I had the mildly bewildering realization the other day that we have been at post for four months now...which is 1/6th of the way through our first post...which seems crazy.
In some ways, it definitely feels like we've been here a long while; I've been to Romania 3 times already, had visitors come from far away lands, picked up a stray dog and found it a good home, and already spent three major Holidays here {more if you count the fact that Moldovans sneakily celebrate two Christmases and two New Years Holidays, thanks to the Russian Orthodox Calendar, which we dutifully observed, happily}. But seriously, one sixth of the way through is not an insignificant amount of time, and there's so much we still want to do! I had never envisioned myself ending up in these parts of the world in the first place and since we live in uncertain times, who knows if I will ever be back. Therefore, I will share with you our current bucket list, assuming this is our one chance to visit these parts with relative ease:
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| Calendar by 1Canoe2, available {here} |
In some ways, it definitely feels like we've been here a long while; I've been to Romania 3 times already, had visitors come from far away lands, picked up a stray dog and found it a good home, and already spent three major Holidays here {more if you count the fact that Moldovans sneakily celebrate two Christmases and two New Years Holidays, thanks to the Russian Orthodox Calendar, which we dutifully observed, happily}. But seriously, one sixth of the way through is not an insignificant amount of time, and there's so much we still want to do! I had never envisioned myself ending up in these parts of the world in the first place and since we live in uncertain times, who knows if I will ever be back. Therefore, I will share with you our current bucket list, assuming this is our one chance to visit these parts with relative ease:
- Romania. We need to go back to Bucharest for an actual visit, preferably when the weather is nice. We also want to go camping in the Transylvanian Mountains, visit Brasov and all sorts of cool castles, monasteries & churches {again, when the weather is nice}. We might also make it back to Iasi at some point since it is the closest place that shows movies in English. You can tell we've been here for a while when driving 2+ hours {5+ in wintry conditions} seems like a reasonable thing to do to watch a movie...in a movie theater...in English.
- Ukraine. Odessa is only a few hours away, and we should definitely make it down there sometime in the spring. I'm a little nervous about the language though...they apparently only speak Russian and Ukrainian over there but it's supposed to be really nice.
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| Odessa Opera House |
- Spain. The plan is to go to Catalonia in April. Spend some time in Barcelona, catch a few Barcelona games at Camp Nou {if we're lucky they might even make it to the Champion's League Semis}, visit all the awesome Gaudi creations, & eat some tasty food. Then, we want to head up the coast to Costa Brava, and then inland to go hiking in the Pyrenees. For a visual compilation of my daydreaming/trip planning click here.
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| Spanish Pyrenees |
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| Catalonia |
- Italy. Meeting up with some friends there in September...I plan on eating more pasta and tomatoes than is probably reasonable.
- Turkey. Michael Ball has crazy ideas of going down there in the summer for the Fifa Under-20 World Cup. Rumor has it they also have awesome food. And awesome architecture.
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| Topkapi Palace, Istanbul |
- Brazil. Yes, I am aware that Brazil is nowhere near Moldova, BUT, they will be hosting the World Cup in 2014 and I would hate to miss it. The following two are in Russia & Qatar and I am far less likely to go there in 5 and 9 years, respectively {or ever, for that matter}. Plus, my hunch is those places won't quite have the same atmosphere as, say, Rio de Janeiro. Plus I'd get to visit all my relatives. Plus it's going to be awesome, the land of futebol and the beautiful game. It's a Win-Win-Win situation.
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| Poster from the last time Brazil hosted the tournament... |
- The Land of the Free:
TexasAmerica. I am actually heading to the US in a few weeks here. The trip was a little hastily put-together, but I am super excited about it. I am going to help my friend Anna @ the new restaurant she just opened up, Blackberry Market and also will be spending all sorts of time with all sorts of people I love. I will be eating unhealthy amounts of avocados and Mexican Food, Sushi, Indian Food, Thai Food, basically anything that is not pickled, doesn't belong in a stew or isn't a sausage. And I will be stocking up for our Consumables Shipment...which will contain lots of salsa among other assorted items. We will be back in the US at some other point before our tour is up, but the date is yet to be determined.
- Moldova. There are still a number of places I would like to visit within the country, like Soroca and the country side, but again, nothing is really as fun to visit in the winter as it is in the summer, so we're holding off on those till warmer days are here.
- Croatia & Albania. A good friend of mine mentioned going on an Eastern European Tour including those two countries...I don't know too much about them but I'm game if she ends up coming out here.
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| Albania |
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| Croatia |
