It's cold.

I'm not a total pansy. I understand that in the wintertime it's normal for things to be a bit chilly. I think it's the inescapability of the cold that's getting me. Normally I'd open the door to home and step into a toasty refuge, but due to gas cut-backs (due, in turn, to issues with Russian and Ukraine, hikes in fuel prices and Moldova not paying its powerbill) our apartment is artic and sometimes I can see my breath at the office. I just checked out www.weather.com and though it doesn't have a listing for Balti, the current temperature for Chisinau is listed as a balmy 3 degrees. Not having much of a command of celsius (or any other unit of measure used in this country, really) I have generally been measuring the temperature in these terms:

1 Cold.
2 Really cold.
3 Freezing my ass off.
4 I'm wearing wool tights and wool socks and sweatpants and a sweater and a hoodie, laying under the covers in my apartment, and still shivering.
5 Wow, I didn't know that snot could freeze inside your nose like that.

Funny thing, I just noticed that the weather website does the same thing. The current 3 degrees is "very cold", while tonight's negative 7 is described as "bitterly cold". Yeah, like bitter I didn't get sent to the Pacific Islands...

Today when I said I was going to an internet cafe (Dechen, another volunteer, discovered a cafe in our neighborhood, hurrah!) my host mom was shocked. "Bridgett, you're going outside?! But it's -20!" Undeterred, I bravely donned my scarf and hat and too-thin coat, like the self-sacrificing volunteer I am. "Yes, but the emails must get sent."

Actually, it's not that bad today. When it's this cold the snow doesn't melt so things are white and pretty and I can walk fast like I want to. A week ago the world was one big ice sheet, something considerably more hazardous. I really hate shuffling along, especially when there's a serious windchill going on and I'd like to get from one destination to the next as quickly as possible.

Moving on...I haven't been online forever. I don't know what to say, I guess I've been busy? This morning when I rolled out of bed bright and early at 11am I decided I would devote today to catching up on long-overdue replies, then came here and threw down 20 lei for a blissful 3 hours of contact with the outside world. 45 emails were waiting for me! Do you see how I never manage to catch up?

And why have I been busy? I don't even know where to begin. I think it's a good thing, as I've been increasingly content with life over here, feeling less like a traveler and more like a resident. More able to picture achieving something here. Though I must say, it's weird to me that I have yet to have a dream where I'm in Moldova, and on a very regular basis I dream about being in American grocery stores. Just last night I was in a supermarket of some kind, hurredly buying chocolate chip cookies and mascara, since I had only limited time before I had to fly back to Moldova. I even picked up a box of old fashioned donuts and read the calories, deciding I'd better not by them. Hoo mama, exci-ting! Any of you lay analysts out there have some insight to shed on these?

Oh, exciting news: I've been selected as one of the coordinators for GLOW (Girls Leading Our World), a summer camp for 130 Moldovan girls between 14-18 that has been held every summer for the last 10 years. This is a huge project, and while this year I'll have a more background role, I'll be teaching courses in Russian at the camp and training to take over as one of two primary coordinators of the project for next year, when the current leaders have finished their service in Moldova. Hurray! The very extended Moldovan holiday season is now behind us, too, so this coming week my English class for my counterpart and her colleagues will be starting back up, and the Odyssey of the Mind team I'm coaching is heading to Chisinau for competition February 4th. I think we're going to go down in flames, but hey, it's something to do.

One last thing, before I get out of here: this last week, a member of my organization received last-minute info about a program which is sending people to some sort of training in Brussels for a month. I agreed to try and translate her motivation letter and resume from Russian to English, and have since been elevated to the status of Volunteer Extraordinaire. The counterpart who, you may remember, once referred me someone to teach me the alphabet, is now proudly proclaiming, "Every day Bridgett's Russian gets better!" and saying how smart and talented I am. What can I say, I'm feeling a lot more motivated to head in to the office these days.

Really last thing, and totally unrelated: want to see where I work? Go here! http://beltsy.info/panorama/st_1mai.htm Someone put together photos to form a panorama of the street in Balti right by where I work. My office is in the background between a pine tree on the left, and a silver and blue sister cities monument on the right.

[And re photo with this entry: that's my friend Alina on the left (see entry re trip to Kishkaren), then i dunno, then Katya, Jane, and me, aka Worlds Most Amazing PCV. They're volunteers of my organization, and we're holding posters where people signed their names in support of work against domestic violence.]