MAMA!

...it is day 1 of week 7. i feel like so much has been accomplished in the weeks that have passed. i'll start with the little things like the fact that i just talked my mom into letting me change my own bed sheets (which promptly earned me a hug and a kiss). i've cooked more in the past week than i have since i've been here which is amazing. my family is super misto about letting me have whoever i want over, whenever, so i took full advantage of that by having some friends over to cook (shout out sara!!!) not only a meal for ourselves, but for my gazda too. they loved our food and my little brother even said that we made pasta better than my mom! granted i did singe some hairs off of my arm trying to light the oven...but it was an awesome evening nonetheless. i also got my scores back from our first language evaluation which was immediately tacked to the fridge and i came home today to find the words "BRAVO! FELICITARI!" written on the sheet. last but not least we are done with practicum! two weeks of lesson planning, teaching, and pretty much being tired and stressed every day. it was a great experience and i really did love the kids that i was fortunate enough to work with, especially my high schoolers, but in the scheme of where we are in training i'm glad it's one less thing on my plate!

so day after tomorrow (poimaine) is the day we've all been waiting for...the day we find out our permanent sites for our 2 years of service. we are having some kind of special secret ceremony and the ambassador for romania will be there to participate which is a big deal. i am so excited! i'm also kind of nervous about it. i have made such meaningful relationships here...the thought of being placed across the country from the people that i love the most is a bit of a scary thought. but like we were reminded today, i have trusted the process thus far and i have been anything but let down. in fact, amazing, completely unexpected things have happened for me that never would've been possible had i not just let go and trusted that everything would work out. so i am ready for whatever is going to happen.

so hopefully to ease some of the emotions of site announcement day...this weekend i am traveling to brasov, which is out of the county! we have finally reached the point where we can start to travel and i am so pumped about that. one of the current volunteers is hosting a meeting for the 50+ volunteers, but a few of us that don't fit the demographic are still taking advantage of the opportunity. rumor has it that there is even a movie theater and you better believe i won't be passing that up. i'll get to see a part of romania i've never seen before, which just so happens to host a hungarian population, and meet and network with some more peace corps people...not to mention spend some quality time with other trainees (including ones very special to me) which is much needed for me at the moment.

i've seen a lot of the trainees, including myself, hit "the wall" that they talk about in peace corps mental health presentations. we are all pretty drained and overall lacking much motivation and enthusiasm. i'm hoping that after site announcements and a weekend getaway things will get back on track. there is a large chance that starting on thursday i will be placed in hungarian lessons in addition to my romanian so i really need to get back on my game. no worries though! i am still loving every second. in fact with each day comes new things more amazing than the day before...and moments more special with those that mean the most to me. i pretty much love my life!