Vacanță - Christmas Eve

The first semester ended last Friday, and as I posted in Facebook, it was a semester that I will remember for a very long time. It's very hard to believe that I've been in Moldova a little over 6 months now. It seems like at least 3 or 4 years have passed. Each day zips by, but continues to be packed to the hilt.

And now, while the students are on vacation, I get a brief respite to gather my energy for the next semester. Yet, there is still so much to do. I am planning classes for the next semester, trying to decide which play to perform for English week in April, making plans for an upcoming training for the Peace Corps which will take place the middle of January, and even in my dreams I am teaching English.

Still, I'm making time to relax as well:
Christmas Eve was spent at Jennifer's apartment. Jennifer and her boyfriend Kit (both volunteers as well) hosted an incredible dinner for a number of other volunteers to celebrate the holidays. For volunteers faced with the potential of being alone on Christmas Eve (in Moldova, Christmas is celebrated on the 7th of January by most people), this was so incredibly wonderful. And it was made even more wonderful with the terrific company and great food! A heartfelt thank you to Jennifer, Kit, James, Richard, Darnell, Matt, Laura, Natashia, Andy and Alexandra for a lovely celebration!

Jennifer assists while Andy carves



Kit carves the roast beast

There was roast duck, the requisite mashed potatoes, salads, stuffed mushrooms, shrimp scampi and other goodies that we don't often get to eat here in Moldova. For dessert, Jennifer made fudge and Christmas cookies!

Then, we had a magical surprise with three children knocking on the door to come in and sing us colindas or Christmas carols. All in all a magical night.

E Iarna

The seasons are much more sensible in Moldova. There's no waiting for the solstice, no breaking the month of December as being Autumn until the 21st and then Winter. Instead, Winter starts promptly on the 1st of December. "Vine iarna" (Winter comes) is a common phrase when the first snow falls, or the ground is frosty in the morning. While the average Moldovan seems to need - but despise - rain, the feeling about snow is quite the opposite; it's not needed, but it is loved.

Many of my lyceum-aged students had teze (themes - semester tests) last week in English and several other subjects, and as I read the essays from the 11th form, the idea that was repeated many times was that one can find Heaven on Earth if one only looks to the beauty of snow.

Snowball fights during the breaks.
Some of them thought it was fun to throw at Mr. Tim.

From the seemingly endless questions in Romanian about whether I have ever seen snow before, or if there is snow in the United States, to the literal banshee cries of NINGE!!!!!! of the students if it happens to be snowing during a break, to the nearly manic descriptions of what it will be like when there is over a meter of snow on the ground, it is easy to tell that there is a love affair with snow in this country -- at least from the young people. But, even my host parents seem to act a little more spry when they see the snow.



Snow in the schoolyard.

Today, I went running in the snow with one of my students, and it was like running with an extremely playful otter. He was doing flips to land in the snow. We met up with some younger students out with their sleds on the nearby hill and Cristi borrowed one sled to show them how to do it. "Mr. Tim," he said afterward - out of breath, "that was the first time this year that I sledded. Oh, it was so fun!"

Naturally, I can't help but make comparisons with snow falls in the U.S. Here it is a matter of course that the snow will climb above a meter, and that many roads will close, but since a significant percent of the population walks, their is no concern. As long as the main road into town is plowed so supplies can get to the stores, there will be food and water. Even the old folks take the snow in stride, careful in their steps and hunkering down when they can.

In comparison, I'll never forget the panicked calls I would get at my stores in the Seattle area if there was a threat of snow (even a centimeter high) for two days in future. People would storm in to stock up on pet food, "just in case!" Here, there is no run on the stores; no stressful faces. There is only studied concentration of footsteps and the oft spoken, "frumos" (beautiful).

First Snow

unexpected

delicate
crystals wash
the cynicism
from the city

turn pavement

to playgrounds
roads to slides
and we are all young

the calendars are now correct

winter has come
and cast its spell

look, over there

he must be 50
and yet caught
catching the odd flake
on his playful
pink tongue

Sunt Profesor de Limbă Engleză

No way! It's official. I've been in Moldova for six months, and what a ride it has been -- both disappearing too rapidly and seeming like it has been at least 5 years.

Sunset over Ialoveni.

I still speak Romanian poorly, but I can definitely hold my own with my host mother while we have so much fun discussing politics, history, traditions and religion. Of course, her favorite subject is trying to find a suitable wife for me.

I'm digging deeper into Russian, but finding it a very confusing language to pronounce, let alone to understand.

_________________

More importantly, I am teaching English!

I'm hip deep into teaching the 5th, 6th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th forms (grades) on a wide variety of subjects in English, and truly adore the students. I even adore them when they are obraznici (literally cheeky) or they just stare at me as if to say, "what ARE you talking about?" And, there are lots of those days. :o) I've walked up to several students and asked calmly and slowly, "Do you understand anything that I am saying." They just smile and say, "Nu înțeleg." (I don't understand.)

The manuals (textbooks) are very challenging for these students. When I say a variety of subjects, I mean a variety. For the fifth grade, we just finished talking about school and what you do after school. The sixth form is discussing having dinner guests and which side of the plate to put a butter knife (something that is not often used in Moldova). The eighth grade is discussing leisure time, films, sports, and music. Currently the ninth is discussing animal rights and health hazards. The first page in their textbook was about The Big Bang theory! The tenth grade is  discussing life choices, while the eleventh grade wrapped up "The Seeing See Very Little" by Helen Keller. And, finally, the twelfth form is discussing etiquette at a museum. As you can see, the English teachers in Moldova must be versed in a variety of subjects and their vocabulary must be huge. This is a difficult task if you are not a native speaker -- and sometimes when you are.

Words like calisthenics, gnarled, ample, albinism, inquisitive, connoisseur, entertaining, misbehave, bustle, rustle, ecology and cultural values, quiver, countenance, thistle, nosegay and hoarfrost are a part of their necessary vocabulary.

Then add to that 4 tenses, 26 aspects of verbs, sentence structure, the gender of nouns, the plural of nouns, articles, the negative form of sentences and the interrogative form of sentences, adjective order, adverbial clauses, reflexive pronouns, possessives, etc., and you begin to get a sense of how difficult this is for these students. All of them know Russian and Romanian, and several are taking other language classes such as French, German, and a couple are learning Japanese on their own. This is on top of required classes such as history, biology, chemistry, math, etc.

Truly, some of these students are BRILLIANT! My job is to keep reminding them of that fact and encourage their progress in English, which is required by the Ministry of Education now for the 2nd grade through the 12th.

But, my joy is după lecții (after lessons) when I have the students who really WANT to learn English. I had a talk with the principal at the school the other day, and she asked me how things are going. I told her I love it all, but my true heart was after lessons. Those kids shine like a galaxy of hot suns. They are each so talented and so willing to open up their minds to soak up the ideas. And they are learning English at an extremely accelerated rate. Two months ago, several of them could barely say "hello" and now they are discussing the present progressive and translating. What's more amazing is how oblivious they are to their progress.

I have Grammar Club on Tuesdays. Yes... a grammar club! Can you imagine, students in the United States asking to have a separate hour once a week to discuss grammar? Believe it or not, it's well attended, and they seem to really enjoy it. Nothing is more fulfilling than to have one of my students who attends Grammar Club come up to me after a test and say, "Wow, Mr. Tim, it was just like we talked about in Grammar Club!" This followed by ever climbing grades.

Debate Club is a constant surprise. I don't know if these students will ever actually debate, and I doubt that they really want to debate, but it is pure magic to watch them get so caught up in arguing a subject that they completely forget they are speaking in English. And they soar! Sure they use the wrong tense, and pronounce things incorrectly, but to listen to them give their opinions on various subjects is a joy.

Then there's my two adult classes a week. We started with 5 students, and are now up to 16, and each week there are more. These are true beginners and they laugh so hard at their mistakes and revel when I tell them in Romanian that they sound just like an American. "Er, ir, ur" sounds, along with "th" sounds are the most difficult for them, but they keep trying. I told them that the way they say "hamburger" is just not right, and so each week we keep practicing with that word, and they WANT to say it with conviction for Domnul Tim. These are my dance lessons. I get to waltz through pronunciations and sing sibilants. The students give and take and we hardly notice that an hour disappears so quickly.

On top of these classes, I teach a group of 5th graders separately twice a week, and work with some 9th graders and the niece of my host father (a 4th grader) on Sundays. In between all the teaching, I plan for classes with each of my 5 partner teachers.

I've been very blessed to have some incredible partners. We really do have some fun classes, and the students respond. One of my partners is an official of the Ministry of Education, so she has decided that we will teach teachers and once a month we have a large meeting with other English teachers to discuss various topics. The first meeting, in September, was for new English teachers to help them learn the ropes. The second was geared toward me and was about grading and reading essays. Next week, I'll have a third one about working with groups. As volunteers, we are required to have three open lessons or seminars during our two years service. I'll have 2 open lessons and 3 seminars in the first 4 months of teaching.

My school is awesome, and I'm slowly integrating further into the community there. Because I speak in English all day, my Romanian is not as advanced as I would like, and this serves as a barrier to getting to know some of the teachers, but somehow I can understand my principal very well, and she is one of my adult students. She is amazing! Strong and direct, Doamna Balan is a terrific ally, and we are working together to increase the technology in the school, and improve the learning of English. She wants to put Lyceul Petre Ștefanucă on the map.

Evidently, my workload is a little heavier than many of the other English Education (EE) volunteers.
We are required to teach a minimum of 18 hours and most have 2 or 3 partner teachers. I also have 24 regular hours of classes, 14 hours after regular hours, the two adult classes, my Sunday lessons, the two after-school clubs, and am working on Skype with several students to improve their English-speaking abilities. I find a book in English for these students, and then I listen to them read for about 15 - 20 minutes.

My day starts typically at 5am and I roll into bed, barely able to keep my eyes open, at 11:30pm. But, I'm not complaining. I have always loved staying busy. There is something extremely spiritual in staying in the moment. And I love being a teacher!