School's out for the summer!

The month of June contains many significant milestones in my Peace Corps service in Moldova.

June 1st was our last day of school…I have officially survived my first year of teaching here! The last day of school is mostly ceremonial in Moldova. All of the teachers, students, parents, as well as the village mayor and some members of the national ministry of education met outside our school in the morning. I, along with a few other (more important) people, gave speeches and a variety of students were recognized for their achievements during the school year. The students I took to Belarus for the Odyssey of the Mind competition were presented with their medals and diplomas in front of everyone. I was really glad that their hard work and achievements were recognized in front of their classmates. The students in the 9th form were recognized for graduating to high school and the students in the 12th from were recognized for graduating from high school. After all of the ceremonial stuff, a lot of the students gave their teachers flowers and we all took a lot of pictures. Once the students had left, the teachers met to celebrate with my host mom who has officially retired after many years of teaching Romanian at the school. She has actually been considered a pensioner for the past couple of years - which means that she was able to collect a pension but still work part time at the school for a salary. Starting next year, the government has decided that pensioners have to pick one or the other so my host mom has decided to hang up her teaching shoes for good.

The week leading up to the last day of school was pretty much a joke. We had to turn in all grades the Wednesday before so student attendance trickled down to just about nothing by the end of the week. The Friday before the last day of school (which was a Monday) was considered a “Day of Health” at the school. Instead of having classes, all of the students went to the sports complex across the street to play basketball and soccer. Interestingly, the attendance for this particular event was significantly higher than that of my lessons during the days leading up to it. After the kids went home, a bunch of the teachers had a BBQ behind the school. There was a ton of food, drinks, and singing…it was a great way to celebrate the end of the year.

All of these festivities would have been a lot more enjoyable for me if I hadn’t been suffering from some severe stomach issues. Apparently I either fell victim to some toxic cucumbers (the general consensus of all of the old ladies at my school) or I finally picked up the oh, so lovely parasite that about 85-90% of volunteers here deal with at some point during service. Unfortunately I only made it through about 15 minutes of my host mom’s party before I had to hop on a bus to the capital to see the Peace Corps doctor. To make a long story short, after a few days of staying in the PC medical apartment in Chisinau and consuming only rice, tea, and Gatorade, I was finally able to come home.

The 9th and 12th forms have a series of very intense exams this week so I have been doing some last minute English tutoring with some of them. For the 12th formers, these test scores will determine whether or not they can go to university next year.

On Friday I am heading into the capital to meet up with some old – and probably some new – friends. The new batch of PC volunteers arrive on Thursday and Friday marks the one year anniversary for the M24’s so this weekend should be fun-filled. On Sunday, I am going to be meeting my mom and Isaac at the airport and I can’t wait!

I hope you all back home are enjoying the summer as much as I am so far :)
Be well.