Hmm...no witty title for this one (ok, none have been particulary witty)...

[Just to give you a mental picture of my evening: on the walk over here, the vanilla-y goodness coming from the nearby icecream factory was wooooooonderful. And a horse-drawn cart drove by me down the road, along with all the cars and whatnot. And the sun is going down at 7pm now, and the weather's getting a little colder each day, tiptoeing its way to what I'm sure will be a very shockingly snowy and cold winter for this NW girl.]

Wow, I thought it had been a while since I'd come in to the cafe, and sure enough...something like 2 weeks. Kind of funny considering it's 10 minutes from my house and open 24 hours. But at the same time, I don't want to spend all my time here, and it's not like my host family would let me roam the streets in the middle of the night, so...yeah.

Tomorrow afternoon I'll find out where I'll be living and working for the next two years. I'm excited and nervous, since this is what I've been waiting for and once I find out, I can begin thinking about what the future is really going to be like. The past few weeks (almost a month!) here in Ialoveni have been pretty, well, cushy. A sort of holding pattern. I've been joking that what I've joined is really the Posh Corps. I mean, I was ready to live in a hut somewhere! Of course, this isn't necessarily going to change - one of the positions I put in for is in Chisinau, the capital, one is in Balti, a city of 150,000, and the other is in a town of 30,000 or something. I'll probably be working with a youth development organization, a women's organization, or something similar, though in what manner I'm not sure yet. Going into this I knew my job with the PC wasn't going to be exactly what I did in the US or exactly in line with my experience/goals, so I'm choosing to just not worry about it and wait to see what happens. Honestly what I'm thinking about more is leaving the relative comfort of my host family, daily language classes, and hanging out with the other 5 volunteers living in my town.

Oh yeah, so about this weekend. I'm going to travel solo to wherever it is I'll be working for three days, spending one night each with three different families so that I can decide which family I want to live with. I'll be with them for at least 6 months, and as long as the full two years if I choose. As weirded out as I was at the prospect of a host family, I've come to really enjoy it, and I think it's integral for picking up the language. Still, I have this vision right now that I'll be spending my weekend on a sort of family version of speed dating - 3 families in 3 days! Ooh, ooh, choose us! The money the PC pays families to cover our room and board is a real financial boon for whoever we choose, so I could see people really putting their best foot forward. Who knows. I think it will come down to who is most willing to joke around with me, be patient with my butchering of the Russian language, and has a good bathroom.

What else...thanks to another volunteer, Ari, I have some photos to post on here to prove I am in fact in Moldova and not just hiding out in Portland somewhere, having decided to dodge my student loan payments. They're from a week or two ago when we were playing with some students who were at recess at the local school where we attend PC meetings. Ari handed out stickers, and then I led them in the hokey pokey and then a game of duck duck goose. Us volunteers were pretty popular choices for 'goose'. The kids around here are great, and I definitely have my personal favorites, such as a couple little girls I always say hi to. The Moldovan candy I get in my lunch (yes, my mom packs my lunch) doesn't always strike my fancy, so one day I passed it on to them. I was unexpectedly rewarded when, a few days later, the girls walked over to me to pour some sunflower seeds in my hand. It made my day.

Okay, down to 18 minutes. What else. Oh! I might be a godmother soon. I was hanging out with another volunteer, Nic, at his house, and commented on the cuteness of his host sister's baby and ended up holding it. Next thing I knew, I was being asked whether I'd like to be a godmother. (Maybe it's a sort of 'tag, you're it!'?) I somewhat feigned stupidity (not hard when I really only get about 50% of what people say to me) but this isn't the sort of thing you can really turn down culturally, and is an honor. Apparently it is more of one-time monetary obligation than an enduring moral one -- good thing since I don't know how effectively I'd bring a baby up in the ways of the Eastern Orthodox church. Being a poor volunteer and all I wasn't sure but today I gave him the go-ahead to tell them I accept. It's kind of cool, isn't it?

I need to shove off soon. I think I'll come in again in a couple of days so I can write you all individually like a proper person. Or better yet, maybe I'll mail off some letters this weekend. Oh, and for any of you inclined to send a care package, guess what? They don't have brown sugar here! I had to get creative for chocolate chip cookies, but they were still a hit with my host family. Oh, and I miss Heath bars and lots of other junk food. And Thai and sushi of course. And the ease of microwaves, and being fluent in a language, but I just need to get over that now don't I?

Love you all!