Training Again

But this time i'm the other side of things. So I made it down to Ploiesti last Sunday after moving the rest of my stuff to Codlea. Radu and Oana stayed in Codlea with us on Saturday and left on Sunday. I'm staying in a true two-star Romanian hotel, the Hotel Nord, in a not so interesting part of town (I'm being very politically correct here). Romania's petroleum industry is primarily located in Ploiesti, and the first oil well in the world was started here. Walking around town, I had to wonder where all the oil money had gone....

After I arrived, I took a stroll down an avenue of neverending blocs and found the center of the city, which has a population of about 300,000. There I had some McDonalds (mmm) and then headed back home for the evening. My fellow volunteer and friend Mandy picked me up at the hotel Monday morning and we went to the school to start day one of 10 of our teaching practicum observations. Man, it was like looking in the mirror. I remember how clueles and nervous we all were last summer. However, by the end of the week I saw some substantial progress and improvement on their part.

All in all, in was a fun and productive week. I was able to meet a lot of the new volunteers, got the hang of evaluating them, hung out with some of my old language teachers and fellow group members, etc. I'm looking forward to next week, although it will be busier as I have to submit individual reports for each TEFL trainee, participate in a site placement meeting, and conduct a safety and security technical session with the entire group of trainees. That last task should be interesting. I'm sure they'll all be riveted. I'll try to keep it short. Normally, our Safety and Security Director would conduct such a session, but he asked me to do him a favor because he couldn't be there. Also, I'm a new member of the Safety and Security Committee, but I'm not sure if this makes me qualified or not. So, I'll just show a power point presentation and use the notes he provided me.

Ploiesti kind of grew on me. I like it there. Lots of beer gardens. Although I'm not sure how I'd feel if there weren't a bunch of Americans and PC staff around all of the time. Next Friday should be fun, as the TEFL trainees will probably all be ready to party after they finish the teaching practicum. I'll take a train to Bucharest next Saturday afternoon and stay at a pensiune near the airport. I've got to be at the airport at 4am next Sunday. I think that I'm scheduled to land in Houston around 2pm CST.

I'm in Codlea right now. I got here last night around 6:15. Got up this morning and realized I left my speakers and MP3 player at the hotel. Nice. Luckily, I called and they found the items and will hold them until I return tomorrow night. Very surprising, as I thought for sure the items would be in some bazaar by now. I tried to do some laundry this morning in preparation for next week and the trip home, but alas, the whole town is without water right now. I hope that it's working when I go back the house. I really need to get my laundry done before I leave tomorrow afternoon. Hard to believe that I'll be in the U.S. in 8 days. It's kind of freaking me out a bit, as I've got a lot of traveling and things to do in a short period of time.

Year One - Mission Accomplished

You know, teaching generally is a thankless job. As a PC Volunteer and first-time teacher it's especially hard to measure whether you've done your job or not. I've had moments where I've thought, "Yeah, good job on that one", but for the most part you don't really know. You just have to have faith that one day some of these kids will remember you and think, "Oh yeah, I remember that the American taught me this, that, etc.". I think that you get the picture.

The process of leaving Hogas High hasn't been easy. Yesterday I kept asking myself if I had succeeded, dealing with bouts of uncertainty and wondering if it was all worth it. Well, today I got my validation. The class pictured above, 10D (11D after tomorrow) gave me a letter today. It reads:


The 13th of June, 2006
Piatra Neamt

Dear Scott,

In these moments a good letter beginning is not enough, but we want to show you, by this letter, that this year we learned a lot from you. Many times, as teenagers, we wanted to have a teacher like you. Someone with who we could talk to not only about school, but also about our "problematic" life and about our position in Romania. You made us understand that above all we learn at Hogas, we have the power to change the future - by will and by voluntary actions.

You see, we're telling you this because we're really sorry you have to leave. If there's one thing we won't forget about our classes together, it's your understanding. Because, as you know, many of our teachers sometimes ask too much from us (no wonder some of them are envious that we like your method better). We are glad to have met you and we're not saying this only because it was the first year that an American teacher taught us, but because we had a great experience.

We honestly regret not having the opportunity to spend more time with you but, as you say, we must always look ahead; although, we won't forget you and we hope we can stay in touch and inform you about our new "ways" in school and to keep in mind both old and new advices.

If we've ever upset you, please accept our apologies, as we never intended to . We also hope that you will remember all the times we were insecure, but also the moments when we started to talk, sometimes for more than an hour!

There are many other things that need to be said, but, unfortunately, we must end this letter. You know, sometimes silence is worth more than anything, if there are true feelings hidden behind it.

If sometimes you will see clouds that seem to be pointing at you from the sky, they're us, traveling by thought, searching for guidance.

Thoughts,
Class 10D


I'm sorry that I have to leave too. But I do. There's a saying, "Each One, Teach One". I've always believed in this concept, thinking that if we all could just teach and reach one person, the world would be a better place. I can now say that I truly have done my part. Even though I'm leaving this school prematurely, I can hold my head high. And I've still got another year and a whole new set of kids in Codlea to teach. Whatever happens next, I'll never forget these kids, class 10D.

Bye for now.

Scott

The Road Back Home

I'm referring to both of my homes of course, Codlea and the U.S. A few more days and I'll be leaving Piatra Neamt. It's been a long wait. Anyway, the first photo is of me and my 10th grade History class. We had a rough start together, but I really wound up enjoying teaching them, especially when it was U.S. and not British history. The last few weeks were great, as I covered World War II, the Cold War and Vietnam.

Photo number two features Kristen, Ica and Victor. Sarah's friend and former roommate paid me a visit a couple of weeks ago and we had a great time. She was able to see a lot in under a week: Bucharest, Brasov, Codlea, Piatra Neamt, Sighisoara. I especially enjoyed testing my skills as an interpreter. I thought that I did a good job, although Kristen was able to pick up some of the language after a few days. She's got a good knowledge of Italian, which can prove quite useful here in Romania. She left for Turkey last week and will also go to Greece, England and Scotland. Awesome trip!

So I think I'll do something a little different with this blog post. I'm going to add an e-mail I wrote to my Mom this afternoon. This should give you a glimpse into what's going on with me nowadays. T - minus 19 days and counting until I plant my feet on American soil...Here's the letter:

Hi Mom,

I like Antiques Roadshow as well. In fact, Sarah and I went to a taping a few years ago when the Roadshow was at Navy Pier. We got some things appraised. It was really cool. I brought some of the old White Sox stuff that Grandpa Dick gave me and Sarah brought some of her Grandma's old china. My stuff was appraised at about $800.00. Not bad, eh?

What have I been up to? Just biding my time here. I'm very anxious to get out of here once and for all. I'll be leaving on Saturday with my friends Oana and Radu. I think that they are going to stay with us in Codlea on Saturday night. Some of the kids took it pretty hard when they found out I was leaving, so this process hasn't been easy. Go figure, right? I must be some kind of masochist or something to have signed up for this . I just can't wait to be on that plane in about two and a half weeks.

I'll be doing some cleaning of my own come Thursday and Friday. I want the place to be nice and clean when I leave. It won't be too difficult though, as I gave it a thorough cleaning before Sarah's friend Kristen came to visit.

The weather here has been unseasonably cold and it's been raining off and on quite a bit. It's been very unpredictable. It was downright cold this past weekend in Codlea and it rained a lot. I'm sure that it will truly be summer here once I return from my vacation to the US.

I booked my trip to Germany. I'll fly out of Bucharest to Frankfurt on August 5th and return on August 11th. I'll then take a train to Wurzburg where I'll meet up with Brindusa and Ovidiu. Ovidiu is a very good friend and I can't wait to see him. They are both great people. I think that I'll also be visiting Nuremburg and Bamburg (I'm hitting all of the "burgs" I guess). Nuremburg will be especially interesting as there are many museums about the Nazi period. I believe that you can also visit the stadium where Hitler used to have those huge rallies, etc. In sum, there's a lot to see there for history buffs. I studied Nazi Germany pretty extensively in college, so this will be a rewarding experience for me. And don't forget about the beer....

Like I said before, I'm pretty anxious to get out of here. I can't truly say that I'm feeling great. I don't think that feeling will come until I'm on that plane. However, I will say that I'm sure I'll be feeling quite good once I'm on the road to Codlea on Saturday afternoon. No looking back....

So, today I'm going to have dinner with my friend Nicolae and his wife Nina. Nicolae runs the foreign languages library here and we've become pretty good friends. I guess it's a "goodbye" dinner, but I have every intention of coming back to Piatra Neamt to visit. After dinner, I'll watch some more World Cup matches. Brazil plays Croatia tonight at 10:00. I'm a big fan of Brazil. They're unbelieveable to watch!

Well, I guess I'll close for now. You take care and we'll talk soon.

Love,
Scott