Thanksgiving

We had another lovely Thanksgiving in Moldova this year.  Once again the Peer Support Network organized a holiday feast of all of the volunteers and staff at the Peace Corps office in Chisinau.  As the events coordinator for PSN, it was my job to organize the entire event, which ended up serving about 100 people a fantastic meal.  And like any good organizer, I delegated.  Big thank you to Susan and her team for their wonderful decorations.  They were super cute and very creative.

Everyone's cellphones ended up on the table together.  It got a bit confusing over which belonged to who.  And which was ringing.

 Another big thank you to Zach (right in green) who organized the turkey killing adventure and brought us six, count them SIX, turkeys to cook.  They all turned out very tasty.  Especially the Southwestern one, which I plan to do at Thanksgiving in the future.

A vegetarian's nightmare...

Isn't that a lovely sight.  Uck...

Action shot!

When the first turkeys were ready to come out of the oven it turned into a photo op.  We had two turkeys flying around the kitchen and three cameras going, one doing video.

At one point I grabbed someone and made them take a picture of me so my family wouldn't have to see pictures of only other people.

And our fantastic clean-up crew!  Thanks guys!!


Everyone did a great job, Thanksgiving was wonderful, we got a lot of compliments.  Next year I'm planning on asking my grandma to teach me how to make her super tasty stuffing which I've missed a lot over the last two years.

Busy

I know I haven't posted an update in a while.  I got super busy with school and planning Thanksgiving for about 100 Peace Corps people (and you thought you were busy with those 7 cousins) which we had last Saturday.  So I promise I will post about our Thanksgiving Extravaganza this upcoming weekend.  In the meantime, here is a photo of Anita and I having our own little Thanksgiving Thursday evening while we working on planning for the Saturday one.

Poem

My friend/ camping buddy Tamra Prior (nee Dickinson) wrote this poem several years ago and it spoke to something inside of me so I saved it to my computer.  I think it describes the wanderlust that sits inside most Peace Corps volunteers and explains why we go on a bit of a walkabout when we join up.  
Life is calling, how far will you go?

The Traveler's Heir

By: Tamra Dickinson

I remember a time…
Dreaming of a far away land.
Africa, its golden sands,
The mighty temples of Peru.

India’s spices and Kubla Khan,
The great sailing ships of the day.
Columbus, Cortéz, the men of Legends,
Was I born too late for that time?

The plains of Australia,
The mountains of Tibet,
It is still there for all to see,
And still brand new to me.

The polar caps, the coral reefs,
There is still so much unknown.
Can there still be a place
Where “Here Be Dragons” ‘tis marked?

I guess I’ll have to find myself
In the deep jungle forests of Yucatán
Or the uncharted Straits of Canada
Maybe in the dark heart of the Congo

Wherever I go, wherever I am
Whatever I see, the Explorer’s Age
Is never truly dead
As long as it’s inside of me.

 

Sharing Experiences 2011

 The health volunteers in Moldova recently had our annual "Sharing Experiences" retreat.  Every year we go out to Vodul Lui Voda, a resort just outside of Chisinau.  According to one volunteer it looks like "Soviet day camp".  Old wooden structures that remind me a bit of Girl Scout camp buildings from the 70's and murals with local fairy tales.  This time I actually remembered my camera and snapped a bunch of photos.
We started the evening with snack time, then went around the table and each of us spoke about our successes and challenges.  Older volunteers offered advice when it was solicited.  We wound the evening up with drinks and socializing.  It is a great way for the new volunteers and those of us who have been here for a while to get to know each other in a less formal setting.

Lots of talking.

 This dog decided it was our guardian and would chase off the other wild dogs if they got to close.  He got a lot of treats from the table for this.  I named him Lassie.

Don't worry, this photo was staged, they aren't actually mocking her.

I saw this graffiti on the way out and since one of the other volunteers is named Cristy, I snapped a picture of it before jumping on the bus.  It says "Crysty, I love you" in Romanian.

Become a Volunteer

Warning: The next 13 minutes may change your life!

How many Moldovans does it take to change a tire?

This is a new installment in my blog that I have titled "Damn, I wish I had a camera." It is a list of things I've seen lately and really wanted to take a picture of, but had left my camera at home.


"Damn I Wish I Had My Camera" part 1


1) The police in Drochia helping the priest bless the road after new construction by stopping traffic and holding the basin of holy water for him.

2) A man in Chetrosu wearing a cap with Steamboat, my university's mascot, on it. Go Pokes!




3) The driver of my ruitera changing a tire while 10 men stood around and smoked while telling him what he should do.

Does Moldova have a future?

Hope in a post-Soviet land?

This article discusses Moldova's young adult population, the emigration trends, and life after independence.

Poem

This year Peace Corps celebrates its 50th anniversary, and due to this a good deal of creativity has come out of the PC community recently. Blogs, websites, paintings, news articles, posters, and poems have been cropping up all over the place. Below is a re-posting of a poem by a RPCV (Returned Peace Corps Volunteer- like the Marines, there are no "former" volunteers). I thought it was wonderful and decided that I had to pass it along.

50 years of Peace Corps: A Message for soon to be Volunteers

Peace Corps is a twenty-seven-month-long-commitment,

Little do you know, you are in it for life…

It all starts with that spark from someone, “Uncle Dave served in Peace Corps and he loved it”, “Do you know they work in Thailand?” or the best and the most simple, “You would be great in the Peace Corps.”

The highest compliment, the deepest calling.

And then the paper trail begins, blazing a path through a dense bureaucratic network of uploaded dreams and poorly stated ambitions.

We trace every spark believing that it will one day lead to a full fire of intention.

Really, it’s your first endurance test, and it is not a smooth process-believe me.

When volunteers start, their minds are wrapped around 1,000 different words for help, ….empower, assist, aid, facilitate, uplift,

yet no idea how to use them in a sentence. Let alone in life.

Yes, we open borders, but more importantly, minds and hearts.

Winning them, earning them with the skills of our training and the purity of our efforts.

This is something those who are new to the family realize, and eventually, eventually, 9-12 months eventually….

You will go forth from this time, and this place, toting all that you can carry of your past life and loved ones.

And then,

you serve.

Never, will you feel more alive - it will surprise you.

It is a progression of connection…

at first, you are in your head and it’s

American, meets other.

Then you get more grounded, and

volunteer, meets villager or teacher, meets student.

And then, if you are lucky, the simplicity settles in, and it’s

human meets human,

heart to heart.

It’s all right there. It’s tucked into the humble corners of each day.

Two years- will fly by.

Watch carefully or you might miss it.

Blink twice,

and it’s gone….

And then,

you will leave those same coveted, carefully packed objects turned artifacts in the fault lines of all your cultural earthquakes.

And then,

you come back.

You are returned volunteers, never former, and you try to trace the patterns of home and you stumble, and get dizzy, and people from the place you once knew ask ….

How was Malawi? Ecuador? Mauritania? Poland?

How was Nicaragua? Mali? Panama? Vanuatu? Romania? How was Tanzania?

And what did you do there?

Well,

and you will pause…

I changed the world.

I changed myself.

It’s been 50 years of sweat and smiles, moments and memories, adventure and admiration, respect and realization

and waiting and waiting and waiting,

It’s been 50 years of imagination and inspiration.

Fifty years on paper,

but we are a part of so much more.

We bring hope to the forgotten corners of the world,

and find peace at our core.

-Meleia Egger

RPCV Malawi 2008-2010

Peace Corps Recruiter, Mid-Atlantic Regional Recruiting office

Chicken Vegetable Stirfry

Recently I've wanted to learn how to cook. In high school I never really thought about it since my parents always cooked. Freshman year of college I didn't think about it since I lived in the dorms and got almost all of my meals at the cafeteria. Sophomore year I moved into an apartment and started to think about it. Then I got super busy and lived on microwavable Healthy Choices and Lean Pockets for the next few years. Sure I learned a couple of staple recipes like my Italian and rice chicken which remains to be one of my favorite dishes ever. But if I was cooking it was probably pancakes or eggs (I'm one of those people who likes breakfast for dinner). Then I came to Moldova directly after college and lived with a host family for a year and paid them for all my meals. So I never really learned how to cook. Then I moved out. And the markets here don't have Healthy Choices or Easy Mac.

Over the last few years I've started watching shows like Jamie Oliver's "Food Revolution" which I love, and the Food Network. I've decided that I need to learn how to really cook because it is a skill that everyone should have. I just never thought that I would be learning how to cook in Eastern Europe.

Tonight I made chicken and vegetable stirfry. This is the first time I have made this dish with chicken. Last weekend another volunteer, Anita, visited me and toured Drochia. She spent the night and we made vegetable stirfry. We did want the chicken, but when we got to the store, we learned that the rotisserie chickens would not be done until much later that evening and the frozen stuff was questionable. So we nixed the chicken from the plans. I did learn from this that I wouldn't use cabbage in the future because I think it smells weird and just wasn't a fan; that I want to use yellow bell peppers instead of red because red are too sweet; and not to let the noodles sit in the pan too long or else they end up crunchy.

Today I went to the market that is just a couple of meters away from my apartment and found that they have rotisserie chickens on Tuesdays. I asked the lady when to come back and went to get what else I would need for the dish. I also watched a couple of youtube videos on how to carve a chicken.

It went pretty well, I think. I got the chicken and was followed home by a cat who could smell what was in my bag. Since she climbed four flights of stairs in her pursuit I figured she earned a leg, which I don't like anyway, and fed her before shooing her off. Then I started carving and it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. Especially after I figured out that I had the chicken upside-down and flipped it over. Much easier. So I picked the carcass clean with a mix of the knife and my fingers and then took the leftovers out to the garbage. I didn't want the bag of bones and skin stinking up the apartment. As I left the apartment another cat started following me to the dumpster. So instead of throwing the bag in I emptied the contents on the ground and let the strays go at it.

After that it was just a matter of mixing the right ingredients in the right order. I let the minced garlic simmer in a drizzle of olive oil, then added the veggies (which next time I will let cook longer and I will cut the carrots thinner.) Then the noodles followed by chicken and teriyaki sauce I bought in Chisinau. I'm going to have to buy more the next time I'm there because these two meals used up the whole bottle. Granted, it was a fairly small bottle. Only about 0.25ml. The finished product, while not perfect, tasted wonderful. I also have leftovers to look forward to. I'd say it was pretty successful.

Beyond the Grass Hut

When most people think about the Peace Corps they imagine living in grass huts in Africa. Well, there's a lot more to it than that. In my service country it is mandatory for a volunteer's house to have electricity (mostly because we're required to carry cellphones at all times in case of emergency), some volunteers are lucky enough to have gas heating, and the really lucky ones have indoor water. Recently, due to health problems, I have moved from living with a host-family in a village to my own apartment in the nearby town. I still commute back to my village for work which costs 4lei and a 20 minute bus ride. Being on my own again has been very liberating, as well as coming with new challenges. So here it is, my new apartment:



This is the wardrobe and table in my living room/bedroom.



My bed and tv, which I use as a bookcase. There is a rug hanging on the wall next to the bed, I think it is to help keep the apartment warm in winter. Like most Soviet-era buildings in Moldova, this apartment is constructed from concrete.



My water closet, just the toilet. And a bucket to flush with when the water goes out. For some reason many towns in Moldova cut the water during the day and late at night to living spaces. The theory is that they are saving money this way. I have to get up early if I want to shower in the morning, and dishes tend to stay in the sink until evening when I can wash them. I can usually get water pretty reliably from 6-10pm and about 6-9am.



My shower room. Last night I also used this as my laundry room when I washed clothes by hand for the first time. Both my pre-service training and permanent site host families had washing machines, so this was the first time I had to wash by hand. I started late and ended up racing against the dwindling water supply at 10pm when it gets shut off again for the night.




My kitchen. Little tiny stove, little tiny counter, and a little tiny sink. Since I have no pantry I keep the dishes in the drying rack at all times and use the upper cupboard for food and the bottom cupboard for pots and pan. Or, really, pot and pan since I only have one of each so far. I'll have to buy a bigger pot for soup later in the year, but since I don't need it yet I haven't bought it. Setting up the new place has been a bit expensive. The apartment did come with one pot, but when I went to wash it I found a few holes, which made it good for a strainer, but not much else.



Some of that expense, or really most of it, came from me buying a microwave. I use it almost everyday for cooking. My fruit bowl on top is full because it is summer. It'll be lonely in winter when all I can get is bananas and oranges from Turkey.



My refrigerator, which lives on the balcony outside of my bedroom. But at least I have one, so hey, who cares where it is.

And there you have it. Beyond the grass hut. While my living situation certainly isn't the most normal for volunteers in Moldova, it isn't that unusual either. A good dozen or more of us live in apartments in the bigger towns and cities. So if you thought you could never join the Peace Corps because you just have to have a shower/microwave/fridge/toilet, what are you waiting for? This place is better than my first college apartment.

Moldova Fashion

One of the things that a lot of volunteers worry about when packing is what clothes to bring. We all want to be culturally appropriate in our choices and tend to agonize to much over this. How do you pack for two years? It is a ridiculous task. If any M26s are out there blogger-stalking me, take heed; don't worry about it. Especially if you're placed in an education program. A lot of the women and girls in Moldova dress surprisingly immodest by American standards (yes, ethnocentric, I know). Another volunteer, Emily Getty, wrote a great blog post about the dichotomy between fashion and culture in Moldova. I recommend reading it.

It is not uncommon in Moldova to see a girl wearing an extremely short skirt, sky-high heels, and an ity-bity tank top walk by a church and cross herself. My partner showed up to practice school wearing cocktail dresses. A lot of female volunteers have been told our clothes are "Nu furmos" when we're wearing standard teaching fare for America.

That being said, there are some girls here who dress more conservatively than what is normal for this culture, and I have a special place in my heart for them. That's why when I saw a group of girls at my piata wearing long skirts, t-shirts, and head scarves it made my day. Then I got closer and was able to read one of the shirts (it should be noted here that Europeans sometimes tend to buy shirts just because they are in English, and don't always know what they say). She was wearing a shirt with a bar of soap on it that said "Rub me on your butt!". Oh, honey, so close.

For more on Chisinau street style, see this blog.

Maze

One of the things that volunteers in schools in Moldova are encouraged to do is innovative learning activities. Most of the time in schools here, kids just sit all day while teachers talk at them. So when Maria and I planned to do a lesson on helping others and communication I suggested this activity.

I set up this maze using the school's jungle gym and some ribbon.


Hijinks ensued, tears were shed, pretty sure at least one student got a concussion, and friendships tested. Altogether successful I'd say.




I was super impressed that this girl wanted to go through blindfolded while wearing a skirt.




Victor, one of my favorite students.




Cristin. I'm still trying to explain the concept of ADHD to my partners. This kid is a walking textbook example. It makes him trying to the other teachers, but endures him to me.



For some reason when it is summer in Moldova all of the men take off their shirts. So of course the little boys do it too, following example.


All in all it did turn out pretty well. We talked about verbal communication and why it is important to give clear directions to people. Why it is better to have one person talking rather than a whole group shouting. How it feels to be the person in need of help and no know what is going on. And why it hurts to bonk your head on the jungle gym.

Weekend in the Chis

Last weekend I got to hang out for a few days in Chisinau (affectionately called "The Chis"- pronounced like the egg dish quiche) with some other volunteers. Anita and I stayed at the hostel. The lovely lady is pictured below.


The hostel can be fun, there are always new people to meet. This time there was a man from France who was taking vacation time because he had been to every country in Europe except three and Moldova happened to be one. So all the volunteers who were hanging out there gave him tips on where to go be tourist-y.


The next day we found a festival on the way back to the hostel after some meetings. It was a festival for the European Union. Moldova is not yet in the union, but they're working on it.




Note the pirate balloon, very cool.



And cotton candy for 5 lei! Carolyn and I were super excited; good day.

Spring has come!

It has been almost a month since I last posted and in that time spring has finally arrived! It is sunny enough that I can start hanging my laundry outside to dry again. The animals are back. Goats are posted by the roadside again, cats and dogs laying in the sun, and the grandmothers have boxes of baby chicks on the buses.

We've also had a plethora of holidays. In Moldova there are two Easters. The first is your more traditional Easter, the second is "Easter of the Dead". On this day everyone goes to the cemetery to visit loved ones who have passed, get their food blessed by the priest, and have a picnic. Unfortunately, with my host parents out of the country on vacation, we didn't do much. Maybe next year I'll have pictures and more to report on this. In my village this happened on Monday, so I got a surprise day off from school. I also found out today that there will not be school next Monday either because it is Moldova's version of Memorial Day.



Mai departe (moving on): I've been in a bit of a hippie mood lately, so here's a music video for your enjoyment.

What I've learned in Moldova

• Katchup mixed with Italian seasoning and garlic powder makes a decent substitute for tomato sauce after 10 months without real Italian food.
• If you want to mess with people here, sit on concrete. Moldovans believe this will make women sterile.
• Laptops can get heavy when walking through the mud for half an hour.
• Strawberry compote is a gift from God. Super delicious.
• I'm willing to bet money that all of my 9th grade girls know how to cook better than me.
• Skirts and dresses aren't so bad.
• Don't let the kittens get in the basement when you go down there for the canned food. They will hide under the wine caskets and it is hard to get them out.
• If you want to lose weight you should eat less bread, and pasta is a good substitute.
• In summer it takes one hot afternoon to line dry clothes outside. In winter it takes about two days on a rack inside.
• If the question is ice cream, the answer is yes.
• Soup can be a breakfast food.
• Onions and garlic really do have vitamin C.
• The bus driver is allowed to smoke, but no one else.
• Being stationed in Eastern Europe allows a lot of opportunity for travel.
• Extra food should be given to the cats and dog.
• Nap time is the best time of day no matter where you are in the world.
  

The sun will come out tomorrow

In the Peace Corps you have good days and bad. Good weeks and bad. Good months and bad. Lately I've been having a rough time of it. I've been homesick, got bronchitis, the food hasn't been that good lately, the weather is trying to hold on to winter, and I'm at the point in the year when most first year teachers start to burn out. Then you add on top of this that you're in a foreign country and your usual Ben and Jerry's pick-me-up is unavailable, and all this can make for a cranky Jessie. Actually, I've heard that a lot of volunteers have been having a rough time lately, so I guess it's just that time of year.

Teaching yesterday was hard, I hadn't slept well and was in a bad mood. My partner criticized me for drinking water in front of the students (I still haven't figured that one out). And our school director is in some sort of a funk that has put all the teachers on edge.

Yesterday was also a religious holiday. There are so many here that I don't keep track. But it was something to do with being the first day of spring. I got home and one of my host mom's friends was waiting there with a towel and home-made bread as a present for me. I thanked her profusely, went to my room and ate the bread with the peanut butter I just got in a care package from my mom. Some how that righted things. That and the Girl Scout cookies. Things are looking up.

Vice Presidental Visit

Yesterday Vice President Joe Biden visited Moldova. He gave a speech that was open to the public in front of the Opera House. The lines started early in the morning. Most of the volunteers ended up clustered in groups throughout the crowd to wait out the "line". Lines in Moldova tend to be more of clusters.


I like this picture of Mia popping up through the crowd. She's in the gray hat in the lower right.


Security was tight.

And Erin ended up carrying a lot of other people's stuff in her purse. Thanks!


Once we finally got into the event, most volunteers ended up on the stage behind Biden. Here are some shots from the platform. Although we weren't allowed to take pictures once he took the stage.

More security.



We all hung out for a few hours waiting on the platform. Lots of hurry up and wait.


Afterward we were happy to be able to sit down and get off our feet for a few minutes. Isn't that a lovely line of Americans?


After the public speech, Mr. Biden gave a private speech for just the Americans (the Embassy, Foreign Service, Peace Corps, etc.) We had to go through security again and Marlene told the nice secret service men that she couldn't find her cell phone. Their response was "don't worry, we'll find it for you" and they did (in her purse). Thanks guys!



He invited the children up on the stage with him. It reminded me of the childrens' sermon at church.


He also gave a talk just to the Peace Corps volunteers. My favorite quote was "If there was ever a time to be really engaged in world... this is the moment."



And I got a picture!





If you would like an interesting analysis of the political nature of the speech, Professor Rod Garnett has a great blog post: http://rodneygarnett.blogspot.com/

Happy 50th Birthday to Peace Corps!

I don't think that word means what you think it means

Because both English and Romanian are Latin based languages, they have some words in common. For instance "responsabilitate" is Romanian for "responsibility," "creativitate" is "creativity". There are also words that are similar, but a little different. The word "loc" in Romanian means seat or place rather than location and a library is actually what we would call a bookstore.
Then there are some words in Romanian that are obviously taken from English because they are modern and there was no term for them in Romanian. For example: seminar, laptop, and weekend. So when I find myself stuck not knowing a word, I use a trick that was taught to me by my mentor. Say the English word with a Romanian accent and ending, and it just might work. So that's what I've been doing for the last few months when I come up not knowing a word in class. And it was only a matter of time before this strategy came back to bite me on the ass.


Yesterday in class we were discussing cancer and its various causes. I was trying to explain how chemical pollution, like mercury in the water or an incident like Chernobyl, can cause some forms of cancer. I described this as "polutia chemice." Unfortunately for me the correct term was "polluare chemice." Today, while we were writing lesson plans, my partner explained to me that "polutia" is actually the Romanian term for ejaculation.



.
.
.
.
Damnit.

English Club

Three weeks ago I started teaching English Club one a week for an hour. I only have eight students, which is great because things stay under control and we can get a lot done. I have two students in attendance who already stood out to me in other classes as very dedicated to their studies and who want to learn English for advancement in life (Verionica told me she wants to be a lawyer), some who are normal students who just want to learn English because they feel like it, and one kid who is a bit of a pain in other classes who showed up for the first time this week. Actually, he really isn't that bad. I have the feeling that he acts out to get attention and if he were a student in the States he would have been placed on a school sports team by now to give him some direction.


Today we were finishing up and I gave homework since I have a training next week and there won't be club. The assignment is to write a short introduction about yourself. What's your name, where are you from, how old are you, and what you like. As soon as I wrote "I like" on the board the one boy who can be a pain starts singing "I like to move it, move it". It made my day. Best lesson ever in the past six months. I laughed so hard I started snorting. So in honor of that student, I am posting this video.

Children in Moldova

Some days here are really difficult. Especially when the kids are acting up. I have to remind myself that some of these kids are acting up because they have no parental supervision and no one at home to teach them better. I've posted a news article before about the "lost generation" in Moldova; here's a video about the situation.

A scene from class

This is a scene from one of my classes today. We were talking about the differences between viruses and bacteria and the treatments for them.


Me: What's the result of Tuberculosis?
Student: Bye bye!


Well, I guess if nothing else, he understands that TB is a serious disease.



Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go eat potatoes for dinner.

So you want to join the Peace Corps?

This video has gone viral throughout the Peace Corps community in the last couple of days. Mostly because it's funny because it's true.

Norway!

For Christmas vacation I got to go on a trip that never in a million years would have happened if I weren't in the Peace Corps. I went to Norway! It was very exciting. After a 12-hour bus ride to Kiev, a few hours sleep in a noisy hotel right by the airport, a 6am flight, my plane being late, and my luggage spending an extra night in Amsterdam without me, I finally made it to Hell.


For real, that's the name this town the airport is next to. As I flew into Trondheim airport, I looked out over the snow covered landscape and this scene popped into my head:

My Great-great-great-great-grandfather: (Sitting in front of a fireplace in the middle of winter with a blizzard outside.)
Random Neighbor: My kid moved to America last year and says they don't get much snow there.
Grandpa: Family, pack everything. We're moving to America!
Next winter in Minnesota during a blizzard...
Grandpa: Damn it.


Anyway, Ingrid's mom was nice enough to pick me up at the airport (she also went to the store that night and got me a fresh pair of undies and a tooth brush, she's a good mom). This is the view from their living room.



It's a fjord and super beautiful. It was very lovely to look at every day. The one draw back to this view is that the bus into Trondheim is at the bottom of that hill.

So Ingrid and I got to hike it several times. Down and up. Both perilous as there was about six inches of ice that had attached itself to the landscape for the season. About the middle picture above with the two kids, I would like to note that this picture was taken at about 2:30 in the afternoon. Yes, that's when dusk started. Because Trondheim is so close to the arctic circle, in winter there is only sun from about 9am to 3pm. This often caused me to want to go to bed at 6pm.



This is Ingrid and me at St. Olav's cathedral, one of the most visited cathedrals in the world. It is gorgeous. We were able to go inside and see a music rehearsal, but pictures were not allowed inside. It was built in the 12th century.



We did a lot of walking around Trondheim and seeing the sites. Here's me in front of the iconic Norwegian houses by the river. We also went to the library, which has skeletons on display. I didn't take a picture because it seemed weird to do so, but you can see photos online (http://www.trondheim.com/skeletons/) and read about the history of the library.



We did find a little bit of America downtown in the form of a 1950's diner. I got a bacon cheeseburger and enjoyed every bite of it. Sooooo good after the Moldovan food.


Then came New Years! We spent the night out with Inrid's friends; had appetizers at Oda's house, went out for Chinese food (Sidebar: On-jon, the Chinese man in the picture, is Oda's boyfriend from Beijing and was in Trondheim visiting her. When we went to the restaurant he and Oda talked to the owner and convinced them to just bring us whatever they wanted to cook, so it ended up being really good food at a decent price), then to a party, climbed a hill to a tower where fireworks were, back to the party, then back to Oda's house where we had "toast" and slept until 1pm the next day.



There was man at the fireworks who commented "Oh, look, there goes my tax money."



I say "toast" because the Norwegian version of toast and the American version of toast differ greatly. In America, toast is warm bread with butter and jam. In Norway, toast is bread with whatever I feel like slapping on it today. So really we ended up eating toasted sandwiches. Still good.




The night before I had to fly out, Ingrid played a concert. Live Irish music. Not very common in Norway, but as long as there's beer involved, most Norwegians don't seem to mind much.




This picture is drawn on the bar at the pub where the gig was played. It's pronounced "Or-nah sigh" and is Norwegian for "it'll all work out" of "everything will be alright". Which is pretty much my motto for the next two years.