A productive week!

I'm a little shocked by how productive I've been this week. I finally feel like I'm a worthwhile Peace Corps volunteer. My classes went great, I started some new activities, and I actually made some new friends!

Classes -- I finally felt like I understand the learning capabilities and needs of most of my students. I always try to meet each of their various learning styles, but the 8th graders are definately a struggle. So this week I gave in to teaching a English music lesson. They were not thrilled when I started out with Bob Dylan, but they got more excited when I busted out the T.I. and Snoop Dogg (the Walmart, clean, versions of their songs of course). I also rapped to one of my favorite classics Skee Lo's "I Wish." My students immediately realized why I liked the song when I was their age...the first line is "I wish I was a little bit taller; I wish I was a baller..." I'll let you imagine the fun that insued when I was rapping and making fun of myself. It was fun! The other classes are fantastic. I really like the 5th and 6th graders more than I thought. They are so affectionate, which I'm not used to because I teach high school in the States, and they really brighten my day when I come to class.

New Activities -- On Tuesdays, I have started an adult education class for colleagues and retired persons from my community that want to learn english. It's extremely rewarding when I hear their stories of talking with their relatives and surprising them with a little English! Plus the retired women are absolutely hilarious and so cute! Thursdays and Saturdays are basketball days with middle school boys. My friend/colleague Dan asked me if I wanted to help...he teaches NBA-like moves while I focus on more fundamental basketball. HELLO...I'm from Indiana! Basketball is what we do! haha. It's just nice to know all those years of camps, practices, games, and suicides are paying off a little. Finally, I've built a lot of interest in my English/Film Club but I have yet to get it approved by the director so I can use the school after hours. This is difficult, but I think they'll come around eventually if I keep asking!

New Friends -- I've already mentioned Dan. He's a cool guy, and we are starting to hang out more and more. I've also made a couple other new friends from school...Petrusca is a history teacher (which I love to talk about) and Cosmina is one of the other English teachers at Avram Iancu. We are going out for pizza tonight so I'm excited to not be bored again on a Saturday evening!

Last weekend was the Peace Corps Creative Writing competition. It was fun to be in Targu Mures with other volunteers for the weekend, and it was also fun to read all the submissions by Romanian students. Some of them amazed me with their understanding and use of English.

I've been pretty busy, but it feels nice to be accomplishing some of my goals and some of the Peace Corps' goals. I hope all is well where you are. Peace and God Bless!