Long conversations?

After an unusually short ride home from Balti today I decided to drop off my things in my house and then pop my head in the casa mica to tell NMG that I was home- because last time she questioned why I didn't notify them I was home, and I thus had to wait until 8:30 to eat dinner. Once I entered I was expecting to leave just as quickly as I arrived but she asked me to sit down and stay for awhile. So I did. Almost 2 hours later I am just now coming back to my house.

We talked about a lot of different things ranging from how my weekend was to how life was in the Soviet Union. She said things were so different back then: things were cheap and no one needed to leave the country for work. In 17 years prices have, at a minimum, tripled. Simple ingredients such as sugar and salt used to be really cheap but now they are so expensive that people choose not to purchase them...

We also talked about the idea of frozen foods in America. She just doesn't understand the idea, and, quite frankly, neither do I. Sure- they are easy to prepare... and we all know that America likes to do things the easy way... but they're also loaded with preservatives so the healthy factor is non-existant. But Americans choose to pay the price of something being quick and easy instead of something being time consuming and cheaper. This I understand... but I would still prefer a home-cooked meal over a frozen one any day!

Finally we concluded our discussion with a very serious topic. In one month I can choose whether or not I want to stay with my host family or find another living situation (whether it be an apartment or another host family). While this is solely my decision, part of me feels that it's not. I mean, if my host family likes me being here then I want to stay. If they don't, then by all means I'll start looking for somewhere new right away. But like I've been saying in my posts lately, I think my host mom (and maybe host dad) actually like me... I've just been misinterpreting them. I think I was so spoiled and loved by my family in Razeni that I wasn't really giving them a chance. They don't have the open-armed, loving personality that my other host family did... at least not on the outside. But on the inside, they do.... I just have to break the shell (like the ex-Principal-now teacher- at my school... no one likes him but he actually stops and talks to me because I gave him a chance... and he even told me my Romanian was terrible at the beginning of the school year but it's great now... and he smiles!). So, I'm working harder on breaking the shell of my host mom... and I think it's working. She told me she does like me here and doesn't want me to leave. She also told me to come and talk with her more often when I have time.

... I think that's a good sign.