Lazy Sunday

So it is a custom in Romania, that Sundays are the day of rest...so I am taking advantage of this and just taking a day to chill out. Next week I am going to start to try to plan some lessons...since it is a bit boring to go straight from the book! I want to keep these kids entertained and wanting to learn!
So let's see what happened this week. So as of my last post, I had my first day under my belt. Well now I have my first week under my belt. I didn't really do a whole lot this week, a lot of the time was spent sitting around in the teachers lounge...trying to understand what the other teachers were saying! That was difficult, but I have started to understand a little bit more, especially when they talk slowly, clearly, and simply. I have a saying now "In limba romana, am cinci ani" Which means "In romanian, I am 5 years old" so I can understand what a 5 year old understands :) They generally think that it is pretty funny when I say this, but most are really understanding and want me to understand, so they talk nice and slowly for me :)

So let's see, on Tuesday I was able to meet with my community mentor. Her name is Gheorgeta and she is very nice. We went to the market, and had lunch together, we even had the chance to talk for a while, and as normal for the great people of Romania, she was very patient with me. The rest of the week was pretty quite, just went to school and then returned home. On Friday I went to the piata (something similar to a flee market), and it was interesting...to say the least. These things have everything that you could ever imagine. Ranging from car parts, towels, and kitchen ware to live pigs. Yes that is right, I said live pigs. I was walking around, wondering what that noise was I was hearing and where it was coming from, when I saw a woman carrying a pig, pretty sure that that is going to be the Easter pig, if not for this year, for next year! Poor thing...

So I originally went to the piata to find a pan, I wanted to make some sweets for my neighbors. I did not find one there, but I did find one at another store, after I ran into another teacher from town, who showed me where I could buy one :) Then I went to the market into the center of town to buy my fresh vegetables. Oh yes, I can get fresh vegetables every day for extremely cheap. I can usually get a 2 or 3 days supply of fresh, organic vegetables for 5 lei, which is the equivalent of about $1.60! I love it! There is a lady there that likes to laugh at me because I will buy like 3 tomoatoes and an eggplant, and maybe some carrots. I tell her I don't need much because I live alone. She just giggles, it is fun though :) So that brought me to the end of my shopping trip, because my bags were heavy and I needed to go home.

It was a hot day, so I didn't want to bake quite yet, so I decided to go and try to find my director. Which I did, by asking where she was. I tried to go to her house...but her evil dog was guarding the door. Let's just say that dog knows I am terrified of it...he already almost bit me once. He is a very peculiar dog, he is fine inside, but if he is outside the door, he is not friendly. Well he barked at me and tried to chace me so a neighbor helped me out...but my director wasn't home. So I found her at the school instead. So we talked for a while, not for long since my Romanian is very limited, but she is very patient with me as well. I actually ran into her son while we were there and he invited me to his Dad's house to make tuica (plum brandy). Unfortunately we didn't get to make the brandy...which was a bummer because I really want to see how it is made, but I did go home with a lot of fresh organic fruit! So no tuica making on Friday...so I decided it would be a good night to bake brownies!

It was so fun to bake and it was the first time that I have made brownies completely from scratch! Oh no, you cannot buy box mixes for brownies here, and actually I think these brownies turned out better than any brownies I have ever made before...and I had tons of limitations. First off...no measuring cups...so I had to guestimate, and second, no temperature gauge on the oven! Oh no, here you can't just push a button to make your oven 400 degrees, you have to monitor your things very closely and guess what shou.d be the right temperature. I found that it is always better to go lower and cook for longer...and it was a success. So I made these brownies because I wanted to try and meet my neighbors...but they weren't home on Saturday...oh well just have to try again on Sunday (which I did) :)

That brings us to Saturday. I recieved a lovely call from Gheorghetta, an invitation for lunch :) As per call we as PCV's never turn down an invitation (which was not difficult, because Gheorghetta is awesome!) so I went to her house for lunch. The ciorba (soup) here is amazing, they make this really great ciorba radutianne (I don't know what that translates to) but it is basically a cream based soup with chicken and carrots and whatever other vegetables that you like. It is really good, that is all that I have to say. I even ate mamaliga yesterday to, which with other food such as cheese or eggs is not so bad. I am sure I will resort to eating it in the winter when I can't buy much else, or am running low on money :) So anyway, I had a lovely afternoon with Gherghetta and her family, her husband and daughter were in from Botosani, and her daughter spoke a lot of English, though I tried my hardest to speak in Romanian, and she would help me as much as she could. I also really liked it that instead of instantly translating for me, she would tell her parents to speak slowly and clearly to me, that I could understand! I really like that she gave me a chance. So after that I went with Ioana (Gheorghettas daughter) to her boyfriend's parent's house in a neighboring village. His parents are in the process of building a house out there, and it is absolutely beautiful! They have a bunch of land as well with dogs, chickens, ducks, and even a few turkeys! Maybe I will be able to buy a turkey from someone for a Thanksgiving dinner! We shall see. So I had more of a chance to speak in Romanian, and htey were all super nice. His mom was hilarious, so it was fun. If her son would go off speaking Romanian very fast and complex, which he would then ask if I understood...of course the answer was no, she would say "She understood like 2 words" then provide examples and tell him to slow down. It was so funny!

So that was my Saturday, day. When I got home that evening I got to Skype with Lizz!!! I miss my Lizz, it was so good to see her! I love Skype, P.S. if you want to see me and talk to me live for free download it and let me know and we will figure something out :) After that, I relaxed a little bit more, and then went to the Discoteca or dance club. Oh my word, that is all that I have to say. There were so many people crowded in there that you couldn't even move! I have never seen anything like it before. Such an interesting experience and it was so hot in there that when I came back in after being outside...my glasses fogged up! As we all know I am not much of a dancer, but that really didn't matter, because I couldn't move anyway...lol.

So that brings us to Sunday, the day of rest and relaxation. I met one of my neighbors today...though she couldn't talk because she was visiting with her husband who is only home on the weekends. It is rather common here that people will work in other cities and only return home on the weekends, because there just aren't the jobs in the villages and it is too expensive to live in the cities. So, it was okay that she didn't have time to talk, I was just so nervous about even introducing myself. She really seemed to like the idea that I brought her some sweets though, so I hope that she thinks they are tasty! I am bringing a little bit of American culture wherever I go :) So now that I have given you all a book to read...I am going to return to my lazy Sunday. I hope you all are doing well, I think of you everyday and miss you all. Know though, that I am very happy to be in the PC and to have this wonderful experience. I love you all! Take care!

~Until later
Sarah B.