School Days

As we end the first week of class in Peace Corps Training, I don't know what to feel. I was talking with another trainee yesterday who said she created a blog, but has yet to post anything because she pictured herself having deep thoughts about life while she is here, but thus far she had yet to have any. I understand what she means. As new PCTs (Peace Corps Trainees) we spend so much time trying to negotiate our daily tasks and communicate with our gazdas (host families) that it makes having room for more thoughts difficult. For example, I have spent the past couple days trying to find the post office. It seems from my understanding that in this town of 89,000 there is only one post office and this is the only place to buy stamps. I think today I was on the right road, but was unable to find the office. I also have yet to find postcards so many apologies to all of you back home. I hope in the near future to acquire both stamps and postcards.


The end of the first week also means the end of the first week of language training. We sit in the above desks for four hours a day trying to get as much Romanian absorbed into our heads as possible. It's overwhelming to say the least. It's also very different from any other language class I've taken before. Our teachers do not speak English during class at all which I understand from an overall perspective that the more immersed we are the more likely we are to learn, but I am having a lot of trouble with because the rules of language do not seem to make much sense to me without an explanation in a language that I can understand. If anything I feel like I am losing English skills rather than learning Romanian. In the Romanian language you put the adjective after the noun, so I have found myself saying things in my head like apple red or town flat. It's a bit of a confusing time.

The floor in my classroom.

Gazda Meetings

Saturday afternoon was one of the much anticipated times during PCT. After lunch we met our gazdas or homestay families. We were told as a group we would be living in situations ranging from very humble apartments to separate estate houses. Some families would have hot water, some would not, some might have internet, most would not, but all the gazdas would have space for us.
All the PCTs were set up in a conference room with tables running across the room with our names on one side and our gazda families on the other. We all sat in the room hoping that they would like us. We had filled out questionnaires with a little information about us, but not too much.

When I finally met my gazda, Mariea, I learned that her daughter, Gabi, was also being a gazda for another volunteer. I was very lucky to get to live around the corner from another PCT! Also, Gabi’s son, Cosmin and his girlfriend Georgiana, speak some English.
Mariea and her husband, Gicu, live in a 5th floor apartment and speak only Romanian. It’s good practice for me, but at this point I only know words so we have very halted “conversations.” It’s nice to have Cosmin and Georgie come for some additional translation. Mariea has four adult daughters and 5 grandchildren. She had all of the families over including Gabi and her PCT on Saturday night. At the end of the evening I went to bed feeling quite overwhelmed. The whole family was extremely kind, but we didn’t have enough common words between us to communicate. Also, everyone offered me lots and lots of food which was interesting because it seems that no one else was eating.

This is not my apartment, but typical of the bloks in my area.

The next day was much better as I slept until late in the morning, I think the jet lag had finally caught up with me. I then went to Mariea's daughters' house to play Rummikub with all the grandchildren with another PCT. It was a great way to break into the language.

In the afternoon, I walked with Cosmin, Georgie, and my fellow PCT, Chelsea to tour the old castle of the "majors" as Cosi called them. I think this translates to rulers of Romania. Below are pictures from our walk in the castle grounds and the stadium and park next door. The castle costs 3 Lei to get into (about $1) while the park is free. They are both about a 15 minute walk from our apartment blok.

Climbing the tower.

Chelsea, Cosmin and moi on top of the tower (see the previous post for the exterior of the tower).

The local football arena and community track.

Walking Around Site

On day two at our site we went for a walk in the neighborhood behind our hotel. Below are a few of the snapshots. While it's been a few days since I took these I can now say that we were walking in one of the nicer and maybe older parts of the city. Most neighborhoods seems to have more communist era apartment bloks.

Shops in the old town.

They have goblin giardia here!