Who are those beautiful people?!?!

Just had to show off my wonderful family. This is a recent picture of them. From left going clockwise: Dad, mom, Chris-16 years old(top row), Stephen-23 years old, Michael-25 years old, Aaron (the dog), Tim-29 years old, Trey-9 months old(the baby), Jenny-forever 25 years old :), and Bracho (the other dog). Look at all those good-looking people!!!!

June Continued.....

While in Chisinau this week, I stopped by my original training village of Rusestii Noi for a birthday party. Sergiu was turning 25. Here I am with some of my original host family, and neighbors celebrating Sergiu's birthday. Sergiu's the guy on the far left. I think we're all toasting to his health in this picture and wishing him many more years to come. That toast in Romanian is "Sanatate, si la multi ani!" And here I am back in my village with one of my tutors. Her name is Jana, and she is 26, a history teacher at the local school, and has been married for a year. 

June Already?!?!

I really can't believe it's already June!! That means I'm into my 9th month of being here in Moldova!!!!! How did that happen?!?! Well, here's some photo updates from the recent weeks. This is a picture of some local tagging in Recea. I was so amused by it, I had to take a picture so you could share in that amusement. The kids here LOVE our rap and pop music, such as 50 Cent, Eminem, Madonna, etc...... In fact one kid wanted me to translate a 50 Cent song for him into Romanian. I told him if the words were dirty, I would have none of it, but he promised it was a curat (clean) song. When I sat down to translate with him, I laughed about half the time because it was almost entirely in Ebonics, and then gasped the other half in schock at the graphic song content. I ended up trying to explain the fact that most rappers in America speak in an entirely different language, which, although it sounds like English, is really something different altogether. YOU try translating the phrase, "I'm gonna bust a cap in yo !@*!" Then there was the "No Smocking" tag. I'm sure they thought they were writing something very naughty, which makes it all the more amusing. They were actually doing a public service, although they do need to work on their spelling a bit. hehehe:D I wonder if they were "smocking" something when they tagged it. A new group of volunteers just came into Moldova on the 8th, and a group of us current volunteers went to greet them. It was a lot of fun meeting with them, and getting to know them a bit. This picture is a few fellow volunteers and myself at the airport. From left to right: Rok, me, Dave, Adam, and Chris. Here's the group of new volunteers in their first full day of training. I really like this group. They seem very optimistic, enthusiastic, and excited to be here. I think I'm going to enjoy getting to know them. There are about 37 of them, and they are all either TEFL or Health teachers. These next few weeks will be very intense for them, but they're tough, so I'm sure they'll be able to handle it. As you can see, the hotel I stayed in while in Chisinau, was infested by people-eating giants!!!! I know it's pretty scary, huh? I barely escaped with my life from a very hungry giant with a big mouth and a beard!! WHEW!! Close call!!! (Don't worry Mom and Dad (because I know you must have been extremely so). It's just a little trick photography) hahahaha!