Change? Shit is guess change is good for any of us.

Hello all,

I have decided to write down a few things that I find interesting about myself now that I live in a far far away land. This morning I was sitting on my bed drinking my 2 cups of coffee and watching my one episode of Dexter before I get out of bed and get swollen working out with my tension bands in my room and it occurred to me that my daily behaviors have changed a lot now that I am here.

1- In the States I would eat because I was bored or lazy. Now I don’t eat because I am too lazy to walk my lazy ass down the road two blocks to buy food. As you might imagine this new behavior has lost me 20labs (lbs. but more fun to say labs). My snacks in the State included waking up at 11 PM and driving to a gas station for a Dr. Pepper and a bag of Nibs. Now my snacks include me rooting through my packages sent from home hoping with all my might that I missed a sucker, candy cane, or better yet a 1lab bag of skittles. Most of the time this activity ends up in disappointment, other times I find a stale yet satisfying Sees’ sucker.

So I have made a decision! From now on I need to start eating all day everyday if I am going to gain any of my weight back. I am going to become the most ghastly, repulsive, disgusting pig a Moldovan has ever seen and with time I will gain my 20labs back and arrive at my glorious, handsome, bigger self.

2- Sharing. I love to share now. I do it all the time! Back home I hated it! I always thought to myself… go get your own bag of Nibs! Now with a little behavioral conditioning from the very generous Moldovan people I find myself leaving work to get something to eat to get me through the gap between lunch and dinner, which can sometimes be 8 hours, and returning with 50 lei worth of Snickers bars for everyone that works in my office. It actually brings me joy because when I share with people they will actually pretend to understand my Romanian. Most of the time I can see exactly what they are thinking when I am rattling off long strings of non-comprehendible Romanian, “What?” “Who is this kid?” “He can’t be Moldovan” “If I just smile and nod he will stop” “Why did I engage him?” “How does he not understand the difference between dative and accusative?” just to name a few thoughts that go through people’s heads.

So! The moral of this story is, if you share in another country people want to talk to you.

3- I have learned that regardless of how long, cold, or how much snow there is in a winter I always hate it! I constantly have to remind myself that it’s not Moldova’s fault. I don’t hate my life in Moldova I hate my life in winter in any country. Spring is on its way here (that’s what I’m told anyway) and when it does come I will revert back to sickeningly positive self. As of now though I keep my winter face, coat, boots, and scarf on, close my eyes and hope that when I open them the ice, mud, freezing temperatures, grey, and snow will be gone!

Finally I would just like to mention that I just returned from Israel and will be posting pictures/links to pictures on here along with some explanation….. Maybe…