One Year Later

 Almost a year ago, I headed to Bucharest with Julie to officially end our 27 months of Peace Corps service. We spent two nights in Bucharest, got our final medical check-ups and completed mountains of paperwork. It was a whirlwind completing our close of service checklists. We returned the smoke detectors and water filters which we had lugged from our sites, closed our bank accounts and turned in all our grant paperwork. At the end of the day we had checked off all the boxed on our pages of forms and we were officially cleared to leave Romania.

 I felt ready to go.  I turned in my grades, I had cleaned out my classroom and apartment, I said goodbye to people in Onesti, I had donated everything I wouldn't be taking with me, I packed my bags, I checked out of Peace Corps.  I felt both excited and nervous about my future back in the States.

 What ended up being one of the hardest things was saying good-bye to my friend and fellow PCV, Julie.  After two years, countless trips on trains, buses, maxi-taxis and automobiles, one apartment flood, two Christmases together, one pig killing, one Hungarian adventure, and many other adventures Julie became one of my best friends.  Even though we only saw each other every three weeks or so, Julie was the constant in my life in Romania.  She was the one I called when I needed someone to talk to, had witnessed something ridiculous or felt unsafe. Julie was headed straight into grad school in DC after Peace Corps so although I knew she would still be a phone call away, I knew I would miss all of our adventures.  However, we did promise that if we can ever get selected as contestants on The Amazing Race we could make the best team ever!

 I went from straight from Romania to Norway to meet up with my brother, sister-in-law, niece and to meet my nephew for the first time.  I was very excited to reconnect with family that I hadn't seen for two and half years.  I spent a week and a half in Norway before finally arriving back in the states in the middle of July.

Sustain

The dictionary defines the word sustain in three ways: 1) to give support or relief to, 2) to supply with sustenance: nourish, 3) keep up, prolong. As my time in Romania grows short I have started to think more about how the work I have started can continue. I don't worry about my students in the high school; their English education will continue. However, I am trying to figure out how to sustain my work with the foundation. This is especially significant as the Peace Corps presence in Romania comes to an end and there will be no more Peace Corps volunteers in my community.

I have been working on a plan to transition my classes at the foundation to some of my high school students. I want to encourage the spirit of volunteering in my community. While I am still in Romania, I can share information and help them practice lesson creating and teaching. Next year the program would become their own, in the hope that they may help it grow and flourish.

Today we held an additional meeting with my students and Angela and Saskia, who run the foundation, to discuss this plan. My students observed part of my class with the younger kids.  Everyone is on board to start this project. Next week I'll meet with my students and we will create a lesson to teach together. I will also start to transition some of my teaching resources to them. After Easter vacation, while I am at my Peace Corps 'Close of Service Conference,' my students will have an opportunity to teach on their own. After I return from the conference we can continue to work together until they feel comfortable teaching on their own.

While this plan is still in its infancy, I feel excited about the possibility of it working.  I hope to spending the next three months working to get this plan to come into fruition for the benefit of the foundation and my students, both in high school and at the center.