Sunday, April 10, 2011

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.  

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

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.