Common on my road, I saw one of my neighbors on a cartuza heading home after a day’s work in the field. I waved, took a picture and continued walking. Like many days like this one, I wasn’t really sure where I was headed.

I walked along the unpaved road for about ten minutes until I decided to get off it and make way through the broken fence that gave me just enough room to walk through it.

The pillow of orange leaves spread across the ground welcome my curiosity.  I made way to one of the taller trees and took a few pictures.

The landscape created by the Parang Mountains, a range of the Carpathian Mountains, is one of my favorite things to look at on my walks to and from school. On a clear day like this one I can see the highest mountains in this area, Papusa and Mojoro. I sat and enjoyed the view of Novaci.

  In the distance two horses caught my attention, so I crossed another fence and made my way in their direction.

Before I could get close to the horses, a pleasant surprise peaked over the hill. A herd of sheep, my estimation around 70 of them, were clustered in one area.

The shepherd, nowhere to be found, must had been off gathering other sheep I thought. I sat on a small hill where I kept my eye on the horses and enjoyed the company of the herd. In complete serenity, I laid back on the grass and looked up to the clear sky. How I wished there was at least one cloud to make out animals. But for now, I had nothing to think about but the grass on my back and the light wind over my face. I closed my eyes and played with the grass between my fingers. I wondered off to think about my life then and now, typical of me, but was brought back to the hilltop by the nicker of the horses.

When I set back up, I noticed a small red object moving on the grass a few meters in front of me and before I could blink I realized it was the shepherd. He was sleeping next to two dogs and near a plum tree. I set on the hill and watched as he tossed and turned on the grass. After a few minutes I guess he decided to get up, put his boots on and slowly, almost unwilling, he reached over to his left and picked up his stick that helped him up. He said something to the dogs that I couldn’t make out, maybe something along the lines of “hey, our nap is over lets move these animals” or ” the faster we get up the less we’ll think about sleeping”. But I won’t really know. Without noticing me ,he leaned down, picked up his backpack and took one step after the other towards the herd.

I too got up, and walked over to him. His lived skin and worn out clothes welcomed me with a warm smile. Immediately, I knew this had happened to him before. His poise and calmness told me so. 67 year old Ion Nicu was looking after 87 sheep, to which he told me wasn’t very easy. The day starts at 5am and ends at 7pm,  and with no company but his animals, I understand why a nap would be a good option.

We talked about politics and  how life used to be and ,maybe for him, not so different than now.  Just a common subject among most of us, reminiscing about the time that was that we can’t get a hold of anymore.

Nicu didn’t carry a book or a newspaper in his backpack as I first assumed, he was illiterate. Instead, his bag was filled with his day’s food.

Nicu called over the sheep and said “sure you can take a picture”. Surprised that he would suggest it before I could ask, I stumbled to get my camera out. He spoke softly to his herd as they surrounded him immediately. After snapping a few pictures, he ordered his sheep to start walking and with that our conversation ended.

He headed down the hill and I waited until they were out of sight to start walking.

With the day almost over, I headed over to a tree and set there some more. Like Nicu, I too reminisced about the year that had gone by in Romania. All the ups and downs, the friends, students, celebrations and seasons.

A beautiful sunset now took over the blue sky, and I closed my eyes and took a nap myself.

My nap wasn’t very long, the cold wind that was coming in woke me up ten minutes into it. I came back home still tired,cold and had nothing to write ,just a couple of pictures to store away. Though, I’m glad I found them today.

Initiated on October, 2012, and now in its fourth year, the competition was a creative writing, art, photography, theatrical performance, and film competition for Romanian students. This year, the participants’ task was to positively and creatively express the theme “From Peace at Home to Peace in the World.” The competition was open to all general schools and high schools in Romania with interested students. The time period for submissions included the internationally recognized 16 Days Against Gender Violence in November and December that coincides with important international dates for women’s and human rights issues. GAD solicited creative interpretations of the theme “Peace at Home, Peace in the World” from middle school and high school students across Romania in the form of a piece of writing, a photograph, or work of art using our network of volunteers and teacher counterparts.

The campaign and competition was a collaboration between GAD, Fundatia Sensiblu, a Romanian NGO involved with supporting women and children survivors of domestic violence with their Casa Blu program, as well as being the only NGO in Bucharest working in the domain of domestic violence prevention with annual informational and public awareness campaigns and the organization Fundatia IREX/Programul Biblionet. The awards ceremony was held at the National Library in Bucharest and on display hung the art and written entries by Romanian youth.

A total of 133 entries were submitted from over 18 counties across Romania. Sixty-seven art, 39 essays, 14 poetry, and 13 film, theater and photography. Twenty two  judges from 12 organizations judged the entries during the 2012 campaign which included representatives from Fundatia Sensiblu, IREX/Biblionet, GAD, US Embassy, and other organizations.

In attendance were first place winners accompanied by a parent, Fundatia Sensiblu, IREX/Biblionet, GAD Committee, staff from Peace Corps, non-government organization and community members. At the registration table, guest received a handmade martisor (a martisor is a small trinket given to women on March 1st, one of my favorite Romanian holidays! I wrote about this before here)  by Daciana Ungureanu, an artist from Novaci, Gorj. The program opened with an introduction to the event by IREX/Biblionet Romania Advocacy Officer Daniela Draghici. Diplomas and prizes were awarded to first place winners and judges were recognized for their cooperation and support in the campaign. Winners of this year’s campaign received digital cameras, art supplies, a diploma and lodging and transportation to the awards ceremony in Bucharest.

To view all entries, follow the link:  http://gad16zile.wordpress.com.

–After having worked on this project for so many months, I was delighted to see the final results at our awards ceremony. All of our hard work paid off by the success of this event, everything ran smoothly! Sharing this moment of celebration with the winners, their parents, member of all three organization GAD, Fundatia Sensiblu, and IREX/Biblionet was a wonderful way to conclude the project. Not to mention the fact that the Romanian counterparts that were part of GAD will be creating an NGO to run this campaign next year. The amount of success of this event and project has left me smiling for weeks– Andrea

Theater performance

Art display with first place winner for elementary school (top left)

Art display

1st Place winners

First place winners, parent, and Cristina Hora Executive Director of Fundatia Sensiblu

First place winner, High School Art.

Display with art

Display of art and first place winner of poetry

Art display

The Gender and Development Committee of Peace Corps Romania

Theater Group

Daciana Ungureanu, Miruna Gruescu (first place winner for elementary school- art), and me.

Welcome Students!

One of the ongoing projects I’ve been working on has been to train leaders to run the English camp once Peace Corps leaves. I blogged about it before here where I mentioned that Romanian High Schools students were being trained by Peace Corps Volunteers and the Romanian NGO “Leaders of the Third Millennium”. During the summer, leaders received training on leadership development and then attended our summer English camp as camp leaders. Like any project, at the end of the camp our students gave us feedback and suggested that we provide them with more training on teaching English in a camp setting….so that’s what we did in December 2012.

We regrouped on a cold, rainy Saturday in December and I led a morning workshop introducing students to the communicative way of teaching English. The basic idea of this method, and one that I use in the classroom, is to teach English using interactive ways for students to learn. The leaders were introduced to the use of -total physical response-natural approach-relia-scripting/role play, gamification-sorting-peer work/small group. In essence, these methods taught our leaders how to implement music, poetry, hands on activities, games, and practice dialogues that students will use during camp. Leaders were involved in the morning session by participating in the games and methods I introduced. Then, to immediately apply the learned skills, we had a group of young learners come to school so the leaders could practice teaching them a lesson. It was a complete success because each leaders had a chance to teach a lesson in English using two methods learned in the morning. From the feedback we received the leaders felt more comfortable and prepared than how they felt last summer.

Our winter English camp took place in early January in Ranca, a small ski resort 30 minutes from where I live. Three leaders came up to the camp and led lessons during the four day camp. The breakdown of the camp consist of three morning activities that focus around a theme, during the winter we focused on winter vocabulary, Christmas songs, winter sports and other similar lessons.  All lessons and outdoor activities are led in English and students are expected to use the vocabulary learned during the day in the afternoon activities.

We have done a lot of wonderful activities not simply to teach English but to encourage students to step outside their comfort zone and meet new kids. We all know how it is, we stick to who we know…so we developed peer work and team activities in the first day so students felt comfortable approaching kids they didn’t know. We did a wonderful activity last summer in which each student created a paper mailbox which we later taped to their bedroom door. At the end of each day we had reflection time and students were asked to write something nice about each student and deliver the mail. It was truly wonderful to see kids run around delivering mail and later hear of the wonderful things students wrote!

We work with the students from 8:30-11ish(long days), depending on the night games the students want to play. During this camp, we played American trivia, musical chairs, danced, made Christmas tree ornaments, snow globes, peer work, skied and had a scavenger hunt. We also played dodgeball and tug of war in the snow. Oh, on our first night we watched Home Alone–always a good choice!

I commend and applaud these leaders because it takes a lot of courage to teach a foreign language at such a young age, especially when its their first time doing so. They have taken responsibilities that a lot of students their age shy away from. I know they will make powerful and important contributions in their communities. There is still one more camp we’ll run this summer and with that I’ll conclude my service and head back home.

Below are pictures from the training and the camp. I know they are out of order, I apologize. Andrea.

One of the snow globes created during arts and crafts

At the beginning of each camp students create mailboxes that we tape on their door and at the end of the day we have reflection time and every student writes something nice about their peers and delivers it! A great way for students to feel part of the group!

View from my room during camp! Sunshine you make me happy…lalala

Team building activity: students had to make figure out which were the safe squares in the maze by remembering the path and once finished help the other teammates.

Setting up with the leaders

Peer time: to create a stronger group we allocated time for students to meet with a peer who they did not know before the camp and answer questions we gave them. At the end of the camp they were asked to present their peer to the whole group.

Our rules are simple, HAVE FUN!

TEAM WORK…all the peer time paid off!

The kids were very creative with decorating their stars

Another project was to make stars, Christmas trees or snowflakes.

Working diligently on the snow globe

After learning winter vocabulary, we took the kids skiing

Delivering warm thoughts

“Disco Time” we have to celebrate our successes.

During one of the sessions students had to put together a poem. I tapped strips of paper around the room with the lines of a poem, one student was the “bird” the other student was the “poet”. The bird had to run across the room, read the line and run back and tell the poet. Once all lines were recorded the team had to figure out the order of the poem.

Students singing Christmas carols

One of our evening activities was to play musical chairs…you really can’t go wrong with this game

By far one of the funnest things we did, played dodgeball in the snow!!! what a workout

Playing tug of war. One of the leaders lost her shoe during the “struggle” but still kept on pulling without wearing a shoe

Camp Leaders

All of the camp leaders after the training

Reflection and feedback after the training

Leaders implementing the learned skills during the morning session

Leaders practicing their skills

Leaders working with students during the afternoon session

This year, one of my English Clubs participated in the school’s Christmas celebration by performing “12 Days of Christmas”. I’m so proud of them because its extremely difficult and little frightful to get on stage, in front of the whole town, and sing in a foreign language. Not to mention the fact that the song we picked isn’t an easy one, even for native speakers! I think they did a fabulous job, and while you can’t hear them sing in the video they were and kept up with the dance steps. Bianca, Yulyana, Antonia, Felicia, Gabriela, Ovidiu, Liviu, Andreea, and Radu you guys did an excellent job.

Novaci English Club performers, check out the “candy cane accessory”

If you can’t view the video, follow this link

Also, during the Christmas celebration students sang and danced to Romanian carols. Enjoy the collection of songs from Novaci’s celebration.

Group of Novaci students dancing to Sarba

Novaci students wearing traditional costumes during the school’s Christmas festivities

Here are the songs:

If you can’t see the video follow this link

Similar to last year, this Christmas I participated in colindeţ which occurs on December 24th and it takes place in town. The tradition is for kids to walk from home to home collecting fruits, bread, cookies, warm wine, warm Țuică and chocolate. Residents set up a table outside of their home and distribute what they have made or bought to share with the kids. Everything is collected in a traista (Romanian traditional bag) and brought home to share with the family. I especially like the homes that give out warm wine because after walking in the cold for over an hour a warm glass of wine gives me just enough warmth to continue walking.

While walking from house to house, my students taught me the following song:

Cine nu dā-m colindeţ

Sā-I moară porcu-n coteţi

Şi căteau-m grajdi la veci

Că aşai la Novaci

Who doesn’t give us colindeţ

I’ll slaughter your pig in the coop

And the dog in the stable

This is how its done in Novaci

Translation– it obviously rhymes in Romanian and sounds funnier. If you should take anything away from this song is that you shouldn’t mess with people from Novaci, WE’LL go after your animals

Out with my students during colindeţ

Stopping off to take a sip of warm wine to warm up the muscles…or something

Some of my 8th grade students

Radu and Sandra being funny

Monica and I

Collecting colindeţ

My tradition of going to colindeţ started with an invitation from Elena my first winter here.

After colindeţ I came home to help my host family with the Christmas Day meal. In fact, cooking for Christmas is a long process that starts with the slaughtering of a pig and, in most cases, almost every family has a pig. I can only speak for the people I know in Novaci, people who live in big cities usually have or know someone in the countryside who can provide them with all the delicious sausages prepared after the slaughtering. Traditionally, the pig is slaughtered a day or two before Christmas to make several different sausages from the meat and other body part are used for soups and dishes for the Christmas season. However, now the slaughtering can take place anytime after December 1st because its a lot of work to slaughter a pig and make a meal in one day. I didn’t help with anything pig related this year but instead made “salata de boeof” which consist of slicing green and red peppers, tomatoes, cooked carrots, pickles and meat. After this is done we made homemade mustard and mixed it all together, it was delicious.

Finishing up the “salate de boeuf”

“Salate de boeuff” in the center of the table. This was just part of the final project. The rest of the salad is saved for upcoming religious celebrations.

Mixing the vanilla cream filling for the ecler made by my host family.

On the 25th I went to church with my host family. Usually, the Orthodox service is three hours long but we were only there for half of it. Standing is the norm during service as there are no pews in an Orthodox church. There is a lot of kneeling and standing so I usually get really dizzy and have to walk out to get some air. Its acceptable to do this, as people walk in and out of church during service all the time. And while there are no pews in church, there are wooden chairs along the wall that are usually reserved for the elderly.

I spent the rest of the holiday season with friends in Novaci and Targu Jiu. Being this my last Christmas in Romania, I wanted to make sure I was surrounded by the people who have taken such great care of me. Below are pictures of the Christmas lights in Targu Jiu, a city about 40 minutes from Novaci. I absolutely love these lights, they are filled with so much holiday spirit that its hard not to smile when you see them.

Târgu Jiu’s Christmas lights

More and more lights

Christmas Tree in Targu Jiu

One more picture:

Feli, a 6th grader gave me a birthday cake The morning of my birhday, she sent me a text msg : “Happy Birthday, I’m sorry because you are getting older! (joke)” .By far, my favorite birthday text msg. Thank you Feli

Time is indeed going fast.

One word to describe this party: DECORATIONS!!!! Along with my English club students we made 18 ghost/monsters, a small haunted biology lab, 2 scarecrows, 50 bats, and drew a haunted house and a tree to put up on the wall. My friend Maggie mailed us glow in the dark skeletons, multi-color spider webs, spiders, a Happy Halloween sign, balloons, orange and black strings, candy, and “keep out” and “beware” tape. The elementary school teachers carved pumpkins with their class, which came up to us having over 60 pumpkins.Thanks to all the students, teachers, and friends we had more than enough decorations this year.

Before the party, we had a long line of students waiting to get in and once they entered they were very impressed by our decorations—we did work very hard to finish on time and to make sure that it looked scary enough. During the party we had a dance and pumpkin competition, and lots of dancing of course. This time around I was prepared with a list of music chosen by the students so I didn’t have to play the same two songs over and over again.

Of course, this being my last Halloween here I wanted to make sure the kids remember it…I hope I was able to accomplish that.

I hope you guys back home also had a spooky Halloween. Enjoy the pictures and also the video my students made for Maggie (follow the link)

Front Cover

Yes in this post I will ask you to buy something…it isn’t for me so don’t worry about it. I want to tell you about a commemorative book project a group of Peace Corps volunteers were working for 18 months, conceptualized by the Gender and Development Committee of Peace Corps Romania and realized by work groups of Volunteers, Returned Volunteers, and Romanians. As the Peace Corps post in Romania closes in 2013, this book serves to commemorate the contributions of Peace Corps in Romania and to capture the Peace Corps experience from the points of view of all involved: past and current volunteers, staff, counterparts, and other host country nationals.

It is an absolutely beautiful book that captures the meaning of the work done through Peace Corps Romania by all perspectives and it also promotes efforts to accomplish Peace Corps’ Third Goal: promoting a better understanding of peoples of other nations on the part of Americans.

http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/3627629

Please follow the link above to purchase your book. Thank you, Andrea

Representing Novaci: Laura, Doama Maria, Elena, me, Doamna Nusa, Marius, Lizica and Daciana. Suntem din Novaci

Daciana and I

22 years of Peace and Friendship

Workshop held by Daciana Ungureanu

Szekeylfold Legends & Motifs/Hungarian Transylvania : displaying a map of this dynamic region featuring local myths and legends presented thru arts, crafts, and audio/video presentations.

Quilling in Bucovina: with an interactive demonstration of the craft of “QUILLING” artistic paper design

Gender and Development Peace Corps Romania: 16 Days Against Gender Violence Campaign

BUCOVINA PAINTED EASTER EGGS/Moldova:featured an interactive display of the painstaking and beautiful craft of traditional Moldovan Easter Egg Painting.

The Wine Road /Muntenia: The best of the “Wine & Fruit Road” of the Valea Calugareasca, featuring a wine making display and tasting and traditional pastries hosted by students and community members in traditional costumes.

Sarut Mana, Romania!/Maramures: displaying the totally unique and evocative area of Marumures in extreme north central Romania

Ansamblul Folcloric Paunita/Northern Transylvania: 20 members of the talented dance ensemble Paunita from Sangeorz Bai.

Arta Decorativa si Pictura: Oltenia: popular and successful Romanian artist Daciana Ungureanu, featuring a wide array of her artwork and how it has been influenced by Romanian traditions and culture.

The Road of the Wind/Drobrogea a display featuring arts and crafts (in particular weaving and mats) of the Delta region.

Additional booths (sorry I have no pictures for these)

• Peace Corps Romania’s Legacy/Muntenia: featuring Peace Corps Romania ‘s “Legacy” projects
• Leadership Development & Civic Empowerment/Crisana, Arad
• Scouts of Romania/Transylvania: an interactive display featuring the international scouting program in Romania.
• Land of Wood/Oltenia : display of beautiful photographs showcasting Romania though Volunteer lenses
• Life Skills for the Blind/Moldova: The booth gave guests the opportunity to navigate an “OBSTACLE COURSE” using a cane, as well as an interactive “blindfold activity” station to “understand that there are methods and techniques to learning skills” for a blind person to function normally in daily life.
• Compost Happens!/Moldova: Former Environmental  PCV and who is now working in the private sector in Cluj, Deborah Buckley will be showcasing the actual composting project she set up at the Ambassador’s Residence during her service.
• THE SPOON MAN – demonstrations of decorative wooden spoon carving

PCRO

Astăzi a fost una din zile Corpului Păcii România de formare coordonatorului trecut, care, după 10 de ani, a decis să se angajeze într-o nouă călătorie. Ea a scris un e-mail frumos care, cu acordul ei, aș dori să vă împărtășesc. De lucru pentru Corpul Păcii este plină de satisfacții pentru toți; indiferent dacă sunteți un voluntar, țara gazdă counterpart, director de program, director de țară  etc. (Traducere în limba română de mai jos)

———

Dear friends & colleagues,

Some of you already know and some of you are about to learn that this is my last week with the Peace Corps – the end of a fabulous experience! Remarkably, I am wrapping up my Peace Corps service at around the same time I started this adventure 10 years ago – August 24th. It was time that marks an experience that has come to a full circle and it will always bring back memories filled with wonderful people and friends, projects, big smiles, happiness, respect, trust, support and shared responsibility.

I am leaving behind a place where I witnessed wonderful memories and leaned about my colleagues’ exceptional involvement and service. They were the ones that always helped, tried, extended a helping hand, built, learned while in my country; together we all learned from each other what we knew best and gave back to the community. All the volunteers and colleagues showed me the most important facet of human life – people putting to use their professional training and took on the responsibility of transferring their knowledge while being part of a culture and an area with little knowledge. Yet, they always seem to know the needs of the group they support.

Peace Corps and the philosophy behind it deeply marked and enriched my person and career. Now I know that professional growth can be measured best against the human touch. That’s the most important criteria. I take great pride of being part of an enthusiastic group of people and working together for the benefit of others. All of us are this way and believe that together we were and will always be very proud to be part of this organization.

It was here that I became more open: I met people with a different cultural identity and an immense capacity to adapt to totally different surroundings. It was the Peace Corps that offered me the chance to meet and fall in love with the cultural beauty of others. It was my opportunity to discover from the eyes of others the beauty of everyday things that can be done when others show us how to get them done.

Peace Corps it was the place where I did “different” work with people for the people, work full of inspiration and the kind of fresh air and positivity that goes beyond the ordinary professional office jobs. It was a place where I learned a lot, offered a lot and from where I am departing so much more humanely enriched. I don’t believe that there is any other place where I could have learned about the power of working (anywhere in the world, on different geographical coordinates) if not for the many examples of my American colleagues. Now I have confidence that I can personally integrate myself on working with people from different cultures that I can adapt to the needs on the ground and to give back all the things that are expected from a volunteer.

The Peace Corps world it was the arena where I learned to give up on the stereotypes associated with weasel words or the ones deeply anchored on a profession matrix. It was here where I let my inspiration and patiently awaiting thoughts go free towards putting together projects that I thought would never work for my country. This was an audacious mission – yet, now I can proudly say that from all the jobs that I had in the past or will hold in the future, this was the best and most loved for me. A true the toughest job I’ll ever love!

I am certain that I’ll be missing it and crave the Peace Corps work for the time to come. I’ll miss the people that I worked with and supported me.  Their professional destiny is my inspiration and I’ll always cherish their friendship. My Peace Corps people where my Romanian co-workers, project partners, friends, volunteers and the American supervisors that brought tears to my eyes…tears of passion, tears of frustration, tears of pride. Next to them I took on great professional challenges, together we took on initiatives and projects aimed at supporting the great Romanian cultural and social potential. I’ll always remember and value my American colleagues with their vital energy and positivity. My THANKS to all of them!

I am leaving the Peace Corps, but the Peace Corps will never leave me! I do wish that someday, my nephew Ethan and niece Colbie will have the curiosity to dissect and discover the meanings behind my letter simple words.

Wrapping up my Peace Corps life, I am thinking that a life change always works best when you cash in what you have gain from your past. As such, coming fall I’ll close the door on the full time employee career and temerariously get back to one of my old careers paths – environmental protection and sustainable energy consulting project . Before embarking on the journey, I’ll be taking a short sabbatical to reevaluate my priorities, reflect and relax next to my overseas-based family. I’ll be letting the working grounds unattended for a while – yet, just long and far enough to afford for some self-regeneration next to the ones dear to me.

——————-

Dragii mei,

Acum, unii dintre voi stiu, altii nu: este ultima mea saptamana in care mai lucrez in Peace Corps si incheierea unei fabuloase experiente! In chip paradoxal inchei serviciul PC la acelasi timp in care l-am inceput – 24 august – un timp ce marcheaza o experienta perfect circulara si care imi va aminti mereu de oameni si prieteni frumosi, proiecte asumate, zambete, bucurie, respect, incredere, sustinere si egala responsabilitate.

Plec dintr-un loc unde am asistat la intamplari minunate si am ascultat intamplari exceptionale de implicare si daruire ale colegilor mei: ei au ajutat, au incercat, au intins o mana de ajutor, au construit, au invatat in tara mea; impreuna cu totii am invatat unii de la altii tot ce stiam noi sa facem mai bine in folosul unei comunitati. Voluntarii si toti ceilati colegi mi-au relevat latura cea mai importanta in viata unui om, care isi urmeaza propria-i pregatire profesionala asumandu-si responsabilitatea transferului de cunostinte in spatii si culturi despre care au informatii putine, dar stiu perfect ce nevoi are grupul unde ei vin sa lucreze.

Peace Corps prin filosofia sa mi-a marcat si valorizat personalitatea si cariera. Stiu acum ca exista ascensiune profesionala masurabila cel mai bine prin criteriul cel mai important – incarcatura umana. Mandria de apartenenta la un grup uman entuziast si cu cea mai mare disponibilitate, de a lucra impreuna pentru ceilalti. Fiecare dintre noi asa simt si cred – ca impreuna am fost si vom fi mereu mandri de apartenenta noastra la aceasta organizatie. 

Aici am devenit mai deschisa, am cunoscut oameni cu identitate culturala diferita si cu o imensa capacitate de adaptare intr-un spatiu total diferit; un loc care mi-a oferit sansa de a intalni, de a ma indragosti de frumusetea culturala a celorlati, dar si de a fi descoperit cu ochii celorlati frumosul din lucrurile pe care le puteam face abia cand sunt relevate prin exemplul celorlalti.

Locul unde am facut o munca «　altfel　» cu oameni pentru oameni, o munca plina de inspiratie, de aer proaspat si pozitivitate care a spart frontierele muncii obisnuite de birou. Un loc in care am invatat, am oferit si de unde plec mult mai imbogatita uman. Nu cred ca as fi invatat altundeva despre puterea de a lucra, in orice loc din lume, pe orice coordonate geografice, daca nu as fi avut atatea si atatea exemple de experiente ale colegilor americani, Acum stiu ca ma pot integra si eu in munca cu oamenii din culturi diferite, ma pot adapta nevoilor si sa daruiesc ceea ce se asteapta de la un voluntar.

Este un loc unde am invatat sa renunt la stereotipile limbajului rece si incadrat in matricea fixa a unei profesii, si unde am dat liber inspiratiei si gandurilor rabdatoare pentru a pune pe picioare proiecte aparent fara sansa pentru tara mea– o misiune temerara dar care ma ajuta azi sa afirm ca aceasta a fost locul de munca al meu cel mai potrivit mie si cel iubit dintre toate cele pe care le-am avut si le voi mai avea.　Cu adevarat «the toughest job I’ll ever love»! 　

Desigur ca acesta munca imi va lipsi si o sa ii duc dorul. Imi vor lipsi oamenii cu care am lucrat, care m-au sprijinit si al caror destin profesional ma inspira si a caror prietenie o voi pretui mereu; sunt colegii mei romani de birou, parteneri de proiecte, prieteni, voluntari si/sau supervizori americani care m-au facut sa plang de emotie, de frustare, de mandrie; alaturi de ei am acceptat provocari profesionale, impreuna ne-am asumat intiative si proiecte pentru a sprijini uriasul potential cultural si social romanesc pe care americanii – cu energia lor vitala si spiritul lor pozitiv　– il vad mereu si il apreciaza mereu. Le multumesc tuturor !!!

I am leaving Peace Corps but Peace Corps will never leave me! Si desigur ca mi-as dori ca Ethan si Colbie, nepotii mei sa aibe curiozitatea peste timp de a descoperi si descifra ei insisi sensul celor ilustrate de aceste simple cuvinte.　

Mai gandesc ca o schimbare in viata e bine sa fie facuta valorificand ce ai castigat. De aceea din acesta toamna ma opresc din munca salariata si ma reintorc temerar la o munca ceva mai veche a mea – consultanta intr-un proiect de mediu si energie durabila.

Dar asta nu inainte de a lua o pauza sabatica de reevaluare a prioritatile, de reflectie si odihna alaturi de o parte din familia mea peste ocean. Las o vreme «terenul muncii» nelucrat, dandu-i timp si spatiu geografic sa se regenereze langa o parte dintre cei dragi mie

Each session of the camp is one week long, and since we had a lot of students interested in joining us the camp was broken up into  two sessions. In total we had 65 kids attend the camp! If you are wondering, YES that’s a lot of kids to handle in two weeks BUT since we are all such rock starts it did it with ease

In summary, this is what we did:

- Tie-dyed about 70 shirts

- Made about 70 Kaleidoscopes

- Hiked from our hotel to the top of  Păpuşa Mountain (Height of  Păpuşa Mnt. is about 2,500 meters) distance between the two is about 1.5 km. The hike from the base to the mountain is very steep and I am so proud of all of us for making it to the top! Great accomplishment.

-Played several competitive games of dodgeball, capture the flag, tug of war, and , of course, soccer.

- Watched “Ace Ventura Pet Detective” during movie night.

- Danced our hearts out during the disco

- Went tubing

- Students completed an obstacle course in the woods

- We were lucky to meet a couple visiting Ranca with their two grandchildren from America. They were staying in the same hotel as us and decided to join us, it was a great opportunity to have Romanian students interact with American kids their age.

-Reflection time: At the end of each night students reflected on the day’s activity and wrote a nice note to another student which was then put in their paper mailbox. This was something new we added to the camp and will definitely keep in sessions to come.

- Peer time: We paired each students from different schools and everyday for one hour they had to get to know each other and answer several questions. At the end of the week they had to present their peer. This was an excellent session that gave all students the opportunity to know someone new.

These were wonderful two weeks, looking forward to the Winter English Camp.  Like always, enjoy the pics.

End of the school year means graduation parties

After all grades were submitted, the students had a chance to let loose and celebrate the next step HIGH SCHOOL! However, before the party a small graduation ceremony was held in a classroom where parents and teachers were in attendance. During the ceremony the dirigentie, head teacher, spoke about each student. In most cases, the dirigentie has been with the same class since 5th grade so he/she can speak, in depth, about each student’s educational development throughout the years. After he speaks, teachers and parents are invited to share their thoughts about the class. Along with other teachers, I also spoke and before I could get a word out I started to cry. Imagine me crying and speaking Romanian….I highly doubt anyone understood what I said. To clarify what I said I’ll summarize “…I don’t know if I successfully taught you any English, however what is important is the connection that you and I have made throughout the year[...] what we learn in a classroom is not always the most important lesson in life, however the relationship developed between us is what matters the most.”

Although I was only their teacher for one year, I became close to them through other school activities and will definitely miss them next year.

8th graders from Novaci

8th grade students from Potiovalestea

8th grade students from Novaci

English club

Students and I celebrated our last English club meeting with cake, orange fanta and the distribution of diplomas. The students received a diploma because, as it was written on the diploma, the “participant has successfully completed one full year of participation in English Club and demonstrated the ability to speak English in an environment outside of the classroom with a native English speaker”.  Which basically means, we understand each other I had a great year with the kids, we played American football, watched movies, made posters to decorate our classroom, planned a Halloween and Easter party, wrote poetry, sang Christmas songs, went to the US Embassy, and laughed all the time. I don’t know how we are going to top this year, but I’m sure the students will come up with fun activities for the next school year.

English Club from Novaci

English Club from Potiovalestea

Hiking and biking with my students:

I’ve had so much fun with my students the last two weekends. First I went on a hike with my students from Pociovalestea that lasted about 4hours, which might not seem like long but when you are the only “adult” with 7 6th and 7th grade boys, hiking, under the hot sun…its a really long time. Nonetheless, we had a great time picking cherries, mulberries, kicking the soccer ball around, and I amused them with a scary story about a wolf man that lives in the forest . No sighting of him on this occasion, but we’ll continue to search for him.

Trying to find shade

Picking mulberries

Climbed this wall and had a hard time making it back down, the kids ended up calling me a chicken because I took so long to jump off it.

Eating as we walked

Radu and Robert

Getting cherries for our hike. Cherry trees always remind me of the cherry tree we used to have in our front yard in Colombia.

Alex and Marius

Walking back

Bike Ride:

After getting my bike fixed, I was able to join my students on a fun bike ride around Novaci. The students showed me a new path to the river and we successfully made it there with only one minor injury. The temperature on Saturday was in the 90s and it was brutal to ride our bikes without taking a drink of water every 5minutes.

Ready for our ride around Novaci

Needed to refresh, the water was so cold I wanted to pore it over my head…actually I did.

Made it to our destination, ICE cold water

Relaxing next to the river

On our way back we had to stop to get more water

A Romanian wedding, Silviu and Diana 

I had a delightful time at Silviu and Diana’s wedding. While there are many similarities between American and Romanian weddings, here are some differences:

The bride and groom walking out City Hall. Usually, the civil ceremony occurs on the same day as the wedding. After this the bride goes to her house to change into her wedding dress.

In this picture, the godmother and other family members help the bride get ready. While she gets ready, a song about the bride leaving the home is played in the background.

The godfather shaving the groom which symbolizes the groom’s transition into adulthood.

This small tree, bradul, is decorated by members of the family and friends with different paper flowers and ribbons to symbolize the abundance of “wealth” in the family’s future. Also, the tree is carried by an unmarried male “boy with the tree” from the house, to a near by fountain and then to church.

While all of the traditions mentioned above are occurring, music is played and people dance hora or other traditional dances.

After the tree is decorated and the bride is ready, we walked to a well with the musicians and the boy with a tree (you can see him to the right wearing a red shirt and holding up the tree). He isn’t a boy, but the idea is that the person carrying the tree must be unmarried.

Once at the well, the boy with the tree fills up a bucket with water and the bride kicks over the bucket this is done three times.

Unmarried women drink water from the bride’s hands  to increase their changes of getting married …soon, I guess.

In the church, the priest places a crown on the bride and groom’s head, however they don’t get to keep the crown and have to return it before leaving the church

Celebrating the unity; the couple, godparents and priest dance around the table in the church

Silviu and Diana walking out of the church.

Outside of the banquet hall

And then there is the cake, which doesn’t change among cultures…but I just really like this picture.

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