Cloudy Tuesday

So these past few days have proved to be interesting. This is the week before school actually begins, so I have decided to sit down and start to try to make lesson plans. I don't know if I will actually be using them, as I am team teaching for the first week...but I figure it is good to get into the habit. So yesterday I started...and I am a little rough around the edges, but I know with time and practice it will get easier to make them. They take me quite a bit of time to make, but that is just because I want to think outside of the book. There are so many other cool ways to make a lesson interesting...and who wants to go with just what is in the book, that is just plain boring...I want to show these kids something they have never seen before and introduce a new style of teaching to them. Plus I think they may be expecting it as I am the second volunteer in this site, so they may already be accustomed to the American way of teaching!

While after school I spent some time with my community mentor. I have decided that I truly enjoy her company. She is very nice and very patient with me and we have developed a rather efficient way of communicating with one another. I went over there for lunch at noon and returned home at around 7 in the evening. It was a much longer lunch than I expected...but I didn't want to be rude and eat and leave, plus it was good practice for Romanian, as we had no choice but to speak in Romanian! Let me tell you after 6 hours of Romanian, my brain was exhausted!

While I was there I actually tried brain! It wasn't actually that bad...once I got over the fact that I was eating brain. It was in a pate form, so it was like a meat spread that was served on bread. It just tasted like any other meat. I don't know if I will opt to eat it again...but I can't say that I have never eaten brain now! I have also tried liver since being here, it is also in a pate form, and I actually really like it. It is something different, and it is cheaper and more healthy than buying meat from the store. So that is one way that I get my protein :)

So after that I returned home to chill and prepare for the next day. Today I had every intention of making some more lessons at school...but since it was a bit of a holiday...that didn't happen. Today is Saint Marian day. In Romania, everybody has 2 days to celebrate. One is of course your birthday and the second is your name day. Well today was the name day for anybody associated with the name Maria, so Marie, Mary, Mariana, Marian, etc., it is the name day for all of those folks...so since my middle name is Marie...it was my name day as well. So anyway, back to the story, they had a bit of a celebration. They brought in a ton of food, tuica, wine, and other non-alcoholic beverages were served and everybody gathered in the teachers lounge to talk and eat. I didn't understand half of what they were talking about, because many people were talking at the same time and everybody was talking loudly, but I stayed and they tried to include me when they could, which was nice :)

So then I returned home, and chilled out for the afternoon. It was cloudy and chilly today, if I had hot chocolate I am pretty sure I would have made it and curled up with a good book :) Or if I had eggs I would have made cookies. That is another interesting thing about my village, there generally is not eggs in the store. I think that I am going to be getting them from a private party, at least I think that is what I discussed with my community mentor...if she brings any eggs to me in the next week I think I will have my answer! I hope so...because I want to make more goodies for people...but it is difficult to do so without eggs. That is one thing that I do miss about the states. Is the constant access to anything that I could possibly want. If I wanted to buy something to cook Tacos, or Chinese food, I could go to just about any supermarket and get what I needed. I do not have that option here. The choices are much more limited in Trusesti, but I do make due with what I have and I am definitely not starving, but I do appreciate the option of choice a lot more now. Even for something as simple as eggs or milk (which is often spoiled is purchased from a store!).

Well that is all for now. I hope you are all doing well, and again if you would like my address please let me know and I will get it to you. Love and miss you bunches!!

~Until later
Sarah B.