Everyday (and with every moon I see rising behind my backyard) I fall more in love with this country. I love the people who are incredibly warm and welcoming, I love the fact that they celebrate something whenever and as often as they can (there were three holidays in my first three weeks of being in Floresti), and I am greatly enjoying the slower pace of life. I am not missing the need to constantly feel like I need to be doing something or that I have too many things to do to feel ok about just taking a nap in the middle of the day (which I have had many lately).
This week was my first week of teaching in a Moldovan school. My OCD is distrubed by the day to day changes in the schedule, but I have observed that non of my counterparts or students are in the slightest distressed about this, so I am doing my best to go with the flow. It has been working for years, so I am just going to trust that it will work again this year. The first week was good. I taught for a total of 10 hours this week and had a great time meeting all the students. I still have one class I have not met with, but this will happen on Monday. I'm very excited because this is my one class that I will teach on my own!
The first day of school opened with a ceremony welcoming all the students. I got to stand up front with the mayor, the director of schools for Floresti and my school director while the festivities commenced. I even gave a little 2 minute speech (in Romanian) introducing myself, why I was here and that I was happy to be working with all the teachers and students. I was really nervous, but it went well and I got compliments from some of the students and faculty on my accent! Oh yeah, I got lots of flowers which is just super cool!! My favorite part was that all the students stood together by class with the 5th graders standing outside the gate. My school is 5th-12th grade and these were the new students to the school. Their class was introduced and then welcomed through the gate to join the other students. It was just a really nice moment for them. I only taught one class that day because it was a half day, but it was fun. So far this week I have worked with my 5th, 7th, both 8th and all three 11th grade classes. I have yet to work with my 9th grade class (my solo class). I absolutely love the 5th and 7th graders. They let me be dorky and still think its cute and they are so eager to learn. It could also be that I love working with younger kids so they definitely appeal to me. I think the older grades are kinda playing it cool right now with me, but I hope with time that they will soften a little as well.
Below are some pics from the first day, enjoy!
The students getting into their groups before the start of the ceremony.
The 5th graders being welcomed into the school!
