Winter in Romania!

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  Resita, Romania
Friday, February 17, 2006

HELLOOO!!!
I know I'm horrible. I have not sent an update in like, FOREVER, and some of you have no doubt started a search out in my name...and then others of you are like me wrapped up in ourselves to much to remember the last time...
ANYWAY, either way I'm back....to say Hello and let you know what's new in my world! First off, i'm no longer a twenty-something. I am actually a thirty-something now and quite looking forward to the decade ahead of me! This past Christmas, as most of you know, i was able to go home and visit the family and a few friends and REALLY had a great time! It was sooo wonderful getting to catch up with everyone and amazingly, the culture shock wasn't too bad. But good God those gas prices are incredible! Ahhh...but driving again was wonderful...moonroof open, Sting CD blaring, cruise control on, singing at the top of my lungs...ahhhh.
I arrived back in Romania on New Years Eve at 3:30am. It was an incredibly long flight, filled with delays and foreign men hitting on me...and it took about a week for my body to get re-adjusted to the 8 hours i lost. It was made up for the fact that that day my friend Jamie, who's a PCV in Moldova, was also arriving in Bucharest to meet up and stay with me for a week! We had a great time. That night, for the New Years countdown we went out on the town and we were warned in advance about the crazies out on the streets letting off fireworks on their own, and at each other. Is my cousin Jimmy or Michael reading this?? We did this once as kids and regretted it. So, anyway we had to dodge a few near-misses but we got to our restaurant and had a great time hanging out and watching the official fireworks at midnight! Jamie was able to stay until that next Friday when we went to Baile Herculane a resort town in southwestern Romania full of hot mineral water baths/springs! We had a great day at the spa for less than $20! We even got massages in that package! It was AWESOME. In fact one of my organizations here is wanting to open up a Youth Hostel and Summer Camp for youth in that town to promote tourism. I've already started doing the grant research with them.

The week i returned to site I found out that my Counterpart *Dana* (who is my closest work colleague who helps me with all official business in town) is moving to Spain! *gasp* We were working non-stop up until she left at the end of January trying to get everything lined up and in working order for all of the organizations. It has a been a crazy time with work, as I've been trying to train new people to take over Dana's role and most of them are inexperienced professionally and with volunteering! However in between all this craziness in January my good friend Mary was able to come visit me, which was wonderful. We always have a great time together and it was great to have some support during all this change.

So, February comes along...i realize that i still haven't updated my log and yet, life is still moving quickly here. The first wknd in Feb. i took my BROKEN computer to Bucharest to have a new hard-drive installed...yes, i still had it under warranty, but NO i did not lose anything! Thank GOD! Anyway, so from there I went to Pitesti, a city north of BUCH for a Poker Weekend with the ol' crew from Zarnesti! My training town buddies were all meeting up that weekend and so i joined them for a weekend of fun and food and then followed it up by us all going back to BUCH on Sunday night to watch the SUPERBOWL real time at 1:30am at a Champs Sports Bar in the Marriot Hotel! It was super cool! The next week was busy again, now back in Resita and preparing for all kinds of activities coming up soon. However, as last Friday was my Bday I HAD to spend it among friends in Craiova. Craiova is a cool city of about 140,000 on the way to Bucharest via the train route from Timisoara/Resita and PC has 3 volunteers there. Kylie and I had fun dancin' in the clubs ALL NIGHT long and i couldn't get enough of my Smirnoff and Coke...since they actually HAD Smirnoff Vodka. It was great to spend my birthday with Kylie, she was awesome and especially cool since she is also another kick-a*s 30-something!

Let's see, so that brings us to this week, which has been very busy preparing for a Seminar we have coming up the first week in March. Hence, my still being at the office at 8pm on a Friday night. See, my friends, my day might not start till I roll out of bed at 10am, and drag my butt into the office at 12...but most days don't end until 8 or 9pm. So there. That's my life, for now! Next week I'm going to Belgrade, Serbia with Caroline and Kylie for a weekend of culture and fun. Get this, it will cost me the equivalent of $30 to take the roundtrip train ride and $39 for a total of 3 nights stay at the Hostel! You should really think about getting out to Eastern Europe sometime...travel is cheap...if your not worried about traveling "in-style". You will definitely enjoy the scenerary more if you venture to travel like a local! Next month I am hoping to meet up with Jodie and a few other friends in Prague where we would stay at our friend Liz's, brothers house!!! Hopefully that will work out. I asked the local travel agent guy today how much a bus ticket (roundtrip) would cost for that trip, his answer? 66 Euro...or $79!!! The trip would be 15 hours, but for that cost, i could manage!

Okay, so I'm leaving something critically important out here. It was so great having so many friends around this past month, and weekend travels, and I can't wait to go on these upcoming trips, it has helped me thru a very difficult time emotionally! With this said, i should tell you...I've been having some health problems since last year...no i'm not dying, and no it's not the Bird-Flu...but the doctors here no longer know what to do with me b/c their treatment isn't working. My medical case is being referred to PC Washington medical dept. and I think it is only a short matter of time before I have to say Goodbye to Romania and return home. I don't want to talk about the details on this publicly, because my health is personal, however, most of you are very close to me and I would talk about it offline. Most health problems are difficult for the Medical Team to treat for PC Volunteers, due to the nature of our lifestyle and physical and emotional hardship of living overseas in very unfamiliar environments. Once back in the States most problems are taking care of or at least managed with no great impact on their future careers and lives. With that said, I'm doing everything possible on my end to keep my spirits up and my mind focused on what i need to be doing. I could, of course, use some support and encouragement...and always love hearing from all of you!

I WILL keep you informed if/when I do leave. However, in the meantime I wish you all the best in whatever is going on in your lives at this moment. Even thou i haven't written much lately, as always, you are always on my mind....think Willie Nelson's song...hehe

Take care and much love to all!
Amber
(of course, i didn't mention the weather did I! The weather is CRAZY here in Romania. We have snowstorms, and then lot's of rain, and then it's pretty and sunny again. Apparently this is not normal. Normal is winter lasting for 2-3 months...not the back and forth business we are having now. However, boy when it's cold it's REALLY cold...or maybe that's cause I'm out walking in it alot! Either way, when I've been on the trains this year, during the winter season, and it is snowing the sights are absolutely breathtaking!)

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