Here Goes

Oh boy. It's been a while. Tomorrow I and the rest of group 24 will be "sworn in" at the ambassador’s residence in Bucharest as official volunteers (unless they've been toying with us about passing the language test) and we will emerge from the ceremony no longer meek and timid trainees, but strong and confident volunteers, prepared to go on our merry ways and make positive impacts all over the country. Or so we hope. Honestly, it’s been difficult to look beyond training and prepare for something other than classes for eight hours a day, studying for another two or three, and spending the remaining with my gazda or other trainees, but starting on Tuesday it’ll be a whole new enchilada all over again and we’ll have to take it in stride, one bite at a time.

The counterpart conference was interesting. I spent a bit of time in the bathroom, which really isn’t all that unusual for me, as my mother can confirm. When presented with a difficult and slightly awkward situation, like meeting a stranger (my counterpart) for the first time whom I’m expected to make a strong bond with and spend the whole weekend with and alot depends on this initial meeting and the impressions that go with it, I get nervous and occasionally need to disappear into a quiet zone for a moment or two, which, when in a pinch, can be found in the confines of a bathroom stall. I have many clear memories of the interiors of particularly calming bathrooms, especially the one inside Bela Caroli’s Gymnastics camp in Texas, where I spent a couple hours every day during the camp because Bela and the staff scared me a little bit and because I really wasn’t that good at gymnastics, nor did I particularly like participating in the sport, but my sister was going to the camp and I didn’t think it would be fair for me to stay home while Renee got to have all this fun at a camp. So I went, and strongly disliked just about every minute of it, except the few delightful moments of serenity found in the bathroom, with the crooked posters of Nadia and Mary Lou Retton and other famous gymnasts posing proudly alongside the ever-smiling and ever-intimidating Bela on the wall and the disturbingly bright fake flowers in a vase on the floor and the smell of sweaty gym socks mingling with chalky residue. Serenity. Now I sit in a conference building in Bela’s home land and stare at the inside of a stall and ponder how my methods of stress management have and have not changed since the days of gym camp. I still retreat to the bathroom when necessary, but for no longer than a couple of minutes, and it’s more to take a few deep breaths than to hide, and I certainly did not dislike every minute of the counterpart conference. It was just stressful and slightly awkward at times. On the whole, I’d say I managed all right. I liked my site and am excited to go back, but I still know so little about the city, the people, and the work I’ll be doing, that it’s hard to know for certain if it’s the “best match”. Guess that just adds to the adventure.

At my site, there’s an apartment that’s nearly ready for me to move into. It belongs to one of the employees at the EPA and her daughter was going to move into it, but they’ve decided to postpone her move in for (what luck!) two years. The apartment has one large room where I’ll sleep/eat/jump rope/read/crochet/yoga/write/practice my backflips/etc, one very snazzy bathroom with a standup shower (not too common), and a small kitchen. It’s recently been renovated and it’s small, but that’s fine by me. I’ve lived in a smaller apartment before (the apartment in Eugene was about half the size) and it can be quite cozy at times. It’ll just be a bit difficult if there are several people visiting me at once. A big plus is the view. Because I'm on the edge of town, I can see the mountains, the little river that runs through Sf. Gheorghe, a church AND a circus. Serenity.

Easter was great. Lots of food, lots of visitors, lots of work for my gazda. She was cooking constantly for about three days, but she seemed to enjoy it immensely. Both of her sons and their significant others were there and it was nice meeting them and getting to see the whole family interact. The ladies do all the work, the guys hang out, but that’s what I’ve heard is the norm. Maybe I’ll work on changing that up some while I’m here :) One tradition that I’d like to bring home with me is the cracking of eggs. Two people crack their eggs together and the egg that cracks gets eaten, while the egg that doesn’t crack goes on to crack with other people until it does crack. Each person you crack eggs with is a person you will be with in the after life and anybody you don’t crack eggs with you won’t see after you kick the bucket. So crack your eggs wisely.

I’ve also visited Targoviste and Slanic. They were awesome and very beautiful. Look ‘em up in Wikipedia if you’re curious…I’m sorry I don’t have time to give them a decent description right now. Maybe when I get to site I’ll do a really big and long blog about all the stuff that’s been going on, but for now this’ll have to do. My next entry will hopefully be from my new apartment in Sfantu Gheorghe.

What's shakin' in Reno besides the ground? How about in Boise?

O zi buna!