CD from PC, new camera, and pre-chinese new year!

I received a CD from PC Romanian volunteers Alumni. They made a CD with lots of tips, photos and a few language programs too to help me get started.
Their packing list suggesting is wonderful too! It's a stress reliever to know that a lot of the stuff I thought I needed is already provided or can be purchased over there.

Buna (Boon-nah) = Hello!

I got a new camera for PC. Why did I get a new one versus bringing my old one? 1.) My old one didn't record sound, so now I can make mini videos to add on my blog, 2.) This camera is way smaller and lighter, which will be wonderful because I'm going to do lots of walking and traveling soon, 3.) I've always wanted a canon: recycle time for flash is superior!

Here is a demo video from my camera:

Pre-Chinese New Year dinner was celebrated tonight at grandparent's house. Calvin and I spent the afternoon with my now married cousin Elaine. We went out for lunch, did a bit of shopping and spent the rest of the afternoon trying to persuade her dog Biscuit that Calvin and I were friends and to no bit us or bark at us.


We won! Elaine's step by step program got her dog to kiss me on the lips! Calvin got him to roll over and play catch. He's a cutie! Once you get to know him =)

Ate lots of yummy food at grandparents, and lots of left over were brought home too.
I love my family! I'll see them again for Chinese New Year.

Plain old day and Important Romanian Info!

Calvie and I are having a chill time. I pick him up from school, we do chores (like moving pieces of garden shed out of the minivan), and then he plays his maple story while I do stuff on my computer (peace corps and email stuff), then we both make dinner and eat it over a movie, then he and I clean up and get settled down for bed. If he has lots of hw then I take over a bit more chores but he's really honest about helping out (cause he loves his big sister!). I also talked to Amelia on and off throughout the day.


Important Peace Corps Info:

Date of Departure from San Jose: Feb. 17th at 6:20am
Country of Service: Romania
Position as a volunteer: Economic and Community Development
End of Service: May 6th, 2010
My email address: cynthiasyeh@gmail.com
My address during training Feb. 20-May 20th (for letters only! and write "Airmail" or "Par Avion" on the envelope):

Cynthia Yeh
Peace Corps/Romania
Str. Negustori, Nr. 16
Sector 2, Bucharest
Romania
(I will have another address for my two year service:TBA)

Tickets:
I just checked the price for round trip tickets from San Jose (SJC) to Romania (BUH or OTP) and...depending on what season you go, I found tickets for about ~$600 to $2000. Peak prices were in the summer time and lowest prices were in winter and spring. Traveling from country to country in Europe is cheap! So make sure to visit other places too!

Vacations:
I have 2 days of vacation a month, so 24 days a year to go travel. I can travel home to the US or travel to another place, like in Europe.
I can easily take 1 week of vacation off at a time, but I need to ask permission to take extended vacations.

I cannot go on vacation before August 18th, 2008 (6 months after I start PC) and after February 6th, 2010 (3 months before I leave PC). The reasons are related to training and settling in.

California Road trip (SD-->SJ)

I drove all day basically. The weather started out gloomy but it was all right throughout the drive. It sprinkled about 10% of the drive up. The destination greeted me with: darkness, pouring rain, the world was reflecting light everywhere on the streets, and lots of noise from the pounding rain. It was a scary welcome home.
I drove on 5 then 101 (yes I'm from Nor-Cal) and it was a very pretty drive. Lots of ocean and beautiful homes. I drove past SLO too. The only places I stopped at were gas stations, a starbucks, and Solvang. I wanted to bring something fun home for Mom and Calvin so I brought them some danish pastries such as: a danish croissant, some danishes, and a loaf of some kind of bread.

The trip wasn't too bad. I was so sleepy when I got home, but I saw more Peace Corps stuff so I stayed up long enough to open and read my mail before I went to bed. The end.

San Diego Zoo then babysitting

Today I woke up to sound of little kids playing. We went to the San Diego Zoo to help the kids run out their energy before we babysat them.
One was grumpy the whole time, the middle one was cute and happy, the littlest one was having the time of his life!

He Loves animals; especially monkeys. You can see that he loves the flamingos too. At home he can name the 26 animals of the alphabet.
We ate cotton candy, saw the white polar bear, gorillas, pandas and more. We also took the air safari across the park.

After we came back from the zoo, our godmother took Amelia and I shopping. We went to a few outlets and we each got some new clothes. I hate shopping....or at least get really really frustrated with finding clothes. They don't fit and I don't have any fashion taste so all the styles confuse me. The one shirt I got Amelia had picked out for me. I also found a jacket I liked but it was $120, and I don't want to spend that much on a jacket- even though it was styling.

Our godmother then got us some quality take out food for dinner and now I'm here babysitting. The kids ate dinner with us and are watching Scooby Doo before bed. Bed is right after this episode. I'm going back to SJ tomorrow. *Woot woot* 8 hour drive back! I will need to stretch a few times on our way back.

On the Peace Corps note, I've joined a facebook group with 7 other people going to PC with me in Romania. I've talked to one person. I've also heard that my staging package has arrived, so I look forward to opening it when I get home. yay!

11pm is super late! Time for bed.

I realized that I forgot my retainers the first night of my road trip, and 2 nights later I had a nightmare where my teeth were totally crooked and there were missing gaps, it was horrible! I was relieved the next morning to not see any significant gaps between the teeth- all looks normal. My college late nights were 3am, so 11pm is pretty early, but I find myself just as tired. Being a kid is tiring, but a great work out! I tried the monkey bars today, failed, but it's a start after....it's been...er, 10 years? When we got tested for PE in jr. high was the last time I was on those bars.

Anyway, I must make sure to take my retainers to PC, and today I was making a list of stuff I should buy before I go. I've read though that I can buy most of the things I need in Romania, and I may get it cheaper and better fit (maybe tailored), once I get there.
I joined the facebook group: "Peace Corps Romania group 24" today and added everyone in that group as my friend, so hopefully they'll except and I can look at their profile and get to know them better.
I've also noticed all the language training tools in my peace corps toolkit, so I'll start on that soon.

All in all, I still need to work on my senior project, but I figure I'll concentrate on that a LOT when I'm back in SJ. Meanwhile I'll enjoy my time with my god-siblings and god-parents because I don't get to see them very often and they're very much worth every second I spend in SD- besides Amelia my sister of course.
Oh! Amelia is coming tomorrow for the god-brother's 7th birthday! It Star Wars themed so we're going to watch "The Return of the Jedi," Star Wars IV.
Here's a pic of the three cuties!! They're older pictures, but they're the best I have at the moment. The baby now has brown hair and hazel eyes and he talks and repeats everything like a little parrot.

In San Diego: cute kids and stinky diapers

It was a fun 5 hour drive last night. I caught the last bit of LA traffic which wasn't too bad, I consider it a fun California experience before I leave for 2 years. I got here about 9:30pm and had time to talk to my godparents before we all went to bed. Today I woke at 7:15am so I could walk to school with the family - my godmother and the kids. Mostly we've been doing errands all day. I'll try to post a picture of the godchildren later.
The funniest part of the day was the little one, a 2 year old refusing my offer to chance his poopy diaper. He was smelly and he knew it but he wouldn't let me chance him! and he was smiling all the while.

Going down to San Diego

I'm at a coffee shop right now, getting ready for my drive down to SD.
I last evening cooking a delicious dinner with Charm, Rob and Scott: there was pesto pasta, meatballs, wine, ice cream cheese cake, bailey's, and garlic bread! oh, and leaves with croûtons.
I spent the night at DRCK's, and it was a short evening because all the girls were very tired.
I was going to spend another night over and make them dinner, but I decided to go to SD early and spend a bit more time with Aunty Anna, Uncle Monte and family.
It's been fun in SLO. I got to see a lot of familiar faces, like I saw Cynthia at It's a Grind, and I'd thought she graduated already! Alas, it's time to say goodbye. I'll be back one more time maybe, for the Trical Party, maybe....

Bye SLO.

My First Entry....(on my "road" trip)

I'm not in Romania yet, nor even out of California. I'm on a "road" trip or a California trip for those of you who pride yourselves in hearing politically correct terms. I'm down in SLO sitting next to my friend Christina (a friend I've know since my very first day at Poly). I've stopped by SLO to finish moving out and to visit my buddies!
Next stop will be down to San Diego. I was going to go to LA to visit my high school buddy Jessica, but she's busy and she's sick, so oh well.
I haven't received my new canon sd1000 yet, so no pictures available.
I've gotta call Calvin now (my lil baby bro) and see if anything has come in the mail for me yet.
I spent the night with Charm last night and saw Scott, Rob, Trevor, and Larry and Justin. Tonight, I will spend the night with -whom I fondly call the ARCK's: Ashley, Rachael, Christina, and Korin, but now I have to take out the A and put in a D so....I'm not sure what to call them anymore: D...there's no vowels.
Okay, later!