Plopeni
This weekend marked my two year anniversary in Romania. I appropriatly spent it in Plopeni with my host family, Monica, Victor and Aurelia. Good old Plopeni even after two years virtually nothing has changed. It was a nice visit. I saw thier chickens and turkeys , I said hello to the pig. He's little this year, but there is plenty of time before christmas for him to grow fat, Victor informed me. It was nice to see them, I hadn't been back to Plopeni in a long time. They just installed central heating in their apartment which is a huge investment. Now they can have all the hot water that they want (assuming they have water). Before they had a wood burning boiler in the bathroom and the kitchen always ran cold water, so washing dishes required boiling water on the stove. THey are really excited about it. I went running to my favorite spot in Plopeni. It's a road that winds through the forest and empties out into an apple orchard and a tiny village called Cocorasi Misli. It was nice to run without being yelled at and without smelling burning trash or deasel fumes. As par for the course we watched an exorbinant (however that word's spelled) amount of televsion and we took a walk around town. Monica got all dolled up and I looked my usually slobby self. We laughed at how i don't like milk or sourcream or branza (cheese) and how monica doesn't like vegetables. They asked me a million questions about how much everything costs in America. A weekend well spent. I left this morning with a punga (bag) full of food. Aurelia packed me an entire loaf of cozonac ( special christmas bread she made for me the night before), sarmale (stuffed grape leaves), jam, zacusca (romania's version of salsa), more food that i can eat in a week by myself. They are really good people and i am glad that i got a chance to say goodbye. i'll miss them and P-town. Some people from my group have already left. Sean one of the guys that i trained with is already home. i have so much left to do yet i can barely let myself think about leaving. i have a week to pack up these two years of my life and say goodbye.