There are so many things in life for each and everyone one of us to be thankful for. For me I am thankful everyday for the experiences I have had in my life, along with the love and support I get from my family and friends.
Being a Peace Corps Volunteer has put so many stresses on my heart and life, it has been a whirlwind to say the least. Yet, every time I am feeling down about my situation, life, or simply missing my life back home. My friends and family are always there, even when I least expect it.
This past weekend was Thanksgiving, and needless to say I was quite down about being away from my family for the first time in 24 years. As I woke up at 7:00 am Thanksgiving day, I had this urge to get on my computer to see if my family or friends had contacted me. Well that instinct was correct and my eyes instantly filled up with tears as I see on my facebook wall a picture of my face on a stick, and my best friends holding it by their side. Sarah, Ashton, Kim, Stephanie and Cassie made my day and I will never forget that morning and the love I felt. It was just the recognition from them, and how they made the effort to include Jessie Ryan and I at Scooters a local bar in New Sharon(hometown). It has been a tradition for several years for us girls(whom have all been friends since 2nd grade) to get together and enjoy each others company and to catch up the day before Thanksgiving. And once again I can truly say I am thankful that I have such wonderful friends, that I know they will be around for the rest of my life. I LOVE YOU GIRLS!!
The other thing to be thankful for is the love and support I am getting from my family and friends with my current JuneBug project here in Moldova. As we know my goal is to provide 200 children with new jackets, hats and gloves for this winter season. Currently we have raised over 1300.00 and I am more then happy with this amount! I really couldn't be successful in my community with out all the love and support I get from my loved ones. I cherish you guys so much. And to know that each person that helps out with this project will be more then acknowledged at my center. I will be printing off photos of each person who donated so the children can see the "Americans," who helped them out. Love you guys!
Getting back to Thanksgiving and being away from family. This year was quite a different experience for me. As I woke up on the day of, I thought to myself, what feels weird about this day? I am used to going to Florida to spend Thanksgiving with the Francis's or waking up and heading to grandma's for an amazing Thanksgiving feast.
However, this year I woke up, finished packing, put on my clothes, locked my doors and rolled my suitcase up the road of Iargara, Moldova. I was off to Germany!! This was a very exciting day for me, however they day didn't start off all that great. Every morning that I have went into the city of Chisinau I have taken a rutiera(bus). On this particular morning I recognized the bus was completely packed and there were no seats. This usually is the case and I don't think anything of it, due to the majority of people getting off at the next village and at that time I will have a seat for the remainder of the ride(which is 1h 30 min). As you guessed, on this day I had no such luck. Found myself standing in the middle of this bus, hanging on for dear life as the rutiera driver takes off at about 80-90 miles an hour, on a bumpy road. Do I need to say more? My stomach was tossing and turning like no other, and I couldn't barely find my bearings. Not a great way to start my day.
When I did arrive at the bus stop, I met up with Alex and Tanya(friends from Chisinau). They picked me up and took me to the airport. Very thankful for their help! It is not the easiest thing to jump on another crowded bus with so much luggage, let alone be successful at it.
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| Tanya and I at Eli Pili Bar |
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| Alex at the Sauna |
As I arrived at the airport and was sitting around waiting for my departure to Germany I begun to think about my life... My life in Moldova and how awkward it felt to be leaving. To leave Moldova and experience another culture, and to be able to feel like my self again. At that point I wasn't sure what would happen when I arrived in Munich that day.
The plane lands, my heart rejoices!! I am in MUNICH and that's all my heart and mind kept saying over and over and over again. As I walk through customs, threw the gates, I see my cousin Dana! That was the most relieving feeling I have felt in 6 months. To see a familiar face, and not only that but family! She greeted me with a huge hug, and I can't tell you how much that made my day! Life in Moldova makes me appreciate the little things all the more.. Especially things such as hugs, because as I expressed this country is not very affectionate or loving to say the least.
As Dana and I headed out of the airport the first thing she said to me was "Guess what's over there?" STARBUCKS!!! I can't even express the joy I felt when I saw my beloved Starbucks!! I went straight there. They didn't have my normal cinnamon dulce latte, however they did have the holiday seasons out and in which I basked in a gingerbread latte! It was heaven on my lips.. The next stop from there was my second love Subway! And with this I have to share a little piece of information. The lady at the Subway counter was preparing my sandwich and she dropped my chicken into a pile of onions.. As we all know my hatred for onions and in the states I would of asked them to remake my sandwich, and she even offered too! However, I didn't even care, I told her it was fine and I would take the one she had already made. I am not sure if this has developed from Peace Corps, or overall just appreciating and indulging in the simple things. Hard to tell, but needless to say I surprised myself!
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| Enjoying my Starbucks in Nuremberg! |
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| Starbucks in Munich! |
Dana and I headed into Munich and started off our adventures at the Olympic Stadium. As we were walking around this park a little bit of our childhood came into play as both of our eyes centered on a huge leaf pile! We walked past the first one, however as we approached the second, the temptation set in and we had to partake in the jumping in and throwing the leaves! Felt great to be a kid again and what can I say Munich is such a beautiful place and got the best of me!
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| Never too old to play with leaves! |
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| Hanging in the leaf pile! |
From there we enjoyed the sites of the impressive BMW cars at their museum. I have never been to museum quite like this before. And I always amaze myself when I visit a new country and the little things that really impress me. The museum and its structure was definitely one of them.
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| Testing out the speed at BMW museum! |
The best part of the day I would say would be the Hofbrauhaus. We walk into the crowded place and instantly I felt at home! People were enjoying themselves all over the place in about every language you could think of. And the best part was we could talk as loud as we wanted and people wouldn't think anything of it, because everyone was doing it! This night I enjoyed a "Radler" which is a white beer with lemonade, and I can say it was tasty!! Also that evening I ended up partaking in an amazing sausage dish served with some of the best sauerkraut. A perfect evening! I even got hit on by a man from Italy(he wasn't the best looking and didn't speak English that well). Yet, it was great to be recognized again!
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| Radler beer!! White beer with lemonade. Foarte delicious! |
2nd day(Nuremberg)
I woke up around 8:00 in the morning. Was feeling a little sluggish, but overall great. Most of all because I knew I was going to have an amazing breakfast and a hot shower, along with a Starbucks later on in the day! Like I said the small things in life that I now cherish and enjoy. Toliet, Shower, oh and a glass of milk!! As I told my father I was able to drink my first glass of milk in 6 months while I was visiting Dana!! WHAT GLORY!!
At around 9:30 am, we took off for Nuremberg to enjoy the Christmas Markets. Germany is known for really going all out during the Christmas Season. And I can speak clearly of that, they do more then go all out!! In all my travels I have never been able to experience Christmas decorations, ornaments, lights, trees, basically the whole works.. Well I can now check that off my list...
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| Yummy bratwurst!! |
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| Aren't I adorable! |
During this day we walked around enjoying all the little booths full of cute ornaments, delicious chocolates, hot wine, and the most amazing bratwurst sandwiches I have ever had in my life! I was in HEAVEN!! While that evening we went to one of the local restaurants and I was able to get a taste of wiener schnitzel. As for the end of the evening, we decided to go to Dana's friends going away party at a place called Alex's cafe. This evening we really enjoyed conversation with her friends, and was able to sit back and relax.
3rd Day- Ansbach- Thanksgiving FEAST
Slept in until 10:00 am and headed straight to the kitchen to start making biscuits and gravy! If you don't know me this is by far my FAVORITE breakfast food. I can admit I ate ALOT this day... After we finished breakfast and showered, we took off for the Army base. This is where Dana is currently working as a biology teacher. Never in my life have I seen a base before, and just another thing I enjoyed fully and can check off my list. Dana also stopped by the commissary and I was able to pick out some American foods that I had been missing. My cousin was so great to me all weekend and paid for my goodies, along with several other things. I appreciate and am so thankful for this! I will enjoy my goodies to the fullest.
As we returned from the base we begun to make our Thanksgiving feast!! This was quite exciting for both of us, due to never doing this before. We decided to make Turkey, Sweet Potatoes Casserole, Mashed Potatoes, Scalloped Corn, Applesauce Jello, and had some Moldovan and Italian wine! It was wonderful!!
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| Sugar Cookies! |
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| Our Feast! |
Around 7:30pm we took off for Rothenberg for the Night Watchmen's Tour. We arrived a little late, but soon caught up with the group. The leader of this tour was quite the comedian and Lasco, Dana and I really got a good laugh! After the tour we headed to a local Irish bar where alot of the soldiers hung out at. To my surprise one of them decided to buy Dana and I a German Flag shot. Was quite tasty. Lasco ended up buying us a second round of the shot as well. And of course I enjoyed my last lemonade beer!
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| Castle in Rothenberg! |
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| YAY!! |
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| German Flag shot that a soldier bought for me! |
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