Life in Floresti

I have been in Floresti almost two weeks now and life is going pretty darn good! I really like my family and they told me on the first day I was here that they have 5 children (Octavian and his wife Ina, Diana and her fiance Octavian, and ME) and 1 grandson-Cristi. I get to help around the house and garden. I may just end up learning how to run a small farm by the end of these two years. Although, I haven't jumped in the animal husbandry side of farm life quite yet!! The closest I get is feeding the chickens the leftover fruits and vegetable scraps from meals. One sad note was that about five days into me living here, my host dad (Valeriu) left for a job in Moscow and he wont be back until November. But I think my host mom (Galina) is happy that I am here to keep her company. She and I have been spending a lot of time together and we are getting the chance to bond!

Work has been a bit slow these last two weeks since the school is still gearing up for next week. And from what I have heard from other volunteers, they are going through the same thing. In some ways its kinda nice to have some downtime after training and before the chaos of school starting. Before coming here I had already met my main partner teacher Elena. But I have now met with my other two-Oxana and Maia (pronounced My-a). I like them both a lot, but am only teaching one class with each of them.

I found out this past Friday (Aug 28) what forms I am teaching (5th, 7th, 8th-2 classes, 9th, and 11th-2 classes). The 9th form (they use British English here and form = grade) will be the one class I teach solo without my partner teachers. I will be teaching about 19 hours per week.

Here are some pics around my town and house.

The gate to our house:

My walkway to the back entrance:

The front of the house:

The back entrance which is actually the main entrance we all use:

One part of the garden:

Stuff in the cellar

These are tomatoes that we jarred. The one in the middle is the one I did!!

Best part of the cellar-the wine barrels

The sun was coming through a crack in a cool way and of course was casting its light on the two things (Tomato juice and Brinza-goat cheese) I'm not necessarily a fan of-can you say ironic?!?

All these jars are for the winter:

The second best thing in the cellar-The Compot!!

The exit from the cellar:

My room:

The family: My nephew and my host mom