SI

It's no secret that I don't particularly enjoy football, but even I got excited to see this.

Let's go Kansas State!

Meal Plan Monday

Here it is... Very abbreviated due to some upcoming fun :)

Sunday: Chicken, Kale, and Sweet Potatoes

Monday: Easy Spanish Chicken and Rice

Tuesday: Lasagna, Salad

Wednesday: Buffalo Chicken Chili

Thursday: Leftovers

Friday: Sandwiches on the road

Peace Corps Email #15

It’s June Here!

Original Sent Date:  June 9, 2005

Hello Everyone!
 
How are things going back home?  I think it’s been over a month since I’ve written, which either means I’ve been really lazy or really busy.  You pick.
 
Moldova is finally turning warm and pretty… the cherries and strawberries are ripe.  It stays light until 9:30 at night now, much better than winter when it was pitch black at 4pm!
 
My host mom informs me that today is yet another holiday.  I thought, for some crazy reason, that we were through with these after we celebrated both Easter and Easter for the Dead.  Nope!  Tomorrow is the holiday for when Jesus arrived in heaven.  I didn’t realize that this happened over a month after Easter, but I figure there are some things out of my grasp of understanding.  By the way, the Romanian word for heaven is ciar—pronounced chair.  Awesome.
 
My host mom (who is crazy, but a good crazy) has decided that she is tired of buying chicken from the store.  Apparently, it has fewer vitamins than chicken from the house.  This theory is also true of wine—house wine has far many more vitamins than the purchased wine.  They did not appreciate my story that wine at the story is probably from SOMEBODY’S house.
 
Oh well.  Anyway, in an attempt to not purchase any more chicken until the end of time, we have hatched 95 chickens and 6 turkeys.  This is far too many birds in my opinion, but watching them has become one of my favorite pastimes.  My ma and I like to chase them around the chicken yard, grab them, and feel their gullets to see if they are eating enough.  My life is very odd here.
 
On the 20th, I’ll head off to one of the camps I’m working at… this one is called GLOW (girls leading our world) and 120 girls from all over Moldova (age 14-17) are coming to the camp.  It’s crazy.  I’m really looking forward to it, especially the Halloween night I’m going to run.  That should be interesting…the Moldovan I’m working on this with speaks very minimal Romanian (meaning maximum Russian) so communicating was difficult.  Finally, we just had to get a Russian/English dictionary… it was pretty comical, but it helped my self-esteem to realize I was better at Romanian than a real-life Moldovan.  Yay!
 
The camp for the disabled children at Dorinta starts in August… and I am still hoping to solicit donations from you all.  Please, pass this request along to everyone you know.  Anything you can give would help—instead of going to a movie, rent one and donate $20 to Opening Doors.  I would be forever grateful!
 
This summer I am also working with a group of 7 students going to America as foreign exchange students.  However, this group is really unique because all of these students have physical disabilities, mostly blindness.  This is the first group of such students to be going from the former Soviet Union and they will spend a month in Chisinau (the capital of Moldova) before departing to the US.  During this month, we will work on perfecting English language skills and helping with ways to assimilate into American culture.  I am in charge of the 4th of July BBQ, so I get to make a piñata.  When it’s done, I’ll have to send pictures… I’m sure it will be the ugliest piñata ever! 
My counterpart celebrated her 50th birthday last week, and it was the biggest masa I’ve ever been to!  We had actual BBQ and mushrooms (which, technically, I’m not allowed to eat by Peace Corps law)—I bought some new shoes for the event and my ma was very excited, saying they are in fashion.  She also told me that I’m young and need to have pretty things instead of the ugly shoes I brought.  They’re beige colored with designs in the leather and pointy, curved-up elf toes.
So, yes, they are in fashion. And they only cost 100 lei (or $8) Fashion here is very different than home—for instance, Mom said she’s going to mail me a pair of those Crocs (which have been described to me as colorful nurses shoes) and I’m sure the Moldovans will hate them.  But, they hate most of my outfits anyway.  Argh.
 
Also today, a new group of volunteers comes into Moldova.  I’m not sure how many there are or if they’re cute or not…this is very important.  All of them will be English or Health teachers.  Another group of EODs (what I am) and Ag will come to Moldova in September too.  It’s hard to believe I’ve been in Moldova nearly 9 months!
 
Take care, all—It would be wonderful to hear from you all!
 
Darcie

My host mom waves at a birthday party.

D'Andrea (another volunteer), my counterpart Maria, and I at Maria's 50th birthday party.

Doamna Maria getting lifted to celebrate her birthday!

Some other volunteers and I pose with a nice case of wine.

Me and a statue of Lenin.

Push Up Challenge

One of my friends challenged me to a 100 push up challenge with her.  Basically, you do a single push up on the first day, two on the second day, and so on until you hit 100. 

I started on August 1st, so...unless I counted incorrectly, I finished today!

I did 100 (girl) pushups this morning and it was no big deal.

On November 1st, I started the 100 sit-up challenge.  It's much easier for knowing how many to do when you start on the 1st of a month, so here goes nothing.

Because this is a boring post, here's a video of Mac mastering his own physical activity--going down a slide without assistance.

Happy Birthday to Me!

It's my 31st birthday!

I spent the day at work...fun times.

David and Mac were asleep when I left this morning, but I did get this video when they work up.

Awwww.

Tonight, I'm hosting book club at my house and we're having a fajita bar.  It's exactly how I want to spend my evening...with great friends, eating yummy food, drinking good drinks, and relaxing.

This weekend, David and I are having special date night where we're doing.... I don't know. But it'll be fun, mark my words!

Meal Plan Monday

Hey, hey, ho, ho it's Meal Plan Monday!

I think I really like this because it means I post a blog post but don't have to do any real thinking.

Sunday: Mexican Skillet Supper
Monday: Dining Out!  We're going to one of my favorite restaurants, Crushed Red!
Tuesday: Book Club! We rescheduled last week and now we're eating fajitas.
Wednesday: Balsamic Chicken Thighs, Salad, Twice-Baked Potatoes
Thursday: Chicken Bacon Risotto, Salad
Friday: Leftovers
Saturday: Date night!  David and I are going to eat at a grown-up restaurant to celebrate my birthday.

Peace Corps Email #14

Turkish Bath

Original Sent Date: May 4, 2005

Another for mass e-mail story for some of you…
I would say that the highlight of my vacation would have to be going to a Turkish bath.  Since I was the only girl in my over-testosteronized group and the baths we chose were not unisex, I was forced to brave this experience on my own…yikes.
I walked down this musty staircase into a building that was probably about 500 years old (I have nothing to back that up).  Everything was made out of marble and the ceiling has a million little octagonal windows letting in the light.  So pretty.  A very very old Turkish woman greets me at the door, says “Clothes” while pointing to the closet, “towel” pointing to a towel, and  “bath” pointing to a door.  Slightly confused, after I figured out my clothes had to be removed and left behind, I was way out of comfort zone…
So I dressed in a towel and followed the old lady into a maze of marble, where she turned on the water in what can only be described as a large, low, sink, and took my towel away.  Took it off my body and out of my hands—I felt like someone had robbed me.  I almost cried.
But, I sucked it up (ha! and in!) and began pouring bowlfuls of warm water all over myself as instructed (well, gestured to do).  Periodically, through my self-bath, a random, half-naked Turkish woman would wander through and only assume what was her weekly laundry.
So, after what felt like a very long period of time pouring water over myself, my old Turk lady came back…only not wearing nearly enough clothing.
I’ll leave it at that.  Ok, I won’t… it was only a way too small pair of bikini underwear… and time had dragged her down very low.  She points me to a marble slab in the middle of the room…I lie on it, but not in the way she wanted.  After 5 minutes of gestures, I finally manage to lie on the slab in the proper Turkish-bath way.
She attacked me with a brillo-pad like instrument and it kind of hurt and felt like heaven at the same time.
The skin came off me in huge dead-fish-gray rolls.  
While I realize that my personal hygiene has declined, I didn’t realize it was to the point that my skin is gray.  Not appealing.
She finished up, (signified by a slap on my rump) so I went to rinse away that horrid skin.
After too short of a break, my old lady came back.  I got back onto the slab, and she soaped me down…it was only slightly weird at the moment to be bathed by an old, nearly-naked Turkish woman, but probably should have felt much more peculiar.  Her very strong hands massaging me the entire time comforted me.  It was definitely the best massage I had ever had and the cleanest I had been in about 8 months. 
So I rinse off again, and she comes over with a small stool.  She sets it down, plops onto it, and pats the area between her legs.  Naturally, I am a little unsure if this is really the place I want to be, but I go over anyway (it seems like all I do these day is ignore my instincts).  So she washes my hair with incredibly strong banana smelling shampoo—I’m pretty sure it was Pantene Pro  V—while massaging my scalp.  I relax, thrilled at this pleasant surprise, when she slams my face back between her large, low-slung breasts and massages my face.
I blush.  We rinse off, and I avoid her eyes.  I feel slightly violated, but very relaxed.  Hmm.
Afterwards, the sauna…I should have done a bath (just slightly less violating) every day…
I hear the boys had a slightly difference experience, which involved Nate having “the shit” beat out of him with his masseuse slapping him, yelling YES!, and meowing like a cat.  But you’ll have to ask Kyle for those details…
All right, just thought I would send a few of you this slightly more risqué story…enjoy, and let me know how your lives are!  I miss you all…

Darcie

PS—We also went with some random Turkish street vendor to his apartment in the middle of the night to “drink tea.”  Probably not the smartest idea, but I still have my kidneys.  Everything works out, I guess.  

PPS—I have this quote from a boy “I will lay siege to your boundaries like the Byzantines were besieged by the Ottomans.”  Didn’t work.  I think I’m becoming bitter in my old age.