I Need to Get Better at This!

Hey all, sorry again for the break in the posts...at least I hope that I still have people reading it an I have not bored you to death yet!

So let's see what has happened since I last left you. Well it was shortly after Christmas and I was actually in Bucarest visiting an old friend. Ioana, is a young lady that I actually met when i was in college. She is from Bucuresti and is currently going to school in Belgium! So she has been to school in four countries in all, The US, Romania, Germany and Belgium, that is what I call impressive! She also takes all of her current classes in English, though she is practically a native speaker, I am still impressed because it is a second language!!

So it was nice to spend a few days there, I was able to go to the People's Palace, which is the second biggest building in the world aside from the Pentagon. While I did not tour the whole place, because most of it is actually empty, I went to an art exhibit there. While I didn't understand most of it, because I don't have much of an understanding for art, it was interesting all the same. I had the opportunity to meet some of Ioana's other friends who were very interesting, and to set foot in the second biggest building in the world, so all in all it was an interesting experience, and there were some really cool pieces there. For example there was a set of windows which were broken, which may not seem interesting, but they were broken into exact symmetry, so it was like you were looking at a mirror, they were exactly the same. At first it was not so interesting, but when I found out what it was...pretty interesting.

Other than that it was pretty much just hanging out, we did some shopping, walked around the town, enjoyed a few beers, and Ioana took me to Universitate and explained all about the history of Romania and the revolution that took place there. It was interesting to actually be in the location and learn about the history from someone who is actually from Romania. While we were told about it in PST quite often actually I never had the opportunity to be with someone at the actual location and to have a Romanian explain to me all the locations while we were actually standing there, so that was a pretty cool opportunity! :)

From there I was on my way to Braila, to spend New Years with some volunteers there. We brought in the New Year with a bang, had a great time watching fireworks, drinking champaign, eating delicious food, and doing some traditional Romanian dances. It was a great time! Oh and over the break I also decided to get a hair-cut (In Bucuresti) and while in Braila I decided to let the girls die my hair, just to a darker brown, and I do have to say I like it a lot and I am thinking I will stick with it, just something a little different but I think it is more complimenting to me :)

While I was in Braila I received a little bit of a shocker as well, I was planning on taking a bus home, so I called the company to see where they were leaving from...just to find out that they were not actually leaving that day! Because of the holidays many places are closed, even on the 2nd of January, they usually go back to running normally until the 3rd of January. Thankfully there was a train, but it took me 12 hours to get home instead of 7 by bus. Oh well, just another detour along the way, but I got home anyway and that is all that matters in the long run.

So now I am back to school and back to normal. I am hoping to do more things this semester now that I am more used to what is going on around here and my language has advanced a bit. I have some new systems set in place for the classroom and had to give my first set of bad grades today because I caught some of my students cheating. I hated it, but I knew that if I did not stand behind my rules they would walk all over me and not respect me in the end, and I do want to gain there respect, so even though it stunk...it had to be done :( So hopefully these students will not cheat again....we shall see!

So how about them Packers huh. I signed into my yahoo messenger today and the Packers came up because of some bad calls that were made. Let's just say I saw the picture and I saw the instant replay of that fatal last play, and all I have to say is......"HOLY FACE MASK!" I don't know if I have ever seen anything quite so blatant. But oh well what can you do it is in the past, I just wish that the Pack could have called a challenge on it, but there was nothing called, and there was no doubt that it was a touchdown....even if it was because of a face mask.

Oh and I have decided I am going to give some recommendations...I don't know if they will be permanent or not, but maybe...we shall see..these fall into the lines of entertainment so recommendations for

Movies: The Secret Life of Bees
~Dakota Fanning is absolutely fantastic, as is Queen Latifah and the story is absolutely fantastic and heartwarming and heartbreaking all at the same time.

TV Show: Glee
~Just plain fun, upbeat and silly all at the same time

Book: 1000 Splendid Suns
~One of the best books I have read in a long time. It tells the story of one woman's sorrow and triumph, living in the oppression of Afghanistan. Truly amazing, I was shocked, happy and sad all at the same time, I highly recommend it.

Music: Ke$ha
~Just plain fun and I think that you will enjoy her song TikTok, which I am sure that you have heard on the radio :)

So if any of you are still reading this and have any suggestions for me on anything I will take it...and if you want more opinions from yours truly let me know...but maybe I will just keep typing them....we shall have to wait and see!!!

Love and miss you all and I hope that you are doing well!!!!

Va pup
Va iubesc
Pana mai tarziu
~Sarah B.