A LITTLE NOTE ON LAUNDRY

Hot water makes red clothes bleed. I found that one out yesterday as I proceeded to wash my formerly white shirt with a pair of red boxer shorts. No sweat, I like pink. I keep flooding the bathroom and have no idea why. There is a drain on the floor of the bathroom, but it works excruciatingly slow. Why put a drain on the floor when something as wonderful as the shower curtain exists. Americans were smart the day they hung up the shower curtain. They don't exist here. But I have been told that some volunteers have found them in Romania. Though a shower curtain would take all the joy out of having my own private lake.
So I am starting to stress about teaching. the procrastinators gene has taken over and the sheer immensity of lesson plans that i must write has stopped me from writing them. I promised myself that tonight I would sit down and hash out a rough plan for the first semester. O sa vedem ( "We shall see")

Mom, you would be proud of me though, I have been cooking like a gourmet. I have discovered that cooking is a great stress reliever. I just cook and cook and cook when i have a million other things to do. I made soup from scratch and these great rice dishes. I know that's nothing too complicated, oh but I did make some biscuits. tonight I think I am going to make rice pudding.. ( you see a rice pattern, it's cheap and filling) which is my favorite.
Shoot I am just about to run out of time...I love you all.


nina

THE MOST RANDOM WEEKEND IN BUCHAREST

I decided after not much deliberation that I would go to temple for Rosh Hashana in Bucharest. ( Mom you can be proud of what a Jew you have raised). And so without much more than the desire to go to temple did I depart from Valcea on Friday afternoon. I had no numbers, in fact, no clue where there was even a temple, but I did make a reservation at a hostel. As luck would have it, a bunch of PCVs were going to be in Bucharest this weekend. We made plans to meet up at the train station ( gara de nord). I thought, no sweat. My bus from Valcea came into the city at around five and i figured i'd have plenty of time to get to the gara, which is clear accross the city.
So, after arriving somewhere in Bucharest, I hopped onto the subway, which in typical Romanian fashion has no maps and no signs. It was early so I thought, "no sweat", I'll just grab the first car going towards the city center and at least I will be going the right direction. WELL, two hours later ( now keep in mind, this should have been a 30 minute ride tops) I am still riding the metro going backwards and forwards, up and down. The problem was that two trains left from the same track; one goes to the gara and the other goes back to where I came from. After two or three times of going back and forth, i finally figured this out. Nothing makes sense down there. Who puts two trains on the same track and NO sign to differentiate each train?!!! But, I made it to the gara. Thanks to modern technology ( aka the cell phone) the my folks didn't leave, because ( need I even mention) like an idiot I took the wrong map of the city and didn't have the hostel address, so without them I would've been screwed.
That headache done with, my next task was to find a temple before morning. It was about 8:30 when we finally left the gara and decided to head to the hostel. Oddly enough, just as I am explaining to the group my intention to find a temple, out of the blue ( like a sign from God or more likely my mom) Dustin shouts, "Look nina, a Rabbi!" Sure enough there stood a Rabbi on the street corner. It was a strange mystical moment, like seeing the burning bush or getting a phone call from the person you were just thinking about. Without a second thought, I ran accross the street and attacked him with my poor Romanian and even poorer Hebrew. "Rosh Hashana!" I kept exclaiming as if that would drive the point home. Finally we came to an understanding and his bodyguard walked me to the temple to show me where services would be the next morning.

The temple is "just gorgeous" ( to quote you mom). It is 150 years old and the women sit above the men in the balcony. Inside all the walls are covered with intricate patterns of the star of david and there is gold gilding everywhere. Huge candelabras hang from the ceiling which must be more than 200 feet high. The arc is made up of two solid gold doors carved to look like the ten commandments. I wish I could have taken a picture. Saturday morning I felt as if I had regressed 100 years into the times of old fashioned eastern eurpoean jewry. The women all came in wearing babushkas and there was no one under the age of 60. The men wore long black coats and hats. The Rabbi was up front chanting away ( it was an orthodox service and I had a hard time following along). I just watched and prayed to myself. To be truthful it made me a little homesick. I thought about Menorah and Mom's matzo ball soup. I found out that there is one Jewish family in Valcea.....
Speaking of which, I might be moving. The word on the street is that my landlord is selling the apartment. So maybe in my next place ( if I move) I will have a balcony and not be on the first floor, which would be a vast improvement.....but getting back to Bucharest. After temple, I went out to chinese food and walked around the city some. I saw the People's Palace; Ceaucesu's monstrousity of a building. Supposedly it is second only to the Pentagon in size but what it looked like to me was a glorified Bloc. He tore down the most beautiful parts of Bucharest to build this thing and put 1/6 of Bucharest out of their homes. And all I can think is, I wonder what he was overcompensating for?!
well...it seems as if I am running out of time, so i will sign out here and say L'shana Tova. Eat lots of matzo ball soup for me. And mom I am sure that it needs salt! ;)