I'm sorry to be so slow updating this journal, but it was worth the wait! You will see below pictures of my first visit to Constanta and also photos from the wedding in Targu Jiu of my dear friend Ileana. There are many more pictures in the gallery pages click here, and I'll be posting more soon.

I was very surprised and happy this month to learn that the Peace Corps decided to transfer me to Constanta to work with Lucica at Ovidius University! I am very excited and it was great fun to go visit her and her husband Edi and their family there during the past week. Lucica's mother and father will be my gazda hosts while I look for an apartment. The PC is sending a minivan to transfer all my stuff across the country, so I'm packing like mad!

Constanta is a historic city on the Black Sea, its ancient Greek and Roman name was Tomis, and you can find lots of information about it on the internet. It has over 300,000 people, so will be the biggest city where I have ever lived. It has two large lakes and many beautiful beaches, as well as several museums and it is close to the famous Danube Delta. As you can imagine, I'll be happy to be by the sea again, and hope I can get out on the water and do some paddling this summer. I'm pretty sure I'll have more people come to visit me there than I ever had in the Oltenia region. The work will be exciting and interesting, and I can't wait to tell you all about it!

Ileana's wedding was beautiful, and it was a lot of fun to be included in the activities on her big day. It started about 1 p.m. and then probably went until the next morning. Of course, I didn't last that long. I've already had friends asking about the wedding traditions in Romania from these pictures, and I'm going to find out how to explain them. But I don't know myself yet! I'll post some information soon.

With Lucica in Constanta:

Ileana's Wedding: