Winter Update

I have now been living in Moldova for over 1.5 years. Wow. It seems like yesterday when I started up this blog in my nice little living room in my old, rented mill house in Columbia, SC. I had no idea what my Peace Corps experience would be like, but I knew I was ready for a new adventure, a new country, a new language, and lots of potatoes.

I could write about how much I've personally changed over the past 1.5 years, but I wouldn't know where to begin. My outlook on most things in life has changed in one way or another. My mind has been stretched on a daily basis, and my patience and open-mindedness tested frequently. I had no idea I would be wearing this much fur. This has been a humbling and educating experience, and I hope I can build on it.

I knew I loved traveling before I came to Peace Corps, but I didn't know how much I would enjoy learning Romanian and seeing a culture from the inside; in other words, not stopping through the capital city for a few days as a tourist. Don't misunderstand me, I love taking a few days vacation to visit cool places, but there is something more gratifying about speaking the language and having locals take pride in the fact that you are really trying to understand their culture. With that said, I am beginning to study Spanish. When I return from Moldova in early August, I plan to live in southern Mexico for 3-4 months with a Spanish-speaking host family on an organic farm. I am contacting farms through WWOOF - World Wide Organization of Organic Farms - which is an online community of farms that offer to host volunteers to work in exchange for free room and board.

If everything goes as planned, I'll soon be having to refuse excessive amounts of Mexican tequila instead of Russian vodka! Paz mis amigos!