Do you hear that?

Being in Peace Corps means becoming accustomed to new and different things.  However, being placed in a good sized town in Romania means my adjustments haven't been like those one typically thinks of when one thinks Peace Corps.  I am not living in a hut in Africa or a remote mountainous village in South America. I don't have to walk miles to the closest store, I have a real toilet and I have electricity and running water the majority of the time.

When I first got to my site last August I had the typical adjustments that I have had in previous moves in the States; finding the local post office and grocery store, exploring new streets and getting used to new noises.  However, the noises here are different than those at home.  The windows of my apartment overlook the parking lot at the back of my building and it took a while for me to get used to the backing up beeping that most cars have here.   I also had to get used to the noise of the trash chute.  One of my windows is next to the trash chute which is basically a giant pipe that runs through a common balcony that exists on every floor of my building (we have 9).  When I first moved in, I was totally puzzled by the noise, but now I rarely hear it unless someone is throwing out glass (we don't have recycling). 

However, what has taken more adjustment is the absence of constant white noise that I was used to in the U.S.  There are no planes flying overhead and very few sirens. Now I feel like I hear more, thus when I hear something different I feel I must investigate.  This summer it was the sound of horses. A neighbor was having some work done on their apartment and the workmen came to and from the apartment with a căruţă, a traditional wagon.  I have come to discover this is a pretty common sound on the weekends.

This week I heard a new noise when I got home from school, I looked out my window to find something new.  Normally a garbage truck pick up the trash, but yesterday a tractor was clearing out the space below the chute.  It was a little noisier than the garbage truck, but I am secretly hoping this is the new trash collection method because it's awesome.

Surpriză

A couple weeks ago I went to go visit my old host family. It was the first time I had been able to visit them since training. My host mom's granddaughters asked me about how I was liking teaching. It was a surprising and refreshing question as most people at site assume that I come from a teaching background. My host family saw me work through the challenges of my first time teaching during practicum in pre-service training and knew the excitement and trepidation I felt about teaching.

The granddaughters: Teo, Bianca, and Ada

 

The girls' question caught me off guard for a moment because I hadn't really thought about this before. I told them about how I am lucky to like my students, but that it can be difficult. The next part I found myself saying, surprised me because it's a challenge that I have been facing, but never really consciously realized.  One of the main challenges I face teaching is feeling alone. 

I don't think I fully really realized how fortunate I was to be part of such a strong team at my previous job. (shout out to Aimee and Lindsay, I miss you both so much!)  While a lot of my work was independent we had weekly meeting to support each other and work through challenges.  I don't think I fully understood how helpful those meetings were until I faced this situation where I have no team to meet with.

I am trying to think positive thoughts for the future and ways to feel more comfortable in the classroom, but in this first year of teaching, I miss being part of a team and working with peers.

Upcoming Events

Many times in life I am not that good at looking forward, I tend to over-analyze events long after they occur. I try to figure out the perfect thing that I should have done or said.  Sometimes this can help me acquire clarity, but recently it's been weighing me down.  I have been revisiting lackluster lessons and challenging interactions with students, but have been unable to gain addition insight.  This week I have decided to try to make a conscious choice not to focus so much on the past, but to try to look ahead more.  I have two exciting happenings in the near future that I am looking forward to.

The first is that next week is spring break in the Romanian school system and I am headed to Scotland to visit my friends Sarah and Dan and their darling daughter, Hazel.  Sarah and Dan moved to Scotland last summer a few months after I arrived in Romania so it's been fun comparing notes about adjusting to life in a new culture.

with Sarah in 2009

The next event won't take place until the beginning of June, but will be quite the celebration!  This year marks the 20th anniversary for Peace Corps in Romania and the 50th anniversary of Peace Corps globally.  The celebration committee for Peace Corps Romania has elected to mark this occasion by trying to do something different and big!  We are working to raise enough funds to build a house through Habitat for Humanity and also gather together with locals to complete the house. If you already donate to Habitat, please consider allocating your donation to the Beius project, or if you would like to make a one-time donation to the project you can find information about how to do that here.

So in June, I look forward to traveling to Beius to help build a house for a deserving family! If you would like to learn more about the family that will receive the house you can do so here.  

Hip-hip-hooray!

My dear friend and fellow Peace Corps volunteer, Megan, got married last weekend. Megan is in her third year as a volunteer working in the environmental sector and has had a special project this year, planning a wedding! This has actually meant planning three wedding ceremonies; one at the city hall in her fiancee's town, one at a Romanian Orthodox church and one stateside. I was lucky enough to get to attend the first ceremony last Saturday.

Megan married Relu, a native of Oneşti, on a perfect spring day.

Getting ready for city hall...

Relu and Megan, gearing up for the ceremony!

The ceremony only took about five minutes and was conducted by two women from the primărie (city hall). The crowd clapped when Megan said "da," yes in Romanian.

The second ceremony will take place in a Romanian Orthodox church after Easter. The Romanian Orthodox Church is in Post (essentially Lent) right now so no wedding ceremonies are performed until after Easter.

Cheers to the happy couple!

With the bride and groom!

over the mountains and through the woods

My old host family lives about a five hour bus ride south and west of me. During my visit with them a couple weeks ago we had splendid weather, but on the trip back north the weather got colder. The trip takes me through two mountains ranges and as the bus entered the second one we came upon fresh snow. While I don't enjoy snow in spring, I couldn't help but enjoy the beauty.

Celebrating

Two weekends ago I took a trip south to visit my host family from last summer. I lived with Maria and Gicu for 11 weeks during training and they graciously invited me to help celebrate the birthday Maria and Nicolae (one of her son-in-laws).

It was great to see Maria, Gicu and all the family that live in the area. Here is a little video from the party.