Back in America

After three and a half months of being in Romania, I am finally back home in Massachusetts. The flights were fine, except for the fact that I hate flying and I had a 6 and a half hour layover in London when all I wanted to do was jump on a plane home. We drove to the airport Friday morning at 2:30 am, which is 7:30 pm at home. From that time until I finally fell into bed at home around 10, I got maybe 2 hours of sleep, but I honestly did not care because I was home. My parents laughed at me because pretty much the only thing I could say as soon as we left the airport was 'I'm in America.' I'm back in the routine of being at home at Christmas time. The first night I was home I went in to count money from the kettles and today is toy store day, my favorite day of the Christmas season. So this ends my need for a blog, thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed my stories.

Last Day

Today is our last day in Sighisoara. We leave tomorrow morning. So I figured it was about time to post some pictures of the town I've been living in for the past 3 and a half months.

These are the ridiculous stairs that I had to climb everyday. They may not look it, but they are a killer and they wrap around the corner that's not in the picture. Also in the picture you can see that they were digging up the stairs, and everything else, for about 3 months

Casa de Dracul. I thought it would look a little grander than it does. It was a lot like seeing the Plymouth rock for the first time. You think it is going to be this huge grandiose thing, and then it turns out it's just a rock. Also, the restaurant inside is sort of pricey, but worth it.

The clock tower in the center of town-that is four minutes slow. It's great on a big tourist day they all crowd around it with their cameras waiting for the hour to strike when a puppet comes out and bags a pot-really not that impressive, especially at 1.

House on the Rock, where all of our classes were, and the computer lab. It looks pretty with the snow, but a couple of days after this picture was taken it rained, so now it's just really muddy outside again.

The outside of the house I've been living in for the past 3 and a half months. Ali was so excited the first day we pulled up in front of it because it's pink and green. At that point it wasn't hard for her to get excited about something here.

My sisters, who I will miss dearly. Anita is in front of me on my left, Timmy is right next to her. Rahel, Rachel in English, is next to me and of course in front of her is Ali.

I will definitely miss my family here, and my supervisor. But I am more than a little excited to get back to America where I can understand what people are trying to say to me, where I can read signs again. The girls and I joke that we'll probably just sit in a restaurant staring at the menu because we'll be able to actually read what the menu says.

Romanian home

I only have one week left in Sighisoara, the final two days before we fly out of Romania will be spent in the city of Bucharest. My mother has asked me more than once to post pictures of the house I've been living in, but I've never gotten around to it. So here they are. I don't have a picture of the outside of the house, but I'll probably post that later on in the week.

Here are Ali and my beds-I sleep in the little one-the one that has no frame and is simply one mattress stacked on top of another. Those blankets may not look like much, but cocoon yourself in one-don't move because moving causes cold air to come in-and you're toasty warm all through the night.

Ali and I have been pretty much living out of our suitcases for the past 3 months. There isn't a dresser, or drawers anywhere to put our clothes, so we sort of stack them. Sorry Ma, I know it's not the neatest.

This is the sight that greets us as soon as we walk through the door. Our room is immediately to the left, the door isn't shown in this picture. Down the hallway on the right is the bathroom I've already posted pictures of, and directly across the hall is the kitchen.

Ali and I spend a lot of time at that table, since we don't have a desk or anything in our room, of course this table is in the kitchen which usually means we feel the need to eat something while we do whatever it is we need to do.

Full view of the kitchen, where again Ali and I spend a lot of time. Particularly if we haven't enjoyed whatever our family served for dinner that night. We wait until they go upstairs and then we raid the kitchen.

That is pretty much the entirety of the downstairs, which is where I spend 98% of my time when I'm home. The upstairs is simply Mama C and the girls bedrooms. The stairs up and down are outside-no stairs on the inside. Which is always fun if the girls invite us upstairs to watch a movie or something Ali and I have to get all bundled up and put on our shoes, or just put on our shoes and make a run for it.