Some of you may have seen the news that Romania and Bulgaria will be entering the EU on January 1st.  There is more about that in this article from the (english language) Bucharest Daily News.  The 150 volunteers here will be the only ones in europe operating in a European Union country.  There was a lot of speculation about what that means for the Peace Corps here.  Most thought that we could be the last group.  Now it has been confirmed that there will be another group in February and another in May.  They also told us there will be other groups coming after that, but probably only to teach english.  Realistically, it is unlikely that the PC will continue to be bringing in new groups after a few years just because of the rising cost of living.  Romania will not be switching to the euro for at least 5 years now, but prices of everything from housing to milk will be rising.  Fortunetly for myself and other volunteers, the EU brings with it billions and billions of euros to invest in modernizing Romania’s infrastructure and social programs.  Hopefully I will be able to take advantage of this in the next two years.  Needless to say, this years new years party is going to be exciting.  Right now I am located in the EU accession office for the city of Reghin and they are talking about organizing a party in the town square for new years.