Gate of Salutations built in 1524. Leads into the 2nd courtyard of Topkapi PalaceCeiling of the Summer Room a.k.a. Circumcision Room in TopkapiOur hostel's kitten. Such a cutie.My pointed slippers...thanks for the Christmas money Grams!My lovely new pashmina scarfRosary for my Grams

the Blue Mosque from its courtyardThe Blue Mosque's tiled inside.Hagia Sophia, as seen from outside the Blue MosqueInside of the Suleymaniye MosqueOutside of the Suleymaniye MosqueNativity scene inside of the Church of St. Anthony of PaduaMy favorite pieces of baklavaContinue on to the third and final installment of Istanbul pictures....

On the plane....so excited to land in Istanbul!!!Galata TowerSunset over IstanbulHagia Sophia mosaic: Empress Zoe and Constantine IX, Jesus Christ in center. 11th CenturyTombs of SultansEgyptian Obelisk at the Hippodrome Did I mention all of the stray cats? Well-fed, well-groomed, and oh so adorable.....much better than Romania's dog problem.Me inside the Basilica CisternMedusa head turned on its side, at the base of a column in the CisternContinue on to Part 2 for more pictures....

Well, it's my first day back at site after an AMAZING few days in Istanbul. I'm rather sad at the prospect of another full week of boredom before getting back to the teaching grind, but at least I have this wonderful trip to get me through. Now that I'm back, it has been a mad rush of blog-writing (you're welcome), uploading trip pictures and downloading all of the TV shows I missed...including Michigan's bowl game! Of course I would be gone when they finally make it back to a BCS bowl...

View of Sultanahmet from Galata Tower

The trip started last Monday. A fellow PCV, and my trip buddy, came over to my site before we caught a night train to Bucharest early Tuesday morning. Night trains suck, especially those that aren't long enough to justify upgrading to a sleeping car. After 5 hours on the train, and several pulled muscles later, we arrived in the capital, ate some McDonald's (you've got to start every vacation right) and headed out to the airport. We opted to fly from Romania to Turkey for several reasons. Sure it's more expensive than taking the bus, but 1 hour on a plane sounds so much better than 16 on a bus, right? We flew Turkish Airlines, which was pretty good...we were even served a MEAL...on a one hour flight. I'd like to see that happen in the States. After a short delay we arrived in Istanbul at one and were brought to our hostel in Sultanahmet by shuttle. After checking in, we were ready to get our tourist on. We decided to spend the rest of the afternoon and evening in the Beyoglu section of the city. We went to the top of Galata Tower and spent a good amount of time taking panoramic pictures of the city before taking in all of the shops and settling down for some good Chinese food. We weren't quite ready to try out Turkish good yet. On our way back to the hostel we stopped for a few pieces of baklava. I'm utterly and completely hooked, especially on the pieces made with pistachios. After a good 36 straight waking hours, we called it a night.

I promise I really was there...The Blue MosqueWednesday was our big sight-seeing day. On the program was the Hagia Sophia, the Blue Mosque, the Hippodrome, and the Basilica Cistern. We also stumbled across some tombs of Ottoman Sultans. Ever since the Redwing fan page on facebook starting their "Redwing Facebook Fan of the Day", I have been determined to be chosen. So this was the day when I wore my Redwings t-shirt (I knew I brought one t-shirt supporting each of my sports teams for a reason). Cue really awkward pictures of millennium old buildings surrounded by natives in black or muted clothing...and me...in bright red. It was awesome. Without a doubt, the Hagia Sophia was my most anticipated sight. I was not disappointed. It was just amazing to be able to walk the same floor as Byzantime Emperor Justinian who ruled and commissioned the Hagia Sophia (the third on the same site) in the 6th Century AD. The mosaic depictions of Christ were amazing. The Islamic additions were beautiful as well. After milking all we could out of the Hagia Sophia, we crossed the square to the Blue Mosque, which gets it's name from the typically blue, Iznik tiles covering the inside. We actually had to wait for the noon and early afternoon prayers to finish, so we walked towards the Hippodrome, where chariot races were held in Byzantine times. Before reaching the Hippodrome, we stumbled across an old mosque converted into a museum holding the tombs of numerous Ottoman Sultans, and a few of their wives. The sad part were the tiny little tombs holding infant Sultans. The area of the Hippodrome was converted into a park featuring three artifacts from the original Hippodrome...an Egyptian Obelisk of 1500 BC, the Serpentine Column from the Temple of Apollo at Delphi in Greece made in 479 BC, and the Column of Constantine VII who restored it in the 10th century AD. After the Hippodrome, we ate traditional food at a nice little restaurant. The meat was very similar to Romanian mici, just not as heavily seasoned. It was very good. After lunch we walked around trying to find the Basilica Cistern. We finally found the entrance and made our way inside. This was used as an underground water storage tank begun by Constantine and expanded by Justinian in 532 AD. It once held about 18 million gallons of water! 336 pillars support the roof. Two of the columns sported Medusa heads, taken from older Greek buildings. The mystery is why one head is upside down and the other turned on its side. Hmmm. When we finished touring the Cistern, we were finally able to tour the Blue Mosque. I found all of the mosques to be absolutely breathtaking and this was no exception. After a day full of trudging up Istanbul's numerous steep hills and cobblestone streets, our joints were shot and we called it a day.

Spice BazaarThursday was set aside as our shopping day! I'm pretty sure I was most anxious for this day :) First thing in the morning we walked to the Grand Bazaar. It was founded in 1461 by Sultan MehmetSuleymaniye Mosque. This mosque was built in 1550-1557 for Suleyman I. His tomb is outside of the mosque along with his wife, Roxelana. Suleymaniye Mosque is the largest mosque in the city. The courtyard afforded some amazing views of the city. We ate lunch at a nice cafe along the side of the mosque and after wards ventured toward the shore for round two of shopping at the Spice Bazaar. This is where we partook in the purchasing of cheap little souvenirs. I was amazed at how little I actually spent on souvenirs during this vacation. And most of the money I spent was on Baklava and Turkish Delight. The journey to find the bazaar took forever and we managed to go in the same circle twice trying to find it. But at least we saw the old ladies selling plates of birdseed to "feed the birds." It was a nice Mary Poppins moment, just not as creepy as the one in the movie. After completing our shopping for the day, we headed back across the bridge to Beyoglu, where I needed to visit the Church of St. Anthony of Padua. Grams always wants a rosary from wherever I go, and this was no exception. I like to collect rosaries too, so it was no problem to hike all the way back there! Before finding the church Julie and I partook in some Starbucks, it was amazingly delicious, and nice to see prices not too different from those we are used to in the States. Romania's prices are triple what they are in the States and eat up our budget three times as fast. We head back across the bridge towards the hostel, stopped for some dinner at Burger King, and another baklava pit stop, where we always made our Turkish Delight purchases...can't wait to open those boxes up! I wish I had a video of us walking back, it was memorable. We were so sore we collapsed in bed at 7 and only got up again to shower.

View of the Asian side of Istanbul from Topkapi PalaceThursday was our last day and we had to catch the shuttle at 1, so we left one final sight for the morning...Topkapi Palace. Our hostel was perfectly situated in the Old Town only a few minutes from the Hagia Sophia and all of those sights and we literally only had to walk down the street before getting to the Palace. Soon after the Ottomans conquered Constantinople from the Byzantines, Mehmet II built this palace. It continued to be the Sultan's residence until 1856. The palace contained many courtyards which were all beautiful. The rooms were converted into exhibition spaces containing jewels, clothing, weaponry, and religious artifacts. This room was my favorite as it contained various artifacts from hairs from Muhammad's bear, the staff of Moses, the skull of the prophet John from the 1st century AD, and many many others important to not only Islam, but Christianity and Judaism. After finishing at the Palace we gathered our belongings and sad goodbye to Istanbul, but not before discovering a Sbarro pizza restaurant at the airport. Ahhh yes, quite the prelude to my journey home in 6 months.

A little slice of heaven.Overall, Istanbul was one of the most amazing places I have had the good fortune and blessing to visit. I know I say that a lot, but it's always true! I have wanted to see this wonderful place for so long, and I was not disappointed. The people were so nice, friendly, and helpful. The food was delicious. And the opportunity to visit some of the most important architectural feats of the last two thousand years really was a once in a lifetime chance. I am so lucky to have amazing friends and family who continue to support me and all of my cross-cultural adventures. I can't wait to return and explore more of Istanbul and Turkey.

P.S. Check out the next blog post and my facebook page for more pictures.

If you read my last blog post, you will remember that last year I avoided Christmas like the plague. I don't know why, it was just too emotionally draining I guess. Well this year I have something to look forward to (July) and I'm determined to enjoy this holiday season, even if I am alone and miserable. Well not miserable, that's what this list is for :)

In anticipation of Christmas, I am officially starting Freya’s 25 Days of Christmas….a movie a day (without the terrible made for Lifetime and ABC Family crap):

A Miracle on 34th Street (1994)…This one makes an appearance on Thanksgiving Day…since I find myself with a list larger than 25…and the 26 Days of Christmas just doesn’t have the same ring to it.

1. December 1 A Muppet Christmas Carol. Starting the season of right. Greatest movie ever? Maybe. Greatest version of a Christmas Carol. Definitely.

2. December 2 Meet Me in St. Louis. Maybe not your typical holiday film, but Judy Garland singing “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” is a great moment.

3. December 3 National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. How I haven’t seen this yet, I don’t know…2011 is the year.

4. December 4 Joyeux Noel (2006). Merry Christmas for all you sheltered Americans… haven’t seen this yet, but it sounded good!

5. December 5 The Polar Express. Shout out to Grand Rapids, woot!

6. December 6 Holiday Affair. I just love curling up on the couch on Christmas Eve watching this on TCM…too bad TCM Romania doesn’t do the Christmas movie marathon.

7. December 7 Elf. Let’s face it, this will probably be an everyday occurrence. Also on this day will be Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer...mostly because I'm a terrible person and forgot to give him his own day. It's ok Santa, I'll just go ahead and put myself on the naughty list.

8. December 8 The Shop Around the Corner. Bonus: set in Budapest, and I just might love Budapest. So much better than You’ve Got Mail, just sayin’.

9. December 9 Little Women (1949). Grams cultured me well.

10. December 10 The Santa Clause. I’ve always been a sucker for Tim Allen, must have been those Detroit Lions crewneck sweatshirts he always rocked.

11. December 11 Remember the Night. Haven’t seen this one yet either, but TCM said it was good.

12. December 12 A Christmas Carol (Disney). My favorite thing about this version is the score…although the Muppet version holds its own. “There goes Mr. Humbug, there goes Mr. Grim…” Anyone, anyone?

13. December 13 One Magic Christmas. One word: Classic. Three words: Terrible Disney Classic. And by “terrible”, I mean awesome.

14. December 14 Babes in Toyland. Grams has this taped on a VHS, I had been resistant in the past but being away from home and missing your Grammy makes you do weird things.

15. December 15 The Grinch. I remember watching this in French, freshman year of high school…so not as funny.

16. December 16 It Happened on 5th Avenue. Again, TCM said it was good.

17. December 17 Mickey’s Once Upon a Christmas. This might have come out when I was in high school, and I might have watched it on repeat for a week. I won’t subject you to Twice Upon a Christmas which might have come out when I was in college and I might have watched it on repeat for a month…but feel free to subject yourself.

18. December 18 A Miracle on 34th Street (1947)…Poor Kris Kringle.

19. December 19 Holiday Inn. Classic, need I say more?

20. December 20 Home Alone/Home Alone 2. They have to be watched together. I look forward to this night. Don’t concern yourself with 3 and 4 and however many more were made. They’re just no good without Kevin.

21. December 21 It’s a Wonderful Life. It’s inescapable.

22. December 22 White Christmas. Love love love me some Bing Crosby. The scene at the end where they open the barn doors to snow while singing White Christmas gets me every time.

23. December 23 How the Grinch Stole Christmas (cartoon)/ Merry Christmas Charlie Brown. These get combined because they’re short and I have too many movies on this list. And the combination of the two is just magical…I blame Grandma’s taped VHS copy that had these back-to-back, I just came to expect them to be together.

24. December 24 Christmas in Connecticut. Another TCM classic to curl up to. Cheesy “Merry Christmas” guffaw at the end is the best part.

25. December 25 A Christmas Story. Visions of unwrapping presents under the dim light of my Christmas tree while this movie plays ALL DAY dance in my head.

These movies are not ordered based on how good they are, so don't even try to give me crap for putting Elf after Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas.

Enjoy! I know I will!

My birthday was a week ago and okay, maybe that title is a bit melodramatic. The only tears shed last week had to with my beloved Lions royally sucking. After a silence-filled day at school, I admit I was feeling pretty miserable. But my counterpart brightened things a bit when she showed up unexpectedly with her 3 year old son and a birthday cake. We had a good chat while gorging on delicious cake.

I refuse to believe that I'm slowly arriving at the age at which birthdays start to suck. So next year get ready. Wherever I happen to be, there will be a bash.

One good thing that actually came out of my birthday was listening to Christmas music! It's my own personal tradition that all things Christmas are allowed with the arrival of my birthday each year. Perhaps it has to do with the fact that the first snow usually happens right around my birthday. Still no snow here! We had a brief overnight snow shower in October, but nothing since...I'm still not convinced of this miserable winter that's supposed to happen here in the heart of the Carpathians. Last year, I avoided all things Christmas until a few days before the 25th. That means music AND movies. So this year, I was extra anxious for that little bit of Christmas cheer. Hopefully I don't wear myself out before Christmas gets here! Check out my next blog post to see just how anxious I am for December to hit :)

Another good thing about my birthday was the arrival of my Kindle a week earlier. I've had my eye on one of these guys since I landed in Romania and my steady stream of books abruptly ended. With Amazon releasing their new super cheap version, I just couldn't resist. It has changed my life. I'm not saying I'm giving up books forever...there is just something about the feel of a good book in your hand, but it sure has brightened the rest of my days in Romania (228, but who's counting?). It feels so great to be back to my normal self. Since the arrival of my Kindle, I have gotten through Jane Eyre (how it took me 24 years to finally read, I don't know), the Hunger Games Trilogy (they will definitely be re-read very soon), the Girl Who Played with Fire (love the series), and a few other bestsellers. Oh yeah, I'm back. If you have any good book suggestions, send them my way! I leave you with a picture of me and my new best friend...which also doubles as a way to show my mother that I actually wear my hair down all of the time here, instead of in a pony tail.

Oh, and a picture of some of the teachers and myself during our Halloween party...and my counterpart's son.

Totally sounds like it could be the title of another installment, doesn't it?

So its been a while since I've posted, and I have had a grand total of........THREE major events. I lead a fascinating life.

Making the long trek. The first two weeks in July I made a commitment to work at a camp held at the site of another volunteer. The camp was more of a summer school run by a charity that works to get all children enrolled in school. Those involved are primarily Rroma children. Their parents receive a stipend if their children attend every day of school. The children also receive snacks at school. The volunteer there actually has two schools in two different villages. His house is in one village, and the camp was in the other village. This meant a 5 kilometer (yes, FIVE!) walk on muddy lanes through corn and sunflower fields. At least, that was the short way. Walking along the roads, mean 8 or 9 kilometers. No easily accessible public transportation either. I was not thrilled. After arriving at the school, sweaty and disgusting, another volunteer and I decided we would do that no longer and we hitched to the camp. We had no problems what so ever and thought the volunteer was crazy for walking every time he worked at that school.

Our class playing the Slap game with colors At the camp, another volunteer and I were assigned to the 6th graders. We worked with mostly Romanian students and taught English the entire time, whereas classes that were predominantly Rroma children worked on Romanian. It was rather interesting to work with students I could actually converse with. It is no longer a secret that my Hungarian stinks, so it was nice to be able to speak Romanian. I must say, I enjoyed teaching A LOT more when I could speak the children's native language. I will say this though, after this experience, I am very proud of my students at site for not being able to really understand me (and me not being able to really understand them), but still learning just as much English. It is definitely harder, and takes a lot more effort, but it seems to be working.

Coco and me I made a best friend at camp, her name was Coco, and she was in the 4th grade. She came to class with her sister who was in the 6th grade. She was adorable and loved me. Marco and I, didn't have much to do in the class, the Romanian teacher had the themes planned out, we just played games and talked with the students. My favorite moment was when we were playing the Slap game with numbers and the kids turned the table on us, and made the two of us play while they shouted Romanian numbers. I won.

During the weekend, we camped on the Black Sea! More volunteers met us at the beach and brought tents. It was an.....interesting weekend. We didn't camp anywhere near the main beach, so food and other essentials were two kilometers away. The beach was not sand, it was finely ground shells. The water was cold. It smelled. And the beach was nude. I took no pictures. I mean really, how do I find myself in these ridiculous traveling adventures? It couldn't have just been a topless beach, I would have expected that out of Europe, but NUDE?!?!?! Ugghhhhhh, nude old people. I was only in the sun for a few hours, used the same SPF I use in the States, yet somehow managed to get the WORST sunburn of my life. Seriously, my legs are STILL peeling. It was so bad that it hurt immediately and the next day, when I put my pack on to leave, I cried. A little. It was horrendous. I was really tan afterwards though, but so not worth it.

The second week of camp was more of the same. When the camp was finished for me, my little buddy was very upset that I was leaving. She attached herself to my waist and wouldn't let go. I had to drag her all the way out of the school building to the gate, before another camper pried her arms from around my waist and I made my escape. All in all, it was a pretty good time :)

Now for the second big event. You've probably figured it out already, it has to do with Harry Potter. A few days after arriving back at site from the camp I roadtripped to Cluj Napoca, another Romanian city, with my counterpart, her sister, and another teacher from my school. We drove 6 hours through Transylvania to see this puppy. When we arrived in the city, my counterpart and the other teacher had some errands to run, so my cp's sister and I got something to drink to escape the heat. After their errands were finished we saw a bit of the city before eating a delicious late lunch. I unfortunately have no pictures. I didn't bring my camera and I took pictures with my phone, but I lost the USB cable amidst the mess 10 volunteers make in one living room. So no pictures. After eating we headed to the mall, bought our tickets for the movie, then went SHOPPING. I just love it. I only bought a few things, on sale, so I did a good job. The movie was amazing. It was the first one I've ever seen in 3D, I was impressed. I'm so sad that it's all over though. I grew up with Harry Potter, and I can't believe it ended. After the movie we did a little more shopping before the mall closed and we headed back home! The drive back always seems to take longer, I think I finally got to bed around 4 in the morning. Long day, but definitely worth it :)

And now for the third major event. August 6th has come and gone. August 6th was the one year anniversary of my group being sworn-in as Peace Corpsnow for the third major event. August 6th has come and gone. August 6th was the one year anniversary of my group being sworn-in as Peace Corps Volunteers! It was momentous, I am so proud to have made it this far, and miss my friends who weren't as fortunate. It also meant that I am officially down to less than a year in country! I know its crazy to be thinking about it already, but I've always been a planner, and figuring out my future is something I've always obsessed over. For now I'm just looking forward to what the next year will bring :)

Trying to navigate the mud. I almost lost my shoes a number of times.

Try to avoid that. Rroma students celebrating the end of week one. When in Romania, do as the Romanians...that's how that goes, right? There were four of us in that backseat. My favorite Romanian adventure, by far. It was pitch black in the back of that delivery van. One activity during week 2....the human knot. We had ourselves good and knotted. That's my head in the bottom right corner. My bestie. She loved to fan me. I had it good there :) Music time. She loved me. I leave you with more pictures of my church. My mountains.

Heyyyyyy! I thought I ordered a hamburger.

Our hostel's garden terrace...pretty snazzy

Some really interesting monumental fort thing that I wanted to explore, but Serbian military personnel had their eyes on us.

Hotel Moskva...can you tell who Serbia caters to???We ate breakfast here...

The pedestrian shopping street...yeah we spent some time here

Waiting for our walking tour at Republic Square

Tulips! How I have missed you

Bohemian street....full of bars and restaurants

A famous Serbian author who frequented the Bohemian Street

This poor little guy was stolen last year by some guys strapped for cash...the cameras were for his return

A mosque-oldest building in Belgrade

Graffiti artwork by one of the "hooligan" gangs...they have guys sit near it to make sure no one messes with itLargest inflation in history about 15 years agoEntering Belgrade's fort...first built by the Romans

I like little windows

While walking around the fort....

So pretty!

Quite the city symbol...

Near the War Museum located in the fort

? Bar and Cafe.....It was built a long time ago, across from a church so the owner gave it the name of the church. The priest got mad and made him change it, so he stuck up a ? while he tried to find another name. In the meantime, everyone came to know it as the ? Bar, so it stayed.Our traditional Serbian meal...Sara and Aron split lamb...I stuck with grilled chicken Yeah we killed it

The 2nd largest Orthodox church in Europe

It has been in the construction process on and off for 100 years. The outside is finished, but not the inside.

While we sat eating ice cream.....a common occurrence on this trip.....the lights came on

One of the NATO bombed buildings left as a sort of memorial

Across the street...

Peace Corps anyone?

My packed lunch complete with a note from "mom" a.k.a. Sara

leaving Serbia, entering Bosnia

Park in memoriam of the children who lost their lives during the Balkan conflict

Eternal Flame

Serbian Orthodox Church, and a really neat statue

Art school in Sarajevo

I just like this picture

Sara and me killing time in yet another park

My first mosque

We fit right in...

Me entering the tunnel that connected Sarajevo to free Bosnia

Sara and me in walking through a part of the tunnel

Aron, Sara, and me outside of the Tunnel Museum

A house left in rubble

Some really good cake...I was really anxious to get started apparently

Me on the Latin Bridge...at the corner where Franz Ferdinand was assassinated by a Bosnian teen starting WWI

The 1984 Olympic rings

It was sights like this that really hit you.

So after trudging around the Olympic Stadium, we happened upon a soccer match. "Peace Corps is hard."

Statue in one of many cemeteries

Breakfast courtesy of our hostel director...basically meat/cheese/potato filled pastry

Another one of those "whoa" moments

Entering the bazaar in Old Town...this can only mean one thing: SHOPPING!!!

View from the hill we hiked

Favorite picture ever? Just might be

Gosh that place was gorgeous

Giving the lungs a rest...Sarajevo is famous for its metal working, especially copper

Lunch-Cevapi...basically hamburger meat, onions, and a creamy cheese all in a pita....DELICIOUS!

Inside Bosnia's oldest and largest mosque-Husrev Bey's Mosque

Sums up the whole trip.

Out to dinner with two other hostel guests--next to me is another American and next to him is a Greek

I know you all have been eagerly awaiting an update of my adventures, and I do not disappoint.

The week before Easter was vacation time here in Romania...my "vacation" started even earlier. Tuesday, April 11, I returned to Bucharest for the final touches on my root-canaled tooth. That procedure had taken place a few weeks earlier. Fun stuff (hence the quotations).

Wednesday, April 13 was off to a rough start. I left for the dentist office for procedure 4 of 4, with all of my luggage, when I realized that I had left my cell phone back at the Peace Corps office...a 30 minute trip away. So after I finished at the dentist, I went back to the office, got my cell, and headed back in the same direction to the train station where I would wait four hours for two other volunteers. At 7:45 we were on our train to Timisoara, in the west of Romania. It was a loooooong night.

Thursday morning we arrived in Recas, where we would stay with another volunteer before heading off on the real adventure. Basically we slept while Sara taught her last classes before vacation, bought our train tickets, and slept some more. Friday was more of the same.

Saturday morning is when the fun really started...kind of. The 4th volunteer's train was supposed to leave a bit after ours...I say supposed to because our train ended up being THREE hours late from Bucharest. Minor freak out ensued. The delay leaving Timisoara meant that we would miss our connecting train from Belgrade to a tiny place in Croatia, and from there to Sarajevo. Since Grandma taught me well, I said a few Hail Marys...to the approval of one travel buddy, and the dismay of another. We finally got on our train to Serbia, found a crappy compartment on a crappy car that was filled with two New Zealaders and a crazy Romanian marathoner who wanted us to give him oranges while he ran the Belgrade Marathon. Ummm thank goodness we were only passing through Belgrade. As soon as we arrived at the Belgrade train station, we hustled to the information desk to find out if there was another train to Sarajevo that day...the jerk told us no. When we asked about a bus, we got an even jerkier no, or really a "how should I know?" So we hustled again to the bus depot next door and HALLELUJAH there was a bus in an hour that would arrive at the same time as the train we should have been on. Looks like those prayers came in handy :) As Aron found himself a Serbian hamburger, Sara and I were hit on by creepy Serbian human traffickers. Or so my overactive imagination led me to believe (darn that CNN special on Romania's slave trade, and darn Laurel for introducing me to Taken). The conversation went like this...

Creepy human traffickers: Where are you from?

Sara and I: Canada

Creepy human traffickers: What city?

Sara and I: Montreal

Creepy human traffickers: Would you like to drink with us? As they hold up a suspicious bottle of alchol.

Sara and I: Oh there's our friend, we have to go now.

For all his faults, Aron sure did have some impeccable timing. Finally we boarded our bus for our 7 hour trip to Sarajevo, Bosnia. The drive through the Dinaric Alps was truly stunning. Everything was beautiful; natural or man-made. We immediately noticed a difference of pride and cleanliness between these two countries and their neighbor to the north. Finally, around 9 pm, we were at the train station in Sarajevo, waiting for our hostel director. Jasmina found us there and took us back to the hostel. After a low down of hostel services, we got ready for bed, anticipating the full day of city touring ahead of us.

Sunday we woke up and met Jasmina for our tour of the tunnel that connected the besieged Sarajevo to free Bosnia during the conflict with Serbia. It was amazing to experience. I had been saying all vacation that I had never been so close to war before. Not as in I’m dodging bullets and shrapnel from bombs or anything, but that I had never been somewhere that had so recently seen war. It was an intense, yet gratifying experience. For all of you American travelers out there, do not be afraid of Bosnia. We heard the reactions we got from family and friends when informed of our travel destination, but both cities were amazing, especially Sarajevo. Jasmina, was not only the person who ran the hostel we stayed at. She was a host leading us around the city, helping us get the Sarajevo experience. The most profound moment for me was when she said that Sarajevans love Americans. She told us thank you for the help and support our country gave hers. It is not every day you run across something like that. Let’s face it, typically we only encounter anger and hostility when it comes to US military intervention. This was one case where our efforts were appreciated and I am lucky to have experienced that moment.

Monday we went back through the city to the places we wanted to spend more time at (I'll put up pictures in another blog post)…mainly the bazaar in the Old Town. Did you expect any less of me? Before considerably lightening our wallets, we trudged up a hill on the outskirts of town to a look-out point. Sara and Aron trudged a little further, but I decided I had pushed my asthma enough for one day. So I sat at the look-out point and contemplated life…or something like that. After we had our fill of the hill, Sara and I left our mark on that bazaar…while Aron followed, he was a champ. Later that day, I headed back to the hostel for a quick rest while the other two wandered around the city more. At the hostel I met two other guests who were traveling alone and invited them out with Sara, Aron, and I. We ate some dinner and then headed to City Pub for a few beers. All in all, it was the perfect end to a perfect couple of days.

Tuesday we left for the train station in the morning and at 11:30 left to go back to Belgrade, Serbia. We arrived in the evening and taxied to our hostel. It was a gorgeous hostel; everything was clean and new, and the staff were really friendly. As soon as we put our stuff in our room, we headed out to find some dinner. It was a rather unexpected adventure…pictures will hopefully be up in the next blog post.

Wednesday we headed to the city center for a really nice breakfast and wandered around a bit before meeting up for a free walking tour. Our tour guide was really nice, informed, and showed us everything we needed to see in the city. The weather was beautiful…I even got a little tan :) At the end of the tour, Aron backtracked to the War Museum with two other tour participants while Sara and I went off for more…can you guess? Shopping. Good thing these two countries were really cheap. After fulfilling our souvenir/gift quota, we ate some cookie ice cream (delish) and waited for Aron before heading to a traditional Serbian restaurant for a traditional meal (also delish).

Thursday we headed to see the two NATO bombed buildings left as a sort of memorial before gathering all of our belongings and heading back to Romania. We arrived in Timisoara at night, I hopped right on a train to Bucharest, sat around for a few hours, and finally got on a train back to site!

That was the end of our vacation! It was amazing, I wouldn’t have traded it for any other destination in the world…even Madagascar…and that means a lot coming from me. Sarajevo is one of my favorite cities in Europe. It was just incredible. Not only was the city beautiful, but the people were as well. You could see their pride in the way they held themselves, and in all of the buildings and monuments that had to be rebuilt. It really was a home away from home.

After the last blog I posted, I bet you were all wondering what happened during the REST of my vacation. Oops. I left Miercurea Ciuc Friday night and after 14 hours, 4 trains, 2 terrible children, and 1 lost tooth I made it safely to Sara’s site in Recas. The lost tooth was not mine, nor were the two children. They were just the product of an eventful wait at the Brasov train station at 9 pm.

Saturday was a fairly laid back day…as you can imagine. Sara and I napped, saw the town, ate some food, napped, ate some more food, saw some things that she probably doesn’t want me to post in a public location, watched some horror movies, scared ourselves half to death, and slept some more. I should have taken this day as a sign. A sign of the awesomeness that is a Freya/Sara vacation. We kind of rock.

Rom. Orthodox Church and Revolution MemorialSunday we woke up early and took a train into Timisoara where we freezed our butts off touring parts of the city…ate some McDonald’s at 10:30 am just to warm up…froze some more…and then spent one awesome afternoon at the home of one of Sara’s colleague’s. She provided us with some amazing food, especially a chocolate caramel cake that produced sounds of angels singing. Still waiting on that recipe, by the way. At the same time, her father provided some insightful Romanian conversation. After that afternoon of merrymaking we headed back to Recas for a nap, Black Swan, another nap, and a 2 am Pro Bowl viewing with a side of chicken wings. Mmmhmm, we know how to live.Favorite dog ever at our Sunday lunchEnjoying wings and football!

Monday, I got to sleep in a little before we went back into Timisoara for the partaking in such American traditions as mall shopping, spending way too much money, eating a disgustingly large amount of popcorn and drinking fountain Coca-Cola at the movies, and drinking over-priced Starbucks. All in all, a lot was accomplished.

I go to the mall normal, and I come back a French high-schoolerOur early departure to AradTuesday we woke up early and threw on our packs for our mini-trip to Arad to visit volunteers there. After we dropped our packs off, we headed out to see the town. It was cold and snowy, but Sara and I still managed to have a blast. We stopped at McDonald’s for lunch where our personal space was invaded many, many times. Poor Sara.Catholic church in Arad

Arad-ean shenanigans

A snowy day in OradeaWednesday we woke up early again to head to Oradea, this time we were joined be Elizabeth. Oradea was even colder and snowier, but awesome in its own way. After a little more sight-seeing and shopping we took the train back to Oradea for the night.Warming up at an Irish Pub

Thursday Sara and I left Elizabeth’s and spent some more time at the mall. Hey, who knows the next time I’m in a fairly Westernized place, I had to get my fix in. Don’t judge. As we left Arad the whole “Ooops, we got on the wrong train” thing happened. Read my previous blog if you are confused.

Sara and me out for a night on the townFriday we slept in and I packed up my stuff. We headed back into Timisoara to hang out with Sara’s counterpart…who is amazing by the way. After dropping our stuff off at his place we headed…yep, back to the mall. I had some last minute things to buy…that’s what I tell myself anyway. After a delightful meal of KFC chicken, we went back to Sara’s counterpart and headed to a birthday party. I got to see a little more of the city and we got free drinks and food…good night, I’d say.

Saturday we woke up EARLY. Sara headed back to her site, and I got on my first of many trains. 14 hours later I was back at my site safe and sound!!!!!8 hours on one train really does something to youSomething really cool that I have yet to figure out.

So that was my vacation. Short and sweet. The blog, not the vacation. That was sweet, not so short. Sara and I realized that the only way to vacation is with each other…obviously. Get ready for our next adventures!

The day started out normal enough. Sara and I had spent the last few days traveling the western front, hitting up Timisoara, Arad, and Oradea and now were headed back home. In Arad, we buy our train tickets, check the Departures Board, see that we're on line 2 and head towards the tracks. Soon after, the train arrives, we get on, (but not before making comments that it looked like a green cattle car-hint number 1 we weren't in the right place...) and we find out seat. Ipods in, and we waited for departure.

At exactly 2:30PM the train left-right on schedule. We had been traveling for about 15 minutes when the controller, or ticket checker walks by. We noticed he was not wearing the national CFR train uniform but didn't think much of it as we pulled our tickets out of our bags. (Hint number 2 we weren't in the right place.) As I hand him my ticket, he looks at it, looks at us, looks back at the ticket and says "Nu este bun." OR in English- "It's not good." WHAT? Sara says "poftim?" or "excuse me?". He looks at both of us and says again "Yeah, its not good. Where are you going?" "Timisoara!" I respond, confused as all hell. "Well", he says, "we're not going to Timisoara".

At this point Sara and I just look at each other, shocked, confused, horrified, scared. What does he mean we're not going to Timisoara?! Long story short, and with the help of the entire train car giving us information, we realized that we were on a local private train, headed out to the mountain villages in the East. Not South. Basically, the train we wanted was BEHIND this train on line 2-OBVIOUSLY, RIGHT? So once we figured out where we were headed, we had to figure out where to get off and get back on track to Timi. The lady next to us told us where to get off (Periam) and so at every station our faces were pressed against the cold window pane, trying to spot our destination. Finally, after about an hour of traveling in the wrong direction, we got off at Periam, a tiny village East of Arad. And so the adventure really begins...

Heading into Periam...where are we?!

We walk inside to the ticket window but there is no one behind the counter, so we walk right into the "seful statie" or the "station master's office" and tell him we've got ourselves a little situation. In her Romanian, Sara tries to tell him what we've done and miraculously he understands and tells us there IS a train to Timisoara. ALLELUIA! This is the good news. Bad news-it doesn't leave for another 2.5 hours. AWESOME. We look around the village. I see a cemetery, a bar, and some houses. We ask the man if there is a store we can go to, somewhere to stay warm and he points us into the direction of the bar and he says they have great coffee. The bar it is.

Under the protective and watchful eye of the seful statie we walk towards the bar, and run right into a village crazie. Literally this man is walking up to us saying "fetelor! fetelor" with basically translates to "girls! girls!". Yes sir, we are ladies, but we want nothing to do with you. Sara and I have a short discussion in English, muttering under our breathes "What do we do? do we turn around" BUT THERE IS COFFEE IN THERE!" We move away from the man, turn around at least three times to walk back to the station but decide he's probably harmless so head back to the bar. At this point, he beats us to the punch and runs into the bar yelling "the girls are coming! There are girls here!" Wonderful. We wait until he leaves and enter the bar.

As we enter, all eyes are on us (thank you messenger man) and we (dragging our packs) decide a beer is definitely in order. We order a beer, turn around to find a seat, and realize there are no free tables. Integration right? So we sit at the end of a long table where we were offered a seat and open our Ciuc beers. After a few sips and awkward glances, the seful statie walks in with some friends and announces our presence again. "These are some American girls, they got on the wrong train and now are here with us!" Wow. So at this point conversation is started, and before we know it, Sara and I are taking pictures, discussing British English v. American English, and insisted that my camera was NOT $1,000 as they kept insisting. After some time at the bar we were invited back to the station where we could wait by a cracking soba fire until our next train arrived.

The bartender and our faithful station master.

Me enjoying my Ciuc.

For the next two hours, we read, listened to our ipods, and enjoyed conversation with the seful and the random people that kept walking in and out to "see the American girls". Before we knew it, our time had come to leave and we said a sad farewell to the kind and hospitable station master, all the conductors, and our new friends in Periam. It was like a movie, the train pulled out of the station and we all waved at each other until we became lost in the darkness of the night.

Pulling away from Periam, there's the station master!

Waving farewell...

What should have been a 1.5 hour trip turned into a 6 hour adventure back home-and we would have it no other way. We truly had an amazing time meeting those wonderful and kind Romanians. They could have made us wait for our train outside in the cold and not said another word, but we were given shelter, food, and were made to feel at home immediately. This is what we love about Romania. The people never cease to amaze us with their kindness, their giving spirit, and their love for life in general. Our mistake turned into a true exchange of cultures, and opportunity to see somewhere we would never have seen before and meet people we never would have known.

We're considering making a trip back to say thank you-this time on purpose.

Freya & Sara

On the right track...headed back to Timisoara FINALLY!

Me with Zsuzsa's Christmas tree

Merry Christmas everyone! Thanks for putting up with my lack of blogging skills...I haven't forgotten about all of you! I spent the majority of the days leading up to Christmas maxing out the free space on my computer's hard drive with every Christmas movie I ever remembered watching as a child...well, the good ones at least. And now I have to watch them all, or it was time wasted...I have a long way to go.

We had school Monday and Tuesday of this week...although we didn't really have classes. On Tuesday showed up for my 9 am class, after that I had an hour break and then I have another class. Well the teacher eventually gathered her belongings to head to class and as I moved to follow she told me not to come to class. Ooookay, so I just stayed at school for two hours to not have class? This happens often enough to drive me insane, I just have to remember to be patient in the name of cultural integration...on the outside at least ;) Wednesday my Christmas tree was delivered to me from the forest by my counterpart's husband. After I lugged it up 7 flights of stairs and plopped it in the middle of the living room, it took a minute (or fifteen) to figure out what to do next. This was my first live tree ever in my life...that I can remember! The first challenge was getting it to stay upright. Eventually after many failed attempts, I found my mop bucket.

Problem number 2: there were some low branches that prevented it from fitting nicely in the mop bucket. I grabbed the biggest knife I could find in my kitchen and sawed away. The extra branches made a lovely centerpiece for my kitchen table. Problem number 3: where to put the thing. My living is not exactly spacious, and what space there is is in front of the TV or in the path between the two doors. Well I found a place to put it, but the tree was too tall. So I bent the top branch in half so it would fit, covering my hands in sap along the way. And I was done! Oh wait, I forgot about the big red monstrosity that is my mop bucket. Problem solved. Sorry Boo, you'll have to sleep on the floor for a few days, or weeks, while I use your blanket to drape around the mop bucket. Finished!!! Luckily I seemed to have enough patience on Wednesday to make enough paper snowflakes to make my tree look complete. I must say, its pretty cute :)

The finished product.

Thursday my counterpart and I spent THREE HOURS at the supermarket doing our last minute shopping. I bought a bunch of stuff to bake with, especially to bake frosted sugar cookies for myself. During the car ride home I remembered that I'm still too scared to light my oven...darn it all I want those sugar cookies!!!!! Later that evening, I went back to my counterpart's house with her sister to make gingerbread cookies and build trees with them. Well, that failed too hahaha...at 10 pm we were still waiting for enough cookies to build with and decided to call it quits. Oh well, there's always next year. Zsuzsa did make a tree the next day though...super cute!

Yesterday I celebrated Christmas Eve by watching a string of Christmas movies. Later in the evening I went back to my counterpart's to help decorate the Christmas tree while her husband and son were out of the house. Here, the angels bring the decorated Christmas tree and presents. So her son had a nice surprise waiting for him when he got back. We opened presents before heading to mass at 9 pm. We were late, so we got to stand in the doorway. Let me tell you standing in the cold, not being able to see, and not understanding a word of the language all add up to an hour of daydreaming...hmm. I'll have to make up for it somehow, maybe I'll understand mass next year. Or more likely, it'll have to wait until Christmas 2012. After mass we ate a large meal that finished around midnight, then I went home to bed....eating late is a common theme here haha.

Zsuzsa's tree.Today I didn't have much to do (my Christmas package is still not here :( ) so I watched some more Christmas movies before being picked up by my counterpart's family to go back to her house for Christmas dinner. We sat at the table for 2 hours eating and talking...well, they talked. I daydreamed...and then I came back to my apartment, and here I am!

A few weeks ago I started writing down 3 things I am thankful for each day in my journal...a few days later I also started a segment entitled "3 things I now appreciate." Here are a few examples:

December 15th:

Today I am thankful for: My super warm North Face jacket with its extra big hood…without I would freeze in the Romanian tundra I call home Cute boots that I can tuck my jeans into so I can be Romanianly fashionable…even if they leak. Colors. They make for a fun class where I can laugh at my children and they don’t even know it :)

December 16th: Here are today’s 3 things I’m thankful for:1. I have to go back to the jacket…I didn’t freeze while shopping today…and it leads into number two…2. My Grams, for helping me buy that super awesome warm jacket…and for many other things J3. My kindergarten meals…without them I would starve…or actually learn to cook for myself (here’s where you can snort with laughter).And the “Things I now appreciate”:1. Long underwear. You try waiting outside in the sub-freezing cold for two buses in one morning while also trekking across the town to do shopping, and then riding a bus back to your village without heat, and then walking across the village to get your kindergarten meal. I can’t move my limbs.2. Cherry flavored pop/soda/coke, whatever you want to call it….I just love cherry, cherry’s my favorite.3. Being within a close proximity to a movie theater…I still haven’t seen Harry Potter! It was only in Romanian theaters for a WEEK! So weird, maybe it will come back. But I refuse to watch a cam version of it! And for today:

Today I am thankful for:1. Friends and family, old and new, who made the holidays all the more bearable.2. Romanian sales promotions. “Why yes Cappy, a.k.a. Minute Maid, I will buy two abnormally large cartons of orange juice just so I can get that free glass.”3. Sugar. Or the holidays because then its accepted that you will eat sugar, sugar, and more sugar :)Things I appreciate more:1. The weather on the news. Wait, I could watch that here too…nevermind.2. Pickle wraps…who knew they are what I would miss most about Christmas in the States.3. Energizer lithium batteries that last forever in my camera. Every time I use my camera I’m careful to not use too much of the battery. I don’t know where or when I’ll get my next stash. Haha.4. Package tracking…darn it mom, next package make it trackable, I’m going insane with all of this waiting!

So you know the saying “it takes a village to raise a child”? Well the same goes for a Peace Corps Volunteer. I have been given food, students bring me wood from the school, and parents come to fix my broken water heater (which is kind of important for my personal hygiene....today it was 25 degrees fahrenheit when I woke up!!! No way I would have showered if it was that cold). Oh yeah, about that broken water heater that decided to mess with my electricity....So a student of mine and his father show up on a Sunday afternoon. I'm in sweatpants, no makeup, and my hair is all crazy because I took a shower (a cold shower mind you) in the morning and let my hair air dry, and the place it a mess, thanks in most part to my psycho cat. So after a few awkward words, we manage to understand each other with the word “boiler”. Thank goodness its the same in both languages. So they go into the bathroom to check out the problem, then they have to find where it plugs in....coincidentally its in my bedroom. And what's in my bedroom? My drying laundry. And on that clothesrack? Yep, my bras. I didn't get there in time to hide any incriminating evidence. How embarrassing. Oh well, at least I don't really teach that student.

Other than that embarrassing moment, things have been pretty great! I am really enjoying teaching...for the most part. Sometimes its difficult working with the other two English teachers who are not my counterpart....she's pretty awesome :) FINALLY this week we've started splitting classes. It has taken longer than expected because of the language, obviously. These students have only had English for maximum four years and are not used to full on English all of the time. And my Hungarian is just as dismal as that first day of class....but I'm starting to understand more! So that's exciting. My trouble classes in the past had been 5th and 6th, neither of which I split with my counterpart. So I was very anxious to get them split, because they are a challenge. Well I taught my half of those classes this week, and I have to say I love those kids! They were excited to have class with me, which made me happy to teach them, and they were surprisingly attentive. Phew!! Maybe this won't be as impossible as I thought. The real challenge comes next week, when I split the classes I share with a third teacher, who is by far, the most uncooperative. Teaching with her has been rough, to put it mildly. Wait, no, what I get to do with her hardly qualifies as teaching. Whatever it was, it was rough. So next week, the kids are being thrown to the wolves....errr, me. We'll see how it goes!

One of the most fun things I've gotten to do with my students has been choosing English names. Their Hungarian names have proven impossible for me to pick up, so they get English names for me to keep track of. All of the trends make me laugh. The older kids pick names like Rihanna, Michael Jackson, James Bond, Kesha, and Jack Sparrow. The younger kids all picked names like Harry, Selena, Vanessa, and Miley....and they all thought it was hilarious when I named the celebrity they idolize. They all had fun with it though, and that's always a bonus.

This week, I started after school classes with 1st-4th grades. It has been a lot of fun! I love working with little kids, and they are extra cute. So far the little 2nd graders hold a special place in my heart. We sang and sang and sang those ABCs. It was adorable. Although, I have had a bit of a sore throat in the mornings....hmm maybe too much singing.

Well, that's about it....I lead a pretty boring life....hahahahaha.

Until next time!

Boo's sitting in her favorite spot in front of the window.

Oh my, I haven't posted in over a month. In all fairness, I did just get internet in my apartment today.

So the last month I've: read, read, and read. I'm going on book #20. No joke. Haha its true that it has been a little boring, but overall its been a good month! I still can't get over the gorgeous view I have and the sunsets I get to see everyday from behind the mountains. Last week school started for teachers...that's where I've gotten most of my reading done. The week before that I brought home a new friend! Her name is Boo because she's orange and black like Halloween. She's a crazy little cat...I have many battle wounds that can testify to that. Besides, starting school, last week turned out to be rather productive. I FINALLY got a haircut! It's very European, but I'm managing it. And I started horse-riding lessons! I was the most anxious for those. I was really excited when my counterpart told me there were a lot of opportunities to ride in the area. We found a horse farm where somebody speaks English, so once a week I'll go there. I'm starting with the basics, doing lots of exercises on the horse to find my balance and get used to the horse. It must be funny to anyone watching a grown woman learning riding basics and then looking around and seeing 10 year olds that are more advanced.

Next week we start teaching classes! I'm a little nervous, but more excited to have something to do! Although, now that I have internet, maybe I won't be so excited to work!

Not much else to report...I do know my address now! If you would like it send me an email!

As I promised....post 2! So the counterpart conference was last weekend. Preparation for the conference was a little strained. Too many leaders were stuck in an extremely hot room together and tempers were flaring! The conference itself went well. It was a bit redundant for us volunteers because we had heard much of the information before, but it was necessary for our counterparts' understanding.

I was very very excited to meet my counterpart Zsuzsa. She's 27 years old, really nice, and extremely excited to have me at school. We had a great time getting to know each other over the weekend. I must say, those of us with Hungarian counterparts...plus Sara's Romanian counterpart...had the best time of all. After a beer, mine and Brittany's Hungarian was perfect...or so said one of the Hungarian counterparts...we are still unsure...haha.

Peles Castle Last Tuesday, Zsuzsa and I left in her car for Judetul Harghita! It was about a 4-5 hour drive. On the way up, we stopped at a city called Sinaia to visit Peles Castle. Three other volunteers and their counterparts stopped with us as well. We took a tour of the elaborately decorated castle, but unfortunately were not able to take pictures. In Romania, you usually have to pay more to take pictures, and even more to film a video. This particular castle was really strict about this policy. The walls and ceilings were covered in carved wooden panels depicting all sorts of scenes from mythology, history, and art. This castle definitely had a Saxon vibe...I love it! When we finished at the castle we continued on our way to site. We arrived at site around 4:30 and met with Zsuzsa's husband and son, then we all headed to the next village to meet my colleagues at my school. I about cried as we drove into my village and walked into my school to meet all of the teachers. I was so excited to meet them, but also honored to be there for them. I instantly felt welcomed and loved by all. The school “lunch lady” made us a delicious meal...I guess that's one cultural difference between America and Romania...lunch food is actually delicious here!. Zsuzsa's son is two years old and such a little stinker...an adorable stinker of course. Funny story, we were eating this amazing dessert made with cake, apricots, and a marshmallow-like topping; I was sitting next to Zsuzsa who had her son on her lap and he was eating cake too, only he was just eating the marshmallow topping off of the top; he would take a bit and then put it back on the table; one time, I guess he couldn't reach the table because the next thing I knew, there was something sticky on my arm...he threw his cake in my lap! It was hilarious and had all of us at the table laughing hysterically. After dinner, I was taken to my apartment to settle in! My apartment is on the 3rd floor of the only bloc in town. It is across the street from the church...can you guess what happened the next morning???

The Catholic Church in my village Wednesday I was woken up bright and early by 1. ringing church bells at 5 am and 2. the rising sun at 6 am...and my gazda sister wondered why I was so tired when I got back to training site. Oh well waking up at the break of dawn every once in a while does a person good...unless it happens everyday for two years, in which case we might have a problem. I will say I did get to see some amazing sunrises behind the mountains. Oh yeah, I'm surrounded by mountains...my village lies in a large mountain valley. I have always had this dream of hiking up a mountain and lying in one of the meadows you see up high...we'll see how much stamina I have to fulfill this dream. Yeah so, Wednesday I spent the day with my school's director and his family. It was quite interesting because they don't speak English, and I really don't speak enough Hungarian to converse yet. Together we spoke lots of RomHunGlish...mine and Brittany's creation. First, we ate a hearty breakfast full of meet and salad and toast with jam...I'm lucky my stomach didn't give out on me. After that we went into the bigger city that isn't far from my village, Miercurea-Ciuc. I left my cellphone back at my gazda's which had my counterpart freaking out more than me, and we decided it was best to get another phone with a different provider. So the director took me to Vodafone to get a new phone...which the school paid for!!!! Its a pretty awesome phone if I say so myself...the nicest one I've ever had in my life. Mom, you wouldn't know what to do with it! Before going to get the phone, the director's 20 year old daughter and I went to a restaurant to get ice cream. It is quite the interesting experience when you can't really communicate. We were sitting down and Imola went to get the waitress to come ask me what kind of ice cream I wanted...in English. We ran into problems when I asked what flavors they had. I watched the waitress splutter and try to find words for a minute or two and then told her I could speak Romanian if that helped. It did. I was soon enjoying a bowl of piersici si vanilie inghetata...peach and vanilla ice cream for you non-Romanian speakers. After all of that excitement we went back to the village to have a late lunch...REALLY late lunch...at the “lunch lady's” house. Man is she an amazing cook. Chicken broth and noodles never tasted so good. Nor have I ever eaten so much paprika, but its a nice change from the “naturally” flavored food of the south...or bland if you prefer. Haha, no really I have loved just about everything I've eaten in Romania...its just a little different in Szekely land. After “lunch” we went back to the director's house and rested before dinner. We ate dinner at another colleague's house and it was quite fun. The older gentlemen were more willing to speak Romanian with me, so the conversation was more lively. Eventually someone pulled out an atlas and we looked at a map of the United States...and the map of Canada which included a more detailed map of Michigan...I think Europe might be confused on the subject of where the US ends and where Canada begins...I know we are too...haha. And of course the conversation turned to politics...but they were very understanding of my reluctance to give my opinion of American politics. Mostly they were curious about the economic crisis. Economics. Totally not my strong point. I tried to explain that Michigan's economy has sucked for a few years, so the crisis wasn't really a surprise.

Sunrise over my mountains Thursday I spent the day with Zsuzsa. Again I was awaken by the bells and Easterly sun streaming in my bedroom window. We ate another hearty breakfast and went back into Ciuc to have vodafone activate my number...which they apparently overlooked the day before. It was a pretty chill day and I went back to my apartment to rest before heading to a Hungarian music festival with Zsuzsa and her husband. It was a lot of fun. We saw a fairly popular Hungarian rock band...I didn't understand much...ok, any...of it, but I still liked it. While at the festival, I was bought a kurtoskalacs. It is the most amazingly deliciously heavenly scrumptious Hungarian dessert-ish bread thing. That's about the best description I can give. You'll just have to come visit me in Szekely land to find out for yourself! We didn't get back until 2 am...which for me is like not sleeping for 48 hours.

First night at the music festival Friday morning I didn't not hear the church bells! Hooray! I was so tired I slept right through them...or maybe it was the fact that I closed my bedroom window. Again, Friday was a pretty chill day. We didn't eat breakfast because Zsuzsa spent the morning trying to figure out how to get me back to training site. So we just had a light snack at the village pool...quite the experience. It started pouring and we barely made it without getting soaked. I don't know what is going on, but everybody in all of Romania seems surprised at the amount of rain we have had this summer. Stupid me for never investing in those rainboots I had my eye on all Spring. For lunch we went to a pensiune...bed & breakfast/hotel...in a nearby village. Zsuzsa treated me to Pepsi, pizza, coffee...yes I am starting to drink cups of coffee...with lots of milk and sugar of course, but not from Starbucks...AND dessert. Amazing. It also helped that we saw some other Americans there, I didn't say anything because they were a large group, but after over two months in a foreign country where most other Americans are Peace Corps Volunteers...you get starstruck. Again I was dropped off at my apartment before going back to the music festival. This festival is put on for students and is a Hungarian Romanian version of Woodstock. People camp out in nearby fields and then head over to a nearby mountain valley to listen to some great music...if only Woodstock were so cool. This night we saw a lady who won Hungary's Megastar competition a few years ago. She had an amazing voice and actually sang about half of her songs in English. From “Black Hose and a Cherry Tree” to “Bohemian Rhapsody” to Pink's “Sober” to “Highway to Hell”, she really performs for everyone! This night wasn't such a late night...we were back by midnight, which was a good thing because...

Saturday I was up at 5! But on purpose this time. We had to leave that early for her to drive about a hour and a half to get picked up by a maxi-taxi en route to my training site. When I got on the maxi-taxi there was actually a volunteer from last year's group, so it was nice to have somebody else on board. It was a hot and bumpy ride, but I eventually made it back to my gazda's in dire need of a shower and rest. I was nicely reminded that “you live only once and you shouldn't spend all of your time sleeping” by my host sister. I kindly reminded her that I wasn't sleeping the whole afternoon, I also read and watched TV and played solitaire, but she didn't see that did she...things are just different for the young'uns.

Next week is our last week of training!!!!!!!!! We have a review session and then our Language Proficiency Interviews...I'm only freaking out a little bit about sitting down with an interviewer and speaking my 4th language for 30 minutes...only a little bit. After that we have our swearing in ceremony in Bucharest!!! That is when we OFFICIALLY become Peace Corps Volunteers!

Alright, next time something interesting happens I promise I'll blog about it. Now just when that blog comes, I give no guarantees.

I fully apologize for being lousy at this whole blog thing. I promise to work on it...right after I finish saving the world and all...haha.

So, last blog post was at the end of the first week of Practicum...which was about a month ago.

Well let's see. For the second week of Practicum, Sara and I taught 8th graders. Once again, our students were fabulous. We focused on a different topic each day and really tried to get them to discuss and practice speaking. I think we did a good job of it. All of our observations went great. Well ok, not ALL, but we had a pissy observer that day...sooooo not our fault ;) The week went great...minus one little hiccup. On Friday, the last day of Practicum, I came down with a serious case of food poisoning. I still have yet to figure out what it was from, but all the symptoms were there. I haven't eaten popcorn or chocolate in two weeks. I was on a rice, crackers, and banana diet for two days. Yuck. Sara visited me after school on Friday and came bearing gifts...5 bouquets of flowers and two gifts from our students! So sweet! Saturday was much of the same, but luckily I was all better for Sunday, July 4th!

Sunday morning I was up at 5 because I went with Sara to Bucharest. She had to get stitches out from having her mole removed and didn't want to find the way alone so being the good friend that I am, I agreed to go with her. We took a maxi-taxi at 6:15, and it arrived in Bucharest around 8. First, we got off the maxi-taxi at the wrong stop, thankfully it was not too big of a deal because we got on the same metro line. Then we took the metro to the University stop. We came out the wrong side of the metro and were greeted by torrential rain. We decided the 15 trek to the PC Office was not cool, so we ran across the street and hopped in a taxi. When we got to the office we hung out in the lounge and raided the clothing/random stuff left by departing PCVs. We came out with some good stuff! Although, at this point, the last thing we need is more stuff to drag with us to site. Sara's stitches came out in five minutes and we napped for a while before Sheila came to bring us back to the training site for the gazda barbecue. As we left the office, Sheila asked us if we were fans of coffee...yes, we were stopping at Starbucks. I ordered a venti caramel macchiato and a blueberry muffin. Mind you, this was the first “real” food I had eaten in two days, and it was glorious. I can't wait to get more, although a cup of coffee is around an 8th of our bi-weekly allowance, yikes. We made it back for the barbecue, and boy did we have some interesting times...but in the spirit of cultural sensitivity I will refrain from divulging too much. It was a smashing success, for the most part. Afterwards most of the volunteers went to one person's house for a party...and more craziness ensued. All in all, it was the best 4th of July one could hope for while living abroad!

Now for the big news! Last week we had our Site Announcement Ceremony! I now know where I will soon be departing (3 ½ weeks!!!!) to spend the next two years! Monday and Tuesday were basically full of anxiety and speculation...it was a good thing though. None of us could sit still through language class or the PC sessions in the afternoon. We all had site announcements on the brain! So Wednesday morning we had a session on diversity...and it was painful. Only because I was fidgety and couldn't concentrate...I felt like a 5 year old all over again. 11:00 rolled around and we all headed to the designated area for the ceremony. The Ambassador and his family arrived promptly at 11. After a short speech from the Sheila and the Ambassador, the ceremony began. The language instructors conducted the ceremony like the Academy Awards with the sites as categories and variations of our names as nominees. They always make things interesting. I was so happy to finally get my site! Now, I cannot post the town name, but it was exactly what I wanted...mountains and Hungarian! It is located near the center of the country, which makes it simultaneously easier and more difficult to get around to all of my other PC buddies.

This past weekend, was the first weekend we were officially allowed outside of the Dambovita county. Sara and I had made plans to go to Slanic, but it was her turn to get sick. I still went with my host sisters and another volunteer, Aron. Slanic is in the mountains and it is famous for salt. We visited the salt mine that is 270 m below ground. It was amazing inside. There was a playground, a soccer field, pictures from mythology, and famous Romanians carved out of salt. After the mine we walked up the mountain to the salt lake. We didn't swim because it had been raining, so the water was gross. Afterwards we grabbed an ice cream cone and drove back. The drive was beautiful once we were near the mountains.

Two weeks ago I started Hungarian class! It has been awesome. Everything is completely different, so it is taking more practice and studying to get the hang of things, but I'll pick it up. Last weekend our counterparts came to town and we had a three day conference. Then Tuesday we all left with our counterparts to visit our sites! We were back the following Friday. I was incredibly excited for this, and I will write all about it in the next blog post...hopefully tomorrow!

Wow, here we are finishing week 5 of PST! Sorry for the lapse in updates. My computer was not working for a while, but last weekend my host sister took me to a computer repair shop. Tuesday I got it back good as new...I just have had to reinstall all the programs I had on it before it crashed. Oh well, its getting back to normal now, so I'm happy.

June 12-15, we finally were allowed on supervised visits outside the county boundaries!! We went on an IFV (Integrated Field Visit) to see the site of a current PCV. We traveled with our language groups and our language instructor. My group, and another language group left together to visit two volunteers with sites in the southwest part of Transylvania. We had quite the adventure. My group took a train that left at 9:30 in the morning for Bucharest. We wanted to walk around the city before we left for our site. Unfortunately, that weekend happened to be the hottest string of days we've had in Romania. We were walking around with our heavy backpacks, sweating bullets...rather unpleasant. However, we did see some neat things in Bucharest. We left the train station and took the metro to the University. There, we saw the building that still has bullet marks from the Revolution that began the end of the communist regime. There was a plaque to memorialize it. Next we got burgers and sandwiches from a fast food place that all of the PCVLs told us about. We took the sandwiches to go and ate in the large park. It was beautiful, but I would have been more into it if I wasn't so tired and hot and gross in general. After that we sat on the lawn in front of the People's Palace, the building Ceausescu began during his regime, and now houses the Romanian Parliament. After a rest, we began the journey back to the train station where we met with the other language group and together we found the maxi-taxi station.

We lasted about an hour on that maxi-taxi before it overheated. It had to stop and wait for another bus to come pick us up. We were very happy about that because the bus was big and new and had real air conditioning! A few hours later, we transferred to another maxi-taxi to take us the rest of the way to our site. Towards the end of the journey, we traveled through a mountain gorge, it was fantastic. Mountains rose around us as we followed a winding river. At 10 pm we finally arrived at the city and were greeted by our volunteers and some of their friends. They took us to the hotel, we checked in, then we went to an outdoor bar to eat and watch some World Cup soccer. That completed Saturday of the journey.

And I think I'll finish the rest of the trip in another post :) Here are some pictures for you all...the first is the building in Bucharest with bullet holes, the second is the People's Palace, and the third is the view from my hotel room on my IFV.

We've begun our second week of training! It feels like forever ago that we all said goodbye to our friends and family. I can't believe it has only been two weeks! I have been blessed with a fantastic host family...which after the disastrous start to my semester in France I feel I deserved...hahaha. There is my gazda mom, dad, and two sisters. The older of the two girls speaks English very well and we have been having a great time. I call her my personal social planner because she is always planning stuff for us to do, new people to meet, and places to see. While it can be tiring at times, I appreciate the effort the entire family has put in to acclimate me into Romanian society.

Language classes are going well. This week we were placed into our more specialized groups. In my group we all seem to be at the same level, which is nice. Today we learned vocabulary to get us through a visit to the "posta," or post office. We would have gone a field trip to the "posta" to mail a letter, but it was raining. Instead our language instructors set up shop in their office and it was rather amusing. By now I know some basic verbs, possession, common phrases and greetings, numbers (yes, I can count to one hundred!). Some things we haven't learned yet are food, clothing, and colors....the basics that we usually learn right away in a language...but PC does things a little differently :) .

Sunday afternoon, my host sisters took me, and another volunteer, to their grandmother's house in the country. It was a fun time...despite the crazy country driving! They had a very hyper dog named Jack...AAAANNNND a litter of kittens!!! They pulled out two for us to hold and I fell in love. I told my gazda sister that I want to take the kitten with me when I go to site...we'll see if it happens. Apparently it is not too difficult to bring cats back into the States, unlike dogs. So mom, don't be surprised if we have a new addition to our family :) . But if its any comfort to you, I won't be at home too long after I return...haha.

Well I have to go catch up with my Tigers in the remaining time I have before sessions resume!

Freya

P.S. I posted new pictures on my facebook page....check them out!!!

Well we all arrived safe and sound! No problems with our flights, and all of my baggage made it through safely (although my carry on was eyed suspiciously by the Lufthansa flight attendants while boarding the flight from Frankfurt to Bucharest).

The bus ride from Bucharest to the town we train in, was beautiful (well I fell asleep halfway through, so I liked what little I saw). We really got a taste for Romania on that ride. I kept hearing about the economic disparity, and it really was true. There were large beautiful homes being built next to tiny homes with rusting corrugated roofs. I am so excited to explore more of the beautiful country and to learn more about its people.

We also kept hearing about the stray dogs. Romania has a large stray dog population and it really is a problem. This morning one of my fellow PCTs was out for a jog and 5 or 6 dogs circled around him as he ran two blocks. The staff keep telling us that you need three things to succeed as a PCV: patience, flexibility, and a sense of humor. Trust me, we all have the humor thing down. We've spent the last day and a half in session hearing more policy and procedures and meeting more staff members. Tomorrow morning we have a brief, basic lesson in Romanian and then our host families (gazda) pick us up. We spend the rest of the weekend with them and then we start our training on Monday! I can't wait for all of this to start happening, I'm really really ready!

Here's the view from my hotel room

More to come...when I find internet again.

Saying goodbye has never been a strong point, but I guess that would be a bad thing if you were good at it. Although, I have had a lot of practice. Mom said it seems as if we keep having goodbye parties and hello parties for me, I'm always in transition. Somehow, I still think its easier for me to say goodbye to all of you...so props!!

Thanks to my Walgreens buddies for throwing me...and some others, but really just me ;)...a fantastic party. Its always easier to say adieu when alcohol is involved...haha. I really will miss you guys!

Thanks to my Whitecaps crew for putting up with my blondeness the past few weeks. It was so strange...haha.

Last night I had a great barbecue with the family. I love all of my little (and the not-so-little) cousins to death and don't know what my life would be without them. I got lots of hugs, the ones I cherish the most were from the most unexpected sources.

So far the hardest goodbyes have been my little Italian girls. I have had a blast the past few months teaching my girls English. Priscilla is eight and I have worked with her longer that I have worked with her sister Patrizia, who is six. Both of the girls are absolutely adorable and I have looked forward to spending time each week to work with them. Today was my last day tutoring them and I usually spend an hour or so alone with each girl, but today I took both of them together. They spent the hours fighting for my attention. Priscilla needed me to find her repeat subtraction problems so she didn’t have to do each problem in her head, and Patrizia needed my help deciphering Curious George :). After finishing the “homework” we looked through my travel guide on Romania. It is really something to take a look at a new culture through the eyes of a child. Priscilla found the little dictionary at the back of the book and kept reciting new phrases to me. I couldn’t help but giggle listening to her read me Romanian phrases in her Italian accent…precious.

Well tomorrow is the big day. I made sure to pack some extra Kleenex in the carry-on...but its exciting too! Here's the itinerary for the next few days, I wouldn't want Grams to have to start praying for a safe flight a day early or anything...haha.

Tuesday, May 18th

10:25 Depart Grand Rapids to Chicago

10:20 Arrive at Chicago O'Hare...meet up with my new Peace Corps buddies and find our way to the hotel.

12:30-Basically the rest of the day: Staging stuff

Wednesday, May 19th

10:30 am Check-out of the hotel

3:40 pm Flight leaves Chicago O'Hare

Thursday, May 20th

6:50 am Flight arrives in Frankfurt, Germany

10:30 am Flight leaves Frankfurt, Germany

1:45 pm Flight arrives in Bucharest, Romania

Once again, thanks for all your help and support during the past few weeks!!! Without all of you I probably wouldn't be nearly as prepared, emotionally or physically, as I am. I love you all and I'll see you in August 2012!!!

Only one week before I leave Grand Rapids, never to return again! I'm being dramatic, I will be back to pack up my stuff. One week, yet I have so much left to do! Those of you fortunate enough to spend time with me over the past few weeks know that I have been uncharacteristically preoccupied. Thanks to all of you for putting up with me, I know it hasn't been easy.

Everything is finally starting to come together. After finishing up my job (or at least the real one) I have had the time and focus to figure out the messier details of leaving the States for 27 months. I hate having to deal with finances and the like, but unfortunately that is how I have spent the past week.

Basically the only thing left to take care of is packing. Yikes! Those of you who went to France with me, or helped me pack for France, know what a difficult task I have ahead of me. I say "ahead" of me because I have yet to get to it. For the past three years, my room has really only been a landing pad, because of this I have accumulated a lot of crap; crap that I now need to sift through. I do have some piles of stuff to pack floating around the room: stuff to take with me next week, stuff to have shipped to me in August as soon as I have a permanent location, stuff to have shipped to me closer to winter, and stuff to have shipped to me for another summer. Did I go a little overboard? Probably, but that's how I roll. Speaking of packing, thanks to all of my friends and family who have generously pitched in to help me acquire some of the pricier items on my packing list. I appreciate it more than I can express. You are all amazing!!

I'm nursing quite the sinus infection, so that's about all I can muster right now. More to come soon!