If It's More You Want

With the absence of English textbooks in my school I have been reduced to reading...a lot. I have plowed through two books, John Irving's Widow For One Year an Barbara Ehrenreich's Nickel and Dimed, and am on to my third which is not by choice (The Sum of All Fears). It seems I did not choose enough books for the PCV Book Collection as I should have. If my calculations are correct (and because I am a women, they always are) I will be finished with my measly 4 other books (two of which I have already dipped into) in no less than two weeks. Rereading books has never been enticing to me, but under the circumstances it may have to happen. Other than spending the usual hour and a half at school, in which I sit in the library perusing the books in Russian (when I can't speak or read the language) and ask if the English books have arrived, I spend my time at home helping with the food, the dishes and attempt to increase my knowledge of the Romanian language. My host sister and I make the usual nightly rounds, checking in on her friends, and hanging out with the fellow 15 year olds of the village. It turns out they enjoy hanging out at the bars, smoking large amounts of cigarettes and downing shots of vodka and wine. Oh do not think they are totally hardcore, they still need a chaser after every shot. They have not graduated into manhood yet. The day before school begins is known as the "Day of Preparation." This translates into "The Day When The Tenth Graders Come To School To Take Part In Free Child Labor." After they clean every inch of the school, cut the grass, maybe plant flowers, repaint, and whatever else needs tending to, the school will be ready for all the children to learn in a clean and pretty environment.

It's Been 10 Weeks

It's Been 10 Weeks

Wow, the first three months have flown bye. All the teaching seminars and language classes and yet I still feel like I am stepping into all of this unprepared. I wish I had gone home and studied the language or opened one of the hundred books given to me on different teaching methods. Too late now, in a week I will be instructing my first set of pupils.
How strange it was to leave my family in Costesti. I didn't realize how attached I grew until I finally had to say "la revedere" knowing I wasn't going to wake up the following morning to Svetlana yelling "vrei se mananci?" At least in Costesti my host sisters were excellent English students and if we got into a rut they could help translate. Here in my new village my host sister claims to study English at the university in Chisinau, but my youngest host sister in Costesti speaks better English, by far. So, it looks like now I am FULLY immersed in the Romanian language.
My host family informed me that they don't speak "clean" Romanian. This means it is mixed with Russian. In fact, they are mixing three languages, Romanian, Russian, and the newly created Moldovan languages all together. I have only been schooled in Romanian, which is mostly dead here, having been replaced by the Moldovan language. It will be interesting, to say the least.
Yeah, I am homesick. I didn't think it would be this tough leaving PST and entering the world full of unknown people who spoke a completely different language. I wasn't this sad or emotional leaving my family in friends in America. Sorry, but I wasn't. I guess I wasn't emotional because I knew, that for a least a little while, I would be with people who I shared the same language and culture with. Even a 25 minute call to a fellow volunteer put me in a better mood, if only for the evening.
I am taking things one day at a time. Probably the stress of not having textbooks yet, not really knowing what classes I will teach, not knowing the schedule until the first day of school and even then it will change for the next month, planning for the hectic-ness of the first month and teaching classes not knowing what is going on, learning the language, finding a tutor, understanding people when they speak....
Phew, but it is just one day at a time here.
I have had a lot of time here at my new site. I have read a lot and spent a lot of time trying to prepare activities for my students, not knowing their abilities or the grade level. Also, I have compiled a list of things I would like to have. A sort of Wish List, if you will (and I will). So if you get bored or want to give to charity (that charity being me) here are a list of items that are in great need (great and need sort of exagerated).

Lip Gloss (Lip Smackers or MAC)
Sin City DVD
Granola Bars
World Map
Mr. Sketch Markers (the smelly ones, if you find them and send them I will love you forever and try to name a street here after you!)
Flip Flops (size 7.5-8)
Cute Winter Hats/Gloves/Scarves
Holiday Items (for decorations and what-not)
Cheesy Tabloid Magazines (for reading and using in classroom as visuals, so they can be old)
Menus (from restaurants to use as visual aids)
Socks with the little spaces for each toe
A Wrap (like one of those shawl things)
Stickers (for classroom)
Beads and Jewelry Making Items
Books (children books, short chapter books...books)

Also, I changed my email address because I have had problems with accessing my hotmail account. My new email address is gypsyrockerr@yahoo.com. How similar, maybe it won't be so difficult to remember, huh? So write to me, and I will write back when I find a computer with the Internet. It isn't as regular as I hoped it to be, but I will deal. That is what Peace Corps is about, right? Right!

8 Weeks In

I only have two more weeks until I am officially a Peace Corps volunteer. It is hard to believe I have been here for eight weeks (two months). The time went by extremely fast and I thought things would be a lot harder than they were. After hearing stories of struggle, hard work, and tons of sweat I was apprehensive. Yeah there were struggles, lord knows there was nothing but hard work and my clothes would agree on the tons of sweat. But it was all fine and dandy.
Practice School went off without a hitch and I am three porcelain figures richer than before Practice School. The last day Steph and I combined classes and had our students watch The Incredibles. We munched on watermelon, cookies, cola and American brownies. All in all it was a fabulous time.
The days are drawing closer towards my leaving Costesti. I am extremely sad. Partly because I will be leaving all of my great volunteer friends and partly because I love my host family. I have gotten comfortable with Costesti and all of the people I see along my daily trips. I will miss the boy on the bike who insists on screaming out “Good Morning!” at all times of the day. I will miss the woman in the store at the bottom of the hill with her multicolored hair and hair color expertise. I will miss the creepy boys at the Internet place who cannot play an entire dance song until the end but forever and always skip from one to the other at a cracked out pace. Lastly, I will miss the smells (cow/duck/dog/chicken crap, outhouse wiffs…) of Costesti and the underlying taste every biscuit from any store has.