HAPPY TURKEY DAY ONE AND ALL!
I am going to have ten people come for dinner and try my hand at another turkey!!! We are breaking in the new place!!!!!!

Where to begin when it has been so long?! With a dedication....this one's for you Mom.
So my classes have been a rollercoaster of excitement. Everyday I collect new cellphones, math notes, romanian books and various odds and ends that seem to be more interesting than paying attention. It is amazing the quantity of cell phones that have come into my possesion. Cell phones of all colors, shapes and sizes ( I make it a point not to descriminate in my cell phone seizures.) The best have been cell phones that take pictures. Yes that's right folks...You thought that the Peace Corps sent volunteers to poverty stricken areas...well we also teach kids who can afford three hundred dollar cell phones that take pictures, play music and can even read palms or tell you your daily horoscope. I am not just a little bitter about the intrusion of phones in my classroom, I am raving. But enough of that subject...We don't need to question why a 15 year old kid needs a cellphone in class, we don't need to dwell on the reasons why the phone is on, Or wonder who the hell is calling him? Okay the ranting is over.
In more interesting news....The leaves have fallen and I have put on the long underwear. According to Beth (my site mate) once the long underwear goes on it never comes off for six months. I said goodbye to my legs for awhile...we had a moment... and slipped into my warm fuzzy thermal gear. It is cold in my apartment but I don't care because I love it so much, I clean up after myself.
Oh so funny story of the month....
I recently went to Zalau with Beth to visit my friend Anna. Zalau is roughly 8 hours away though not too difficult to get to. We must take a bus to Cluj ( the biggest city in Transylvania) and then from Cluj we have to hitch-hike the rest of the way to Zalau. Usually a ride is easy to come by from Cluj but that particular friday Beth and I stuck our thumbs out for a good two hours before we got a bite. Finally, a older man pulled over and Beth and I jumped in along with two younger Romanian guys, most likely students going home for the weekend. The ride started out typically standard, we said our Bunas (hellos) and then the conversation faded into silence and staring out of the windows. Beth and I were in the back. I was squeezed in the middle seat between on Romanian guy and Beth and the other Romanian student in the front seat. The driver turned on Soft rock to fill in the gaps of silence. I stared straight ahead, and Beth out her window. Suddenly someone let out the most terrific fart. It wasn't particulary loud but a silent but deadly odor, the owrst kind. I looked towards Beth. She was looking out the window, not seeming to notice anything. The other guy looked out his window feigning intense interest in the corn fields flying by. Was I in a smelly twilight zone wher my nose suddenly smelled for the rest of the world? Did no one truly notice? Finally, the driver nonchalantly cracked the window. The smell passed. Five minutes later again the same smell hit me like a mac truck. I once again looked around. Beth didn't seem to notice but now the guy to my left glared at me from the corner of his eyes. He thought it was me! I wrinkled up my nose in protest. It wasn't me!! It wasn't me!! The driver cracked the windown again and we continued. Five minutes later...AGAIN!! The boy now just stared incriminatingly at me. I ashamedly looked toward the window and Beth finally looked at me with a guilty smirk!!! The stinker!!
By now, I just wanted to laugh. But the funniest thing about the whole experience was that right about the third annonymous fart..."We are the world" came blaring from the radio and all I could think about was the sheer hilarity of the situation. One farting Peace Corps Volunteer, one guilty looking Volunteer, old man and two young Romanian students sharing a ride in an ancient Romanian Dacia, listening to soft rock and sharing a disgusting though universal smell. We were the world. Two hours later we finally got out of the car. Beth fessed up..."What? So I ate a little too many beans last night!"