Water Mammals, Movies, and Mixed Signals: La Paz Weeks 9, 10, 11, & 12

I don't know what happened this month. I REALLY dropped the ball on writing, blogging or generally doing anything creative. Graduate school is a complete time suck. I'm happy to say that, in addition to doing a bunch of cool stuff, I learned a lot about myself this past month. It disheartens me to know …

Orthodox Easter in Romania

We decided to spend Orthodox Easter (16 aprilie 2023, a week after Catholic Easter) in Sighuetu Marmatiei, also known as my favorite town in Romania. We first took a train to Baia Mare the Saturday before Easter, and barely anything was open. (Actually, barely anything was open from Good Friday to the following Tuesday.) Our …

Month of Mărțișor

Romania really surprised me with this fun spring tradition. I'm writing about it here so that it's engraved into the blog; I don't want to forget this one ;-). A "Mărțișor" is a gift that consists of a wrapped or braided red and white string that's tied to a bead or a small trinket. This …

Month 3 in Romania

Mid- March through the end of April was a total chaos. I wanted to do so much, but feel like I accomplished so little. We had a huge turnover at work once the Oxfam Project ended. Everyone went their separate ways, and most were frustrated with the lack of transparency and respect from our organization, …