July 2006 was a period of milestones and inevitable Romanian goodbyes.

The "see ya later" parties continued with the Sibiu gang (Jeff, Lauren, Dave, Brian, and I) and a couple of Romanians throwing a "Happy Bday Jeff/Bon Voyage/Happy Anniversary" shinding on a Saturday night. Jeff, super PCV, hired transportation to bus in the ENTIRE village of Vurpar (well, almost) for the party. We started cooking at 2 pm. Luckily, Jeff arranged for a local high school's kitchen staff to help us out! We were, afterall, making food for an entire village plus other friends.  There were cheeseburgers, coleslaw, potato salad, chips, and FREE ALCOHOL.

Jeff surprised all of us with bouquets of flowers. What a nice guy.

He was, in turn, surprised by a bday cake and a shisha (hooka)!

I also visited my gazda (host family) for the last time and promised to come back again soon. They said that if I marry a Romanian right away - I wouldn't have to say goodbye! Uh, well, what do you say to that? I will definitely miss my gazda sister Lijia.

I had an incredible last meeting at my organization and an unforgetable send-off. Those guys really mean a lot to me. As they chanted their usual "speech, speech, speech" and egged me on to the front of the room, I couldn't help but suddenly become emotional. 2 years worth of memories overflowed and I just burst into uncontrollable tears. (Lame - I know I know but seriously couldn't help it.) They showered me with gifts and organized a dancing party at a local disco. Good times.

I took the train out from Sibiu on July 13th and guess who showed up at the station? 20 people from my organization! (Not all pictured here) They stayed with me until the train conductor blew his whistle. Then my very last memory of these guys were of them running alongside the train.

This was my home away from home for 2 years, Sibiu. (Photo by Lauren)

These were the Sibiu PCVs who completed service this year, except Jeff who is still holding down the fort with new PCVs. A very composed and hardworking bunch...

and people who can definitely let their hair down.

There were more parties, celebrating, and last minute goodbyes in Bucharest. I spent my last night enjoying Romanian beer of course. I checked out that Friday, officially COSed on July 16, hopped on a plane July 17, and said "la revedere" to this ...

 (Photo by Lauren)

There is a story about overweight luggage at the airport while checking in but I won't go into details. Because they (evil airport people) were gonna charge me 600 euros, it took me 2 hours to repack everything right in the middle of the airport. Thank GOD Irina was with me - an amazing grace.