Pictures are worth 1000 words

Since pictures are worth so much, consider that I just typed several 1000. This is posting number 2 for today, but this one is all about the pictures. Enjoy!

My street:

The little walkway I take every day to and from work

The not so little walkway I take everyday to and from work. The picture doesn't accurately show the length or angle of the hillIts not the hills of Costesti, but it does kick my butt sometimes-usually in the afternoon when its hot and I'm tired hah.

We have a lake and a forest (a small one of both):

This is a caruta (pronounced ca-rut-za), basically a horse drawn carriage. This is a common site in Moldova for transportation especially in the villages.

I added this because I see these geese getting walked everyday and I LOVE it.

Kyle, a fellow volunteer and my site mate has been here for about a year. He didn't know we had a lake. Thursday, August 27 was a national holiday-Moldovan Independence Day so we naturally did what Americans do on Independence Day, we packed a picnic and spent the day relaxing at the lake!!

As many know, I have an affinity for old run down houses. This is a house I pass everyday and I just had to get some pics. I'm really glad I did, because a few days after I took these, they started clearing out the weeds and doing repairs to the property.

Life in Floresti

I have been in Floresti almost two weeks now and life is going pretty darn good! I really like my family and they told me on the first day I was here that they have 5 children (Octavian and his wife Ina, Diana and her fiance Octavian, and ME) and 1 grandson-Cristi. I get to help around the house and garden. I may just end up learning how to run a small farm by the end of these two years. Although, I haven't jumped in the animal husbandry side of farm life quite yet!! The closest I get is feeding the chickens the leftover fruits and vegetable scraps from meals. One sad note was that about five days into me living here, my host dad (Valeriu) left for a job in Moscow and he wont be back until November. But I think my host mom (Galina) is happy that I am here to keep her company. She and I have been spending a lot of time together and we are getting the chance to bond!

Work has been a bit slow these last two weeks since the school is still gearing up for next week. And from what I have heard from other volunteers, they are going through the same thing. In some ways its kinda nice to have some downtime after training and before the chaos of school starting. Before coming here I had already met my main partner teacher Elena. But I have now met with my other two-Oxana and Maia (pronounced My-a). I like them both a lot, but am only teaching one class with each of them.

I found out this past Friday (Aug 28) what forms I am teaching (5th, 7th, 8th-2 classes, 9th, and 11th-2 classes). The 9th form (they use British English here and form = grade) will be the one class I teach solo without my partner teachers. I will be teaching about 19 hours per week.

Here are some pics around my town and house.

The gate to our house:

My walkway to the back entrance:

The front of the house:

The back entrance which is actually the main entrance we all use:

One part of the garden:

Stuff in the cellar

These are tomatoes that we jarred. The one in the middle is the one I did!!

Best part of the cellar-the wine barrels

The sun was coming through a crack in a cool way and of course was casting its light on the two things (Tomato juice and Brinza-goat cheese) I'm not necessarily a fan of-can you say ironic?!?

All these jars are for the winter:

The second best thing in the cellar-The Compot!!

The exit from the cellar:

My room:

The family: My nephew and my host mom

Views of Costesti

Here are a few pics I managed to get around Costesti before I left. I really loved living here.

The rain came and went a lot (at least once every week). This was a really good storm that came in one hot sunny afternoon.


Me and Miranda chillin on my porch watching the rain and eating sunflower seeds before going out with the crew! I loved that porch. Many an afternoon was spent there doing homework or just listening to music. Best times were sitting there with friends, having good discussions, eating sunflower seeds!


Sunflower fields can be found everywhere!






This is one of the hills I walked up.

My family's house
This is my entrance and porch

This is the other entrance to the second level of the house and the smaller garden in the front courtyard area. There was another bigger garden behind the house with the chicken and turkey coups.

What I did on my summer vacation...

During training we did not have a ton of free time. But there were days where we had "SDA" time. This is Self Directed Activities. Below are some pictures of what we as a group chose to do as our self directed activity. We figured it was community integration since a lot of the village kids would come out and watch or play with us. And it was good bonding time for us as volunteers as well as relaxation and a mental break from language classes and English education tech sessions.

Dan leaving everyone behind


Friendly game of touch football




Summer days are hot. Bethany and Isaac taking a little break before heading back out to the field.


Erika with Erin's host sister and our little buddy Ion (


Eventually the football gets put away and the frisbee comes out.




But that was just the warm up...anyone down for some Ultimate Frisbee.






Our buddies play too!!





Can't have a spectator sport without spectators (r-l: Annika, Cailyn and Kate)


End of the day, Isaac has a pull up contest with Ion