Thoughts From Moldova: 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!