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!