Haram

Haram is village day. Last Friday was Ialoveni day. Anybody who works or goes to school in Ialoveni had the day off, however we did not. We begged and pleaded with our teachers but they didn't seem to care we were the only ones who would be doing any work that day. Fortunately during the day not too much was going on but towards the evening is when all the festivities started. Haram is a day when people celebrate and eat lots and dance lots. On Thursday night I came home to our table covered in pig parts in preparation for the next night (I ended up having to eat my dinner at the kitchen counter next to plates of pig guts, very appetizing). So on Friday after class I went home and made chocolate chip cookies for my family. Considering I had no measuring devices and a small old, portable oven they turned out very tasty. Around 5ish is when we all met in the center to party down. When we first arrived there was wrestling going on which a a traditional thing to do at celebrations. It was fun to watch guys without their shorts on wrestle. The winner of the whole thing got a sheep (never thought that would be a prize did you?) As it got darker out the music started up and we all danced non-stop for hours (well I guess we stopped when we had to use the bathroom). Speaking of bathrooms, there were port-a-potties there. Though, there was only two and they filled up rather quickly, so it was best to go behind a building. We all had tons of fun dancing the Hora (the traditional circle dance here) with a bunch of local kids, some we knew from around Ialoveni. Around 9 there were awesome fireworks. It reminded me of last summer at the lake with all the mortar shells we had(oh, homesickness). I know that my new site will have celebrations like this but I am very sad I am leaving Ialoveni, I love it here and I love my family here.