Name days in Romania

There are holidays where it's people's names, and anyone who has that name...it's like their birthday, but "name day."


You give them a present, you call them and wish them "La Multi Ani" (I wish you many years) (Really roughly translated is: At Multiple Years).

Yesterday was: Constantin, Maica and Elena Day.

The mayor's, my counterpart's name is Constantin Ivan (I think Constantin is his middle name), so he had a small lunch party and I got him a packet of coffee and kisses on his cheeks. Here's most of us who work in the Mayor's office =)

Did I forget to mention that Romanians do the kisses on the cheeks here, left right, right left, it doesn't matter.

I think I've never mentioned either that Everyone here has a Godmother or/and Godfather and that you take their name (you are named after them when you as a baby are baptized).

The naming here does confuse me. There's not enough name days for everyone's name, but I see the advantage of having a name day. However, if people take their godparent's name when they're baptized, and you can be the godparent of more than one kid, that means a lot of people are named the same.

I think 1/3 or 1/4 of all the women I've met have been named: Mihaela. Very beautiful name, but it's way popular here.

I have 2 godmothers, and that confuses the Romanians...Good times.

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.