A (very) long time

After being prodded by many to update my blog, and my own embarrassment at not updating all of you, I will start again regular updates.  I will not go into life since I last posted, suffice it to say that life is good.

School started on September 15 of this year.  I am still teaching out of the glorified broom-closet that I taught out of last year but I am fine with that.  The Romanian classroom situation is different from that of the American system.  Instead of teachers occupying a room and students moving about, it is the kids themselves that stay in the classroom and the teachers move about to their hourly classes.  I am teaching all high school students, except for a lucky 8th grade class this year.  This situation is a bit better since I do not have to yell as much to my students to be quiet.  Unfortunately, I have coerce some students to talk more than they do.  I guess that they might feel embarrassed if they answer a question wrong.

After a very hot summer, the weather has definitely cooled down here in Romania.  While we haven't seen snow yet in the western part (called Banat), it is only a matter of time.  I am thankful that I have had the opportunities to go back to America, where I stocked up on winter clothing.  While the western part of Romania is typically warmer than other parts of Romania, when the wind blows through the many cracks that my apartment has, things can get a bit nippy.  I don't have a stove or gas for heating.  I do, though, have an electric radiator that heats quickly and keeps my room warm when I keep the doors to my kitchen and bathroom closed.  As you can imagine, while I cook my meals in the kitchen, I eat them in my living room/bedroom.  

Speaking of meals, to keep off boredom at night, I have been cooking all kinds of things.  There isn't really a restaurant here in Ciacova so I get to practice often.  I recently made some chocolate-chip cookies and my counterpart Judith (the woman that I work with at school) said they were one of the best things she has ever eaten.  Even so, there is still room for improvement.  For Thanksgiving, I am going to a volunteer's village north of me and I am thinking of making them as my part for the meal.  

Though my diet is filled with carbohydrates and fat (I can't imagine my cholesterol levels at the moment), I have consistently lost weight since I came to Romania.  When I first arrived in Romania, my weight was 190.  When I had my mid-service checkup, my weight had fallen to 176.  I am almost sure it is even below that now.  I can't wear my jeans anymore with out a belt and I will have to create even more new notches in it to be comfortable.

I can't believe that I have been here since May of 2006.  Time has definitely flown by.  The end of my 27-month service is rapidly approaching and in some ways, I am dreading it.  I have heard that re-adapting to life in America is a bit weird in the first couple of months after returning.  I should note however, that my counterpart has asked me if I would consider extending my service for another 12 months but I have not decided if that is what I want to do.  I will keep you posted.  

During the month of October, myself and two other male volunteers here in Jud. Timiş participated in what we call "Stachetober".  For the month of October, we grew out our mustaches and at the end of the month, we decided on who won and didn't win.  For some strange reason, the hairs on my lip are now blond (weird) and suffice it to say, I had a poor showing.  Even so, it was hilarious.  My friend Jon, looked like a villain with his 'stache.   Now, we are all growing our winter beards, to which I am better suited.  

Okay, that is enough jabbering for now.  I PROMISE to keep this blog updated regularly so that you can keep up with all the goings ons in my life.

Ceau.

well hell

Nothing and everything has happened since I have last posted here. I will try to condense what has happened into edible chunks so that you don't get that bored. Here goes.

Spring has sprung here in little Ciacova. The temperature is getting to around 24 C (76 F) and sunny to boot. The people here tell me that primavara (spring) only lasts for a short time and then the true onslaught of summer begins. I was here last August and I can attest to the brutality of the noonday sun. My mountain-adapted metabolism is not made for extremely hot weather so I am getting ready. I missed taking photos of the early spring flowers but I will get some uploaded when I can.

The second half of the spring semester is in full swing. All this week, I have been giving tests to my students. The current test that I am giving to my students is this: 1) Tell me what constitutes a room. What exists in a bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, and living room?, 2). List twenty adjectives with both English/Romanian spelling, and 3) List twenty words dealing with transportation and places that exist in a city. Most of my students have done well with this but those who goof off in class, needless to say, haven't done as well. Asta e. The semester will end June 15.

In late January, the hard drive of my laptop died. Everything that I had on there (music, photos, documents, etc) was lost. I was pretty pissed off but what do you do. I am truly lucky to have a wonderful family and my sister send me a laptop hard drive that is double the capacity of the old one so I am spending a lot of time rebuilding what I had.

Speaking of technology, I now have broadband internet in my apartment. I am sure you are thinking, "What? He is in the Peace Corps. Shouldn't they live in huts and worry about malaria rather than what movie to watch or music to download?". Romania is unlike many of the countries that the Peace Corps serves in. That said, there is still a great need for development here so I am glad to be here doing my part.

Summer is the designated travel time for those of us TEFL volunteers. Last month, Mom surprised me by getting me a ticket to the United States this summer. I will be home for two weeks: from June 27th to July 11th. I better see many of you when I am at home.

I went to Belgrade, Serbia last month and had a blast. It is a beautiful city filled with food good and nice people. I took a lot of photos and will be posting them soon. I will definitely going back there.

Okay, I promise to post more now that I have internet access. Ceau pentru acum.

Tis a sad day....

The hard drive on my laptop had a catastrophic failure today. I have had my Powerbook G4 for almost 3 years now. All of the information that is on there is effectively lost to me now. Luckily, I saved my thesis on Gmail months ago and all of the important photos that I had are either saved at home or on my Flickr site. I am kinda stressed out right now about how to go forward but I am working on it and will let you know what happens.

This means I will have to use Microsoft tainted computers for the foreseeable future......

all that jazz

Hello my adoring audience. Life is pretty good here at the edge of the world. I have enough in my belly, I am kept busy all of the time with many projects, large and not so large. School is school. As all of you remember from your days as a student, there are classes that are great and the students are well-behaved. And then there are the "other" ones. On Mondays, I have mostly the "other" ones. After getting out of those classes, I feel like strangling the closest thing to me. Other days, the good classes are engaged and actually want to learn. Here is an example. Suppose I give a test that week on different types of fruits and vegetables, all in English of course. Well, there might be eight out of a class of fourteen that are prepared, meaning having pen and paper, and actually know the material. The rest are not so prepared and I have to spend the entire test period telling the kids not to cheat and they will get a 3 on their test for cheating (The Romanian educational system is based on a 1-10 grade scale instead of the 0-100 one that we use). So you can imagine the frustration that I sometimes feel.

On to other things. It has been fairly cold here lately and my heating bill reflects this fact. To heat the water for my shower and to wash the dishes, I have a new water boiler that does a really good job of heating up. The only other source of heat that I have is an electrical radiator that the Peace Corps gave me. Well, without going into detail, my electric bill for December was through the roof. They sent this bill a couple of weeks ago and I paid it. On top of that, they sent me the bill for January today, and while it is not nearly as bad, there is just no way that I can pay it until money is put in my account for February. Needless to say, I am not too happy about the situation.

Ok, enough grumbling. Other than money issues, I am a pretty happy person. I will be taking photos of my town in the near future so that you can get a better picture in your mind about where I live. Lately, I have plenty of books to read due to other volunteers having a large supply books that they have already read. Umm, what else? Ohh, I have been proficient at making pancakes from scratch. None of that boxed mix that you have no idea what is in it. Since it is wintertime, my diet is full of winter foods. Plenty of pasta, potatoes, bread, eggs, and other things that I get to buy when they decide that the poor folk of Ciacova wouldn't mind buying some of it.

Thanks to my family for the cards that I have received for Christmas and my birthday. I love getting them and I love getting emails.

Ok, that is all she wrote. See y'all next time, which will be soon. I promise.

Ciao

I am still alive!

I apologize for the lack of posts since late October. I will write a long post soon but suffice it to say, I have been a busy person and will detail my travels to you soon.


Ciao!

This week in Chris

Life here is pretty much the same as the last time that I updated. Things really don't change in small towns like Ciacova, which can be a good thing and a bad thing. On Friday, October 20th, the high schoolers had their Freshman Ball. It was held in the school gym with a long line of tables for the profesors şi profesoaras to sit and partake of the culinary delights that are presented there while the schools stand on the other side of the gym. After a bit, there was something like a beauty pageant where the freshmen girls where paraded around and then judged on various things by a panel of teachers and students; different things like dancing, knowlegde, etc. When that finished, the dancing began. Of course, the seniors girls, loving me as the great teacher that I am, wanted to take pictures of me with them. They then dragged me out on the dance floor where, I will have to admit, I danced for a long time. I left at 1 AM with the dancing still going strong.

Teaching is going pretty well. I am getting into the rhythm of what level I should teach certain classes and how to keep their attention. Just like back in the States, there are great students and the not so great students but I do my best to impart my vast level of knowledge to them and they are appreciative.

Not really much to say. For the most part, I am doing well. The little problems that I have with my apartment continue and there are a couple extra that have popped up but they can be dealt with. Sometimes I get a bit lonely but there isn't really many people my age here and so I spend a lot of time reading and listening to music.

Ceau for now!

An example of what I (sometimes) go through here in Romania

So, I am sitting at the internet cafe on a chilly October night here in Romania. I am sure, what pray tell, is he doing out and about when it is chilly outside and there are things that are needing to be done inside. The reason for this is exemplery of my struggle with my apartment.

As you have read, I had some problems with the single electrical plugin in the kitchen, so when I need to use the hot water boiler, I have to unplug the refrigerator and re-plug it in when I am done. I have a few dishes to do tonight so I thought I would waste a bit of time in doing just that. Haha...

I unplugged the frige and when I started to plug in the hot water boiler, sparks flew from it and the whole place went dark. The times before when this has happened, the lights didn't go out so we could see what we were doing. Therefore, I did the usual thing that I have done in the past when fuse blew, I called my counterpart Judith.

I told her the trouble and she said that though we knew what to do, since it is night time and dark, it was impossible to tell what the problem is, and that I should just go to sleep and we would fix it tomorrow. Now, is this just me or can a flashlight be used to see what to do so the the problem can be resolved? I mentioned this but was told that it didn't matter.

So here I am. I took a nap this afternoon so there is no chance of sleeping at this precise point so I came out to use the net and rant a bit. I am also lucky that it isn't too terribly cold out tonight because I will not have heat and I am in for a cold, cold morning tomorrow. Ok, enough ranting for one night. This is the Peace Corps and I knew that stuff like this would happen but it seems to me like something that can be solved just like every other time this has happened at night throughout the world.

On a brighter note, I don't work tomorrow but I will be taking the morning bus to Timisoara to get some more pots and pans for the kitchen. The school is having their Freshman Ball tomorrow evening and I have been invited to come and view the festivities. The kids (and teachers) are excited and are willing to come because the school has got Fornetti to come and make their little sweet delights for the evening.

Ok, ceau until the next exciting episode of,

Chris Bennett and his life in a (former) 2nd world country!

Update:
Just after I finished typing my rant last night, my "unofficial" counterpart Romeo, and the local electrican found me at the internet cafe and we went to fix my eletrical problem. Afterwards, I went and had a beer with the electrician, Puio, at the local watering hole and hung out with some other locals. This mroning, Pulio took me to Timisoara so that I could buy some pots and pans and other things. It is things like this that keeps my opinion of Romania and it's people high. I have met people that have gone out of their way to help out and without any monetary assistance, though I have tried to give it to them.

Wish List

As promised, here is my wish list for those of you who would like to send me things during my sojourn in Romania. I will make the list into things that I would really like to have, things that I would like to have but can live without, and things that I would love to have but I realize that it is mostly a fantasy. If you want to send me something from the second or third group, just let me know so that I can cross that item off the list. Thanks and here goes:

1st Group
-pancake syrup (regular or maple)
-macaroni and cheese (in a box)
-Hamburger Helper or anything like that
-oatmeal!
-cream of wheat
-brown sugar (can't find it here)
-candied pecans
-spices such as red chile powder, curry and other good things like that
-plastic squeeze bottle of mayonnaise (Duke’s or Hellman’s)
-can(s) of LeSeur baby peas
-can(s) of other yummy vegetables
-can(s) of Campbell's soup such as chicken noodle, tomato, cream of mushroom, etc.
-bags of pinto beans and/or black beans
-all-in-one chili packages
-chipotle-en-adobo (that is in a can)
-Sriracha chile sauce (it is the one with a rooster on the bottle)
-flour tortillas
-brownie and cake mixes with icing (no peanut butter please!)
-tea (Republic of Tea makes awesome tea, especially their blueberry)
-dried blueberries
-packets of ranch dressing
-any kind of good book that you have seen lately and you think that I would like to read
-sudoku booklet(s)
-food magazines that I can cook recipes out of
-other magazines that I can read and use in my classes
-anything and everything that you think I would enjoy or take pleasure in

2nd Group
-oven thermometer
-a good chef’s knife
-potato ricer
-casserole dish (make sure it is packed so that it isn’t broken when it gets here)
-a power adapter for an Apple Computer Powerbook G4 (1.5 Ghz); it is having problems
-european plug adapters
-metal tongs
-a few pie pans to show Romanians what really good pie is like
-an American flag

3rd Group
-enameled Dutch Oven (Le Creuset or similar type)
-cast-iron skillet (Lodge makes the best type)
-a brand new Macbook (haha, kidding about that one)

This is going to be a permanent feature in the sidebar of this blog over the next couple of years. I will be sure to update it when I am wanting something that I cannot get here. Thanks!

Hello all. Life is starting to settle in here in Ciacova. I am (slowly) building up the arsenal of things that one usually has when they move into a new place; pots and pans, furniture, and the like. It has started to get colder here at night, one night was 2 C. That means I have got to test out the heater that the PC gave me. Lest you think that this is an ordinary space heater, you would be mistaken. It is a Whirlpool radiator with seven individual compartments that in little time puts out enough heat that I have to turn down the dial to stay comfortable. That is another excellent feature that the heater has; the dial on it is like that of a clock, you can turn it from naught to sixty and everywhere in between.
That said, I have had a myriad of small, little problems that are in various stages of being solved. The electricity went out for a while a couple of days ago. I bought here in town a multi-socket outlet plug because there is just oen plug-in in the kitchen that I would like to be able to run the hot water there as well as the refrigerator. This was not to be with my new purchase. When I plugged in both at the same time, poof, all the sockets in the apartment where without electricity. We got an electrician to look at the fuses here (they are different here than in the States) and figure out which one was the problem. All of this taught me a valuable lesson to me; buy anything involving electricity in Timisoara, which I did just that yesterday. I bought two multi-socket outlets there and I am happy to say that I still have electricity.
I am hoping that I am buy a dehumdifier here because the apartment stays a bit damp and towels do not dry in the normal amount of time. I also need to buy a rack to hang my laundry from while they dry. This is but a sampling of the things that I need (or want) to get in the near future. The bad thing about this is that to get these things, I need to go to Timisoara and that usually means that I go by bus and am limited by what I can carry and the relatively high costs of consumer products here in Romania. I will keep you posted on my adventures.
School is going pretty good at the moment. As well as teaching, there is a project that I am going to have going on over the course of the next two years. The library does not have a single English book in it and I am going to start having people from home send in books that they wish the school to have. There will be more about this on here soon. I promise.
I am coming up with a list of things that I would like to have but I am still in the phase of determining what I can get here. There will be a future post soon on just what I would like the wider world to send me here in little Ciacova.
Overall, I am pretty good. Things here are a lot like home when I was a child. The only difference is that I don't have the family and social network that exists at home and and I am pretty sure (for the moment) that I will not me able to get the net in my apartment; at an internet cafe at the moment.

Ceau!

New address!!

Here is the addy for my apartment that I will be moving into next week. Now that I am permanent here in Ciacova, I expect those of who I know to start mailing me and maybe even sending a few packages here and there.

Bennett Christopher
Str. Cetaţii, nr. 2
Ciacova
307110
Jud. Timiş
Romania

I will be posting a list of things that I might want, things like brownie mix, hot sauce, things that I cannot get here in Ciacova or in the rest of Romania.

Ceau!

The way things are

Life is good.

I arrived in Bucuresti on Saturday afternoon, took and cab to the Peace Corps office and then to the hotel and promptly fell asleep. I awoke to my surpise at 2 am in the moring, stayed up until around 6 and then slept until 10. Jetlag is a bitch. Sunday was spent doing much of nothing except waiting for my train to leave that evening. Most of that time was spent at the PC office playing on the internet.
One note of advice about buying train tickets here in Romania. Do not wait even until a couple of hours before the train leaves. I wanted to buy a ticket on the Intercity (IC) train that runs from Bucuresti to Timisoara at 3:45 pm but that was not to be. Instead, I had to buy a ticket that left Buch at 9:45 and would arrive in Timisoara at 8 in the morning. The problem about this train is that instead of taking the normal route through the southern sector of the country and then cutting north, the train went straight into the mountains and went north of Arad and then cut south of Timisoara. I was nervous for a while that I had taken the wrong train but I was reassured by the other man in the compartment that indeed, the train was bound for Timisoara.

I was picked up by the school driver and taken back to my gazdas house where I promptly again fell asleep. I can't really sleep on trains. I slept until that evening and then spent time with my family here in Romania.

The next morning, Tuesday, was my first introduction to the school, its teachers and its students. I met with the director of the school and then went into the teachers lounge where I shook every single persons hand and introduced myself to them. After that, it was time for the students. Professor Romeo (haha, he is a funny guy with a funny name) took me around each classroom in the school and I told each class a prepared piece about me. After all of that, I sat in a class that my counterpart, Judit, teaches and discussed different things about English and about me. I only had to teach one class that day. I would like to tell you that it went perfect and everyone was engaged. That was not my experience. Much of that class was the students just staring at me and me trying to think of things to say. Luckily, I was prepared for this by the second time I taught and the subsuquent classes I taught where much more lively.

On Tuesday, Roxana (one of the TEFl directors) came by one her route of making sure all of the TEFl volunteers here in Romania are okay. Most of the time, she expects to sit in a class but luckily she understood that I am running around like a chicken without a head and we jsut talked. After that, we all sat around the table, talked about different issues that are going on. We then discussed the matter of my housing here in Ciacova.

An apartment has been found for me here in Ciacova. It is in the center of town, above the post office. I will have two rooms, plus kitchen and bathroom. The only problem is that the apartment has not been lived in in a long time and the place reflects that. In what will be the beroom, the wooden tiles have got wet some time in the past and rotted so that is in the process of being replaced. In the lack of being lived in for a long time, there is the expected dust, spiderwebs and all around mess that will be cleaned up. The water heater in the bathroom is bad and is being replaced. There isn't a servicable refrigerator or stove in the kitchen and newer ones that work will be provided for me. Speaking of that, there isn't furniture in the place so Caritas, a service organization that has a branch here in Ciacova is providing this for me. Outside the door of the apartment was an open area to the roof of the building that pidgeons have over the past years roosted in and therefore shat all over the place. Thank goodness that has been sealed off and been cleaned of detrius. And now for the coup de gras, ladies and gentlemen. The heating system in the building is controlled by the post office downstairs and at night and on the weekends, they turn it off. Unfortunately for me, that means there isn't heat provided when I will be needing it most during the winter. Thank God that Roxana had a portable heater that they were going to give to another volunteer and she reappropiated it for me. :) It won't be cold enough at night for a while for me to actually start using it but I probably will starting sometime in late October or early November and will have to learn how hot it gets and how much electricity the unit uses. The Peace Corps provides us with extra money during the winter months and if we go over that, I think there is a rembursement form that I can fill out to cover the expense. Needless to say, there might be some cold nights here in Romania and I am thankful for the massive amount of winter clothing that I just brought back from America. I think I might need it. Over all though, I am really excited about getting my own place (even though I really like my host family here) and hope to get settled in either this upcoming week or the next.

I went to Timisoara on Friday to have photos taken for my legitimata. That is basically the national Romanian ID card and all Peace Corps volunteers are required to get one. I have heard that it takes a lot of paper work and even cost quite a bit of money, but the PC remburses us for that too and I hope it won't take too much time or headaches to complete.

Ok that is all I have to say. I got a camera when I was back in America and will taking many photos of my life and travels here. I am really appreciative of the notes of condolences and of encouragement that you all have given me and that really helps. Take care for now and have a wonderful day.

Ceau

Back!

I have returned to the land of cabbage and vampires. When I get settled in Ciacova, I will tell more about my travels.

See y'all.

No Title

I just thought I would pop in and fill you in to just what I have been up to during my sojourn in the States. This is not an all inclusive list but an overview:

-eating all foods that are Southern and fatty. But hey, the food in Romania is just as fatty
-experiencing the cold and rainy weather which is a hallmark of the Appalachian (pronounced app-uh-LATCH-an) Mountains
-randomly running into old friends at college football games
-the circle
-cheese
-playing with Bailey, my little sister
-driving on curvy mountain roads
-coffeeshops and free WiFi
-american football
-people that sound like me
-did I mention food?

I really don't have that much to say. I love being home but I am starting to get restless again and I will be glad to get back to the craziness that is Romania. On that, Ceau.

An Update

I want to thank all of those who have sent me messages via MySpace or other ways about the loss in my family. It was an adventure getting to the States. I left Bucureşti at 8:45 AM to Vienna. The flight was about 1:30 min. After a short layover in Vienna, I was on another flight over the pond. The Austrian Airlines flight took just over 9 hours but luckily the food that was served was quite tasty. Here is the worst part: I had an 7 hour layover at Dulles Int'l Airport in Washington, D.C. After wasting time there being bored out of my mind I was finally on the last flight to Charlotte. It lasted 1 hour, 15 minutes but I really don't remember it because I was exhausted and slept the whole way.

It is good to see home but I really wish it didn't have to be like this. My father had been sick for a while; his heart has had many problems in the past and mom had just set up Hospice at home when he died. They said that his heart just got weaker and weaker and then on Friday morning, it just stopped. The lady who was there at the time said he had a peaceful look on his face. This is good to hear because there are far worse ways to go.

You should have seen the amount of food that was brought to the house. Whole casseroles of lasagna, biscuits filled with sausages and with egg, lunch meats, et cetera. After the funeral, our church had lunch for us, which was a good thing. On the subject of food, this happened just before the Bennett family reunion so I got to gorge myself on the foods that all of my family. Foods are the things that I have missed the most in Romania.

It is kinda surreal to be in the States so soon. I have heard that it is even more so when you have finished your service in the Peace Corps, so we will see how that is in two years.

Ok, I will be back in Romania on Saturday, September 23 so I will see all of you there in a while.

Ceau

It is with a heavy heart....

I am writing this post from the Peace Corps office here in Bucuresti. The reason for this is that on Friday, my father passed away. I was adopted by my paternal grandparents when I was a child and have always lived with them so I definitely consider them my parents. I will be returning to the States to grieve and my with my family and friends over the next couple of weeks. It will be good to see home again but I did not want it to be like this. I would like everyone who is reading this blog to pray (or think good thoughts) for my family and for me as we go through this period.

Thanks.

Food

There isn't really all that much to tell about my life at the moment. We are in the doldrums of August, waiting for the period that teachers go to school two weeks before the kids do here in Romania. I spend most of my time doing the following activities: sleeping, eating, spending two or so hours on the internet at the local internet cafe, watching the travel channel or other English language shows on Romanian TV. So as you can imagine, I have gained a bit of weight; 3 kgs to be exact. I am not too keen on this development so I am glad I have free time to workout and run and that is exactly what I am going to do. Admittedly, , the food here in Romania is very fatty and loaded with pork so I am really looking forward to living by myself and cooking a wee bit more healthier.

On the theme of food; foods from home are really the number one thing that I miss about the States. The choices in cheese here are a bit lacking; most are in the form of a salty fresh cheese or a non-descript, white pressed cheese. Another major thing that I miss about the diet of Romanians is that they rarely eat beef or drink milk. Both are for sale here but beef is fairly expensive and milk is sold in single liter containers. I have a feeling that I will be splurging for cow products every so often. You can't get Cheddar cheese here and I have only seen mozzarella and ricotta once when I was in Ploiesti so I will have to do some exploring in Timisoara.

Ok, just thought you would like to know what is on my mind. Now to get off the net and go eat. Haha

a voice from the wilderness

I have returned to the wide world of the internet. I am thinking everyone must be wondering what has Chris been doing in his first days at site. Well, I am here to tell you that I have been having a blast. My, new, gazda family are very cool. There are three in the family; father, mother and son. I have a really big room with a TV in it and, the best part, I get to stand up to take a shower. I love it! Now I know that all of you have been dying to send me letters and packages so here in my new addy.

Bennett, Christopher
Str. Closca, Nr. 21
Ciacova, 307110
Jud. Timis
Romania

School doesn't start for over a month so I will have plenty of time to start integrating into the community. So far the people that I have met are really cool but this being a small, small town, I do think that I will be watched like a hawk. We will see.

Send me mail!

Ciao

The End of the Beginning...

Finally, after many trials and tribulations, I am officially a Peace Corps Volunteer. The ceremony, which lasted from 10:30 to 12:00 was the normal sort of things that you would expect but there was a photo sideshow of all of our doings which was pretty cool. So now we just have hours left until our Band of Brothers/Sisters will depart for our divers sites and there are many that I will miss a alot. Indeed, the worst time for newly minted PCVs is the first three months, when we lose the support of our fellow comrades and really have to start adapting to the culture. Here's to surviving that part!

Tonight we have a little something goin' on; we rented the second floor of a restaurant and we will this evening commence to "have a good time". Luckily I will not have to leave until late the next day, so there is plenty of time to recover and pack.

This is the last time I will be able to use my computer to post to the blog for a while. I won't have internet access in my 2nd gazdas house but there is an internet cafe in the town so I will, at least, be able to connect with the wider world. I am hoping I will be able to get cable internet.

One of the first things that I am going to do on site is buy a fan. It has been extremely hot, especially considering my pale Scottish skin and my love for all things cold, and having a fan will go a long way in alleviating my suffering. I will be glad when it cools down to even 27 C (81 F).

Ok, talk to you from Ciacova some time next week.

Ciao ciao!

Less Than A Week to Go...

As the heading says, my time here in Ploieşti is just about up. I have had a good time here, learned a good amount of limba romana, and made some great friends that will last the rest of my life but in many ways, I am glad it is time to move on. While life in Ciacova will be much, much slower than many of my peers in larger towns, I am looking forward to trying to integrate into the community and meeting all kinds of new people.

On Monday, we all start taking a test that allows the PC to gauge our retention of Romanian. It is basically a conversation with someone who is trained to make this judge about many normal things; like our favorite movie and what it is about, what is our daily routine, et cetera. We had a trial run at this last week and I scored Intermediate Low, which isn't all that bad considering I have been here for just over two months but I think I could move up to Intermediate High. We will see.

And last but not least, on Friday, we all have our Swearing-In. All of our gazda families are coming and then after that, we all have rented out the 2nd floor of a local restaurant that we have just found and party it up. The next day, we all have to be packed and hit the open road or in my case, the train to Timişoara and then the school car to Ciacova.

Ok. As soon as I get my new address and the school's address in Ciacova, I will be sure to let you all know so that you can all send me the glories to the great West.

For now, ciao!

Two Months

I just thought you would like to know that I have been gone from home exactly two months today. Mom and Bailey saw me off on May 15th. It has been a whirlwind two months since I have came to Romania and the volunteer part of my Peace Corps experience is yet to happen. Some times I miss home but I have experience in being homesick so I will be fine. I will depend on you at home to send me packages of books and mis. stuff to keep me from going crazy in the winter.

That is all I have to say

Ciao