I looked back and realized that it has been several months since I wrote anything here. I always meant to and then pushed it to the side in favor of something else. I would like to say that something else was always work... but no, sometimes I just needed a movie break :)

Many of the volunteers told us that the second year goes by very fast. They said that in general looking back the whole 27 months tends to have gone by faster then you would think it would, but the second year in particular is quick. And for me, so far, that has been very true. The fall semester was full and it seemed like every time I turned around it was a new month, a new holiday, a new project, something that kept me busy. Of course it gets tiring after 4 straight months like that but it is also a blessing. Being occupied gives meaning to the whole experience and helps pass the time. I have felt purposeful, I have felt fulfilled.

This year I have been thankfully free of debilitating sicknesses (don't worry I have still been plenty sick, just the nice manageable sicknesses though) and I have been able to get a lot down. That's not to say that food poisoning and giardia aren't fun, oh wait, they aren't, but having the sniffles doesn't put one out for a couple weeks at a time. My time as a volunteer has been filled with more strange bodily reactions then any other time in my life. And I sincerely, soulfully, wholly hope that it is the last time I have such a range of reactions. Beware those looking to become a volunteer, be prepared for the oddest things to happen to you. That doesn't mean it will be all awful or hurtful, but it will be weird. If there is any way to mentally prepare for that I suggest you start working on it NOW.

Back to the work front, I find myself getting more and more involved in the English Education program as a whole. I am, in fact, in the process of applying to extend in the position of Peace Corps Volunteer Leader (PCVL, gotta love those acronyms). It means a third year but it has more flexibility in some ways then continuing to focus mostly on teaching. It means helping the program develop more, working more directly with more volunteers on work, life at site, and training. I have to say that I am really looking forward to it.

It is of course a very "square" thing to do. To be so satisfied and to enjoy one's work so much. To feel like you have found just the right path in life. I think, as I have long thought about Peace Corps in general, that that this was the right thing to do, at the right time, for the right reasons. I would also give this advice to people looking to become Peace Corps Volunteers: look hard at the reasons you want to be a volunteer. Of course you should want to work with people and create a better understanding between you and others, but you also need some personal reasons. Something that can help you through the times when you are lonely, frustrating or just plain feeling fed up. You should also consider becoming a very stubborn person, someone who says "I refuse to give up". Life gets you down sometimes, as life is want to do, it does not mean that it won't turn out all right in the end.

Summer flies by

This summer has been a giant boost in my "get-up-and-go". I will admit that at the end of the school year I was tired of teaching, tired of being a volunteer and just plain tired. I was excited for the arrival of the new trainees but I knew that I needed something to get me ready for the next year and the next part of my service. I didn't know what exactly would help me get there or what it would feel like when it happened I just knew that I really, really needed it.

Luckily this whole summer has been that something. I have been able to try new things. I was able to work with some great volunteers to help make PST something new and hopefully improved. That is one of the great things about Moldova and the Peace Corps here, it is based on a lot of volunteer involvement in the program. Sure things don't always just happen because a volunteer said I want to change something but we have a voice and that counts for a lot.

PST was and was not a lot of work. It was definitely not as stressful as when I was a trainee (imagine that) and not as much work. In some ways PST was like a mini-vacation. It was a different setting and a different work schedule. It lead to some great discussions about teaching and teaching in Moldova specifically. I am almost always up for a good, in-depth discussion about teaching and the ins and outs of teaching. So in many ways PST was a good way for me to get my nerd on. Oh the treasured days of yesteryear in graduate classes where the best part of the class was the fact that we spent the whole thing in discussion! It is great to be able to have these discussions with the trainees, especially since a lot of them have education backgrounds and enjoy these discussion as much as I do.

I also got to show a friend of mine how great Moldova and Moldovans can be. My friend, as part of her summer Europe travels, decided she would come visit me (with much excited prompting by yours truly). I was able to introduce her to my host family, show her a little of Chisinau, and take a whirlwind trip to Odessa. Other than an unfortunate food poisoning episode I think that I showed her the best there is to see, the people. My host family was so happy to have an American guest and get to know another American. On both sides I heard nothing but great comments "Your friend is so nice!" "Your host family is great!" and more. It is funny to see how other people, seeing Moldova and meeting Moldovans for the first time view the whole thing. I wish more people would visit me (wink wink hint hint).

Having people visit, I feel, is one of the ways that can really help with home sickness. I felt the same way in Chile, unfortunately just as I was beginning to feel great again I had to leave, this time I get to use that feeling to help me keep going.

I also got to visit home. Doesn't that sound weird? Visit home? But that is what it was, I knew that it was home, I was comfortable there and my family was there but it was just a visit. And while I was so comfortable there it was surreal how people just put me back in a slot. This is the Carolyn slot, we've been saving it for you, here you go. But the Carolyn that went back was not the Carolyn that left. I don't know if others noticed it, but I certainly did. It was big things and little, extremely odd things. Big things, like feeling so different about energy use and where my foods comes from. Little things, like what on earth do I do with the toilet paper now? Oh that's right I flush it, weird. Of course everyone else thought that the last statement was a little too much information, but I knew that if I had been with a group of volunteers they would have said "yeah, I had to think about that too!" It reminded me of a commercial I saw (on youtube, cause I don't have American TV) that was a recruitment commercial for the Peace Corps. It was a guy who was always talking about his time in the Peace Corps. You can tell that the people around him are just sort of listening, like yeah, yeah, that is fascinating but as I was watching I was thinking, yeah, that has happened to me. We become more defined by this experience and we want to share it, but not everyone wants to see the whole picture, they want the 15 second sound bite.

Other than that my time home was fantastic! I ate all sorts of wonderful food such as gorditas, thai curry, spring rolls, steak, and on and on and on. I do really like the food in Moldova, it is fresh and usually very good but I miss the variety. Oh the variety. I also got to drive for the first time in over a year. That was equally awesome. I had the windows down, the music up and I revealed in that current. I spent some time sitting on cold things and drank only cold drinks. It is the simple things in life.

The best part of the whole visit was the time I got to spend with friends and family. I found out that one of my friends is expecting a baby. I couldn't believe it! How could that happen! I'm just... well in my mid-twenties! It was like a shock, I am, in some ways, an adult! My friends will be getting married and having kids and the whole nine yards. A shock yes, but not a bad shock. I got to spend time having crazy discussions with a good friend of mine and just talk about silly things with other friends. I also got a lot of free lunches, yah for being the visitor!

I finally met my niece, Sofia. Of course I had seen pictures and joked that she had a funny square head in all of them but the reality was so different. Here is a tiny, new person. Looking at the world for the first time and only just beginning to understand bits and pieces of it. Someones voice, the new smells and sights, being able to start flipping herself over. She loves to sleep on people too, to just snuggle right in. What an incredible feeling. I spent several hours just sitting in a chair holding her right next to my heart and feeling her breathe. This new, tiny person is now a big part of my heart.

Now I am back. I have new ideas, new thoughts, more energy (except for this stupid cold) and I am ready to go. I have been spending the last couple of days and plan to spend the rest of the time before school starts, getting ready for the new school year. Watch out kids! You will be learning and evolving and becoming better people whether you are ready or not! Hopefully this summer high (as I have taken to calling it) will keep going to the end.

Softball in Moldova! Otherwise known as slow pitch baseball.

Of all the sports that I have tried or watch over the years (not all that many years I know, but to me my life has gone on for awhile) I have to say that my favorite two are softball and volleyball. To be honest I haven't played softball in awhile but I brought my softball mitt just in case. Up to this point my poor un-used mitt just sat in my room but as summer got closer another volunteer was working behind the scene to get some softball equipment to Moldova. Kim (the volunteer I was talking about) used to play and coach softball in the states and her dream was to bring softball to the children of Moldova.

To start with many children in Moldova do know what baseball is, or at least have an idea of what it looks like, a ball, a bat and a ball. They may not know the details but if you say baseball they say "Oh yeah, I know what that is. I have never played it, but I know what it is". Some years ago a previous volunteer actually started a baseball little league that continued on for some time but is now largely defunct. However, none of them seem to know what softball is. Which is why Kim came up with the term "Slow pitch Baseball". Of course that is just to lure them in and then we hit them with the wonderfulness of Softball, slow pitch because none of us who are helping or have helped have been pitchers up to this point.

But in each of the 3 times that I have helped it has been amazing to see how fast these kids have picked up softball and started to enjoy playing it. With in hours of instruction and playing around the kids have been playing against each other in loose teams. They shout out advice and pick up the rhythm of game and enjoy the glory of a home run. At the end of each day those of us helping could not help but be amazed with the progress of these kids how had never even seen softball played or picked up a mitt and a ball before.

Some of the best moments for me also were seeing the quieter boys and the girls get right into it and shining. In one village we had a girl who picked up softball so fast it made my head spin. If she had been in the states she would have been able to easily move up to a competitive team with a little coaching and practice. It felt great to be able to provide the role model of a women who plays and enjoys sports as part of a healthy life style. I hope that it is something that will stay with the girls that we played with.

In addition to the experience of working with Moldovan youth was the language exchange as well. The two villages I was able to help in were both predominately Romanian speaking and I am predominately a Russian speaker in Moldova. But since I had not taken the time to translate the words for bat, ball, mitt, and some others into Russian I had to relay on the Romanian words that Kim had taken the time to translate. I feel that in addition to the great time the kids had learning to play softball they also had a great time listening to me freely mix my Russian and Romanian together in new and inventive ways to help them figure out some of the basics. Even now, after having asked what the Russian words are, I can only easily recall the Romanian words. Sometimes I feel like I am developing my own language of Rom-Rus-English with a few Gagauz words thrown in for effect.

All in all it was a wonderful couple of days helping Kim with her Softball clinics. I hope that I can continue to help her out and have a week of softball in my own town sometime in the future. It gets said again and again but it always rings true that change lies with the future generations and those of use who can help them along the way are working towards a better future.

New Future Volunteers

A couple of weeks ago the next group of future volunteers for Moldova arrived. As a mentor in our Peer Support Network I was there to meet and greet the new trainees. They had a very long first day. They got off the plane in Chisinau and went straight to the school were they have their group training days. They started off with hauling all of their luggage into the school and separating it into piles that corresponded with the villages they will be living in for the whole of their training period. As a short break they then got to eat and spend a little time being meeting as many of us as they could. Most had a sort of shell-shocked expression, partly from finally making it to Moldova and partly from the whirl wind trip they had had up to that point. The day did not end for them there. They then went on to a brief orientation and then they were loaded down with things like a medical kit, fire extinguisher, smoke alarm, tons of information, water, a water filter and many more things.

It was crazy to see them going through the whole process and at the same time remembering what it was like for myself going through the same thing. I was glad I did it and continue to be grateful that I am in Moldova and living this wonderful experience but I am also very glad I don't have to do that first week over again! But the best thing is that we have new trainees and people who continue to want to spread peace and friendship around the world and in Moldova.

Since then as a mentor and a facilitator for Pre-Service Training I have gotten to meet and start to really get to know the trainees. I have to say that I am very excited that they are here and will be sharing all that they know with us and Moldovans.

Party in the Forest-A bonding moment with my fellow teachers

During the school year teachers have a hectic schedule. Some teachers have so many classes and other duties that they do not have time to do much socializing, while others have more than one job and often have to leave right after their classes to get to that job. In addition the cold of the school and lack of a lunch break are not great incentives to sit around after classes are over and chat. Those who do stay are involved in projects or the school administration, which makes them, again, very busy. However after the last bell and the last homeroom meeting most of the teachers of my school and I celebrated the end of the school year in a picnic in the forest. We had all been told to wear nice clothes for the last day but to bring a change of clothes for the forest. After all the students were gone we gathered up huge quantities of food (chicken for grilling, cucumbers, tomatoes, brinza, bread, stuffed peppers, cabbage rolls, potatoes with dill) and got into a rented mini-bus to go to the forest. I admit I thought that we would be fairly close to the school but would need the transport for all of our food. We actually went a fair distance to a nice wooded area that had been set up for cook-outs past the village of Sadic.

We carried our bounty to a likely looking place covered in wild strawberry plants and set down a large piece of plastic and several blankets. The plastic for the food and the blankets for us. Right away some of the teachers got set to putting out plates and forks, others started cutting the veggies, and the rest of us gathered fire wood and get the fire pit ready for the buckets of chicken to be grilled.

Soon we were toasting to the end of the year and the beginning of summer and eating all the goodies we had brought. The chicken wasn't ready but in between we played all sorts of games and volleyball and sat and talked and just plain enjoyed ourselves.

For me it was one of the first times that I had a chance to really talk with some of the various teachers and really see a different side of them. The relaxed atmosphere, the good food, and the lifting of the weight of the school year made it easy to connect. I especially loved seeing how competitive we all got over silly little things.

It was a beautiful day that started with our last bell ceremony and ended with a bonding experience and a chance to really get to know my fellow teachers. Some days it is hard not to absolutely love being a volunteer in Moldova.

The school year is over

It may seem a little late but the school year is finally over. Technically the last day of school was the 31st of May. And we definitely ended with a ceremony and final farewell from all the students to the graduating class. But for the 12th form the end of the school year actually took the rest of the month of June while they took the Bacclaurate exams.

In Moldova there is a first bell ceremony and a last bell ceremony. Ring in the new and ring out the old. The last bell ceremony was beautiful and touching. All of the teachers (myself included) dressed in our nicest teacher outfits and wore ridiculous shoes. I had a beautiful pair of heels on that I never would have even picked out in the USA but I was glad I had them. All of the students were also dressed very nicely especially the 12th form. The last bell is really their day.

The ceremony starts by everyone going outside. Our school is small so we often have our assemblies outside when it is warm. The classes arrange themselves in a semi-circle around the front steps of the school from the youngest class on the left to the oldest class on the right. For this day the 12th form stood altogether on the steps in the front. We also had a speaker and microphone set up for the speeches and music. All of the students had at least one bouquet with them while many had whole armfuls of flowers.

In addition to all of the teachers of the school we also had several ministry officials and representatives of the mayor's office. Our director gave an introduction then handed the microphone off to our two MCs, a boy and a girl from our school. All of the classes had some small presentation, such as reciting poetry or singing a song. Then awards were handed out. Students received certificates for best student in their form, perfect attendance, participation in different sporting events and more.

After the awards the various representatives gave speeches of congratulations to the 12th form. I had been told ahead of time that I also would be expected to give a speech. This time however I was allowed to give it in Russian, which made planning it a lot easier then the first bell speech which I gave in Romanian. I tried to think back on all the advice that I had been given when I graduated from high school and I tried to pass on some of those same ideas.

While your time in grade school has ended you have just started your journey. You have the whole world in front of you and it is up to you to decide what you want to do with it. Keep dreaming and believing because those two skills will take you far. Remember your friends and loved ones because they are what help you through life. Never stop believing in yourself.

It probably did not sound as smooth in Russian because of numerous grammar mistakes but I hope that they received the message as it was intended.

After many speeches and presentations some of the 12th form class performed a waltz in front of the school. And in the end all of the students from the other forms lined up in a U-shape and formed a passage of raised flowers that the 12th form and their homeroom teachers passed through to end their time in school.

The very last thing the students did was then pass out their numerous flowers to their teachers. Each teacher came away with their arms overflowing with flowers and a smile on their faces.

The last bell ceremony does not end the day however. It is followed by the last homeroom hour in which parents and students are invited to discuss the end of the year and what to expect next year. I was asked by the director to hand out the participation certificates for the International Writing Olympics. It was a wonderful way to end the school year. All the good that had passed and the achievements that students had attained. It made me excited for the next year and all that could be accomplished.

April!

As ever I feel that it is very important to talk about the weather. The weather affects just about everything I do and feel and sometimes my motivation to the extreme. For example when it was really cold I didn't feel like going out at all because I would have to walk there. Of course I have to say "really cold" with a little bit of an explanation because at no time was it REALLY cold, not even close. It is just that I didn't want to walk anywhere when I knew that it would take me 20 minutes to get there when it was slightly cold. One because I would have to wear a billion layers to do so and then I couldn't do anything fun, like go dancing cause I would die in all the clothes that I would have had to put on to go dancing in the first place. Needless to say I have not done a lot of socializing for the past couple of months. I am a hermit. Second example would be work. My school was heated, nominally, in the winter but as soon as March hit they turned off the heat. So even though it is not really above the 40s yet our school is unheated. And some members of my host family are fond of turning the house heat off in the middle of the day so the house is cold when I get home. Sigh. I turn it on and all is fine so it is better then school it is just that I would never turn the heat off. Thats all. And at school there is no magical turn the heat back on button. So there are days when I cannot wait to leave school because even though I wore layers and kept my coat on the whole time my nose and my fingers are freezing and I can't get any work done at school at that point. So as you can see (hopefully) the weather is very important in my life. And it keeps changing. Who does that? Really? If I have 2 days of 60 degree weather I think it is going to stay. But so far it hasn't it just flits in a couple of days a week to get our hopes up then the 40 degree weather comes back to dash them to bits. I almost miss the 90 degree weather at this point. Almost. Don't hold me to that statement.

As for school, it is school. There are moments of brillance and then there are less sterling moments where I just want to scream and leave the room or send a particular student from the room. Either would be acceptable in my mind, not so acceptable in reality. But I can fantasize, we have detention and I can send any student I want there and .... then I wake up, no detention. I will just have to use all of my creative 5 year old level Russian skills to talk sense into the situation. It works about, well lets not say and it will seem like it works pretty well. Life at site goes along much in the same vein, some days are just beyond anything I could have imagined in a good way and others, well in every sunny day there must come that one particular cloud that stops right over the sun and stays there for awhile. Eventually it goes away it just takes some really positive thinking.

I am excited to say that I have gotten involved in several different projects in the past month or so including planning for PST training, I get to tell new volunteers what to do! Well not really I will be helping to guide them and impart important and very useful information. I am looking forward to being on the other side of the table and sharing what I think was most helpful for me and hopefully putting a lot of worries to rest about what is to come. I am also going to be a mentor which goes along the same lines of giving information and advice and being a new friend and contact in Moldova for future volunteers. Hopefully they will get as much out of the experience I did. There are also just so many projects going on at any one time, so many ways to get involved and to connect with Moldovans and other volunteers. If anyone is interested in checking out an incredible array of what volunteers here in Moldova are do I highly recommend visiting the website

http://www.365peaceandfriendship.com

It is a tribute to the 50th anniversary of the Peace Corps and to all the work that volunteers and their partners due on a daily basis. It is full of pictures and posts about the people, places and work that volunteers encounter during their service. There is a ton to see. I hope everyone who reads my blog will go to this website. I cannot say how wonderful it is.

Happy April!

Updates and all of February and some of March

Well, it has been a month or so since I have written even though many things have happened or passed. One of the best is that spring has finally come!! I say finally, I should say that it has come and for many people it is finally. I am still in shock from the change from 20 degrees to suddenly 65 degrees in the middle of the day. I will not complain though. To go from many, many layers of clothes to a normal amount is always a good thing. I also enjoy being just the right temperature in school. With spring has come happy faces, children running and laughing, sunshine, and warmth. February was also a hot bed of activity. I was lucky enough to take part in an open lesson for English. Open lessons are when the other teachers in the raion (like a county) for a particular subject all come to observe lessons taught by other teachers. In this case it was mostly English and some French teachers who came to observe either a French lesson, an English lesson and then all together an extra-curricular activity in English dedicated to St. Valentine's day. There were around 28 teachers, although it could have been a few less. After all the lessons we all met together and then the teachers discussed the lessons said what they liked and what they would have liked to have seen improved upon. Also during this time several teachers presented research that they had done. I think that it was supposed to be teacher research but it was not very structured so it was hard to tell. After all "business" was over we all went for "coffee and tea" which turned out to be a стол or masa in Romanian which is a meal but bigger scale. There was lots of good food, drinks and talk and of course toasts. The French teacher gave hers in French, there was one in Russian and on in Romanian and then in the end I gave a toast Spanish in keeping with the theme of foreign languages. The whole day was fun but exhausting. At the end I felt like I had just taken a very important test or something along those lines.

In addition to my own experience with the open lesson, there were several more at my school soon after in physical education and Romanian. It was a big event for everyone at the school and required lots of planning and cleaning and preparing. I think they all went well.

Also we celebrated St. Valentine's Day, Affection day (24th of February for everyone where as V-Day is really just for couples), Men's Day (23th of February an old soviet holiday that has been reworked) and then just recently the 8th of March International Women's day. A celebration of women and all of their roles and accomplishments. It included of course many a feast and a speech and flowers and cards and wonderfulness. I wish that we had this day in the USA. The 1st of March is also a large holiday in Moldova and Romania Martisor, it is the official beginning of spring here.

Everyone gives and receives Martisori which are little red and white flowers. There are many legends about the Martisori and they are all very interesting. One that I heard was that the sun used to turn himself into a man and come and visit the Earth and people. Then one day an evil dragon captured the sun and kept him on Earth. The land grew dark and cold because the sun did not return to the sky. A young man saw what was happening and decided to go save the sun but his journey took him a long time to find the evil dragon. But the young man found the dragon and fought him. He fought him so hard that his blood splashed on the ground and on white flowers staining them red. He fought and killed the dragon but he also died. So in honor of the young man who fought for the sun and brought spring we were the Martisori.

There are many more legends this is just one I like.

So many holidays, much work, and now sun. I was also lucky to be able to listen to VP Joe Biden speak when he was here in Moldova and then attend a meet and greet with him after his speech. It was a once in a lifetime event, the VP in Moldova when I am in Moldova and then a special session afterwards were we got to meet him in person. It took about 5 hours of standing but the weather was good, there was live music and I was with friends.

That's it for now. I have lots of projects and plans for the coming months. The 50th Anniversary of Peace Corps has kicked off. If you want to see what Peace Corps volunteers in Moldova please check out our website http://www.365peaceandfriendship.com it has a calendar of events and posts of those events. We are hoping to highlight one event, volunteer, Moldovan, city, activity every day for the next year to commemorate Peace Corps and the people we work with.

Happy Spring!!

Spring brings many changes

As life evolves and spring comes to Moldova many changes are in place. The first and largest for me being that my niece was born March 12th, 2011 at 4:41 pm in Fairbanks. I of course had been out of town all weekend for training in the capital and did not find out until Monday. At which point I spend the rest of the day in a slight daze from the news. Sophia Theresa Josephine Herrera, welcome to the world, it is a great place to be. It can be scary and cold and seem full of darkness but it can also be full of joy and light and good and warmth. I know that you will do great things and be all that you can be, a person, a human, a life. I wish I had been there to see you born and to be with you and your mother as you entered into the world. I was with you in spirit even if I didn't know it at the time. You are a being and beings affect change and your changes will be great. I wish all the things you need in life even if you don't want them and even if you think that what you want is more important then what you really need. Life will be a journey filled with ups and downs, in and outs, great joy and great sorrow. But in the end I will love you and your family will love you and that great spirit that goes by many names and many faces but in the end is eternal will love you as well. Welcome, bine ati venit, bienvenidos, Добро пожаловать, hoşgeldin and love, любовь, dragoste, cariño.

It was a draft, errrrrg

I found the long post and have put it up, apparently it saved as a draft, and did not really disappear.  Errrrgggg and yeah all at the same time.

I wrote a long post and it disappeared

I wrote a long beautiful post about how my holidays were, the start of the new year, the wonderful things I got see and how great Orthodox Christmas and New Year's were, then it disappeared.  I then wrote a second post to describe what happened and it too disappeared.  Then I did a test post, you can see it, it posted, I am leaving it there for all the world to see.  I will at some future point come back to finish that wonderful beautiful post full of sentiment and the wonders of the world but not right now, right now I am not happy with the whole process.  So much for getting an informative post knocked off the list.

Test

Test post

Spain and Second Semester Fun

Well, winter vacation came, and it went.  So sad.  But I did get to go to Barcelona, see amazing things, speak a little Spanish, visit Bucharest in Romania and ride on a train.  Plus once I got back to Moldova I still had a couple of laze about days and some really neat Moldovan holidays to experience.  

But first, Spain.  I went with a couple of volunteers and we spent about 7 days in Barcelona with a side trip to the monastery Montserrat.  Barcelona is a wonderful city, clean, free of street dogs, and some incredible architecture.  I absolutely love Gaudi and anyone of a like mind should make it one of their life goals to see Barcelona.  Sagrada Familia is.... words do not quiet describe it, or at least I am not talented enough to describe it in the terms that it should be described.  And I love Gaudi's work in general.  Its colorful, sinuous, natural and exotic.  Sometimes you can't believe that one person had all of that in one brain.  I saw many many Gaudi buildings and I could have seen more.  Plus Barcelona has managed to hold on to a lot of its history in general so everywhere you look there seems to be one more really neat building to gaze at.  In addition to Gaudi I went to a museum that was once a palace, a fort with some really big world war era guns, a sea walk, the gothic quarter with tiny winding streets, and an incredible cathedral.   The monastery was like a scene out of a legend.  It is set up high on a plateau/mountain thing where the mist never really seems to go away.  We took the train for an hour to get to the site and from there we rode a cable car up the mountain.  Then, at one of the other girl's insistence we walked up like 40 billion stairs that went further up the mountain.  Well, to be fair it wasn't 40 billion but we weren't really dressed or prepared to go for a hike, which is what it would have been.  But the whole area is also a national park.  So you get an incredible view, wildlife, and a centuries old monastery, the whole package deal.

After Barcelona we spent New Year's Eve/part of the Day in Milan airport, which was not very exciting at all and then went on our way to Bucharest.  Bucharest is somewhere in between Moldova and Barcelona in terms of development.  But what Bucharest has is its old city and a ruin of one of Vlad Tepes' castle, the man better known as the inspiration for Dracula.  We walked around the old city with one of the girl's friend who lives in Bucharest.  She knew tons about Bucharest and Romania and was just all around spectacular.  She let us stay with her and entertained us, let us rest from our journey and told us tales of a Romania that has a hidden past. Needless to say I really want to go back to Romania and of course visit some of the amazing things she told us about.  We also got to see a Christmas market and go ice skating.  The Christmas market really reminded me of home, it had little wood cottages for booths and they were wreathed with pine boughs.  Ah, home!  And a bonus was that I got to buy a gingerbread treat.  I love gingerbread.

After that it was back to Moldova just in time to experience a second Christmas on January 7th, orthodox Christmas.  Around Christmas children go door to door and sing Christmas carols or chants.  In return people give them candy, cookies and a little bit of money, sort of like getting a quarter.  We stayed up til 11 or 12 I think before we locked the gate.  Towards the end some really interesting groups came by but I was already in my room at that point.  I do remember hearing an accordion and a tambourine.

Then we went back to school but the first week was all over the place because that Friday was Orthodox New Year's or Old New Year's.  The night before we again had 'carolers' but this time it was only boys and they came to the door and threw seeds at you.  Then they would get candy, money, ceremonial round bread, and cookies.  My host mom told me that the day before New Year's only boys come and then on New Year's girls come.  This was fun, we stayed up and waited for groups to come, then on Friday i went to school like all was normal.  But... all the students brought seeds to throw and I  spent the day getting wished health, happiness, money and pelted with rice, corn, some other seed and sunflower seeds.  It was great and next year I know it is coming so I will come to school prepared with candy and money.

Other than that it has finally gotten 'cold' but it is still about 0 F, and I am perfectly okay with this. :)  January has flown by and now we have sun from 7-5 instead of 7:30-4, still not complaining.  The only down side is that the English classroom is about the coldest classroom in the whole school.  Sigh.  But if those are the least of my worries, well then I'm doing just fine.  Plus I finally got WIFI at home and a printer.  I am a printing fiend and I recommend printers to every single PCV.  I love my printer and having worksheets and its all around usefulness.  Yeah for printer!!!  Of course, love to all those back home reading this long post and I hope everyone had a great holiday season!   

Christmas is coming, but not when expected

So, it is finally December, moving closer and closer to the fabled winter break, where I get to not go to training and not do PC stuff for the most part and I get to go to Spain.  Yeah!  The only slight let down is the lack of Christmas type things.  Christmas isn't on December 25th here because holidays really work on the Eastern Orthodox calendar.  I mean Christmas will still happen but no one has their Christmas tree up yet and they didn't even start Christmas commercials until December and there wasn't the whole post Thanksgiving jump into Christmas like I am used to.  A friend of my emailed me and said she set up her tree and it looked awesome even if we didn't get to put it up together and that I am going to miss out of cookie-baking-fest.  Sigh.  Well I will have to make some new traditions for this year and the next.  I will do some baking but the date is still uncertain at this point.  But the lack of ceremony and well known traditions is a bit startling.  

On the plus side I am no longer dreaming of a white Christmas because it has finally appeared!!  Unfortunately it came with some freezing rain and a good layer of ice, then a melt and a lot of regular rain, but now we are back to just snow for the most part.  And I have to say, I love yaktrax, those grippy things you put on your shoes so you don't slip and fall.  I remember getting them in July or August and thinking "I don't need these, I'm from AK, these are stupid"  I can say without shame and a great deal of thankfulness that those are one of the best inventions in the world.  When I thought about walking on ice I did not realize that ice here means a skating rink covering every surface and it is well polished.  And all the Moldovans I show them to think I am super clever for having found a way not to fall.  It also helps that my shiny black Moldovan leather boots without any tred what-so-ever have been consigned to indoor wear only and my hiking boots are now my outdoor shoes until my rated to -25 AK boots get here to take there place.  I will be kicking winter's figurative butt.  As it happens my layers are already too much for the walk to school.  I think "It will be cold out today, I will wear my winter coat, hat and mittens"  I get outside, it is slightly cold, mostly windy and I get about 5 minutes into my walk and am quite hot.  However I need the layers for in school because it is about 50 degrees all day and if I didn't have layers I would be cold.  Outside I can do, it is inside that is troublesome.  

Other than that life is still good. :)  Lots of work, lots of little things to get over or work around but still good.  

Happy Holidays!  Merry Christmas!! Happy New Year!!!!  Feliz Navidad!!

Time is flying by

It is already over halfway through November, almost Thanksgiving time and for the last two weeks it has been in the 50s at least.  I have a hard time believing it is November and I feel like my seasonal clock is all messed up, I should be walking through snow and wearing snowboots and various other winter gear.  I could probably still use that gear because they have delayed turning on the heat because of the warm weather and it is getting cold again, but still it isn't quiet the same without snow.  I may be singing, and meaning it, "I'm dreaming of a white Christmas".  Not that it wouldn't be the first time, but it makes me a little said every time I have to mean it.  

Classes this past month and a half have been smooth for the most part because we had a whole group of student teachers from the university doing their practicum at my school.  This meant that the bulk of my classes were being taught by someone else and I didn't have to do visual aids for five different classes.  You would think that meant I did less work but instead I worked out a alarming large amount of visual aids for the remaining two classes I was actively teaching.  I hope they appreciate how much construction paper I used for them.  They at least always said wow whenever I brought out whatever I had made for them the day before.  Wows can be very satisfying when you have worked for 2 hours to get a 10 minute activity ready.

I also have to say that I love the younger students in my school.  Every time they see me they say "Miss Carolyn!  Miss Carolyn!" and I get a lot of hugs, often group hugs.  The best part is... they are all shorter than me.  :) (To those of you who stumbled across this blog hoping maybe for information on volunteering in Moldova, I am fairly short so being taller than someone is an inside joke with all my friends)

I am still ready for a break.  I know that I have said this in almost every blog post to this date but it is the truth.  Here in Moldova there is a fall break, just like spring break at the beginning of November, however that break is spent by first year volunteers in training sessions.  The training sessions did have a lot to offer and helped me get some new ideas for classes but it would have been a week long break that I didn't get.  Sigh.  However second year volunteers do get that break off, unless they help with the training sessions, but still the option is there.  Also on the plus side being together with our whole group meant spending some time in English and eating at some really great restaurants and getting to know some of the second or third year (extendees) volunteers better.  It was a great time for idea swapping and talking out some of the frustrations of the job.  I just wish I could have done the whole thing in my pajama pants, that's all. :)

So far I am busy every day and every weekend.  Making materials, trying to get clubs off the ground, running around Comrat.  It is good but slightly exhausting, like I keep saying.  But teaching is so energizing.  For example this morning I was in a funk.  I just wanted to stay in bed, I wanted a me day.  I spend the first 2 hours of the morning in that funk.  But once I started teaching, talking with the kids, doing activities with them that funk just disappeared.  It felt great to be back in all the classrooms and working with the kids.  I supposed that means that I was meant to teach.  And I feel like I really have a place in the school, the kids were glad to be working with me again and the classes I was working with during the student teachers' practicum are still excited to see me everyday.  It is a great feeling and makes me feel like I really made the right choice to join the Peace Corps.  But it is also tough.  Like I said sometimes you just want to take time to do nothing, then you remember the kids, and your job, and all things you still have to do that day and just push through.  

However, when Christmas break gets here I will definately be taking some of that me time.  In fact I am going to Spain, yes Spain, for a week.  I am looking forward to the food, the sites, and the SPANISH!!! I plan to talk to just about every person I see, well, with in reason, but still the point is I will be surround by Spanish and Spanish speaking people and Spanish sounds and... I get little shivers just thinking about it.  I am Spanish starved.  I plan to soak up that Spanishness and use it to get me through the next 6 months.

I also want to say CONGRADULATIONS to my sister and her new husband Matt.  They just got married and are going to have a baby and I am going to be an aunt!!!  I am looking forward to visiting them and seeing my new niece or nephew where they come.

Other than that life is good here.  I did have a slight brush with giardia and food poisoning.  I know that this would count as the second time I got giardia but as I told my mother it was not because I was drinking from puddles.  Giardia is endemic here in Moldova.  If anyone knows how to detect giardia or get rid of it from a water source such as a well please let me know, I would love to share the knowledge with my host family and all of my students, some of whom are not really aware of what giardia is.  It took me two and a half weeks to fully recover but I'm back on my feet and probably doing better than before since my system is now squeeky clean.  :)

As a reminder too, if you want to send me anything I can always use stickers, art supplies, and construction paper.  

Love to everyone and I miss you all! 

Cold but not cold hmm

This past month the weather has turned...coldish, it is rainy and cloudy and without heat that means cold depending on weather you get any sun that day or have a room that just stays warm in general.  For example in my host-family's house the kitchen is the warmest room in the house and I try to stay in the kitchen for almost all of my activities now.  But for the most part I am dressed in several layers of clothes and have only been wearing boots (though very fashionable, Moldovan boots) for the past month.  At least it feels like it has been for the past month.  Every week we have a little less daylight but I think we are still hovering around 11 or 10 hours because when I get up at around 7am it is getting light and it is light well past 4pm.  I am terribly spoiled.  There were a lot of volunteers from the group before me who said that we would be getting sun in the winter from around 8am to around 4 pm in the afternoon.  I am totally happy with this. :)  It is way better than the expected 10am to 3pm sun schedule of all of my previous winters in AK.  I just wish that more buildings were heating.  I have hope for November, there was some mention (possible just a rumor to get my hopes up) that they start heating the schools in November.  I can only wish for such an event.  In any case this weekend I plan on buying some plastic and covering the windows in the main classroom I teach in and my window in my bedroom.  Maybe that will cut down on the chill seeping into the rooms.  

October has passed by so quickly!!  I have been having a little semi-break because most of my classes are being taught by student teachers doing their practicum for the university here in town.  It is interesting to see how they deal with the same issue that my partner and I have dealt with and give suggestions about what they can change, what I liked, what was missing from the lesson.  I'm not sure they all appreciate what I have to say but I can hope to have a small role in their future teaching.  I like to think that I give good advice, at least.

The pumpkins are starting to be ready to eat!! I am the most excited about this.  My family said that they only make pumpkin pastries or placinta with the pumpkin.  When this conversation comes up between us I automatically wax on and on and on about all the other equally delicious things that can be done with pumpkin.  Yummmmmm.  I can't wait to have the time to actually make some of them: pumpkin pie, pumpkin bread, pumpkin cookies, pumpkin seeds, pumpkin soup, pumpkin casserole, baked pumpkin.... the list goes on.  I have been imagining all these delicious treats for weeks now in anticipation of when the pumpkins in our garden would be ripe.  We also have a ton of other types of squash but I think those get fed to the chickens or something insane like that!!  I am going to have to ask.  Because once the second fasting season comes on my host babushka won't be able to eat anything made with animal products and squash is a really good source of vitamins, minerals, just good stuff in general.  It would be a good addition to the beans and potatoes that people tell me make up their winter diet.  I have to mention just quickly too that it is apple season and I have had fresh cider several times already, sweet tarty goodness.

As a teacher I am lucky to get a fall break, the fall equivilant of spring break, which I am so wonderfully lucky to be spending doing PC training.  I just want to veg but I guess that will have to wait until Christmas.  Sigh.  It should be really good training I just want some time off thats all.  

I have had some recent requests for a list of things I need here.  If you are looking to send me something I could use the following:

Construction Paper

crayons, markers, colored pencils, pastels, water color paints (anything art related, I make all of my own materials for class)

stickers -just the regular old stars, smiley faces, that sort of thing

Recipes-I would love any recipes that people would like to send me I plan on sharing them with my host family, and possibly starting a cooking club in the future

Thats about it at the moment, boxes can be sent to :

Peace Corps c/o Carolyn Mousseau

12 Grigore Ureche Str., Chisinau 2001

Republic of Moldova

Oh, I almost forgot (silly me) that this coming year is the 50th anniversary of the Peace Corps.  I am going to involved in the planning and execution of a huge celebration here in Moldova.  I will post more about it as we get more finalized but I just thought I would let everyone know.  If you see events or anything related to this I suggest you attend.  It will contain 50 years worth of information, pictures, hopes and dreams, success stories and more.  If you were ever interested in the history of the Peace Corps I am sure there will be events all over the place talking about it in the next coming year.  Official start March 1, 2011.  

Behind, busy, at school

The past month has been hectic, fun, tiring, and a challenge.  Much like PST and the whole Peace Corps experience in general but this is a different flavor of all of the above.  School has settled down for the most part in that we only had one schedule change and since then classes have been right on track.  I teach a wide variety of classes from the 2nd form to the 11th form.  It is quiet the spread.  Interestingly enough I had a hard time with the 5th form students during practice school, but since i have been at site some of my younger classes are the easiest and most enjoyable, although I must say that I love all my students.  There are challenging students, beginner students in high levels mixed in with very advanced students, shy students, and of course out going students.  Just a great big mix.  I learn more Romanian words everyday but I cannot for the life of me make a whole sentence in Romanian, but I do a really good job mixing the two which amuses the students to no end.  Probably because many of them do the same thing often, or at least outside of class.  Since the beginning of school I have been mostly just making materials.  Every day for at least 2 hours I sit and make posters, vocab cards, dialogs, matching activities, something.  I made a comment the other day that if all remains constant at the end of two years I will have made enough English materials and visual aids to fill a swimming pool.  One of my friends commented that as long as it was olympic sized then that was okay, or something to that effect.  

The weather, which is a constant love/hate sort of thing, has been cool at night and warm during the day.  But it is little by little starting to get cooler and cooler, at least this week, last week it was around 75 degrees.  I didn't understand that at all.  I am also starting to pick up projects as I go along.  Some students asked me to start an English club which I am jumping right into.  I would have started last week but I caught this horrendous cold and was out for 2 days of school and the weekend.  Apparently this is the sort of cold of the season and I am not the only one who had the joy of experiencing.  I slept enough to make up for any lack of sleep during PST.

I look forward to spending time with the students outside of English class.  In class you have things to accomplish and grammar to teach and you are trying to reach all the students while keeping them interested.  Outside of class time and topics can flow easily and there are any number of activities you can do that include English but aren't strictly English.  

All I can say at the moment is that I can't believe September is almost over.  A little over 1 month at site!!  Time does go by so much quicker now that I am working.  PST was work but it wasn't the same.  Time went slow, fast, slow during PST.  Here it just seems to go fast.  We'll see if I say that in another month. :)

Update from Life at Site

Hi everyone!  So I finally made it!  I am officially a volunteer and not just a trainee anymore.  I had an exhausting last 4 weeks of PST.  Practice school is a really wonderful, really draining experience with more emotions involved then I would have thought possible.  There was great achievements in the class room, soaring high!  Then there would be some small disaster, fell back down to earth, hard.  And of course it was 100 degrees or round abouts there which made it hard to want to plan or site at the school for hours on end doing materials development but it had to be done and in the end I feel way more prepared for what is coming next.  The start of school at site.  Bum bum bum!  Our swearing in ceremony was great, we had really good speakers such as Margaret the heading of the language training, Jeffery our country direct and a great pubic speaker, 2 volunteers that MC'd in English and Romanian, and of course two people from our group Ben (Russian speech) and Zach (Romanian speech) that blew the crowd away with their well prepared speeches and snazzy suits.  After that it was say goodbye to the people you just spend 10 weeks with and hello to your new host families.  A whirlwind day that really seems like 3 or 4 seperate days all together.

Since then I have been on sort of a mini-vacation because of a group of holidays here that fall all together meaning multiple days off.  The first was Gagauzian day which was great.  There was a concert in the center that I got to go see that lasted until like 2 in the morning, I wimped out and was home by 12:30, said isn't it?  That same day, I think, was my host-grandmother's birthday which meant I got to meet  a lot of family members and try a lot of good food.  Soon after that it was the Day of the founding of Comrat, which meant I got to march with all the other teachers to the center and each school got called out to walk across an open area.  Then it was the day of the victory of the soviets over the fascists, I think I may not have gotten it all when I thought I did, where we placed flowers on a monument.  Recently it was also the indepence day of Moldova.  And coming up is Limba Noastra or day or our language.  It has been a lot of fun and a much needed break.  I have also atteneded several conferences.  I attended the conference for all teachers in Gagauzia and then I attended a conference about the new curriculum and long term plans.  Lots of Russian, some understanding on my part.  But being surrounded by Russian has been great.  I feel like my comprehension has jumped 3 or 4 places from where it was.  Now I just have to get started on Romanian and not backtrack with Russian and I am set!

School starts in about 2 days.  I will be finally getting started!

PST is over

Well, the time has finally come and PST is over.  Tomorrow (fingers crossed) I will be sworn in as an official volunteer with Peace Corps Moldova.  I am tired, hot, and ready for break but it was all worth it.  Today we did our last PST interviews, in which we sit with several very important people in the PC and talk about how we have been, any suggestions we have, and generally how we thought the whole process went.  I have to say that I feel very lucky to be working the Peace Corps here in Moldova because everyone has been generally wonderful.  My project director is the sweetest, best dressed, best informed, caring, smartest woman I have ever met.  When we did a presentation about the English Education group we introduced her as the best dressed woman you will ever see.  And it is certainly true. :)  In addition to that we have a great country director who absolutely loves the Peace Corps.  

PST was exhausting and very structured.  But looking back, of course in a short sited way because it just ended, it was good in a way.  We were kept busy, mostly out of trouble and given the tools (as we shall see in the next 2 years) to help us with life here in Moldova.  I know that I am starting to sound a little bit like an infomercial for PC but the organization is part of the reason I was so interested in becoming a volunteer.  It is also reassuring to know that some of the glow hasn't worn off.  The support is there so that with a little work on my part it is a great experience.  

Today is my last full day in my PST site and then I am off to my permanent site!!  Exciting, yes?  I have some more packing to do and of course re-packing to do because I magically have more things then I came with. :)  Mostly it is books provided by PC for English teaching but I have also managed to collect a few other things as well all on my own.  I am starting to dread the thought of packing at the end of two years.  It may seem far away but this is a good indicator that I will have a lot of sorting and generally cleaning to do at the end of it all.  I am excited to meet my new host family (there was a switch in host families so I haven't met this one yet) and get started on school and all that.  

I hope that all my friends and family are doing well!  Till next time!

Getting close to the end of the beginning

I may be too fond of funny sounding post titles, for example of end of the beginning, and earlier half-way there to there, or something like that.  I hope that it does not get annoying for anyone who is taking the time and effort to read my blogs.  But it is true this next week will be week 9 of our 10 week pre-service training and then I will be leaving my PST host-family and site to go to my permanent site.  PST has been a mixture of fun, work, exhaustion, and of course heat.  I will be saving a summing up blog for week 10 but as I get closer to then end of PST I am starting to get a little bit more reflective of how my time has been here in Moldova.  

At the moment I am taking a well deserved break from lesson planning and material making to write to friends and family about how my week has been so far.  A friend has some classical music on and the room I am sitting in is sun dappled with a slight breeze to cool me off.  It is a wonderful moment.  The kind where you realize how good life really is or how there is always something that can make your day seem better.  

Today was also the last day that our research teachers are here to help us and observe us as we teach.  It is interesting how it seems like you have been around a person for months only to realize that they were only with you for 2 weeks.  I will miss talking with my research teacher and hearing about her interesting life.  I enjoyed just talking with her the most.  She had some very interesting stories, many which surprised me.  Also, today the COD trainees and ARBD trainees left to go to the swearing in ceremony and then from there on to their permanent sites.  So now the Russian trainees are done to 4.  Sigh.  I will miss them too.  One of them was my next door neighbor so we got to talk a lot and walk to school together as well.

One more week of practice school and then I get a break!!  I am looking forward to a change of pace and to swearing in.  I hope that everyone is doing great where ever the are.