So much to do, only two years to do it!

Thus far, my time in my community offered weeks bloated with activities, followed by weeks starving for activity. However, I think all that is about to change as I make my move to ensure the weeks ahead represent the former.

Last week my partners (two of the youth from the council) and I spent three days at a Peace Corps conference sharing experiences with other volunteers and attending various seminars. Though my words may fail me in my attempt to convey the incredible outcomes of something so plainly called a "conference," you should know that this event had a tremendous influence on my attitude about being in my communiy and working with the people in it. Simply put, I AM ECSTATIC!

I brought so many ideas back from the conference and though my romanian still holds me back a little, the youth are constantly inquiring about my opinion on projects and ideas. I think I've achieved another one of Emerson's measures of success: to gain the affection of children (to laugh often and much is his other measure that I've "managed" to accomplish). Remember people...the little things count too!

So what's in the fire right now for my work? What's keeping me busy?
-The youth want to renovate an abandoned lot into a basketball facility. We are exploring the ways to make this as sustainable a facility as possible. I'm looking into this whole recycled shoe conept...but the vice-mayor already granted us the space. A step in the right direction!
-Romanian lessons. Now that my teacher has her school schedule set, we are working together four hours a week. That's 20 hours of lessons in total before my next Language Proficiency Interview, in October.
-Translating some documents for a youth volunteer who is aplying for a grant.
-Going to the center for youth with disabilities. We're going to play sports outside before the last bit of summer fades away!
-Attending meetings with various NGOs in Moldova about their work and how working in Moldova is different than working in the United States.
-Finishing up the repairs to the center before winter.
-Preserving more food for winter (I'm a little concerned about that cheese...foarte interesant! very interesting!)
-Planning a celebration for retired teachers.

Can't wait!