Cooking and Listening to Christmas Music!

The blog title really explains everything, but for anyone who might want a few more details or thoughts, here they are.
Shelbi and I are spending our last night together in our current host family's home by cooking (well, Shelbi is cooking) and listening to a variety of Christmas music. Shelbi is cooking up a storm, because tomorrow we are heading down to Balti where we will celebrate Thanksgiving with a few other volunteers. We made sausage balls earlier this week and will get up tomorrow morning to cook them and jump in a rutiera. Tonight Shelbi is making a cheesecake (my favorite with apples and cinnamon) and more corn casserole. She is making two corn casseroles and we've been eating on one for the last few days. Delicious!!
Today at school Shelbi brought her students some muffins, so after they were done with work, they ate muffins and talked a bit while Shelbi put on some Christmas music for them. Mannheim Steamroller and Trans-siberian Orchestra really help put Shelbi into the Christmas mood, so that's what they listened to.

Yesterday before our English club, I ran home and ate a quick bite with our host dad. Shelbi was at the store purchasing some minutes for her phone, but I was strapped for time, and we hadn't made plans to eat a big meal together. When Shelbi returned, she was upset that I had eaten without her, and we both realized what it meant to be away from family on Thanksgiving. We both felt very strange on this Thanksgiving, but we ate some corn casserole together quickly and tried to finish planning our English club meeting.

Shelbi and I were thinking of how to communicate the ideas of Thanksgiving and teach the students something. We finally decided to bring some food, plates, cups, drinks, and forks and give them a little meal to help them practice table manners and food items. It was a simple meal, but we managed to bring some gustos (tasty) corn casserole, multi-fruit juice, cookies, and salami. We told the students about American Thanksgiving traditions and showed them some simple pictures and videos about Thanksgiving. We then taught some vocabulary and expressions and concluded with enjoying a meal (more like a snack) together. Our salami substituted for a corcan (turkey) and the kids all thought that was pretty funny. What seems a cliche activity in the U.S. was the highlight of the event: the students all said (practicing English) what they were thankful for. Many said parents, God, friends, and some said they were thankful that we came to spend time with them.  Shelbi suggested after we clean up that we all go on a walk. The students were surprisingly enthusiastic about the idea, so we did. We walked around the park talking about traditions and swappin' culture.

Amid a hurricane of emotions about purpose, not being close to family, meaning of service, God's plans, what to be thankful for, moving away from our hosts, and many other ideas, these students simply accept us and seem to enjoy learning about who we are and how we lived in America. They have made us feel welcome and accepted time and again, and our Thanksgiving was no exception. Even without a turkey, Thanksgiving in Moldova was great, because we had people to connect with.


I'd love to upload some pictures, but the website claims we've max-ed out our storage. I'll try to find a solution for that issue.

Thanksgiving Thoughts

We are on the Eve of Thanksgiving, and in the midst of a season of "strangeness," I would say. Holidays are a dime a dozen in Moldova, although they are treated with more reverence than that phrase implies. The abundance of holidays, mostly being to some degree "holy" by association with the churches here, makes me think of our own holidays. I've decided Thanksgiving is the best American holiday. For me it's never been about football and certainly not about the day after. Thanksgiving is awesome. Think of Christmas. Now think of Christmas without the presents. That's what is so cool about Thanksgiving. For some reason we developed a tradition around the simple idea of getting together. It falls in the time of year that makes me think it has a lot to do with thanking God for a harvest (the fact that it's annual reminds us to thank Him regardless of the size or quality of the harvest). The harvest of the summer and autumn bring food and our creativities bring dishes to each others' homes. We get together with family and/or friends and just hang out. In this way it is a little less like Christmas, with the distractive gifts of Christmas. Thanksgiving is simply about family sharing time and food together.

Consumeristic culture can keep its football and black Friday deals. Just give us each other.

Our host family took us to the village our host dad is from. We were welcomed into his parents' home with handshakes, hugs, and kisses. These were people who had never met us, and by the way our host dad spoke on the phone with them before we left, had not planned on hosting us. Yet, when we arrived, we felt esteemed, prodigal guests. Why would these people welcome us to their home?
We exchanged names, which don't seem to be as important here as in America, and immediately began experiencing their hospitality with a quick tour of their home. It was small but very comfortable. We began sharing a meal, 90% of which came from the family's garden and stores. The work represented in this meal must have totaled in the dozens of hours. The homemade wine, vodka, and fruit juice tasted wonderful and was given freely. We all enjoyed a few laughs and exchanges of culture as we compared words and Shelbi and I tried to keep up with the Romanian.
At one point in the meal, Shelbi teared up. When our hosts asked her what she felt, she couldn't explain. I asked her what she was feeling, but I also had trouble. Finally we both said something like, "Nu sint cuvinturi," which means 'there aren't words.'
The weight of the situation had just hit her. We were thousands of miles away from our families experiencing exactly what our families would offer us if we were there. Yet there was no reason for it. Our host mom understood Shelbi clearly and voiced that we're all family, and later her mom expressed it even more completely when she said in Romanian that we're all children of God, and it doesn't matter what language you speak or where you live, but that we have God to thank for everything.

At this point the "tearing up" came down like a flood. I've never been so proud of my wife as when she expressed wordlessly to our Moldovan guests our utter appreciation for their hospitality. If pictures paint a thousand words, tears must provoke a million. The feelings I felt that were reflected in my wife's tears continue to put life in perspective for me.

So, tomorrow is Thanksgiving. My goal is to share the love I felt today with the people I encounter.

A Trip to Iaşi, Romania

Saturday the 17th we got to see a bit of Romania. We traveled by rutiera (small bus) to Iaşi (pronounced, "ee-ah-sh"), one of the closest Romanian cities to Moldova. We had to travel down to Balţi to get the correct rutiera, and at Balţi we met up with Mary O'Connor who traveled with us. The official reason for our travel, I'm ashamed to admit, was to check out a movie theater by seeing Twilight. Oh, whew, there I wrote it. But, Iaşi was so much more than a movie theater. While there we walked around the city a little and got to see a fabulous monument of Ştefan cel Mare (the sainted hero-leader of Moldavia around the turn of the 16th century), speak some authentic Romanian, and take a picture with Romanian scholar and monk Dosoftei. Don't judge us too harshly, but we were also excited to eat some McDonald's food. Here are some pictures from our day:

 Mary and Shelbi about to rip into some nachos.

 We were in a super nice movie theater. Shelbi was a little more excited about the movie choice than John was, but it was still a fun day out.

 The Hobbit preview with Romanian subtitles.

 Our KFC lunch. Fried chicken never tasted so good.

 This appears to be soviet-style architecture. We have some walls and buildings with those shield-looking pieces on the right in Chisinau, also.

 Here. Now. Pepsi.

 Just because it was strange to see Pizza Hut as we walked down the street.

 The church on the right was established by Stefan the Great.

 This is a part of the cultural palace.

 This is Ştefan cel Mare, or Stephen the Great. Some PCVs refer to him as "Big Steve."

 This is Dosoftei, a Romanian scholar, monk, and bishop.

 It's as disgusting as it looks. That was a Big Mac.

And this is what it did to me on the ride home. I guess Shelbi got this picture while I was in dream-land.
We are planning five days in Romania in a place called Gura Humorului for Christmas. We've talked with the owners of a guesthouse hotel/hostel and they are excited for us to come. They used to host a PCV. It sounds like there are some pretty cool things to see there including monasteries and some Christmas events. We'll write more about Christmas and New Year's traditions here later. Suffice it to say Shelbi is currently "researching" Moldovan New Year by watching videos of dancing, yelling, and singing "capras" (goats). It should be a fun New Year.

Thoughts and Miscillanea

Below is the Briceni flag. We have it posted in our school along with information about this area, the poet the school was named for, and other decorative items.


Below you'll find some other random images. I'll try to add more stories as I remember.

 Coming back from Chisinau we decided we needed shots of ourselves in our awesome gear. Jaime and Chad sent us some camping equipment including sleeping bags, hammocks, a tent, and some neat camping chairs. We are excited to use them and are looking into where we can go. Romania has some mountains close by and we've planned a little Christmas vacation to check it out.

 This was my birthday lunch, and a great one it was. Shelbi made all kinds of awesome food in the Mexican style. I'm sure I ate half a dozen burritos!! And we taught our host family the 45 degree taco munch.

 Briceni has few wildlife besides the dogs. The birds are the biggest wild animals around. They can be seen daily flocking together and we are reminded of a few things. The thought of Dustin's shirts always makes us smile, but Hitchcock's images make us cringe.

 Shelbi surprised my partner and I by taking photos of one of our classes.

 Don't know?? An interesting take on head mannequins.

 This is a very Americanized coffee shop that we enjoyed while in Chisinau. They even served pancakes and a very amazing omelet!

Great story: while we were here, at this amazingly English and American-ized coffee shop, some other volunteers were here also because we had a seminar that day. Our friend, Jana, was here. Shelbi went downstairs to use the restroom. There was a sign on the door, but it was in Russian and she didn't think much of it. While she was using the toilet, the lights went off. She thought that was very strange and got a little freaked out, but she thought it was a motion-detection light (very popular here in Moldova). She began waving her arms (while on the toilet), but to no avail. She waved them frantically, but nothing happened. Finally, she found the light on her phone and finished up. When she tried to leave the bathroom, though, she realized what the sign must have been about. There was no handle. There was no doorknob. She tried to open the door, but couldn't. She was a little scared, what with the light out and being locked in a bathroom in a basement and all, so she tried to call me (John), but of course, my phone was out of battery. So, Shelbi called Nicole, a PCV, who called Tim, who called Jana. All the while this calling chain was occurring, Shelbi was verbally calling out and pounding on the door. To her relief, a barista showed up, knob in hand, and let the somewhat disheveled Shelbi out of the bathroom. Shelbi thanks her savior, and returns upstairs, somehow missing Jana who has received the call from Tim. Jana dashes downstairs and begins yelling at the bathroom door, "Shelbi, I'm here." She calls Shelbi and anxiously says, "Push the thingy to the left," possibly implying the latch?? Jana pushes on the door and tries to open it, but something is caught. On the phone, Shelbi answers calmly, "Jana, I got out of the bathroom," to which Jana replies, "Then who's in the bathroom I'm trying to get out?" Jana returns upstairs quickly, and we all laugh at the timing as we watch the stairs to later see a guy return from the bathroom.

 A couple pictures to really traumatize you. I'm sorry for the nightmares, but we had to show you what I tried to do. Unfortunately, my clippers (from America) stopped working in the middle of this haircut. I tried to make them work and got tired of the guards in the way. Well, here is the effect. Shelbi had to ask our host family if they had clippers (I was pretty sure they did because our host mom had buzzed our host dad's hair a few weeks earlier). Our host mom laughed and said, "No." She and Shelbi let me sweat for five minutes and then pulled out their clippers, and we got this all straightened out.

Halloween 2012 X4

So... Shelbi and I normally dress up to some degree for Halloween in America. We go to a party either on Halloween or a day before or after. I've always complained that Halloween is given too much attention, but we actually need to consider All Saint's Day November 1st. Regardless of my reluctance, for some reasons we have found ourselves involved in all kinds of Halloween events in Moldova. Here are some explanations and evidence of those experiences.

1st Halloween: We took a trip to visit John, Brian, and Julie in Soroca, another northern city. The event was for a tour group to come from Chisinau. Julie's organization had been planning to show them that Soroca (especially with its really cool fortress) is a great place to visit. Some local students got in on it and prepared some performances of a Halloween-y nature to put on a little more of a show. What started as an awesome idea exploded into an amazingly teen-filled experience as a ton of students from the local schools caught wind of this thing. They all showed up in costumes and nearly overwhelmed the tourists from Chisinau. All in all, the event was a success. We even coined an appropriate phrase for our experiences here: All's well that ends in a discoteca (which this event did). Julie worked super hard during all the events, from dancing the thriller to providing technology support (and nearly having her laptop stolen!) and helping organize the event, but she still let us stay at her place. We got in a game of Settlers before we had to leave the next morning. Shelbi went back to Briceni and I went on to Chisinau for some training.

2nd Halloween: Shelbi joined me in Chisinau, and we went out with some people and found a really awesome cafe where they host colloquiums, performances, and discussions. There were no pictures because we weren't in costume, but just went out in a group.

3rd Halloween: We headed back to the north but stopped in Balti where two volunteers had just moved into an apartment. Here is the evidence that it was a successful Halloween party:

 I know you're wondering, so: Tybalt from Romeo and Juliet.  I was lacking the sword and beautiful speech. Other than that, the costume Shelbi found was close enough. I could have claimed some type of Greco-merchant, but why not a more well-defined character like Tybalt?

 David (left) and Matt share this apartment. David's Soviet-repairman was very believable. Mary (center) and Laura are some other awesome volunteers it has been our pleasure to get to know.

 It got serious later into the night.

 Above our good buddy Dan and below is Philip, fellow Catan enthusiast and mountain biker.

 Chris, Shelbi, and John below

 Because we like it, here are some glamor photos of our homemade Settlers of Catan board game. A huge thanks to Dewayne Wallace whose laser engraver/cutter and patience made this possible.

It's been great to have a board game. Many of the volunteers are excited to play it with us. We have played with a few Moldovans (those speak English well already), but we look forward to hosting people and playing games when we get our own apartment.


 4th Halloween: With my English Club/Conversations group we planned a Halloween event including a lot of fun games and activities, and, of course, ending in a discoteca. The kids did everything that you see below, from bringing the materials to operating the activities and making posters.