The many marvelous misdeeds of Marie

2012, here we come!

2012-01-08T18:40:00.000-08:00

Well, for anyone reading this, sorry I have been so sporadic in writing. It isn't intentional, but if you know me at all, you know just how ADD I can be.

2012 is looking great. After an incredible Christmas/New Year's Christian and I are settling back in to "normal" life. Its been difficult. We got the chance to go down to Saint George for Christmas, just the two of us. It was tons of fun and a very special first Christmas for us.

Yesterday, we went to the Salt Lake City Downtown Library, or in other words, my favorite building on the planet! I still remember my very first introduction to the library. A good friend of mine, Creighton, gave me a tour. He showed me the ins and outs, the architecture, the nooks, the design, everything, about the place and I fell in love. One of my favoritest things to do is to take people who have never been there and give them the same tour. It really is a remarkable building and we are lucky to have such a place in Salt Lake. I took some pictures which you can view here

Other than that, you can see some of our other adventures below!

Hope all is well and that 2012 is an amazing year for you!

Us as Zion's National Park over Christmas

Going to see a movie with mom and dad, ironically, NOT the Muppets.

My new haircut! :D

What can happen in one year?

2011-04-20T11:32:00.001-07:00

So I just had a sudden realization, maybe any of you may relate to this. i had an event in my life that was tied to a very specific date. Last year, and four days ago to be exact, I flew to New York intending to continue on to Ireland for a vacation with a couple of friends. Alas, a volcano in Iceland erupted and canceled thousands of flights including ours. After coming home prematurely, I ended up going out on my first date with the man who is now my husband. (Yes, for anyone that missed it, I got married. :) See here for details.

Its just crazy to realize that a year ago, while I had met and even befriended Christian, we honestly hadn't really had any romantic goings on at that point, and now he is my husband.

I guess you never know what a year is going to bring.

Oh how time flies

2010-12-27T08:52:00.000-08:00

I can't believe how quickly time goes by. Last night I was talking to Christian and my father and I just realized how much has happened in the last twelve months. First and foremost, I have successfully dated a boy for eight whole months! Which, for anyone that knows me, knows this is monumental! And not only have we been dating for eight months, but its a healthy, happy, good relationship with a good man. I am in uncharted territory! ;-) I could go on and on about how amazing he is, but I will save that for another time.

I also purchased a couple large ticket items this year. First, Bucephalus, my motorcycle. And also a new condo! I have been looking for a place to buy for a couple years now. This place came up and it just fit perfectly with everything I was looking for; space, location, price, etc. It all just came together. For now, Christian has moved in and is enjoying being there. We were able to celebrate Christmas there and really enjoyed it.

Christian and I, in front of the fireplace

"Santa" was very generous to both of us. :)

Christian got a new laptop from google! They are coming out with their own laptop that is supposed to be super easy and cheap and they sent him one for free to test out for them!

I was also blessed this year to be able to find a new job that I am really enjoying. I am working at an outdoor clothing company called "Kuhl" (pronounced "cool"). I am working in the customer service department. I was extremely grateful to have found a job that is still in the outdoor industry. Its something I enjoy being around.

As for the rest, I have enjoyed a year full of fun trips/vacations, hiking, camping, and other sorts of adventures. I went on lots of motorcycle rides including a ride up and around Yellowstone with my dad, a houseboat trip down to Lake Powell with my family, an annual camping trip with good friends, a ward campout, and many more.

I got the chance to go up to the Olympic Park in Park City and Luge! Given that probably my top favorite winter activity is sledding, that was pretty awesome, admittedly scary, but awesome.

All in all, 2010 has been a pretty amazing year. I hope you had just as full and enjoyable year as well. Here is to 2011! Cheers!

Crash Landing!

2010-08-17T13:40:00.000-07:00

My baby sister just received her driver's license just over a week ago. Last night she was trying to back the car out of the garage and stepped on the gas. Unfortunately for her, the car was in drive and not reverse. Opps! :)

And I shall call him, Bucephalus!

2010-07-09T07:36:00.000-07:00

So as my last post indicated, I did not make it to Ireland. Alas, it was not meant to be. Instead, I got this!!!

My last bike was named Angelina, but this bike is not a girl bike, its a boy bike. I was having a hard time finding a name when my latest boy toy, (thank you Christian!) made an inspired suggestion, Bucephalus! Bucephalus was Alexander the Great's horse and one of the most famous actual horses of antiquity. A massive creature with a massive head, Bucephalus is described as having a black coat with a large white star on his brow. It seemed fitting.

Bucephalus is a Honda ST1300, no, for those of you who are wondering, that is too much bike for little ol' me. :) It is crazy what common peception is out there about what kind of bike a woman should and shouldn't ride. Yesterday, I actually had a man roll down his window and say, "I hate to have to be the one to tell you this, but you don't look like you belong on this bike." I think he meant it as a compliment, so I tried not to tell to go walk the bear. Instead, I replied, "It sounds like we need to change your expectation of who you think should ride this bike." But I have a feeling that is going to be a common tune I sing for the next little while.

So far I have had him for three whole days and put over 200 miles on him. Oh yeah! I forgot. So over the July 4th weekend, my father and I went on a 1,200 mile ride up through the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone to the Bear Tooth Pass on our motorcycles. I was still riding Angelina at the time, I didn't have Bucephalus yet. The ride was absolutely incredible. We didn't ride on freeways and such. We stuck to back routes through canyons and lake sides and the like. It was an absolutely gorgeous ride.

View Grand Tetons,Yellowstone, Bear Tooth Pass, 2010 in a larger map

Ireland Iceland? What's going on?

2010-04-20T16:24:00.001-07:00

Well as some of you may be aware, I was supposed to be going to Ireland this week. I've been planning this trip for the last nine months with some close friends of mine, Ireland enthusiasts, you might call them. The plan was to leave Friday the 16th and return home the 26th.

On the 14th I got a call from one of these friends, Brent, telling me the errupting volcano in Iceland had interrupted airtraffic in all of Europe and that our flight might be canceled. You can imagine how closely we followed the news after this. Friday morning, the flight wasn't canceled so we decided to try. We boarded the plane in Salt Lake, made it all the way to JFK airport and waited for six hours to baord our plane. One hour before we were supposed to board, the flight was cancelled. Ouch.

It wasn't so bad, we spent the night in New York and came home the next day. We still haven't made up our minds as for if we are going to reschedule the trip or just request a refund. (Which I must say I thought was pretty generous of the airlines to offer us both.) I have to admit, while I'm not happy about it, it isn't this bitter pill of dissapointment like I thought it would be. My mom suggested that maybe I am just growing up and learning to cope with disaspointment. I paused when she said this and replied, "... Naw, that couldn't be it!" ;-)

Well Ireland, hopefully you and I will meet again soon!

Adversity

2010-03-16T12:00:00.000-07:00

I came across this message today from Aimee Mullens and found it to be an amazing perspective on adversity. The crux of her message is this,

"Implicit in this phrase, of “over-coming adversity”, is the idea that success or happiness is about emerging on the other side of a challenging experience unscathed or unmarked by the experience. As if my successes in life have come about from an ability to side step or circumnavigate the presumed pitfalls of a life with prosthetics or what other people perceive as my disability. But in fact we are changed, we are marked, of course, by a challenge. Whether physically, emotionally, or both. I am going to suggest this is a good thing. Adversity isn’t an obstacle we need to get around in order to resume living our life, it is part of our life. I tend to think of it like my shadow. Sometimes I see a lot of it, sometimes there’s very little, but it is always with me. Certainly, I am not trying to diminish the impact, the weight of a person’s struggle. There is adversity and challenge in life. And it is all very real and relative to every single person. But the question isn’t whether or not you are going to meet adversity, but how you are going to meet it. So our responsibility is not simply shielding those we care for from adversity, but preparing them to meet it well."

Feel free to check it out here:
http://cnn.com/video/?/video/living/2010/03/08/ted.aimee.mullins.ted

A perfect day!

2010-02-06T23:54:00.000-08:00

Today was my birthday. In the past I have tried to keep quiet and be on modest about it, but this year I really felt like celebrating. The plan was to make the two and half hour drive up to Lava Hot Springs in Idaho with a small group of friends, but when people started canceling, I started to wonder what the day was going to be like. The morning started out with a phone from the last friend who said he couldn't make it. I have to confess, I was a bit bummed; and not at all excited about starting out this day.

Now maybe this is lesson about life, I suppose it isn't much of a stretch, but all I had to do was get out of bed and face the day. I walked out to my front room, where my roommates had decorated and gotten me flowers and birthday breakfast donuts (this was on top of the cookies baked yesterday). What a beautiful way to be greeted in the morning! I told them that the Lava Hot Springs were off and my one roommate, Lynette, could sense I was bummed. So she announced that we were going to go for a walk. She is so great, we start walking down the street and she starts picking up litter and throwing it in the garbage. What a great example. As we neared the end of our walk, I got a phone call from my dear friends, Sorina and Marian, in Romania. I was so excited to talk to them. They were such good friends and took such great care of me while I was there. It was wonderful to hear the voices.

Once we ended the call, my sister came by and picked me up to go for hour long massages at the UCMT (Utah College of Massage Therapy). It is always nice to spend time with my sister and it has been especially wonderful lately as I haven't seen very much of her lately but I got to see her yesterday, today, and will see her tomorrow. Plus, we got massages. :)
I got home from that and jumped in the shower. By the time I got out my good friend, Rob, came and took me out to lunch. We went to Red lobster, I had the shrimp and lobster linguine and it was delicious!

I got back home and jumped online, trying to figure out what I was going to do tonight and found an event at a high class hotel in Salt Lake City. "An evening of Jazz and Music", which turned out to be a five course meals of chocolate deserts. For anyone that knows me, they will know these are two of my great loves. I could not have designed a more perfect evening. I ended going with my dear friend, Melissa and a group of other including her brother and sister, Sterling and Cicely. It was so awesome to just sit in the beautiful lobby of this high class hotel and taste those chocolate delicacies. Everyone seemed to really just enjoy themselves and the conversation we had with each other. Another bonus of the evening was receiving a phone call from my brother who is currently in Korea with the Airforce.

All in all it was an absolutely perfect day. I think any time I start to feel down and like maybe I don't have very many good friends, I just have to remember days like today and remember how lucky and blessed I am to have a great deal of wonderful people who love me. How lucky am I? Thank you all for such a fantastically perfect day!

The wierdos I live with

2009-11-09T13:38:00.000-08:00

I love my new roommates,,, even if they are a little wierd.

And their wierd boyfriends..

Seriously, I live with beautiful and awesome girls!

My New Diggs

2009-10-19T17:14:00.000-07:00

So it has been a couple weeks since I've written anything about me, but its past time. The big announcement,,, drum roll please,,, I moved into a new apartment. I've been living with my sister for the last six months, which has been great. I've really enjoyed being there, it has provided lots of opportunities to spend time with my sister and nephews and new brother in law. However, they moved into a new home, congratulations them, and decided not to take along the extra baggage. ;)

I happened across an apartment complex that I am extremely excited to live in. First and foremost, I realized just recently I have been living in a "temporary status" for the past four or five years. I haven't been living anywhere where I've really settled in and made it my home. Even when I was in Romania, I knew I wasn't going to be there forever and so even though I lived there for two years, it still felt like I was living out of a suitcase. The first thing major benefit I've really enjoyed is hosting people.

Last week I had a couple of co-workers over and we made a cake together.

I also live closer to friends, such as Marcie and Dave

I've also made new friends, and I'm having lots of fun meeting tons of new people. Sam, one such new friends, and I went for a drive up Millcreek Canyon and oh the spendors we enjoyed.

However, the thing I am most excited about in my new place is my awesome new roommates. They are absolutely darling girls and we are already a tight knit group. I'm incredibly grateful I found such awesome friends I get to live with.

Shana, and her boyfriend Dave,
And I have yet to get a picture of Lynette, but this pretty much encapsulates all that is Lynette:

Look familiar?

2009-10-15T13:30:00.001-07:00

One of the many delicious treats I used to enjoy in Romania was "cozonac"; poundcake. This is extremely popular around Easter. Today I happened to open my webbrowser to MSN what what should I see on today's recipe's but... this!
YEAH!!! This stuff is fantastic! You can find the recipe here:

http://www.delish.com/recipefinder/nutella-swirl-pound-cake-recipe

Obama awarded the Nobel Peace Prize?

2009-10-09T08:19:00.000-07:00

I'll say it; I'm a fan of Obama. I think he is a great man with great aspirations. I truly believe that he could have a tremendously positive affect on the world, not just the US, but the world. I think his beginnings as a community planner in the inner city of Chicago is a great place to be coming from when you are trying to make decisions that affect everyone. I read his biography. I earnestly believe he is a good and honorable man. That being said, I have to admit, learning that Obama has been awarded the Nobel Peace this morning was a bit of a surprise. He's been in office less than a year.

The flip side of this I believe is that it is an indication of just how well thought of he is internationally. I was not in the United States for most of Obama's campaign and therefore didn't get to see how things were unfolding. However, being overseas did give me the opportunity to see how receptive the rest of the world is to him. As a result, right from the beginning I thought Obama would be good for the US in repairing relationships with other countries. I think the fact that he has been nominated is a great indication that the rest of the world is open to what the US can achieve.

Way to go Mr. President. We're behind you!

Camping!

2009-09-28T09:42:00.000-07:00

So this last weekend I got to go camping! I went with my "married" friends and a very handsome, attractive, charming person with beautiful blue eyes and winning smile.

Everyone, this is Parker! Troy and Katie's son, he is six months and absolutely adorable!

Of course because Nicole & Brent and Troy & Katie were all together, there was a game of bang. Brent and Katie really got in to it. Autumn is my favorite season and it looks like this year is going to be an incredible year for the leaves so I'm looking foward to that. I have a goal of going all all the major canyons on the Wasatch Front this fall. I'm way jazzed about that. A perfect example of why fall is better. There is nothing like hanging out in a hammock, in the mountains, with someone you love. But something about the autumn, the warmth of the light, the crisp air, the delicious food, just makes all that even better.

We didn't get Dave in the picture, he left way early in the morning to get to work. But the rest of the crew, from left to right; Troy, Katie, Me, Nicole, Parker, Brent, and Seth. Too much fun! Thanks for a good time guys!

Setting up House

2009-09-23T15:28:00.000-07:00

My sister is trying to move into a new house within the next week. (Everyone cross their fingers for her, we aren't sure if everything is going to work out yet.) So last Saturday we tried to get everything ready for her to move it. Its amazing how many little details go into these things. The great part was her two boys got to help with the action.

Rusty helped clean

Wyatt was quite the handy man, putting the closet door knobs on

And my dad over-saw all of us. (Read: came behind us and fixed all the mistakes, like putting the lock on backwards on the door.)

A swingin' time

2009-09-23T15:19:00.000-07:00

So last Friday I went Swing dancing with a couple friends and man was it fun. I really enjoy dancing, but I'm really terrible at it. So finding someone that can move me around was quite enjoyable.

This is my super svelt friend Andrea

I tried to get a picture of her and Ryan dancing, but there were moving so fast it was literally just a blur
Here we have Emily and Tyler, who are getting married this weekend. Congratulations to the happy couple!

And finally me, in my all time favorite dance move, the dip!

Flat Tire and Goodness of Humanity

2009-09-16T09:18:00.001-07:00

I have a theory. A girl does not need to know how to change a tire. (Just for the record, I know how to change a flat tire. I do. It just takes me three hours to do it. ) But she really doesn't. All she needs to do in the event of a flat tire is stand out next to the flat tire and look helpless and within three minutes, so burly man will be along to help. Really, three minutes.

I went to leave for work this morning and didn't even make it more than five feet out of my driveway before I had some kind soul there offering to help me. I didn't have to do anything, he changed the whole thing. It really does restore your faith in humanity, knowing that when you really are in a bind and someone knows how to help you, they are right there waiting to do so.

Good Friends

2009-09-15T09:24:00.000-07:00

Last night was so much fun. I went out with some friends to Salt Lake. Nicole has been a friend of mine since forever when she went and left me for a man! (The nerve! ;) Her husband, Brent, is now working at the church office building so we went up to see what he does. Dave, a friend of Nicole's and mine came along as well. We eat at the Garden Resturant in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building in downtown Salt Lake. Check out the view behind us!
Afterwards we stopped by Troy and Katie's to play "Bang", the stupidest game known to man. Brent and Katie had a bitter duel to the death that lasted a half hour!

But all in all we had lots of fun. And we're such a good looking group!

Finishing up Labor Day weekend

2009-09-10T12:43:00.000-07:00

So just to finish up the Labor weekend, Sunday after church I went up to my parents cabin. This was sort of a sad as my parents are getting ready to sell it at the end of this month. I think they both are sad to see it go, but my dad is looking forward to building a new one just down the way. Either way, it was the first time in a long time since our family has had some quality time together so it was nice to bet here together. We just stayed over night, but still had plenty of time to goof around,

Get in some serious backgammon competitions,

Enjoy eating lots of vegtables from Mom's and Aunt Lisa's garden,

And just hang out

What a weekend! :)

I live in the best state ever part II

2009-09-06T14:34:00.001-07:00

So when I got home from camping yesterday, it was still the middle of the day. Plenty of day light to burn. What could I possible do with a couple of hours in the middle of a beautiful day? Go on a motorcycle ride with my dad of course!
We went up around the Alpine loop that goes from American Fork Canyon to Provo Canyon. It was (I think) my first time around this loop (unless we did it as a kid and I just don't remember). But I can't believe what I was missing. It was the coolest ride ever!

I live in the best state ever!

2009-09-06T14:18:00.001-07:00

I realize this is probably biased, but I think I live in the best state ever. Friday I had decided I wanted to go camping. Now there are a couple things you have to keep in mind, I hadn't given thiis much thought beforehand, and I don't get off work until 5. Fortunately I have friends who are always up for an adventure. Dave, a good friend of mine, said he would be up for the adventure and off we went. Within 20 minutes of leaving my house, we were at the mouth of the canyon, ready to head up. I didn't think we were going to have much luck, getting such a late start on a holiday weekend, but fortunately Dave knew exactly where to go.

We started at the trail head at 8:30 and got to the end of our 2.2 mile hike around 10. We had decided to give "hammock camping" a shot. This was my first time every sleeping in a hammock. And I have to say, aside from getting a little cold that night, it was pretty cool.
I realize there is something about being outdoors that makes food taste really good, but out omelets with avocados the next morning were sooooooo good!
This was our base camp. Again, I live in the coolest state ever!
It was so much fun! I can' t wait to go again! The lake you see behind me here was so clear and smooth, it was like glass. Except for the the 20 fish that were jumping out of it any given moment. (No exaggeration! At any given second, there were at least 20 fish jumping, ii

Summer is almost over

2009-09-04T12:44:00.000-07:00

So I don't know about everyone else, but there are a couple things for me that indicate summer is winding down. Labor Day weekend is certainly one of them, but nothing says Fall is on its way like a football game.

Last night, I went to the first U of U game of the season and it was great. The entire stadium was completely sold out and people were proud to represent their team spirit. It has been quite a while since I've been a student, so sitting in the student section also proved extremely nostalgic. Everyone around me screaming all the cheers and fight songs, it was quite entertaining and a memorable night.

Climb Night

2009-09-03T11:34:00.001-07:00

So what's the latest with me? Well last night I went rock climbing with a couple of co-workers and friends. This has been a new thing for me, I haven't done much climbing before but I really like it. Last night we went up Big Cottonwood Canyon to Challenge Bluff.

Hey down there! This is me, showing off my stuff.

This is Carolina, Skylar's wife. She's the coolest!

Brian and Skylar, a couple of guys I work with

Last but not least, this is a friend, Ryan, doing his thing

This one is for you

2009-09-02T14:14:00.000-07:00

I started this blog when I was living in Romania as a way for people back home to keep up with what I was doing and see pictures of me. While I was never great at keeping it updated reguarly, such updates have been far and inbetween since I have come back to the States. I think my reasoning behind this was that I was mostly just seeing most of the people who wanted to know what was going on with me. These last few weeks have shown me that is not the case and I am touched. I have had several people who have become part of my life and have asked me to update my blog. To those people I say I am sorry I let that slip and that I will do better. I hope no one feels like I have been neglectful. That is not my feeling at all. I am so grateful for the people who have become a part of my life. And now that the schmary part is over, I now progress with today's entry. :)

So last summer my good friends, Sorina and Marian came to the US for almost a month and we drove all over Utah, Arizona, Nevada, and California. Being from Romania, they are used to most goods being transported either via train. As we spent a siginificant amount of time on the highways, we had a good look at the US's main method of transporting goods; the semi truck. Sorina was facinated with these big trucks.

So when a good friend of mine who is a truck driver was passing through Utah, he offered me an inside look at the life of truck driver. Thank you, o' friend of mine!

This is inside living area where he spends a good part of his time when he isn't driving. I was surprised at how basic it was. I guess I thought it would be more like a mini apartment when really all it is is a bed with two shelves.

(sorry, the picture is on its side, I couldn't get it upright)

This is me in the living area. Just call me Vana White.

Wahoo! Look out! Here I come!

Good Times

2009-04-29T14:19:00.001-07:00

Well sorry I haven't been very good about keeping this updated. The upside is that its been because I've been so occupied as of late, which I think is a good thing. :)

Life is good. I moved out of my parents and into my sister's basement. I know, I'm really moving up in the world. :) Actually its a good thing. My sister is getting married in August and this is a sort of last chance to get some real bonding time in with her and her two adorable boys. I've been loving it. Its been awesome to wake up in the morning to handsome blond boys who are so excited that I'm awake they jump on the bed.

Work is going well. I am really liking it a lot. I went to Denver a couple weeks ago on my very first ever business trip. It was just for the day, but a great experience.

And aside from that, here a few pictures of what else I've been up to.

Enjoy!

Catching up with a friend I knew as a Sister missionary in Romania and has started dating a friend of mine, but she didn't meet him through me. Ain't it a small Mormon world?

Going skiing with Melissa up at Sundance for the first time. (At Sundance, not skiing.)

It was so warm that day, by the end we were pushing our skiies through puddles.

Showing off my motorcycle to my friends and taking them for rides. Man I love riding that thing! So awesome!

Snow-shoing up Big CottonWood Canyon. I went with a group of people I had never met before (except one. I'm not some kind of wierdo that just goes up to people and asks if I can join their group. ......... Oh wait, yes I am! ;) Anyways, ended up that one of these guys used to work where I work now and another one of the guys I had known when I was four years old. Again, ain't it a small small world?

Happy Easter!

2009-04-10T07:40:00.000-07:00

Flowrider

2009-03-23T15:46:00.001-07:00

So if I haven't said it enough, I really like my job. Not only do I get to work with some pretty cool people and access to incredible discounts on sporting gear, I also have opportunities come up that I would never get if I didn't work here. Last week all employees were offered the chance to go to Flowrider for free. For those of you who don't know, Flowrider is an indoor simulated surfing/boogie boarding place. It was so much fun!

Check me out on the boogie board!

Afterwards, my friend, Dave (pictured here)

And a couple people I work with, all went to this Mexican grill and got this awesome fresh guacamole that we watched the server scoop the avacados out right in front of us. So cool. I love that my life is full of these kinds of things!

Happy Valentine's Day

2009-02-13T08:35:00.000-08:00

In honor of SAD (Single’s Awareness Day) tomorrow, I thought we should have something to chuckle about. I hope you enjoy it.

Questions About love and relationships posed to children:

HOW DO YOU DECIDE WHOM TO MARRY?

1. You got to find somebody who likes the same stuff. Like, if you like
sports, she should like it that you like sports, and she should keep the
chips and dip coming.
- Alan, age 10

2. No person really decides before they grow up who they're going to
marry. God decides it all way before, and you get to find out later who
you're stuck with.
- Kirsten, age 10

WHAT IS THE RIGHT AGE TO GET MARRIED?

1. Twenty-three is the best age because you know the person FOREVER by
then.
- Camille, age 10

2. No age is good to get married at. You got to be a fool to get
married.
- Freddie, age 6 (Very wise for his age)

HOW CAN A STRANGER TELL IF TWO PEOPLE ARE MARRIED?

1. You might have to guess, based on whether they seem to be yelling at
the same kids.
- Derrick, age 8

WHAT DO YOU THINK YOUR MOM AND DAD HAVE IN COMMON?

1. Both don't want any more kids.
- Lori, age 8

WHAT DO MOST PEOPLE DO ON A DATE?

1. Dates are for having fun, and people should use them to get to know
each other. Even boys have something to say if you listen long enough.
- Lynnette, age 8 (Isn't she a treasure)

2. On the first date, they just tell each other lies and that usually
gets them interested enough to go for a second date.
- Martin, age 10

WHAT WOULD YOU DO ON A FIRST DATE THAT WAS TURNING SOUR?

1. I'd run home and play dead. The next day I would call all the
newspapers and make sure they wrote about me in all the dead columns.
- Craig, age 9

WHEN IS IT OKAY TO KISS SOMEONE?

1. When they're rich.
- Pam, age 7

2. The law says you have to be eighteen, so I wouldn't want to mess with
that.
- Curt, age 7

3 The rule goes like this: If you kiss someone, then you should marry
them and have kids with them. It's the right thing to do.
- Howard, age 8

IS IT BETTER TO BE SINGLE OR MARRIED?

1 . I don't know which is better, but I'll tell you one thing. I'm never
going to have sex with my wife. I don't want to be all grossed out.
- Theodore, age 8

2. It's better for girls to be single but not for boys. Boys need
someone to clean up after them.
- Anita, age 9 (Bless you child)

HOW WOULD THE WORLD BE DIFFERENT IF PEOPLE DIDN'T GET MARRIED?

1. There sure would be a lot of kids to explain, wouldn't there ?
- Kelvin, age 8

"And the #1 Favorite is........"

HOW WOULD YOU MAKE A MARRIAGE WORK ?

Tell your wife that she looks pretty even if she looks like a truck.
- Ricky, age 10

How can I resist?

2009-01-20T16:43:00.000-08:00

I have been sick this last week. No fun at all. It is just your average run of the mill cold, but I feel like I've been attacked by the green snot monster. For work we have an important exhibition show coming up in a few days that it is very important I take part in; and not be sick for. So yesterday I left work early intending to go home and get some sleep, let my body heal itself.

Unbeknown to me, my two nephews were at my mom's house as it was Martin Luther King day, and they didn't have school or daycare. So I went down to my bedroom to lay down and sleep when in they came. They were determined to entertain me. They brought toys into my bedroom for me, played charades and had me guess what they were, they crawled under my covers and made a tent for me,,, well, one of them did, the other one was the "monster" who attacked us from outside. And they were both just so cute, giving me hugs and kisses, wanting to be close. They are so cute and darling, I just couldn't help myself.

So needless to say, I didn't get the rest I planned on getting. But what I got was so much better!

Survived!

2009-01-04T12:39:00.000-08:00

Well I just finished with my first Sunday as the Sunbeam Teacher! For anyone who doesn't know what the means, at the church I attend, I was asked to teach the class of four-year-olds. And let me tell you, these children are absolutely adorable!!! and I absolutely love them. But after two hours, I was so glad class was up. I was exhausted!
All in all, I'm really glad I get the opportunity to do this. The kids are so much fun and just so stinkin' cute, I almost can't stand it! This week we sang a song, practised being little puppy's and kitty's, and colored. (At which point the two activities were combined and they started carrying around the crayons in thier mouths like a puppy carries a bone. Ah well, close enough right? :)
I can't wait until next week!

Gingerbread Houses!

2008-12-24T21:41:00.000-08:00

My awesome Aunt Lisa (pictured above) is one of the coolest people I know. One of the things she really likes doing is making ginger bread houses.

A couple of weeks ago, she told everybody, and I mean everybody; the family, neighbors, family friends, vagrant street wanderers, the she would bake the ginger bread if they wanted to come over to her house and make a gingerbread house. She ended up with a house full of people including packs of candy-hyped-up-kids. (So cute when they aren't your own! ;)

Lily and Lucy, my cousin's girls

The Moris's granddaughter.
I told her to smile and this is what I got.

The Crosby's work on their house together.

My lovely sister Katelyn snuggles up with Topher. She's a real hit with the 0-4 crowd.

Cheryl and her boyfriend Chet.

My cousin Emily showng off her best look.

Thanksgiving pictures for Christmas, maybe I'll get my Christmas pictures up by Valentine's Day

2008-12-24T21:36:00.000-08:00

So this is incredibly belated. But here is how I spent my Thanksgiving last month. It was actually an awesome weekend. I went with my family down to Moab Utah and my wonderful parents rented a jeep. So much fun!

We went with some family friends, the Moris'. These guys are old hands at this stuff. On one of trails, "Hell's Revenge", the 4 wheel drive went out on their Jeep Cherokee. You would think that meant game over right? Nope, not for these guys, that didn't slow them down one bit.

But really it was just awesome to be able to spend time with the family. This is me and my brother (who, incidentally, got married last month) posing in front of "Lion's Back", one of the obstacles they closed to vehicles after a lot of people died on it.

Mom enjoyed the ride from the passenger's seat where she could see the view, have the heater blowing right on her feet, and still read her book.

Have a lovely Holiday Season and in the mean time...

2008-12-22T07:16:00.000-08:00

Greetings all! I hope everyone is enjoying the winter weather the whole nation seems to be getting. This last weekend we got a few inches of snow and I decided to make the most of it. My two adorable nephews were hanging out with us and so I took them sledding. All of the sudden, I have a whole new respect for my mom. I had no idea just how much effort it takes to get to little boys into full snow gear. Wow! No wonder Mom never went sledding with us. By the time we got there, she was already exhausted!

But as for me, I was the super cool Aunt! Not only did I go sledding, I packed the sleds up the hill everytime. And boy did my nephews make the most of that! What a joy it is to see them having such a grand time. It was awesome.

I hope everyone has a magical month filled with moments of fun in the snow, new memories with their family, and lots of love all around.

In the meantime, I wanted to share something else with you. Enjoy! :)

WHO IS YOUR ROLE MODEL???
Try it without looking at the answers......

please don't look down until you do it, you'll love it I promise

GET A CALCULATOR or YOU CAN DO IT IN YOUR HEAD

1) Pick your favorite number between 1-9
2) Multiply by 3 then
3) Add 3, then again Multiply by 3 (I'll wait while you get the calculator....)
4) You'll get a 2 or 3 digit number....
5) Add the digits together

Now Scroll down .............

Now with that number see who your ROLE MODEL is from the list below:

1. Einstein
2. Barak Obama
3. Abraham Lincoln
4. Helen Keller
5. Bill Gates
6. Gandhi
7. George Clooney
8. Thomas Edison
9. Marie Mines
10. Abraham Lincoln

I know....I just have that effect on people....one day you too can be like me.... :-) Believe it!

I thought it was worth a giggle

2008-11-18T13:24:00.000-08:00

Just a quick update, life is wonderful! I am loving my new job, my new car and motorcycle. I'll get pictures and post soon but for now I got something from a coworker I thought was worth sharing.

Note sent the next school day with 1st grader...

Sorry Teacher.

That's not a dance pole on stage in a strip joint! ...I work at Home Depot.

...that's me selling a shovel.

-Mrs. Smith

From 6 wheels to 6 wheels

2008-10-29T16:18:00.000-07:00

As many of you have seen, the vehicle I have been getting around is my parents. It is a Chev truck that has a double-cab, extended bed, duel tires on the back (meaning the truck has 6 wheels on it), and a shell on the top. I am sure you could not drive a vehicle any longer, taller, or wider without a commercial driver's license. It gets about 8 gallons to the mile,, err, that is, 8 miles to the gallon. Its a terrible truck to be driving around as a commuter vehicle.
Not that I am not grateful for my parent's generosity. But it was high time to get different mode of transportation with better gas mileage.

So this week I decided it was high time to make that purchase and bought not just a car, but a motorcycle as well! I am really lucky I have a friend who is a big time motorcycle enthusiast and offered his assistance in helping me make my selection. What would I do without friends I can take advantage of? ;)

So here it is! Isn't it awesome! It is a 1982 Yamaha 650. I can't wait to really get out there and ride!

Something within us?

2008-10-28T13:29:00.000-07:00

Recently I saw the movie "Hancock". I don't know how many of you have seen this but I would encourage it. In going to this movie, one can not go with the expectations of seeing a classic Will Smith comedy that will be chalk full of laughs. This movie has lots of tragedy and struggle. Now as I said, I liked it, and it caused to stop a think.

There have been tons of movies and TV shows coming out lately about "normal" people discovering some special ability that makes them exceptional. I think the reason of the success of these movies is because people relate to them. In the same way that every girl hopes deep down inside that she actually is a princess and will one day be whisked away by her fairy god-mother, every person -male or female- believes that there is more to him/her than can be seen or is known.

As I am of the belief that there is more to us than we recognize in this flawed and imperfect world I think it is interesting to see how the world acknowledges that there is something immortal about us, but isn't able to put it to a better understanding than the ability to stick to walls, be invisible, fly, move objects with our minds etc.

Oh if we only recognized our true capabilities, our true value, our true abilities.

My Dad the Hero

2008-10-13T18:41:00.000-07:00

For better or worse, I am a daddy’s girl. Don’t get me wrong, my mom is the most incredible woman living on the planet, bar none. But my Dad and I have so much fun hanging out and talking.

This last weekend he totally helped me out by changing my brake pads. You can see from the pictures, (Yes, the second one from the left doesn’t actually have a pad any more.) that they were in desperate need of changing. So I made plans to hang out with some friends on Saturday and when I woke up (at 11) and told my dad I needed to have the brake pads changed by two that afternoon, he went to bat and got it done for me.

My dad is amazing.

Success!

2008-10-05T20:49:00.000-07:00

Well, the bad news is I won't have any excess leisure time left. The good news is.... I GOT A JOB! I am going to be working for a company by the name of Liberty Mountain. They distribute outdoor sporting good equipment. I will be an "In-house-accounts Manager". What that means is for example you have a store like Cabellas, they want to stock their shelves with a certain item, so they will send in an order form which I will process and be in charge of making sure the product gets shipped out correctly etc etc etc.
I'm really excited about this. I really feel like this is a wonderful company and I am looking forward to being in this industry. I was talking to the manager there about my first day and what to expect and he was saying, "Well, we'll have you meet a few people, fill out some paper work. We might also have you actually work in the warehouse for a bit just so you can get a flavor of what is going on down on the floor." I responded, "So I guess that means I shouldn't come in a business suit and heels?" He paused for a second and then said, "No. You should never ever come dressed like that. On any day." It was so awesome. This is going to be my job. I'll keep everyone posted on how it goes but in the meantime, wish me luck! :)

The advantage to being unemployed

2008-10-01T12:10:00.000-07:00

Ah yes, the sleeping in each morning, the books I have the time to read, the being available to do what ever I want to do when ever I want, the advantages to being unemployed. I decided to take a few days this week and go up to my parent’s cabin up in the mountains. I arrived Wednesday afternoon and left early Saturday morning. I think it is interesting how much easier it is to want to be active when I am completely alone than when I know eventually some one else will come along and put that dirty dish in the dishwasher for me. (Sorry mom. ;) But there is something to this.

There is something about being in the mountains in the autumn that makes everything seem sharper, clearer, better. The light is warmer, mellower, and it softens as it hits the yellowing leaves shaking in the breeze. On Thursday I decided to walk down to the little stream running at the foot of the property. Getting down there and just sitting by the water was so calming and relaxing. I found mint growing by the side and was able to make mint tea.

Not that everything was perfect. The first day I arrived I noticed that the homemade pinecone bird feeders my nephews had made were completely picked clean from all of the birdseed. I decided it would be nice to have some birds to look at while I was there so I set to work to make my own birdfeeders. Then came the first problem, I could not find a pinecone within a five mile radius. I searched and searched, went to visit ALL of the pine trees in the area and not one of them had a single pine cone resting on the ground or beneath its boughs. I settled and decided to just use a stick with a 90° angle on it. Then came problem number two, I couldn’t find any string. My resolve to make these birdfeeders was wavering at this point. I did find something I could make do with and finally got the birdfeeders constructed. Then came problem number this, there weren’t any birds. I kept checking every time I passed by the window to see if some lucky bird had found the cache. Then I started searching the sky and the tree tops to see if I could even find a bird. There wasn’t a single one. It was like they had already migrated south. I was so discouraged. Friday morning I woke up unusually early, (in one of the “S” hours!) and heard the sweetest sound, birds chirping. They had found the birdfeeders!

Friday afternoon I decided to go for a walk. I walked down the road quite a ways and then made my way down to the stream. My plan was to follow the stream up to the cabin. I made it about ten feet before I looked up and not twenty feet away from me, I saw this beauty!

They looked calm enough, but I decided they might not take kindly to someone walking through the stream they were drinking from. So I quickly and quietly made my retreat. But I can say this was definitely my closest encounter with a moose.

Ah yes, it is the simple pleasures of life.

Job Hunting

2008-09-17T00:22:00.000-07:00

Hello all my peeps,
Things are finally settled in and I am home. I've been trying to secure gainful employment recently and came up with this idea for the cover letter of my resume. Hope you enjoy!

Top 10 reasons I would be a better employee than Superman

10. I don't even own a cape.

9. Sure he's saved the world, b ut did he do it while working AND
going to school at the same time?

8. I'll never have to speed off with no explanation.

7. I have no limit when it comes to discovering new abilities.

6. All I need for power is a little caffeine.

5. No worries about that x-ray vision being an H.R. concern.

4. I don't attract super villains.

3. No double identity issues to bring to work.

2. Superman debuted in the 1930s,
I'm no where near retirement.

1. My only weakness is chocolate.

Ownership is 9/10s of the lot

2008-08-27T21:56:00.000-07:00

So I am trying to get back into the swing of things now that I am home and officially no longer on vacation. Its been a slow process, but I'm trying to worm my way into it. I have been looking for places of employment (I'm trying to avoid just looking for a "job", and employment just sounds better ;), and last night I tried to buy a car. Thats right, tried. I was out walking around the neighborhood last evening when I came across this car that I had noticed before by the side of the road. "Runs great! Cool AC! 4 Sale $750" it said in the windows. So I started looking at it. The wife of the owner came out and we started talking and I offered her $500 for it. She went back and talked to her husband and came back saying, "Well, my husband wants $750, but I told him I was going to give it to you for $500 because I think you are sweet. But you probably want to take it for a test drive before wouldn't you think." I agreed. So I took it up and around the Lark loop above my home. And I knew at this point it was a $500 car, it started shaking when pushed past 60 mph, and pulled to the right, and was putting around curves, but I thought, "If it just last me six months, that is fine." So on my way back I stopped at my house to get the money and my two sisters joined me to see my new car.
We went back to the house and gave the lady the money. Her husband came out at the that point and told me he didn't have the title there, it was at his mom's and would it be okay if I just swung by the next day to pick it up? I said that was fine. We left, filled the gas tank, and we were off in my new car. It was great. For about 4.5 miles up the road, and then, Kaboom! My sisters were laughing so hard, I could barely get them to help me push! Finally, we put my little sister in front of the wheel, (note, she doesn't have her license yet) and my and my other sister were behind pushing. The plan was to get the car rolling, and I figured we were on enough of a slope, we could coast back. So Cheryl and I gave a great big push... nothing.... finally I yelled up to my other sister, "Take your foot off the brake so we can get this thing moving!" We got the car turned around and rolling down into town and then tried to open the door to through ourselves in. The doors were locked. So Cheryl and I stood and watched the car go for about a half a mile before my sister finally braked and waited for us to catch up.
Okay, we had a better plan this time. This time we were going to keep the doors already open. So once again, we gave a great big push, and off she went. We were huffin' and puffin' after it. I made it up to the door and just threw myself sideways into the car yellin' at Cheryl, "Common' you can make it!" She was still laughing so hard, she could hardly keep up.
At this point Katelyn is freaking out. "We're going to fast!" (I had to admit, I was pretty impressed with how much speed we gained. We were doing 30,40 mph.) But I wouldn't let her brake in fear of having to get out and push again. Finally, we made it back down to the owner's house.
I went up to the door and knocked, the lady came to the door, "Umm, I know technically the transaction is over but is there any way we can undo this? This car just went kaput!" Fortunately they were really nice and gave me the money back. But you wouldn't believe the grief I am still getting from my family. "So Marie! You want a new car?! I got one for $500! It'll last a whole 20 minutes!" Gotta love having your own car again.

The tapestry of life

2008-08-23T16:38:00.000-07:00

Well Folks, the weary traveler has reached an end of her journey, for a little while anyways. I am sorry I haven't posted anything recently. I was talking to a friend last night who chastised me for this. I told her that even though I am back in the States I haven't really considered myself "home" yet. As long as Sorina and Marian were here I still had a part of Romania very present and so I didn't have to face reality. And for some reason, writing would have intruded on that somehow.

But I suppose I can't hide any longer. Sorina and Marian left last Thursday and I am now officially home. We have a wonderful whirlwind trip. It seems like I have had more story worthy adventures in the past three weeks than I have the whole past year. Highlights include everything from a limousine ride, a hot air balloon ride, a more eating at different restaurants with various cuisines than I've thought was possible, hanging out at my parents cabin, seeing the Grand Canyon, going on the "Screamin' California" roller coaster four times in a row at Disneyland, body surfing, getting the sunburn of my life, seen "Wicked" on Broadway, seen "Les Miserables" at Tuacan in Saint George Utah, gambled in Las Vegas, (I entered a quarter in a slot machine, it counts) and last but certainly not least, shopped 'til I dropped.

With all of that, its hard to imagine that there would be room for anything. But another aspect of this whole adventure has been witnessing people around me and what they took from each of these adventures. My little sister Katelyn went with us around the States. It was amazing to see how she has grown and matured. I had no idea how much she had changed while I was gone. She was so patient and kind through everything. My mom was having as much fun as I did showing Sorina and Marian new things they had never experienced before. She would wake up as early as two hours before the rest of us, even though we had all been up late the night before, looking online and calling around to find out neat places to take us and get all the facts so we could make a well informed decision. You'd think I would know this already, but come to find out my mom can live on three hours of sleep. Of course it was great to watch Sorina and Marian on this trip. I hope they had a good time, but more than that, I hope it somehow adds to their life once they get back home. Perspective is a tricky thing, its usually gained with some distance. Poor Marian. Two weeks in a car with four females. The guy deserves a medal for surviving it.

When we took them to the airport two days ago, it was really hard to say goodbye. Not only because it meant I had to say goodbye to some dear dear friends for a really long time, but also because it meant the vacation was over.

So now what you ask? Well, I don't know. I don't have a job yet, I don't have a car. I am by all accounts a bum and a mooch. (Thank heavens for generous parents.) I'm trying to slowing work my way back into the stride of things. I'd love to see everyone. I've spent the last two days going through things I had put in storage and throwing most of it away. That was actually pretty nice. I feel like its helped me connect a little bit.

And that my dear friends is where its at. I want everyone to know that I really appreciate the support and love everyone has shown me through everything I have been through. I don't want to get to mushy here, but there have been many times in my life now where I just know I could not have made it were it not for the friends I've made. So here is a big fat universal thank you with all my love. For now, feel free to call, stop by, I'd love to see you.
-M

Closing time

2008-07-28T15:32:00.000-07:00

On the eve before my departure from Europe I am strangely detached. It feels like I am finally reaching a definite end to something and about to start something else new. Even though I will still be traveling for the next three to four weeks, it will be in my native country, the country of my birth, the country of my native tongue, the country with which I am most familiar; and that in and of itself feels strange.My family went on a week long cruise through the Mediterranean sea which was amazing. It was the first cruise for my sisters and myself and the second for my parents. I had already been to several of the cities that we stopped in, however I really enjoyed going back for a second visit. And I don't know if I am just out of the loop, but the actual cruise ship was unbelievable. The ship itself had a full sized movie theater, an ice-skating rink, multiple pools and hot tubs, a solarium, huge dining rooms with sweeping views with ceiling to floor windows; and then on top of that, you could ice cream ANY time you wanted! It was incredible! ;) I really do recommend cruising for anyone who hasn't done it yet. And yet, for all that, I think the most memorable part of the cruise was meeting people and making friends. I met several people who I hope to be in contact with for a long time. It just proves the point, "It isn't where you are at the matters, it is who you are with that counts."
Moving on, we finished the cruise in Rome Italy, where we are now. We leave tomorrow morning for New York on a afternoon flight and arrive into New York in the early evening. (Go figure that one out.) I am extremely excited to be meeting up with my dear friends Sorina and Marian who are from Romania. I will be bringing them back to Utah with me and then we will be traveling around quite a bit; Grand Canyon, Las Vegas, Disneyland; as many of the big tourist points in that area as we can hit.
I am looking forward to going back to the States, but I have to confess, I'm terrified to go home. I think once I get to Utah I will actually have to face reality and stop living in this fantasy world where I travel around from city to city and have no responsibilities or obligations. I'll have to face those big issues like getting a job, making new friends (Because all my friend up and got married while I was gone if they weren't already married before. Ya big fat lot of traitors! Up and abandon me like that! ;) finding a permanent place to live and the like. The job thing is a big one because I really don't want to get just "a job." I'm ready for something I could really sink my teeth into and be passionate about, the problem is I have no idea what that is. (Consider this notice for carte blanch for suggestions. I am wide open.) At this point though, I still have the attitude that everything is going to work itself out.
For now, I'm looking forward to New York, and showing the splendors of home to Sorina and Marian and seeing people I haven't seen in two years. Don't be afraid to drop a line and pester me about getting together. I can't wait to see everyone again.
On that note, I am signing off. Here's hugs and kisses to the whole universe!
Marie

Taking it easy, finally, in Florence

2008-07-19T04:34:00.000-07:00

Well I know how cliche this is, but I haven't blogged nearly as much about this trip as I wanted to. The first probelm has been internet access. It hasn't been availiable in wi-fi at every location like I thought it would. The second problem is simply time. Boy has this been a whirl-wind vacation. In talking with my family, I decided that trying to see over fifteen cities in more than six countries within a single month is not a good idea. I think if we had to do it over again, we would probably see fewer cities and stay more than a day and half in each of them. Oh well, you live and you learn. Right now we are staying in Florence for a whole three nights! It seems like we have been here forever, but it is a nice change of pace.
In the mean time, we have been having fun and seen a lot of amazing things. Mom is an old pro at the train station now. And Dad has learned that his "excellent sense of direction" might be more based on having the gargantuam Rocky Mountains close by than the compass in his nose. :) Really we've all learned just a little bit about ourselves through all this.
We leave tomorrow on a cruise ship from Rome for a week. We are all looking forward to that. And then after that, we head back to New York. Holy Cow! I'm going to be back in the States for the first time in over two years!
Look out! Here I come! :)

Through Vienna and Prague

2008-07-10T15:27:00.000-07:00

Greetings all,

well the trip is proceeding nicely. I nearly got my sister and I thrown into jail and mom and dad have now spent countless nights not sleeping in the same bed. Oh the joys of traveling. ;)
Seriously, things are going well and I feel very lucky to be able to take this kind of vacation with my family.
Due to the fact that I have run out of space on my account, we posted all the vacation pictures on my sisters account. So anyone that wants to look at all the pictures can find them here.
Our Family Vacation Picture Album
Thanx for your comments and your emails. I'm sorry I haven't been able to respond. My internet time is severely limited. I promise to do better as soon as I have a steady connection.
Until then, hugs and kisses for all,
Marie

The Saga from Budapest

2008-07-07T09:34:00.000-07:00

Unfortunately, same thing. I simply do not have the time to fill in the blanks. Hopefully the pictures will mean something.

The Saga from Romania

2008-07-07T09:25:00.000-07:00

Why hello all!!!

First and foremost let me tell you, trying to find an internet connection has not been easy! For a while my laptop was giving me issues so there you have it.

To say our family trip has been interesting so far would be an understatement. But I won´t go into the details. For now I will just post some pictures and let them say the thousands of words I do not have time to write.

Wahoo!

2008-06-29T11:25:00.000-07:00

My family is here! I am leaving Galati! I am traveling Europe for a month. Talk about a crazy life!
Last Thursday I went to the airport in Bucuresti and met my family and brought them back here. For the past few days we've met a lot of the people who have been in my life for these past two years and eat a lot of really good food. Tomorrow morning our official trip begins at 5 am as we head to Bucuresti and I will no longer be a Peace Corps Volunteer. I'm feeling so many different emotions right now, I can't even begin to sort them out myself. I'm sure you can imagine. For now, I'm just concentrating on enjoying being with my family and seeing the various sites we'll be seeing.
In the meantime, my internet connection has been kaput ever since last week. Combined with the craziness of getting ready for everything, I want to throw out a universal apology to all who have emailed me and I haven't had time to respond. I promise, it wasn't intentional, I'm not ignoring anyone intentionally, and I'm sorry. I will respond as soon as I am able.
I hope to be able to keep this up and post pictures so you can see some of the places my family and I have been. Enjoy!
M

Catching up

2008-06-19T15:00:00.000-07:00

I know many of you will identify with this, but the closer I get to leaving, the fast time seems to be going. So much has happened and I am doing my best to document everything. I have taken to carrying my camera with me in my purse everywhere I go, just in case there is something I want to take a picture of.

In the last two weeks I have had tons of experiences I would love to share with you, but just have so much to say. So instead, I posted all the pictures with captions to somewhat explain what is going on. I hope you like it.

To see what a traditional Romanian wedding is like with all the customs, please click here

To see what the end of school is like for a lot of Romanian kids is like, please click here

To see the odds of ends of me wrapping things up and getting ready to leave, please click here

Top 10 things I will miss about Romania

2008-06-12T13:20:00.000-07:00

The Top Ten things I will miss most from Romania

(in no particular order)

________________________________________

Sarmale, ciorba, sarmale, and other Romanian food

Pink toilet paper

Lighting candles at the Orthodox Church

Using public transportation to get around. Aka: trains, maxi-taxis, trams, etc

Not having to be qualified to do a job

Being close to bunch of other cool countries

Seeing beer on the menu at McDonalds

Being the exotic American girl

Pink, red, and purple hair on old ladies

The many friends I have made here

To all you chefs

2008-06-06T00:24:00.000-07:00

Greetings all!

One of the many little projects that some of our Romanian Peace Corps Volunteers have been working on is a cook book. It is something I have really appreciated because they put recipes in there that don't require ingredients you can't find here. (Like for example, shortening or corn syrup.) However, one of the awesomest sections has been the section for traditional foods. It has all the traditional foods I have come to love here; from Eggplant salad, to Mici, to Sarmale.

Recently they published our cookbook online. (My huge thanx to all of my fellow Peace Corps colleagues who were involved.) So here is the link if you would like to check out the kind of food I have been eating for the past two years. I hope you enjoy, or should I say, Pofta Buna!

Romanian Peace Corps Cook Book

My latest crush

2008-06-03T13:50:00.000-07:00

I have a confession to make. When I watch a movie I really like, I can watch again, almost immediately as soon as I am done watching it. Of course, it is even better the second time because I know what is going to happen I can fast-forward through the parts I don't like and get right to the good stuff.My most recent obsession is the movie, "p.s. i love you". In the last three weeks I have watched this movie no less than fifteen times. It is so cute! And I love that it doesn't take the easy way out and give the happy-ever-after-ending. Not to mention the incredibly sexy Irish accents. I think everyone I made watch this movie with me thought that Jeffery Dean Morgan really was Irish until we looked it up and discovered he is in fact American. His accent and mannerisms are dead on.

A wholesome weekend of wellness

2008-06-01T11:18:00.001-07:00

This weekend was so fantastic. To start, June 1st is Children's Day. (Not just here in Romania, but internationally. How cool is that!?) So most of my activities some how revolved around that. It all started Friday when I went out to the village like I do every week and took my English Club students who are in the 5th and 6th grades to visit the kindergarten. The kindergarten isn't in the main school but a separate building about 15 minutes walk away from the main school in the village. It also has over 60 children attending this year. (Talk about a hand full. There are only three teachers.) So my and my students got everything packed up and walked there. As we were walking up the road, we could see little heads poking out around the gate to see us coming, and then they would disappear and we would hear screams of excitement. It was so cute. My students performed a play for the little ones, "The Three Little Pigs" in English. No, the little ones don't speak English, but afterwards we were quizzing them to see how much they understood and it was pretty impressive how much they got. Afterwards my students passed out candy to them and played on the play ground with them. I am so proud of them, I almost can't hold it in. Here is our club, which incidentally, the students proclaimed themselves the "Dangerous Angels" club. So here are my little Dangerous Angels:

Saturday I woke up sort of late and had to get a move on in order to meet all the LDS young single adults (and a few not so single ones) at the Botanical Gardens in Galati. We planned an activity and it turned out really well. I have been to the garden several times, but never in June (last day of May, same thing) when all of the roses were in bloom. The thing this garden is most famous for is the rose garden section, and it actually was beautiful. We walked around and took a ton of pictures. We also went to the museum/aquarium/planetarium.

This is the PCV couple, Nils and Emily, who live in Braila. She really does like him, I promise.

They are actually one of the coolest couples I have ever met and thats where they enter this weekend tale of craziness. After we were done at the garden, Nils, Emily, Tanta, and I all went back to my place for what was supposed to be a quick lunch. It ended up being about three hours. What are ya gonna do? But we had a wonderful time chatting and fixing food. I'm also starting to prepare things for when I leave and was trying to get rid of cloths in my closet. So the girls had a little fashion show trying on all my cloths.

After that we all took a maxi-taxi down to Braila and stayed the night with Nils and Emily. Braila has a little "faleza" or promenade next to the Danube river just like Galati, except the one in Galati is cooler. (But then again, I might be a little bit biased in that opinion.)

Today after church we had a linger longer, that was Sister Bryson's idea, and it was awesome. After church was over we all hung out and ate a small snack of "eggplant salad" on bread with thinly sliced tomatoes on top and cornflake-crispies. I honestly didn't think people would want to hang out after church or anything, but just like any normal human, show them food and they will stay.

After that was over we went as a Relief Society to an orphanage to give away some sweets and goodies to the kids there. Again, that was happened due to the amazing planning and execution skills of Sister Bryson and Tanta. Its pretty amazing to stand back and see what happens when they get together. The kids at the orphanage were cute. We didn't stay very long. Just long enough to wish them a happy Children's day and sing a few songs together. But it was actually perfect in its simplicity and sweetness. I have been totally inspired and uplifted by all the amazing women I am surrounded by here.

All in all, it was a fantastic weekend. I realized today in church that this week was going to be my last fast and testimony meeting here in Galati. Its the beginning of "the last time" here. Its so strange to realize I'm going to be leaving soon, but I am so freaking excited about my family coming and seeing all of this I don't think I have realized yet that I am going to have to say goodbye to some of these people. I guess a little denial never hurt anyone right? ;)

Hosting at my place

2008-05-25T08:40:00.000-07:00

Well as I am approaching the one month left of my Peace Corps service, I thought I would let everyone know some of the things I am doing to fill the time.

This weekend was awesome. Tanta and I went shopping together Saturday afternoon getting ready for a big dinner that evening at my place where we hosted the senior LDS missionary couple in Galati, the new PCV couple in Braila, the farmer from Idaho, the LDS Romania Mission President and his wife, and Tanta and I. It was quite an event for my poor little apartment. But man oh man did we have fun! It was a wonderful meal filled with pleasant conversation and laughter. Afterwards, Tanta, Nils, Emily, and I went for a walk. They all decided to stay over at my place so we had a grand sleep over.

In the course of the evening, I started telling them about this terrible nightgown one of our fellow PCVs had left at my apartment. This ugly flannel affair that belongs to a House on the Prairie or a Civil War re-enactment. It was funny because Kevin, one of the guys, had grabbed the nightgown for his lady, Karly, thinking it would be a comfortable house coat to "chill" in. Of course all of us girls were just howling in laughter and embarrassment that a man would ever think such a thing. I at this point, went and pulled it out to show them just how ugly it was when Nils said, "you know, I don't think its that bad. Here, let me try it on." And try it on he did.

He even slept in it last night!

An Orthodox Easter

2008-05-07T01:35:00.000-07:00

Well Easter finally came and went in Romania. As previously explained, (Click here if you didn't catch it.) the Orthodox calender is a bit different than the Julian one, so We just celebrated Easter two weeks ago. I was lucky enough to accompany Sorina and Marian to visit Marian's family up in Pascani, a little city in the northwest part of Romania. It was a fairly typical Orthodox Easter full of traditional customs and relaxation. We dyed eggs;

We went out to the country and saw all the animals.
(This is me pickin' up chicks. Get it? Pickin' up chicks? he he he, I kill myself)

We went for a walk out in the fields. This is Sorina and Marian enjoying the fresh country air.

And of course there was lots of good food going around.
This is the tradional "ciorba miel" (lamb soup) which I found particularly tasty.

All in all, it was a very successful Easter. I'm really glad I get to be part of these awesome traditions.

The City of Lights

2008-04-16T15:50:00.000-07:00

One of the many perks to being in Peace Corps is that you are located in exotic locations, surrounded by other exotic locations, with the opportunity to go and see these exotic locations. I've just returned from Paris. Just to be able to say that is the coolest thing ever.

I went with a good friend of mine I have known since high school. He is such a darling and we had a wonderful time together. Some of the highlights of the trip included in no particular order:

*Walking through the streets of Paris
*Seeing the Eiffel Tower
*Seeing the Eiffel Tower at Night
*Staying with a senior missionary couple enroute to Paris
(Thank you Hansons! You are the best!)
*Going to the Louvre
*Staying in the nicest hotel I have ever stayed in my life
*Attending an Organ concert at Notre Dame
*Dining on French pasteries
*Crossing the River Siene on the Pont Neuf bridge,
*Being able to say, "Oui" and "Merci!"

Here are a few pics from my adventure. As always, you can catch all of them by clicking on the "see all my pics" link in the upper right-hand corner of my blog.

These are two new Peace Corps Volunteers who are recently arrived. They have been married 11 months and will be assigned to Braila, a city about 45 minutes south of Galati. The really cool part, they are LDS. Its nice to have more than one of us around! It was so awesome to meet Emily and Nils Bergman. They are an awesome couple and Romania and Peace Corps are lucky to have them. Welcome to the country guys!

You can't tell, but we are on Pont Neuf right now. Those two goof ball Americans! What are we going to do with them?

The most cliche picture ever. But it has to be shared.

In front of Notre Dame. Oh yeah, one other side note. We were there at an end of a mass and were blessed by a Catholic Arch Bishop. That's gotta count for something right? ;)

Too cute!!!

2008-04-03T09:42:00.000-07:00

One of my enjoyable projects here in Galati is going to a foundation every week for children. It is called, "Inima de Copil" (Heart of the Child). They have a sort of day care/after school program for children to come after school, work on their homework, have a snack, etc. So I go and we have an hour of English every week with various themes, colors, food, animals, you get the idea. Well this last month, actually, the whole week they have been focusing on "traveling" around the world and learning about a different continent every week. So like for example we "went" to Africa on a lion hunt one week, and to Asia and did origami another week. Well this week was South America.

First of all, I had to brush of my very dusty high school Spanish, and boy would you cringe if you had heard me. "Como estas?" (Said with a Romanian accent.) And I had to look up the colors online, I used to know them all by heart. Plus I had to call my friend, Martha, back home to ask her how to say something and I woke her and her husband up. (Sorry Martha and Tyson!)
However, for the end of the lesson, I took my MP3 player and we did "Latin" dances together. I am not a ballroom dancer, but just showing them the basic idea for the tango, the cha cha, how to salsa. It was the cutest thing EVER! I've posted both the videos on youtube. I hope you enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxFb8If5enQ&feature=user
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RRnM2Zex_M&feature=user

Durau

2008-04-01T14:50:00.000-07:00

Well for starters, I am the biggest slacker ever. I had this awesome experience a week and a half ago and I am just now getting around to writing about it. I'll try to make up for my laziness.

So I have this incredibly awesome friend here in Galati named Tanta. (Pronounced, "Tan-za") She is a university student I met about a year ago and has become the reason I have been able to do half the stuff I have done here. She is an intensely talented artist and so therefore due to the efficiency of the educational system here in Romania she is studying engineering. Tanta lived in a home with her sister run by the Romanian Orthodox church (aka: a home for young girls run by nuns and priests) for quite a number of years. She is extremely religious and even though she decided to join the Mormon church last year, she still keeps in touch with her old friends from the past.

The reason I am giving the background here is so you can understand what prompted this whole trip. So in the past, Tanta has gone up to this monastery in a resort area called "Durau" to help them prepare for this minor Orthodox religious holiday, the day supposedly Mary announced her pregnancy with the Christ-child. This monastery hosts many Orthodox church officials and people for religious ceremonies and meals. We are talking about hundreds of people here and if anyone knows about how labor-intensive traditional meals are, you'll understand the preparation it takes for an event like this.

So Tanta decided to go up to help make preparations for this big holiday. One thing that is unusual about this monastery is that they actually run a hotel. As far as I am aware, this is the only one in all of Romania that does this. Tanta called up her friends at this place and made arrangements for us to stay there, (for free, way to go with the connections Tanta!) with meals and everything in exchange for helping them. Friday came and we began our journey. It is never an easy task to get from point A to point B in this country. Even though we were only going about 250 kilometers (that's roughly 150 miles) it took us about ten hours to get there. We left at seven in the morning and had a two hour stop in the beautiful town of Piatra Neamt. We had the chance to walk around, visit the town square (way cool), see the museum (simple and small, but neat), walk around the outside of the zoo (appalling), and have some lunch, I could already feel the fresh mountain air hitting my lungs.

That first night I learned that there are services every morning, and every night, sometimes in the afternoon as well. These services usually last two to three hours, but on Sundays and special occasions, can last six. Oh yeah, also, there are not any chairs in an orthodox except around the perimeter of the room for the elderly; everyone else is expected to spend the entire time either standing or kneeling. Women are to have their heads covered while men are to have theirs uncovered, and women stand on the left while men stand on the right.

Oh yeah also of note is that the Orthodox Easter is not the same as the Catholic Easter. (For those of you who don't know which one you celebrate, if you are in the States, they pretty much go off of the Catholic Easter; that's just when everyone else celebrates it.) If you are wondering about why the different dates for Easter, or even just how the date is decided for Easter, please see this link http://www.oikoumene.org/en/resources/documents/wcc-commissions/faith-and-order-commission/i-unity-the-church-and-its-mission/frequently-asked-questions-about-the-date-of-easter.html

So right now we are in the 40 day period before Easter called "Post" (fast). Again those of you who are familiar with the Catholic religion will recognize this period as Lent. For those not so familiar with it, and as it is a little different than Lent, I will explain. For the 40 days before Easter there is no eating dairy products, no eating meat, and to be 100% honest, other things that they abstain from that I haven't any clue about, so we will leave it at that. Suffice it to say meal times at the monastery were very interesting. The food was incredibly excellent and there wasn't anything there that I didn't absolutely love, but I have never seen potatoes prepared in so many different ways. The soup was also always a bean "ciorba", which taste good, but poor Tanta had to deal with my after-effects.

The next morning we woke up and went to services. Following these my protesting knees took us back to the room to prepare to go hiking. The monastery is located at the base of a mountain. At the top of this mountain, on one of the very peaks, there are four Orthodox monks who live by themselves. The only way up and down this mountain is by foot, there are not any roads that go here. It is so intense. All the food, provisions, everything, that these monks need for living is carried up on their backs. It took Tanta and I about four hours of hiking to get up their. I put a bunch of pics online on my picasa account, you can see them by clicking on the link under "see all my pics".

When we got up there, the Priest invited us to the table and we were served this awesome completely natural tea and delicious soup, but again, bean ciorba. After we finished eating the priest talked to us for about three hours about religion. He was asking about what I believed and the basic tenants of my faith. It was an interesting exchange. It was hard for him to accept the idea that our beliefs weren't really all that different. (Coming from a "world religion" perspective. I mean, both believing in Christ, both believing in the Bible, etc etc) It was also difficult trying to answer some of his very direct questions without insulting him or saying that I thought his beliefs were wrong. He very earnestly was trying to convince me that joining the Orthodox faith is the only way I will redeem my soul. As a Peace Corps volunteer I am not to proselyte or promote one religion over any other and that can sometimes put me in very sticky spots. At the end though I think it was okay. We went to services that night and again the next morning and I think they were satisfied with that. One thing I observed was that it was very difficult on Tanta. She had, at one point in time, seriously entertained the idea of actually becoming an Orthodox nun herself, and so when we were there and people were telling her what a big mistake she had made- people she loves very much- it made her pretty sad. I think all in all, this experience has definitely taught me to try to be more accepting of the decisions people make, no matter how much I disagree with them. Tanta has been incredible about their comments not interfering with their relationship. She is an awesomely incredible lady. Anyways, continuing,

the next morning she and I headed down the mountain. A lot of the trail was completely covered in a slick sheet of ice and heading down was not fun at all. For a lot of the way, we just put one foot in front of the other and sort of "skiied" our way down. That wasn't so bad, but it played havoc on our knees. Its a week and some later and I am still walking like an old lady.

When we got down we discovered preparations for the coming holiday were full on. We walked into the kitchen to discover this:

What you are looking at is pots and pots and pots of sarmale, stuffed cabbage leaves. This is a delicious traditional meal composed of a mixture of vegetables, rice, and typically pork. As we are in “Post”, our sarmale is vegetarian, but it is still oh so good. When I walked into the room and saw the tables and tables of it, I nearly passed out in the excitement of it.

Tanta and I however, got put to work elsewhere. The main formal banquet tables for the head priest people (I hope there isn’t anyone reading this who is bothered by the fact that I have no idea what the official terminology for these guys are) had to be set and all that jazz. So Tanta and I folded the napkins all pretty, apparently an absolutely necessary preparation for this feast. But the following picture is of us with one of the really sweet nuns we worked with, and the head “mother” of the convent.

The next day was the actual holiday and there were so many people, it was crazy. The church was so stuffed, there wasn’t any room to actually kneel. This was the day that Tanta and I were heading home so we were walking around, chatting with all the nuns, saying goodbye. I was surprised by how many nuns were more just wondering around, doing their own thing while this big huge ceremony was going on, but it was great to chat with them. In this process we had some of the coolest experiences. One of the nuns took us up to the bell tower and let us watch them ring the bells and bang on the wooden planks. (It is part of the service.) I had the whole thing on video on my camera, and then like a dummy I went and erased it. But it was cool. Afterwards, we went and chatted with another nun who inducted us into the sisterhood.

Officially she could get into a lot of trouble by doing that, but I guess they are pretty low key there. By doing this though, apparently Tanta and I are now required to some day actually become Orthodox nuns. I’ll let you know how that goes.

After all this we got some lunch and then caught our bus back to Iasi, where we could then forge on to Galati. The entire experience was absolute amazing and I am so glad I got to go there and be a part of it all. The nuns were so sweet. What I didn’t mention already was my interaction with these ladies. My Romanian still really isn’t very strong…. Let’s be serious. My Romanian doesn’t really exist and so all communication either went through Tanta or they were very simple. Given this, many of the nuns didn’t even bother learning my name, they simply called me “americanca”. (the American girl) It was cute. When Tanta and I were leaving, many of them made me promise I would return, and even bring friends and family if it was possible. I was really touched with how sweet and sincere they were.

So to sum it all up, I can’t wait to become an old granny so I can sit around and tell these experiences to my grandkids. “You’re grandma used to climb mountains and stay in cabins with monks…” It’ll be great. All these events make me realize just how life-impacting my decision to join the Peace Corps is. I am here doing things and meeting people I never ever could have dreamed of. I don’t want to wax too sentimental here, so I’ll just say to all you back home thinking how cool it would be to able to come and do the same sorts of things, eat your heart out! ;)
Love to all! I am heading to Paris next week so there should be more on my blog soon.

Peace out!
M

Say what?

2008-03-14T06:33:00.000-07:00

I know a lot of people have a little "red book", a place where they write down famous quotes, thoughts, poems, anything they like to remember etc. I have started one while being here and while much of it is filled with the words of Emerson, Gandhi, Thoreau, and Shakespeare, I have also written down words that people in my every day life have uttered. I thought I would pay homage to the many people who have influenced my life, made me think, made me laugh, but mostly, made me realize I will always remember the words they have said. So here they are, in no particular order.

"The past is just practice for the future."
-Magda Fratita

"A cigarette takes two minutes away from your life,
a beer take five minutes, but school takes seven hours every day!"
-A student from one of my schools

"No matter how high the cost of living gets, people keep doing it."
-Pattiewack

"I will always carry these experiences with me in my heart
and these experiences are like welcoming friends
I can visit at any time."
-Christopher Cantlon

"I treat my meat like a piece of woman."
-Garet Jeffery

I don't know how it is in the States, but here in Romania,
its like a "check-me-out society."
-Arabella

"It is not where you are at, it is who you are with that matters."
-Marie Mines

"Bras and television distort reality."
-Anca Bodea

and lastly, said with much love and caring,

"Marie, you are emotionally unstable."
-Tanta Iacomi

A request for 2008

2008-03-07T06:13:00.000-08:00

To all my friends who in 2007 sent me best wishes, chain letters, angel letters

or other promises of good luck if I forwarded something ...... it did NOT WORK.

For 2008, if you would please send either money, chocolate, or gasoline vouchers, I'd be very grateful.
Thank you!

A day in the life of Marie

2008-02-25T08:17:00.000-08:00

It is not uncommon for me to get questions from people back home about what exactly it is I do. Mondays are pretty cool, which considering how much I used to dread the beginning of the work week, is quite a statement.

Monday mornings I wake up and drag myself out of bed sometime between 8 and 9. (Note: I have decided that any hour that starts with an "s", such as "six" or "seven" doesn't actually really exist. These are more theoretical hours that while technically pass us by, shouldn't ever really be noted as people should be sleeping through them.) After having a quick bite to eat and getting myself ready for the day, I go catch a maxi taxi to the "barrier" of the city. At the edge of the city I board another maxi-taxi. As I am typing this, I thought to myself, "Hmm, maybe you should post a picture of this," only to realize I don't have a picture of a maxi-taxi. This is something I will remedy shortly. This second maxi-taxi leaves the city of Galati and goes along a straight road and stops at various villages it passes through. This maxi-taxi doesn't have a schedule or anything, it leaves when it is full of people. When I say full, I mean each and every time I get on one of those things it could be in competition for "the most people you could possibly fit into a passenger van and still be able to move the thing forward." You don't pay as you get on but rather as you get off and the driver knows how far you have ridden and thus knows how much the fare should be. When you get to where you want to get off, you need to announce your stop to the driver and he will pull over.

The village I go to every week is called, Sivita. (Prounounced "Shee-veet-za) The difference between living in a large city like Galati, and a small village like Sivita is simple; running water, stores, and central heat. For those of you who are now thinking, "Those poor villagers! Someone needs to show them how to improve their lives!" stop. It is not uncommon to see a house that has to pull water from the well that has a satellite dish on the side. Its also not uncommon to see someone driving a horse with a cart while talking on a cell phone. For more "village" pictures, please see: http://picasaweb.google.com/mariemines/TantaSVillage These are pictures taken not of Sivita, but the village next door, Tulucesti. This is the village where my good friend, Tanta, is from.

As for the school, it is for grades one to eight and has less than ten teachers. The building has recently been renovated from funds received from EU sources, however, there is still no central heating. Each class room has a wood burning stove they rely on for heat through the winter. There is also no running water or bathroom in the school. To take care of such matters, one gets to visit a shack on the side of the school guarded heavily by no less than eleven stray dogs who aren't going to bite you, but will be happy to accompany you inside the shack. Once you are in there, all it is is a hole. Literally. A hole in the ground. Good luck ladies.

I suppose I have painted a somewhat grim picture but then you get to the students. They are darling sweethearts who always smiling and are happy to see me. It is really cool, when I come it means they get to stop working on their grammar lesson and play games. So it is not uncommon when I walk into a class for the whole room to actually erupt into a cheer. I think that is going to be a hard transition for me when I go home. I'm gonna walk into a room and say, "What? No cheers?" ;)

The activities I have with the kids are usually simply vocabulary lessons with an activity to reinforce the meaning of the words. Like for example, today we talked about weather. So I drew a picture of the sun, rain, snow, etc, and they had to come label each picture correctly. And then if they are good we usually wrap up with a game that has nothing to do with anything, its just fun. And we all enjoy it. Today we went outside, (my excuse was, "We've learned about weather, now we need to go and enjoy the beautiful weather outside) and played friendship tag.

Sometimes it is frustrating as my Romanian is extremely limited and their English is the same. Most days I have a teacher, Ani, there to help me. She has been an absolute delight to work with. I think it is people like her who are responsible for the progress Romania has made. She is a very positive person and very intelligent. But for the days when she isn't there, me and the kids struggle through. They make an extra effort to understand what I mean and like the saying goes, "If God had intended us to all speak the same language He would not have given us ten fingers."

Coming home from the village is interesting. I walk out to the main "highway" and stand by the side until either a maxi-taxi returns to the city or some kind stranger offers to pick us up. Before everyone hyperventilates about me hitch-hiking you need to understand, it is not the same thing here as it is in the states. Safety isn't really a concern when riding with a stranger here. When you hitch a ride with someone, you typically give them about half the price as a train fare would cost (unless you get a really nice person who just lets you ride for free. It happens from time to time). But mainly it is a sort of privatized transportation industry that everyone just understands the rules and costs. Since most people here don't have vehicles and the trains and not even the maxi-taxis go everywhere or often enough, people just rely on other people to get around. Personally, I think it is really cool. Anyways, the maxi-taxi or person will typically drop you off back at the barrier and lately I have been walking back to the center of the city where I live, about a 45 minute walk.

So there you have it. A day in the life of Marie. I keep meaning to take my camera with me and do a sort of "photo journal" in the city of Galati. Hopefully that will be coming soon.

Until then, Peace out!

Cluj and the Merry Cemetery

2008-02-12T07:29:00.000-08:00

For starters, anyone who is reading this has probably realized I am not one of those daily, or probably even weekly bloggers. I am going to try to post all of the exciting, wonderful, (not-so-wonderful), and weird things that happen to me. That will be, when it will be.

As for my most recent adventure, I had the chance to go to the north west part of Romania for vacation with two very good friends of mine, Karly and Kevin. (Hereafter referred to as K2.) Karly and Kevin are English teachers, also with the Peace Corps, in a town that is on the north-eastern boarder of Romania called Radauti. We all met at the same time, when we were leaving the states to come here, and they fell in love. They announced their engagement last spring and I am extremely excited for them. They will be getting married the summer that we all come home.

So anyways, getting to the trip. I left Friday morning at 6 am to head up to Radauti to meet up with them and make a battle plan for where we were going to go and what we were going to do. One of my many talents is that I have the ability to sleep in almost any traveling situation. Train, bus, car, doesn't matter, I can sleep through it. It makes the seven hour train ride seem like 2. Its wonderful. So as soon as I got on the train, I did my thing, stretched out on the seats and fell asleep. I woke up at about 10 am, expecting to be over halfway there only to realize the train wasn't moving. We were still in Birlad, a city about two hours north of Galati. The employees of the train company had decided to strike at 8 am that morning and no trains across the nation were moving. Wonderful. Just wonderful. Fortunately the train did get underway shortly after I woke up, and instead of a seven hour journey, it was only nine.

When I finally did make it, K2 and i decided to spend the night in their town and leave the next day for Cluj. Cluj is one of the largest (and most expensive) cities in the country. When it came time to find accommodations, K2 come through with the random hook-up. They had met a woman last summer at an English camp and called her up to ask if we could stay with her. This lady responded, "Oh, I'm not in town this weekend, but you can stay with my fiance." So this guy, who I had never met, totally let us stay with him for free. He was really sweet and tried his best to host us and show us around the town. We got to see several different museums and hot spots in the city. Two of the highlights for me were the ballet; we got to see the ballet of Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet, and I had the best hot chocolate I have ever had in my entire life. Holy smokes it was amazing.

We left early Monday morning for the town of Sighetu Marmatiei which is close to the Ukrainian boarder. The train ride was long, but we finally made it. From there we had to figure out how to get to the village, Sapanta, which was where we were trying to go to. We had to take a maxi-taxi (a big conversation style van that carries about 15 people or so. Correction, has about 15 or so seats. But then you cram as many people as you can in the aisles and such so the van is at twice the capacity of what it is built to carry) to get there. Once we arrived, we stayed at a "pensiune." People here in tourist locations basically open up their houses, a sort of "room for let" kind of thing to make extra money. The lady's house who we stayed at showed us the room, negotiated the price and then disaspeared for a minute; only to come back with a plate full of meat. I use the word meat loosely as one of the items was a pie-slice sized slab of pig fat. Logically I know that's all bacon is, with just a little bit of the muscle from the back, but here they don't have any of the meat, it is just the fat. It also didn't help that it wasn't cooked, it was smoked. K2 were more brave than I was and tried a taste. But we ended up sharing the rest with the local dogs.

We then went to see the Merry Cemetery (which was the entire purpose to going there). The Merry Cemetery is extremely unique in not just Romania, but I believe all of Europe. The wooden headstones are painted in bright colors and depict something unique about the person it represents. Sometimes it is how he/she died, sometimes it was about his/her profession, or even just a portrait. The little blurb on the headstone is written in first person and usually rhymes or is funny.

The next day we went to what is arguably the tallest wooden church in Europe. (Its up for debate right now because of the wooden base.) The craftsmanship and details were absolutely beautiful. We were told that monks and nuns live behind the church, but I didn't see any. Either way, the church was quite charming because of how isolated it is, and how much details went into every single square inch.

Coming home from a vacation is the worst part for me. I hate the ride home because all the fun is over and usually, that's when something happens, like you get a flat tire. This time was no exception. We boarded the train at 5 pm on Tuesday and I got home to Galati the next day at 2 pm. Naspa. Not exactly the way I had imagined spending the majority of my birthday. But the upside was I had a two hour wait in the Bucuresti train station and happened to run into several missionaries who were all coming in for transfer meeting. I got to see one of the elders who used to be in Galati, and meet some new ones.

All in all it was a great vacation and I feel really lucky that I have been able to see as much of Romania as I have.

For my pictures, you can click on the link in the upper right-hand corner of my home page.

Your Guy Quotient

2008-02-08T14:15:00.000-08:00

I keep meaning to post a blog about my recent travels but just haven't had the time. Until then, please enjoy this little test from Dave Barry which I throughly enjoy.

(By the way, apparently I'm a REAL guy, I totally scored 15 on this. ;)

Are You a Real Guy?

By Dave Barry

Take This Scientific Quiz to Determine Your Guyness Quotient

1. Alien beings from a highly advanced society visit the Earth, and you are the first human they encounter. As a token of intergalactic friendship, they present you with a small but incredibly sophisticated device that is capable of curing all disease, providing an infinite supply of clean energy, wiping out hunger and poverty, and permanently eliminating oppression and violence all over the entire Earth. You decide to:
a. Present it to the president of the United States.
b. Present it to the secretary general of the United Nations.
c. Take it apart.

2. As you grow older, what lost quality of your youthful life do you miss the most?
a. Innocence.
b. Idealism.
c. Cherry bombs.

3. When is it okay to kiss another male?
a. When you wish to display simple and pure affection without regard for narrow-minded social conventions.
b. When he is the pope. (Not on the lips.)
c. When he is your brother and you are Al Pacino and this is the only really sportsmanlike way to let him know that, for business reasons, you have to have him killed.

4. What about hugging another male?
a. If he's your father and at least one of you has a fatal disease.
b. If you're performing the Heimlich maneuver. (And even in this case, you should repeatedly shout: "I am just dislodging food trapped in this male's trachea! I am not in any way aroused!")
c. If you're a professional baseball player and a teammate hits a home run to win the World Series, you may hug him provided that (1) He is legally within the basepath, (2) Both of you are wearing protective cups, and (3) You also pound him fraternally with your fist hard enough to cause fractures.

5. Complete this sentence: A funeral is a good time to...
a. ...remember the deceased and console his loved ones.
b. ...reflect upon the fleeting transience of earthly life.
c. ...tell the joke about the guy who has Alzheimer's disease and cancer.

6. In your opinion, the ideal pet is:
a. A cat.
b. A dog.
c. A dog that eats cats.

7. You have been seeing a woman for several years. She's attractive and intelligent, and you always enjoy being with her. One leisurely Sunday afternoon the two of you are taking it easy-- you're watching a football game; she's reading the papers--when she suddenly, out of the clear blue sky, tells you that she thinks she really loves you, but she can no longer bear the uncertainty of not knowing where your relationship is going. She says she's not asking whether you want to get married; only whether you believe that you have some kind of future together. What do you say?
a. That you sincerely believe the two of you do have a future, but you don't want to rush it.
b. That although you also have strong feelings for her, you cannot honestly say that you'll be ready anytime soon to make a lasting commitment, and you don't want to hurt her by holding out false hope.
c. That you cannot believe the Jets called a draw play on third and seventeen.

8. Okay, so you have decided that you truly love a woman and you want to spend the rest of your life with her-sharing the joys and the sorrows, the triumphs and the tragedies, and all the adventures and opportunities that the world has to offer, come what may.How do you tell her?
a. You take her to a nice restaurant and tell her after dinner.
b. You take her for a walk on a moonlit beach, and you say her name, and when she turns to you, with the sea breeze blowing her hair and the stars in her eyes, you tell her.
c. Tell her what?

9. One weekday morning your wife wakes up feeling ill and asks you to get your three children ready for school. Your first question to her is:
a. "Do they need to eat or anything?"
b. "They're in school already?"
c. "There are three of them?"

10. When is it okay to throw away a set of veteran underwear? a. When it has turned the color of a dead whale and developed new holes so large that you're not sure which ones were originally intended for your legs.
b. When it is down to eight loosely connected underwear molecules and has to be handled with tweezers.
c. It is never okay to throw away veteran underwear. A real guy checks the garbage regularly in case somebody--and we are not naming names, but this would be his wife--is quietly trying to discard his underwear, which she is frankly jealous of, because the guy seems to have a more intimate relationship with it than with her.

11. What, in your opinion, is the most reasonable explanation for the fact that Moses led the Israelites all over the place for forty years before they finally got to the Promised Land?
a. He was being tested.
b. He wanted them to really appreciate the Promised Land when they finally got there.
c. He refused to ask directions.

12. What is the human race's single greatest achievement?
a. Democracy.
b. Religion.
c. Remote control.

How to Score:

Give yourself one point for every time you picked answer "c." A real guy would score at least 10 on this test. In fact, a real guy would score at least 15, because he would get the special five-point bonus for knowing the joke about the guy who has Alzheimer's disease and cancer.

Six months and counting

2008-01-27T13:47:00.000-08:00

Well Folks,

I am now officially down to six months left of my Peace Corps service here in Galati Romania and so to commemorate the moment, I decided to start a blog. (I know I know, why didn't I start this a year and half ago right? what can I say? I'm slow.)

So far, I have had more once-in-a-lifetime experiences in my year and half here than most people have in a lifetime. I am indeed lucky and grateful that I have been able to be part of the Peace Corps. It isn't always you get to be part of something that you really believe in on a fundamental level.

As for when I am coming home. My official release date is July 27th however, that date is fluid by 30 days. So I could potentially be home as soon as June 27th, as late as August 27th.
My plans for what I am going to be doing are really up in the air for now, but some of things I am looking forward to are:

Karly and Kevin's wedding. Kevin and Karly are two Peace Corps volunteers who met when we all first came to the country, feel in love, and are getting married the month after we all get home. It is so romantic and I honestly couldn't think of two people more suited or deserving of each other. I am so excited for them.

Having Sorina and Marian come visit me in the States. This is the married couple who have been my friends, my family, the reason I have made it this far. They are amazing people and I am so grateful they took pity on this crazy American girl who desperately needed them. They are going through the process to apply for a tourist visa to see if they can come this summer. (Getting a visa to the States can be incredibly difficult for Romanians.) Everyone cross their fingers.

Seeing my friends and family. People here ask me why I didn't go home during the holidays and I tell them it is because I would have missed the opportunity to experience them in a foreign country. I don't have any regrets about this decision, but that doesn't mean that I don't wish that everyone from home couldn't have come spent the holidays here. I miss the many friendships I have developed and can not wait to reestablish those as soon as I get home.

I really appreciate the people who have made and extra effort to keep in touch with me. It is really quite an amazing thing to receive an email from someone I didn't expect to hear from. Thank you all for the support you've given me.

I was going to post some pictures of my most recent shenanigans but I haven't got all the pictures and this post didn't quite turn out to be one of "those" blogs so maybe next time. Stay tuned for more of the adventure and excitement!

Cheers!