So much craziness happens here on a daily basis that it quickly becomes a dark spot in my brain.. I realize later I might wish to remember certain things, so I'll give myself a kick to update.
My happiness/comfort/relaxed-state is at an all-time high right now. I've been feeling very integrated at least into the volunteer community and having a core group of close friends makes my life here seem natural and makes Moldova my real home. Work has been going well, but I've become more apathetic than I would like to be. I like each of my partners outside of school, but working with Viorica is a stress I will not miss when I finish my service. She promised me last year she would stop hitting students and she has fallen back into the habit this year. I spent the past week in Chisinau doing my mid-service physical with our PC doctor and felt so relaxed... coming back to my village today for class I realized how stressful my job can be for me. A student in my class was talking out of turn and Viorica stopped the lesson to ask the students to raise their hand if they don't like that particular misbehaving student. I tried to stop her when I realized what she said, but most of the class raised their hand and she told the kid "Look around. See, no one likes you. You're uneducated, have a bad family, and no one has any respect for you." She hit a couple of kids today as well, called some parasites, and made another child stand in the corner with his hands raised (kind of like wearing the dunce hat). She might have been a little more aggressive today than typical (a wee-bit), but I would say it's a normal sample of my job experiences teaching with Viorica... and I teach all but one of my classes with her. I've become desensitized to a lot of the things I see her and other teachers do, and it disturbs me that I don't feel as bothered now or affected when a kid is hurt physically or emotionally. It's hard to be excited about teaching when I can't focus on the lesson because I'm on edge about my partner's behavior. It's a constant struggle. I really hope she's learned something from the 1+ years we have worked together. I'm not sure yet what I have learned from her. It might be an experience I need more time to understand or take something from.
It has become a lot colder in the village now. I put off buying firewood because Valentina and her husband told me I could share a truck load of wood with them when they buy theirs. I'm hoping that will be done this weekend! Right now I'm using a space heater, but it doesn't do a great job of heating my room. Fortunately, this week hasn't been as cold.
I took my language exam (the previous exam I took was in January) this past week and scored a level higher than last time so that made me feel good! I now speak (according to the PC language tester) at an advanced-low level. Once a volunteer reaches an advanced level of speaking, PC pays for that volunteer to start learning another language (Romanian speakers can learn Russian, Russian speakers can study Romanian). So I hope to start studying Russian next month with Valentina. It would be very useful to know. I can understand certain random words and phrases in Russian, but it's honestly next to nothing. I would like to improve my Romanian, but I know that I speak rather well now and just being here the next 6 months will help me make improvements. It's cool to realize that I understand pretty much everything people say to me in Romanian. Of course, the range of vocabulary people use on a daily basis isn't that expansive, but being able to understand the sense of most things people say makes me feel good and more comfortable. Strangers often compliment my language and that makes me feel nice. It has been a long road and lots of work. I wonder how much I will be able to remember and understand once I have been in America for a long period of time. If I don't use it, will I lose it?
I love the house I live in. I've probably gushed to most of you about it, but I'm still feeling very happy and comfortable here. The only issue has been me feeling a tiny bit afraid at night time when it's dark outside.
There is/(was?) a 40-some year old man living in my village who is mentally unstable. He followed me to school one day last year and has since come at least a couple more times to my classroom looking for me. He entered my classroom during my lesson last week and I forgot about it by the time school was over, but Viorica reminded me after school by warning me to keep my doors locked at my house. That scared me--bc the culture here really doesn't have people warning you about things unless they feel it's a big deal--so I spoke with our PC safety officer. I found out today that the police in my village went to this man's house with the village doctor this weekend and took him away to an asylum in the city of Balti. He might not have been any threat to me, but I felt uncomfortable that I live alone and have a jobless, mentally unstable man trying to contact me at my work place. Our PC security officer was also very unhappy about the situation. Anyway, I'm glad that the people in my village care about my safety and I'm glad that PC is also very concerned. I try to be very careful about not going outside at night time and never spend time at the village bar and keep my doors and gate locked after nightfall. I think that this winter should be fine.
More updates to come soon. There is much more to talk about!
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