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!