Since I last wrote, I have traveled into southern Moldova, which is the eastern part of Romania. I met about 20 other volunteers in Onesti--birthplace of Nadia Comenici. Needless to say, the city is very proud of her and have named many buildings and things after her. It was good to see people there. We discovered that none of us were using our Romanian as much as we wanted and most of us did not know exactly what our jobs entailed.
I have been lucky because I do know what I am doing. I went into schools and talked with students about June 5, International Environmental Day. I spoke with over 500 students in 4 different schools about the theme of the day--"Kick the Habit, Lessen your Carbon Footprint. We either played charades or bingo to learn different ways they could lessen their carbon footprint in their every day lives.
I then invited them to compete in a contest we were having for Environmental Day. They were to make an object out of recycled material. We expected maybe 30 entries, but instead we had 109 entries!!!! Our sponsor was generous and gave M3P players and memory sticks as prizes. We had 3 winners in each of 5 categories--fashion, functional, art, buildings, robots/people. We had a lamp made out of pop cans, a mechanized robot, a fair with a ferris wheel that worked and much more. We had the press here and they were mightily impressed with the creativity of the 5th-12th graders.
We then, as an agency, went out to celebrate the day. We danced for 7 hours and had a good time. I danced the hora, some Hungarian dances and even the chicken dance. We brought our own CD to the restaurant and started dancing immediately. They then gave us our appetizer which we ate and then we went back to dancing for a couple of hours and then they gave us our dinner and with wine and then we danced another hour or so and then we were served dessert and coffee and then we danced some more. It was nice to have the food spread out throughout the afternoon and evening.
School is over and so I am going to work at a camp in June and hopefully set up a camp for August here in my county. I hope to work with the zoo and have a camp there. I will start working with the assistent director of the zoo when she is finished with classes at the end of June. The zoo is a little way out of town, but hopefully we can use their bus to get the kids there. At least I have another project to work on.
I also met the the Director of Peace Corps. I was honored to have lunch with he and his wife and six other 50+ volunteers. We talked about issues that older volunteers face. Then after the lunch, he offered me his left over meat on his plate. When I told him that I had 8 people staying at my place that weekend, he turned to everyone else at the table and asked if they weren't going to eat the rest of their meat, would they give it to me. Notice the three boxes on the table. Needless to say, the Director was a Peace Corp Volunteer after college and he knew how life is as a Peace Corps Volunteer.
I have been lucky because I do know what I am doing. I went into schools and talked with students about June 5, International Environmental Day. I spoke with over 500 students in 4 different schools about the theme of the day--"Kick the Habit, Lessen your Carbon Footprint. We either played charades or bingo to learn different ways they could lessen their carbon footprint in their every day lives.
I then invited them to compete in a contest we were having for Environmental Day. They were to make an object out of recycled material. We expected maybe 30 entries, but instead we had 109 entries!!!! Our sponsor was generous and gave M3P players and memory sticks as prizes. We had 3 winners in each of 5 categories--fashion, functional, art, buildings, robots/people. We had a lamp made out of pop cans, a mechanized robot, a fair with a ferris wheel that worked and much more. We had the press here and they were mightily impressed with the creativity of the 5th-12th graders.
We then, as an agency, went out to celebrate the day. We danced for 7 hours and had a good time. I danced the hora, some Hungarian dances and even the chicken dance. We brought our own CD to the restaurant and started dancing immediately. They then gave us our appetizer which we ate and then we went back to dancing for a couple of hours and then they gave us our dinner and with wine and then we danced another hour or so and then we were served dessert and coffee and then we danced some more. It was nice to have the food spread out throughout the afternoon and evening.
School is over and so I am going to work at a camp in June and hopefully set up a camp for August here in my county. I hope to work with the zoo and have a camp there. I will start working with the assistent director of the zoo when she is finished with classes at the end of June. The zoo is a little way out of town, but hopefully we can use their bus to get the kids there. At least I have another project to work on.
I also met the the Director of Peace Corps. I was honored to have lunch with he and his wife and six other 50+ volunteers. We talked about issues that older volunteers face. Then after the lunch, he offered me his left over meat on his plate. When I told him that I had 8 people staying at my place that weekend, he turned to everyone else at the table and asked if they weren't going to eat the rest of their meat, would they give it to me. Notice the three boxes on the table. Needless to say, the Director was a Peace Corp Volunteer after college and he knew how life is as a Peace Corps Volunteer.
The top two pictures of me with the Director of Peace Corps and his wife and the other of the piata where I do most of my grocery shopping. It is open 7 days a week from early in the morning to about 7 at night, except Sunday it closes down about 5. The other two pictures are of our contest and I am helping hand out the diplomas.
Life is slower here. It takes a while to do things. All bills are paid by standing in different lines--no online payment or mailing in of bills. My refrigerator is small, so I go to the piata about every other day and I eat a lot of vegetables that are fresh right now. I have another PCV here in Ploiesti and he and I make a dinner together once a week. I am very fortunate. The weather is very warm here and has been in the 90's most of the time. It does cool down at night. I think I will have to invest in a fan. In the month of May, it rained almost everyday around 3-5 in the afternoon and cooled things down. That is not happening anymore.
So far things are going well and I hope you will ask questions if you have any. Thanks for taking the time to look at the blog!! Susie
