The Metric System, More School, Thanksgiving

First let me say:

Now, to my first topic-the Metric System. One thing I have not really talked about is that I am having to completely change my way of thinking when it comes to weight, height, temperature and distance. As most of you I'm sure know, we use the metric system over here. America needs to get on board with this. It would make things so much simpler since most of the world uses this system of measurement.

I decided not to tackle all of the metric system at once. I have opted for the two areas I use most: temperature and weight.

Temperature, because well basically I want to be able to understand weather reports and not be scared when it says that today will be 10 degrees (which is 50 degrees Fahrenheit). Knowing that 10 degrees Celsius is equal to 50 degrees Fahrenheit is not so scary. What is scary is when my host family says typical winter tempertures are around -10 degrees Celsius. (Note: see Becca frantically pull out calculator and compute -10C x 9/5 + 32!) It also helps when needing to convert American baking recipes to Moldovan stoves!

Weight, because my family and school colleagues are obsessed by me losing weight since thin is mai frumos (more beautiful). And my host mom is very happy to tell all the neighbors how many kilograms I have lost since coming to Moldova. (The formula is lbs/2.2)

Having both of those down now and having a decent reference point so that I don't always have to do a mental calculation I have decided next to tackle distance. This is going to prove a little more difficult since I never had a good judge of distance in American measurements. Having a point of reference will not help me like it did with temperature and weight haha.

I am assuming that I will have the metric system down by the time I leave, just in time to come back to America and lose it all!

Happy measuring!

As I posted previously, N1H1 (the Swine Flu) has come to Moldova. But they have the cure or at least the way of prevention-garlic, onions, vodka, alcohol soaked fabric wrapped around door handles and masks! Also, we had an additional week off from school after the Autumn break which was great. But the downside of that extra week is that we need to make up the lost time.

Some schools are making up the time by holding classes on Saturdays (5 Saturdays, one for each day missed). Other's are adding a zero period to the daily schedule. My school decided to add an extra 5 days to the end of the semester. What this means for me: The last day of the semester is Thursday, December 24. The make-up week will begin the next day-Friday, December 25 and will go straight through the weekend until Tuesday, December 29. But it is worth it, because as soon as that last day is done I am on a bus to Chisinau! December 29 is the day we leave for BARCELONA, SPAIN!! (Please note: the picture above of the child is just something I found online, I didn't actually see a child licking a pig-although if I had and was able to get a picture of that, I would have been happy I carried my camera that day. I just found the picture humorous!)

Thanksgiving is this coming week, something that is not well known or even cared about in Moldova(for obvious reasons!) For example, I teach all week-school is not cancelled Wednesday through Friday like in America. Because of this, Peace Corps volunteers will be celebrating this food festival on Saturday. I will be leading one of three cooking teams. Me and 3 other volunteers will be preparing 1 turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy and stuffing at the home of our Country Director-Jeffery. After our food is prepared, we will meet everyone at the Peace Corps office for lots of food and fun! My friends and I have already booked an apartment for the whole weekend so that we can relax and enjoy the good company and holiday festivities without trying to rush off to catch the last bus to our villages. While I am going to miss spending the holiday with my family and friends at home, I am glad that I will get to have a little piece of home here in Moldova with my new family and friends! Hope you all have a good Thanksgiving.

First birthday away

The first week of November was autumn break for all of the schools in Moldova. I was excited since this happen to coincide with my birthday (the first birthday I've had away from family and friends). As it worked out, we (the English Education volunteers) had an IST-In Service Training that week as I have mentioned in a previous post. This meant that I would at least be with all my friends for my birthday!!

Sunday, November 1st found Erika and Matt (two of my closest friends in Moldova) staying in Floresti with me. It was a great way to start the autumn break. We three went to Chisinau on Monday together and I was able to see another friend Tom since he was still in town. Me, Tom and a few other volunteers went out that night to a bar which turned out to be a karaoke bar. Let's just say, Becca sang karaoke with Tom...it was not good and completely laughable!! (And before you ask, we sang Alien Ant Farm's version of 'Smooth Criminal'). There are pictures somewhere. If I can get my hands on them, I will post em!

The training did not start until Tuesday, but the few of us volunteers who were facilitating presentations/discussion topics had to be in a day early to prepare any materials and go over any last minute changes needed.

The training went well. I enjoyed that it was volunteer led and mostly discussion based versus lecture based. Made it all more interesting! It was also nice being back with my group of volunteers and hearing about their schools, partners and sites. We had a lot of fun being back together.

So, Wednesday was my birthday. After training that day, we all went to a restaurant for dinner and of course drinks. Afterwards, we headed to another bar. It was a really great night and was a good distraction from not celebrating with friends and family back home. Highlight of the night however, was getting to talk to Staci. She called and I was ecstatic that I got to talk to her!! I have posted pictures from that night on my Facebook page and will include a link.

First Moldovan Birthday!

The remainder of the week went well. Not too much to talk about that. Towards the end of the week we heard rumors about schools being closed the week of November 9-13 because of the N1H1 Virus. There was a big outbreak in Ukraine (and as of right now we are not allowed to visit Ukraine). So in response and to allow the schools to implement some precautionary measures, classes were rumored to be cancelled. This did take place. I have not taught for the last two weeks (vacation and school closures). On one hand it was nice to have a week off and feel like we got to have a vacation/break of sorts since the original was filled with training. But on the other hand, I am now bored and a little listless because of all the downtime. However, the week was not all downtime and boring. Dan, one of the other volunteers and a good friend, came for a visit for three of the days. I showed him Floresti and on his second day here, we went to Balti and met some others. It was really nice having a friend visit. I took pictures of the day in Balti and added them to the Moldovan Characters album on my Facebook page. I included that link as well, just go all the way to the end of the album.

Here it is Saturday. There were talks about extending the school closures one more week as the number of N1H1 cases has risen here in Moldova. But the official word now is that we will return to schools on Monday. From there we will just have to see how things play out. Now, this next part is mostly for my mother...Peace Corps will be providing all the volunteers with the N1H1 vaccine. It should be arriving shortly and I will make my way to Chisinau to get it. They have already given us the seasonal flu vaccine. So you don't need to worry about me MOM!! hehe

On another note. While I was in Chisinau visiting the medical office to get my flu vaccine and pick up some misc cold medicines (just in case since winter is here) I decided to weigh myself. I know that I have lost weight (about 4 pant sizes) but I was not sure of how much. I was astonished and even asked the doctor to double check that I had correctly used the scale. Since arriving in June, I have lost about 50 lbs!! This makes me very happy, but the doctor was concerned so she is going to monitor things for awhile. I am not too worried though. I eat throughout the day decent amounts of food. I just credit the 25 minute walk (one way) up and down hills to my school everyday! Trust me, that walk alone would make anyone lose weight.

Halloween-Best holiday in any country

We celebrated Halloween (American style) today at school. I have included a link to the photo album I created on Facebook with all the pictures from today.

I did my best to make a costume-I was a cat. I made cat ears from index cards, a tail from a black sock and drew a cat face with my black eyeliner, then dressed in black and white. I was the only person dressed in a "costume" but I am getting used to being the odd man out at my school. Everyone seemed to like it and I got a lot of cat calls (hahaha, pun intended!)

In each of my classes we played bobbing for fruit (oranges in one class, apples in another), the toilet paper Mummy game, Halloween word searches, made masks and drew scary pictures. I also read them a spooky story and my partner translated it.

The students made jack-o-lanterns (which were really creative and very good) and brought drawings from home of halloween images.

All week we have been working on saying:

Trick or treat

Smell my feet (which they think is hilarious)

Give me something good to eat!

I was so proud when all of the students in the school (including some that are not mine) were saying this in order to get their candy from all the teachers. Students during each of the breaks would go from classroom to classroom "trick-or-treating", but they knew they had to say the rhyme. My 5th graders even sang it instead of just saying it!!!

Tonight there is a dance at the school, so I will be heading back there. Hope everyone enjoys their Halloween weekend!!

Halloween 2009

New photos

This is only a post to let you know I have now added more pictures to the seasonal changes album and the Moldovan characters album on Facebook. In the Moldovan Characters, you will find group pictures of each class I teach.

Seasonal Changes

Moldovan Characters

Hope this post is finding everyone well and happy. Love you all!!

A quickie

This is a quick one. I have posted a bunch of new photos on my Facebook page. Some of the pictures are already posted on this blog, but if you get past those there are some new ones.

My Peace Corp Life

Things are going well here. Only a few more days and then school is out for the Autumn break (Nov 2-6). However, since we are volunteers 24 hours a day, we have training that week in Chisinau. It will be nice to be with all of my English Education friends for my birthday. Although would have been nice to enjoy a week off, but that's the life of a volunteer! It should be interesting.

Plans are coming together for our Spain trip. Looks like we will be gone December 29-January 8!! Woohoo!! We will spend part of that time in Barcelona and part of it in Majorca.

As a side note, I would love to hear from you all. I get excited whenever I get emails, letters and packages from home. I don't care how boring you may think it is, I would love to hear about it! So please keep the information coming to me. Even if you are telling me about the weather, I want to hear about it, cause I'm freezing over here already haha!! My first winter might be a bit tough for me. We'll see!!

Festivals, Parties and General Revelry...oh and holiday plans!

This past weekend was spent primarily in Chisinau for the much anticipated Annual International Wine Festival. A large majority of volunteers were in town which was great to be able to see everyone. And on Saturday morning, the Peer Support Network (its exactly what it sounds like-a volunteer support network) had a 5k run/walk to raise some money. Lots of volunteers came out to help set up and participate in the race.

Later in the day, myself and some other volunteers from the English Education group headed to the Peace Corps office for a meeting about facilitating presentations during out IST (In-service training) in November. It should be interesting and I'm looking forward to being with everyone in Chisinau on my birthday (that's when the IST is scheduled).

Of course, as soon as the meeting was over, we all dispersed with some haste to catch up with all the other volunteers are Wine Fest. It was a great time: the food was delicious, the wine tasty and varied, and the company extraordinary. It was so nice to be with mostly everyone again and have the chance to meet and talk more with others who I don't see on a regular basis.

Follow this link for pictures I have posted on my facebook account for the weekend:

Wine Festival Weekend

Here is another link to an album I created on my facebook account of how my house/garden looked in the Summer and so far in the Autumn. The colors seemed to change over night and are beautiful!

Various Seasons

This is a link (again to facebook) to see some of the people I have been spending my time with.

My New Friends

I will update these albums from time to time and let you all know when I do!

Sunday morning started out really nice and laid back, which I needed after the fun and festivities of the night before. I had breakfast and walked around with my friend Tom (another volunteer who lives in the south). Then headed home for my host nephew's Cumatria (cu-ma-tree-a). This is a big party for all of the god parents (they have multiple god parents for each child here). Having partied the whole weekend and had very little sleep I was already exhausted when I got home. But here in Moldova, they know how to party! I arrived at the restaurant/party room around 3:30pm. I did not get home until 12am!!! And again, much celebration, drinking, fabulous food and of course dancing! I am working on getting these pictures uploaded and will post a link soon.

By Monday, I was drained. But I still went into work grateful that I only had two classes that day!

Tomorrow is Hram for Floresti. This is a town/village holiday (so I do not have to work tomorrow) that celebrates when the town/village was blessed. I have bee helping my host mom prepare food for the inevitable guests that will be coming over tomorrow. I made the tort (cake) and she was is impressed by my baking skills that she commented what a good wife I will make one day! I just laughed. But it was nice to be able to cook a bit and I had a nice time with her.

As for the last part of my title...holiday travel plans. I was a bit worried about my first Christmas away from my family because Christmas here is celebrated more on January 7 rather than December 25 (and frankly the idea of snow scares me a bit too so being able to get away is great!!) So Erika (another volunteer) and I came up with the glorious plan of going to Spain for Christmas!! We are still getting travel plans together, but originally it was going to be from December 25-30. However, after talking with another volunteer this weekend, the trip is going to longer and I will be ringing in the New Year in Spain!!! Will write more as the details come together.

Celebrations, Nighttime Walks and a New Game

Disclaimer: Get comfy, its a long one but has photos!

The last week has been eventful and calm all at the same time. Here are some of my highlights (although I will include one from this week-specifically Monday).

1) While on a long break when I didn't have any lessons, I decided to sit outside, drink some tea and read my book. Some of my students from the 5th grade class came outside and decided to talk with me. I was so proud that we could communicate with a little bit of English and Romanian. And they are just too cute for words, I love my 5th graders!!

2) Finally getting to teach my 9th grade class alone. I never met with the class the first week, the second week I taught with my partner and I was sick for the next class. But last week I finally got them all to myself. And they are great, a little rambunctious and they will definitely keep me on my toes!

3) While I was walking home after classes, I called Kyle (my site mate) to find out if he wanted to hang out for a bit. I noticed a girl sort of walking near me slowly and idling when I stopped to wait for Kyle. When I got off the phone, she approached me and asked if I was the American who moved to Floresti and was teaching at Miron Costin (my high school). When I confirmed this, she stuck her hand out to shake mine and introduced herself as Iulia (our Julia). She is a student from another high school and was bummed that I was not teaching there. I told her that I wanted to start an English club that would be open to all students in Floresti and she got excited. So we exchanged phone numbers and I told her I would let her know when I get the club set up. Yippie, I made a new friend!!

4) Speaking (or this case, writing) about clubs. I have several teachers at my school who have asked to sit in on my English classes or practice with me because they want to learn and in some cases, re-learn English. When I mentioned the possibility of offering some classes/club like activities for adults in the community they all got excited. And it spread like wild fire. I've had now about 15 different people come up and ask me about it. I think come November when I get some of these things started, I'm gonna be one busy girl!

5) This is a highlight from yesterday-Monday. I have a class of 11th graders who are learning English as their second foreign language. They have all been studying French since 2nd grade and are now learning English as well. But they didn't start until 10th grade, so they are still learning the basics. Well, I realized that this group is learning English just for the fun of it. So as a homework assignment I had them write the top 5 reasons for taking the class and what they want to get out of it. Basically, what do they want to learn, so I can better tailor the class to fit their needs/wants. I was surprised by one of the male students whose writing was really good. But he was having problems reading so I eventually figured that he probably had not written it. I was looking over his shoulder and skimming ahead so I could find words I thought I would need to help him pronounce, when I came to his last sentence. It said basically that his new teacher had big t*ts and he liked them. I was shocked and of course, stopped him before he read the sentence. I explained that the sentence was not very nice and asked if he understood everything he was reading. He said "in general" and I asked him who actually wrote it. I think at that point he realized that something was amiss, blushed, lined through the sentence and apologized. I'm sure there is a guy somewhere out there with a nice shiner at this point haha. Fortunately, we were able to continue with class event free. I hope he learned not to have someone else tell him what to write, or at least to look up the words before hand so he knows what he is writing.

Now for more about the last week!

Last Thursday (Sept 17) was my host mom's birthday. We had a blast. The neighbors came over, my host brother and his family were here and my site mate Kyle. We had way more food than we could eat, which worked out because more family came after we had finished eating. Big surprise of the night was that my host mom's sister was back from Italy. A lot of Moldovans work abroad in countries such as Italy, Ireland and of course Russia. There were tears, hugs and laughs. It was actually a very nice moment! I also got to have fun in the kitchen (to be specific-Kyle's kitchen). My host mom asked if I would make an American dish for the masa (the literal translation of this is table but is also used when talking about eating a meal or a party/celebration). Of course I was not going to say No. First off, she asked and its her bday. Secondly, I get to make some American food-this is good for two reasons 1) I get to cook/bake which I haven't really been able to do and 2) I will enjoy some American food!!!! So, I thought and though about what I wanted to make and what I would be ale to get ingredients for. I finally settled on a cobbler with some kind of fruit. I was hoping to make a berry cobbler like my grandma Ruth did when I was growing up, but they are hard to find this time of year. So I settled on peaches! I had a blast making it and was asked for the recipe by several of the guests. Glad it was a hit! Below are some pictures of the table and everyone. I have some video, but the files are huge so I need to play with them and try to get them smaller. If possible, will post later.

The table!

Just sitting down for dinner

As more people trickled in

Sisters reunited!

My cousin Radu's accordion. I added it 'cause it was so pretty and shiny and you all know how I like my shiny objects!

This past Saturday, I took a day trip into Chisinau. I was hoping my packages from the states would be here, but they weren't. But I did get to catch up with some other volunteers and spend a nice relaxing day walking around the city. The weather was perfect, not too cold or too hot!! But I missed one of my buses back by 5 minutes so I had to wait an hour for the next which also meant that since its getting dark earlier and earlier, I was making the hike home in the dark.

And let me tell you, when the sun goes down and there is no moon yet, Floresti is DARK!! But it was a great chance to see a very beautiful and clear night sky. There were so many stars and they were so bright at times I felt like I could just reach up and grab one. Its wonderous being able to see the Milky Way and constellations that are barely visible in Sacramento because of all the light pollution (and lovely smog!). When my friends and I came home late during training in Costesti we would spend half the walk looking up at the stars and Saturday, I found I did the same thing. I actually wish I had a camera that could get a good picture of them and especially when we have a full moon here. Its so close and bright!! The only thing that comes close to being as cool as the stars here are the sunsets. They are so warm and colorful. I love watching the sun fall behind the houses. I've watched a lot of those since I've been here. I think because I actually have more time on my hands and without the use of a car, I find myself taking more time to get to know what's around me. I am greatly enjoying the slower pace.

On Sunday, I went to 'Hram' which is a celebration in each village and town in Moldova for the anniversary of that village. My host uncle lives in a nearby village so I went with my family to his house for another masa. It was great and I really liked meeting another part of my family. I love that this family is so warm and likes to have a good time. There were a lot of laughs, food and of course wine!

Me with some of the family and the kitten who was adorable!

And last but not least, a note about a little game I have made up for myself. One day while trekking to school, I saw a girl that looked like Staci (my best friend). I was so lost in thought when I saw her that it never occurred to me that I was in Moldova and she was in Sacramento so it couldn't possibly be her. I almost called out to her all excited about seeing her. Fortunately, I came to my senses before I embarrassed myself. But it got me thinking, I have this long walk and I see a lot of people on my way. So I started paying attention to those walking around me and I try to find those who remind me of my peeps in Sacramento. So far I have found a Staci, my uncle Chuck, my brother (a young version), Dana, one of my professors from Sac State, and Adam, an old friend. Its kinda fun, my own version of Where's Waldo or I Spy!!