A Snow-Covered Cruileni

I woke up this morning to a beautiful white Criuleni. There has been a little snow here and there the last month, but nothing that was really sticking. This week though, the ground was frozen, and I had hoped that this meant snow would stick, which it did. It’s the perfect kind of snow, the kind that crunches underneath my feet. There is enough that it covers everything, but the trees aren’t hanging low because of how heavy it is.

The atmosphere seemed to change overnight. Criuleni was so happy today. December was a lot of rain and cold, so it was kind of dreary. But the snow brought lots of smiles and happiness. On my walk to school this morning, I saw lots of children playing together as they walked to school. As I passed the bus station, I heard a man singing loud for all to hear. During school, every boy spent every minute of every break outside playing in the snow. And on my way home, the students all ran and slid to see how far they could slide across the packed snow. I even saw an adult man trying to slide across the snow.

This snow was a perfect pick-me-up for all of Cruileni.

Beautiful Hearts

When you are in Moldova, you will, without a doubt, hear the word “frumos” every day. “Frumos” means beautiful, and Moldova expects all things to be beautiful. One must dress beautifully, one must speak beautifully, one’s house must be kept beautiful, the table should be set beautifully, the students must write beautifully. Beautiful appearance is a high priority of most Moldovans.

When I first came here, I was bombarded with this word “frumos”. With such a strong stress on beauty, I was beginning to think that this is a very shallow element to prioritize, and I was not sure I would like a place where so much stress is put on appearance. The importance of outer appearance is present in the States as well, but I guess it didn’t bother me as much because there is also a huge push for not caring about what is on the outside.

I soon came to learn that acting and being beautiful is not due to vanity, but rather out of respect for others. One should dress beautifully because you respect those you work with so much that you take time to look well for them. Students must speak beautiful to show respect for the teacher’s work. Learning this made it easier to tolerate frumosness.

Since then, I have come to more than tolerate frumosness, but appreciate it. Moldovans are not stressing outer beauty, but rather complete beauty. Ever since I have been here, Moldovans have wanted to help me be comfortable. They are very friendly and kind to me, and they don’t judge me harshly for my foreign understanding of things.

And this week, many of my acquaintances complimented me unnecessarily. A student randomly told me she liked me, and a couple staff members at school randomly told me the other day that the school staff likes and respects me. And then today when I was explaining the word “foreigner” to the students, I said that I was a foreigner. My partner teacher said that, to them, I was not a foreigner, I was a friend. Moldovans are constantly showing me kindness, and I’m falling in love with their beautiful hearts.

Old New Year

I didn’t miss it!! I was able to celebrate with my host family. Parascovia made a huge masă, and Roman barbequed some sausages. They invited several friends over to celebrate. As the guests arrived, they threw coins and rice on the floor as a symbol of good luck and lots of money in the coming year. Basically, we ate and we ate and we ate. I would eat and be full, and Parascovia would bring more food. I would eat again and be stuffed, and Parascovia would bring more food. So basically, there was a lot of food.

I talked with the guests as best I could, and they asked me about America. By the end of the masă, everyone had determined that I needed to find a Moldovan man to marry and remain in Moldova to continue working. I’m pretty sure this was meant as a compliment.

After the meal, Parascovia gave each guest a colac with a lit candle along with a handmade napkin and wished the person a happy and wonderful year. Colac is a braided-bread in the shape of a circle. It symbolizes “hospitality” and it’s used in a lot celebrations.

After this holiday season and several family celebrations, I think I can sum up most holidays and celebrations as everyone eating until they burst.

The Family Clown

I think my host father thinks I’m some kind of clown. He is always laughing at me, and I can’t figure out why. I’m used to being laughed at in America, but I always know why; I said something without thinking or was clumsy or something like that. But I never really know with my host father. Last night, we were drinking together and he would point to my sweatshirt and laugh. And then today, when I was leaving to go for a walk, he saw me all bundled up to go outside and laughed again. Sometimes, just randomly, he will look at me and laugh. My only response is usually just shrugging my shoulders. Oh well, I guess I’m just meant to be someone who people from all cultures laugh at.


And I was looking through some of pictures from last night and found a group of pictures of Roman and me talking together. These pretty much describe our conversations perfectly.

Alone Upstairs

Camilla is leaving tomorrow, so tonight we celebrated with a goodbye masă. Parascovia invited several women who work with Camilla. Parascovia prepared lots of foods and Roman barbequed some chicken. Parascovia asked me if I knew how to make margaritas, and I told her I did. So she asked me to make it. But the only thing that was the same about these margaritas is that I used margarita mix. It was made with vodka, lemons, sugar, and mix. Not exactly the same creature that I’m used to, but it got the job done. Plus, I was happy to have something besides Cognac for a change. We ate, we celebrated, we ate, we talked, we ate, we played billiards, we ate. It was a really good send-off for Camilla.

I will miss her. She was much better at Romanian than I, and she knew some English. So she was able to help me out of a couple jams every once in a while. And it’s nice to have someone else in the house around my age. Plus it was much easier to tell Roman “no more drinking” when we were together. I guess I’ll have to stand up to him alone now.

Okay Moldova, I’ll Stay

Today was our first day back to school. And just like in America, it is difficult to go back. But this morning was particularly difficult. During the first period, I teach 10th form with my partner teacher, Valentina. However, she was absent today, and she had called Maria, one of my other partner teachers, and told her to give the students a test.

I hate giving tests. Since there are so many things I'm hoping to inspire to change, I have to prioritize which things to work on first, and test-taking is something I have decided to work on next year. The students talk, use their books, pass notes, use their cell phones, and pretty much any form of cheating you can think of. I’m about ready to pull my hair out when we give tests. But at least I have my partner teachers in the room to help keep some form of order. However, not this time. The students were worse than usual and very disrespectful towards me. At the end of this period, I walked out the classroom feeling beaten. And I experienced, for the first time, a genuine feeling of quitting.

Luckily, Moldova wants me to stay. Whenever I’m feeling low, Moldova knows and reminds me why I’m here. And this occasion was no different. The very next period, I went to co-teach 5th form with Svetlana, which is one of my favorite age groups. Right after the bell rang, Maria asked Svetlana to work with Valentina’s class since she was absent. So I was left to teach alone. It was wonderful. It’s hard to describe how happy this made me. I love teaching so much, and for the first time in seven months I got to work with the students exactly how I wanted. I walked out of the class with a huge smile on my face.

And this wasn’t the end of my successes that day. With another partner, Tatiana, I was introducing foldables (a 3-D graphic organizer) to the 8th form. This class can be chatty and silly, and they have a hard time focusing. But when I was teaching them the new vocabulary words using a foldable, every single one of them was focused and listening to what I was saying, even the student who has a learning disability. This is a rare occasion even in an American classroom.

So somehow, I started my day with feeling pretty much the worse I have felt since I have been here and walked out of that school feeling like I had just won an Olympic event. So thank you, Moldova. You successful made me remove all thoughts of going home early. I will stay, and I will succeed.

Crăciun

Moldovan Christmas. In Moldova, they celebrate Christmas at the old date, on January 7. Some families celebrate on December 25, but very few. For me, December 25 was no different than any other Sunday. In fact, my host family wasn’t even home most of the day because they were working. I must admit, it made Christmas kind of depressing at first. But I was able to talk to everyone in my family later that day, which made it better.

Anyways, about Moldova Christmas. So I accidently missed it. It wasn’t until this morning that I realized I missed the celebration. Apparently, late at night on the January 6, Moldovans attend a midnight church service. I couldn’t understand if it started before midnight or at midnight, but the idea is that they are in church for the beginning of Christmas day. The service lasts about three hours, and everyone is standing the whole time. After the church service, everyone returns home and celebrates with a large masă. Many people are going to bed around 6am. I didn’t understand my host mom when she was inviting me, and I ended up sleeping through this whole celebration. Oops.

Presents are not usually exchanged on Christmas. Gift exchange usually happens at midnight on New Year’s Day. My tutor says this is because during Soviet times, the Soviet Union wanted to take focus away from Christmas, so they changed the traditions. In fact, the biggest holiday celebration is New Year’s. And I missed this celebration as well because I was traveling then. I was hoping to experience the holidays here.

So I’ve missed two holidays so far. But never fear; I have one more chance. Moldova also celebrates Old New Year on January 14. I am going to make sure to be present for this!

Ready To Face Semester 2

So I just got back from a 10-day vacation that was wonderful. I traveled with five other volunteers to Istanbul. And it was beautiful!! This was a much needed and well-loved vacation. I was often noting how breathtaking Istanbul is. It is definitely a tourist spot, but I kind of liked that about Istanbul. I enjoyed visiting the museums and mosques, as well as just walking around aimlessly. This was just right to rejuvenate me and make me ready for the second semester.