Halfway There

It's a cold, cloudy and rainy day in Codlea. We were supposed to have a big barbecue with our gazda families today to celebrate the 4th of July (a little cross-cultural exchange), but that has now been postponed. The weather here at the moment is quite shitty, as it's been raining since Friday night. Speaking of the 4th, one of the volunteers, who will remain nameless, went so far as to write a letter to the Country Director and circulate a petition demanding that we be allowed to have the 4th off. I declined to sign. I don't understand this guy's logic. Does this guy plan on working during Romanian holidays? I doubt it. The CD wrote a form letter to all of us explaining, in a very diplomatic fashion, why we can't have Monday off. I agree with his logic. Quite frankly, I found the whole thing to be a bit embarrassing.

So, I'm through week five (feels like month five) of training and now have five more to go. We finished our teaching practicum last Friday with a raucous session of kickball. It was all a bit confusing at first, but the students eventually got the hang of it. After playing for two hours, we took a break and headed to the teachers room while the older kids looked after the little ones. Awaiting us was champagne and certificates to sign! After quaffing a couple of warm cups of champagne, we all headed out to the playlot and handed out certificates to the kids and took pictures. Very Romanian. It really was a good day.

I'll be traveling to south to Sinaia for the counterpart conference this Thursday afternoon. We'll be there until Sunday, at which point we will depart for our site preview on Sunday with our counterpart. Speaking of site placement, some people know more than others. It depends on how much information was revealed during last week's site placement interview. I can tell you what I know about my potential situation:

1) I'll be teaching bilingual high school students.
2) I'll be teaching content courses about half of the time.
3) The school is a "teoretic" high school, which means that it sits at the top of the academic ladder in the Romanian system. Students must demonstrate an ability to excel academically to be admitted to a "teoretic" school.
4) I'll be working with an NGO on secondary projects.
5) There are three relatively new apartments on the campus of the school that were built specifically to house "visiting professors". I would live in one of these apartments.

Now, keep in mind that none of this is set in stone. I won't know anything for sure until Friday. We're all floating in limbo right now.

Everything else is going as well as it can. I kind of suck at Romanian right now. I had to tune the language lessons out during practicum. Many of us are in the same boat. I'll catch up eventually. I've got plenty of time to learn. On the street, I'm not bad; the classroom is a different story altogether. We've got language test simulations on Tuesday at the HUB in Brasov. That should be interesting. There's going to be a lot of body language in my session. :)

Sundays are a bit depressing for some reason. I miss home the most on this day. I'm trying not to drink and eat my depression away, as it's very tempting to do so. I'm not really depressed, I just get a little sad and lonely sometimes. This experience has been quite the emotional roller coaster thus far and there's really no end in sight for the next six months. It's tough. But, I think that I should be settled in nicely after the first semester of school.

For those of you hungry for pics, fear not. I predict that, aside from the one I just posted from the internet, there will be pics by the end of this month. Things move a bit slower here in Transylvania, so please bear with me. Thanks so much to those of you that have sent e-mails. I really do appreciate them and truly look forward to checking my e-mail (when I can). For those of you who haven't, please do! I'm always thinking about all of you and wondering how everyone's doing. That's about it for now. I've got to go read and catch up on my language study.

Salut!