Happy Birthday to me!!

So this week was a little more interesting than the last, I have been feeling better and now I am another year older and also until Tuesday my brother Fred and I are the same age! So for 2 more days he cannot claim that he is older than me! Woohoo! I am an equal :) I used to pick on Fred so much when we were younger during these 5 days, because I would not let him claim that he was older than me, because we were the same age! I also loved the story mom used to tell us, I guess that Fred (or me) not really sure which, used to ask why we were the same age, so mom would tell us "Well, Sarah is a new 5, and Fred, you are an old 5 and soon you will be a new 6." I think that is just adorable, and that makes me realize how I have such a smart mama!

So the beginning of this week was pretty normal, and pretty slow. I stole one of my friends techniques for discipline in the classroom and we will see if it works. My students were being really loud so I made them write sentences over and over again until the end of the hour. They did not like it to much, but I hope that encourages them to quiet down...I don't know we shall see.

So most of my week started from Wednesday on. I had a bunch of St. Patrick's Day lesson plans, all of which worked really well. My students had to write how they would catch a leprechaun and what their wishes would be as well as what they would do with the pot of gold. I was really impressed with their creativity! One group said they would have a girl leprechaun who would lure him into the pub and then they would catch him, another group said they would invite him over for a dinner and then put sleeping pills in his food and once he was asleep they would tie him up. It made me laugh so hard. I was really impressed with their answers for the use of the gold however, I think that 5 out of the 6 groups said that they would donate their gold to orphans, which I thought was really sweet of them! So then after that I went home and baked my goodies for the next day. I decided on Apple Crisp and Brownies. In addition to this I also had ice cream to go with both of the goodies because brownies and apple crisp are always better with ice cream!

That brings me to Thursday, the best day of the year, because that was the day that 24 years ago I was brought into this world! It was actually a really great birthday. I wasn't sure how it was going to be, but it was just a perfect first birthday in Romania. My day started off (and remained) great, I came to school a little bit early so I could make sure that I had everything that I needed for my treat for the day and was able to talk to the teachers for a little bit before class. Then I had to go up to my first class, by myself, which is normal because it is difficult for my counterpart to get there right on time due to transportation. I saw one of my kids in the hall and he went sprinting into the classroom, which isn't abnormal, so I didn't think anything of it. When I got into the classroom however, I knew that something was up because there was only one student in there, and I could not see anymore of my kids, even though I knew that I had seen one of them go running in there. As I went further into the room I could see them behind the desk, and then they all popped up and sang Happy Birthday to me. I think it was the cutest thing I had ever seen and I was impressed that they had remembered that it was my birthday as they were only 4th graders and I had only mentioned it once to them last week. So the day continued on and then the teachers decided that they needed to buy me a present so they got me this really nice red purse, and as many of you know, I love purses! So that was also a really nice surprise. Then I went out to a family's house, someone that I really like to visit a lot and they made a really nice dinner for me and a cake and they had a candle for me and sang to me as well it was really nice. After that I went to Botosani to hang out with my counterpart and we had a few drinks and just hung out for a while. It was a really nice birthday :)

So then that brings me to the weekend, where I was a traveling :) I went to Bacau which is a city in Romania that is about 3-4 hours south of where I am. I went to visit another volunteer there because she is going to be leaving in about 4 weeks because here 2 years will be done with. So I raided her apartment for things that she is not going to be taking with her and also was able to spend some time with some friendly volunteer faces again. We had a great dinner of Tacos and then on Saturday I got another cake, a carrot cake and was sung to again. It was so nice and it was a delicious cake with homemade cream cheese frosting, which as we all know is just downright delicious! So we just hung out and had a good time, had a few drinks, made some good food, went dancing, went to see Alice in Wonderland in 3-D, and enjoyed the beautiful weather of the weekend. It was really nice and the traveling was really easy to, the bus back was a little tricky to catch as it was late and went to a different line at the station, but I made it on and made it back in time to get my lesson planning done, do some organizing, update my blog and talk to my dear brother for a while. So all in all the week was really nice, and now I am looking forward to closing up this blog and relaxing for a while :) I hope everyone is doing well and that Spring is peeking its head out for you as well. I also hope that Spring will decide to emerge and the nice weather will stay for good! I don't know about all of you but I am done with the cold weather and am ready to move onto sunshine and enjoying the outside! I love and miss you all and wish all the best for you in everything that you do!

Va iubesc
Va pup
Mi-a dor de voi!
Pana mai tarziu

~Sarah B.