When the World Calls Roll Answer Present: Harry Potter and the Black Sea

Totally sounds like it could be the title of another installment, doesn't it?

So its been a while since I've posted, and I have had a grand total of........THREE major events. I lead a fascinating life.

Making the long trek.

The first two weeks in July I made a commitment to work at a camp held at the site of another volunteer. The camp was more of a summer school run by a charity that works to get all children enrolled in school. Those involved are primarily Rroma children. Their parents receive a stipend if their children attend every day of school. The children also receive snacks at school. The volunteer there actually has two schools in two different villages. His house is in one village, and the camp was in the other village. This meant a 5 kilometer (yes, FIVE!) walk on muddy lanes through corn and sunflower fields. At least, that was the short way. Walking along the roads, mean 8 or 9 kilometers. No easily accessible public transportation either. I was not thrilled. After arriving at the school, sweaty and disgusting, another volunteer and I decided we would do that no longer and we hitched to the camp. We had no problems what so ever and thought the volunteer was crazy for walking every time he worked at that school.

Our class playing the Slap game with colors

At the camp, another volunteer and I were assigned to the 6th graders. We worked with mostly Romanian students and taught English the entire time, whereas classes that were predominantly Rroma children worked on Romanian. It was rather interesting to work with students I could actually converse with. It is no longer a secret that my Hungarian stinks, so it was nice to be able to speak Romanian. I must say, I enjoyed teaching A LOT more when I could speak the children's native language. I will say this though, after this experience, I am very proud of my students at site for not being able to really understand me (and me not being able to really understand them), but still learning just as much English. It is definitely harder, and takes a lot more effort, but it seems to be working.

Coco and me

I made a best friend at camp, her name was Coco, and she was in the 4th grade. She came to class with her sister who was in the 6th grade. She was adorable and loved me. Marco and I, didn't have much to do in the class, the Romanian teacher had the themes planned out, we just played games and talked with the students. My favorite moment was when we were playing the Slap game with numbers and the kids turned the table on us, and made the two of us play while they shouted Romanian numbers. I won.

During the weekend, we camped on the Black Sea! More volunteers met us at the beach and brought tents. It was an.....interesting weekend. We didn't camp anywhere near the main beach, so food and other essentials were two kilometers away. The beach was not sand, it was finely ground shells. The water was cold. It smelled. And the beach was nude. I took no pictures. I mean really, how do I find myself in these ridiculous traveling adventures? It couldn't have just been a topless beach, I would have expected that out of Europe, but NUDE?!?!?! Ugghhhhhh, nude old people. I was only in the sun for a few hours, used the same SPF I use in the States, yet somehow managed to get the WORST sunburn of my life. Seriously, my legs are STILL peeling. It was so bad that it hurt immediately and the next day, when I put my pack on to leave, I cried. A little. It was horrendous. I was really tan afterwards though, but so not worth it.

The second week of camp was more of the same. When the camp was finished for me, my little buddy was very upset that I was leaving. She attached herself to my waist and wouldn't let go. I had to drag her all the way out of the school building to the gate, before another camper pried her arms from around my waist and I made my escape. All in all, it was a pretty good time :)

Now for the second big event. You've probably figured it out already, it has to do with Harry Potter. A few days after arriving back at site from the camp I roadtripped to Cluj Napoca, another Romanian city, with my counterpart, her sister, and another teacher from my school. We drove 6 hours through Transylvania to see this puppy. When we arrived in the city, my counterpart and the other teacher had some errands to run, so my cp's sister and I got something to drink to escape the heat. After their errands were finished we saw a bit of the city before eating a delicious late lunch. I unfortunately have no pictures. I didn't bring my camera and I took pictures with my phone, but I lost the USB cable amidst the mess 10 volunteers make in one living room. So no pictures. After eating we headed to the mall, bought our tickets for the movie, then went SHOPPING. I just love it. I only bought a few things, on sale, so I did a good job. The movie was amazing. It was the first one I've ever seen in 3D, I was impressed. I'm so sad that it's all over though. I grew up with Harry Potter, and I can't believe it ended. After the movie we did a little more shopping before the mall closed and we headed back home! The drive back always seems to take longer, I think I finally got to bed around 4 in the morning. Long day, but definitely worth it :)

And now for the third major event. August 6th has come and gone. August 6th was the one year anniversary of my group being sworn-in as Peace Corpsnow for the third major event. August 6th has come and gone. August 6th was the one year anniversary of my group being sworn-in as Peace Corps Volunteers! It was momentous, I am so proud to have made it this far, and miss my friends who weren't as fortunate. It also meant that I am officially down to less than a year in country! I know its crazy to be thinking about it already, but I've always been a planner, and figuring out my future is something I've always obsessed over. For now I'm just looking forward to what the next year will bring :)