The last week of September

So here it is, the end of September. Another month served, and Autumn is clearly in the air. Monday was a quiet day, and I met with my partner in the afternoon to talk about my week of training, and her week in Romania. She was supposed to attend the training with me last week, but at the last minute was invited to attend a training in Romania, so she had sent her 17 year old son to attend the training with me. Teenagers here are so mature and responsible, and Andrei is no exception. It was great to have him attend in his mother's place. He took notes, and paid attention throughout all of the training, and I predict he will be a future leader in the village, based on his interest and intelligence. It was nice to be able to report to his mother how interested he was in the concepts of program development and management. She had attended some other training on developing residential centers in Romania, so we both had a lot of information to share. Most of my information was available in both English and Romanian, and hers was just in Romanian, but overall, it is more important that she have the information, so it is okay, I can translate what I think I might need. There was no English club for adults, as she wanted to meet with me, and there are ususally only 2 or 3 other adults who attend.



On Monday evening, I got an email that there was a potluck gathering on Tuesday in another village in the raion with the other volunteers in the area to meet with the new Administrative Officer. I made my bean salad, David would be proud of me, although I am sure it is not quite as good as his! There are canned beans here, and fresh onions and garlic, so it was a good addition, as several of us who were there are mostly vegetarian. Sarah, the AO, is originally from Minneapolis, served in the PC in the Pacific Islands, has 2 children and a husband who are here with her. She met with me, Renell, Janie, Jon, and Kelsey, and then was driving to see Jimmy, who also lives near me, but teaches school all day and couldn't make our lunch. So, Tuesday, a second week that I didn't meet with the kids for English club. I have to say that I missed seeing them. Wednesday, the big (only) event was meeting for tutoring. It was good to practice again one on one, and review the language training that I had all last weekend. Thursday, Friday, yesterday and today have been spent walking, reading, the usual quiet village life. This week I read: The One True Ocean, Sarah Beth Martin, The Short History of A Prince, Jane Hamilton, and 41 Stories, O. Henry. When I finish online, it is on to War and Peace this afternoon. That should occupy a week or two....

The other thing of note from this week, has been these great connections that have happened through email, and facebook/myspace, mostly facebook. On Tuesday, I got an email from the language director, Sergiu, was that I advanced on my Language Proficiency Interview (LPI). I am pretty sure it was a gift, as I was really feeling badly on Sunday afternoon at the end of 5 long days of training, and I was sure I had bombed. I'll take it for what it is, keep practicing Romanian, and just be grateful for the score. The other thing that has happened on Facebook is that I have reconnected with my cousin Ann who reached out to me, along with her brother, Robb. Great to hear from them, and know what is going on in their lives. Robb is off to China, Ann is living in Allentown, Laura still in Florida. Ann's girls are growing up, teenagers, and they seem to be doing well. Her parents are still in Florida, and seem to be managing okay, although Ann did express concern about her mother's health, and the strain on her dad trying to manage that. I also connected with my old friend from high school, Allen Hoppes, who is living and working in Madrid, Spain. He is married to a Spanish woman, and working for an organization that promotes tours to Morocco. He told me that Joel Carroll's daughter, Mary, just left this week for PC in Turkmenistan. That's almost this neck of the woods, but a little further removed from where I am now. Allen was in PC Mali in the 90's. He then spent several years of doing 6 months stateside, and 6 months of travel. Sounds like that might be a plan that works for me, post-PC. We'll see. The organization that he works for is www.moroccoexchange.org if you are interested in checking it out. So good to hear from him, Ann, and others. Hope you all have a great week and try not to let Kyle get you too wet! Sounds like he's heading straight for Maine!