Last First Day of School in Moldova

Today was the first day of school, which is known as "Primul Sunet" - the First Bell. 

School starts the same day every year, September 1st. My host mom asked me when school starts in America, and I told her it starts on a different day every year and it is different according to states. She was confused by this and didn't think it made much sense! I have to agree with her there. 

 At my school, there are no classes on the first day of school, but I think this varies according to school. 

However, there is a BIG celebration. 

 

Students, teachers, and parents all gathered outside in the school yard leaving a big empty rectangle in the center. The students were arranged by their classes. 

First the 11th graders who will be graduating this year escorted in the new 1st graders. First grade is the first year children here go to school; there is no kindergarten. I would like to point out that the girls are wearing traditional outfits that girls wear on special occasions at school.

Next, some of the 11th graders marched through the center to raise the Moldovan Flag. 

There were several speeches given during this. Last year I had to give a speech in Romanian. Luckily, I didn't have to give one this year! I got to sit on the side and watch. 

The Director of the school gave the 1st graders the "Key of Knowledge."

It was my host brother Costel's first day of school, and he was looking mighty handsome in his suit. He was chosen along with a little girl to ring the first bell of the year. They carried their bells and rang them as they walked along the border of the people. He is the first boy ever to do this at my school, as in previous years a 1st grade girl sat on the shoulders of an 11th grade boy and rang the bell this way. However this year they changed things up.

After this there were several more quick speeches, and the ceremony was done. The students set off to their classrooms to meet their "diriginta" - homeroom teacher. The homeroom teachers remain with one group of students from 1st grade to 4th grade, and a new homeroom teacher has them from 5th to 11th grade.

Two of my teaching partners and I. Cornelia on the left and Natalia on the right. I worked with Natalia all last year, and we've become best friends. This is my first time working with Cornelia, and I'm sure it will be great.

Flowers from some of my students. 16 roses in this bouquet!!

Wild and Crazy Summer

I haven't updated in over a month. Sorry. I've been pretty busy. 

 

The new group of volunteers came June 10th, so I was in Chisinau all of June being a mentor and helping out with them. Yes, I was a mentor. Scary thought, huh? I was basically there to take my three mentees around Chisinau, show them important things, and answer questions if need be. 

This is me and a couple of the other English Education Mentors at the airport waiting for the new group to come.

The 4th of July Party sponsored by the Embassy was quite fun. This year my group of volunteers didn't have a curfew, as opposed to last year when we had to leave at 9:00 pm, so we got to stay and party like grown-ups! There were several contests, as well as free food and drinks. 

 

Roy's host brother got married in July. It was quite a fun party! I arrived at the party at 9:00 pm, and didn't get home until 5:00 am. There was lots of dancing, eating, and drinking. Moldovan weddings are a bit different than American weddings. They had the reception the day before they signed the papers and were officially married. There are also many traditions in a Moldovan wedding that are not in American weddings. 

 

 

The members of the wedding party carried around this colac, which is bread used in every Moldovan celebration. They danced with it around the room, and then gave them along with the blankets under them to guests of the wedding. They also carried around scarves for guests. Lastly they carried around gifts for the bride and groom, including clothes for their future children, around the room for all to see. 

After that, at about 1:00 in the morning, the bride and groom along with the wedding party went around the room accepting gifts. They would stop at each table, take a shot of vodka or cognac, and then each person would give a short speech and drop an envelope of money in a little box for the newlyweds. The man in the picture just gave his speech and was putting money in the box. 

At the end of July I worked on a project with several other volunteers. Unfortunately I wasn't able to help out on the first two days, but I was there for the last. What we did was transformed a huge concrete sign from an ugly mess into a bright and beautiful welcome sign. It was for a pig farm outside of Chisinau. The main boss, Louis, was an amazing guy from Paraguay. He came to Moldova a couple years ago, after attending a school for pig farming in Denmark. He is working with the Moldovans to make the farm sustainable and workable. Basically he is one of the coolest people I've met thus far in Moldova. 

This is only part of the sign, but I don't have other pictures. I will put up more when I get them. 

The first week in August I helped out with one of the volunteer's camps in a village outside of Chisinau. It was a week long camp for students in 6th grade. There were other ages there, too, but mostly 6th grade. I was there on Wednesday, which was water day. We played Duck Duck Goose using wet sponges and other water relays. I was also there on Thursday, and we made paper mache masks. I think the kids enjoyed it because they hadn't done anything like it before. 

School starts on September 1st, so I have about 2 weeks left of vacation. I'll be going to the Black Sea in Ukraine this weekend with several other volunteers, so that will be fun. Expect a blog on that! Then when I get back on the 25th, I will have to start working with my partners from school to prepare for the school year. 

It's been a long summer, and I'm ready to get back to school!

Balul de Absolvire

A couple nights ago was my host sister's Balul de Absolvire. This is a type of graduation/prom for graduating students. Everyone dresses up in prom dresses and suits and prepares for this thing for quite a while.

These are some of the girls in my host sister's class. My host sister is the second one from the right in the yellowish dress.

We arrived at 6:30 at a restaurant in the park. We stood around for a while not doing much of anything. At 7:30 the festivities began. At big Moldovan ceremonies such as weddings and birthdays, there are always cameras and video cameras recording everything.

The parents all came in through a flowered arch, then the teachers, and finally the graduates. As the students entered the room, they ate a piece of colac (a traditional Moldovan bread used in special ceremonies) and dipped it in honey.

The graduates were each presented with a small globe, then the teachers were presented with a certificate and a bouquet of flowers, and the parents were also presented with a certificate and a rose from their graduate.

After all the presentations and such, we finally sat down to eat at 9:00! And of course with a traditional Moldovan masa, you know there's going to be wine, cognac, and vodka!

While we were eating, there were more speakers and activities the graduates had to do. They danced with a partner with a balloon in between them but couldn't touch the balloon with their hands. They had to describe their homeroom teacher by using drawings. There were many contests. 

And of course, there was much dancing of the Hora. As you remember from previous posts, the Hora is a traditional Moldovan dance that everybody dances at every event.

At 2:00 in the morning, I was tired and ready to go home. My host brother, however, was not. 

My host dad gave me a ride home, while everybody else stayed until 5:00 in the morning.

Overall, the night was really fun, I ate a lot, danced even more, and had to give a speech in front of everyone. Oh yes, did I forget to mention that part? The MC was talking (in Romanian of course, which I sometimes tune out...) and all of a sudden she called my name. A gasp went throughout the crowd as I made my way up to the front of the room. She asked me if I like dancing to Moldovan music, to which I replied yes, and then she told me I had to give them a speech in English. One of my friends who speaks English that is a graduate happened to be sitting directly in front laughing at me the whole time. It was great fun... At least it was in English and only probably 5 people understood it!

Summer Flowers in My Yard

The Barbecue That Almost Wasn't

Last weekend, I went to a friend's village about an hour north of my town. It ended up being me, Liezel, Amanda, Sinh, and Greg. We decided to have a super awesome relaxing weekend. We got there on Friday afternoon, watched Grey's Anatomy season finale (there was lots of yelling at the computer) and drank wine. 

Saturday morning, we woke up with plans to walk to a nearby lake and have a picnic/barbecue. Well, the day started with rain. Not good, so we decided to wait a little to see if the rain would subside. It eventually did, and then started to rain again. However, we didn't let this stop our fun. The rain stopped, so we packed up a blanket, beer, food, and wood and set out.

We walked for about a half hour and ended up next to a beautiful lake.

Sinh and Liezel set up the blanket, I peeled vegetables, and Amanda and Greg attempted to start the fire. Yes, they attempted. It took a while and a lot of wood.

Before we set out on our adventure, Greg made meatballs. They were raw of course, with the plan of cooking them over the fire. One flaw in the plan... there was no grill or anything to cook the meatballs on. However, we did have skewers so we stuck the meatballs on them. 

 

It seemed to be working, when the meatballs started falling off. So, new plan...

Let's make hamburger patties and cook them on the skewers!

Nope. Didn't work again. We were feeling quite frustrated at this point. We didn't want to eat just salad. Lame. 

I continued to cook my vegetables.

But the vegetables didn't work either. Lame again. 

All of a sudden, Boy Scout Greg finds a rusty old can!!

What can you do with a rusty old can, you ask?

Well....

Wash it in the lake and stick the meatballs in it of course! 

It's a mini-oven!
Brilliant Greg!

Mmm look at those meatballs cookin'!

Finished product?

Nice!

We sat down to enjoy our meatballs, salad, grilled cheese sandwiches (good idea Sinh!) s'mores, and Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. It was a successful barbecue, and none of us got sick.

I know what you're thinking! 

"Eww, that's really disgusting cooking meatballs in a rusty old can that's been who knows where!"

But,

We're Peace Corps Volunteers!

It's how we do Baby!

Killer Snails From Moldova

These snails are EVERYWHERE. 

And they are HUGE.

It has been raining a lot lately, so these snails and huge earthworms are coming out more frequently then ever. You have to watch where ever you walk, because you most likely will step on one. I've seen many a cracked gooey shell the past few weeks. 

I was at school the other day when I passed by some of my 2nd grade girls playing with a snail. They would poke one of its antennae things, and it would shoot into its head. Slowly it would come back out, and the girls would poke it again. 

Although I am 23, I had fun poking the antennae as well.

English Club

Today was one of the nicest days so far this spring, and it was a perfect day to take English Club outside. Although not much English was actually spoken, the kids had a great time. We played Uno as usual, then also went down to the park. The park next to the school has several lakes, so we walked around those. We also played on the jungle gyms next to my school. 

*Only 2 1/2 weeks of school left!