As of today, I have officially been in Romania for two weeks but it feels more like 2 months. Peace Corps has kept us far busier than I could have ever imagined. Between taking in the new experiences of living with a Romanian family, going to language class and working with a local organization, I have had no time to practice my new floor routine, let alone find the nearest gymnastics establishment. I'm afraid I will no longer be an All Around Champion, as we all once hoped.
However, the good news is...I have not been attacked by any dogs, although there have been a few potentials. We (being 37 volunteers) are currently living in Ploiesti for 10 weeks while we go through training. Each of us have been placed with a Gazda family, which was potentially a very traumatic occurrence since it happened only after 2 days in Romania. Fortunately, I lucked out and absolutely love the family with whom I've been placed. My Gazda family consists of a mother, Lumi, who is a cosmetician that works from her home and her 16 year old daughter, Florentina. They live in an old communist bloc, so a bit drab, but their apartment on the inside is quite nice. Far more extravagant than anything I ever imagined when I signed up for the PC. I will try to get some pictures up soon. Lumi speaks some English so we are able to communicate fairly well but she is adamant in me practicing Romanian, which is good because learning the language has definitely been my greatest challenge. They are quite protective of me and will not let me help out with anything. It is so awkward to be waited on and served. It is a constant battle to even let me clear my own dishes. Last week I was only allowed to put my clothes in the washing machine because she insisted on doing it while I was at school. Nothing like coming home to see every under garment you own out on the clothesline.
Any hooters, Ploiesti is an old industrial city that is fairly westernized so needless to say I am looking forward to getting my actual assignment, which will hopefully be more rural. Typically, I ride the bus to school and stop at a nearby cafe/bar for a quick coffee before language class begins at 8:30. This local establishment has quickly become my favorite, for where else can you see construction guys sip a shot of booze, hop back on their bulldozer and head back to work. Pretty sure I'm sold! Language goes until 12:30 at which time we eat our bag lunches, also packed by our ever dependable host mothers. This is probably another favorite time of the day because you just never know what you're going to get. I finally convinced Lumi not to give me 3 sandwiches anymore but getting down to one is another daily struggle. But I do have to give the lady creativity points. Yesterday, much to my surprise I was down to two slices of bread. However, between the bread was some fish schnitzel and apparently that was not quite enough because on top of the sandwich was more cheesy buttery cream with a slice of some form of pork. PS the idea of joining the PC to lose weight is definitely backfiring! I'm pretty confident I have eaten an entire pig since I have arrived in Romania, never before did i know so many forms of pork - particularly in the tube form. Wifey...you would love it here!
So after establishing all mystery products within all our lunches, which I almost forgot my favorite story. One guy in my class though he was getting this amazing deli turkey on his sandwich but when we were going through various food names in Romanian, our language instructor informed him that product he just named was not turkey but straight up fat by product. Oh how I love mystery "meat." In the afternoon, we usually have training or go to our practicum sites, which we have been broken into small groups to work with a local organization. My group is working with the Anti Drug Prevention Center (and contrary to the name we do not promote drugs - double negatives are a go in Romanian.) For the next 7 weeks we have to determine a project with our counterpart, and implement it within in that time frame. Generally we are done by five and I walk home. I have dinner which includes some form of pork, interact with the Gazda fam for a while and then do homework the rest of the night.
This weekend a few of us are finally leaving Ploeisti to see the mountains, so I'm excited to see more of Romania. There has been so many new experiences in these past few weeks I don't even know where to go from here. Hopefully I will be able to update this fella more often but I'm guessing as long as I have training it probably won't happen. Hope all is going well for everyone at home, I miss you all! Hope to hear from you, and whoever can figure out how to get through on my new cell phone first, will definitely win some form of pork.
On the left is from a trip to Sinaia I took a couple of weeks ago. This is a picture of Peles Castle, the home of Romanian's King Carol I until his death in 1914. Peles is considered one of the most beautiful castles in all of Europe. Construction began in 1873 and the masterpiece of German new-Renaissance Architecture was completed by 1883. It was the first castle in the world to be fully operated by electric power. The castle has 160 rooms, all lavishly filled with Europeans finest art, German stained glass windows, ebony and ivory sculptures. King Carol I was a great collector and one of his greatest was his Armory Collection.
Friday we have site announcements, so I will finally know where and how I will spending the next two years. Obviously I'm pretty excited but the thought of actually being all by myself definitely freaks me out. 
