Before you start to judge me...

...remember that I have been roughing it for almost a year now! I was lucky enough to be able to make a fabulous trip to Antalya in Turkey this past week. It was a much needed diversion and one of the most relaxing vacations that I have ever been on. Liza, Andrea and I flew to Antalya to start on our adventure. We stayed in a great little pension in the old town area of Antalya. We had just enough time for a morning walk around the old town and the harbor before we headed for the boat.

Relaxing breakfast at the pension Sabiyah in old town Antalya.

Interesting statue in the harbor park. You know how I love hands!!!!!

Some pre-Roman ruins in old town Antalya.

The amazing harbor of Antalya.

Look, in our defense, it was after 12:00 in Turkey before we broke out the wine. This is what most of our days on the boat looked like. Sun, cool breezes, wine and beautiful scenery. Just what I needed! There were about 10 passengers on the boat, (all but one of which spoke German!), so I had a lot of fun practicing my increasingly rusty German!!!!!

When we told Liza "down the hatch!" she took it a bit literally!

One of the amazing views of the coastline of western Turkey.

Liza showing off her amazing card-playing skills.

We did get off the boat one day to explore the ruins of a pre Roman ampitheater. It was a beautiful day and definitely time to get off the boat and walk around a bit.

In conjunction with the ampitheater were these Lycean rock tombs. They were tombs that were carved into the volcanic rock on the hillsides. It was really beautiful and very interesting!

Some of the friezes from the tombs just laying out in the gravel in front of the ampitheater. It was interesting that they were just out on the ground and people could touch them, sit on them, etc.

Last day of the boat trip was a side trip into Demre (conveniently the town where our Villa was located!) The statue is the statue of St. Nickolaus, the real priest that the modern day Santa Claus was patterned after. He was the bishop of Myra and well known for his good deeds in the area (especially in caring for the children). This is the church where he was buried. It is a very popular tourist attraction for many people in the Orthodox faith.

The tomb of St. Nicholaus. Many visitors were buying icons and then pressing them to the outside of his tomb to bless them.

Back on the boat for our last evening, it was nap time for the girls! Close quarters, but very comfortable.

Our illustrious captain and his first mate. They were awesome! They did everything in the world to make us happy and comfortable while we were on the boat.

The whole American gang and the crew. What an amazing time we had!

After we left the boat, we were brought to Fezay's restaurant to wait for our car to the villa. We lounged on the pillows and rugs like a bunch of harem girls while they brought us wine and food. Not a bad life at all...

This is villa we rented for the last few days we were in Turkey. We cooked, drank wine and layed out in the sun some more!

The rock beach and access to the see a few hundred meters from our front door....

Our last day in Antalya trying to soak up our last rays and drink in a little more ocean air. It was a fabulous vacation, and I came back refreshed and ready to finish out my school year (just a little over one more week to go!) I hope everyone is doing well and that plans are underway for an amazing summer of your own!

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Springtime....

This is a picture of a beautiful sunset in Cahul. I was walking to the university from my house and I snapped a shot. You can see that the trees haven't yet started to bud out in this picture, but two weeks later, Spring has arrived. The trees are all blooming and it is really pretty. I won't say for sure that winter is gone, however.... I looked out my classroom window and it was snowing this morning!
This is a picture of the panel that my sitemate, Michelle, put together. (She is the third from the right!) It was a panel for women's day and was made up of successful Moldovan women from business, nonprofits, gov't, etc. It was a great way to encourage young women and to celebrate the success of women in general!
This is a picture of my friend Emily. She was a model for the International Women's Club in Chisinau. The ambassador hosted the show and the ambassador's wife invited several innovative designers to show their clothes. It was a VERY swanky affair and a lot of fun. It is definitely a different side of Moldova than I exist in every day. I wasn't sure how practical some of the designs would be for wearing to the outhouse in my town....
This is a group of amazing students that I teach for a British Literature course. English is their second foreign language and they are doing an amazing job!
This is one of the first groups I had last semester at the university. They have just finished their last class with me and are spending a few weeks studying for their exams. Another amazing group of young people that I will truly miss! Below is the same group, this time with me in the picture!

Below is one of my most beloved groups at the university. They are showing off the copies of Jane Austen's Emma that one of the other volunteers in Cahul (the amazing Liza!) got donated to the University. We have a small library here, but no class sets of any books. Liza is helping me to get class sets of books so that students don't have to all share one book and try to work out a reading schedule or spend a lot of money on copies. If anyone is interested in helping out with organizing class sets of books for us, let me know!

So, I thought it was high time I showed you some pictures of the working side of my life over here in Moldova. I am always showing you the pictures of the parties and the playtime, but not so much about the work. I am currently working my ever-lovin' tail off, but loving every minute of it. I am so lucky to be where I am and to be doing what I am doing. I miss everyone, but I am doing good work, so it makes it all worthwhile. I hope everyone is doing well and has survived the crazy winter in Arkansas. (I hear you have had your own suprise snow!) Take care and as always, thanks for keeping up with me!

In the next post I will show some pictures of my trip to Turkey. Stay tuned!

Jennifer

Springtime in Moldova

Hello out there!!!!!! I am one happy woman in Moldova. The cold weather is gently leaving, the sun has begun to shine, and I am not wearing all of the clothes I own at once! It truly is the little things that mean so much.

Students at the Russian school #3 in Cahul.

I also feel like I am getting the hang of my job, so that is making me happy. I have accepted that I will never be able to predict the way things work on the administrative level and I am just concentrating on teaching the intelligent and interesting students at the university in Cahul. I have also had the opportunity to go out to some of the "high schools" in town and talk to the younger kids and that has been a lot of fun as well. My students at the university have been out doing their student teaching, so many of them have been inviting me to come and speak to their classes. The little ones are so cute!!!!!! I am really enjoying the work I am doing here and think that the hardest part of adjusting to a new language, culture, etc. is behind me.

Below are some pictures of Milesti Mici, a huge vineyard right outside of Chisinau. It is unbelievable! You drive through these underground streets and on both sides of the street are alcoves filled with wine from different bottlings in different years. It is unlike anything I have ever seen. The streets stretch for miles and miles (OK, kilometers and kilometers!). I kept hoping the power would go out and I could get locked in all night! We actually went to celebrate Marlena's birthday, so it was a good time for all.

One of the underground roads of wine at the Milesti Mici vineyard. Now that is a lot of wine....

My favorite part of the tour... The tasting!!!!!

These are a series of pictures from our Valentine's day celebration in Cahul. The usual Cahulians (Liza and Michelle!) were there, but we had the pleasure of hosting Lynn, Crystal, Marlena and Kieran for the weekend as well. I made an Italian feast for everyone. We started out with Italian spring rolls, then moved on to truffle risotto, truffle stuffed chicken breasts in a champagne cream sauce, green beans with roasted garlic, and, finally, cheesecake with a chocolate sauce. We had an amazing amount of wine, laughed, sang and had a fantastic time. After we were a few bottles into the wine we drunk dialed Dean (a Lusk family tradition!) and he got to speak with all of the lovely ladies at the party. Dean, now you can match names with faces.

This is Michelle attempting to say "NO!" to one more glass of wine. Needless to say, she was not successful in this endeavor!

This is Lynn having a bit of cheesecake rapture!!!

I have no idea what the commotion was! I think maybe there was some fighting over the dishes.

From left to right, Marlena (seated), Crystal, Kieren, Lynn, Liza and Michelle (looking like a gangster in the background!)

It wouldn't be a party without a crazy picture of Liza. She hosted this crazy bunch of women and we spent all day long in her kitchen cooking and drinking wine. We love you Liza!

This was taken right before the party broke up. Liza appears to be on her knees praying in the background. She is either praying that she won't be hung over tomorrow or for us to leave, I am not sure which one!

I wish everyone a beautiful Spring and a happy Easter. We celebrate a very interesting Easter here on the 27th of April, then the first week of May is a special Easter of the Dead where everyone goes to the cemeteries and eats and drinks graveside. Should be interesting....

I thought I would show you a series of the more fun side of Moldova. I would love for you to think that it is only hard work here, but we do manage to have a lot of fun in between the hard work!

Our safety and security director makes sure that he knows where we are by playing the harmonica in smoky clubs for our enjoyment. Brilliant!!!
Just some Peace Corps volunteers having some fun in the club enjoying some down home blues.
One of our fabulous get togethers at the Placenta Bar. We have been hibernating for the cold months, but we had a little warmer spell, so we decided to see what was shaking where the wine is always flowing and the placenta (Dean, they are like southern fried pies!) is always warm.
Translations are a tricky thing. Maybe we should find out what smocking is... We could be doing it and not even know!!!!!
This was the night we kicked up our heels at the local disco! We danced until the night was long over and had a beautiful time!!!!!

Matt is a hoot! We were trying to have a serious meeting and he drew a Smedley moustache on his finger and never broke a smile!

One of my students (in the brown sweater) just got a scholarship to study for a year in Spain. She will be studying English at a university in Bilboa, Spain and I am thrilled for her and very proud that she is going!!!!!!! Good luck, Elena.

Quite a few of the members (yes, I do teach a few boys at the University of Cahul, but very few!) of Elena's class came out to wish her success and adventure in her studies in Spain. We ate some pizza, tried not to cry too much, and just hung out.

Next week I will share some pictures of Milisti mici, the underground wine roads outside of Chisinau. We went for a friends birthday and they were great!!!!! Stay warm and be patient, Spring is on the way!

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