La Revedere.

As I begin to feel the tendrils of nostalgia for Moldova wrap themselves around me, in my mind's eye I fly back in time to Wednesday, August 6th -the date of my farewell dinner. I had convinced the Mamaligas to cancel/postpone that day's practice in order to make the time to attend my dinner. Unfortunately only Andrei and Sasha could attend. Gero, Raluca, Elena, Tomas, Angee, and Rudi all also graciously came to send me off. 

Nadina!

I had come to dinner almost directly from Liceul to see mentor Nadina one last time and finish up her presentation. We met at La Placinte on Bodoni/Dosoftei amidst a downpour of hail that was setting off car alarms! Not exactly the best start to a farewell dinner but despite the terrible weather we all settled down inside for a comfortable evening. Through dinner I truly enjoyed my conversations with all who came but, although it wasn't apparent, silently dreaded my waning moments in the company of these amazing people. 

We meandered over to the York Pub a couple blocks up Bodoni and I think it was fate that the live band performing at the pub that night played one of my favorite songs -"I Will Follow You Into the Dark." The mood was incredibly lifted for me, at least, for the rest of the night! For the time being I no longer lingered on my forthcoming egress. I lived in that moment, from each new bubble of laughter or smile spreading across one's face. 

To complete the night, Nicu, Maxim, and a few other FLEX program participants came to meet me at the pub. On their way there, they had enthusiastically written me a poem. They took me outside (quite sketchily) to read it to me, and of course, to get those kisses (Don't worry big brother, only on the cheek!)!

I returned home happy, and ready for Angee's farewell dinner the night after! We had dinner again at 513 Bar/Restaurant, to which I arrived late because I was at Lyceul again to see Nadina one last time and was able to be a part of an entertaining game of jeopardy of which I was surprisingly talented at! Vlad, Marina, Rodica, and I spontaneously formed a Staff team and correctly guessed a healthy number of questions! 

Because I arrived almost simultaneously with Sasha, we decided to split a bottle of wine and forgo dinner as it was late. At the bar, Vera gave me and Angee parting gifts of crafted wooden jewelry boxes that smell of Moldova. Mulțumesc, Vera! After dinner we (Sasha, Maxim, Angee, Matt, Angee's friend) walked to Valea Morilor for the last time and Angee's friends had bought her a self-light lantern that we lit on the walkway out over the lake and released into the midnight sky of stars. The red-orange sunset hue of the burning lantern was one of the most beautiful sights and we watched it rise above the moon and fade to a pinprick, then disappear. I will remember that forever. 

"Be Spontaneous"

by Nicu, Maxim, Iura, and Felix

We can be your Moldovan heroes,

And share our pillows

Because pillows for us

Are like writing a poem in the trolley bus. 

Emily, before you go,

Guys, could you stay in a row?

Everyone say those 3 magic words: Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle

Because in Moldova that is legal!

A Moldovan experience doesn't end like this,

Everybody needs to get a kiss!

Maxim of course will be the 1st one,

Come on Emily, it's going to be fun!

We will miss you very much,

But it is okay, we will stay in touch!

Voy a Reveni la Moldova

At the moment I lie in my bed at home, finishing my post I began but could not finish due to a number of factors (including a large presence of jet lag). I successfully returned home from Chișinău, Moldova on Friday evening around 7pm. Leaving the capital's miniature airport aboard a Lufthansa aircraft, I was distracted and flustered. Every moment while sitting on the plane waiting for take off, I kept thinking how I would not see Moldova again for a long time. My emotions were roiling inside and as we took off, tears came to my eyes as I watched the vineyards, farms, and sunflower fields grow smaller with each minute. But I soon experienced a peculiar feeling of peace and weariness and fell asleep. I woke up in time to enjoy the landing and promptly switched flights to board my connection to Boston.

On this second Lufthansa airplane I had the pleasure of sitting next to a lovely woman who was on her way to see her son and his family in Boston. We chatted easily about any measure of topics and life stories that came to mind. As the drinks trolley came around she enlightened me with the knowledge that alcoholic drinks were free on this flight, so I decided to take advantage of that and savor my last few hours being of legal drinking age. We ordered a few glasses of wine as well as a couple glasses of Bailey's with ice and had a very pleasurable flight! I also finally watched Divergent, something I had been meaning to do for a while. Still need to read the book, of course!

Our pilot's landing in Boston was so smooth I felt somehow cheated out of the adrenaline rush I always look forward to when flying. Out of customs I had minor difficulties with Customs and the baggage claim officials with the wine I had listed in my suitcase, but all ended well and I walked out of Terminal E with a peculiar sense of quiet accomplishment, finality, numbness, unspoken sadness, and fatigue.

I have now kept myself so busy that I have found it too difficult to wrap up my blog! The next couple days I woke up bright and early to drive to Devens and play in the Summer Club Championships for Bacon, my Sudbury Ultimate team. I couldn't ask for a better way to return home and spend my first days on American soil, albeit being a tiny bit out of shape. I savored the feeling of a full field, running down full-field hucks, and throwing long-distance hucks. Thanks Bacon for a short but sweet season!

Each night after a full tournament day I returned home absolutely exhausted as a combination of lack of exercise and jet lag. As such I fell asleep trying to upkeep the blog and obviously, failed. Better late than never! My mother and I also left to drive ourselves and the trailer to Nickerson State Park the next morning, which involved copious amounts of packing and planning in quite a short time, the usual for our family. Subsequently, I had no access to wifi until, well, now. I know, excuses galore, but I also believe it was my subconscious who was unwilling to finish my abroad experience; therefore these last couple posts have been extremely difficult and arduous for me to write. However it is completely necessary so stay posted!

Purple Penguins

Below is a story that my host sister and I wrote together by each writing a sentence at a time of our own creativity. The results!

Once upon a time there was a purple penguin named Andrei. The penguin was a bad bird. He waddled onto the beach and stole a cocktail from a man’s house. His name was Macbook Pro. When Mr. Pro discovered that the penguin had taken his drink, he got very angry. The penguin said, “You are an ugly man and you are smaller than a cocktail. That’s why you don’t deserve this cocktail.” And Mr. Pro said, “I will meet you in court!” The penguin agreed and walked away coolly with his strawberry cocktail.

He had three friends and the friends were also bad penguins. Their names were Vlad, Sasha, and Nicu. One time Andrei’s purple penguin friends went to the mountains  and they stole ice cream from a cave woman named Natasha. Natasha was much angrier about the burglary than Mr. Pro was so she called the police. Vlad, Sasha, and Nicu and Andrei all had to go to court that day. Mr. Pro and Natasha sent the penguins to jail. The penguins hated jail because there was no fish; only broccoli.

In jail they met another penguin named Roma. Roma went to jail for shooting a man with a BB gun. Roma, Andrei, Nicu, Vlad, and Sasha all create an escape plan together. They plan to use magic stones from the beach to transform themselves into famous people. Roma will become Barack Obama, Andrei will be the Queen of England, Nicu will become Jennifer Lopez, Vlad will become Ryan Gosling, and Sasha will become Miley Cyrus. When the jailers come they will be so surprised to see all the famous people in the jail cell and let them go immediately. The plan works and they escape and say goodbye.

The end!

I bid farewell to my host sister this afternoon, well aware of the fact that I probably won't see her for a few years at least. It was difficult. La revedere, Amelia! Te iubesc mult! 

I'm leavin' on a jet plane...

I have been astoundingly neglectful of my wayfaring grapes this past week. As I prepare to return home I grow increasingly fretful, anxious, and frustrated. I cannot sleep until two or three in the morning, which results in exhaustion the next day, which I treat with coffee.  With my impending departure date looming over my head like a threatening storm I am frantically trying to buy last-minute gifts and souvenirs for everyone as well as say goodbye to everyone that I have known and met. The combination of a disliked activity (shopping) with trying to catch rutieres and trolleys to get to all my events provides me with a great headache!

Time to collect my thoughts.

I end my internship at Hospice Angelus today. Although I will come in to teach my final English lesson tomorrow morning at 8am, today is the day I will truly say farewell to everyone at the Hospice. I baked banana bread for everyone to accompany the occasion. Hopefully they like it, as some have never tried it before!

I go to Lyceum this afternoon at 4pm for a FLEX alumni panel in which the current program students may ask questions about their travel and stay in the US. After the panel I will mentor Nadina on her final presentation until I will need to leave around 6:30 for my farewell dinner!

Tonight we will go to La Placinte in the center to (celebrate is not the right word) send me off back to the US. As aforementioned, I am a nervous wreck and adding this to my list of things to do isn’t helping. But it will allow me to say goodbye to a lot of people at once so should be a fun dinner. I will attempt to relax and enjoy my last few hours with a company of amazing people.

My mind has a plan for a flurry of blog posts as I near my departure, but who knows, I may end up so upset and restless that there may be none at all! Hoping for the former!

Also my apologies for the drastic decrease in pictures because my camera of five or six years has finally decided to lie down and pass into another life. RIP my light metallic pink Sony camera. You did so well I will miss you!