Just another week in Romania

So it looks like I am falling into a rhythm, one post a week, which is pretty good for me. I am not very good at recounting my adventures, because they never sound as good as they actually were. Oh well at least I try :)

So this week there really wasn't anything to interesting that happened. I just basically went to school all week. Something that was sort of interesting though, is the behavior that I recieved from the students, for some reason they were crazy good this week! I even had a new behavior plan to institute, but it wasn't really all that necessary, because they were so good. When I was in Iasi this past weekend, my friends that I met and I got to talking about school and something that is a problem for everyone is the behavior from the kids. One of my friends was telling me about his method, since the kids don't respond to yelling or a talking to, he goes with grades. In order to get them to participate and be on decent behavior he gives them a grade for every class. I liked this idea so I decided to implement it. It works wonders, they want to get good grades, especially since I told them I would put them all in the catalogue (which I am not doing, but they will be calculated into their final grade) so it will hurt them if they get bad grades in class in the end. So if they are good they get a 9 or a 10 (which is equivalent to an A) and if they are not good they will get a 2 or a 3. This has worked so far, and it will be a good way for me to get to know their names :) Since I also use the book for attendance every day. So we shall see how this next week goes and if they continue to have respect for me or not...I sure hope so!

That is all for the kids, but I did get to talking with the secretary at school one day and found out that she has a granddaughter that is about 2 weeks older than Josee (my niece and goddaughter) so she was thrilled to show me pictures of her. So I am going to be bringing in pictures of Blair and Josee to show her, and the rest of my family as well, because they are all so important to me! My friends are too, but if I showed her pictures of all of my friends I think that we would be there for ages! I also got to talking to the physics teacher, she is so nice and I found out that she has a cousin in Canada. I asked her if she ever wants to go there and visit her...but she didn't seem so keen on it :) Even though this is her first year there, and she has never met an American Volunteer before (all of the other teachers met and worked with Tory who was the volunteer in my village before me) she is really good to speak with, because she speaks simply and slowly. I am starting to understand more, but it is still difficult, especially when people automatically think I am fluent in Romanian and start talking really quickly with strong accent and complicated. There are some who are really good though, and it makes life and learning a lot easier. I really do like Romanian, it is just a complicated language. My counterpart put it into a good perspective though. We were talking about how complicated I think that the language is, and she told me to imagine being in Asia or somewhere in Africa where none of the words would hold any similarities to English. She is completely right though, because there are a lot of words that are really similar, it is just the sentence structure and the gender sensitve words, as well as the conjugation of verbs that gets me every time, because that is not something that is prevalent in the English language. In time I know I will learn however, my Romanian has actually improved since I have come to my village, so that is something that I am excited about!

Let's see what else is new, oh I was on my way to the Piata on Friday morning when I recieved a phone call, I had a package from my parents! Again since Tory was here before me, it works out in my favor, I exchanged numbers with the man from the post office and when a package comes in he gives me a call since it is dificult for me to get there. I can only go to the post office between 10 and 11:30 to pick up packages, in a city that is a 1/2 hour away by car. So Friday is really the only day since I do not have school on Fridays. Needless to say I was thrilled, I love getting packages, so I went home to pack my bags really quickly as I was planning on spending some time with my counterpart and immediately went to the bus stop! I didn't actually take the bus, I rode with someone (hitch hiking is very common hear and safe) and this was the first time the ride didn't turn into something interesting. The only thing that was interesting is that the guy forgot I was in the back seat. Apparently he doesn't normally give rides to people, and it is not like I was chatting their ears off as I do not know the language very well, and it usually turns into a rather limiting conversation. It was just funny when his friend told him I was still in the car, but I got to where I needed to go in the end. So there really has yet to be a dull ride for me :) I guess I will take it though, nothing has been frightening yet...and I hope that it stays that way...I will steer clear of scary! So I got my package, and the people at the post office are all super nice, so that rocks. My arms are still sore from carrying it, that sucker was heavy!

I won't talk about the package too much but I wanted to mention my favorite thing. My niece Blair decided that she would color me some pictures, some for my house and some for my classroom. The cutest part is the ones for my house were all precious moments (which are only my favorite things in the world, and for all of you who know me super well, you know how many I have already collected :)! ) and the ones for my school were the alphabet :) The best part was on the letter Z she wrote, "Yay we finished the alphabet!" Man I love my family! The rest of the stuff in there rocked to, there was tons of stuff for school, and for Halloween since we are having a Halloween party, so they should really enjoy the decorations...which include (Spider webs, a ghost that flies around the ceiling, and a bat that flies around as well!) I think those are going to be a real hit! My mom is so creative! These kids are creative as well, so I think that the decorations they make themselves are going to be awesome!

Let's see other than that not much else is new, just lesson planning and chilling out at home. It has been getting cold out, so I decided to make brownies today, and I never really did get to meet my neighbors very much with them last time because I got scared and gave them to other people I already knew, but I am going to try again...hopefully starting tomorrow...we shall see if I build up the courage. I think that I can do it! Oh but I wanted to mention before I forget...especially for mom and dad, everytime that I talk with people for the first time they ask if my parents are going to come and see me, so it looks like everyone here is looking forward to meeting you. Also as long as John and Mary are still planning on coming to see me as well, I am sure they would be absolutely thrilled to meet you as well! So I think when you do come to see me, you are instantly going to be very popular! I am sure they will show you a good Romanian welcome!

Well I think that is all for now, I am going to go and try to lesson plan a little bit before I attempt to stream the Packer Game, I want to see this one because once Donald Driver makes his first reception he is going to make history, and I love Donald Driver! He is my hero...so I want to see his bit of history, he deserves it! He is amazing, not just on the football field but off of it as well! Alright, well I will try to post again next week Sunday! I always try to remember because I know their are a lot of you who read it, so I want to include you in everything that I can. I love and miss you all so much, but I do love it here (but I plan on coming home, don't worry) and I am doing very well and learning a lot every day! I hope you all are doing well and you are all in my thoughts and prayers. Oh and before I forget my love goes out to the family of Millie Olm, I am sorry I couldn't be there for the service, I would have been there in a heartbeat if I was in the United States. Millie has always meant a lot to me as she saw me and Fred grow up. I am glad you are no longer in pain or confusion, but you will always be missed. We all love you.

Te iubesc
Pana mai tarziu
~Sarah B.