After my vacation I came back to my village and wanted nothing more than to sit back and relax after my whirlwind of a trip. Well I got what I wanted and after about a week I started to wonder if I would ever leave my village or how in the world I would spend the rest of my summer? Sitting in front of my laptop watching YouTube videos? Great for a few days to catch your breath but highly unproductive in the long run and unsustainable for my whole summer vacation...So what in the world will I do?
Most volunteers find organizations in their community or connected with Peace Corps to work with during their breaks in order to keep themselves busy and not catch any cabin fever from being stuck inside the village all summer. Unluckily for me the plans I made for the most part fell through and it always seems to me like I am kind of away from all of the action when I am in my village so what I needed was a trip to the capital to get me reconnected to what was going on.
Luckily for me another volunteer came in contact with an organization that is going to be leading a summer camp for Moldovan students learning English and she wanted some of the people who would be interested to join her in a meeting with the organization. So not only was I excited about this amazing possibility but it was also a good enough reason to finally brave the ridiculous heat and head to the capital. The day actually went better than I could have imagined.
First of all, if everything goes according to plan I should be spending three weeks at this summer camp in the Ukraine...more specifically the Crimea...and not using any of my vacation days. Of course technically I will be working but most of the job description was just having fun with the Moldovan kids and speaking English whenever possible.
Right after this exciting meeting we headed off to an Americans house who lives in Chisinau and works for the American Embassy and who happens to hold get together meals every Thursday open to any Americans that want to stop by their house. I don't think I can describe just how happy I was once I got there. To put it simply they had air conditioning and a table that was filled with delicious and spicy mexican food. Spicy food is a commodity that you don't see very often in Moldova so this was probably the first time I had something even remotely close to mexican food in a year. Once I loaded up my plate with a beef enchilada and homemade chocolate chip cookies my brain nearly exploded trying to comprehend the biggest decision I have come across since the start of my service...did I want Sweet Tea or Dr. Pepper? And did I mention there was a ice cube tray with honest to goodness ice cubes (that weren't contaminated with Giardia). Basically everything I consumed while I was at their house were like rare delicacies that I probably won't see again for another year or until the next time I happen to be in Chisinau on a Thursday and make it to their house for another amazing meal.
Anyway, now that I am back home I actually have realized I do in fact have a lot to look forward to. Starting with my host mothers grand children who are going to be visiting from Russia (and only speak Russian...) who will be here on Sunday. In the beginning of July I will be heading back to Chisinau to meet my new site mate and attend a 4th of July celebration and in late June/early August I will be heading off to that summer camp in the Ukraine. With school starting up again on September 1st I think I should be able to keep myself busy. Any time I do have left over will hopefully be spent preparing for the next school year. (Fingers crossed)
(It is currently 98 degrees outside and has been in the 90s all week. Someone needs to tell the weatherman to send me some cooler weather. Or in the very least some rain.)
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