Christmas Came Early

So, I have a confession to make. I have been going through the motions this holiday season. I made cookies and breads, making my apartment smell like the holidays, but it didn't help me feel them. I tried to hand out cheer as I passed out baked goods, but spending my first Christmas season away from home has not been the most fun. Also, the economic crisis has hit Romania hard so my school didn't do any celebrating nor were there any seasonal invitations from my colleagues. Thus it just hasn't felt like Christmas.

However, there have been bright spots, I have been extremely lucky to receive packages and love from my family. These have brought me excitement as I wait in line at the customs office on Tuesday mornings and joy as I open the box with the agent to explore what is inside.

Yet as Christmas gets near I have been feeling more and more dread for a day without family and friends. My counterpart, Violeta, called me out of the blue to say that she and my tutor, Doina, wanted to come caroling to my apartment. People traditionally carol here the week prior to Christmas and when your home is visited you are supposed to serve the carolers drinks and food (or give them money). I made a batch of peanut butter cookies intrigued, wondering what they were going to sing.

When Vio, Doina and Marga, another teacher from school, showed up they informed me they would not be singing, but they had a surprise. They told me to stay in the kitchen while they were busy in the main room in my studio. When they finally told me I could look I was amazed. They brought me Christmas in the form of an amazing little tree with blue twinkly lights, ornaments, garlands and bows. They also made sure I had some mistletoe hanging in my apartment. It was the most wonderful Christmas surprise!

Now I am sitting in the glow of the lovely tree, wondering how I can thank these three lovely women for brightening my holiday season.

Heading West

Last week I was in Sibiu for In Service Training. Sibiu is a gorgeous city in Translyvania with strong German roots. Coming to Sibiu was a bit unreal for me because I felt like I was coming into another country. I don't see architecture like this in my region, nor do I live close to any German or Hungarian communities. It was very fun for me to be able to see a different piece of Romania.

Unfortunately, the conference kept us very occupied and we didn't get out until after dark each day. However, I was able to sneak out on a lunch break to get a few shots of the city.

Piata Mare set up with stalls of holiday goodies.

Piata Mica

Sibiu also has some amazing museums and these are definitely on my lists for future visits. I hope to be able to take friends and family here when they visit.

Negligent Blogging

Last week my group hit six months of being in Romania. I attempted to compile my thoughts after being here for half a year, but they came out a jumbled mess so I abandoned the idea for now. Perhaps you can all one day read my tell-all memoir.

Next week I will be reunited with my group for a week long training session. We will have language refresher courses and also discuss teaching tactics. Before departing I had hoped to do a little photo essay of my school, but it didn't happen. Below is the one picture I managed to take which includes the soccer field, dorms, and in the rear of the photo, the building I teach in.

I'll have to finish the rest of my photos in the snow as we are now blanketed in white with a heavy emphasis on ice.

Also, I thought I'd include a little decor update. I bought a rug last month and finally put some things on the walls. Ona sent me some awesome postcards that now adorn the wall above my table. Thanks again friend!

Number One Fan

Last week I went to watch the girl's handball team play a preseason game against another high school in town. I am still practicing with the team weekly trying to learn the finer points of the game, but I attended this game purely as a spectator.

My school is wearing white. You may recognize the jerseys from my previous post about featuring the boy's soccer team. Unfortunately, my school only has a handful of uniforms and students can not afford to buy their own. The coach has about 8 jerseys that he keeps in his office and hands out to students when there are games. They then get washed once a week. Thus the girls are wearing the same jerseys the boys were wearing a couple weeks ago.

Unfortunately, the results of the game were not in our favor (see the half-time score below). However, it was nice to get out and cheer on the girls.

Chicken Day

Over the weekend, I organized a mini-Thanksgiving for volunteers who live in my area. We opted for chicken, not turkey, as to get a turkey you have to spend a lot of time befriending farmers and we didn't quite have time this year.

I figured the day wouldn't be complete a crafty project. With the guidance of the internet I fashioned some quality headgear for the event.

Aron and Julie peel potatoes for dinner.

Mil carves up some chicken.

Our feast.

Julie, Mil, Aron, Vicki, Monica, Relu and Megan.

Thanks to a wonderful package from Ona we were able to enjoy pumpkin cupcakes with candy corn!
HAPPY CHICKEN DAY!

Thankful

As the holidays advance, I am approaching my first holiday season away from home. As this week is Thanksgiving, I would like to take a moment to reflect on what I am thankful for, both big and small.

Most of all I am thankful for all the tremendous support I have received from family and friends back home. Be it in cards, e-mails, skype dates or packages your words and wisdom mean so much to me and make me feel loved.

I have appreciate the items I have received in the mail. Thanks to Mom, Dad, and Aunt Marta for outfitting me with long underwear and socks. I now have a beautifully stocked drawer!


Also, thanks to everyone who has sent postcards from destinations around the U.S. My students love seeing photos of different places across America.


Last week, another teacher at school yelled at me as I was walking through one of the school buildings. I was very confused as I cut through this building everyday on my way to class and I didn't quite understand what he was saying. I just excused myself and continued on to class. Later, the teacher came up to me and apologized as he thought I was a student. I still don't know quite what he thought I was doing wrong, but I am thankful for the interaction. As I am rapidly approaching the big 3-0 being mistaken for a high school student is a pretty nice compliment.

I miss everyone greatly, but I am thankful for technology and the interaction it allows. Thank you all again for all of your wonderful support. Happy Thanksgiving!

Last week, I had a Peace Corps meeting at the site of another volunteer who lives in Transylvania. It was my first trip to the region and on Sunday we were able to get out on a little walk. Unfortunately, it's not easy to get to Transylvania from my site because you have to get around the Carpathian mountains. I took a 5 hours bus ride and then a 6 hour train ride. However, it was worth it for an interesting meeting and a beautiful walk.

A Weekend Walk

This weekend my friend and fellow volunteer, Chelsea came to visit. This required her taking two trains and a maxi-taxi, essentially a full day of traveling to come see me. We had a nice visit and gorgeous weather! On Saturday afternoon we climbed to the cross on the hill outside of my site that is lit up each night. I have wanted to do this walk since I arrived, but this is the first weekend weather has finally worked in my favor. When I arrived at site in August it was simply too hot and then we had a spell of rain.

Saturday it was crisp and sunny, perfect for the walk. I had been given vague directions from locals that involved walking to the train tracks, turning left and finding a crossing, then trying to find the path. We did have to back track a couple times, but the weather made it enjoyable.

Our destination.

The path.

My awesome hiking partner.

Getting closer.

The view on the other side of the hill, away from my town.

The view of my town.

Summit.

Universal?

Trying to get to become integrated in my school has been challenging. Besides the obvious language barrier, I also have had trouble getting used to the very different organization systems employed by my school. All-staff meetings are only announced on the day of the meeting and we don't seem to have an easily accessible all-school event calendar. This has created some challenges for me.

As a technical college, my school has practicums throughout the year for each class. That means for 2 weeks each semester classes who have practicum don't attend any of their normal classes, but take part in a practicum specific to their profile. Some of my eleventh graders told me that their practicum was coming up so for planning purposes I wanted to figure out what two weeks I would not be teaching them. After consulting a number a different teachers they told me to check with the school secretaries. When I went to ask the secretaries about how to find out when my classes would have practicum they directed me to a rolled up poster-board sitting on the floor in the corner. After unrolling the poster-board, I discovered that sure enough this was the schedule for the schedule of practicums this semester. Thus I discovered that for the next two weeks I don't teach 11A and 11D.

While my knowledge about what is happening at school may be limited, I have been lucky to make friends with one of the sports teachers, Adi. He has kept me up to date on the teams he coaches and let me practice with the girls handball and football teams. My language skills fail me often, but the language of the body is universal. I must admit that at the end of handball practice I am grateful when all we have to do is sit-up, push-up, squats and laps around the gym. I can stop trying to understand the Romanian commands and just let myself get in the rhythm of doing something physical. I am not sure if I am getting any better at handball, but I am having fun laughing at myself and letting the students laugh at me too.

As I both try to become integrated and observe my school with my American lenses, one thing I am constantly struck by is the lack of school pride in my school. I think there are some teachers doing great things in my school, but so much seems to exist in silos. Perhaps some of this is due to a lack of school calendar and infrastructure, but it also seems that students aren't aware of what is happening in the school and teachers don't know what their colleagues are doing. I have been attending the football games of the boys teams (the girls won't play games until spring) and have been surprised by the lack of school attendance at the games. I thought this might be a good way to see some of my students or colleagues outside of class, perhaps even some parents, but attendance is not quite the same as it would be at an American school sporting event. Each game has about 10-15 boys from school in attendance and often I am the only woman watching.

Regardless of the differences of watching a game at home, I still love watching the game. Today was an exciting day for our team because the boys finally won a game! We played the high school across the street from ours on their home field. Here is are some highlights from today's match, a 2-1 victory.

Right before our first goal of the game. My school is in white.

The boys get a half time pep talk from Adi.

Romanian football footwear.

It was a lovely, but chilly fall day.