Thanks for your patience - the website is back up and running - thanks to a little cash infusion to our brethren at geocities.
Sad news first - we've lost another 2 volunteers. Jason and Esteban both left around the end of November and they're sorely missed. That brings the toll to 4.
As you all know - we were sworn in Nov. 20, with yours truly giving a fine speech in Romanian (Well. . . written in English, translated by on of my professors, and then I found myself in the pickle of having selected a level of vocabulary far advanced for my nascent Romanian skills. After a week of practice it worked. But note: Moldovans aren't given to humor - noone laughed at my jokes - and they were good!)
Birthday: Host mom (Natasha), her 12-year-old daughter Viginia, my host grandma (Bunica - "boo-neek-a" - not her name but grandma), and host grandpa (Bunel - "boon-ell" - again, I think his real name is Grighore - but we all call him grandpa), plus Americans Karen and Mark came to my masa (masa - word for table - also for big food fest that accompanies any life event around here.) There were placinte (fried bread pockets w/either cheese, potatoes & onions, or pumpkin), parjoles (fried pork n' garlic fritters), bread (fresh baked from the bunica that morning) salad (cabbage/onion/carrot/oil), and stewed peaches for dessert. Quite a feast. Perfect, except for when I was helping make the parjoles and bunel told me I was cutting up a pig I had made friends with the week before (I had named him Herman - in honor of my mouse friend in Suruceni - and now he too, was dead). Yep, I'm hurtling towards vegetarianism as we speak. And I've stopped talking to the chickens - because I'm afraid bunel is going to tell me I'm eating someone I've hand fed. I guess I miss the anonymity of the grocery store - where my meat products are plastic wrapped and come in fat-free varieties.
Work is good. I photocopy a lot (we make money by charging 50banuts per side - appx. a nickel per copy) and then discuss strategy for my partner. Yesterday, I was part of a women's seminar to help them decide what are good business opportunities. Then I took a break for some fresh air - and when I returned, my partner, Maria, was forming an NGO for women! I sit down and she starts asking me to explain, in Romanian, what a mission statement and vision statement are -- and how to create them! Which I did.
For Christmas, I'm hanging out in the capital with friends, seeing the Nutcracker, and then heading to Soroca (the north) to see the castle, then back to Chisinau for the New Year (I think Jerry and I are hosting a party at a hotel in town -- 50lei cover should take care of the cocktails, decorations, and hotel rental).
Thank you to everyone who has emailed or sent stuff - I really appreciate it. I'm bummin' a little - there's no holiday crap all over like there is at home. Very few holiday decorations - and people don't normally get a Christmas tree until the 24th (because their Christmas is celebrated Jan 7) - so I would give anything right now for a mall filled with shoppers, faux santas, Salvation Army ringers, and holiday boo-ya.
Look for a post-Christmas update soon.