Whitewashing and October only means one thing...

...it's time for HRAM (and Autumn too)!!

October 14th is the day of Hram for Floresti. "What is this hram you speak of?" you may be asking. Well hram is the anniversary of when the village was blessed. Every city, raion, town and village in Moldova has one. Not all villages celebrate or really observe this day, but Floresti does. This being my second year in Floresti it was of course my second (and last) hram. For those that have been following along at home, I did write briefly about hram last October.

Last year's Hram was great. I ate a ton of wonderful food, attended a concert and carnival in the center of town, froze my ass off since it was the first really cold day of the year (and I was so very not prepared for it) and hung with Kyle, my sitemate at the time. I didn't know what to expect so it was all a surprise. But this year was great again because A) I had the day off; B) I enjoyed a big masa (dinner party) with my old host family, one of my sitemates (and little sister) Sarah and two other volunteers who came from other villages to enjoy the festivities; and C) Got to watch all my site mates enjoy the party for their first time like I did last year. After the masa we headed into the center of town where, like last year, we enjoyed a carnival and concert. We drank, we danced, we watched Moldovan teenagers ride carnival rides and we ate cotton candy! To say a good time was had by all would be an understatement.

Now, you may be wondering what "whitewash" has to do with Hram. For about a week before Hram, all the towns folk get to making the town pretty. The whitewash comes into play because the tree trunks and street curbs all get painted with it to brighten things up. All of the planter boxes throughout the town get a fresh coat and many of the buildings get a coat or two. Everything looks its best for the village anniversary!

My favorite part though about the whitewashing is how it contrasts with the gorgeous Autumn colors. As most people know, Autumn in Moldova is my favorite time. The colors here are so beautiful and fit so well with the weather! Even though the cold came earlier this year, I have been making myself go out (in many layers of clothing) to get pictures whenever I can in between rain storms. It was almost over night that the little splotches of yellows and golds overran the green.

A big event in October is also the annual International Wine Festival. Sadly this year's festival was not as fun as last year's because the weather was absolutely miserable. It rained most of the day and was freezing the whole day. However, a group of us did head over to partake in the festivities, if only for a few hours...did I mention the event is an outdoor event?? We stayed out in the lightly falling rain and mild gentle hurricane winds for as long as possible then moved on to a restaurant for dinner. For those of us who are doing all of these events and activities for the last time, there was no stopping us from seeing them. And like Hram, there was drinking of tasty wine and of course dancing!

Now I am working towards Halloween and am frantically making activities and gathering the needed supplies for games for our school celebration on Friday, October 29. I have made a whole wall in our classroom just dedicated to Halloween. Some of my younger students are drawing pictures, I created a poster with the "Trick-or-Treat" poem that all my students will learn and even made a vocabulary poster so that they can fluently speak Halloween!!

Have I mentioned that I love this time of year?!? Especially since I am not totally ready for the full on coldness of Moldovan winters. But I am happy to report that I now have heat in my apartment which has drastically bettered my home life!

Here are some pictures from my October so far!

Originally this picture was taken as a joke during our Hram Huddle, but it turned out to be a keeper! Clockwise from me (I'm at 3 o'clock) is Lindsay (she is in my raion in a nearby village and works at a school teaching Health Education), Travis (he is in Floresti and works at the Primaria-the Mayor's Office), Sarah L (she is in Floresti and works out the Consiliul-The District Council Office...and she's my little sister and she lives with my former host family), Sarah C (she is in Floresti, is married to Travis, and teaches English at one of the other schools here), and finally Katie (she is in a nearby raion center similar to mine and is a Business Development volunteer).

Me with my little sis Sarah!

Last year Kyle would never buy cotton candy with me so I made a point of buying some this year and sending Kyle a picture of me eating the last bite!

Me with several of my 12th graders. They all had cameras and I felt like I had been cornered by the paparazzi!

Katie just loved this cat mascot at the carnival!

Like I said, there was dancing..this is Lindsay with the shiny shoes

One of the bands that performed

Inna and Igor, two of my 12th graders, doing a Moldovan waltz

These were all taken from my apartment windows during and after a quickie rain storm that moved through Floresti earlier this evening.

Sunsets here are really amazing sometimes, just wish I had a camera that could more accurately capture them!

I'm pregnant!!!

Now that I have your attention...

I was visiting with a volunteer (one of the new volunteers) who lives in a nearby village. We were talking about the fact that I only have 9.5 more months of service before my group of volunteers can begin COSing (COS=Close of Service). I related that to a pregnancy. To which, Lindsay (a wonderfully bright and hilarious girl) says "It's like giving birth to America!"

I just had to share this with everyone because for me it is hands down one of the best quotes I have heard in the 2 years I have been here.

So thank you Lindsay!! And for all of you at home, I will be giving birth to America in about nine and half months and I can't wait to see her!!

As for other news:

The first month of school flew by and I can't believe its already October! This is shaping up to be a great month already. My students have finally settled back into the school routine and classes are going much better (most of my students are actually doing their homework!!) I have started my supplementary lessons with the 9th and 12th grades to prepare them for their exit exams at the end of the school year and my teaching partners and I have gotten into our groove.

As second year volunteers, we have to get a medical and dental check up to make sure everything is still how it should be. I got through my medical check (pregnancy free) and will have my dental appointment later this month.

Next weekend in Chisinau is the Annual International Wine Festival and I am greatly looking forward to the weekend. Saturday morning the PSN group (Peer Support Network) that I am part of is holding the 2nd Annual Fun Run fundraiser! We seem to have a lot of interest in it from the Peace Corps community and maybe even some locals who are friends and colleagues of Peace Corps volunteers and staff! Then it'll be time to enjoy the festivities and try a variety of delicious wines!

On October 14 my village will have its Hram (h-ram). This is the village anniversary and was incredibly fun last year. I am looking forward to the carnival, concert and celebrating in the center of town with my new site mates (pictures to come soon!).

Things will quiet down in October for about a week, then I slide into the Halloween festivities at my school and with Peace Corps volunteers. My main partner and I are working out the details for activities at our school and my students are already asking to practice the Halloween "poem" that they have to recite in order to get candy. Have I mentioned lately how much I love my 6th grade class???

The temperatures are already dropping here (it was still warmish this time last year). I have pulled out the sweat shirts, sweaters and extra blankets. I even contemplated the necessity of leggings under my jeans but decided to not wimp out so early into the colder season. I have read a few articles saying this winter will be one of the coldest on record in over a century for Europe. Fingers crossed it is similar to last year and not colder. However, I am happy that I live closer to school. Maybe this California girl will be able to survive the long, cold winter.

September Means School

I have found that with the more Romanian I learn, speak and write my English becomes weaker. I have had more moments lately when I can say a phrase or word in Romanian but cannot think of it in English. I find this very amusing, although I am worried that one day I am not going to know how to say something in either language at which point I will be screwed!

September 1st marked the first day of school (of my last year here in Moldova). It was wonderful to be back at my school with my students. Until I saw them, I had not realized how much I had missed them (especially my 5th graders from last year). Despite the dreary, cold, overcast day you could feel the excitement that accompanies the first day of school. During the 'first bell' ceremony I looked around the courtyard at the students and marveled at how much some of them had grown and matured during the summer. And I felt lucky to be seeing them again for this second (and last) school year.

As usual, the schedule for classes is still being worked out, but I think we have our final version now. I decided not to teach a class by myself this year. Last year's experience with that was not a positive one and I feel more productive and useful for my students and partners when teaching with a Moldovan teacher. I have also decided to teach more hours than last year. Another change for this year is that we had a 4th English teacher join us. Last year I started with 3 partner teachers. Unfortunately early into the first semester I had to change my schedule and was unable to work with one of them (Oxana). I knew coming into this year that I would be working with 3 partners, but it was not until I returned from my vacation in Greece that I learned of a fourth. Fortunately, this new teacher is someone I already knew. Alina is my former Romanian tutor and a friend. This year I will be working with all 4 teachers whereas last year I had only worked with 2. Working with 4 partners has made scheduling much more difficult because of coinciding classes, but I am hopeful this will get ironed out. I am teaching one class each with each of my secondary partners - Maia (one partner from last year), Alina (the new teacher) and Oxana (who I was unable to work with last year). My remaining classes are all with my primary partner (and good friend) Elena. In total I am teaching 22 hours a week. I was hoping to teach 24 hours per week but had to drop one class because of schedule conflicts. Like last year, I am teaching most of the grades between 5th and 12th (last year I did not teach 6th grade or 12th grade and this year I am not teaching 7th grade).

Another new addition to this school year was being matched with a teacher and classroom in America for a pen pal type of experience through the Peace Corps Cloverdell World Wise Schools program (http://www.peacecorps.gov/wws/). I tried this last year with a match I was given, but the teacher had changed schools and was unable to participate. However, this new match has been great. He and his class have been excited about the prospect of communicating with me and my classes. He and I have talked about many possible projects we can have our classes do and I think this will be a wonderful opportunity for his students to learn about Moldova and Its people as well as giving my students the chance to learn more about America from peers (versus from me) and practice their English. His school is located in Southern California and his students are all 5th graders. He has 31 students in his class, so to keep the numbers relatively even I invited my 5th grade and 6th grade classes to participate since my combined total in those classes is 37. My 5th grade class is still shy about the idea of this, but seem interested. My 6th grade class is ecstatic about this opportunity and are coming to me with ideas of what they would like to do with their new American friends. These students are the truly brightest parts of my time at school!!

I started this new school year with a refined focus on what I now know I can do for my school and partners. Last year I tried a few different activities (English Club, private tutoring-kids and ,adults, group tutoring, national exam preparation, etc..). This year in addition to teaching, I will have a 12th grade exit exam (the Baccalaureate) preparation lesson, a 9th grade exit exam preparation lesson, English Club and supplementary group grammar lessons for some of the students in my lower grades who are struggling a bit more than others. I have decided that I do not want to do private tutoring and want to focus all my attention on my current students and my school. I have already started preparing materials and writing lesson plans for these extra lessons that will begin at the end of the month. I am also working on creating books for each of my partners that I will give to them at the end of the year with all of the materials I have created on my own or with them.

This year has definitely begun much more smoothly than last year. I knew I had learned to be more patient during my first year, but I had not realized how much until the start of the new school year. Having a better understanding of how schools in Moldova work, not having the stress of meeting new teachers and students, the jitters of being a new person in a new environment and having MUCH better Romanian skills has made this new school year easier and more enjoyable. In many ways, getting back to school was like coming home. And this last year that I am here I am going to do my best to enjoy each minute of it.

Here are some pictures and videos from the first day of school:

This is my main partner Elena and I right before we walked into the school for our first lesson

All of us standing in the courtyard around of the steps to the front of the school during the 'first bell' ceremony

This little girl is a new 5th grader in our school (and one of my students-Victoria) and she is preparing to sing "Buna Dimineata" (Good Morning). See the video below.

Some of the 10th graders standing together during the ceremony.

Now for some videos during the ceremony

This is my 5th grader Victoria singing

This is the ceremonial ringing of the "First Bell" for the school year. Two 5th grade students are accompanied by two 12th grade students. The 5th graders are the new incoming class while the 12th graders are exiting.

Musings, thoughts, and lessons of a year

I have been in Moldova for over a year now and am actually coming up on the one year anniversary of being an official Peace Corps Volunteer. Throughout the year I have seen and done a lot and have learned even more.

The following are thoughts I have been writing down over the last year on random bits of paper, in notebooks, in the margins of my language workbook or on handouts. Some are funny and not very serious, most are related to the weather oddly enough, while others are actually sincere. These are not written in any particular order-just typed as I found them.

I have also included pictures from this summer throughout the blog to break up the text. The pictures do not necessarily relate to the list.



Learning a new language is difficult for me. I'm too much of a visual learner and not enough of an auditory learner.

Food generally associated with dinner can be eaten at breakfast (e.g. rice, pasta-both in milk with a little sugar).

Boots are necessary from late autumn until early spring.

Camping clean is good enough.

I have muscles in my hands that are getting a work out from wringing out my laundry (I’m worried about having man hands by the time I come home).

Jeans are a pain in the ass to wash by hand.

Having to walk everywhere gives you the chance to really see your surroundings.

But I miss my car (especially the heater during the height of winter when my eyelashes get frosty and the AC during the height of summer when I am permanently in a state of sweatiness).

My concept of a short walk is VASTLY different than it was just a year ago…4 kilometers to the next village-No problem!!

There is a huge variety in the types of mud.

Living in a snowy city is not horrible (with the right gear and only for about 4 months).

Anything below 20 degrees is just down right COLD!!

Anything above 85 degrees with higher than 20% humidity is just HOT!! (And yes, I realize that 20% humidity is nothing for some of my fellow volunteers, but coming from a city where it can be 100+ degrees but dry makes it tough for me).

I miss the beauty of the Autumn because the end of winter is very bland and colorless.

Moldovan women are some of the strongest women I’ve ever met (physically and mentally).

Having a 2 hour conversation on a bus ride in Romanian can make your brain hurt, but your confidence soar and you make new friends.

Moldovan students could teach a thing or two to American students when it comes to showing appreciation to their teachers.

Pomp and circumstance in school can sometimes be very fun.

Flowers are awesome!!!

Hills are a great, natural way of making your butt look good.

You can go several days without washing your hair (so far my record is 1.5 weeks during the winter).

The most important person in a volunteer's life is the bus/rutiera driver. Make friends with them and they take care of you!!

Febreeze is wonderful and makes possible the multiple wearing of a shirt or pants.

Snow and the biting cold of winter makes Spring all the better and more appreciated.

Heat and humidity of the summer makes the random summer rain storms with the sudden (and too short) drops in temperature a blessing (until the mosquitoes come out to play)

Writing a letter by hand is fun and makes you think more deeply and slowly about your experience than writing an email or blog.

Photography is an easy hobby to get back into and I love reconnecting with this particular passion of mine.

Idle hands and the possibility of watching 5 seasons of a tv show happen in the winter time.

I miss my family and friends everyday that I am here.

Hot showers are a god send in the winter (and so are indoor toilets during the snowy days).

You can actually feel drier in a cold shower than outside on a hot Moldovan summer day.

Teaching English grammar makes native speakers re-learn grammar. There is so much about our grammar and speaking rhythm that I better understand now (For example: Did you know there is a specific order to how we list adjectives before a noun? I never really knew this until I had to teach it. But was glad to know that I intuitively say them in the correct order and when I tried to use them out of order it just felt wrong).

We take language and the use of it as a communicative tool for granted in America.

Food made from scratch tastes better and is not that much more work versus making food from boxed or pre-packaged stuff!

Traveling is good for the soul.

Learning about other cultures is great and at times very humbling.

The world is not as big as you think and people are fundamentally similar once you get past the surface differences.

Students think its easier to cheat with the American than with their Moldovan teachers (hehe, they are wrong).

Students hate exams and I hate proctoring them.

Schedule changes are a way of life and you just have to go with the flow.

Students are the same everywhere. No one likes homework; they prefer to play than learn; there is always the know-it-all, the quiet one, the talkative one, the disrespectful hooligan (I had 3 this year), the stubborn one, the cute one, the smelly one, the popular ones, the not so popular ones and all the others who are just along for the ride.

I’m not a parent, but I now better understand when they say they love all their children equally, but in reality have a favorite.

I miss the sun when its gone for too long, and get very giddy when it finally comes back.

I am just now beginning to process some of the experiences of my first year in Moldova. I can’t imagine how long it will take for me to process 2 years worth once I get back home to America.

I am accident prone on ice and in mud. Never thought I would have to relearn how to walk-thought I had conquered that particular feat when I was a child.

I actually like jogging now that its not as difficult for me (although I realize now that I need more structure in my schedule in order to stay with it).

Rutieras (mini buses that seat about 20 people) can actually hold A LOT of people. There is a joke about this: How many people can fit on a rutiera?....Always one more!

Having been on crowded buses and rutieras I have found that I can sometimes be a bit claustrophobic.

Beer and ice cream can be great together under the right circumstances.

Tequila is still bad! Tested this theory twice just to make sure.

I’ve started thinking in military time, the metric system and day-month-year (America needs to get on board with this-its just more logical).

You want water more often when you have to prepare it before drinking (e.g. distill then filter).

Moldovan women are magic. They can walk through ice, snow and mud without getting a drop on them (I on the other hand have to bring two pairs of shoes-one to wear in the mud/snow and the other to wear in class). In the heat of summer, they look as if they are followed by their own personal air conditioning unit (whereas I look frizzy and sweaty). Its amazing!

Teaching English as a foreign/second language is incredibly difficult when you do not fluently speak your students’ native language and I have a thousand times more respect for teachers who do this.

I still want to work with youth, but not necessarily in a formal classroom, teaching capacity.

Mullets and roller blades are very much alive and well in this country and I love every minute of it!

Walking in skirts and heels makes me feel more girly.

I don’t think the relationships I have formed with people in this first year will ever be the same as those I form with people at home because of the unique circumstances that prompted our meeting.

The Peace Corps experience is like a bubble. It’s this one time and place and very hard to truly explain to someone who is not here experiencing it, as much as I try.

I’ve realized that I’m not entirely sure that I want to settle back into American living when I am done next year. For the first time, I don’t really have a plan for what I will do after this stage of my life. While this freaks out the OCD planner in me, I kinda like the unknown of it too.

I still love the work I did at Fairytale Town and want to find something similar to doing that…but in another country (sorry Mom).

Swimming in the Black Sea at 4:45 in the morning while waiting for the sun to come up is a top 3 most memorable experience and I highly recommend everyone do it at some point.

This picture was taken at the Black Sea at about 5:05am

Sometimes there just aren't words to describe anything about this part of my life.

This list is not complete and probably never will be since there are a thousand and one other thoughts or experiences that did not get written down.

Busy bee

A million apologies for my inability to stay current with this blog. When I first got to Moldova I didn't understand why so many volunteers were not keeping current on their blogs, I now understand. Although, I will say that while it may seem that I have neglected this blog, it has been on my mind and I have been writing a special posting for my 1 year anniversary...coming June 11!

It has been a very busy two months. In addition to moving into a new apartment, I also had to say good bye to Kyle my site mate. It was tough saying goodbye and his departure has left a void here in Floresti. April marked the first wave of volunteers leaving from the M22 group. By May they were all gone. Now volunteers from the M23 group are preparing to leave. Their departure will begin in July. I still remember them saying to us on our first day in Moldova "One year ago today we arrived!!" Now we will be saying that to the new group set to arrive on June 10.

Our M24 group is already planning the 1 year celebration for sometime in July. While its not at our one year mark, July just worked best for most everyone. I'm really looking forward to that weekend. I will have not only the 1 year celebration, but also my host sister's wedding (which will be my first Moldovan wedding). Knowing how we as volunteers celebrate and hearing how Moldovan weddings can be, I expect to get no sleep that whole weekend!

This past weekend, my friends and I had commented on how amazed we all are that we have been here for almost a year already. This first year has flown by at a blurring rate. I'm told the second year goes faster. Part of me is happy that it does go fast as I am anxious to see my friends and family again, but Moldova has become home so I want to soak up as much as I can while I am here. And my departure from here next year will definitely be bittersweet.

I have found that since moving, I have been about 200% busier since now its up to me to do everything necessary for living on one's own (e.g. cooking, cleaning, shopping...). But I'm enjoying it and making friends with my neighbors.

Today marked that last day of my first school year. The 12th graders and 9th graders "graduated" and three 5th graders rang the final bell. It was a great ceremony filled with all the pomp and circumstance I've come to appreciate here in Moldova. Afterwards, there was a concert in the center of town for all of Floresti's students and graduates.

This past weekend, I invited some volunteers to my apartment for a "End of the Year" celebration. A good time was had by all and I found myself giddy like a kid in a candy store the day before everyone came. It was so great to have an apartment filled with my closest friends here. We spent part of one day at the lake and two nights at some of the bars and one of the discos. I swelled with pride as I took everyone on a tour of my town. I foresee more gatherings here throughout the summer.

With school done for the summer, I am turning my attention to preparations for Camp GLOW in August and training for the incoming M25 volunteer group. Its amazing to me that in a matter of 11 days, a new crop of volunteers will be here and I will be celebrating 1 year in Moldova. I also plan to take this time to visit other volunteers' sites as well so I can see more of Moldova. This actually begins tomorrow with a trip to Telenesti where my friend Neal lives. I had not planned on any major trips this summer other than to Odessa, Ukraine with some volunteers for two days and possibly a trip to Bucharesti, Romania to visit Jackie the girl I met in Vienna, but Dan a fellow volunteer would hear none of that. So now I have added a week in Athens, Greece to my summer agenda and I couldn't be more excited!! It will be a great way to end my summer right before the new school year begins.

The New Digs

First thing-I have added some new pictures to the Floresti Seasonal Changes album on my Facebook page-just click on the link above this post under the blog title.

Also, I uploaded pictures from my Vienna trip. It was fabulous and I want to go back to Vienna again. It is a wonderful city and there is still so much that we were not able to see or experience in the 4days we were there. Here are the links to the albums:

Vienna Part 1

Vienna Part 2

My battery died so I stole Tom's camera

As some of you know, I was finally able to move into a new apartment, by myself. I like my host family, they have been really good to me, but I have lived on my own for so long I just wanted to have my space again. And fortunately, my host family was very understanding and supportive. It also helps that my new apartment is a 5 minute walk to my school versus the 30 minute walk that I had.

The apartment search was relatively easy for me which makes me feel a little guilty because I know of other volunteers who are having a very difficult time finding an apartment. There are no classified listings in the Sunday paper or Craigslist for Moldova. Its all word of mouth and asking if anyone has a place they'd be willing to rent for a year. The cultural phenomenon of everyone knowing the business of everyone else in the village helps this word of mouth though!!

My apartment is owned by the parents of my school director's daughter-in-law. They are incredibly nice and seem happy that the apartment which has been sitting empty will now be occupied for the next 14 or so months. It helps that they live just down the street so if there are any issues I can reach them easily. Another bonus (as far as safety is concerned) is that right across the hall from me is a family I know. My host sister-in-law Ina's sister and her husband and daughter are my new neighbors. They are very nice and I'm happy to have a close connection right across from me to my host family; its also just nice to know that I have familiar faces so near.

I moved in yesterday (Saturday, April 24) and I was giddy like a child. But I will say, it was definitely one of the easiest moves I've made-no furniture! I am on the third floor and I have windows on both sides of the apartment with great views (I took pictures). The apartment has 2 rooms-one is the bedroom (but I need to a get a bed put in there) and the other is a living room (which is where my sofa bed is now). It has a big entryway that is screaming for some piece of furniture haha. I also have an enclosed balcony area that runs from the living room to the kitchen. It has a great view and is where I will hang my laundry to dry. I do believe this apartment is twice the size of the studio I lived in when I was in Sacramento. My first night was great although I did realize that I have a lot of things I need to buy-least of them being utensils (forks, spoons..). I was the quintessential college freshman last night eating Ramon noodles from a big measuring bowl with a measuring spoon since I don't have bowls or utensils yet. I see a trip to the piata (pi-at-za) on this rainy day to buy a few essentials!

I am excited to have guests over. There is plenty of room and

Below are pictures from the big move!

My bags sitting in my room the night before. Many more were added.

Galina waving goodbye from behind the many many bags I had

Some of the 8th grade boys moving my sofa bed to my apartment

It was really heavy so they took a break

View from the balcony window

The kitchen

The Living Room

This is a chair that when folded out can be a bed. And its actually not too bad.

The Bedroom

The view from the Bedroom window

The Entryway

This is on the door of my Shower room. I love it!!

The toilet is in one room and the shower and sink in another.