August and its Hot

 

Yes, its been a hot August here in Moldova.  They call it the dog days, "canicula", a heat wave of 80 and 90 degree weather.  For those in the Midwest, let me say it's a dry heat.  No rain or humidity in sight.  You can see the ducklings in the yard, as well as our local road runner, and Mieska the dog are all looking for some shade.  Well enough talk about the weather.  Liviu has the right idea, it's watermelon season, "harbuzul"  is the solution to all this heat.   August has also been a month for birthdays around here.  All three family members you see in  next (#5) picture had birthdays in August.  Lilia and Vova are husband and wife and they both have a birthday on August 6th...same year!  And Iulia, my host mom,  has a birthday on August 11th.  We have had some fine Moldovan "masa s" recently with the family to celebrate these special days.  Everyday tasks still need to be done like the making of "brinza" or house cheese which you see Iulia doing in the window there with all the bottles of milk.  Sergiu and I are busy shucking beans from their pods after harvesting and drying the plants from the garden.  August 12th was "Ziua Tineretului" or Youth Day here in Moldova.  We had a special program with the kids at the center about it.  And it included some fun activities with balloons and also a special treat of fresh fruit for refreshments.  Good to the last bite.  Today, August 15th was the Swearing In Ceremony of the new Moldova 28 class of Peace Corps Volunteers.  That's the 28th group in the last 20 years to serve here in Moldova.  This group has 50 volunteers in it and you can see they come from all over the US  and will serve all over Moldova.  I was happy to meet my first Moldova host mom, Galina, at the ceremony.  I was her first PCV guest and this year she hosted Ann whom you also see in the picture.  Let me leave you with a quick video of the new Moldovan PCV's doing a Moldovan dance.  Yes, those are all Americans

dancing.