in the community: animal update — the good news
In the middle of December, one Saturday afternoon, David went out to pick up milk and eggs at the corner store and came back with a kitten — a little ugly black and white kitten covered in gasoline. There wasn’t much to do other than give it a bath, feed it, and try to find […]
in the community: animal update — the bad news
We came back from Istanbul to find a dozen ruffian boys on our bloc steps, talking (and laughing) about the latest happening. Dookie (or Magduta, as I call her) was killed. We don’t know the details as each boy had a different story, but Magduta’s gone to the great countryside in the sky with the […]
keeping traditions: a holiday quickie
I have been crazy sick recently. I was ordered to bed for DAYS by darling Dr. Dan and so I was out of commission and recuperating most of the Christmas weekend. I did get a few pictures/videos to share. And while I don’t have time to write about all of them now, I shall in […]
keeping traditions: Christmas decorations
As I said in my last post, David and I didn’t do ANYTHING last year along the lines of decorating for Christmas. This year, I’m trying to be better about it — because it keeps me busy, it keeps me creative, and it’ll feel better on Christmas Day for it to look Christmasy around the […]
craftiness: our advent calendar
Last year, we did very little to prepare for Christmas. No shopping, no decorating, no listening to Christmas music. It was our first Christmas far from home and we thought that if we skipped the sentimental stuff, maybe we wouldn’t be too sentimental. But that didn’t pan out — it was tough and sad not […]
on the job: hand turkeys
Today at Clubul Copiilor, I wowed them with hand turkeys. So cute! For more hand turkeys… photos are here.
in the kitchen: celebrating Thanksgiving
After last year’s successful volunteer Thanksgiving here in Moldova, we opted to host our volunteer friends for a crazy weekend of turkey-centered fun. This past weekend, 18 of us gathered together in our town of Targu Neamt to celebrate an American Thanksgiving in Romania. When you’re feeding an army, there are always stressful moments — […]
on the job: head, shoulders, knees, & toes
Today with my little monsters, we did some work. Our theme was red — what’s red, writing sentences about red things, etc. Then we went outside and played for a bit. To transition back to the classroom and to warm us up, we sang some “Head, Shoulders, Knees, & Toes” in the courtyard. Here are […]
in the community: lost and found
For some of our Thanksgiving preparations, I’ve been looking for cheesecloth. I’d looked in the supermarkets and kept my eyes open at stores with kitchen stuff. No luck. I know it exists because tons of people make their own cheese here. I was chatting with one of my English students about our preparations and this […]
in the kitchen, on the job: Thanksgiving
So we’re to that time of year again when David and I alone keep the town’s dairy economy going. During Advent (and Lent), the Romanian Orthodox in our community fast. And their fast makes Catholic fasting seem easy peasy. In essence everyone becomes vegan for a month in preparation for the big pig kill and […]