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.
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.
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