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.