1 Month Down!

I am almost finished with the first month of school. It went by fairly fast and finally the schedule is about permanent. I now have 21 hours a week of classes. I get to sleep in most days, except for Thursdays and Fridays when I have class at 8.30 and 9.35. The other days I get to sleep in until my classes at 11.40 and 1.40. It is nice. But I have classes till 4.55 almost everyday. I am teaching a few "optional" classes. From my understanding, students sign up to take extra classes to learn more about things they are interested in (this interpretation could be, and probably is extremely off). Once they sign up for the class it is completely obligatory. I can teach whatever I want to them during this time. That is great to have students who want to learn and aren't so disruptive as the others. I mostly will review grammar that they have already learned, maybe play a few games, and teach them new vocabulary and a little more grammar. This has been my first week having regular classes and optional classes, so we will see how it goes. It could change dramatically, I just don't know.
The weather here has been nice this weekend. Last week was extremely chilly. I even broke out my space heater (PC provided) a few times. This week has been mid 70s with complete sunshine. At night, however, it gets a little chilly. I have been enjoying the weather. It is a nice change from the sweltering heat of the south.
My host dad has left for Moscow until the end of December. He is going there to work with my host brother-in-law. They go to Moscow to work for three months at a time and usually come home for a few weeks in between. I would venture to say that 80% of the men in my village are not here. They are gone, working in other countries. There isn't any work in Moldova, outside of Chisinau and a few other big cities. Most people here leave to find work in other countries and bring the money home for their families. It is sad that they can't all be together, and grow up with only one parent (if any) at a time. There isn't much work in Moldova, because there aren't any industries. The people here have fields of corn, chickens, pigs, cows, and don't have a need (yet) to build a centralized place to grow these things and then provide them for all the people. That way there would be jobs and would be more money circulating in Moldova. I think that is the main reason why Moldova is one of the poorest countries, because everyone flees here to work and does not stay around to fix the problem that is causing them to want to leave in the first place? It will be a long hard journey to build this country up. But it is possible and I think it will happen eventually. It just takes the right kind of people and spirit.
Anyway, I got off the subject. Since my host dad left it is just me and my host mom. I live in the little small house and she lives in the big one. We talk and hang out after school, during lunch and during dinner. We both just do our own thing. It is nice, and I enjoy having someone to talk to (even if it is in broken unrecognizable Romanian) and I think she enjoys having someone else here while her husband is away. She would normally be by herself during this time.
Ok, by 2 and a half hour school break is over and I have to return for my last three classes of the day!