There's No Place Like Moldova

Winter Break was spent in Budapest. It was a wonderful 7 day vacation spent with several other volunteers. We walked around the entire city I'm sure and visited many sites. We saw several churches and the Parliament building, as seen in the photos above. We also went to a castle and toured the caves beneath it. The Grand Market Hall had many different stalls filled with foods and touristy things. The best part by far was all the delicious food we ate! We stopped at a Mexican restaurant called "Iguanas" where I enjoyed chips and salsa and a Dos Equis!We ate at several pubs where I ate the most amazing cheeseburger ever and some barbeque chicken wings. Of course I can't forget the coffee shops. We went to about 5 different shops throughout the course of the vacation where I ordered Chai Tea Lattes. Very tasty indeed! We stayed in a hostel which was great. I had never stayed in a hostel before, and I had the vision from the movies "Hostel", but it was quite the contrary. The host in the hostel was amazing and cooked us traditional foods and also gave us directions and tips for the best places to go. Everyday we were up early exploring the city. Although it was a great vacation and Budapest is wonderful, I was really glad to arrive back in Moldova, and even moreso to sleep in my own couch-bed in Edinet.

Set up the Christmas Tree with the family. On Christmas Day, December 25th, we went to the grandparents' in the village. We ate some tasty food. Following supper was a Christmas Concert put on by the 3 younger kids which consisted of songs and poems. 

It was odd having to work on Christmas Eve, but it was really fun to be at school on that day. There were no lessons taught, and every class pretty much had a party. This is my second grade class. The girls all dressed up in their fancy dresses and danced around the classroom in a big circle. After their party, they went home. Later that night at school was a concert put on by the 8th through 11th graders.

 

Christmas Eve I went to a birthday party in Balti with my tutor and her daughter. We ate and drank much and danced even more. It was a great celebration on Christmas Eve! My tutor, Luminita, is pretty much my second mom here in Moldova!