Friday, December 01, 2006

Ziua de Reconistinta








In limba engleza, Thanksgiving. I haven't figured out how to do the special letters yet that only exist in Romanian. However, Thanksgiving was great, well except that I was on the verge of tears all day. It is tough being away from family and especially not being able to speak with them (I was in Chisinau with not phone to be contacted on). Luckily I volunteered to help cook all day Thursday, it kept my mind off of family. Cooking was a blast. I made biscuits from scratch with two other girls in my group. It was so fun, but a lot of work. I also carved a turkey for the first time. Well actually I carve four. We had fourteen all together. I know it seems like a lot but we were feeding 300 people(volunteers, PC staff and their families, and embassy staff and their families). It was a huge feast. I ate so much in the kitchen that when the feast came around I could only eat two pieces of pumpkin pie, I had planned on eating a half a pie. I love pumpkin pie. And yes, it was pumpkin from a can brought from the states. Our group was given a list of ingredients to bring over with us back in September. It was a great day, as long as i kept myself distracted. After the feast we had a talent show. There were many good acts that where very funny but there was one that brought the entire audience to tears. It was when a guy started singing "I'll be home for Christmas" that we lost it. The tears I had been holding back came flowing out. The guy sang it wonderfully but it was the wrong time to play it. We were a funny site to see, crying and laughing in our seats. I don't know if I mentioned the time in language class when we were learning about holidays. Well, Annie was describing how her parents weren't doing anything for Christmas this year because she was going to be gone and so was her siblings. During her story, in limba Romana, me and Michelle looked at each other and lost it. Our instructor, a man, was stunned. he had no idea what to do with us. So from that day on we banned talk of holidays in class. It is still tough to speak of the holidays without our families. Anyways, so Thanksgiving was great and we all stayed in Chisinau for two more days for conferences. I love you all and will be thinking of everyone for the next two months, in Moldova we have two months of holidays, a new and old Christmas and a new and old New Years. Moldovans love to celebrate!!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

it's going to be hard not having you here for the holidays also. I remember my first Christmas away from home in Colorado, even my roommate went home so I was completely alone. It was hard. I still have the old tape my parents made me of my favorite Christmas tunes. I heard that and totally lost it.
Anyway, you're here in our hearts, and just think we're planning to come there to see you next summer!
Miss you, Jenni

Anonymous said...

Hi Jen
Miss you at Alpental. We had a great opening weekend, lots of good snow. You should go to the AVSP website and check out the photos. I remember my first Thanksgiving away from home. Its always tough. Sounds like you have lots of good people around you there.
Take care of yourself
Twig