The World is Mud.

I never thought I would say it but I think I prefer winter over spring. One key reason:  MUD. It's everywhere. Sure winter was cold, there was snow and there was ice. But spring so far is also cold, there is still snow on the ground, and mud is every bit as slippery as ice can be with the added fun of covering yourself entirely in it. (I havent fallen in it yet *fingers crossed* *knock on wood*)

Ice I have learned to get used to. When I know it is icy outside I can just put on my YakTraks and have a little added traction and walk confidently over the slipperiest surfaces...except mud. My YakTraks do nothing to help with mud. Another fun consideration is that my village has mostly dirt roads...and though it hasn't rained yet just the melting of the snow has been enough to turn the street into nothing but mud. Well...ice on the sides and mud in the middle. I was actually sad to see the ice melting because all this week I have been walking over the ice as the lesser of two evils when it comes to my commute to school. But no matter how hard I try it is always inevitable that at some point or another I have to tramp my way through at least a couple feet of mud along the way. Just enough to get all over my shoes.

To keep all that mud outside and not in the school the cleaning ladies conveniently place buckets of water by the door so that you can wash off your shoes before you go inside. There are very few things I can compare to hand washing my shoes with ice cold water in near freezing temperatures every morning before going inside but you do what you have to.

Also it hasn't really rained or snowed in a while and already the world is mud. So it makes me wonder what I will be up against after a good spring shower. Or God forbid a deluge.

In other news my host mother has embarked on a total renovation of the inside of her bigger house, except for my room. As I think I mentioned before she already replaced the windows and the front door a couple months ago and now they are working on tearing down a wall and rebuilding another one, straightening the walls by with new drywall, and replacing the sockets and switches. It has been interesting to watch their work because when the house was built instead of using dry wall with wood as the structure they used something the reminds me of wood mulch and concrete. And even now as they are putting up the dry wall they are using metal beams instead of wood 2x4s. According my host mother wood is very expensive in Moldova so instead they use metal and concrete as much as possible (almost all the light poles are made from concrete). I'm not really up to date on home construction in America but I am pretty sure that you couldn't build a more expensive house in America then one made with metal and concrete. But anyway, stay tuned for pictures and the next stage of the renovation.