So yesterday was a fun day. In the county that I live in there are five other volunteers, we all live less than an hour away from each other, but with the trials and responsibilities of everyday life we unfortunately to not get to see each other very often. Now I was not to happy with this idea, so I decided it would be fun if we got together once a month or so for a meal. Yesterday was the day and we had 5 of the 6 volunteers present, but one substitute so there were 6 of us in all. We had a delicious meal which included a vegetarian, spinach lasagna, bruschetta, garlic bread, salad and wine. It was so delicious! I made the lasagna, since it was at my house that was the easiest way to do it, it was so delicious if I say so myself! I was very proud of my first lasagna that I made in country and I am going to try it again in the near future because it was just that good! The others brought supplies for bruschetta and garlic bread, which was ridiculously tasty! Another volunteer brought supplies for a salad with mango and feta cheese and it was so delicious! I had never had a salad with mango before, but I was a big fan, it was so tasty and fresh and delicious!
It was so nice to be able to get together with volunteers and chat and simply enjoy one another's company, we hope to be able to do it again in the very near future :)
This upcoming week we are celebrating one of my favorite holidays in Romania. Martisoara and womens day. Well womens day isn't technically until next week Tuesday, but this Tuesday is Martisoara. What this means is all the women will get little pins to pin onto their shirts and some will get flowers and candy or coffee or maybe a small bottle of perfume, but mainly flowers. It is basically just appreciation for women and it is so nice, because I love flowers and I love receiving them! Hopefully my house will be filled with the scent of flowers and my shirt will be covered with martisoara, we shall see!
Not to much to report from this past week, classes went as usual. I am going to start working on a project this week, we will be painting a mural on a wall in school so there is some prep work that I have to do in advance. This prep work includes doing a volunteer training, picking a focus group, working on fundraising, and developing a design for the wall. The mural will have a theme of volunteerism as Peace Corps is celebrating 50 years of service and Peace Corps Romania is celebrating 20 years. There is a pretty cool design that some of our volunteers came up with for the PC Romania celebration logo, so hopefully we will be able to incorporate that somehow...we shall see!
Well that is all that I have for this week. I hope you are all doing well and staying warm! It is 19 weeks and 1 day until I come home...not like I am counting or anything :) I am looking forward to my last 5 months in country, but also to coming home and being among family and friends again. Well I better get to work! I have lesson planning to do! Have a wonderful week and I hope that mother nature is nice to you :)
Va pup!
Va iubesc!
Mi-a dor de voi!
Pana mai tarziu
~Sarah B.
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Snow....oh snow
So today is a snowy day here in Pucioasa. Even though I am used the the changes in weather, 50 degrees one day and snow melting everywhere, and then snow a few days later just to turn everything white again, does not mean I like it! Oh well what are you going to do. Before I know it I am sure that spring will be here and I will be able to enjoy the lovely weather just in time to go home in July. It is hard to believe that I will be home before we know it, just in a few months time!
I wish that I had something interesting to report this week, but I only have school. It was nothing super interesting either just a regular school week, so instead I think I will take a blast to the past and talk about my family as today my dad celebrates his birthday.
An undisclosed number of years ago, my father entered this world and boy am I glad that he did. Even though we fought when I was growing up, and still fight now from time to time, I am still so thankful for him each and every day. My dad has always been nothing but supporting to me. When I was in sports, even if I didn't play much, my dad and mom were always there supporting me. I don't think there was one time that both of them missed a game. From time to time, one had to miss it because Fred had something going on, but they were always there for me. I am so blessed for that. My dad has also always been really helpful to me when I have had problems. Whenever something would break, I would go to dad first to see if he could fix it, even when I was in college! I would have problems at home and before I would call my landlord, on small things, I would call my dad to see if he could help me fix it, or if there was a problem with my car, I would call my dad first to see if he could help me fix it before I paid someone to do it for me. He has taught me to be a do-it-myself girl, because I always try to resolve problems myself, within reason that is, before I waste money. While I don't try to fix things that deal with electricity, I usually try to resolve other, small household problems on my own first, which is how I was able to fix my drain in my old apartment by myself, which I was really proud of myself for! I think that was pretty awesome on my part.
He has also taught me to be kind to others. I think he is a big part of the reason that I wanted to join the Peace Corps. While I wanted the opportunity to experience a different culture, I also wanted the chance to help others. Growing up, we were always volunteering and helping out for things in church and I think that this habit just grew into something bigger. So thank you dad for always encouraging me to do good things for others, I am on the journey of a life time now which has helped me to grow as a person.
I am so thankful for my family every day, and my father is a big part of holding that together. He and my mom are both so passionate about having a close family and they have done a beautiful job of maintaining that. I have a brother whom I love and get along with, and awesome sister-in-law and 2 wonderful nieces and an adorable nephew, all of whom I am crazy about! My family has been so supportive of me in my journey and I am so thankful for that, and thankful for my dad for making our family strong and supportive of one another in all situations. You are awesome dad and I love you, and Happy Birthday to you today and many more to come!
I love and miss you all back home and I hope that you are well and that every day brings you only happiness. I can't wait to see all of you in just a few months time. Take care and don't get to cold with the February freeze that will more than likely inevitably come, and also stay away from the flood waters that might arise from the February thaw! We will see what this next week brings, because both are possible, oh the joys of living in the midwest!
Va iubesc!
Va pup!
Mi-a dor de voi!
Pana mai tarziu
~Sarah B.
I wish that I had something interesting to report this week, but I only have school. It was nothing super interesting either just a regular school week, so instead I think I will take a blast to the past and talk about my family as today my dad celebrates his birthday.
An undisclosed number of years ago, my father entered this world and boy am I glad that he did. Even though we fought when I was growing up, and still fight now from time to time, I am still so thankful for him each and every day. My dad has always been nothing but supporting to me. When I was in sports, even if I didn't play much, my dad and mom were always there supporting me. I don't think there was one time that both of them missed a game. From time to time, one had to miss it because Fred had something going on, but they were always there for me. I am so blessed for that. My dad has also always been really helpful to me when I have had problems. Whenever something would break, I would go to dad first to see if he could fix it, even when I was in college! I would have problems at home and before I would call my landlord, on small things, I would call my dad to see if he could help me fix it, or if there was a problem with my car, I would call my dad first to see if he could help me fix it before I paid someone to do it for me. He has taught me to be a do-it-myself girl, because I always try to resolve problems myself, within reason that is, before I waste money. While I don't try to fix things that deal with electricity, I usually try to resolve other, small household problems on my own first, which is how I was able to fix my drain in my old apartment by myself, which I was really proud of myself for! I think that was pretty awesome on my part.
He has also taught me to be kind to others. I think he is a big part of the reason that I wanted to join the Peace Corps. While I wanted the opportunity to experience a different culture, I also wanted the chance to help others. Growing up, we were always volunteering and helping out for things in church and I think that this habit just grew into something bigger. So thank you dad for always encouraging me to do good things for others, I am on the journey of a life time now which has helped me to grow as a person.
I am so thankful for my family every day, and my father is a big part of holding that together. He and my mom are both so passionate about having a close family and they have done a beautiful job of maintaining that. I have a brother whom I love and get along with, and awesome sister-in-law and 2 wonderful nieces and an adorable nephew, all of whom I am crazy about! My family has been so supportive of me in my journey and I am so thankful for that, and thankful for my dad for making our family strong and supportive of one another in all situations. You are awesome dad and I love you, and Happy Birthday to you today and many more to come!
I love and miss you all back home and I hope that you are well and that every day brings you only happiness. I can't wait to see all of you in just a few months time. Take care and don't get to cold with the February freeze that will more than likely inevitably come, and also stay away from the flood waters that might arise from the February thaw! We will see what this next week brings, because both are possible, oh the joys of living in the midwest!
Va iubesc!
Va pup!
Mi-a dor de voi!
Pana mai tarziu
~Sarah B.
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Last Semester at school....is that really possible!
So this last year has been a little surreal. I have traveled to a total of four countries, Hungary, Italy, France and Turkey,I have traveled all around Romania, I have hosted my parents, I attended many summer camps, I moved and I started at a new school. There has been so much that it is hard to believe that I am now starting my last semester here in Romania. In less than 5 months I will be on a plane headed back to The United States. Sometimes it feels like I have been in Romania for ages, and then other times it feels like I just arrived a few months ago. I can't believe that the time for me to leave is almost here, when it feels like I have just started my work. It will surely be a bittersweet parting when the time comes to leave. Some may ask if it will be so difficult to leave, why not stay for another year? I did think about that, but as much as I love Romania, I miss my family even more. I also do not feel that teaching is the right career path for me and I want to get started on my graduate degree, assuming I get into grad school that is :) I also have missed so much with my nieces and nephew and I want to be there for them. I don't want to be that aunt whom they never see. It will be so wonderful when I finally get to hold them in my arms again.
Enough with the sappy stuff then, so this week I started school and was feeling very nostalgic about the events of the past year, mainly related to school and myself. While in Peace Corps I have learned so much. More than I think I could anticipate and it is difficult for me to see exactly what I have learned unless I actually sit down and analyze it. So here are some things that I have learned.
1.) Language -- I never thought that I would be able to learn how to communicate in a foreign language. When I was in high school I struggled through Spanish, while I understood the vocabulary I had absolutely now speaking abilities and I couldn't apply it in any sort of situation, much less and everyday situation. Within my first year I did learn the language to a rather high level and I was almost always able to get my point across in a variety of situations. In the past year my language has improved even more and I am able to have a minimum of 10 minute conversations and up to several hour conversations with little to no problems in communication. I am so proud of myself for learning this language and for always pushing myself to get better.
2.) Assertiveness -- Sometimes it is very difficult to stick up for yourself. I have always found this something very difficult to do, I would just ignore things and hope the negative feelings would eventually go away, which of course they did not. This option seemed a better one to me, because the idea of confrontation terrified me because I would always freeze up and feel this emotion of tension whenever it would happen, often leaving me at a loss of words and unable to stick up for myself. However asking for a site change was the first step in me sticking up for myself. I was very adamant about my request because I knew that it was the right thing for me. I thought long and hard about even making the request, and once I felt I had no other options left for me I made it. While it was not an easy process I stuck with it and it proved worth it in the end. This year in my school has been wonderful, and I have continued sticking up for myself, even though the occasion comes up so infrequently. I still need improvement but feel I am well on my way to developing a skill that will only benefit me in the future.
3.) Open -minded -- I have become much more open minded since being here in Romania. This is not necessarily due to Romania itself, but more so to the people I have met within my group and the groups before and after me. Every one of my fellow volunteers is different and each one has challenged my opinions in one way or another, but also open my eyes up to different perspectives. While I don't necessarily agree with each perspective, it helps me to further formulate my opinions regarding certain things and to be certain of the opinions I hold, by looking at from various angles. I think this has helped me to become a better person and I think it will make me a better therapist one day.
4.) Patience -- This is something that has developed, but still has a long way to go. I now have no trouble waiting up to an hour for a bus, because I know eventually one will come. Or waiting for someone to come fix something in your apartment, they may have said a half hour, but that is just an estimate, it could be up to two hours or more later. While I will look forward to having my own car again one day and having more control over my schedule, I feel this patience could come in handy in other situations, for example waiting for my nieces and nephew as they decide exactly what toy they want to bring with them or friends when they just can't seem to decide what to wear that day.
These are only a few of the things that I have learned, if I were to type everything I had learned we would be here for a very long time. In essence my experience so far has shaped me into a better person and I can only hope and pray that these will stay with me and I will continue to grow into and even better person as I return home and pursue my future. My Peace Corps experience has been an ongoing learning process and I look forward to what the final months of my service here will teach me. I am sure that I will have many more learning experiences that will continue to help me grow into what I hope to be an excellent person.
Enough with the sappy stuff then, so this week I started school and was feeling very nostalgic about the events of the past year, mainly related to school and myself. While in Peace Corps I have learned so much. More than I think I could anticipate and it is difficult for me to see exactly what I have learned unless I actually sit down and analyze it. So here are some things that I have learned.
1.) Language -- I never thought that I would be able to learn how to communicate in a foreign language. When I was in high school I struggled through Spanish, while I understood the vocabulary I had absolutely now speaking abilities and I couldn't apply it in any sort of situation, much less and everyday situation. Within my first year I did learn the language to a rather high level and I was almost always able to get my point across in a variety of situations. In the past year my language has improved even more and I am able to have a minimum of 10 minute conversations and up to several hour conversations with little to no problems in communication. I am so proud of myself for learning this language and for always pushing myself to get better.
2.) Assertiveness -- Sometimes it is very difficult to stick up for yourself. I have always found this something very difficult to do, I would just ignore things and hope the negative feelings would eventually go away, which of course they did not. This option seemed a better one to me, because the idea of confrontation terrified me because I would always freeze up and feel this emotion of tension whenever it would happen, often leaving me at a loss of words and unable to stick up for myself. However asking for a site change was the first step in me sticking up for myself. I was very adamant about my request because I knew that it was the right thing for me. I thought long and hard about even making the request, and once I felt I had no other options left for me I made it. While it was not an easy process I stuck with it and it proved worth it in the end. This year in my school has been wonderful, and I have continued sticking up for myself, even though the occasion comes up so infrequently. I still need improvement but feel I am well on my way to developing a skill that will only benefit me in the future.
3.) Open -minded -- I have become much more open minded since being here in Romania. This is not necessarily due to Romania itself, but more so to the people I have met within my group and the groups before and after me. Every one of my fellow volunteers is different and each one has challenged my opinions in one way or another, but also open my eyes up to different perspectives. While I don't necessarily agree with each perspective, it helps me to further formulate my opinions regarding certain things and to be certain of the opinions I hold, by looking at from various angles. I think this has helped me to become a better person and I think it will make me a better therapist one day.
4.) Patience -- This is something that has developed, but still has a long way to go. I now have no trouble waiting up to an hour for a bus, because I know eventually one will come. Or waiting for someone to come fix something in your apartment, they may have said a half hour, but that is just an estimate, it could be up to two hours or more later. While I will look forward to having my own car again one day and having more control over my schedule, I feel this patience could come in handy in other situations, for example waiting for my nieces and nephew as they decide exactly what toy they want to bring with them or friends when they just can't seem to decide what to wear that day.
These are only a few of the things that I have learned, if I were to type everything I had learned we would be here for a very long time. In essence my experience so far has shaped me into a better person and I can only hope and pray that these will stay with me and I will continue to grow into and even better person as I return home and pursue my future. My Peace Corps experience has been an ongoing learning process and I look forward to what the final months of my service here will teach me. I am sure that I will have many more learning experiences that will continue to help me grow into what I hope to be an excellent person.
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Turkey Turkey Turkey
So it has been about 4 weeks since I have updated, and that is because it has been a crazy busy 4 weeks. I don't think I had much time to breathe since school started up. I was constantly on the go getting ready for the end of the semester and the Special English Evening that my students put on. So let's start out with that.
Special English Evening
So on the last day of the semester my school has the tradition of having a Special English Evening, in which the students in the intensive English classes (3-4 classes of English a week) prepare something to present to the parents and other students. This year there were 16 numbers. I helped prepare all but two of them, so it was pretty crazy. The students sang songs such as, "If I Lived Under the Sea" "The Wheels on the Bus", "She's a Lady", "There's a time to laugh", "I'm a Believer" and "People Work". The 5th grade optional drama class prepared two plays, "Twelve Angry Pigs" and "Stone Soup" These plays were a little rough up until right before the actual event, but the kids did wonderfully with them and I was very proud of them. The 6th grade optional drama class wrote their own plays. There were four short skits and each of them did wonderful! I was also very proud. I helped the 7th graders create "the Golden Raspberries" which was their very own version of the Academy Awards. They did such a wonderful job, I shouldn't pick favorites, but their's was my favorite. They each did such a wonderful job, they were so creative and it was hilarious, we had celebrities such Sandra Bullock, Megan Fox, Julia Roberts, Arnold Schwaznegger (played by the smallest kid in the class...who also happens to be a big ham), Joe Peschi, Ben Stiller and many more. There was a scene acted out from Charlie and "The Chocolate Factory" in which one of the tiniest boys in the class was dressed as Violet Beauregard, which was hilarious. They were awesome, hopefully I will get a tape so that I can show it to all of you when I get home. I was so proud of each one of my classes and they made the evening wonderful.
Once that was done I was able to relax for a few days until my friend Chelsea came over and we hung out for a few days and then left for Istanbul. Oh what a journey that was. We took a train and when we got on the train we found out there was no heat. The conductor brought us extra blankets to keep warm, but it still was like sitting in a freezer. A few hours later, he came and told us to come with him to the other cabin to warm up for a while. Once we got in there, there was no way we were leaving again, so we asked if we could pay for an upgrade, it was less than we thought it would be, but frankly it didn't matter we were so cold we would have paid just about anything! So we went from second class to first class, which was comfortable and most importantly warm!
It was very nice in there and we were able to sleep and stay toasty, but we did get woken up in the middle of the night because we had to get off of the train to buy our Visas into Hungry and get our passports stamped. The last thing that any of us wanted to do at 2 o'clock in the morning was to get off of the train and go into the freezing cold to have our passports stamped. Oh well, we did so and we got back onto the train where it was toasty warm.
So we finally arrived in Istanbul, 21 hours later. We were very excited to get off the train and start our adventure. I did not have any Turkish Lira however so I went to an ATM to get some money and the ATM ate my debit card. So here I am freaking out in Turkey not even 10 minutes after I have gotten off of the train and I am left without an ATM card, my lifeline. Needless to say I was freaking out, but my friend Chelsea was keeping me grounded. I went to the bank across the street who owned the ATM and they told me quite rudely that they couldn't get me my card back and I told them as firmly and angrily as I could how angry I was, which as you know for me isn't that impressive. So after a little bit I accepted that I wasn't going to get my card back, so we went to change some money because we both had a little bit of American money with us. So we changed that and went to find our hostel. Once at the hostel I was starting to feel a bit better especially once I found out I could pay for it on a credit card without a PIN. I have an emergency credit card that I use very infrequently, but I have it just for occasions such as this, and this time around it saved my life. Since it was so early and the credit union was updating their system my mom couldn't send me money until Tuesday, so that meant that I was without money in Turkey until Wednesday. So for my first 2 days of the trip I had no money, but my friend was helping me out, I would put meals on my card and she would pay me back so I was able to at least get enough money to pay for my train ticket back. Then once the money was Western Unioned to me via my lovely mother I was able to spend just about all of it :)
While in Turkey we were able to see many wonderful things. The first day we walked around the Grand Bazaar which was awesome. The vendors there were crazy though, they wanted you to buy everything and they were a little intense, but as long as you kept walking it was okay. Then we wondered near the Blue Mosque, but it was already closed so we went back to our hostel to relax a little bit. We met some awesome people in the hostel that night and had a lot of fun with them. It was a good end to the to a day that started out really rough.
The next day we walked around some more and stopped by the Blue Mosque, but didn't go in because it was closed for prayer. We then proceeded to do a loop around Istanbul past the Grand Bazaar, to the University, out to a Mosque then looping back to the Spice Market. We stopped for lunch along the way as well and had a lovely meal at a cute little Turkish restaurant, it was a delicious Pita. Then we headed back to the hostel after a very very full day of walking. We went out to dinner that night to another traditional Turkish restaurant which was pretty cool. They had a live band playing Turkish music. I thought it was really neat because the clarinet was a major part of the music, and this guy had mad skills. It made me want to start playing again as it would be awesome to play as well as he did! Then we went back to the hostel and hung out for awhile, but turned in pretty early as we were rather exhausted.
Day 3 my money finally arrived so I was able to start my real vacation. We went to the Blue Mosque and the Hagia Sophia. Both were magnificent buildings and it is amazing home people have been able to create these amazing buildings, and how they think about them. After seeing these building is was time for me to do some much needed shopping and needless to say, I got all my souvenirs in just one day, and I found something for everyone, which was pretty cool. We met some really interesting vendors, and since it was a slow day for them they actually were less annoying. There was a guy selling teas and spices that was just hilarious and he actually gave us a little extra tea for no extra charge, which was pretty awesome and he made it fun to buy from him. We then found a guy selling scarves that were beautiful and a good price and he also gave us a pretty good deal. It was a good day in both the spice market and grand bazaar for us and we had a lot of fun. Before we went mad on shopping however we went to an Archeological Museum that was actually really amazing. It has been a while since I have been to a good museum, so I really enjoyed it and saw lots of really cool things. It was a good time.
So after a 9-7 day we called it a day and headed back to the hostel for some dinner and relaxing as well as to hear about everyone else's day.
Then on our final day there we went on the ferry that took us over to the Asia side of Istanbul. The ferry ride was beautiful, but cold. I can't even imagine how beautiful that trip would be in the summer time on a nice sunny day. It was lovely just to see the city from the Bosphorus Strait and it was fun to climb up to the castle that sat up on a hill and to look out into the Strait on one side and the Black Sea on the other. We also enjoyed a nice lunch over there, and Chelsea was in heaven with the choice of seafood there was and the waiters thought I was funny because all I wanted was anything but fish. It was a good day trip though. Once we got back we dropped some things off at the hostel and then went to experience a traditional Turkish Bath.
This bath was an interesting experience, and I am not so sure how much I liked it. I didn't dislike it, but I didn't love it like some people do. Many of you know me as a rather modest person, so the fact of someone else bathing you is kind of odd. I mean I was really clean, and it was really warm, and who doesn't like a good massage, so I felt really relaxed afterward, but it was an interesting experience. I also got to sit in a jacuzzi for a while and that was just fantastic. So we were able to get on the train all relaxed and clean for our trip back to Romania. It took us exactly 24 hours to get back but now we are home and I am so glad that I got to sleep in my own bed. I don't sleep well in strange places so I hadn't slept well for a week, but as soon as I got into my own bed after about 5 minutes I fell asleep and I didn't wake up again until I saw the sunlight at about 9 o'clock in the morning, it was a dreamless and fantastic sleep.
I learned many things on this trip
1.) Next time I am flying it is faster :)
2.) Don't put your ATM card into strange ATMs :)
3.) It rocks having a mom that works for the credit union where your money is kept because she can take care of everything in a moments notice
4.) Turkish baths are relaxing but a little awkward
5.) Hostels can be a crazy amount of fun and you meet the most interesting people there.
6.) I enjoy traveling and the world is full of beautiful and interesting places
7.) I am glad I didn't plan this trip to Egypt, or else I would have been evacuated.
So all in all it was a good vacation, I had a ton of fun, we saw beautiful buildings, ate delicious food, met wonderful people, and had experiences that I will never forget. So that was my trip. this will probably be the last one I get to take as my budget will not allow for any others. I will miss traveling, but I hope to be able to travel some more once I get state side, which will be in exactly 5 months and 6 days, not that I am counting or anything :)
I hope all of you are doing well and I miss you all very much each and every day. I can't wait to see in you in just a few months time, it has been too long and I can't wait to give you all hugs!
Va iubesc
Va pup
Mi-a dor de voi
Pana mai tarziu
~Sarah B.
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