Cold

I was out of the house yesterday from 2-8, visiting with a couple of students. It was so wonderful to be out and about in the village all day, and it was a new experience walking through a lot of snow in the street that hadn't been shoveled.

When I got home, I was expecting my room to be nice and toasty like it usually is because NMG is so good at keeping me warm. But it wasn't. I mean, it wasn't cold (until I went to sleep), but it definitely wasn't super warm. I found out this morning that she fell asleep at 7 (hard day of preparing for Hram!), so that is why she didn't make the fire. Thankfully I have a sleeping bag and super awesomly warm blankets so I fell asleep and stayed nice and warm all night. It was actually quite perfect.

So now she has a fire going in the soba, and I think I've figured out that it actually gets colder when the fire is going before it gets warm. I'm not sure why this is- anyone want to explain it?

Pre-hram

It's Hram! It's Hram! It's Hram!!! I feel like a little kid on Christmas day! I woke up before the sun came up and I don't have any plans for 4 hours hours. Eek!

Hram is basically the village's birthday. Everyone has been preparing food since Friday for this day, and what happens is you go from house to house (usually of your family- because most of the family is still in the village if they're not abroad) or close friends and you eat and drink lots. Then all of the highschoolers get together and have a ball until the sun comes up the next morning, and unfortunately it's on a Monday so everyone is going to be out of it for lessons... but it's ok. I get to sleep in :)

I'm SO EXCITED!!!!

Outside learning

Instead of having meetings after school (like my schools used to), the teachers have meetings during breaks at my school in Moldova. Every passing period is 15 or 20 minutes long, and that is when the teachers get together (if needed). Today we had a meeting between 4th and 5th period (we have 6 in the day), and it went about 20 minutes into the actual class, so by the time I got there, there wasn't that much time to start an actual lesson after doing the warm-up activity and then checking homework. Plus, it's Friday and it was my last class for the day and I think I'm more ready for break than my students (4 more days total! That's only 2 school days!!)... so it wasn't too difficult for them to convince me to go outside. So we did. And, like the 9th formers, they practiced winter vocabulary (cold, snow, winter, icy, frosty, snowball fight, photo, etc).

I love these kids. Really, I do. And even when the other classes drive me absolutely crazy, this is the class that makes me want to go to school every day (or at least every Monday, Thursday, and Friday), and the class that puts a smile on my face when I'm having a bad day. This is the class that brought me cake and champagne for my birthday (after only knowing me for a week), took me to the disco on my birthday and taught me traditional Moldovan dances, brings me an apple every day... and today they told me that they will collect 100 lei (about $10) from every student to fly me back to Moldova for the Carnival celebration (aka Christmas+New Years... the 12th graders organize all of it... details will come on the 26th) that they will be putting on.

They are seriously awesome.

(These boys are twins!)

(On a side note, I our ice slide got covered in sand and dirt after a kid fell and broke his shoulder. Oops. lol)

And here are some quick pics from the day walking home!

(Everyone walks. Even in this weather. So carpool line for us!)

F-f-f-fresh

For those of you who don't know me, I'm lactose intolerant. Once I realized this was the cause of my stomach aches, I turned to Lactaid so I could still drink those 2 huge glasses of milk with evey meal, eat ice cream, and make delicious grilled cheese sandwiches. But then I went to France and I started abusing Lactaid pills (you really can't say no to cheese there) so I went on a strict NO LACTOSE diet, and I've held really strong and true to it since. Now I can tolerate a little bit of goat's cheese and a piece of chocolate here and there but that's about it.

Now, before I get to my short story, let me remind you that everything here is 100% natural (I'd say organic, but I think it has to technically be certified in order to be organic, and from what I know that's an expensive and timely process, and it's just not going to happen here until other countries realize what they're missing out on by refusing to trade with Moldova. But that's neither here nor there). With that being said, all of the cheese and the milk and the sour cream is all natural and fresh.

I've heard a lot of talk about drinking fresh milk, especially from my step-sisters who were raised on goat's milk from their farm. I remember them telling me that they can taste all of the chemicals in the store-bought milk my sister and I loved so much, but of course I wasn't willing to try fresh milk for myself in order to disagree with them. That is, until today.

NMG poured herself a fresh glass of milk this evening, which is the first time I've seen milk in this house. Now, when I say "a fresh glass of milk" you probably pictured a jar of cold milk coming from the fridge... just like in the movies, right? Wrong. This is because fresh milk must be boiled before it can be drank. So NMG poured it right out of the pot- and seemed to like the part that was cooked just a little bit at the bottom because she seemed to scrape it out, and I watched it plop into her mug. Then she asked me if I wanted any. I said nope...can't...lactose problems, but that didn't seem to be a good enough excuse because she was already up and reaching for a mug (she has been absolutely wonderful up to this point at not cooking anything- except my birthday cake lol- with lactose. Yay NMG!). It looked like I wasn't going to have a choice- and my Lactaid was back in my house which would mean I'd have to walk in the freshly fallen snow to go take a pill in order to drink 1 big sip of milk (yes, I did just say the Lactaid wasn't worth the incredibly short walk. Hopefully my stomach says the same thing!!).

I took my first little sip. Ew. Warm milk. I know some people like it, but I really don't unless it has chocolate in it... and marshmallows... and maybe some peppermint flavor while I'm at it. After giving it time to cool, I finished it off. And I must say- not bad. It was incredibly thick (I'm more of a 2% type of a gal), and it had a funny smell, but it wasn't bad.

Next up: Goat's milk. Maybe.

Neighbors

Two of my fellow PCV's recently posted on their blog's about Moldovan's supporting each other because without the support of others, well, it would be very difficult to survive (Laquia and Lindsay)

Because they did such a great job of writing about it, I'll leave it up to you to read. However, I will add my side to the story.

I was walking home today after a particularly frustrating day, and just as I was almost in front of my house I saw a woman bending over trying to pick up something she had dropped in the road, which is still covered in snow (and will probably be until Spring). I went up to help her pick up whatever she dropped, and just as I gave it to her, she took off in a rather fast sprint... almost as if she was embarrassed she'd dropped something. Before I knew it, she had slipped in the snow. I ran up to her to make sure she was ok (I think she's in her 60's), and she just kinda sat there and was saying some things to me. At this point I realized she had been drinking, and according to other neighbors and my host family, this is a normal situation for this woman (and her husband). But, being as I experienced similar situations to this in college and was helped out by my friends, I figured it was the normal (and natural) thing to help her get home safely. So I picked her up, and we walked to her house, and I got her inside safely. She kept saying, "I brought the girl with me", and then as I was leaving, she was crying and saying she didn't have any gloves, but she brought the "girl" to the house.

Then I got home and told NMG about it. Her response, along with NTG's, was that I should have left her on the ground to sleep because she should suffer the consequences of her drinking. I'm going to agree to disagree on this one, only because I think she is suffering enough consequences already.

Paint

Today was just one of those days where I was just ready for the school day to be over so I could go home. All I wanted to do was paint, so as soon as I got home that's exactly what I did. Even though I was painting pretty simple things I still was able to relax and take a break from the stress of school.

I'm tired of fighting the "homework battle". I'm tired of fighting the "that's how they say it in Britain" battle. I'm tired of dealing with students that don't care that I left my family and friends and came thousands of miles to teach them. I'm tired of feeling unappreciated.

... but the question is: would it really be any different if I was a teacher at home, in America, or is this how it is everywhere?

Ice skiing x2

Sorry for the short post yesterday. I didn't sleep well the night before and, while I was super excited to post, I was too tired and needed to sleep.

When I woke up yesterday there was a light dusting of snow on the ground. It wasn't slippery, it wasn't much, it was just there. I thought that was it. I went to Maria's for my Wednesday tea and breakfast ritual.

Then I went to school.

The snow started, and it never stopped.

Then I got to my 9th form class and looked out the window to see this:

I couldn't stop myself from staring out the window in anticipation for the next break (I felt like a kid again... awesome feeling!).

Then my partner teacher asked me if I wanted to go play: half joking, half serious. I said I did, so she told me to go. But I couldn't leave my class behind! I told them to be quiet, and that we were going to go learn very valuable words: snow, ice, ice skating, sledding, and fun. Oh, and Merry Christmas! (I'd also post a video here)

So after filming and taking some pictures, the kids said it was my turn (I mean, I'm the reason they got out there in the first place). I was hesitant at first (embarrassing to fall in front of the kids...), but I handed my camera off and got on the ice. It was terrifying but totally worth the dog pile of students I created, my bruised hip, and my sore wrist.

Now it is just after 7am, it's still dark outside, and I'm so curious to go look at the snow that came overnight (if any). I'm anticipating some, which, had I been in KS, would definitely warrant a snow day, but because the teachers get paid hourly here and we already have to make up for that week we didn't have school due to the repairs, snow days just aren't going to happen.