A Romanian Wedding

My gazdas have been wonderful about helping me experience lots of Romanian culture while I have been here. Last weekend after I came back from visiting my future site (I'll write more about that in the future) I got to attend a Romanian Orthodox wedding. One of my gazda's daughters and son-in-law were the wedding godparents. In Romania, the couple decides on a another married couple that they want to be their wedding godparents. The godparents are very active in the church ceremony and are supposed to be the spiritual role models for them as they enter marriage. It was very interesting because the parents of the bride and groom did not really take active roles in the ceremony, only the godparents did. I should note here though, that I don't know if this is the case in all Romanian or if that was just for this wedding. I did not attend the reception because in Romania guest pay for their own plates at the reception and this can be over 100 RON.

Here is a small overview of some of what I got to experience on the wedding day. I was with the wedding godparents when the groom and his family came to get the godparents. He also brought his best man who traditionally carries a small pine tree that is decorated for the wedding. Also coming with him was an accordion player to help us really get in the wedding mood.

The proud godparent family.

After the godparents were picked up, we then set off to gather the bride from her home. After her family offered everyone refreshments. Bread was broken over her head and then everyone danced the hora in the parking lot outside her house. Finally, it was time to head to the church.

The bride was walked into the church / down the aisle by her godfather.

The church service itself was surprisingly short. I think it only lasted about 45 minutes or so. After the bride and groom were crowned it was time for the reception. I did not attend this part, but my goal at some point during the next two years is to attend all the parts of a Romanian wedding. Before I do this though I really need to improve my language skills so that I can understand more of what is going on around me.

A Little More of My Hood

As with everything, just when you get used to things, things are likely to change. Such is my life in Romania. As I have finally settled into my Peace Corps training things are about to change. In three weeks training will come to an end and we will be sent off to our individual sites in Romania. I thought before I leave my current locale I would post a few more pictures of my daily life here.

Chickens on my walk to school.

The watermelon stand on the corner across from my blok.

The view from my bedroom window of surrounding apartment blocks.

One of the many churches near my blok.

This weekend we had the counterpart conference where we met that teachers that we will work with and split classes with for the next two years. My counterpart is Violeta, Vio for short, who told me she loves teaching because it keeps her young. I was excited by her genuine passion for working with students.

Tomorrow I will go with Vio, to visit my new city and school. I am nervous, apprehensive and excited. A lot of my thoughts in Peace Corps are occupied with balancing expectations and realities. It's so weird be about to visit my home for the next two year and see the flat that will hopefully feel like home one day. For some reason in my head I keep picturing my freshman year dorm room. I really hope it's not quite that small!

I have become more excited about starting my service and working in my school after talking to my counterpart and some current volunteers. They have told me about the challenges that a lot of students at industrial school face in Romania. Many students are in these schools because they did not do well in previous school and this is where they ended up placed. Also, they face extremely long commutes to school and may have parents working in other countries because they can't make enough to live on in Romania. I also understand that I may face many disciplinary issues when school starts, but I feel lucky to have so many experienced teachers in my friends and family. Ginny, Eric, Emily, Astrid, Ona, Mom, Melissa, Laura, Katie, Al, Emily, Amy, Diana and everyone else I will be pestering you in the coming year! Many thanks in advance!

Chapter 16, in Which I Discover My Future

Last Wednesday was site announcement day. This was the day when we were told where we would be going for the next two years and what school level we would be teaching. Sufficed to say, the whole group was stressed and anxious to learn where their home would be.

While Romania is only the size of Oregon, it has quite a diverse landscape and culture (and to some extent language, a few people in our group will have to learn Hungarian in addition to language, as that is the primary language in their community). Many people were hoping for mountains while others dreamed of being on the Black Sea or in the Danube Delta.

We also had the American Ambassador to Romania in attendance so there was added pressure on the event. We were lucky to have nice weather so the ceremony was held in the garden of our school.

While I can not post the exact location of my site on my blog (you can e-mail me if you are interested); I can tell you some details. I will be teaching high school at a technical school in a town of about 60,000 in the eastern part of Romania. The school has about 1,500 students in it. I will be in the center of the region of Moldavia which is the poorest region of Romania. My town is a formal industrial center and according to the information I have received has been extremely hard hit by the economic downturn.

Over the weekend I will be meeting my counterpart who will be my main contact at the school for the next two years. Then next week we will travel to my site so I can check it out with my own two eyes.

Dog Attack

Stray dogs are part of the landscape in my Romanian experience thus far. I see at least 75 dogs each day on my 45 minute walk to and from school. Most of them are harmless, but you occasionally will get one that is overly interested in you and barks or growls. It can be a little intimidating. Even the U.S. Department of State has a warning about dogs on their Romania page.

Throughout our training, we have been warned to never run from the dogs and if they try to bite or attack you to remain calm. On the 4th of July my dog attack training was put into practice. However, I was very lucky. I only ended up with a little drool on my pants. Evidence below.

In all seriousness though dogs can be a threat here and I am careful not to walk too close to dogs that look like they may be trouble. I hope to never have a real attack during my stay in Romania.

Another year and a little learning

Last week I turned another year older and my lovely gazdas had a birthday party for me. My gazdas invited two of my fellow trainees over for the party. Maria, my gazda mom, spent the day before the party making sour cherry liquor. We had a feast and she made an amazing custard/jello fruit dessert that was presented to me complete with a firework in it!


This week concluded the second week of our teaching practicum. The first week of practicum I taught 8th graders and after the first day I realized that my lessons were a little too low for the majority of my students because their English was very good. This meant rethinking my lessons for the rest of the week. After some initial stress and some boredom from my students I ended up finally figuring out how to make lessons that were challenging enough for the advanced one, but could also work for students who had lower levels of English.

My most successful lesson during the remainder of the week was a lesson that I did on letter writing and descriptions. After reviewing the pieces of a letter, I had everyone close their eyes and I gave them the following prompt, "Imagine you are looking at the person that you want to marry. They are beautiful or handsome. They are smart and educated. They are respectful and kind. They are talented, funny, and athletic. They are your perfect match. However, there is a problem this person is on the other side of the world and they only speak English." I had students then write a letter to help their future spouse find them and convince them that they are the right person for them.

After the students finished their letters I collected them all and passed them back out. We read them as a class and tried to decide who wrote each letter. Students with more basic skills stuck to just physical description of themselves. However, students with broader vocabularies had some very creative letters. In one of my favorite letters, a student told his future wife that she could be his Juliet and he would be her Romeo.

Fifth grade was more challenging for me. I admire the energy required to be an elementary school teacher. It's especially difficult when teaching another language to elementary students when you only know basic things in their home language. Throughout the week I got a lot of blank stares, but overall, I think they learned some things.