A busy week

What a busy week it has been. Actually is has really sucked, but with glimpses of good times scattered throughout. My birthday was this past Wednesday and my host family threw me a barbecue to celebrate. All night they kept saying that we were cooking chicken, but I know a sausage when I see one. It was actually really nice to be able to relax, drink wine, and eat meat with ketchup. I was starting to loose hope on the condiment situation here. One funny thing about my birthday night is that more hedgehogs kept showing up in the garden. When I was younger I had a friend with a hedgehog, but never really thought about where the come from, and now I can safely say they probably are all exported from Moldova because these suckers are everywhere.

Language classes and technical training is starting to get really intense. Every time I meet with my boss from ARBD I get the chills thinking about the difficulties I will face over the next two years. I am fully appreciating all my teachers from college, and want to thank them for preparing me so thoroughly in AgBusiness. Sometimes I wish I was teaching English over here. Not that they have it easy, but I'm working in a country with absolutely no business sense that has been under communist control for decades now. I've got a nice blog written about this, but my computer is my village, and I'm in the capital so I'll post that later.

Last night I went to my neighbor's high school graduation ball. Man do they know how to throw one hell of a dance party. After receiving diplomas they all went into a reception hall and I sat at the biggest table stuffed with food, champagne, and cognac. After eating, everyone went outside and danced the night away. I had to leave around midnight because I was starting to feel really sick. I started throwing up and that's when it started going downhill. I couldn't stop throwing up. It was so bad I didn't even make it out of my room, I found the nearest bag and the floodgates opened. I had some water rationed out for the night, but after I drank it all, then threw it all up, I started to get a little worried. Around 4 am the diarrhea kicked in, and when I mean it kicked in I would go to the outhouse, use the bathroom, and before I could get back to the house I had to go again. I was so dehydrated, didn't have access to any water, and was really freaking out. It was one of the more terrifying experiences of my life. I called the medical staff and had to be rushed to the hospital in Chisinau. So all day I've been napping in an apartment they set me up in. Well napping broken up by either vomiting or diarrhea. Sorry for being so graphic. I'm extremely homesic already. I can't believe it's still June. I haven't received any packages yet, but I know they are somewhere around here. Hope everyone is doing well.

Neal