October 14th is the day of Hram for Floresti. "What is this hram you speak of?" you may be asking. Well hram is the anniversary of when the village was blessed. Every city, raion, town and village in Moldova has one. Not all villages celebrate or really observe this day, but Floresti does. This being my second year in Floresti it was of course my second (and last) hram. For those that have been following along at home, I did write briefly about hram last October.
Last year's Hram was great. I ate a ton of wonderful food, attended a concert and carnival in the center of town, froze my ass off since it was the first really cold day of the year (and I was so very not prepared for it) and hung with Kyle, my sitemate at the time. I didn't know what to expect so it was all a surprise. But this year was great again because A) I had the day off; B) I enjoyed a big masa (dinner party) with my old host family, one of my sitemates (and little sister) Sarah and two other volunteers who came from other villages to enjoy the festivities; and C) Got to watch all my site mates enjoy the party for their first time like I did last year. After the masa we headed into the center of town where, like last year, we enjoyed a carnival and concert. We drank, we danced, we watched Moldovan teenagers ride carnival rides and we ate cotton candy! To say a good time was had by all would be an understatement.
Now, you may be wondering what "whitewash" has to do with Hram. For about a week before Hram, all the towns folk get to making the town pretty. The whitewash comes into play because the tree trunks and street curbs all get painted with it to brighten things up. All of the planter boxes throughout the town get a fresh coat and many of the buildings get a coat or two. Everything looks its best for the village anniversary!
My favorite part though about the whitewashing is how it contrasts with the gorgeous Autumn colors. As most people know, Autumn in Moldova is my favorite time. The colors here are so beautiful and fit so well with the weather! Even though the cold came earlier this year, I have been making myself go out (in many layers of clothing) to get pictures whenever I can in between rain storms. It was almost over night that the little splotches of yellows and golds overran the green.
A big event in October is also the annual International Wine Festival. Sadly this year's festival was not as fun as last year's because the weather was absolutely miserable. It rained most of the day and was freezing the whole day. However, a group of us did head over to partake in the festivities, if only for a few hours...did I mention the event is an outdoor event?? We stayed out in the lightly falling rain and mild gentle hurricane winds for as long as possible then moved on to a restaurant for dinner. For those of us who are doing all of these events and activities for the last time, there was no stopping us from seeing them. And like Hram, there was drinking of tasty wine and of course dancing!
Now I am working towards Halloween and am frantically making activities and gathering the needed supplies for games for our school celebration on Friday, October 29. I have made a whole wall in our classroom just dedicated to Halloween. Some of my younger students are drawing pictures, I created a poster with the "Trick-or-Treat" poem that all my students will learn and even made a vocabulary poster so that they can fluently speak Halloween!!
Have I mentioned that I love this time of year?!? Especially since I am not totally ready for the full on coldness of Moldovan winters. But I am happy to report that I now have heat in my apartment which has drastically bettered my home life!
Here are some pictures from my October so far!
Originally this picture was taken as a joke during our Hram Huddle, but it turned out to be a keeper! Clockwise from me (I'm at 3 o'clock) is Lindsay (she is in my raion in a nearby village and works at a school teaching Health Education), Travis (he is in Floresti and works at the Primaria-the Mayor's Office), Sarah L (she is in Floresti and works out the Consiliul-The District Council Office...and she's my little sister and she lives with my former host family), Sarah C (she is in Floresti, is married to Travis, and teaches English at one of the other schools here), and finally Katie (she is in a nearby raion center similar to mine and is a Business Development volunteer).
Me with my little sis Sarah! 
Last year Kyle would never buy cotton candy with me so I made a point of buying some this year and sending Kyle a picture of me eating the last bite!
Me with several of my 12th graders. They all had cameras and I felt like I had been cornered by the paparazzi!
Like I said, there was dancing..this is Lindsay with the shiny shoes
One of the bands that performed
These were all taken from my apartment windows during and after a quickie rain storm that moved through Floresti earlier this evening.
Sunsets here are really amazing sometimes, just wish I had a camera that could more accurately capture them!
