Let it Snow, Let it Snow!

It's strange, but in a lot of ways it doesn't feel like Christmas. Maybe because I'm not bombarded by advertisements for the latest gadget that "will make a great gift" or commercials blasting their half-off sales for everyone to hear, or even the fact that there are no Christmas trees to decorate. But I feel that in a way this is good, in that it can help ease the homesickness of being away from my family and friends for the first time during Christmas. One thing that I do have here in Moldova that I definitely did not have in Phoenix is snow!There have been a couple of mornings were there were a few snow flakes falling from the sky, but this morning was the first time that it actually stuck to the ground! I'm quite content with this amount of snow, but I know this is only the beginning. Luckily my host family's house is nice and cozy and my school is also very well heated. Besides the news about the weather, there are so many stories to choose from since the last time I wrote: so many emotions to recount; some of frustration and a feeling of a total lack of control, exhaustion, and of course the pleasant unexpected surprises. Which emotion and experience to highlight and focus on when documenting and recalling my time here is Moldova is a constant theme for me during my service. It's so easy to focus on the failures and the frustrations, especially when they are the emotions that you find your feeling mostly in a week, but I've found that my saving grace is always to take a step back and allow yourself to view the whole picture; to realize that that one lesson is not the defining factor in this experience, or that maybe this feeling of a total lack of control is a lesson in itself and one I should embrace rather than fight...but enough of that analytical/philosophical talk. Some of the highlights from these last months have been 1) the celebration of the 40th anniversary of my school here in my village and 2) the survival of my first site visit by my Peace Corps director.

I didn't quite realize the scope to which my school would celebrate the 40th anniversary. I knew that Monday that we would be having some sort of event on the weekend to acknowledge this occasion, but because of the language barrier that is still in affect, and partly on the part of some cultural issues, I was totally unprepared for how far my school was going to go to celebrate. That Friday I was told almost on a whim that we were only going to have the first 4 lessons and that the rest of the day would be spent preparing for the meal on Saturday. At first I was annoyed because I had already planned and prepared for all my lessons that day, and did not like the fact that we would again be setting outside events above lessons on the priority list..but I took a deep breath and just let it happen. Surprisingly, while lessons were cut short, I was able to find that this experience provided a great opportunity to integrate with the other teachers of the school. After the fourth lesson I went into the school cafeteria, not really knowing what to expect or what I would be asked to do, and I was immediately set to work. Some of the teachers were gutting these huge fish, I set off to stuffing apples with fruit and pealing carrots, other women were sifting through flour by hand in what seemed like dividing the good grain from the bad. Later, I joined about 8 other teachers and we all made sarmole. Sarmole is like stuffed cabbage with rice filling inside. It's extremely difficult to make because there is a specific way to wrap the cabbage around the filling. The ladies got a kick out of my lack of sarmole making skills, but after I was schooled by the math teacher, I finally got the hang of it. So imagine all these older women (and the lone American) sitting around this huge bowl of rice filling, dipping our hands into the bowl and wrapping steaming cabbage leaves (or actual dried leaves from trees) all the while gossiping about all the latest news of the village. It is a moment I will never forget. The celebration the next day was beautiful. It started at 10:30 am and lasted until about 6, when the
last of the teachers the dancing and drinking behind. We had some visitors from other villages and our neighboring raion who came with gifts and stories of teachers who had come and gone. The school even prepared a wall full of pictures from years past all the way to the present. Of course a Moldovan celebration would not be complete without dancing the hora! I absolutely love this dance. There are only a few variations of it, and it's extremely easy to learn (however, Moldovans will be extremely impressed if you can dance it). Here is a little video of some of my colleagues dancing it up. As you can see, people here are really into dancing and there is a real spirited nature about them when you get music going.

Real quick. I also had my first site visit by my director from Peace Corps. Basically she comes and views all the education volunteer to make sure that they are 1) following the guidelines of the project plan set down by PC Moldova and 2) to make sure we are volunteers have all that we need in terms of support in order to follow through with our service. It was extremely stressful because our project plan has set out some very strict, specific and challenging goals for us as educators. Since these things take time, of course my partner teacher and I have areas to work and improve on, but overall our evaluation of our classes went very well. It was nice to hear some encouraging words not only from my PC director, but also from my school director and fellow partner teachers. Of course, they focused on how well I can dance the hora, my increasingly adaptation of European dress, and my culinary education here in Moldova, but I figure that's all a part of the experience here!

Before I end this post, I would like to give a HUGE thanks to the ladies of Grace Lutheran who donated some amazing school materials. I would not to able to do half of my activities in my classes if it weren't for your help. I hope this finds everyone enjoying the holiday season and as I take my winter vacation to ROME :) I will be sure to take plenty of pictures to share with all of you back home!

It's All About the Little Things

As this extra week off of school is coming to a close, I've been able to reflect on all the events that have taken place since arriving here in Moldova. Part of this is due to the fact that Peace Corps requires us to write and comment on our activities, successes, and challenges that we have been facing during this first semester at site. For one of the prompts we had to comment on a major success story that has taken place since we have been at site. I was struck by the fact that I could not think of one major success that has taken place here and I started doubting how effective I have been since arriving here. But upon further reflection I've come to one conclusion, and that is that the "successes" I see here in my service are and will be small in nature and will take a lot of time and nurturing/perseverance before results can be seen.
This first half of the semester I've been working mainly one securing a positive and trusting relationship with my students and my partner teachers. While this will be an ongoing objective of mine, I feel comfortable now in my role as a teacher in my school. The nature of the English Education program here in Moldova has two main objectives. One is to increase students' English skills by providing a native speaker in the classroom, and the other is to work side-by-side with Moldovan teachers with the goal of providing them with alternative methods for classroom management, lesson planning, and creating efficient supplementary materials. This second goal speaks toward to sustainability of the project so that when the volunteers leave to go back to the states, the Moldovan counterparts will have one-on-one experience with the volunteer and hopefully have resources that they can carry on in the years to come. It is a great program, but tough to execute. I constantly try to put myself in my partner teacher's shoes. Here is this American who speaks very little Romanian, who knows very little about the culture here in Moldova, who has very little experience even teaching, and we come waltzing into their classrooms telling them how best to conduct their lessons... It becomes a very delicate dance when it comes to suggesting new methods to use in the classroom, but I must say that when it comes to being open to new ideas, and letting me try new ideas, I have the most amazing partner teachers! So I believe that the simple fact that I have these positive and workable relationships with my partner teachers is a success in itself. They know I am committed to teaching and they definitely know they can rely on me - and in turn I know they are open to suggestions and are even coming up with their own creative ways to teach the material.
So now that I'm feeling more comfortable with teaching, I'm hoping to start up an English Club with some of the more advanced students so that we can work more on civic responsibility and life skills. I have a few more ideas with what I want to do outside of the classroom so hopefully now that school is starting up again, I'll be able to see if there will be interest.
I guess the gist of what I've been thinking lately is that I might have to look carefully and hard to find the successes in my service. Sometimes I can feel them more than I can put words to them. My hope is that I never loose sight of the seemingly "small" things; the relationships formed and the trust created and to realize that even though they are expected parts of my service, that doesn't diminish the importance or power that they hold once formed.
Finally, one thing that I thing symbolizes the small things that truly make a difference when teaching here in Moldova is having a chalk board that actually works in the classroom. Recently one of my partner teachers was able to get a new chalkboard for our classroom and it was a huge deal for our school and for herself and I. Most of the chalkboards here are just pieces of wood that are painted to look like chalkboards, but are extremely inefficient. So the fact that we now have a new one will make a big difference in what we will be able to do during lessons.
I hope this entry finds everyone in good health first of all, and a wonderful state of mind! Never forgot the small victories in life and make it a daily practice to acknowledge each of every one of them.

Unexpected Break

I'm sitting here in my empty classroom on a Wednesday morning, wondering what to do with myself and worrying over the fact that another week off of school probably means another week that my students will go without hearing or speaking English. Last week we had a scheduled Autumn break that I must say was needed by both students and teachers alike. But due to the developments of the H1N1 in Europe, the Ministry of Education decided to close schools for at least one more week as a precaution against speeding the virus. Among the volunteers I talked with, it was a mixed response with some inviting the longer break as a way to work on projects outside the classroom, while others like myself were left wondering what we are going to do with ourselves with all this extra time. Plus the timing was a little off for us EE volunteers since we had just gotten back from a week long training session that refocused and re-energized a lot of us. I know I was ready to get back into the classroom and even start some secondary projects,but life happens while you plan. The trick now is not to loose focus on all the things I want to accomplish once school is back in session!

So far with this extra time my partner teacher and I hung a new chalk board in our classroom, rearranged and cleaned our classroom, I've worked on some paperwork for Peace Corps, visited with some locals at a nearby magazine, and even skinned and gutted 85 fish with my host mother on the floor of our kitchen. All in all I'm finding ways to occupy my time.

I also want to thank Bonnie Clark, my Mom and Dad, and Aunt Sue and Uncle Don for their amazing and much needed packages! I can't tell you Mom and Dad how excited I am that I have all those Ziploc bags! I feel so blessed to have all of you in my life!

Finally, here are just a few pictures from our little Halloween Party we had at my school. The volunteer before me started the tradition and one of my host partners organized it this year!

here was a competition to see who could turn their friend into a mummy the quickest

Picture Time!

Glod (Mud)

I had to take a knife to cut through all the mud that was attached to my shoe...I'm going to take it as a cultural experience

One of my students - Moldovan's tend not to smile in their pictures..she's actually a very happy girl

Decorations for Teacher's Day





The classroom I share with Elena. The blackboard is behind me.

the blackboard in my classroom decorated by the students for Teacher's Day

The student's dancing the hora on Teacher's Day. This is the front of my school and the field where they do P.E is across the way

A rough translation "It is your day, dear teacher"

I tried to capture the essence of the work - basically you have to crank and wheel in order to mash all the grapes..so you put the grapes into that contraption above the barrel and crank away!

more mashing of grapes

As you can tell I really got into the whole mashing grapes business

some action shots of my host father mashing the grapes - keep in mind he's 68 years old

a bath-tub of grapes

one of about 15 bags of grapes that were picked by my host parents

the gangs all here- bag-o-grapes

My family's vineyard right before we ended picking the grapes

random picture of my house...

I just had to include the vecheo....

part of the chicken coop (not sure what you would call it)

more chicken action...this is also the area where we keep Florica, our loving cow

View of the forest from my backyard

The outdoor cooking area at my house

Getting ready for winter by canning food and putting it into the cellar (beci)




Me on a carousel ride in Balti

My room

My host mother's granddaughter. It's funny how children are the same wherever you go!

A view of Balti from the top of the carousel ride

My partner teacher Elena!

I've been neglecting my page and I feel bad since there have been so many changes here in Moldova! Autumn is quickly coming to an end here and most of the hard work is being wrapped up. For the most part the corn has been shelled and sorted, with the uneatable corn being used to heat the sobas now that it is getting cold. All the grapes have been picked, mashed and stored in the cellars. Houses are being repaired for the cold weather...all of these things have been such an experience in themselves. I will never drink another glass of wine without appreciating the hard work that went into making and storing it (and I only helped with a fraction of the work).

The following pictures can basically be put into 3 groups. I have pictures of my house here in Moldova, a lot of pictures of grapes, and some pictures from Teacher's Day which was in October. Teacher's Day was basically a holiday for teachers in which all the students decorate the classroom and give flowers and small gifts as appreciation for the work their teacher's do. I was actually surprised at how big an event they made it. At my school we danced the hora (national dance) and had a huge lunch for all the teachers.

Hope you enjoy!

Soba Time

Hello everyone! So autumn is definitely here and for me it actually feels like winter! Lately during the day it has been around 10 -12 degrees Celsius which is around 50 degrees Fahrenheit. At night it gets around 1 -2 degrees Celsius, which is around 30 degrees Fahrenheit. My host mother has started to heat our soba during the night which makes our small house quite warm. A soba is like fire that they heat that travels through the walls of the house. But since I'm a total wimp when it comes to the cold, I'm usually wearing about three layers of winter clothes, and I sleep with my sleeping bag plus my comforter :)

School is going much smoother. It definitely still holds its challenges, especially since the first rounds of tests are taking place. One of my challenges here will be "encouraging" my students not to cheat during tests and on their homework assignments. It is a concept that is new for them and as a teacher I'm learning that a little tough love and perseverance can go a long way. However, this will be a challenge for me and my students probably for the whole two years that I'm here.

Since I'm getting more comfortable here, I'm starting to think about my secondary projects; those projects I do outside/after school. I've been asked to do an English Club and I've already corresponded with my best friend back home, who is also a teacher, about doing a pen-pal program. Right now it is just a matter of summing up more ideas and more importantly, courage, to start these additional projects. The great thing though about Moldova is that most are eager to participate - especially those students who might be living alone without parents. One that subject, a colleague of mine here in Moldova, who works with an NGO on social issues, sent us a little video about the issue of children who's parents are working abroad. This is a huge issue here in Moldova, one that affects all the volunteers and their communities. I attached the link below for anyone who wants to check it out.

Again, thanks for all the well-wishes and questions about what school materials are needed in my village! Till next time ~

http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pvc6X7cFPRo

Computer Problems

One of the realities I have noticed here in Moldova is that while there is access to technology, it can be more of a headache than a convienance to try to maintain them. Here viruses are very common and unfortunatley I got a really nasty one on my computer. I've been trying to contact people who might be able to help, but so far nothing has been able to work. Hopefully this weekend I'll be able to fix it since I'll be in the capital and I'm meeting up with some other volunteers who know much more about computers than I do...keep your fingers crossed! As soon as I get this situation cleared up I'll be able to post some more pictures of my village. It is so beautiful here now in Autumn! In the mornings there is usually fog and all the leaves are changing colors and falling on the ground. I got to pick grapes with my family (which is a lot harder work than I thought it would be!) and the other weekend we shelled corn. There is a lot of work that people have to do in their gardens to get ready for Winter. A couple of the nights have been really cold, but for the most part it's been cozy and pleasant!

Teaching is still presenting itself as a challange - I'm finding that English Grammar is really hard to understand, even if you're a native speaker! I just hope and pray that I'm doing my best! Thank you for all your thoughts, prayers and packages!

Officially A Volunteer

Here a few pictures from the last few weeks/months here in Moldova. The children in the picture are some of my students from the practice school that was held for a few weeks during my training. I can officialy say that I am a volunteer and have passed my training! Now off to the hard part! The chruch and the scenic picture are from my perminant site. Everyone here is extremely friendly and inviting. My village is fairly small and very cozy. I can already tell the weather is cooling down and the days are getting shorter! I've been extremely busy these last few weeks and school has officially started. I can tell it will be a challange since I'm teaching 7 different grades with 4 different partner teachers. I just hope I have the strenghth and the right attitude to get through this first year here. But I know that each week will get easier and easier. I now have internet access in my house so I will be able to update much more on this blog! Hope all is well to those reading this blog and I think of you all often!

Finished With Practice School

Hello everyone. So I survived my first experience teaching here in Moldova. It was extreemely challenging, not because the students, but just because this was my first time teaching in front of a group of kids who knew little english, along with creating lesson plans and making ALL my materials by hand! I taught 5th form the first week and it was an eye opener. Most of the children knew very little or no english at all. However, I had to teach the 5th form which assums that these kids have a pretty good understanding of english. However, the textbook had some good exercises for me to use. The 9th form was more challenging in that I had to teach astronomy! So here I was trying to explain the Big Bang Theory and the difference between an meterior and comit (which I don't even know if I know the difference!). My students were really advanced though. We were able to have a debate the first few days of class about different theories concerning creationism, and as the week went on we did a few other creative activities. For this second week I worked with the co-teacher I will be working with in my perminant site for the next two years. I can tell we will be a good team in that we have the same ideas about creativity in the classroom along with dissipline issues.

So the next challenge will be getting through the lat two speaking assessments. The first assessment was really relaxed and comfortable. Basically we had to have a conversation with one of the language teachers along with acting out a situation like buying a present for a friend. On Tuesday we wil have another assessment like this. The last assessment however, will be more formal. Also all the trainees have to prepare some Moldovan songs for our swearing-in ceremony. So that will be interesting to say the least!

Hopefully this coming week I'll be able to download some pictures from practice school. Only one more week or so of training before I can actually call myself a volunteer! It's been the most challenging and unique experiences I have ever had and I have a feeling that this is only the beginning!

Just A little Hello!

This next week is going to be very challenging and exciting. We are starting practice school, which means that all the English Education volunteers will be paired with a Moldovan teacher who will act as a mentor and help us compose lessons for practice school. I will be teaching 5th grade and 9th grade. As far as I know 25 5th graders from the local village will be in my class. Children from the local villages signed up to take part in the practice school. We all were given the correct textbooks and every day we will teach a 45minute lesson in english. I am so nervous and also excited to finally start teaching (even if it is just for practice!). Practice school will last for about two weeks. Wish me Luck!!

Site Visit to Perminent Site!

This weekend I traveled to visit the village that I will be teaching at for the next two years after my training here in Costesti.My new village which is in the north west part of Moldova, has about 5,000 people and the school that I will be working at has around 614 students, 500 of which learn English. The trip there was pretty eventfull. On saturday I met with my school Director in Chisinau (the capital) and we took a buz straight into the village. I had to travel into Chisinau by myself and for anyone who knows me, it won't come as a surprise that I got a little lost. The Peace Corps set a place for us to meet our directors but the map they gave us to find them was hand drawn and for those of us who are directionally challenged, it was difficult. (plus my director does not speak english, so when I was late to getting to our meeting place, you can just imagine how our conversation went on the phone!) But with the right attitude and with a little help from above we finally met each other.

The ride was by bus and it took around 2 hours to get there from Chisinau. Once I got there I got to meet one of my partner teachers and some of the students who go there! My school seems so wonderful. They have a lot of computers with internet for the teachers and the students to use, and they have a seperate English library. I was very impressed with my partner teacher and my director. They were so open to my ideas and it seems like the students are very involved in extra curricular activities. (eventhough some are raising their sibblings by themselves along with taking care of the family garden and house!)

My host family consists of a retired couple. My host mother is 60 and her name is Elfimia and my host father is 67 and is named Nicolaie. It will be a very different experience from my family here in Costesti and I know I will miss my family here very much. But my new host family seems very reseptive and VERY generous. The conditions of the house are very simple and I do not have an indoor toliet like I do here in Costesti..but they gave m the biggest room in there house, and I could tell that they have been preparing for me to come for sometime. It's so amazing how generous people are here, even when life is difficult and they might not have a lot to give. Since my new host parents do not speak any english, our conversations were limited so hopefully in a few months that are left in training I can improve on my romanian.

Later that night, my partner teacher and some of my future students took me out to the center of town and showed me all the buildings and most importantly the disco!! So before I left Chiscarine, I got to dance the hora (the national dance) with most of my future students! Interesting to say the least!

So coming back I got lost again in Chisinau - where it should of taken me 2 hours to get back to Costesti, it took me 4...but my host mother pointed to the word in our english/romanian dictionary that night, which meant to me that the important thing to remember is that I managed and made it home safely without TOO much trouble.

PST IS SOO CRAZY BUSY!

Sorry I haven't been the greatest at updating this! I've send some emails out to people describing my experience here, but I just realized I haven't really done that on here. Romanina is getting really hard in that there is so much to remember from day to day and you really have to practice a ton to have it semented in your brain. Luckily I am hearing the manguage everywhere I go, so I've started to understand the gist of what is being said, it's just creating the sentences on my own that is so difficult for me.

Today I"m learning where my perminent site will be after my training! I have a feeling it will be fairly close to the capital since I brought perscription medication here, but the farthest site in Moldova is only 4 hours from the capital so one is never really far from the Peace Corps Office. I'm a little nervous about my site visit though because all the volunteers are being split up for the first time and everyone has to travel by themselves to meet their director and their new host families. I've really started feeling comfortable with the host family I have now, so it will be hard having to adjust to a new one so soon. Luckily I will be in Costesti, my training site, until the middle of August, so I still have time with my host family here.

Teaching English here in Moldova will be an excreme challenge I think for me. The good thing is that everything is extremely structured here as far as how they want you to write out your lesson plans and how to conduct classes here. However, that can also serve as a challenge because creativily might be hard to impliment due to the strick nature of how classes are run here.

I miss everyone in the states and I hope everything is great overe there! I have to run to class right now, but I'll make sure to let eveyone know about my perminent site as soon as I find out about all the details!

Pictures From Costesti and Chisinau

Ok, So Ihave no idea how to make this look pretty, but here are a select pictures and videos from my host famiy's house in Costesti, a local monistary and just general pictures from my first week in Moldovan. My host family has a nice garden in their backyard where they grow strawberries, cucumbers, and raspberrries ect. The town in mainly situated on a hill and I get a great work out wlking to school everyday. As volunteers we've had a lot of opportunities to sight see a local monistary and the video was talking in the forest where a local group of college students performed traditional Moldovean/ Russian and Romaian dances! Hope you enjoy!