27 Luni

Yesterday, after a long hike into the foothills of the Carpathian Mountains, I walked back through Targoviste, passing some “old” haunts. During our first few nights in country we stayed in the Hotel Valahia, where we had our initial Peace Corps meetings, received our vaccinations and dined like welcomed houseguests. Though only two weeks ago, it seems like months if not years. The parking lot happened to be empty Sunday afternoon, lending an ominous desolation to my feelings of an exciting time long past. It’s incredible to think it was only two weeks ago that our rag tag group of Peace Corps Trainees dragged our obscene amount of luggage through the lobby, asked for toilet paper in worse Romanian than a two year old could manage and first experienced the culinary delight that is ciorba. The only explanation for this temporal shift of consciousness is the huge amount our group has been exposed to, with this last week not an exception.

Imagine walking down the hall of a school and over hearing a group of, on average 35 year old, students repeating the word “lemon” over and over again, giggling like it was the first time the word had ever past their lips. For the full effect, pretend you’re a clerk at the Post Office and shortly following your lunch break, in a sadistic joke, a troop of 38 Americans unexpectedly walk through your door asking, in seemingly drunken slurs, for envelopes, postcards and stamps while fumbling with your nations currency. If the local Romanians didn’t know better they couldn’t be blamed for thinking we were all simply mentally challenged, luckily for us we’re not, though we certainly feel that way a lot. To say that language training is intense would be an understatement. Our instructors are incredible and their teaching style is brilliant, but the shear volume is difficult to process. To put this into perspective, three of my four group members experienced various levels of meltdown last week, from verbal protests to full blown waterworks. I’m still trying to wrap my head around why one word, as simple as “student” for instance has at least four variations, based on gender, possession and plurality, and why there is also a different corresponding pronoun based on these variations. Fortunately the language instructors are patient with us, as much as you would have to be with a kindergartener. In the meantime, I’ll be repeating, “cabbage, peach, cherries, potato, carrot” etc, over and over again on my walk to school tomorrow, likely ignoring gender and plurality.

The TEFL aspect of our training this week was essentially broken into two parts. First we had instruction from a British trainer who is an expert on TEFL practices and has spent quite a lot of time in Romania and surrounding nations. The second part of our week was spent in the classroom of a local primary school assisting in various English classes from the fourth to eight grade. Both aspects of our training went well if not hectically.

The highlight of my week came on Sunday as I participated in a school-sponsored field trip to the Dealu Monastery north of town. Approximately thirty students, averaging eleven years old, sixteen Peace Corps Trainees and a handful of dedicated teachers marched six kilometers through the countryside to a five hundred year old monastery. The purpose of the trip was two fold; for the Romanian students to be exposed to native English speakers and for us volunteers to see a culturally and historically significant landmark. Regarding the former, the most common questions I received were “What is your name?” “How old are you?” “What is your favorite sport/musician/actor?” and “Do you have a girlfriend?” Needless to say their English is vastly superior to my Romanian. It was an incredible day, accented by much needed beautiful weather and plenty of laughs to go around.

On the agenda for this week: One-on-one with the Country Director, goal of starting a soccer and/or Ultimate Frisbee team, week two of practicum, additional language training and a hike in the Carpathian Mountains on Saturday.

P.S. Pictures to come.  In my infinite wisdom, I left the data cable for my Canon in the States.  To be remedied soon.