I’ve been told by several people I need to update this thing, so here it goes:

This past month has been a busy one.  I’ve been in Chisinau every weekend for meetings involving preparing for PST (Pre-Service Training) and doing session designs (I’m helping facilitate several sessions as well as other conferences/observing the M25s).  I have also been in Chisinau when I left for Ukraine/came back….I have another 3 weeks until I can have a free weekend, making that 12 out of the last 13 weekends that I’ve had to make the two hour rutiera ride.  I’m not complaining (I DID sign up for this), but it would be nice to get a free weekend where I can sleep in and not have to worry about getting on a rutiera. 

My school director left for Vermont this past Monday.  She was supposed to leave the Wednesday before, but that pesky volcano decided to erupt.  It will be interesting to hear what Doamna Zina (Mrs. Zina) will have to say about American schools when she gets back.  She went through a program from the US Embassy that takes professionals from Moldova and shows them how things are done in America….Just another form of development.

Yesterday (Thursday) was the six week mark before the M25s arrive in country.  The crazy thing is not the fact that the M25s are coming in six weeks, but the idea that in six weeks I will have been in Moldova for a year.  In some ways I feel as if I’ve been here forever….in other ways I feel as if I’ve just stepped off the plane.

I now only have 4 weeks of school left!  This is amazing….I definitely will enjoy the summer “break.”  I say “break” because while I don’t have to teach school at my site, I will be busy with the mentor program, PST, a creative writing club at my site, and a summer camp, as well as hoping to find time to take a vacation (Greece?).  This year the ninth form(grade) has a national test in English.  For the past month my partner and I have been reviewing grammar structures and reading texts with our 9A class.  Although many of these students have had English since 2^nd grade, I speak Romanian more than any other class I teach (and I teach 4^th form).  Many of the students don’t seem to care about the upcoming tests and don’t really like to pay attention in class.  There are several who do care and do much of the homework that is given.  In Moldova I would say only about half of my students regularly do there homework…there are no consequences to not doing homework, so they don’t feel the need to do it.  This is the class I struggle with the most.  This is also the class where a student said he knew English better than me (he said this in Romanian of course---I don’t think he got the irony of this). 

While I do struggle with my 9^th form class, I really enjoy my 10^th formers.  This is only their third year of learning English (They took French before), but we can hold conversations about a variety of topics.  It is nice to be able to talk with some of my students and really know what they are thinking because they are able to express themselves so well in my language.  About a month ago I had my 10^th formers compete in the Eurasian Writing Olympics.  The EWO is a competition set up by PCVs in countries in Eastern Europe/Western Asia countries.  First students from PCV schools in individual countries have competitions, then the first place winners are sent to be judged at the Eurasian level.  One of my students got second place in Moldova with his essay.  It won’t be sent on, but I was very happy.  This competition is more about creative thinking and writing and less about having perfect grammar or spelling/writing.  So many students aren’t really allowed to express themselves (think 1950s American classrooms), so the fact that I can help my students think outside of the box is great. 

Over Easter break I took a week-long trip to Kiev with three other PCVs.  We took an overnight bus from Chisinau to L’viv, where we stayed for 2 days.  On our third day we were supposed to get the 6:30 AM train to Kiev, but missed it because of our lack of Russian/Ukrainian speaking skills and the lack of signs telling us where the correct train was.  We ended up waiting until that evening where we took  a night train to Kiev, arriving at about 8 AM on Thursday.  We were in Kiev from Thursday morning till Sunday morning when we left on a 16 hour train ride to Chisinau.  Ukraine was amazing.  Although language was a barrier, the people there were very friendly and helpful.  I really liked being there and seeing what another country in Eastern Europe looks like.  All of us wanted to find other PCVs, but unfortunately weren’t able to.  Several people asked us, “Ukraine is better than Moldova, yes?” but none of us wanted to say yes.  We all have found that Moldova is our home and while we do have struggles and things we don’t like, we don’t want anyone outside the country to know.  Yes, Ukraine is more developed and has more opportunities/less people leaving the country to find jobs, but Moldova will get there!   I think the highlight of the trip was when we found an American barbeque restaurant in Kiev.  I had barbeque ribs which I still think about……..mmm. 

In Kiev we went to many different Russian Orthodox and Catholic Churches.  We also went to a monastery that had mummified monks down in these winding “caves” or tunnels.  There was the occasional hand or foot sticking out.  This is a very holy place for the Russian Orthodox faith and people were kissing the glass of the coffins (the mummies were in a coffin with a glass lid).  Visiting these monks is supposedly to magically cure you….sick people kissing the same spot on the glass…think about that one….For any other parts of my trip, just look at the photos I’ve uploaded on facebook.  That should tell you all you want to know about my trip.

A couple days ago another volunteer told me I get the best packages….which is true, I told her it’s because I get them from a variety of people…I’ve gotten some amazing things in packages you all have sent me, so thank you!  That same volunteer also said she kind of wishes she were from a small town so she could get what I get (she’s from Atlanta).  I know I’ve said it before, but you rock Milligan!  There are very few people who get packages from anyone other than family or close friends.  I’ve had so much peanut butter sent to me that I’ve given away two jars….something almost unknown in the PC community where things like peanut butter, reeces pieces, and Oreos are like gold.

I hope everyone back home is doing well…..I’m thinking of you and all the changes that are happening in y’alls lives!