I have my camera cord!!!!!! Thanks mom and dad!! Now I can start at the very beginning. So, here goes. Hope I don't bore anyone. This picture was taken my very first day in my training village of Rusestii Noi. The volunteers in my group had been in the capital city of Chisinau for about a week, getting used to the idea of being in Moldova, and learning the basics of what the next two years would be like. Then, after we were told what villages we would be training in, our host families from those villages arrived at the hotel to pick us and all our baggage up and take us to our new homes. I remember the ride to my new village. My host dad, Gregory, had come with his oldest son, Mitya (19). I felt so bad that I had so much baggage, and I couldn't speak the language at all. I think the only words I knew were frumose (beautiful), and nu shtiu (I don't know). So, my host dad was rattling away, about what I couldn't figure out, and I was just nodding and smiling a lot. He kept pointing outside while we were driving, so I just kept saying frumose, hoping I was conveying to him and his son that I thought Moldova was beautiful. I remember finally arriving at their house in the village of Rusestii Noi, and after being shown to my room, and having a bit of time to start unpacking, they introduced me to more of the family, Nielo (14), and Viorica (17). Then, they wanted to feed me. While I was sitting at the table eating and trying to understand what they were saying, I heard someone coming through the front door yelling, "America", as if they were calling someobody by that name. Then, with my new host mom laughing, a neighbor woman walked in with one of the older volunteers from my group. Apparently, he was to be my next door neighbor, and his extremely artistic and somewhat eccentric host mom wanted him to take pictures of all her welcoming decorations she had made for him. But he didn't have a functioning camera, and he was somehow able to convey to her that I had a digital camera. So, she grabbed him, and brought him to my house to recruit me and my camera for the dinner at their house. So that I how I found myself at the neighbor's house with my host mom, other neighbors, and Dan, this other volunteer, eating yet ANOTHER meal, and taking pictures of the traditional decorations Dan's host mom had made. In this picture, I am in the back on the left, and Dan is sitting to my left. His host dad is sitting to my right, and my host mom, although a bit hidden, is sitting to the right of Dan's host dad. I don't know who the other people are.