School Days

As we end the first week of class in Peace Corps Training, I don't know what to feel. I was talking with another trainee yesterday who said she created a blog, but has yet to post anything because she pictured herself having deep thoughts about life while she is here, but thus far she had yet to have any. I understand what she means. As new PCTs (Peace Corps Trainees) we spend so much time trying to negotiate our daily tasks and communicate with our gazdas (host families) that it makes having room for more thoughts difficult. For example, I have spent the past couple days trying to find the post office. It seems from my understanding that in this town of 89,000 there is only one post office and this is the only place to buy stamps. I think today I was on the right road, but was unable to find the office. I also have yet to find postcards so many apologies to all of you back home. I hope in the near future to acquire both stamps and postcards.


The end of the first week also means the end of the first week of language training. We sit in the above desks for four hours a day trying to get as much Romanian absorbed into our heads as possible. It's overwhelming to say the least. It's also very different from any other language class I've taken before. Our teachers do not speak English during class at all which I understand from an overall perspective that the more immersed we are the more likely we are to learn, but I am having a lot of trouble with because the rules of language do not seem to make much sense to me without an explanation in a language that I can understand. If anything I feel like I am losing English skills rather than learning Romanian. In the Romanian language you put the adjective after the noun, so I have found myself saying things in my head like apple red or town flat. It's a bit of a confusing time.

The floor in my classroom.

Gazda Meetings

Saturday afternoon was one of the much anticipated times during PCT. After lunch we met our gazdas or homestay families. We were told as a group we would be living in situations ranging from very humble apartments to separate estate houses. Some families would have hot water, some would not, some might have internet, most would not, but all the gazdas would have space for us.
All the PCTs were set up in a conference room with tables running across the room with our names on one side and our gazda families on the other. We all sat in the room hoping that they would like us. We had filled out questionnaires with a little information about us, but not too much.

When I finally met my gazda, Mariea, I learned that her daughter, Gabi, was also being a gazda for another volunteer. I was very lucky to get to live around the corner from another PCT! Also, Gabi’s son, Cosmin and his girlfriend Georgiana, speak some English.
Mariea and her husband, Gicu, live in a 5th floor apartment and speak only Romanian. It’s good practice for me, but at this point I only know words so we have very halted “conversations.” It’s nice to have Cosmin and Georgie come for some additional translation. Mariea has four adult daughters and 5 grandchildren. She had all of the families over including Gabi and her PCT on Saturday night. At the end of the evening I went to bed feeling quite overwhelmed. The whole family was extremely kind, but we didn’t have enough common words between us to communicate. Also, everyone offered me lots and lots of food which was interesting because it seems that no one else was eating.

This is not my apartment, but typical of the bloks in my area.

The next day was much better as I slept until late in the morning, I think the jet lag had finally caught up with me. I then went to Mariea's daughters' house to play Rummikub with all the grandchildren with another PCT. It was a great way to break into the language.

In the afternoon, I walked with Cosmin, Georgie, and my fellow PCT, Chelsea to tour the old castle of the "majors" as Cosi called them. I think this translates to rulers of Romania. Below are pictures from our walk in the castle grounds and the stadium and park next door. The castle costs 3 Lei to get into (about $1) while the park is free. They are both about a 15 minute walk from our apartment blok.

Climbing the tower.

Chelsea, Cosmin and moi on top of the tower (see the previous post for the exterior of the tower).

The local football arena and community track.

Walking Around Site

On day two at our site we went for a walk in the neighborhood behind our hotel. Below are a few of the snapshots. While it's been a few days since I took these I can now say that we were walking in one of the nicer and maybe older parts of the city. Most neighborhoods seems to have more communist era apartment bloks.

Shops in the old town.

They have goblin giardia here!

First Day, PCT

The Peace Corps is full of many acronyms and I am slowly learning them. In Chicago we were in PCS (Peace Corps Staging) and now that we have arrived in country we are in PCT (Peace Corps Training). For the next 11 weeks we will be in PCT; we will go to class Monday - Friday, 8:30am - 5:00pm. In the mornings we will be in intensive Romanian classes and then the afternoon will be composed of other classes, like health, safety, and education. The evenings and weekends will be spend with our gazdas (host families). Our gazdas have been instructed to speak no English to us and at this point we just know a couple simple phrases like thank you and good afternoon. However, that should soon change as we will have to find to some way to communicate.

Yesterday was our first day in PCT in our training site (for security reasons we aren't supposed to mention the town). I think we were all a little jet lagged after leaving Chicago and essentially traveling for over 18 hours by buses and planes to get here. We got a small break yesterday afternoon and went down to park to stretch our legs before our dinner event. I first went to an electronics store here because somehow in the shuffle of transport I lost my digital camera. Luckily, it wasn't a new camera or a very expensive one. However, it was an extremely frustrating situation because I feel like I am usually a very organized person, but in the chaos of packing for 27 months I lost that. It is a little comforting to know that almost everyone has had one thing they have forgotten or lost along the way. I ended going to the store with another trainee who has also lost his camera in Chicago.

After going to the store we ended up at a park a few blocks from our hotel. In the middle of the park with a pavilion filled with old men playing backgammon, rummikub, and chess. With no Romanian at this point, another trainee decided to use the universal language of chess to get to know a few of the locals.

Arrived!

I finally arrived in Romania this afternoon after two lengthy flights, Chicago to Frankfurt and then Frankfurt to Bucharest. After being greeted at the airport by the Peace Corps Romania staff we were taken by bus from Bucharest to our training site for the next 11 weeks. The bus ride was about two hours long and we seemed to go straight out of Bucharest so I haven't quite seen that city yet. On the way to the site we saw many people driving horse carts along the road, lots of livestock and many, many stray dogs. None of them looked vicious; actually pretty cute, but I know not to let them fool me.

I am sorry for the short post, but I am a little incoherent at the point so, I will post again soon with more details and photos.

100 pounds

As a volunteer going to a cold climate, I get the luxury of 100 pounds versus the standard 80 pound allowance given to volunteers going to a warm climate. At this stage in my packing development I only have a giant rubber bin that I am throwing things I want to take to Romania into as I pack up my apartment. Even as I do this the idea that I will fit everything that I want for the next 27 months into two bags that only total 100 pounds seems impossible. Perhaps I need to invest in one of those storage bag systems that they have on the infomercials that you attach to a vacuum cleaner to suck the air our of your stuff.

The clothing packing list provided in the pre-service training document seems extremely small:

• Socks: 8-10 pairs
• Winter socks (alpaca wool/insulated non-itch fiber): 2-4 pairs
• T-shirts/Casual Tops: 4
• Short-sleeved shirts: 3-4
• Long-sleeved shirts: 2
• Sweatshirts: 2-3
• Medium weight pants: 2
• Belt: 1-2
• Swimsuit: 1
• Summer weight pants: 2-4
• Shorts: 1 – 2 pair (note: women seldom wear shorts in town, even when it’s sweltering hot)
• Windbreaker/Gortex fleece lightweight jacket: 1
• Durable hiking/winter boots: 1
• Sneakers /good walking shoes: 1-2 pairs
• Dress shoes: 1 pair
• Dress skirt/pants: 2-4
• Dress shirts: 2-4
• Dress suit or sport coat: 1
• Warm slippers: 1 pair
• Long underwear: 1 pair
  
• Pajamas: 2-3 pairs
• Jeans: 4 pairs
• Underpants, undershirts, and lingerie: 10 sets of undies

Soon I am going to have to put all my clothing in one pile and figure out what really fits; in the mean time I will just try to enjoy the luxury of my current wardrobe!

saying good-bye to my city

The thought of saying good-bye to friends and family is challenging, but I know through the many small miracles of technology we will stay in touch. However, saying good-bye to Seattle is a little more difficult as I doubt the ability of my city as a pen pal. Seattle has been through many changes over the past few years, some good and some bad. It's interesting to think that I will come back to a city with decidedly more public transportation (perhaps I'll ride the light-rail from the airport to the University at the end of the 27 months) and potentially more huge constructions projects both underway or completed. I've been pondering the following:

• A new seawall
• A new viaduct
• The additional 520 Bridge
  
• A new Memorial Stadium (or no stadium at the Center?)
• The completion of South Lake Union
• New light rail stations
• The end of the monorail
  

In my last week before departure I am focusing on some of my favorite parts of Seattle just the way it is. Here is one of my favorite spots in the arboretum, Foster Island. I took this photo walking back from a refreshing swim on a hot day last summer.

One Week

A little over a month ago I was accepted into the Peace Corps to serve as an education volunteer in Romania. After much deliberation and a lot of tears I decided this was an opportunity I could not pass up. It seems to funny to say that I deliberated about something that I applied for, but the truth is that I didn't realize quite how much I love my life until the possibility of leaving arose.

I applied to the Peace Corps in February 2009 and essentially finished all my forms, interviews, and doctors appointments by July 2009 without ever feeling like I knew if would get in or not. I knew I was applying for programs in Eastern Europe that would start in May, June or July 2010, but was also told that due to the state of the economy there were many more applicants in the pool. I feel very fortunate to have been picked as a volunteer and am very excited to serve in the Peace Corps.

However, the thought of leaving my friends and family for 27 months is extremely hard for me. I am so lucky to have so many amazing people in my life who provide me so much joy. This being said, living on the other side of the world doesn't mean that I won't be able to stay in touch. Thus the birth of this blog!

Now, I have just one week left until I fly to Chicago for "staging," then two days later it's off to Romania and the first day of the next 27 months of service.