Stele

Right now, I am sitting in my room listening to my torrented Kid Cudi, staring at my fuchsia and reflecting on the night sky that I just saw.  I was outside with tatal meu (my dad gazda) at the one and only local restaurant that is currently getting renovated.  It has a large banquet hall and he is anticipating that it will be finished within a week or two at the most.  As we sat there waiting for the bosso to finish his conversation with his workers and investors I could not help but to notice how many frogs were just flopping around everywhere.  I counted approximately two dozen frogs of all different sizes and abilities.  Some were jumping lazily.  Others would skip, flop, then crawl.  Frogs here are in abundance.  I hope their not poisonous because I am about to grab one and keep it for a while.  Frogs are awesome.  I have not seen this many in my life.  They are everywhere.  I don’t know why there aren’t more Moldovan t-shirts in the area  with frogs on them. 

So, I did not really have the time to wait for the bosso to finish his conversation.  I decided to walk back home which means traversing the wet mud by myself.   It rained unexpectedly this morning.  That was not cool.  On my way home, I stopped in a place where there is no light pollution.   These spots are not hard to find.  There aren’t many lights outside except for maybe the one market in the area, the magazine which is like a local 7 Eleven, and the club that sits at the base of the market.  It can be really dark and slippery in many places just after the rain.  It is really fun to walk and slip around.  Though, I shouldn’t talk.  I am sort of the few that live near our school.  Others have the situation of living at least a quarter mile away and others live approximately a full mile away not to mention that they have to walk through the most unaccommodating roads of mud, sludge, manure and a type of dirt that is definitely not your run of the mill soil.  Bleh! 
Stele.  Dangit Raymond!  Get on the ball!!!  Stele is Romaneste for star.  I actually think that is the plural for it.  I looked it up and the singular is stea.  My tata gazda said “stele” when I asked him, but I was pointing to the whole sky when I asked.  I am learning so much Romantic grammar right now, it is killing my English.  I am not sure how it is for my friends in other states but in LA we get so much light pollution that seeing this many stars is not typical.  Many of my colegii come from towns that are not too far from the situation that I have here.  The night sky is just really really pretty and fully of heavenly bodies.  I don’t really know how to describe how awesome it is.  It fills me with a lot of warm feelings primarily because I know that my family and friends are pretty much on the other side of the Earth, but relatively, we are not that far.  If need be, I could be home in approximately 24 hours.   I call my mom back home every chance I get.  It is really weird how much slower time moves here.  I was talking about this with a friend who received her first package.  I think it is the first package for Razeni volunteers.  I got very homesick when I saw it.  *sigh*  I cried my second night here.  I hope it’s not my last time.  My biggest fear here is losing my hometown mojo.  I fear the day when I don’t get homesick. 

The stars are aligned tonight
I traverse the road
Traversez la strada
This mush is not my mud
I could use my friends
I could use my buds
Am I the moon man?
I’ll do what I can.
Noapte buna.
Good night.