Snow!!!!!!!!!!

This week marked my 6 month anniversary here in Moldova…wow! After being sick for about a week, and having to go into the capitol to see the Peace Corps doctor, I was happy to get back to site, and yes, back to work. I was going absolutely stir crazy!

Things have been rather hectic since I have been back. I have started meeting with both of my Odyssey of the Mind teams after school a few times a week. This means that I don’t leave the school between 6 and 7pm, which makes for a very long school day. Right before I got sick, we had a teacher work day at the school. I observed, along with the French teacher and the other 2 English teachers, a Russian class…I had no idea what was going on, but it was very interesting to watch. I also observed a primary level class – the little kids got so dressed up for the occasion (it was like the first day of school again). I got to help my partner teacher give a seminar on the “8 intelligences” and the different styles of learning. The seminar was for all of the teachers in my school – about 30 in all. Since it was all in Romanian, I was more of a Vana White than anything else but it was a seminar I had actually attended during training (in English) so I did have a pretty good idea what was being said. One of my jobs was to write on the board during a brainstorming session…all of the other teachers were impressed by the fact that I could write (with only 1 mistake) in Romanian (which made me pretty happy). The day wouldn’t have been complete without the traditional masa, so after all of the seminars, we had a bit of a party in the teachers room (tons of food and, of course, wine).

As I am typing this, I can see snow falling outside. It is the first real snow of the winter (here in my part of Moldova, that is) and I am sure there will be much more in the coming months. I checked the weather forecast yesterday, and it is looking rather bleak. One day the high is supposed to be no more than 14°F…eek!

I have to keep reminding myself that it is almost Christmas. I was thinking about why it doesn’t feel like the holidays the other day and I think that is more than just the obvious fact that I am away from home and my loved ones. In America, we hardly get past Halloween before we are bombarded with advertisements, Christmas carols, lights, decorations, and the Salvation Army Santa Clauses everywhere. I have yet to see so much as a wreath here. This may be due, in part, to the fact that many people here celebrate Christmas on January 7th…following with the Orthodox tradition. My own host family prefers to celebrate on the 25th, but usually end up celebrating on both days…who doesn’t want 2 Christmases? My host mom came home from the piaţa this weekend with our Christmas turkey. He is currently sitting on death row in our chicken coop because my host mom doesn’t want to kill him until closer to the day so that he is fresh. While I am looking forward to experiencing Christmas in Moldova (not to mention the end of the school term), I am a little sad I won’t be able to spend the holidays with my family…although, after 4 years in the hotel business, I guess I am kind of used to it.

Let’s hope I don’t eat it on the walk home from school today…I just went outside and it is quite icy and the snow is still falling. Ice + my natural clumsiness = face full of sidewalk. It has been awhile since I lived in Denver and this Texas girl is definitely not used to this whole winter thing!