So, I guess I haven't really been completely on the ball with my blog posts for a while. I'm sure nobody's quite on the edge of their seats waiting for the next story in my adventure or anything, but to anybody who's been trying to keep up with what I'm up to by reading here: sorry about the slacking.
This post won't be too impressive, either, because I'm way more exhausted than I should be. I'm blaming the cold weather, even if I didn't spend any more time wandering through it today than I truly had to. It is outrageous here! The illusion is often amplified, too, by the fact that I'm not yet especially used to the metric system (of temperature measurement, not time), so people tell me things like "It's 25 below zero out there!" and my eyes get as big as dinner plates, my jaw hits the floor, and then I remember that in the system I know, that's 13 below. Still cold, for sure! There's a sizable difference, though.
25 below in Fahrenheit would be negative 30 in Celsius. If people talking to me realized that, they'd probably get why I look so amazed at the weather reports I hear in conversation.
Math aside, the weather's been pretty rough here, and depending on the source and the places counted as "Eastern Europe" the news has tracked the current death toll due to the temperatures at over 100 people. Yikes. That's good incentive to layer up. Who says you can't put long underwear under the long underwear under your jeans??
Icing on the frozen cake? Everybody's favorite furry prognosticator predicted another month and a half of this stuff this morning in Pennsylvania. Thanks a lot, Phil. Thanks. A. Lot.
Anyhow, back to that whole matter of catching up after months of negligence of the blog. Winter came pretty late, which meant a brown Christmas and a very muddy birthday (which, in Moldova, was also Christmas) for me. We did get a little dusting Christmas day in the evening, though, which was the perfect cherry on top of a remarkably nice day. Many families in Moldova don't even recognize "Christmas on the new calendar" as a holiday, but mine is one of the few that does. There are was a lovely scarf under the tree for me from Moș Crăciun, which was unexpected and wonderful. We went to my host mom's parents' home in the village for a big dinner and lots of time huddled up to the wood furnace just enjoying each other's company. It was really great.
The day after Christmas I took off with a handful of other volunteers from the capital and we went by train to Bucharest, Romania; Sofia, Bulgaria; then Istanbul, Turkey (my poor friends, of course, were subjected to me singing this one through a pretty fair part of the train trip-- I can't help myself). I liked all three cities, but we spent the most time in Istanbul, and I've got to say, it's the one I fell head over heels for. The ancient construction, the mosques, the five loud calls to prayer ringing through the city every day, the incredibly friendly people, the food, the bazaars, the food, the lights at night, the food, a great New Year's Eve party with a small crowd in the top of a hostel that looked out over the lit up Ayasofya Mosque where they set off midnight fireworks, the food, a Turkish bath (ahhhhh....), the food.... mmmm... I'd go back this minute if I could. I took more pictures than I could count, and a few videos I haven't yet had the chance to make something cool of. I promise to get those posted sooner than later. A few are up, but the majority aren't. I'll put in the links now, to try to hurry myself along. A lot of it has to do with whether my internet's moving at a fair pace when I try uploading them. I've had more than my share of unsuccessful tries at posting albums here.
I'll get there, though. Really, I will.
Anyhow, the trip was a fantastic, much-needed break from the reality that is teaching in Moldova, but I'll save stories of the adventure for: a. blogging some other time, when the spirit so moves me; or b. when somebody's actually so interested they ask about it.
I got back just in time for my host family to pack up the next day for a spur-of-the-moment trip to the Ukraine to visit a great-grandmother for Christmas (on the old calendar). They were very apologetic that I'd be spending my birthday on my own in the house, but I was actually pretty content with it. There's something to be said, for sure, for a little time to unwind on one's own, do laundry without being told where to hang it to dry, and cooking whatever I felt like eating for a weekend. It was a very happy birthday. No complaints at all on that front.
Basically, I've been totally content with everything at site lately, with the exception of one thing-- school. Actually, that's probably a big part of why I write so seldom. School, as I'm pretty sure anybody who could be reading this knows, is kind of my thing-- you know, my forte, my greatest motivator, my strongest interest, my passion, and (more often than not) my very best story fodder. It's also the only thing I generally consider myself really good at, so being not-so-especially-good at the teaching in Moldova gig has done a bit of a number on my self-esteem. It hasn't done wonders for my energy, motivation, or blog either.
I like to think the difference isn't that I got to Moldova and forgot how to teach, it's just a drastically different system, in my particular school especially I even tend to believe, so it's been slow-going.
I've got two partners there, and one of them is fantastic. In fact, she's so good at teaching that really, I'd say I need her much more than she needs the help of a Peace Corps Volunteer. She's been a huge part of what's kept me sane many days. She's got two elementary-aged daughters and lives with her parents (and normally her husband, but he's working abroad currently) and she invited me over often for coffee, company, and her mother's incredible cooking. I love the company, and I appreciate her and her family immensely. They've been a blessing and a half, and I'm super grateful to have the chance to teach with her and get to know her. The trouble is, I work with her for about four hours a week. Four.
Outside of working with her, I have just one other teaching partner in my school. She means well, but we're very different. We teach very differently. Plus, if it's at all possible, she's even more stubborn than I am (and that's something!) so I'm just not under the impression that my being around is really influencing her teaching at all. My hours ("hours"= 45 minute class periods) with her bring me to a total of twelve, which is the shortest work-week I've had while not a full-time student since I got a driver's license. In fact, most of college I was a full-time student and still working more hours than that. I've been facing some super-boredom and some major lethargy. Neither of my partners has the time to be involved in anything extracurricular, and because of some pretty exceptional behavior troubles at my school, I'm just not bold enough to try tackling another way to work some schooltime in on my own.
Given the wimpy schedule (which doesn't even meet the Peace Corps Moldova minimum requirement for English Education volunteers' teaching hours) and the general sense that I'm just not accomplishing anything where I am, I finally decided to man up and try changing something. It's taken me a while to talk myself into going to the country director of PC to talk about switching things up, but I finally did. I had a meeting with him this afternoon, and he's suggested some things that I think could be REALLY wonderful. I won't go blabbing what he's proposed just yet, because nothing's carved in stone, but I will say that if we can get things changed in the ways he suggested today, I'll be the happiest volunteer in Moldova. So, if anybody feels like sending up a prayer or two on my behalf that things start turning around in terms of my work here, that would be just dandy.
I do really adore my host family, I'm happy with the town and the neighborhood, the home, the cat (even on days when he smells like the chicken coop), the snow, the sled-riding (oh, I'll have to write about that some time, too) and the country. I'm even pretty fond of the food when it's not potato season (though it is indeed currently a potato-heavy time of year here). The fact is, though, my heart's in teaching. I came here more than anything for that, and if that's the one area I'm not content with, I plan on changing something so I can be satisfied with it, because I really don't think I could go home to claim I was a good*, effective volunteer if I didn't spend my time as a volunteer teaching and teaching well.
I plan on writing again when I have more details about whether I'll be making any major changes here in Moldova, but for now, I think I'm just going to go crawl into bed under as many blankets as I can pile up (in fact, I'll even grab a spare from the closet on my way to my room) and get a good night's sleep.
Before I go though, I'll offer up some links to my pictures I have managed to upload via sluggish Moldovan internet. Some of them go back away, some albums aren't yet edited or are still missing pictures, but I'll keep working on that and offer updated links when I've done better. These are a start at least.
Hope you enjoy them!
Moldovan Adventure Begins
Home Sweet Edineț
Timofy (If you need to judge me harshly for this album's existence, I do understand.)
Chișinău Time, Taking the Camera for a Walk
Beginning of December
Christmastime in the City **
Christmas Eve in Moldova
Christmas Day in Moldova **
Vacation Begins: Bucharest!
Next Stop: Sofia!
Onward to Istanbul!
More Istanbul
Still More Istanbul **
It's Hard Not to Take Tons of Pictures in Istanbul **
Saying Goodbye to Istanbul **
And as long as I'm on a roll with all these hyperlinks, if you haven't seen it yet, you should check out this great article that Mark Lang wrote for the St. Marys Daily Press recently. He may have made me sound way more impressive than I really am, but that's okay by me. He wasn't thrilled with some of the liberties the paper's super-editor took, but overall, I think it's pretty great nonetheless. Who knows, maybe it's even responsible for somebody reading what I write here!***
All right... Now, I think it's bed time. :-)
I'll write again soon... ...er or later. ;-)
* The cat would disagree. He'd say that any American who lets him climb up her leg and perch on her shoulder when he feels like it is a good cat.
** Coming... eventually. Honest.
*** If you didn't click the link for "hyperlinks" you should. I don't know why, but it never fails to make me smile. In fact, the picture's serving as a pick-me-upper on my desktop wallpaper right this moment.
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