I'm finally starting to figure stuff out and am hoping to be in a more organized groove by.. well, by christmas sadly. it's been difficult not only getting used to their system but also their culture. they are very laid back and slow paced when it comes to pretty much everything. Classes start at 10 after the hour and students will be lucky if a teacher gets there by quarter to twenty after. Despite this sounding relatively negative, it's not. It's just how it is over here and that has taken some getting used to. Instead of planning 50 minute lessons I am now aiming toward 30 minute lessons because rarely do I ever accomplish all of those in that amount of time. I've started to get a feel for each of my classes and what their capabilities are so that's good too. All of this stuff just takes time and it's crazy to think it's already almost November.

Anyway, other than school I haven't done too much. I went to a festival in the big city near by and that was pretty cool to see. Lots of tents with clothes, jewelry, food, etc. Typical festival stuff except.. Romanian stuff.My other big adventure has been cooking. Ah, cooking. An endless battle it seems to be.. It was always a struggle in America and here it makes no difference. It has helped since I received an oven thermometer and measuring cups though, (thanks mom!). Still, I can't manage to cook chicken but I can make some damn good cookies. I'm not too worried about the chicken though, as meat here is really expensive which means I'm not likely to buy it very often. 

Halloween has become a week long venture for me because I have promised all my classes that I would do "Halloweeny" things with them. Wednesday my supervisor from PC will here to observe me teach, thursday my site mate is having a party at her school I think I'm going to, Friday is the Ballul Bobocilor (Ball of the Freshman = similar to a pageant where the 9th graders put on a big show consisting of a singing portion, dance, readings, and some other stuff.. in which they are then judged, awarded a king and queen, and then they party all night), then Saturday I am hosting a Halloween party in the afternoon for the middle school and a charity costume party at a local discoteca (bar/club) for my high schoolers. Phew! Oh yeah, then there are papers to grade, tests to give, and lessons to plan. Such is life I suppose!

No complaints though.. other than I miss my family and friends. All part of the job though. I will say that I can't imagine what I'd do if I weren't going to see my parents in 6ish weeks. I miss them like crazy!

Ok, I promise to be better at updating this even though no one ever leaves comments. I plan to take lots of pictures during my Halloween extravaganza week, so hopefully I'll get those up next week.

Stay well friends.

For those of you who have been checking Becca's blog hoping for some news - here's a quick note from Mom. Becca is doing great. She has settled into her little town and her apartment. She has a kitten named Vlad who is keeping her company. Her teaching is going well, although it is a challenge. Within each class there are some kids who know a lot of English and some who know none. And she is still working on her Romanian, so that makes it a challenge to explain things and accomplish a lot. But she is making progress each day. On the weekends she often gets together with other Peace Corp volunteers. She is actually lucky to have one volunteer living in her same town (which is unusual). She teaches at a different school than Becca, but they see each other often.Becca is planning on updating her blog sometime, but don't hold your breath - she is so busy. Thanks for keeping her in your prayers!

From top to bottom:

1.Vama Veche- the beach some of us went to before school started. We camped and swam and ate and simply.. had a vacation. A well deserved one, might I add. 

2. Bran's Castle.. also more popularly known as "Dracula's Castle", even though Vlad Tepes really only stayed at that castle for about 3-4 months.. but they are surely banking off it now! The fog just makes it though doesn't it? 

-This is also where I attained Erika's birthday present which I still have not managed to figure out a way to send home. The postal system is a constant source of confusion for me.. I will overcome it though!

3. & 4. Swear In - the day all we trainees grew into real life volunteers. 

5. A group of my close friends here on the day sites were announced.

6. Group photo on our last day of PST.

*To give credit where it's due, I'd like to thank those I stole some of these pictures from. I'm very appreciative!

Other than this.. not much else is new. School starts Monday with the opening "festivities" as they call it and then real teaching starts Tuesday. Friday I am giving a speech in front of all the English teachers of Iasi county which is slightly terrifying, but I'll survive..

I will update next week I'm sure once the craziness of school begins.

Happy fall one and all! :)

Well I am finally here in Targu Frumos. Not much to tell because I haven't really done much yet. I got in Sunday late afternoon and I have decided that today will be my grocery shopping day. A yogurt, half a grapefruit, and a chocolate bar can no longer be the only items in my fridge.

My site mate arrived this morning so in a few hours I will go and find her and take her along while I do my errands.. not very exciting but it will be fun to get to know her more and definitely helpful for her to see more of the town. She is a Youth Development volunteer who will be working with a local school as well.. that's pretty much all I know, though at this point I'm just happy to have someone else local.

Above are some pictures of the town..

(Mom and Dad.. and anyone else that decides to visit.. the first picture is of the small hotel in town which is about a 45 second walk from my apartment.)

Well friday is the big day and Sunday is the even bigger day.. at least in my mind. Friday morning at 10am we are being sworn in by the new ambassador and Sunday early morning I am taking off to site. It is so unreal that this is already here. I'm not sure I even have the words to explain it.. for so long I never thought this day would come and now it's here and it still doesn't feel quite real. I have no doubt that the reality of what I've committed myself to will hit me Sunday night as I lay in bed knowing I will not get up in the morning to see all my friends. Yikes!

I have been successful at keeping my mind off of everything this week with the big test (LPI) I had on Monday, (it went well), and the numerous parties and just "stuff" that seems to be going on here constantly. Tonight I am cooking my farewell dinner for my family because they are leaving tomorrow to spend several days in Bucharest and will not be back until Monday, so tonight is my last night with them.

Thursday we are having a big party with all the staff, a few volunteers, and all us trainees on our last night of "traineeism" :)

Friday, one of our fellow PCT's gazda is hosting a blowout party for everyone that is still in town.. which is pretty much going to be everyone.

Then we will have one day to chill out before leaving early Sunday. crazy crazy! It's going to be here before I know it.

I'm going to enjoy my last week.. I hope you all are enjoying these last few weeks of summer too!

Much love.

I know Mom.. I can get these up and not other important ones. I'm on it!! I don't even have the recent ones on my comp yet.. these I stole from facebook. But look at his face.. how can you resist that??

So I can totally not believe I am already almost done with week 9. ce dracu??! It is so crazy! I thought this would be the longest process ever and yet here it is almost finished..

I am anxious to get to site but scared and nervous too. I think all of that is normal and yet it doesn't make it go away any quicker. Adjusting will be interesting when I'm all by myself, but I have a ridiculous amount of other volunteers from 20 minutes-ish to 2ish hours. Some are great friends already and some are yet to be met. I have been in contact with PCVs from other places and other groups via facebook and am anxious to meet them very soon.

It also looks as though I may be adding a new member to the Targu Frumos community shortly before school starts. Don't worry Mom! I've figured everything out and he really really needs a new home. Currently he is with another PCV who found him and his siblings in a plastic bag outside her apt. and they were only a few days old. Kittens, by the way. He is a little orange fluff ball right now who I have been referring to as Vlad until/if I can come up with a better name for him. I am so psyched. My counterpart has offered to help with him when I am away and even take him when I leave my service if I decide not to take him with. So everything is worked out! I will post a pic as soon as I get one..

My town is great. Not too small, not too big. I'm about 30 minutes from Iasi which is the second largest city in Romania and has anything and everything I could need. My apartment is small but very new as the owners have recently renovated it and haven't been living there since. (They live and work in Italy). I have a bedroom, bathroom (with shower curtain and full length mirror- holler!), kitchen with a washing machine, and a balcony. I have pictures of that too, but right now the internet is not reliable enough to get those up. Grrr.. soon I promise!I have about a 4 minute walk to my schools, (middle and high school), a one minute walk to the town center, ten minutes to the post office, and 12ish minutes to the piata, (the market where all the fresh fruits and veggies are sold). Basically, everything is right near me. It's pretty sweet.

I'm ready to get settled in and be done with this whole PST thing! The end is definitely in sight now. We only have about a week or so left of real classes and then the rest of the days are tests and prep.. logistical stuff :)

Sorry for the novel.. I promise in just a couple weeks it will be WAY less novel and WAY more pictures. That I swear!

Stay good.

Becca teaching during her practicum.

***Yes this is me teaching.. kind of weird, thank you momma for stealing my tagged facebook photo. :)

Teaching went well overall, there is always a learning process (which I think I will be in my entire service), so I can definitely say I learned a lot and feel much better about teaching.. at least in terms of being in front of a class and having control, etc. All that good "teacher" stuff.

Nothing else has been going on since then really.. just language classes and all kinds of seminars. Fun stuff!

We visit sites this coming Monday- Thursday with our counterpart, (the teacher we teach with.. sort of.. for the next two years. We take half the class a few times a week to teach the conversational portion of their english requirement). I can't wait to see my town and meet people.. it's all very nerve racking, and yet, crazy exciting at the same time. These will be my people for the next two years!!

I will take pictures and post them as soon as I can.. I'm sorry I haven't posted more pictures. I know that's the exciting part of being over here, but uploading pictures can take FOREVER, if it happens at all. So I apologize but I am doing my best..

I hope all is well with everyone.. I think about people and home and life back in the U.S. all the time..

my best.

Here is an update from Becca on her site placement. She will write more later when she can.

"i was placed about 2 hours ago..(written on Wednesday) what a relief! i'm really happy with where i am and from the options i was given it is definitely my first choice. it is just under 14,000 population wise and is called Targu Frumos (which means "fair beauty"). it is located in the moldovan area of the country which is northeast. from the information i received, it looks as though i will be teaching english to 5th-12th graders along with running the english portion of their school newspaper, helping with yearly drama productions, and starting up some kind of a "docent" program for their local history museum. (whoohoo!! i can't wait for all of it.. i'm really really excited!) we go to visit with our school counterparts, (those we will be teaching with), not this coming weekend, but next weekend/week. i will for sure take a lot of pictures and post those asap on the blog. i don't know much more than that, but when i do i will update everyone.. for now, go and google image it and see what you come up with. also, i have several of my closest friends within an hour or two from me.. talk about a HUGE comfort. everything seemed to work out just right.. thank you jesus. thanks for all the prayers and thoughts!"

Targu Frumos

- check it out! others are waiting for the computer so that's all for now.. but go google image it...:)

I wish I had more to tell at this point. The intention was to have a big 4th of July party at the park with all the volunteers, gazdas, and staff. Unfortunately, it began to pour down rain after about a half hour. No pictures were taken by me as I was busy setting up and making sure everything was settled and by the time I thought about breaking out the camera it had started to sprinkle which quickly turned into a total down pour. A little disappointing but memorable nevertheless. 

After the 4th picnic attempt most of the volunteers went to Alex's house for the after party which was really fun. Alex got crazy hooked up with a house to himself, (used to be his gazda's B&B), which provided a perfect place for our after party. His "parents" hosted this incredible party with insane amounts of food, a DJ, and so much more. It was a great way to end our first 4th of July here in Romania.

Other than that, not much is new here. Site announcements will be made on Wednesday which makes me crazy nervous and anxious and excited. From what I heard in my interview it sounds as though the largest town I would be placed in is about 14,000 population wise. Crazy!! I will know for sure Wednesday though... and then two weekends from now we will all be taking the weekend to go and make a visit to our future sites. 

I can't believe this is all happening so fast. I felt like in the beginning it would be forever until I knew where I would be placed and yet, here we are... I can't believe it's already been six weeks!! Time flies.. 

I've really started to miss people too. When things happen and all I want to do is call home, or Erika, or Chris and Hillary.. (or others of course).. it just gets hard when I realize I don't have the convenience of that luxury anymore. I'm doing my best to take it one day at a time. No need to be alarmed or anything, I just wish I could share these experiences with everyone outside of just my writings.

I miss you all, all the time. I will take pictures and post more asap I promise!

Love for now.. stay well.

I'm alive! 

hopefully this works to get some pictures up.. my internet is not too reliable, so i won't write much for now. i'm teaching this week and keeping VERY busy so please say a little prayer for me as my patience seems to be growing thin and it's only day 3. yikes! oh middle schoolers.. not exactly the time of life i'd like to go back to for two years, but oh well. i have my site interview tomorrow at 3 and i should know my permanent site in about 2 weeks. 

for now.. some pictures of my IFV (integrated field visit) where we went and spent a weekend with a current volunteer. take a look!

in order:

1. cows walking down the middle of the street.2. courtney making out with our dinner, (yes i ate it mom and dad!)3. kids being silly.4. breakfast feast.5. the town i live in from "the tower".

Becca's Momma here again. Becca still can't get regular internet time anywhere and the few places she does, she starts to write something and then gets kicked off! So, her notes are short and blogging just isn't going to happen a lot until she gets to her permanent location and can set up internet wherever she lives. I just spoke to her and I will give you a brief update.

Last weekend Becca and other volunteers went about 6 hours away to a place where a Peace Corps volunteer is working. Here is what Becca said about it in an e-mail to me:

"The weekend went well for the most part. It was good to get the experience of buying tickets and traveling around the country. We took a maxi taxi (which is basically a glorified 12 passenger van that goes long distances and makes various stops- like a bus), train, trolley bus, and taxis. It was very educational. We ended up in small town outside of a large city. We saw Moldova from a place on the water that we had a picnic on the second day. So that was cool. Other than that we had a couple of HUGE meals One meal was a "pomana" meal which is given after someone dies.. its given at the wake, then again 14 days later, 30 days later, and 90ish days later, continuing on to be given on the anniversary of the death for seven years. and let me tell you, thats the short version of what they do. Interesting traditions I tell you! Other than that we saw the village she (the PCV) was in, some of the kids she knew from school, and also some local authorities... the mayor for one. It was interesting and nice to get away for the weekend."

So, that's the weekend. I also asked Becca how she was feeling and she said she is much better. A number of the volunteers, including Becca, were sick for a few days last week at the same time. Not sure why, but they are all better now. She has to completely stay away from potatoes (she is allergic to them, for those who didn't know that). Unfortunately that's a big staple in Romania - they are in everything. Sometimes you don't even realize you are eating them.

She is learning the language and has had a number of little conversations lately that seem to have given her confidence. She spoke with her host mother for the first time recently without needing the mother's daughter to translate!

This week Becca has to teach students (as part of the training). So, over the weekend she is working on lesson plans. She is nervous about it, but I'm sure she will do fine.

Here's another little note from an e-mail from Becca:"We have puppies at school. One of the dogs that hangs around our school recently had 6 pups and they are ADORABLE. People keep warning me not to name them but I don't think I can help it. The momma dog lets her puppies play with me every morning before class. It's pretty awesome. I wish I could take them all home."

Becca has taken a bunch of pictures, but can't get them uploaded because of the internet trouble. As soon as she can, she will post them.

Nothing is air conditioned in Romania. There is some issue (cultural thing) with moving air. They don't like it. I forget what that's all about, but it means no windows open in houses or cars - in very hot weather. Imagine that weekend trip Becca took - 6 hours traveling with no windows open in the maxi taxi- and it's hot there now.

Well, that's what I can remember right now. Bottom line - she is doing well. She has 8 more weeks of training before she heads to her permanent location (August 15). Keep her in your prayers!-Mom/Marny

Becca's Mom here again.  As you can see from the note below, Becca will be away for the weekend visiting a site.  It will be good to see a new area and get away from the regular routine for a few days.A few more tidbits -Becca is still adjusting physically to her new environment - i.e. stomach not agreeing with food/water.  This is totally normal, but not fun at all.  So, please pray that this would come to an end soon.Also, in her last e-mail to me she said how much she misses our dryer.  Of course, she misses us, too, but the absence of a dryer was right up there.  No fun to have to hang your clothes.  Why don't people in Europe have dryers?  Wherever we've travelled in Europe it's the same thing.  Anyone know why?  Educate us.-Marny/Mom

Going away for the weekend.. somewhere that starts with an "M".. supposedly a tiny village. It should be interesting. My goal is to post pictures upon my return. 

Stay good my friends and family. I love you!

Thank you mom for updating for me! 

As she said, I am here, alive, and doing well. A couple corrections... I will actually be here 11 weeks, 10 from today on. And next week I will not be going to sites, but that is actually several weeks away. But I will be going which will be a great experience I'm sure. It's the first year they are letting trainees, (which is what I am until swore in on August 14th), go to the actual sites so that is very cool.

Not much new aside from what the mom has already told you, but I have recruited her services for when I can't get online as often. Sometimes when I only have a few minutes it's easier to send an email and have her post the important stuff, so definitely keep your eyes open for that!

I haven't had much time to take pictures, but as soon as I settle in to my schedule I will start to take some and post them. 

I hope everyone is well. 

Noapte buna! (goodnight!)

Becca's Mom here.  Becca has had a tough time finding internet access in Romania.  She is working on it and will post here as soon as possible.  

We spoke with Becca today as she now has a cell phone.  E-mail me for the number if you're interested.  And also she has a temporary address which we can't post, so e-mail me for that, too.

Becca is doing well.   She arrived there on May 29 after a longer than expected day of travel. When they were scheduled to leave DC, there were bad thunderstorms which caused them to stay on the ground in the plane for 3 hours, which put them into Amsterdam too late to make their connection into Bucharest.  So, they spent the day in Amsterdam which turned out to be a fun experience.  Then they arrived in Bucharest very late that night and were taken about 2 hours north of there where they will stay during their 8-9 weeks of training.  So, they have yet to see Bucharest, but that will come.

Becca's host family has been very welcoming and is taking good care of her.  The family is a father, mother, grandmother and 17 year old daughter.  The daughter knows some English which has been very helpful in communicating.  Becca's room in their apartment is their living room.   She will remain there for the next 8 weeks.

Becca has now settled into a routine and seems to be enjoying it.  She gets up early each morning, gets ready and comes out of her room to find breakfast waiting for her.  Then she walks about 40 minutes to the training location.  It is an old school that the Peace Corps rents for training the volunteers.   There is no AC there or anywhere, but the weather has been cool so far, so no complaints.  But normally this is a very warm area, so the heat will come.

The volunteer group was originally 39, but now is 37.  I guess this is normal.  A few always drop out early for various reasons.  Becca said that she has really enjoyed getting to know all of the volunteers.  Everyone is nice and easy to get along with.

Her days are about half language training and half culture and also going various places to learn things.  Next week they will be going to some of the Peace Corps locations - schools where volunteers work.  I think that's what she said.  She can correct me when she gets on here if that's wrong.

So, bottom line is - Becca is doing very well.  Please continue to keep her in your prayers - for safety, continuing adjustment, learning the language, for placement in the location that will be best for her, friendships to continue to develop, etc. etc....   Thanks!!  -Marny/Mom

Well I take off in less than eight hours for Washington D.C. and then it's off to Romania on Thursday! Kind of crazy that it's already here. I will post more as more happens. If you want my current mailing address, contact my Mom or Dad for the address.  I can only receive mail, NO packages. 

Here I go!

Here is a little something to get your feet wet in the world of Romania.

*The city picture is of Bucharest where I will be spending my first 10 weeks... it's about the size of Chicago but a little smaller.

I decided to start this in light of recent events.

I leave May 28th for "staging" as the Peace Corps calls it. It's a one day orientation in the states before I leave for Romania on the 29th to start my 27 months-o-fun.

It all happened so fast which makes it a little overwhelming but more so, daunting. Though for the first time in my life I feel like I'm not just taking the next step, but rather, I'm choosing my own course. So much of growing up centers around progression. First elementary school, then middle, then high school. Then you progress into college because that's the next logical step to get where you want to go. But after college is where it all turns fuzzy. Where is this magical place we all dream about getting to? I haven't the foggiest idea, but I do know that I finally feel excited about having had many options and finding one that really makes all the progression worth while.

Settling for being a 9 to 5 kind of girl off the bat just wasn't for me. I've found something I'm truly passionate about which is relieving and terrifying all at the same time.

I can't wait for my adventure to begin and I'm excited to take you all along for the ride. I doubt I'll write much more in here until after I leave, but at least it's now ready for when the "big stuff" occurs.

So, welcome everyone... to the adventure that will soon be my life.

Wish me luck!