Friday, January 25, 2008
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Vacation!!!!
So you’ve all heard my theory that to stay sane here you must take vacation every 2-3 months. So far I have succeed in doing this and am happily sane. Shortly after New Years Jason and I hopped a bus to northwestern Ukraine. It was a 12 hour bus ride to Lvov (Ukraine’s 3rd ? largest city). When we stepped off the bus we thought we had mistakenly bought tickets to the North Pole. It was so freaking cold. The thermometers read -15 C (5 F). I suddenly remembered why I avoid traveling in the winter. It took all of our will power to leave the hostel and explore the city. I made by bag considerably lighter by wearing all the clothes I brought yet I still couldn’t stay warm. Every 10 minutes we would have to duck into a store or café to warm ourselves and fight against frost bite and hypothermia. But it was sunny out and the city was beautiful. But we couldn’t take the cold and were ready to move on to Poland after a day and a half. 
So after a day and a half we caught a mini-bus on the second day to the border. We were told it was quicker to walk across the border than it was to take transport (Jason’s friend took a bus across and waited at the border for 10 hours). And luckily it was really easy to get transport to the border and beyond. And we were even luckier to meet a Canadian guy from Poland, studying in Ukraine. He spoke perfect English and Polish and showed us the quick way through the border- all in all it took 30 minutes. We posed as students. If we would have waited in the line at the border I am sure that today I would no longer be Jennifer the daughter, the sister, the friend, etc but instead Jennifer the popsicle. So we flashed our American passports (it is really an advantage sometimes having one) and walked right through. But we did have a bit of a problem with the border guard not believing that Jason was really Jason. His passport picture doesn’t look too much like him anymore, especially with his beard. It was pretty funny. I think it took 10 minutes to convince the guard that it was him but then he proceeded to say Jason’s name around 10 times in disbelief. But we made it through and the Polish let us in much easier. Our new Canadian-Polish friend was on a break to visit his parents in Poland. And did we luck out. His dad was picking him up at the border and offered to give us a ride to the nearby town where we could catch a train to Krakow. During the 15 minute ride to the train station we got to escape Eastern Europe as we rode in his brand new Chevy truck that was shipped over from North America speaking in English and reminiscing about America and Canada. But then we were thrown back into the cold and Eastern Europe. (half-hearted and sarcastic) hurray.
Our firs step was to get our train tickets. Bummer, we just missed a train and have a 2 hour wait. Not too bad though because it was around 8 and we needed food anyways. So we wandered around for oh 5 minutes before the cold wrestled us into the first cozy looking bar we came across. What better way to warm up than with beer. While sitting there contemplating if a dinner of beer was good enough we looked up at the clock and to our surprise was an hour behind our watches. Crap, Poland was an hour behind Ukraine and Moldova and therefore we had a three hour wait, ugh. So we made the best of it by drinking beer, eating French fries, and experimenting with all the options available on my camera.
Around 10 pm we forced ourselves out of the bar into the cold. We realized we still hadn’t eaten any dinner and were still hungry. The only place we could find open only had snickers, chips, and more beer to offer us. We got 2 of each. So we boarded the train and headed to Krakow. Around 2 am we arrived in my new favorite city. We woke ourselves and went on search of a internet café to see if we had a response and an address from the guy we were to be staying with. It took a while to find but we eventually made it to his place and fell into bed around 3:30am. The next few days were full of adventure. We walked everywhere and had tons of fun.
On our last day we visited Auschwitz, 2 hours outside of Krakow.
My vacation then came to a close and I had to travel back to Lvov to catch my bus back to Moldova. This was a long ordeal that began at 3am and didn’t end ‘til 6am the next day and involved very little sleeping. I had to take many different buses and wait a few hours between each one just to get back to Moldova. But I was greeted by tons of snow!
So after a day and a half we caught a mini-bus on the second day to the border. We were told it was quicker to walk across the border than it was to take transport (Jason’s friend took a bus across and waited at the border for 10 hours). And luckily it was really easy to get transport to the border and beyond. And we were even luckier to meet a Canadian guy from Poland, studying in Ukraine. He spoke perfect English and Polish and showed us the quick way through the border- all in all it took 30 minutes. We posed as students. If we would have waited in the line at the border I am sure that today I would no longer be Jennifer the daughter, the sister, the friend, etc but instead Jennifer the popsicle. So we flashed our American passports (it is really an advantage sometimes having one) and walked right through. But we did have a bit of a problem with the border guard not believing that Jason was really Jason. His passport picture doesn’t look too much like him anymore, especially with his beard. It was pretty funny. I think it took 10 minutes to convince the guard that it was him but then he proceeded to say Jason’s name around 10 times in disbelief. But we made it through and the Polish let us in much easier. Our new Canadian-Polish friend was on a break to visit his parents in Poland. And did we luck out. His dad was picking him up at the border and offered to give us a ride to the nearby town where we could catch a train to Krakow. During the 15 minute ride to the train station we got to escape Eastern Europe as we rode in his brand new Chevy truck that was shipped over from North America speaking in English and reminiscing about America and Canada. But then we were thrown back into the cold and Eastern Europe. (half-hearted and sarcastic) hurray.Our firs step was to get our train tickets. Bummer, we just missed a train and have a 2 hour wait. Not too bad though because it was around 8 and we needed food anyways. So we wandered around for oh 5 minutes before the cold wrestled us into the first cozy looking bar we came across. What better way to warm up than with beer. While sitting there contemplating if a dinner of beer was good enough we looked up at the clock and to our surprise was an hour behind our watches. Crap, Poland was an hour behind Ukraine and Moldova and therefore we had a three hour wait, ugh. So we made the best of it by drinking beer, eating French fries, and experimenting with all the options available on my camera.
Around 10 pm we forced ourselves out of the bar into the cold. We realized we still hadn’t eaten any dinner and were still hungry. The only place we could find open only had snickers, chips, and more beer to offer us. We got 2 of each. So we boarded the train and headed to Krakow. Around 2 am we arrived in my new favorite city. We woke ourselves and went on search of a internet café to see if we had a response and an address from the guy we were to be staying with. It took a while to find but we eventually made it to his place and fell into bed around 3:30am. The next few days were full of adventure. We walked everywhere and had tons of fun.
On our last day we visited Auschwitz, 2 hours outside of Krakow.
My vacation then came to a close and I had to travel back to Lvov to catch my bus back to Moldova. This was a long ordeal that began at 3am and didn’t end ‘til 6am the next day and involved very little sleeping. I had to take many different buses and wait a few hours between each one just to get back to Moldova. But I was greeted by tons of snow!
The Holidays
I survived the holidays! Christmas was spent with a few close friends and New Years I stayed at home with my host family. Both included tons of food and lots of fun. I am happy to report that I got to play lots of games (Scrabble, Taboo, Cribbage, Rummy, etc).
Turkey Feast!! Complete with red and green mashed potatoes!
The stockings I made for everyone. They fit our feet!A Real Winter
For the past many years, living in Washington, I have never had a real winter. Yeah, maybe when I was a kid we had huge snowfalls but due to global warming, or whatever your personal theory is, it has been a very long time since I have gotten to play in the snow. Let me clarify this. I of course have gone to the mountains every winter of my life (last year being the exception, if only Moldova had mountains… if only). But this is not the same as having multiple days in a row where you step out of your house into your normal everyday world that has been transformed into a white paradise. I think everyone can agree that even the ugliest place on earth instantly becomes beautiful after a heavy snowfall. So, because last year was a crazy warm year I didn’t get to experience the real winters that Moldova has. But finally my wait has paid off, 15 months after my arrival, I get a real winter. The snow started falling in late November, but only flurries. But as soon as December hit BAM we got snow. And since then we have had three big snowfalls. The trend so far is one to two days of snow followed by really cold, SUNNY days. I have never loved Moldova more (except maybe over the summer passing through the sunflower fields.) The thing about the sunny days is that it causes the snow to melt a bit. This of course makes me sad but then night hits and causes it all to freeze up. Some how this process makes the snow last pretty long, HURRAY! But it also makes it very slick outside. (knock on wood but I have yet to fall). Thankfully Peace Corps provides all the volunteers with bright neon green Yak Traks. So not only do we stay upright but we attract everyone’s attention while doing it. Neon green doesn’t exactly blend well with black shoes. But hey, they glow in the dark!!!!
(A side note. Winter left us for a little while last week and the temperatures were quite nice. This however caused all the snow to melt and create a very sloppy, mucky, muddy mess. And I of course continued my morning runs coming home completely covered in mud, something that is very looked down upon in Moldova. It amazes me how Moldovans can stay so clean in such a muddy place. I can’t even walk 100 yards to the bus stop on my tip toes with out covering my shoes with mud and spraying it halfway up the back of pants. But then again, Moldovans are a little crazy when it comes to keeping their shoes clean. I watch many on a regular basis stop at each puddle on their way to slip their hand into the dirty water to clean the mud of their shoes. That’s right, they don’t care about sticking their hand into a mud puddle and wiping the mud off their shoes with their BARE hands as long as their shoes are clean.)
And a funny story. Last Saturday night I had prepared a Mexican meal for my Moldovan friend Maria. Since I don’t like staying out very late and everyone else was drinking except for me I decided to take off around 10:30. Though I have lived in Balti for a year now I still am not quite sure of the bus schedules. There doesn’t exist schedules like in America that say when the bus starts, comes, or finishes its route. This only really poses a problem when I stay out late with friends. Taxis are available and ridiculously cheap for American standards, roughly $2 to go 4 miles, but I still prefer to pay 10 cents for the bus. So, after I left Maria’s I went to the bus stop to wait and see if possibly a bus or routiera (small mini-bus) would pass by. After ten minutes or so I decided I would just flag down a taxi. As I was standing on the edge of the sidewalk trying to get one to stop a car swerved in close to where I was standing and also where lay a huge mud puddle. I knew it was going to hit the puddle and acted accordingly, I took a few steps back. Usually that’s enough, but this time, no! I was completely splattered! And it was more mud than puddle. And to top it off I was wearing light colored khakis. They were covered from the foot to the thigh and my shoes no longer showed any black. This was something that you would see on TV. I wish I could have had some on there with me to appreciate the hilarity of it. And I wish I had taken a picture when I got home because you probably think I am exaggerating a bit but no.
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