3rd day thoughs.

June 01,

Finally I’m getting around to starting a blog about my experience in Romania. When my Country Director(CD) asked who in the room was writing a blog all but maybe 5 had their hands raised, so in doing this one could say that I’m following the heard. I’m OK with that. A blog seems like a good way to make this experience remembered and easily accessed by friends and family.
A little catch up to start. Last May I decided to apply for the Peace Corps. After a long application process a little over a year later I sit here in my room at my host families house in Targoviste, Romania. The trip here included 2 flight delays, 2 days in DC, 10 hours in Amsterdam and many hours in the air. Throughout that time I met, and started to get to know 36 others going through pretty much the same experience. I will be here in Targoviste for 11 weeks and then I get sent out to a yet to be disclosed location in the country where I will probably be alone at first with a limited knowledge of the language.
Targoviste is a city of about 70,000 people located roughly an hour northwest of Bucuresti. The city was a little bit scary for me at first mostly because I am from a town of less than 10,000 that all speak my language. Plus, we arrived at one in the morning and were greeted by stray dogs barking in the middle of the road. The longer I stay in Targoviste the more I like it. This is only my third day but I can see my time hear being very fun, memorable, and exciting mostly because of the people that I know. I am a part of a very friendly, and easy to get along with training class. I know that they will be people that I look forward to seeing everyday.
Yesterday I met my host family(gazda). It was one of the most stressful mornings of my life. I was very nervous not knowing fully how to act around them, what to say to them, if they will like me, if I will like them. Quickly they set my mind at ease. I think that my eleven weeks with them will be a great time in many ways. They speak English well which makes it easier to communicate with them initially but may hinder my ability to learn Romanian quickly. They are all very friendly and in many ways they have already started teaching me how Romania and America are both similar and different.