November Gratitude #2

When you have 15-20 minutes to walk to work every day, you have 15-20 minutes to think every day (twice). A lot of the time this means I'm thinking, oh my gosh, WHAT am I doing here?? So it's helpful to remember the good things going on in life, which is why I'm doing daily gratitude for the month of November. (Plus, Thanksgiving.) If you missed the first one, it's here.

Side note about my walks to work: Becky recently informed me of this ridiculously addictive podcast, Serial. It's a nonfiction story told week by week, and this first season it's about a murder from 1999. They're trying to figure out if the guy in jail really did it, so naturally I'm hooked. Now I can't wait to listen to that for 20 minutes each way. 

November 10: Alexandra, the woman in my office who is not my partner. She always talks to me and actually tries to understand me AND help me with Romanian. This is not true of everyone so I really appreciate her effort. 

November 11: Veterans Day makes today an easy one. But I'm also thankful for my partner's daughter, because when I help her with her English homework, I actually learn more Romanian.

The herd of turkeys that wanders the village..

November 12: Homemade wine to go with plăcintă ghițmane, which is only the greatest food in Moldova. It's a pastry of sorts that can be made with different fillings, sweet or savory.. My favorite is with potatoes. The ghițmane kind is baked in the oven with yeast (sometimes they're fried on the stove, and sometimes they just use flour without yeast) and it's the greatest. Mark your calendars for when I come home and we have plăcintă night where I make pounds of it and we all burst. 

November 13: The exchange of skills and communication that goes on with PCVs. I might design a business card for someone and then he might read something of mine and help convince me that it's not awful.. It's always nice when people don't tell you you suck! There's a lot of support within the PC community, and it's good to have. We all risk insanity without having each other to talk to, I think. (Wait, is that just me??)

Cute little kindergarten boys helping each other put on shoes

November 14: Just Dance and hot showers. I know I've said it before, but the fact that people put Just Dance songs on YouTube is just the greatest. I make my bed into a couch and get my exercise, and today I even had the foresight to plug in the hot water when I started so I would be ready by the time I was done! (When I want to shower, I have to plug in the hot water heater thing and wait an hour.. So cleanliness requires a lot of planning.)

November 15: Clear nights in the village—there are some where you can see what feels like a million, trillion stars. It's breathtaking. Also for a good PCV traveling companion who wants to talk but also wants to nap some, too. I travel alone so much so it's fun to not for once! 

November 16: Naps. 

Come back next Sunday to read more about what I'm thankful for this month.