It appears that I am the worst blogger ever, but oh well, what can you do? I have now been at my site for about a month and a half now and feel pretty settled in. I really like my host family and my I have met some cool people in my village. The weather here is definitely changing. I am going to actually experience Autumn! The trees have started to change colours and it is getting pretty cool at night. My package with all of my warmer clothes just got here, and it is not a moment too soon. Sleeping in shorts was getting a bit on the chilly side! My host father was recently hospitalized for internal bleeding. My Romanian skills are not good enough to understand medical terms, but I know he has been in bad health for a while now. He used to be the boss of the wine factory in our village, but had to retire when he went into a coma last year. Apparently the whole village thought he was going to die, but he woke up as soon as my host mom (who had been working in Italy for 6 months) came home...sounds a bit like a movie, huh? Anyways, after about a week in the hospital, Boris is back home again and seems to be doing well.

I am not really sure where to begin so I will start with the first day of school (or first bell, as they call it here). The first of September marks the first day of school all across Moldova (and I am pretty sure it is the same in Romania and Russia). Things are definitely done differently here when it comes to the first day of school. First of all, Moldovans give a whole new meaning to getting "dressed up" for the first day...I am talking full suits for the boys and the biggest, puffiest, white hairbows you have ever seen for the girls. Most students bring flowers for their teachers and the whole day started with a huge ceremony. The students in the 12th form escorted the new students in the 1st form into the school. It was pretty cute to see all the little kids walking in holding hands with the big kids. Speeches were given by the village's mayor, the school director, the chief of police, the regional education director, and the Vice Minister of the National Ministry of Education....oh, and yours truly. That's right folks, I had to give a speech in Romanian in front of all of those people and the entire student body. By some miracle, I didn't mess it up and the ceremony moved onto the blessing by the village priest without a hitch. The priest spent a good 15 minutes chanting and gesticulating before the ceremony was officially ended by the ringing of the bell. I didn't actually teach any classes on the first day, so after the ceremony, I just observed a class. About 15 minutes into the class, the priest came into the classroom to bless the class. Everyone but the foolish American knew to look away and avoided the shower of holy water that accompanied the priest. I, however, was looking right at him and got a nice dose of holy water right in the eye. I am hoping it can only help.

I teach the 4th, 6th, 8th, 10th, 11th, and 12th forms, which adds up to 18 hours of class time a week. I also meet regularly with my partner teachers (I have 2 local teachers that I team teach with for all but the 10th form) and have about 4 hours of Romanian tutoring every week. My Romanian tutor is the only other single female teacher at my school and is in her early 30s so we have had some fun hanging out, eating, and drinking wine (of course) with one of my partner teachers.

The 5th of October was Teachers Day, and it was amazing. Apparently people here actually appreciate their teachers (novel idea right?). I was greeted at the gate of the school with a rose by one of my 12th form students and then I followed the path of flower petals and votive candles to the teachers room. The teachers room had been decorated with balloons, flowers, and candles and there was a variety of fruit and chocolate out for us. All of the classes were shortened to 25 minutes, which meant that the students basically had enough time to give us presents and thank us for being such wonderful teachers. I received a ton of flowers, chocolates, pens, and one of those stacking Russian dolls (I can't remember the actual name for them). At the end of the morning schedule, there was a ceremony in which 1 or 2 students from each class gave a speech or recited a poem to the teachers. It was all very fancy and formal. After the ceremony, we continued with the afternoon lessons...got more presents...and then we had a masa (party). All of the teachers got together in our canteen and we ate huge quantities of meat, salads, placinta (a pastry-like thing), sarmale (a rice, meat, and veggie mixture either wrapped in grape or cabbage leaves or stuffed into a pepper), and cake. Oh, and tons of booze. Yes, it was the middle of the afternoon and at the school, but hey...this is Moldova. Everyone brought their own beer, wine, vodka, or cognac and shared with the group. Dancing followed the eating of course, and I hora-ed it up with the best of them. All in all, it was a good day to be a teacher!

I have been asked to be the coach of my school's Odyssey of the Mind competition this year. The previous volunteer in my village did it with them last year, and some kids from the 8th and 9th forms have already formed a team for this year. I don't actually know anything about being a coach for the competition, but I think this will be a good way for me to get to know some of the kids and to encourage creative thinking and problem solving (both of which are virtually nonexistent in Moldovan schools.

I am really looking forward to this upcoming weekend. It is Wine Fest in Chisinau (the capitol) and most of the volunteers in the country will be traveling into the city for it. Basically it is a big celebration with tons of this years' homemade wine and grilled meats. A few volunteers have also organized a 5k run Saturday morning...I plan on practicing my cheerleading skills. A few of my friends and I are planning on renting an apartment for the night so we can continue the festivities on Sunday...it is only about 350 lei for an apt. for 4 people which is about $35 dollars. I think its a rather good deal.

I finally got my computer fixed and have access to wireless internet at my school so hopefully I will stop being such a crappy blogger.