The Other Side of Things

Sometimes I feel like I don't share enough of the good experiences I have here, especially at school. Admittedly, I complain a lot. I'm going to try to keep things positive here. Since the last post, Thanksgiving has come and gone, I visited the city of Cluj and the drunk teacher has finally been relieved of his duties. Christmas is coming and the kids have been working on a project that has turned out to be pretty cool. They're going to be watching "Polar Express" for the next two class periods, my Christmas gift to them. Here's some photo highlights of the last few weeks:

Yes, that is indeed a turkey! Ica, bless her heart, made me a surprise Thanksgiving dinner. It was her first, and she did an admirable job, stuffing and all. Do you like her presentation? How about the flower sticking out of the top of the neck? Please post a comment if you've seen this before, as it was a first for me...

The Thanksgiving Dinner Family: (From left to right, bottom to top - Roxana, Geanina. Ica, Victor and Tavi Jr.) Ica's nephew and nieces were kind enough to help prepare the dinner and spend Thanksgiving with me. I really appreciated it. It had been 2 years since I'd had turkey and stuffing with mashed potatoes and gravy. Fantastic!

I went to Cluj the next day for a volunteer Thanksgiving extravaganza. This is the only photo I took. Tim and Nancy, married volunteers and colleagues of mine, hosted a Sunday brunch for us before we all went our separate ways. Part of the spread was a tray of assorted meats. I saw something that resembled ham on a serving tray, but its shape led me to believe that it was Spam. I asked, "Is this Spam?", and Nancy said, "No, but would you like some?". Expect the unexpected here in Romania. They had received a care package recently and this can of Spam you see was included. They offered it to me and I eagerly accepted. I won't be so eager next time. I ate it. I can't believe that this stuff is still made. Ica and Victor seemed to like it though. Guess I'm not a Spam kind of guy. Hormel can keep their sodium nitrites and modified potato starch.

*Note* The following are descriptions of photos that have been removed.

This is my classroom. I got lucky. The room I used last year was ghetto fabulous. All of the furniture here is new, I've got a projector, two laptops (if you include mine), a cabinet full of books, posters, DVDs, etc. It is by far the nicest room in the school.

These are two of my 7th grade students, Mihai and Ovidiu, proudly displaying the shipment of books we received from the organization "A Thousand Books" in St. Louis. They do great work, so click here to go to their website. Maybe you'd be so kind as to make a donation? They have doubled the size of our English library and are sending us another shipment in the spring. My English library project is a success thus far, as about 90 users have read close to 200 books in 9 weeks. I've been told that they're reading more books in English than in Romanian! Nice.

A photo from the nationwide essay contest that some of my students participated in. Here we have a couple of 7th graders working hard. Check out the laptop/projector setup...I tried to make things look official so they'd take it seriously...

Here's Daniel, a 6th grader, with his Coat of Arms. He's quite the artist and his design has turned out to be one of the best in his class thus far. I'm doing this "Coat of Arms" project with most of my classes. Every student is designing his or her own personal Coat of Arms. Each design consists of a family crest, a shield with six distinct parts and a motto. After they finish the design phase, they have to write a story (in English) describing the Coat of Arms and explain what each part represents. This activity allows them to be creative and express themselves as individuals. I'm glad to provide them with such an opportunity, as activities such as this are rare for them. We're going to have an exhibition before the end of the semester, so the hallways will be filled with their work...I hope.

The boys (above) and girls of the 5th grade English club enjoying some American reading textbooks with their teacher, Miss Moldovan (above). The good folks at A Thousand Books sent these in their latest shipment to us and the kids really like them. I help out with the club by giving them access to my classroom, setting up the laptop/projector/speakers for them, lending them books from the English library, etc. It's Miss Moldovan's show really, but I think that I'll be getting more directly involved in the near future. Click Here to see them doing their best Coldplay imitation.

So, that's my report for now. I'm leaving on a jet plane in less than a week. The last return ticket...