Thanksgiving dinner as a PCV

Placinta with yogurt instead of branza (cow cheese). Lili brought this over and it was delicious. It is an acquired taste because at first I didn't like it, but now I do.

I don't have a good shot of dinner, cause I was running around being host. Being host is busy, even if things were well planned.

Guest comprised of PCVs from all parts of Romania, mostly from my group, but some volunteers who've been here longer too, and Romanians. From my group: Lee, Janet, Emily, Nils, and Julie came. From other groups: Nancy and Dan. Other Romanians: Roxana and her boyfriend, Lili the English teacher who lives in my village and her family, and my counterpart was invited but he was unable to make it.
The guests were very helpful with setting up and cooking. =)

It happened that 5 people has their birthdays on the 24th and 25th of November. Two guests bought a cake for them =D and we sang Happy Birthday in Romanian: LA MULTI ANI! I still don't know the words well.

The birthdayers were surprised.

I hoped the baby wasn't too bored, she was the only kid, she's Lili's 1 1/2 year old baby.

Dinner was delicious and there was lots of food: turkey, stuffing, yams, steamed beans and mushrooms, mashed potatoes, cranberry jelly, um...the works! and pumpkin pie from scratch and more!

We even had good left overs so the kitties outside received a wonderful meal too!
The mean chickens stole food from the cats. Did you know they eat meat? Freaky.



We just chilled, and talked and then people slept over or went back to the city. I tried my best to make my place warm, but I think it was still too cold. I tried.

It was a good crowd.

We had good stuff for breakfast too, and here's a pic of the wishbone before I lost it.

The Day of my Birth (September 10th)

Oh this special occasion, alas, I did Not feel the normal urging need to take lots of pictures since most of the day was spent riding cars. However, it was still an eventful Day =)

The day before, I had celebrated my birthday in the village by handing out candy to little kids I saw and I brought a large package of cookies to the Mayor's office and shared it with my co-workers (as is traditional on one's birthday here).

On the actual day, it started with Emily and I waking up and taking a bus ride to meet our Program Manager (the boss of our sector). Oana had visited my site the day before, for about 2 hours. She talked to my counterpart, my neighbor and made sure that any problems I was having or that the organization was having was addressed. She told me she was happy with me and my site and our relationships. I have a Crazy Strong American-Romanian accent, but I was able to understand what was being said around me generally and I was able to communicate back in Romanian. *hangs head* I don't like my thick accent, but Oana said she likes accents...I said as long as I have an "Irish-American or European-American" kind of accent and not an "Middle Eastern or Chinese-American" accent then I'm okay. Unfortunately....I think I have the latter =(

The night before we all went out to dinner to celebrate my b-day. 4 volunteers and a staff member of Peace Corps at a Romanian restaurant next to the Danube. Here we were taking a coffee break before we went our separate ways. Time with other volunteers and staff are very often very short lived.

I spent the majority of my day in a car, which was Great because it was a FREE ride and I had good company on my ride.

I was dropped off at a train station (in Ro it's called a Gara [Gah-Rah] and I took a SKETCHY train to my next stop. Trains here are ranked from P ->A ->R ->IC normally, and there's a 1st class and a 2nd class. Due to the timing, I took a P 2nd class, the ticket being about $2 equivalent for a 1 1/2 hour ride (not bad at all in US standards), but I had to cling to my stuff, and I was super paranoid: sit with old people, never alone, hold on to all items.

I sat with old people, who later begged me for money, and asked what I had in each of my bags and compartments of my bags. BUT I wasn't molested! (I've heard too many horror stories about cheap train rides)

Despite all my traveling, I got to the site with the Red Cross too late to travel to two more cities. So the Red Cross let me sleep in their building overnight. They had internet!!! It all worked out for the best.

I wasn't left totally alone.

For some reason...I was never ever scared on any bit of this trip, or worried. *shrug*

Since I was ill prepared for camping things in Ro, Emily let me borrow her Pumpkin. It's cute, and I want my own (not sure a Romanian or an American breed).


Birthday dinner:
It may look like a sad meal, but it's actually special cause every item was special.
The Beef Jerky was from cousin Irene, the Oreos were from Mom and Amelia, the Africana chocolate bar was a birthday gift from Emily and Nils, the Cheese sticks were from Oana in case I got hungry on the road, and the rest I gave as a gift to myself. I did get all my food groups.

I thenforth spent the rest of the night snacking and being online. THANKS FOR ALL THE BIRTHDAY WISHES!! On the whole, that's my favorite part of my birthday, all sorts of people, family, long lost friends, and aquaintances, and bosses remembering you and taking the time to say "happy birthday."


And for the ones who are really close, them making the extra effort to doing something a little more special =)
Let's see: I got attempts at text messages from best friend, attempts at phone calls from mom, a DNA molecular kit...and assortment from college buddies, clothes from the godmother, and a sweet card from my sis with US family pictures and me cropped into them, and perfume and candy from Em and Nils.

I'm loved =)

Similarities between Romanians and Chinese

Every year,..the weekend after Easter (Orthadox Easter), the Romanians celebrate for the dead by eating and they stick a candle in plates of the same food they eat for lunch for the dead.
I'm not sure if the food we ate were traditional foods:
Sarmaluta (small bundles of savory grounded meat, wrapped in grape leaves and grilled).
Rice with sugar and lemon and orange peel.
Snizle (I think it's German originated? and it's pork in batter, deep fried.
Chicken boiled in oil with carrots, potatoes, salt, cabbage, and some spices.

In Chinese culture we do a similar thing in the spring, where we take prepared food: boiled eggs, deep fried salted pork, a whole chicken, alcohol, sugar can, chinese bread, and fireworks and we put the food over the grave (to symbolize offering the spirit or essence of the food to our ancestors), and then we eat the food and we explode the firecrackers (to ward off bad spirits) and we burn fake money and fake cloth (so the essence of the material can go to the ancestors).

I don't think there's a day to celebrate ancestors in the US holiday calendar, and if there is I've never heard of it or celebrated it.