Oh Christmas Tree....

I decided to start my vacation a little early with an evening in Chişinau before my flight took off for Germany. Marlena came in we had a great meal at our favorite restaurant (Jerafe) to kick things off.

Andi and Xandi met me at the airport with signs showing they were picking up “Special Agent Lusk” of Peace Corps. When we got to their house, it was absolutely gorgeous (even more so than usual!) starting with the first impression when you walk up the stairs. After a touch of Prosecco (or was it a few bottles?) we called it a night.

After a healthy breakfast (yes, folks… It’s true that Prosecco is the breakfast of champions!) we started the important things like trimming the tree and putting together a plan for the amazing dinner Andi and Xandi were planning for Christmas Eve.

Xandi promised me all kinds of things if I would just help Andi with the tree. (Evidently the arranging of the electric candles is the stuff that divorce is made of!) It actually wasn’t bad and the tree was beautiful when we were finished.

Just some random food prep pictures. (I really don’t know why Andi was stripping down to his boxers in the kitchen. It seemed to make sense at the time!) What, pray tell, was I doing while all of this exhausting work was going on?

Supervising!!!!!!!

OK, so we are up to the 23^rd and I conned Andi, Xandi and Flo into taking me to the Weinachtsmarkt for some shopping and most importantly GLUHWEIN!!!! It was cold, the company was great, and the wine was amazing.

Margie, can you believe that this is Flo? I can’t believe what a handsome grown up he has become. (And he is still a sweetheart and a good sport because he let me take a picture with the cookie around his neck!)

I wish I could take credit for any of the amazing dinner we had, but I have to state up front that I was happily playing soux chef on this occasion. Xandi and Andi were the maestro’s of the evening with one beautiful course after the other. We started with a Lachs mousse surrounded by cucumber and tied with a piece of chive. Even this fish-hater loved it!!!!

Andi makes a great waiter!!!!

On the left are Maria, Inez and Florian. On the right are Helmut and Omi.

Next up… Prawns on a bed of saffron risotto with sautéed root vegetables. Is your mouth watering yet?

As if this could get any better… The main plate was duck with a prune sauce, pumpkin sautéed with rosemary, fresh green beans and dates wrapped in proscuitto. I can’t say that I have eaten many better meals in my life!!!!!!

I didn’t manage to get a final picture of the dessert (maybe it was the corresponding wines that waylaid me?), but it was also amazing. It was a carrot/hazelnut cake with dark and white chocolate mousses. What a great night. Thanks Andi and Xandi!!!!!!!

The 26^th we loaded up Andi and Xandi’s skiing gear in the car and headed for Austria. Far left is the mod squad preparing to head down the “black” slope. The middle picture is my amazing view from the bar at the top of the mountain, and the far right is a shot of Andi and Xandi following my gondola down the mountain on their last trip down. It was beautiful!

New Year's Eve was a blast as well. We had all kinds of fabulous fondue with lots and lots of (OK, OK, I am getting a bit redundant here, I know!) Prosecco!!!!!! Mikey and his wife Anna were over and we danced the night away to hits from the 70's disco era. Suni, if you can guess who this next person is on the TV you win a cookie....

Mikey doing the booty dance!

Anna and Xandi just shaking their groove thing!!!!!

We had a blast and what a way to ring in the New Year!

Back in Moldova to celebrate with my family there. In Moldova they celebrate religious holidays according to the Gregorian category, so they have Old Christmas on the 7th of January and Old New Year's on the 14th of January. I got to celebrate everything twice and that just doesn't suck!

Dean, I think it is fair to say that Sandu and Nikolai loved the cardinal gear. Thanks so much for sending the box for them and thank you for my fabulous presents. You did good, baby!!!!!!!

Happy holidays to all of my friends and loved ones in the States and in Germany. May the New Year be all that you want it to be....

Jennifer

Alright, now that the nightmares have faded and I am once again sleeping through the night, it is time to fill you in on the "cel mai interesant!" (the most interesting!) Thanksgiving that I have ever experienced. Hold on folks... this is a real trip!

It all started a week or two before Thanksgiving.... I asked Nikolai where on earth I would be able to find a turkey to feed all of these people that I had invited to our house for Thanksgiving. I had a great group of volunteers, my family, the work partners of my site mate Liza, my fabulous site-mates, and my awesome family. What could possibly be better? Anway, Nikolai said "no problem!" and found a guy that would sell it for a good price. No problem! The day before Thanksgiving, I asked him about it again and he said "meet me at the piata Horelor and we will go and get it.

Chapter 2: I meet him at the Piata and we go past all of the food piata, down an alley, and to what looked like a former parking lot. There was a guy there with a couple of geese and a few tied up turkeys lying in the dirt on the lot. Here is the catch, THEY WERE ALIVE!!!!!!! Nikolai had to go back to work, so we shove the turkey in a bag (a bag too small!), with the turkey's shoulder's, head and neck sticking out of the bag. It was about 15 pounds, I was trying to hold it out at arms length (because I am not sure about this--do Turkey's bite?)

Chapter 3: Nickolai had to leave to go back to work, so I am walking through the town with a turkey in a bag gobble-gobble-ing at the top of it's lungs. People are stopping me the whole way, asking me what I am going to do with it, telling me it looks good, etc. I was holding it out at arm's length, my arms were aching, and about 2 blocks from my house we come accross a pack of dogs. Do you know that dogs don't like turkeys? The turkey freaked, flipped out of the bag, and I almost started to cry. I tried to reason with the turkey to get it back in the bag, but eventually I had to suck it up, pick the thing up by its sharply taloned legs, and shove it back in the bag. I ran the last two blocks home, dumped the turkey out of the bag in one of the out buildings, and slammed the door shut!

Chapter 4: The Killing of the Turkey. You know, I had always heard that chickens still run around with their heads cut off, but do you know that turkey's, being bigger, struggle for at least 10 or 15 minutes after you slit their throats? Nikolai joked that he was going to make me do it, but I held the knife and couldn't bring myself to cut it. He did it, but I had to help pluck it, pull out all of the guts, etc. Strangely enough, it didn't put me off turkey for the rest of my life. After we got that bad boy in the oven and browned it all up, it was mighty tasty!!!!!

Chapter 5: The Eating of the Turkey: This part was just plain fun. We went around the table and told (in romanian!) what we were thankful for, we ate until we could hold no more, and generaly had a great time. We ate Turkey (I like to call it Tom! We developed a real bond in that trip home!), twice baked potatoes with roasted garlic and cheese, carrots, cauliflower and hollandaise, salad, etc. All in all, it was a great success, but I don't think I will ever again look at turkey in the same way.

Nikolai doing the dirty deed!

Tom, when he finally stopped moving around!
This is my "I didn't freak out" smile
Step 2 for killing a turkey-poor boiling water on it and then start plucking the feathers.

Tom, mostly naked. (Can you get in trouble for turkey porn?)

After you pluck the turkey, you have to burn it off all over with a high flame. Turkey's have something around their feet and talons that comes off like a glove. Weird!!!!!!

Important part of the Thanksgiving ritual... Drinking homemade Vodka with your friends!

Thanks Nikolai!!!!

Nikolai and Alexandra posing with Tom. Aren't they adorable!!!!!

Nikiolai and Sandu, equally adorable!
Michelle, my fabulous site mate, and Marlena getting in on the Thanksgiving cheer!

The Peace Corps crew, right before they headed out. We had such a great time!

That is the end of my turkey story, but I have included a couple of pictures for your enjoyment. Hope everyone had a fabulous Turkey day and is cruising into a wonderful Christmas. I REALLY miss everyone, but I am about to catch a break and head off for Christmas in Germany, so I can get a break from the crazy life that is Peace Corps. Love to all!!!!!!





Jennifer

It is without a doubt starting to get more comfortable and like normal for me here. These lunatic women are my site mates Liza (standing) and Michelle (seated). This was at one of our dinners (this time at Liza's house!) when we girls get together, cook, talk, drink wine, and just basically let off steam. I couldn't ask for better sitemates!!!!!

Michelle, however, has a few issues that need to be addressed. She is addicted to "Shout" and cannot seem to stop rubbing it everywhere (and on everything). She spilled a bit of red wine and we lost her to the "Shout" for the next few hours....

...and she is still "Shout"ing while pretending to listen to me!

First of all, a big shout out to Margie for her pumpkin carving kits and decorations. Our American-style Halloween party was a smashing success. I can't tell you how much fum we had, but I think it is pretty evident by the pictures that we all had a good time.

Above and below are the first two brave women who decided to try this crazy thing called pumpkin carving.... Marina is above and Liza is below.....

and more scenes from the Halloween party.....

These two brave, handsome gentlemen are the only two young men that I teach. They are great, although Alex needs to come to class a bit more than he does....

It ain't Halloween if we don't bob for apples. These kids are crafty, however! They soon realized that it was easier to go for the stem instead of wrestling the apple to the bottom and biting it. I had to call a time out and remove all of the stems to make sure we were getting maximum face dunkage!

This coven of witches is none other than my favorite group of girls from the 0502 third year English/French group. They were totally into the "spirit" of the party!

I have to give a HUGE thanks to Sergiu. Sergiu is not in my class (yet!) but he did spend last year in the US and speaks absolutely unaccented English. I also must say that I would not have gotten this party off the ground without all of his help and his resources. He is a great guy and I am thrilled to have gotten to know him. Thanks Sergiu!!!!!!

That's all for now. I have partied a lot over the last few weeks, but it is heading toward the last half of the semester, so I am going to have to really buckle down and finish off semester 1 with a bang. Love to all my friends in America and thanks for taking the time to keep up with me in Moldova!!!! Love you...

Jennifer