Two updates in two days!

I'm on a role! Or is it "roll"? My Romanian isn't really improving, but my English is certainly going to pot. I realized last night as I got ready for bed, hours after I had left the previous post, that today is Easter and I kinda like Easter. I have lot of great memories attached to this day, driving to Phoenix AZ with my mom and sister, dying eggs in my grandma's kitchen, finding little bits of rabbit poo (aka chocolate curls) sprinkled around the floor, eating my weight in Mini Eggs, and, of course, scouring every nook and cranny for our Easter Baskets of Delicious Doom. I am happy to blame my current dependence on chocolate and sugar on this holiday. The reason why I hadn't really thought about Easter until last night is because most Romanians are Orthodox and don't celebrate their Easter until the 27th of April. So I was prepared to exit March without even realizing that one of my favorite holidays had passed (or is it "past"?). Over the last few years, I've tested the waters as an anti-holiday person and tried to see them as days that were once cool, but have been turned over the years into reasons to buy candy and spend money and eat out and all those shenanigans, but when you're far from home and you can't find Mini Eggs ANYWHERE and really miss those little curls of chocolatey rabbit poo, and just the simple guarantee of having family around, you start to miss certain holidays, as pointless as you occasionally try to see them. I'm excited and curious to see what will go down here on the 27th of April...I'll have my camera ready to rock. Maybe then the Mini Eggs will magically appear.

Speaking of religious events, I saw a funeral procession last week. A group was making its way, by foot, down the street outside of my language school just as I was leaving. A few members were playing a rather haunting tune on their worn-looking trumpets and guitars and at the head of the group, a few men carried an open (yes, open) casket with a sheer cloth draped over it. I watched them pass. The music was really beautiful and the scene itself was a little surreal...I don't know why, but I was reminded of The Sopranos, even though I've never seen a full episode. They were walking so slowly, taking up half the street, and every little bit of it felt like a funeral. As I walked home, I could hear the music for blocks. Not something you see in Reno.

On Tuesday, my group will present our first practicum presentation to an English class. The presentation will be about wilderness areas in the US and how they are threatened, appreciated, and protected by humans, and how they compare to a wilderness area here in Prahova County. I'm going to talk about the Great Basin because I'm a big fan of the desert and miss those sandy, sage-brush dotted hills. I'm going to include a picture of Fort Churchill that I took almost exactly a year ago with my dad and little brothers. Brought back some good memories. My partner will talk about an area in Minnesota (where he's from) called Boundary Waters Canoe Area...anyone heard of it? I believe I have some Minnesotians poking around here somewhere. Sounds like a pretty neat place. Then, we will talk about Ciucas (pronounced Tchew-cush) park and how amazing (seriously) it is. Lots of virgin forest, Carpathian brown bears, wolves, all that good stuff. According to the pictures, it's a place to check out while in Romania, with the "take only pictures, leave only footprints" methodology strictly enforced, of course. We will present it again on April 2nd and then be pretty much gata (finished) with the implementation of our practicum, unless another class or two decides to indulge us. We shall see.

Guess that's it for now. Happy Easter! Eat some mini eggs for me, you lucky people you.