Getting Comfortable

As usual, I've posted a picture for your viewing pleasure. This is Peles Castle in Sinaia. It was the summer residence of King Carol I and is now a museum. I visited the castle in July when group 20 wen to out counterpart conference. If you think that the exterior is impressive, well, you should see the interior. I've never seen such beautiful and ornate wood work in my life. Quite impressive and highly recommended for those of you who might one day come to Romania.

Anyway, back to the present. I've got two weeks of school under my belt now and have finally met all of my students. In total, I see about 270 students a week. Unfortunately, this means that I only get 50 min. a week with each kid. At first I thought that this was not enough time for me to be effective. However, I'm starting to change my mind because my classes are so drastically different from everything else that they do. As a result, I think that they will remember their experience with me no matter how much time we have together.

For the most part, these kids are great. Most of them are really eager to learn and I haven't had any problems yet. They really seem to enjoy my presence here. In fact, there has been some controversy due to the fact that some classes (the bilingual ones) are quite upset that they do not have me as a teacher. One class went so far as to file a formal complaint, signed by them and their parents, with the school director! While I'm very flattered by this, the last thing that I want is to be the impetus of tension between students, parents and the administration. I can't see everybody. So, I spoke to them yesterday on my day off and told them that they could talk to me anytime if they see me outside of class. I hope that they calm down a bit and just accept the situation.

I think that I'm starting to "turn the corner" in terms of my comfort level here. I've been in Piatra Neamt for about 6-7 weeks now and am getting used to the situation. Living alone, teaching, etc., it's all so different and I was having a bit of a rough time as recently as last week. But, after a long and productive talk with Sarah, things started to get better for me. Combine that with my comfort level at school, the beginning of formal Romanian language tutoring and just a general feeling of familiarity of my city and I think that I now know why I'm feeling better.

It's a gray and wet Saturday today here in Piatra. I think that last weekend was the end of summer as the weather has been getting progressively cooler here. I think that the fall and winter will be similar to Chicago. I think I'll be able to handle that, even though I may not like it. I'll be doing some shopping today for food and various other items. I also need to go to the autogara to find out bus and maxi-taxi schedules to Brasov. I'll be visiting Ica and Victor next weekend and we'll be going to a wedding. It will be my first Romanian wedding and should be quite the cross-cultural experience. I'd like to leave on Thusday after school, but I'm not sure about the schedules. Ideally, I'd like to take a maxi-taxi south to Bacau, change maxi-taxis and continue southwest to Brasov. I could save about two hours with this method. However, there's always the 7:30am Friday bus to Brasov. However, based on my previous experience, I'd like to avoid that option if possible.

I hope that all is well with you loyal blog readers. Please send me an e-mail or post a comment, as hearing from people back home always makes my day! Pa! (bye)