Just after visiting my first commemoration of the dead ceremony at the local Romanian Orthodox biserica, the bunica, who literally lives, works, eats and sleeps in her bucataria, gave me a plate of homemade goodness, a lovely bunch of garden...
A first ever for Campia Turzii, Romania, my students from two middle schools presented the play after hours of rehearsal, costume selection, and set design. I directed it and as a Peace Corps Volunteer in my second year now, it was a sweet way to...
A long hike up to the stana where George and his family tend the sheep (over 400 of them) for many in the village of Brusturoasa, Romania. He invited myself and a friend to see how that delicious commodity, "branza in coaja de brad", is made. ...
Myself and another volunteer (who just finished her service along with two Hungarian ladies- now friends) spent time to teach and entertain over 40 children for a summer camp in near St. Gheorghe. We had such a great time, but after all the...
My fiance, Chris, and I met while serving in Thailand as Teacher Collaboration and Community Outreach Volunteers from 2008-2010. While in the Peace Corps, Chris began studying Buddhism & meditation at a local temple and ordained as a monk during a...
Here are the sweets before the party this March 1st which I made for my Romanian and Hungarian colleagues to share with me and commemorate the miliestone of Peace Corps birthday. Twenty of them came and helped me decorate, too. We also had...
This photo was taken in a community in Nicaragua during the month of May in 2011. As a maternal and child health Volunteer in El Jícaro, I assisted the doctors that day with collecting HIV tests. We ate lunch at a woman's house, and she had five...
After an English lesson about our solar system, campers used everyday objects to make a 3-D model for a team competition. This veteran Peace Corps Volunteer just loves science and on this day, we learned about the weather, astronomy, and anatomy,...
The photo was taken during the annual feria parade in my site in Guatemala. Every school in the town participates and has to make a costume. The school presented in the photo is one of the schools I work with called EORM El Mezcal. They chose the...
Here are some of the eighth grade science class students in costume and their always helpful teacher, Ana. On Halloween, I dressed as a veterinarian to care for the Lambie (who by the way goes everywhere with me in Corpul Pacii in the Adventures...
Here I am with Mr. Bilbiou, a neighbor with a grandiose garden in town, who supplies me with all the best eggplant that I could ever want and have ever eaten in my life...and he won't take a bani for it! It was Boxing Day in the UK and so in the...
My Host sister eating a mango in peak mango season (March to May) in Colorado de Abangares. My rural fishing village community in lovely Guanacste, Costa Rica.
This is a picture of a very dear friend of mine, Felicia, hollowing out a dried Jicaro Fruit, in order to use it as a mug for coffee drinking!
They live in Costa Rica in the small fishing village on the golf of Nicoya, Colorado de Abangares. Her...
Here in my bucataria at the gazda house are some of my talented chefs making a bechamel sauce. It was perfect the first time! There are twelve regular students who cook with me monthly to learn new recipes in English from all parts of the world. ...
The midwife at a local clinic celebrates on her wedding day in Burkina Faso. The bride is dancing with friends during a Muslim wedding celebration where friends stick money on her while singing and dancing. People all around are using technology...