Wow, today marks the day when I just have four months to go as a Peace Corps volunteer... It doesn't seem like it is possible that I have been gone for over two years!!!!! What an amazing experience I have had (and will have for the next four months!). I have actually managed to get some internet wireless access for my laptop (it's a flash that gives me access to the internet through the cellular network!), so I am going to try and update pretty frequently for the last few months that I am here. (My official day to leave is the 27th, but I won't be home until the 29th. I am going to stay over for a couple of nights in Istanbul again. It was gorgeous and I barely scraped the surface of seeing what I wanted to see while there over Christmas!)

Most of the news I have right now is teaching related. I am winding things up with my fourth year students this week and next, so things are pretty hectic right now... But when are things NOT hectic with me? I have the feeling that things will only get even more hectic over the next few months as I try to wind things up at the university and with Peace Corps. In early June I will be helping to train the new group that is coming in and I will be wrapping things up down here in Cahul at the end of June. This means I will most likely move in closer to the capitol (a town called Ialovani) to help with the trainings of the new volunteers before I leave Moldova. I am already having nightmares about saying goodbye to my host family. It is going to be awful!!!!


The rumor is that Spring is on the way to Moldova, but there hasn't been a lot of evidence of that yet. Wednesday it snowed, but at least the last two days have been sunny even if it has been pretty cool. I am ready for some extended sunshine and some warm weather!!!!! Judy, Millie... any chance you guys might be up for a poker party on the boat when I get back? I never realized living in Arkansas how much gray days and icky weather can wear on you. Let me assure you... It does! When I got back from the US in January I didn't see the sun for 32 days. Yuck!!!!



What have I been doing that is fun? Well, I staged a kidnapping with a group of students that are reading a mystery novel.... We talked about the principles of investigation, the difference between hard evidence and circumstantial evidence, learned about fingerprinting and ransom, and have been following the evidence trail for about 4 weeks now. Tuesday a group of my students were able to get back the kidnappee (a stuffed cow named Botswana Bill!) without incident and are putting the finishing touches on their case for presentation next week. Poor Botswana Bill went through a lot while he was with the kidnappers, as you can see from the pictures. The whole town was involved in the case, so it was a great lesson all the way around.
I am really going to miss these amazing young people and the wonderful people of Cahul.