The Beginning of Goodbye

Today I am finally admitting that the massive allergies I've had lately have just devolved into a cold.  I am stating my apologies in advance if I am not the most coherent as my head is a bit cloudy.  However, as I have just three weeks left in Peace Corps, I feel that I should blog as much as I can while I am still here. 

In English class I discovered that three of the mothers in my Monday class are also sick so something must be going around.  I detest starting summer out with a cold, but it seems that I have no choice.  After having lots of rainy and cold days it's finally turned hot and each day seems to be getting steadily hotter.  Over the weekend temps were in the low 90's. It feels wrong to be sitting in my apartment sipping tea, but I am hoping if I lay low I will recover faster!

Doamna Horonica calls roll for 12D for the last time

Last Friday was the last official day of school for the 12th graders.  This week they start their Baccalaureate exams.  Friday morning, my school had a promotion ceremony, closing four years of classes for the form teachers with their classes.  It's quite a sweet ceremony. Awards are given to top students and each form teacher gives a short speech and then calls attendance from their catalog for the last time.  One teacher couldn't even make it through her whole class list, she got so emotional.   After all the attendance is called, the president of the 12th grade hands the key of the school over to the 11th grade class president.  All the students are then wished lots of luck on their exams and  everyone drinks a glass champagne.

The interesting thing is that I only saw a handful of parents at this event (this is the closest thing to graduation in Romanian high schools).  While this event is on a work day morning, to me, this emphasizes the strong bond between form teachers and their classes.  It was sweet to see form teachers have this moment with their classes.  This also got me thinking about the closing of my time in Romania.  I have already said goodbye to 2/3 of my classes and while I have not been emotional at all, I imagine on my final day I might be.

The interesting thing about my role here is that I have such a tiny amount of interaction with my students each week.  To them, I am just someone they see one hour a week, one of eighteen different teachers they have.  However for me, my students have been my world for two years.  They have consumed my thoughts and been the cause of great joy, overwhelming sadness and frustration.  In the end, I wish I could have had more time with them and that I felt like a made a difference to them.

New Year, New Adventure?

As 2012 dawns, I found myself in the kitchen over a steaming pot.  Was a trying a new recipe for the new year?  Not exactly.  While I have been blessed with good health in PC life so far it seems that this luck has finally run out.  What was a common cold while I was in Budapest turned into a full blown sinus infection.  Thus I found myself with my head over a steaming pot of water and vinegar at the suggestion of a PC doctor.  While I can't say it's the most pleasant thing in the world; it does give me a little relief from intense sinus pressure.  I am now on antibiotics and hope to be better soon.

2012 also marks the beginning of the end for me here in Romania.  I will finish my service this year and head back to the States.  If I am being honest I am terrified.  It seems like every time I dare to look at the news in the United States the economic outlook grows bleaker and bleaker.  However, I have a few months to work on my resume and begin applying for jobs.  Here's to hoping the new year brings new beginnings.

Here and There

Tomorrow morning I will be heading down to Bucharest to check with the doctors again about my eye. I am still seeing the spot I previously wrote about.  It's a bizarre problem, and I'm finding it troubling that in the past three months it hasn't gone away.  However, the spot hasn't gotten any bigger which is a blessing.

After my doctors appointments I will be bound for the United States.  My dear cousin Corona is getting married and I am taking leave to go to the wedding. 

 

It's been about a year and a half since I have been in the U.S. and more importantly, seen most of my family and friends.  I am very excited to see everyone, but quite frankly, I am bit nervous about it too.  I don't quite feel that I am able to articulate all of my nerves, but I feel like so much has happened since I have been away that I am not quite sure I'll be able to take it all in.  However, I shall try.

Spotty

For the past month I  have been seeing spots, actually to be more specific I have been seeing one spot.  It's in the middle of my right eye and in the middle of my field of vision.  I thought my contacts might be getting old so I switched them out, but alas still the same annoying spot.  I have the sensation of a bug flying in front of whatever I am trying to look at.  The bug moves as I try to look around and past it.  Last week I finally contacted the PC doctors and went down to Bucharest to have my eyes checked.  Let me tell you having an eye exam where the doctor is speaking another language and doesn't trying to slow down for you is not a fun thing, especially when the procedures are not quite what you are accustomed too.

However, I was eventually given the all clear and told that the spot I am seeing should eventually go away. "Oh, okay, but when?" I asked.  That is not known, but I can have the doctor check my eyes again in three months.  I also relayed this story to the Dutch girl who volunteers in my town.  She said, oh yeah, I had something like that happen to me, but after 3 or 4 years they went away.  This did not make me feel much better.

The optometrist suggested I could try drinking blueberry juice each day.  I have not ever seen blueberry juice here although there is a blueberry liqueur that people make so perhaps I can hunt some down.  In the mean time, I'll just pray for a world free of spots. 

If anyone out there has any trick for eye health send them my way.  I am eatting lots of carrots, just in case that works.