Week One Practicum...Check!

Wow, here we are finishing week 5 of PST! Sorry for the lapse in updates.  My computer was not working for a while, but last weekend my host sister took me to a computer repair shop.  Tuesday I got it back good as new...I just have had to reinstall all the programs I had on it before it crashed.  Oh well, its getting back to normal now, so I'm happy.

June 12-15, we finally were allowed on supervised visits outside the county boundaries!!  We went on an IFV (Integrated Field Visit) to see the site of a current PCV.  We traveled with our language groups and our language instructor.  My group, and another language group left together to visit two volunteers with sites in the southwest part of Transylvania.  We had quite the adventure.  My group took a train that left at 9:30 in the morning for Bucharest.  We wanted to walk around the city before we left for our site.  Unfortunately, that weekend happened to be the hottest string of days we've had in Romania.  We were walking around with our heavy backpacks, sweating bullets...rather unpleasant.  However, we did see some neat things in Bucharest.  We left the train station and took the metro to the University.   There, we saw the building that still has bullet marks from the Revolution that began the end of the communist regime.  There was a plaque to memorialize it.  Next we got burgers and sandwiches from a fast food place that all of the PCVLs told us about.  We took the sandwiches to go and ate in the large park.  It was beautiful, but I would have been more into it if I wasn't so tired and hot and gross in general.  After that we sat on the lawn in front of the People's Palace, the building Ceausescu began during his regime, and now houses the Romanian Parliament.  After a rest, we began the journey back to the train station where we met with the other language group and together we found the maxi-taxi station.

We lasted about an hour on that maxi-taxi before it overheated.  It had to stop and wait for another bus to come pick us up.  We were very happy about that because the bus was big and new and had real air conditioning!  A few hours later, we transferred to another maxi-taxi to take us the rest of the way to our site.  Towards the end of the journey, we traveled through a mountain gorge, it was fantastic.  Mountains rose around us as we followed a winding river.  At 10 pm we finally arrived at the city and were greeted by our volunteers and some of their friends.  They took us to the hotel, we checked in, then we went to an outdoor bar to eat and watch some World Cup soccer.  That completed Saturday of the journey.

And I think I'll finish the rest of the trip in another post :)  Here are some pictures for you all...the first is the building in Bucharest with bullet holes, the second is the People's Palace, and the third is the view from my hotel room on my IFV.

Week Two, Here We Come!

We've begun our second week of training!  It feels like forever ago that we all said goodbye to our friends and family.  I can't believe it has only been two weeks!  I have been blessed with a fantastic host family...which after the disastrous start to my semester in France I feel I deserved...hahaha.  There is my gazda mom, dad, and two sisters.  The older of the two girls speaks English very well and we have been having a great time.  I call her my personal social planner because she is always planning stuff for us to do, new people to meet, and places to see.  While it can be tiring at times, I appreciate the effort the entire family has put in to acclimate me into Romanian society.

Language classes are going well.  This week we were placed into our more specialized groups.  In my group we all seem to be at the same level, which is nice.  Today we learned vocabulary to get us through a visit to the "posta," or post office.  We would have gone a field trip to the "posta" to mail a letter, but it was raining.  Instead our language instructors set up shop in their office and it was rather amusing.  By now I know some basic verbs, possession, common phrases and greetings, numbers (yes, I can count to one hundred!).  Some things we haven't learned yet are food, clothing, and colors....the basics that we usually learn right away in a language...but PC does things a little differently :) .

Sunday afternoon, my host sisters took me, and another volunteer, to their grandmother's house in the country.  It was a fun time...despite the crazy country driving!  They had a very hyper dog named Jack...AAAANNNND a litter of kittens!!!  They pulled out two for us to hold and I fell in love.  I told my gazda sister that I want to take the kitten with me when I go to site...we'll see if it happens.  Apparently it is not too difficult to bring cats back into the States, unlike dogs.  So mom, don't be surprised if we have a new addition to our family :) .  But if its any comfort to you, I won't be at home too long after I return...haha.

Well I have to go catch up with my Tigers in the remaining time I have before sessions resume!

Freya

P.S. I posted new pictures on my facebook page....check them out!!!

Here in Romania...

Well we all arrived safe and sound!  No problems with our flights, and all of my baggage made it through safely (although my carry on was eyed suspiciously by the Lufthansa flight attendants while boarding the flight from Frankfurt to Bucharest).

The bus ride from Bucharest to the town we train in, was beautiful (well I fell asleep halfway through, so I liked what little I saw).  We really got a taste for Romania on that ride.  I kept hearing about the economic disparity, and it really was true.  There were large beautiful homes being built next to tiny homes with rusting corrugated roofs.  I am so excited to explore more of the beautiful country and to learn more about its people.

We also kept hearing about the stray dogs.  Romania has a large stray dog population and it really is a problem.  This morning one of my fellow PCTs was out for a jog and 5 or 6 dogs circled around him as he ran two blocks.  The staff keep telling us that you need three things to succeed as a PCV: patience, flexibility, and a sense of humor.  Trust me, we all have the humor thing down.  We've spent the last day and a half in session hearing more policy and procedures and meeting more staff members.  Tomorrow morning we have a brief, basic lesson in Romanian and then our host families (gazda) pick us up.  We spend the rest of the weekend with them and then we start our training on Monday!  I can't wait for all of this to start happening, I'm really really ready!

Here's the view from my hotel room

More to come...when I find internet again.

Good-Bye for Now

Saying goodbye has never been a strong point, but I guess that would be a bad thing if you were good at it. Although, I have had a lot of practice. Mom said it seems as if we keep having goodbye parties and hello parties for me, I'm always in transition. Somehow, I still think its easier for me to say goodbye to all of you...so props!!

Thanks to my Walgreens buddies for throwing me...and some others, but really just me ;)...a fantastic party. Its always easier to say adieu when alcohol is involved...haha. I really will miss you guys!

Thanks to my Whitecaps crew for putting up with my blondeness the past few weeks. It was so strange...haha.

Last night I had a great barbecue with the family. I love all of my little (and the not-so-little) cousins to death and don't know what my life would be without them. I got lots of hugs, the ones I cherish the most were from the most unexpected sources.

So far the hardest goodbyes have been my little Italian girls. I have had a blast the past few months teaching my girls English. Priscilla is eight and I have worked with her longer that I have worked with her sister Patrizia, who is six. Both of the girls are absolutely adorable and I have looked forward to spending time each week to work with them. Today was my last day tutoring them and I usually spend an hour or so alone with each girl, but today I took both of them together. They spent the hours fighting for my attention. Priscilla needed me to find her repeat subtraction problems so she didn’t have to do each problem in her head, and Patrizia needed my help deciphering Curious George :). After finishing the “homework” we looked through my travel guide on Romania. It is really something to take a look at a new culture through the eyes of a child. Priscilla found the little dictionary at the back of the book and kept reciting new phrases to me. I couldn’t help but giggle listening to her read me Romanian phrases in her Italian accent…precious.

Well tomorrow is the big day. I made sure to pack some extra Kleenex in the carry-on...but its exciting too! Here's the itinerary for the next few days, I wouldn't want Grams to have to start praying for a safe flight a day early or anything...haha.

Tuesday, May 18th
10:25 Depart Grand Rapids to Chicago
10:20 Arrive at Chicago O'Hare...meet up with my new Peace Corps buddies and find our way to the hotel.
12:30-Basically the rest of the day: Staging stuff

Wednesday, May 19th
10:30 am Check-out of the hotel
3:40 pm Flight leaves Chicago O'Hare

Thursday, May 20th
6:50 am Flight arrives in Frankfurt, Germany
10:30 am Flight leaves Frankfurt, Germany
1:45 pm Flight arrives in Bucharest, Romania

Once again, thanks for all your help and support during the past few weeks!!! Without all of you I probably wouldn't be nearly as prepared, emotionally or physically, as I am. I love you all and I'll see you in August 2012!!!

Pre-Departure Preparations

Only one week before I leave Grand Rapids, never to return again! I'm being dramatic, I will be back to pack up my stuff.  One week, yet I have so much left to do! Those of you fortunate enough to spend time with me over the past few weeks know that I have been uncharacteristically preoccupied. Thanks to all of you for putting up with me, I know it hasn't been easy.

Everything is finally starting to come together. After finishing up my job (or at least the real one) I have had the time and focus to figure out the messier details of leaving the States for 27 months. I hate having to deal with finances and the like, but unfortunately that is how I have spent the past week.

Basically the only thing left to take care of is packing. Yikes! Those of you who went to France with me, or helped me pack for France, know what a difficult task I have ahead of me. I say "ahead" of me because I have yet to get to it. For the past three years, my room has really only been a landing pad, because of this I have accumulated a lot of crap; crap that I now need to sift through. I do have some piles of stuff to pack floating around the room: stuff to take with me next week, stuff to have shipped to me in August as soon as I have a permanent location, stuff to have shipped to me closer to winter, and stuff to have shipped to me for another summer. Did I go a little overboard? Probably, but that's how I roll. Speaking of packing, thanks to all of my friends and family who have generously pitched in to help me acquire some of the pricier items on my packing list. I appreciate it more than I can express. You are all amazing!!

I'm nursing quite the sinus infection, so that's about all I can muster right now. More to come soon!