Nils in training

Okay, I couldn't resist putting this one up. Nils and I had the priviledge of going fishing with some good friends, Sorina and Marian, as well as with a fellow Peace Corps volunteer, Cynthia. It was a lovely day! I'll post more on that later... but first... this lovely candid moment.

We're in the NEWSPAPER

Okay... so it's the local newspaper. The student who wrote the article is part of Youth Vision for Democracy (one of Nils' projects) and is a very talented young man. Thanks Raul!! Here's the link if you're interested: http://www.ziaruldebraila.ro/pagina_elevilor/voluntariat_in_stil_american.html

Apartment Part 2 - Bucătărie

I know you've all been waiting with bated breath... wait no longer. YES folks... we introduce to you..... our KITCHEN! Enjoy!


As a side note, some people have wondered why we started with the bathroom... Our "tour" seems to lack logic and planning. Well, surprised as you all may be at the answer, indeed, the whole thing was rather spontaneous. I just happened to be in the bathroom when Nils decided to begin filming the apartment tour. Luckily, that was the cleanest room in the entire house after it received a very in-depth cleaning from me the day before.

Ode to a new Nephew

So Nils and I have a new handsome nephew!! His name is William Dennis O'Hara (named for his two grandpas) and was born on Sunday October 19, 2008 at 7:27 am. We were out of town this last week with limited internet access, so we apologize for the delay. In honor of our new nephew, here is a little poem:

What Child Is This?!?!?

What child is this, who still won't rest
While his parents are pretending to be sleeping?
Whom two siblings greet with signs so sweet (who this, Mom?),
While all will be watching the three-kid buggie.
This! This??? is William Dennis O'Hara
Who is named of ancestors of old...
Haste! haste?? you better bring him laud,
The babe (ya know, like baby!), the son of Toby and Sharole-y!

So bring him gifts of gold and other expensive things,
Cuz this kid didn't come very cheap-ly
The cutest of the three, cuz he's small, he's Billy D!
Let loving hearts (only) hold him.
Joy! joy! for the kid finally came out,
the babe, the son of Toby and Sharole-y!
The babe, the son of Toby and Sharole-yyyyyy!

Braila today, Nashville tomorrow...

Emily and I found a new hobby - recording platinum albums. And just because we like you all, we decided to release our first ever cut of us singing our first single "Row row row your boat." I hope you enjoy...

I just can't help it...

Okay, so politics is one of those things that you either hate... or just laugh at. So for those of you who appreciate a good laugh, Saturday Night Live did a pretty good job on this spoof of an interview between Sarah Palin and Katie Couric. The parts are played by Tina Fey (Palin) and Amy Poehler (Couric). As a note, Couric isn't the one pregnant in this sketch. Just the actress.

Tour of the Apartment - Part 1

So yes, everyone's been reminding me that it's been a while since I've posted anything. So... as a consellation, here's a little video for ya! I can't compete with my brother Toby's abilities, but there is some sign language in there!

Nils is speaking and I'm simply interpreting. If the narration doesn't make sense, it's because of Nils... not me!

Nils the Grad Post Grad

Last week Nils finished his final project for his Master's Degree in Public Administration from the Monterey Institute of International Studies (MIIS). It wasn't until I saw the website where he posted his entire project did I realize how much work he put into it! I'm really quite proud of him. Anyway... YEAH for Nils!!

Anyone who's interested in his final Master's project, you can view the complete project on:
http://notebook.zoho.com/nb/public/nbergeson/book/69926000000011027
There's a lot of really interesting stuff that may be useful to anyone working on future facilitation or evaluation projects.

We've also posted some video footage of Nils' facilitation exercise on Youtube. Go to http://www.youtube.com/ and search for nbergy5 and you'll receive a complete list of all of our film entries (all the ones with Youth Vision in the title are relevant to the project). I even got to play a small role as the interviewer for the evaluation of the exercise afterward! :) Take a look! And here's a picture of the participants.

Again, congrats Nils! You're officially done with school!!! (Unless of course you decide to pursue your PhD... )

Zilele Brailei

"Zilele Brailei" means "the days of Braila"... or better interpreted, Braila Days. This was last weekend and Cynthia joined us for the fun, food, and .... heat. We went on the Faleza (kinda like a board walk, without the wood...) along the Danube and looked at all the vendors with their various trinkets and things. We didn't end up buying anything. We've got to save up for Christmas. Big travel plans in the works.... Greece, Turkey, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Albania, Monte Negro, and Serbia to be exact.

Here were some pictures we took during the days of Braila.

Behind us are the seats in preparation for a concert. Behind the "photographer" is a stage for live performances. Behind us also is the rows of foundains which lead up to the world-renown fountain of Braila. More pictures on that later...

Emily and Cynthia

So Braila is working on a project called "Rebranding Braila" and Nils and I had the opportunity to sit in on some of the meetings. There are very smart and knowledgeable people in Braila. Several great ideas came out of the meeting, from the youth and from the more experienced members, from leaders and from the citizens. It was an experience that got me very excited to be involved in any small projects that may occur in the future that would improve Braila for the benefit of its citizens and its economy. It's exciting to see people take an interest in their community and their future! Great job Braila!!

Per Toby's request...

Nils with his "pot trap" and the victorious mouse...

Emily and her "snap-trap" and her dead mouse....

And last... but not least... dead mouse.

Nils did put the actual dead mouse in this very spot this morning, but he's gone now. We figure his family must have gathered his remains for a proper burial (or some other animal... for a "proper" burial).

Good-bye Mouse

It's true... I did it. I had no other choice. Here's the story:

One pleasant evening, Nils and I were in the living room enjoying some light entertainment when I noticed a small thing dart across the back wall. I looked over at Nils to see if he had seen what I'd seen, and I could tell that he had. We decided not to worry about it. And then I saw it again! "There! Did you see that!" And there he was... a cute little teeney mouse. He darted from behind the vacuum and toward the hall. It was so strange to see a little mouse quickly moving around the house. I was used to spotting and spraying bugs, but this was quite different.

We decided not to bother him and finished our evening as pleasant as it had started. As I prayed that night, it occured to me how much I wished we could live with all of these creatures in peace. I didn't mind sharing food with the mouse, especially if he ate what we left behind. No harm in that.

Well, the next day, I was cooking in the kitchen when I heard this rattling sound along the tube of the washing machine. Our washing machine is in our kitchen in the back corner. I turned quickly at the sound and saw just then the faintest blur... so I wasn't sure if it was our mouse. I tip-toed over to the washing machine and peered over the side. There was the "carpet roller cleaner thing"... the plugs.... but I didn't see anything else. Hmm... maybe I was imagining things. I went back to the stove. But then I wanted to check again... so I returned to the corner and slightly moved the "carpet roller cleaner thing" and... there was the mouse! As I moved it he darted back toward the main part of the kitchen as I screamed! I felt like an elephant :) Being scared of such a small creature. Silly me. But I couldn't help it. I ran to the living room where Nils was working quietly and yelled, "The mouse! It's in the kitchen!!" Nils being curious got up and went to the kitchen. "Where?" "It was over by the washing machine!" He couldn't find it. The little mouse had vanished.

Nils and I discussed what we should do. We didn't was to exactly kill it... There must be some way to capture it and then take it somewhere far away outside. Sounded like a good idea, so Nils started gathering supplies for a pot-trap. Nils baited it with cheese and set up string and a clothespin to spring the trap and bring a small pot down over the mouse. We had the trap set for a few days hoping to catch the little guy and set him free. Nothing. I decided to add a little peanut butter since the cheese was getting a little dry... hoping to entice the mouse that way. Still nothing. Then Friday came... and I had some cleaning to do.

I cleaned the kitchen, the living room, the bathroom and the hall... feeling good about myself for getting things in better order. As I was cleaning in the kitchen, I did accidentally spring the pot-trap, but seeing that it hadn't caught anything yet, I let it be. Nils came home and made ready to go grocery shopping and was quite excited to see the pot-trap sprung! "Sorry, honey... it was me."

So Nils went off to get the groceries and I finished tidying up. And then I started hearing a scraping sound on metal. "Ah-ha!" I thought. "It must be the mouse trying to get the food in the pot!" I quietly went over to the kitchen and slowly looked over to where the pot was laying. There was nothing there. And then I heard the scrapping sound again, but this time it was a lot closer to me... like it was right next to me. I looked around and realized I was standing next to the stove. Was the mouse in the stove? I couldn't be sure. I stood still a few more moments and then banged on the stove. Nothing. I tried a few more times to get some kind of movement, but nothing. Oh, well. I decided to start dinner. The heat would at least hopefully get the mouse out of the stove.... or we'd have a crispy snack to go with dinner... either one. I got to my preparations and a few minutes later I again heard the rapid rattling along the washing machine hose (which runs along the kitchen from the back corner to the sink ... if I didn't mention that before). The mouse was making his way back to that corner again. But when I looked, he wasn't in the same spot. Hmm...

I was getting a little more frightened and I didn't like the unpredictability of our little friend. *sigh.... Guess we'll have to wait til heaven to live in complete harmony with rodents and bugs. So I prepared the snap-trap. A previous volunteer had given it to us before heading back to the states. It hadn't been used yet... (except on Nils' fingers... more times than I'd like to mention. He had a lot of fun playing with it before we got to try it on the mouse.) So I put some peanut butter on it, set the trap, put it somewhere out of sight, and waited. And waited.... and waited. Seeing nothing, I gave up and went back to cooking. I announced to Nils when he got home what had happened and that I'd decided to kill the mouse rather than be worried where he might be all the time. I can't speak for Nils, but I did feel bad giving up so easily and just going for the kill.

Well, the whole weekend Nils kept hearing some snapping sound. He'd go over to check the trap and would find nothing. This morning we were up by 6:00am (or so) and it wasn't until 9:30am that I went to check on the trap. And there he was, the little mouse, caught in the trap. Dead. No blood... no mess... that was kind of him.

But I couldn't bring myself to dispose of him. I asked Nils if he would, but he said since I was the murderer, I should probably be the one to finish the job. I tried to gear myself up, but I just couldn't do it. I realized Nils probably didn't want to do it either.... so I probably should. Then definantly I said I would hire someone to come and dispose of him. Nils quickly volunteered... so now I owe Nils..... Ah well. It's all over now. I'm guilty as charged, and the poor mouse is dead. I do feel some pangs of regret... but in all fairness, we did try to catch him and set him free first. At least I'm not a murderer at heart.

EXTRA!! Emily Kills Mouse

NB - Early morning reports coming from Braila, Romania, have confirmed that Emily O'Hara Bergeson, a Peace Corps volunteer serving in that city, has killed a mouse. Unconfirmed rumors indicate that an archaic "snap trap" was used, perhaps baited with peanut-butter. Due to Ms. Bergeson's lack of a criminal background, it seems unlikely that she would have committed the act for any reason other than self defense. The name of the mouse has not been released. Further details surrounding the incident will be reported as they are divulged.

Nils Bergeson, Independent Journalist (actually, he's not as Independent as he thinks...)

Moldova... the country

So it's interesting how there's a "Moldova" region in Romania and then just across the border is the Republic of Moldova. It does cause a little confusion, for me anyway, when someone mentions "Moldova". I'm thinking... are they talking about the country or the region? Well, anyway, back in June, we got to visit the country, and I must say... it's gorgeous!!! We traveled with Tantza and Marie from Galati just in time before Marie left for her long journey through Europe and eventually back to the States. We went to Chişinău (Kee-sheen-oh) and met some amazing people, including the Blakely's, a couple who hosted us during our stay. Here are some amazing pictures.

Tantza, Marie, Nils, and Emily in the Botanical Gardens in Chisinau with the "gates" behind. The two buildings behind us form a sort of a gate to all who enter the city... really cool!

The Blakely's, Trent and Iuliana, and Nils and Emily

Some other really cool building, there were lots in the city... It definitely felt like a country capital.

Mastacani Countryside

There's another volunteer in our group, Cynthia, who's serving in the village of Mastacani. Whenever we need to relax and be among nature, we take a little trip North.... two maxi taxi rides of about 1 hour and a half total time to visit Cynthia. Here are some pictures...

So... Cynthia's water doesn't always work, so she gets to draw water from a well whenever it's not working. In this case, she let us draw the water... fun! (But probably not fun when you would rather take a shower...)

I didn't quite get it right the first time... a lot ended up on my shoe. How it works is really quite cool. You fill it up, and then release the water from the bottom!

Here's Cynthia (who was kind enough to give us this cool country living experience) with Nils hanging out on a little bridge. Does the water look brown? Yeah, it is... we thought about doing a little wading... but the thought of animal excretions stopped us.

Here's my favorite. We saw this women following her flock of geese... who were apparently leading HER home! :) We followed them a little ways, since we were headed in the same direction, and it was just so cool to watch. Anytime they started to stray, the woman would talk to them with little sounds and they would change their direction. And they even made it across a little narrow mud-bridge over a canal! I should have been taking video instead of pictures! Maybe next time....

New Special Topic Blog

Hello avid subscribers, this is Nils speaking.

I wanted to report to you that I have recently created a new blog entitled Mormon Thinking.
It can be found at:

www.mormonthinking.blogspot.com

For those of you who are interested in topics related to Mormonism, I encourage you to read and participate. If you are interested in learning more, please see the blog.

Keep up the good work,

Nils

Nils' PCRO Swearing-in Speech

Nils' Speech has been posted on Youtube.com.
Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ud604waeiuA
He did a great job, didn't he!

Here's the transcript of his speech in both Romanian and in English. The format alternates between languages... first in Romanian, then in English:

Eu le sunt foarte recunoscător colegilor mei pentru oportunitatea de a mă adresa lor. Aş dori să mulţumesc acelora care au organizat acest eveniment, de asemenea musafirilor care au venit să ne sustină în această zi importantă. Aş dori să mulţumesc în special familiilor noastre gazdă care ne-au deschis casele lor, inimile lor, şi nu în ultimul rând, frigiderele lor, în timpul acestei perioade de tranziţie.
Au trecut două luni şi jumatate de când am sosit în România. De atunci fiecare dintre noi a experimentat diverse schimbări în viaţa lui. Ca să mentionez doar câteva exemple, am învaţat să apreciem salamul, am învaţat tactici pentru a trăi în armonie cu câinii vagabonzi, şi ne-am obişnuit să vedem priviri ciudate. Totuşi, schimbările pe care le-am experimentat pâna acum sunt doar o mică parte din ceea ce va urma. Dacă slujba noastra va avea rezultate bune, vom ajunge să iubim românii ca şi cum ar fii propriul nostru popor şi România ca şi cum România ar fii propria noastră ţară.
România este un loc minunat. Este o ţară bogată în cultură şi în diversitatea regională. Este o ţară care apreciază tradiţiile dar care este constant deschisă spre noi idei şi schimbare. De vreme ce am o căsnicie fericită, pot să spun liniştit că femeile românce sunt foarte frumoase. Oamenii români sunt deschişi, amabili, şi generoşi. Totodată, am fost foarte impresionat de simţul umorului romanesc.

I am grateful to my colleagues for providing me this opportunity to address you. I wish to thank those who have hosted and put together this event, as well the guests who have come to support us on our important day. I would like to give a very special thanks to our host families who have opened their homes, their hearts, as well as their refrigerators, to us during this period of transition.
It has been two-and-a-half months since we have arrived in Romania. Since then, each of us has certainly experienced changes in our lives. To mention just a few, we have gained a new appreciation for salami, learned tactics for living in harmony with street dogs, and have grown quite accustomed to receiving strange looks. However, the changes we have experienced so far are only a small sample of what lies in store for all of us. If our Peace Corps service proves to be successful, we will come to love the Romanians as if they were our own people, and Romania as if Romania was our home country.
Romania is a wonderful place. It is a country rich in culture and regional diversity. It is a country which values traditions but is consistently open to new ideas and change. Since I am happily married, I am also safe to say that the women are very beautiful. The people of Romania are open, kind, generous. Moreover, I have been very impressed by the Romanian sense of humor.

Mulţi dintre noi au venit aici cu noţiuni preconcepute despre ce inseamnă România. Majoritatea dintre noi au ştiut că România se află în Europa, dar nu au ştiut unde exact este Europa. Dar, pe masura ce am intrat în contact cu mentalitatea şi stilul de viaţa romanesc, toate noţiunile s-au schimbat. Totuşi, ne va lua timp să interiorizăm şi să intelegem cu adevărat bucuria de a fi român. Sper că va veni ziua când vom iubi cu adevărat această ţară.
Nu este nimic rău în a avea culturi multiple. Avem marea oportunitate de a înţelege modul de viaţă al românilor. O cale de a aprecia România este să încetăm să comparăm Statele Unite cu România. Avem şansa să dezvoltăm compasiunea noastră şi înţelegerea noastră despre lume în timp ce îmbrăţişăm ideea că vom trăi ca românii în următorii doi ani.
Vă doresc tuturor noroc în munca voastră! Câţiva dintre noi o să aibă nevoie. Să fim binecuvântaţi cu oportunităţi care să ne întărească caracterul şi să ne extindă orizonturile!

Many of us came here with pre-conceived notions of what Romania is. Most of us knew it was in Europe, and a few of us knew where Europe was. As we have been given a taste of the cultural wealth thus far, these notions have changed. However, it will take time for us to fully grasp the joy of being Romanian. I hope that day will come for each of us, and that we will truly come to love our new country.
There is nothing wrong in having multiple cultures. We have a great opportunity to gain new understanding of the Romanian lifestyle. One way to gain real appreciation for Romania is to cease in comparing the United States to Romania. We have the opportunity to greatly enhance our compassion and our understanding of the world as we embrace the fact that we will live as Romanians for the next two years.
I wish you all the best of luck in your new assignments! Some of us will definitely need it. May we be blessed with opportunities that strengthen our character and expand our horizons!

Our First Soarma

Now every country has their little stands of amazingly good food. In Mexico it was this little stand that sold tacos of the most delicious flavors. The day just wasn't done until you'd made a trip to the taco stand. Well, here in Romania, they have soarma (shwarma) stands. This delectable combination of flavors consists of a shell (somewhat 'pita' in nature) meat [the cooking process is described below and available in pui (chicken), porc (pork) or carne de vaca (beef)], french fries, cabbage or lettuce, peppers, this amazing sauce that I have no idea what's in it, various other veggies, and smantana (something more or less like sour cream). The meat is cooked in the similar fashion as the meat cooked and offered at the little stand in Bermejillo, MX with the meat all piled ontop of each other on this big upright metal spear and constantly drenched with a redish sauce of yummy goodness. It is truly amazing. If soarma was a little cheaper, I'd be tempted to have it for dinner every nite!

Here's a picture of Nils and Emily enjoying their first soarma..... yum!

Sorry you can't see the food that well, but it doesn't look quite as good as it sounds with all the juices running and mixing and bite marks.... hence, no close up on the food. Beside us is a lamp post still covered with the mayorial canidate posters from the Mayorial election in Galati, where we ate our first soarma. Picture posters pasted everywhere is still a vital part of campaigning here... it's considerably cheaper than TV commericals :) Now getting all the glued posters off.... that's a different matter. After the elections were over, I observed a few guys with putty knives scrapping away at every lamp post and bus stand throughout Braila and Galati.

Swearing-in Ceremony

Okay, so the swearing-in ceremony was what, exactly 2 months and some odd days days ago and I'm just now posting about it? Oh well...

On May 5th, 2008 the members of Group 24 were officially sworn in as Peace Corps volunteers. The ceremony was held at the residence of the American Ambassador to Romania (a really beautiful place, by the way!). Two representatives from our group were nominated to give speeches at the event, and our very own Nils Bergeson had the honor of being one of them. The other speaker was Melissa Culkin, another marvelous volunteer whom we all agreed could represent our group well. Both did a wonderful job and even gave their speeches in Romanian and in English. Members of the media were present and the ceremony was filmed. Afterward, people from radio stations interviewed a few of us and recorded our responses. I was interviewed, but was too shy to do it all in Romanian (I couldn't anyway despite the best efforts of our language teachers... ). I'm not sure what happened to these, but I did get something important on film.... Nils' speech. It's just taking me forever to load it. So while I work on that, here are some pictures of the event, people, and maybe a short video.....

Here's everyone in Group 24.

Nils and Emily

And a little "Hello" from the new Peace Corps Romania Volunteers! (from the bus ride back to Ploiesti)

"Hello" video transcript:

Emily: Hey!

Nils: Hi.

Emily: This is Nils and I. We just finished being at the Ambassador's house for our, ah, swearing-in ceremony. We're now *officially volunteers for the Peace Corps, and umm....this is the bus. And here are some of the sites...

Nils: Bu-cu-resti

Emily: uh-huh

VAC stands for Volunteer Advisory Committee and is a group of volunteer representatives who work closely with Peace Corps staff to provide volunteer input and ideas. I was nominated, but wasn't selected as a representative. The process taught me a lot though, not only about the other members of my group who had been nominated (all of them very talented and would have done a superb job!) but also about myself. It's important to frequently evaluate why we do what we do, why we're volunteers with the Peace Corps.... what we hope to achieve and how we plan to go about achieving it. I hope that in some small way I can make a positive impact.

An update from Nils:

I thought I would drop another bit of news about how things are going for us here in Braila. We are currently in our new home and city for the next two years, Braila, Romania. I guess some of you have already talked to us since we got here last week, but nonetheless I thought I would tell some about our new home. It is the 10th biggest city in Romania, but it has kind of a small-town field despite the well over 200,000 people who live here. In the past few years 15 supermarket stores have opened up, making it easy for us to buy anything we need. There are also several open markets which are available every day (in some places it's only on weekends that they're open) and provide anything we would need in terms of food, clothing, household items, etc. It is a great place to be. On Sunday we went to the city of Galati, which is about 12 miles to the north. The closest Mormon church is in Galati, but it is very small and generally only 10-20 people attend. There happens to be another Mormon Peace Corps Volunteer who is serving in Galati, Marie. Incidentally, she also went to Westminster College, though she started after I was there. However, we know many of the same people and she lived in the same apartment building I did (on the same floor as a matter of fact). She will be here for 2 more months before going home.

Sunday May 11 (Mother's Day) at Marie's house (another Volunteer leaving in July) along with a senior missionary couple Bro and Sis Bryson, Brother Peterson, a farmer here from Idaho doing consulting near Galati (he's been all over the world), and Cynthia, a volunteer from our group visiting from Mastacani (a small village north of Galati)

Galati is slightly bigger than Braila, and is much more fast-paced, with bigger buildings and everything. They have a big "tower", kind of like the space needle in Seattle or something similar. We have not yet visited that, but are thinking we might give it a try if we get a chance on a clear day sometime. From Galati to the north is a region known as "Moldova" (not to be confused with the neighboring country of Moldova) which consists of everything north of Braila and east of the Carpathian Mountains. There are a few other Peace Corps Volunteers in Moldova that we know, so we will probably get a chance to go and visit the other cities nearby. Also, we are hoping to visit the Republic of Moldova (yes, the other country) maybe early next month. Apparently the capital Chisinau is quite a nice place and I want to visit that, as well as Ukraine in the not so distant future.

The past week we have been getting familiar with our organizations and with our apartment. Yesterday I killed a bunch of flies who lived in our bathroom. We have been buying things we need a little bit at a time and putting them in our apartment, making it more and more comfortable as time goes on. We definitely have room for visitors, with a full-sized futon and space on the floor if we need to get an air-mattress and put one down. So, the time is here to start planning your trip to Romania. I would recommend fall or spring, as the seasons are pretty nice. Although, you might want to bring an umbrella if you come in the spring. If you come in summer, you don't need to pack any clothes, because apparently it is hot Hot HOT. It is on the horizon, and we are bracing ourselves for the next wave of global warming to cook us. Then again, summer is when things really come alive in Braila. We'll see if we can send some enticing photos and stories so that you might want to come in summer afterall!

Catching up on our first Trip to Braila

We have been working hard wrapping up our training.... taking Language tests, finishing up projects, and frankly just relaxing for once! Two weeks ago, we took a trip to Braila (our soon to be home starting next week) and we wanted to catch everyone up on our first impressions before we move there. We were very impressed with the 10th largest Romanian city of approx 218,000 people. The side-walks are wide and clear, trees line the streets, and the city center is filled with plenty of interesting things to see and do!

On the way to Braila from Ploiesti (which means city of rain by the way, and what do ya know.... it's raining here today!) by autocar (one of those tour buses) we had a chance to see some of the countryside. (These are pictures taken from the bus)

Upon arriving in Braila we were shown to our potential house (if we like it, which we do) which belonged to the family of one of the founders of my organization. The organization generously offered this nice place already furnised and ready to go! How lucky are we!!!

So, we were in Braila from Thursday afternoon to Sunday morning and got to see quite a bit of the city. On Friday Nils and I met with my organization (both organization coordinated the schedule so we could meet each organization together... nice, huh!). My organization (CDIMM) is an NGO designed to help small and medium size entrenpreneurial ventures in Romania get the training and technical assistance they need to get off the ground. They have worked with PC volunteers before in 1994 and unofficially in 2006 so they have some experience with the Peace Corps. Everyone at the organization is great and I look forward to learning more in the next few months.

Nils' organziation was our Saturday activity. Pro Democracy is an organization designed to provide education about citizens' rights to vote and encourage youth to involve themselves in local and national politics. They work primarily with youth when it comes to volunteerism and involvement, but their impact reaches far more. Pro Democracy has several clubs and chapters throughout Romania and are becoming more widely-known, establishing for themselves a good reputation. Here's a picture of some of the team leaders from the balcony of their office...

Nils and I are very excited and look forward to providing more insights into this beautiful city! Below is just a bonus picture I really liked that I took from the same balcony of Pro Democracy... the top of a beautiful church (a trademark of the city) across the street. Nils' place definitely has a nice view!!

Basketball Tourney

The hub school's gym teacher decided to challenge the girls and the guys of the Peace Corps to a little basketball. Nils and his group of guys started practicing Saturdays to give the middleschoolers some serious competition. It was a good game to watch. The middle schoolers seriously almost "schooled" our guys but luckily the CP (Corpul Pacii) team pulled ahead by one point by the end of the game. At one point, the middle school team was ahead by 15 points. Now that's a Jazz-like comeback!

For us girls, we didn't even know who would be playing until the "day of". But come on! The kids are only in middle school. No big deal, right? Uh, unless the coach plays.... That's right! The coach had played on a professional women's team back in the day and had a great time "spanking" us all. The end score was 44-16 (I think)... I made a 2-point basket though!

The guys played first, so here's a picture of my team warming the bench. We did a little cheering, and of course lead the WAVE :)

New Looks

Okay, we were out on the town celebrating a trainee's birthday when suddenly someone said it would be really cool to have all the guys in the group grow a mustache for the swearing-in ceremony. A few girls were behind the idea and they even went to the trouble of asking my permission for Nils to grow one. So Nils started growing his. After a few days, it was looking pretty good, but every guy tends to say how much they hate mustaches, how creepy they look, while secretly harboring a deep love for them. Definitely one of those complex "love-hate" relationships. So here's what Nils looks like with a -stache....

As a note, Nils also got a really nice hair cut. Cost him all of 7 RON. Great price and a nice job.

For me... I thought I had lost my glasses at the hotel. Luckily the Peace Corps requires you bring a second pair, so I wasn't too bad off. When we made a trip to Bucuresti later, I had the chance of picking out a new pair. Peace Corps gives you up to one free pair of glasses. Here's the new pair. Lilian, one of the staff at Peace Corps helped me pick them out. I like 'em. They're trendy and something I would have never thought to pick out myself.

Even in Romania....

Nils and I enjoyed General Conference this past Saturday and Sunday. Of course, we watched it at 7:00pm so it felt kinda funny leaving the church building when it was dark outside. But I am so grateful we were able to watch it, even in Romania.

Romania is a truly wonderful place of opportunity and learning. There were several talks that reinforced a lot of what we've been learning here. The talk by Cheryl Lant about traditions reminded me that there are many precious traditions pass down in families that are worth preserving. It's important to respect and learn from others' traditions. Elder Wirthlin talked about leadership; how leaders should be concerned for the ONE as much as they are concerned for the WHOLE. He celebrated diversity and reminded us that we shouldn't try to all be the same, but appreciate differences. I especially liked how he said sometimes the "slowest" end up going the "farthest". It made me think of language classes.... It's not always about catching on and being able to speak perfectly as much as it is being creative and connecting with people. I was filled to the brim with the beautiful messages and feelings of joy and peace.

The Everyday

I thought to take some "everyday" pictures just to give you all a taste for classes and school. Below is a picture of Emily's teacher of last week Simona (center) [We get new teachers every week. I would include a picture of Nils' teacher, but we attend different classes/schools].


Here is the "HUB" school, Nicolae Iorga, where Emily goes to school. Nils comes to join me a few times a week in the afternoon, and sometimes all day! The school serves for children ages ~7 - ~15 (I think).

Here's what a lot of the blocs look like. This is on Emily's way to school. Nils and I go in different directions, so we don't often get to walk together. :( But when we do... it's so nice!!!

Interview on KJAZZ Cafe

For those of you who may have missed it, and for record purposes, here's the interview we had on the KJAZZ Morning Show. We were on the air the Tuesday before we left for Romania. Sorry it's not captioned, but if you'd like to get the general idea of what was said send me an e-mail. Also if there are consistent problems viewing the video, let me know and we'll post it on YouTube.com and send everyone the link. It is a rather large file so some patience may be required.

From the bus Window

This clip was taken from the window of our bus as we traveled from the airport in Bucuresti to Ploiesti. Since the scenery is still in Winter-mode, it'll be interesting to compare this to future clips and pictures once Spring is in full bloom.

March - Women's Week

I had no idea there was an International Women's day! But, as a matter of fact, it was last Saturday (March 8). Women are so wonderful, it's not enough to celebrate women just one day, let's make it a whole WEEK. And let's start with March 1st, in celebration of Spring and all things new. Here in Romania, it's called Martisor [Martee-shor] "little March". All women are given a gift on the 1st and 8th of March (flowers, candy, and little tokens like the one pictured below). Especially symbolic is the red and white strands of thread, symbolizing/summarizing an ancient tale of the beginning of Spring.

(Pic - A Martisor gift)
The legend goes that the Sun takes human form and comes to earth to celebrate with the people. But a dragon follows him to earth and captures the Sun. The Earth becomes cold, without vegetation, birds singing....total desolation. So a brave man fights the dragon and saves the Sun, but the dragon is so powerful that the brave man has too many wounds and with the last drop of his blood, he dies. But he dies with the knowledge that he has brought back life and Spring. To symbolize this heroic deed, two strands of thread of white and red are wound together. White represents purity and good health. Red represents the blood shed for Life and a love for all that is beautiful. Together this has become a symbol of love in Romania which the men give to women during Martisor, the 1st of March. Neat, huh!
The Gazda men here gave me flowers, a pin, a necklace, and the token above. Yes, I felt quite special! :) Nils also gave me a gift of sweets, which I shared with him.

The Dus Experience

When we first arrived in Romania and took that "Oh So Sweet" shower (dus in Romanian ... sounds like 'doosh'), I loved how small and ecomonical they were at the hotel. The picture below illustrates the shower we had in our hotel bathroom. You close the door and take a quick shower, either leaving the shower head up in the holder, or taking it down and re-directing the spray. It's a wonderful shower design, one Nils and I would like to have in our own home someday. But, it definitely is a little tight on space. Woe to the wide.

In preparation for moving in with our Gazda family, we read through a mini-handbook which included a shower section. It noted that "because Americans tend to splash" the gazda was required to have a shower curtain. I thought, "Americans 'splash'?? What do Romanians do?" I became incredibly curious as to how Romanians got along without a shower curtain. Low and behold, there is an art to showering here. Basically, don't leave the water on the whole time. Once you're wet, turn the water off and then use your soap and shampoo. And when you do have the water on, you hold the shower head and direct it toward the wall, so it doesn't splash all over the place. It's my new way of showering now. Nils has had experience with all of this before, so he's really good at it. I'm not bad, but I do "splash" a little. Luckily, it's all tile. :) This method is a great way to conserve water!!!! Try it sometime.

Below are pictures of our bathroom with our gazda. Cute and efficient. I love it!

(Pic #1 - illustrates the moveable shower head)
(Pic #2 - is the sink right next to the shower)

10 Week Home with our Gazda (Host)

Here are our hosts, Constantin (Constantine) and Maria, in the kitchen/dining room. This is their 6th time hosting a Peace Corps volunteer and are very laid back. It's nice how they accomodate our schedules and needs. The kitchen is efficient with less to clean. The table we move out when it's time to eat, and put it back against the wall when we're done. Good use of space, I think.

Costel and Maria speak a few words of English as they've been to the States a few times. But we're definitely using the Romanian we're learning in school to communicate with them. It's amazing how much more we understand as we progress through our classes. After just 5 days we've learned greetings, asking for directions, asking occupation, describing the house, asking and telling the time, and all kinds of other things. It's AMAZING!

Hotel "Chentral"

Here are some pictures from our first experiences in Romania. We stayed in Hotel Central ("Chentral")

Our Hotel Room .... Small, but very nice and cosy. The electricity only works when you put your room key in power slot.... :)

In the dining room of the hotel. Very good food... and very different. We'll be sharing recipes with our host family (gazda = host) before we leave. Some VERY tasty dishes!

Trip through Frankfurt

Here's Nils and I in the Frankfurt Airport on the way to Bucharest. My first time "in" Germany.... well anywhere outside of North America really. This was Nils' 4th time, 7th time across the Atlantic ocean. He actually lived in Germany for a month right after High School. The flight over the Atlantic obviously took it's toll on us, even though it only took about 7 hours. Nils did sleep some on the plane while I watched two movies (I just couldn't sleep, it was like 7:00pm Eastern time.) We flew on Lufthansa... a very nice airline which constantly gave us meals, snacks, drinks, and a heated towel.

Here we're waiting in Frankfurt for them to open the second security line to get to our gate. We had already passed through an exact 10 feet away we had already gone through another security line. The airport is enormous and made announcements always in at least two languages. Very cool!

Staging in Philadelphia til Wednesday

We made it to Philadelphia!! Molly met us at the airport and loaded up all of our stuff. Funny, we had so much stuff that Nils had to take the shuttle to the hotel! No room for Nils. Molly also brought us dinner! Thanks Molly! It was simply delicious! It was good to see a friendly face before heading off to Romania with complete strangers!

Training started today. The trainers do a great job mixing up the activities and helping us get to know the other volunteers. There's young and old in our group, so we hear varied comments and experiences as we work in groups going over principles of development and safety. Most of our shared fear comes from not knowing what to expect in Romania and trying to soak in all the information. It's so nice we get to be together as a married couple! We're one of two couples in our group. It should be fun getting to know everyone!

We will continue to have Internet access until Wednesday early morning (so pretty much just tomorrow). Don't exect to hear from us the rest of the week since it will take time to get settled and find where all the "hotspots" are for internet and get an international phone card.

As to mailing things to us... it's better to wait to send us packages. Once we've finished training and provide you guys with a real address, then it's safe to send us things. Otherwise, it'll probably be sent back. BUT, you are free to send us LETTERS!!! :) Here's the address:

Our name
Peace Corps Romania
Str. Negustori nr. 16, Sector 2
Bucharest, Romania

We want to thank everyone who has helped us get this far. It STILL hasn't sunk in yet that we're going to Romania for 27 months. It's already been an amazing journey just preparing to go. Thank you. Love to all!!

Ahhh... We made it.

Nils and I arrived in Millville, UT (near Logan) last Thursday after a day of driving through California and Nevada. Funny... Nils and I had to put chains on our tires to make it through Donner's pass. That was a first for Nils. We had to lay in the wet snow and put these $60 chains on. We could have spent an extra $20 to have someone install them for us, but of course, a penny saved is a penny earned.

Figuring the car was a rear-wheeler, we started following the highly visual instructions for installing chains to the rear tires. To complete installation, I got in the driver's seat and put the car in 1st gear to move the car forward a few inches. As I applied the gas, the car proceeded to slide and the tires proceeded to spin without any real progress. Wrong set of wheels. Front-wheel drive. Doh! So we had to take the chains off the back tires and start all over again, getting more wet and cold in order to move them to the front. Added some adventure to our little trip.... and some soaking to our little pants.

Upon arriving to Utah, we were greeted with a nice snow storm. Not actually too bad until we got to our parents' driveway where Nils' dad was hard at work plowing. He wasn't finished yet, but we were in a daring mood, so we took our loaded car right into a pile of snow and got stuck. Oh, wasn't Dad happy. At least we made it. :)

Moving Pains

Well, it's time to move again. Just once more before our big move to Romania. And in preparation for moving from California, I had to paint over my wall art. So, below are pictures taken right before I painted over them. Sad... but not really.

Freehand and not my best work, I had a lot of fun painting directly on the wall. The first one I did (the yellow and green one) I started when a friend was over visiting. She was talking about something while I was mixing my paint, and she stopped mid sentence as she saw me paint right onto the wall. She was quite surprised that I was just going to paint without even drawing with pencil first. Gotta love shock value.

Model for a Day

Through some luck I met Bill Millios, a wonderful gentleman who's picked up photography as a hobby. Having recently been married, and still fitting into my dress, Bill asked if I would do a bridal shoot for him, to help him build the wedding side of his portfolio. It was definitely fun learning how to model. Luckily my sister-in-law Sharole came along to help out and give me feedback.

This picture is one of my favorites. If you're interested in more, send me an e-mail and I'll give you the link to the gallery, while it's still up, or I'll send you some.

As fun as this experience was, I don't see modeling in my future :)