Şebek

Şebek (shebek) is a Turkish word meaning baboon. Turks also use this term to describe a clown-like entertainer. In my understanding a şebek is a person that makes other people laugh, but those people are laughing at the şebek rather than at some funny joke he/she recited. That being said, a şebek must be someone that doesn't mind being laughed at. It wasn't long into our recent road trip through Turkey that I was labeled a şebek.

In my language learning adventure with Romanian I have learned so much about words, expressions, and accents. Even though learning a new language can be extremely tiring and stressful I have found ways to have fun with it. Many of us have heard the funny Indian accent of gas-station clerk on The Simpsons, or the countless comedic Chinese accents in so many movies including "Dude Where's My Car." We have also been able to laugh at other English accents, for example the Wisconson accent of "Fargo", or, my favorite, the southern accent of "Talladega Nights." Speaking in a foreign language, I have come to accept and even enjoy the entertainment that I offer others when I attempt to speak. In that rare occasion that I don't make one of the many possible grammatical mistakes, I still bring an interesting accent to the conversation that often times elicits a snicker if I'm speaking with somebody new. It brings a smile to there face, my face, and more often than not, it's understood. I had quite a bit of language fun in Turkey and this is in large part why I learned the Turkish term "Şebek" so fast.

I went to Turkey knowing some basic words from my last visit (hello, how are you, I'm very good, numbers, goodbye). I was excited to use some of those words and maybe even learn a few more. Soon into our visit I realized that our stay in Turkey would be quite the language learning adventure. Our hostess who speaks English well was unable to go on the road-trip with us, leaving us with a hostess who knew only basic English, so I thought. I say "so I thought" because up until that point I hadn't really spoken with her, only some google translater copy/paste action over skype. Monday morning we set off on a week long road-trip along the west coast of Turkey, two Americans, and one Turk.

In the 25+ hours spent in the car we all did some language learning, but for the most part site-mate and I were the teachers. Mama D, our hostess and friend, works incredibly hard to learn English. Since we last saw her in February she had made significant improvements. She would rarely get discouraged even though at times the fatigue of language learning and driving showed.




At first site-mate and I thought that the trip with mama D would be a bit tiring for us all trying to communicate with each other. Despite our doubts about the communication we vowed to go into the trip with a positive attitude. No matter what we were on vacation in Turkey, and we would have fun. The trip was a complete success largely to do with our positive attitudes, mama D's determination with the language, and Turkey's natural beauty. By the end we had developed an incredible relationship and made some lasting memories. Once again I noticed that when you're traveling it's the people you are with, rather than the place, that make the experience unforgettable. I also noticed that even when you are Şebek, attempting to learn and speak a foreign language goes a long way. Not only do you make people laugh but you also earn there respect by showing an honest effort to communicate rather than expecting them to speak English fluently.

3 weeks gone

Three weeks and a few days ago I finished up my first school year and left site that night to start my 3+ week stint away from site. It only took a couple of days to pull together my busy summer schedule. As soon as I found out that I was accepted to help out at practicum I started knocking weeks down scheduling English camps and a vacation. I was excited to get out and explore during the summer but when the time came to leave site I had a different kind of feeling.

When it came time to leave site I didn't really want to leave. I remembered the uncomfortable heat and mosquitoes of the south. That last week in PST was one of the hottest that I've endured and here I was in one of the cooler places in the country at 600m above sea level. Even though I was teaching up until the day that I left my hours had reduced and I was only teaching 9th grade that last week. I was spending more time at school in the teachers room chatting with colleagues. I was also spending more time after school with some of the recently graduated 12th graders. That last week I enjoyed watching a couple incredible thunderstorms roll through my area where I saw more lighting bolts per minute than I've ever seen before. I fell asleep nightly with my balcony doors open listening to the sound of the stream below my block. That last day at site I had train rides and a 2 week hotel stay to look forward to. I was trading in the sound of the stream for the sound of cars and dogs.

The next day many of my fears of missing site were set at ease when I was reunited with some great PCV friends in Bucharest. No longer was I thinking about trading my site life for south life but instead trading time with good people at site for time with good people elsewhere.

Practicum was a great, interesting, and stressful experience the first time through and here I was returning to see it from a different perspective. No longer did I have to worry about lesson planning and performing in front of 30 strangers with someone in the back scribbling judgments on a paper. I saw the new group go through a lot of the same torture that I went through a year earlier. Some of the torture included...
coming in on a Saturday to plan, learning how to work with others that may have incredibly different teaching/planning styles, loosing students in the middle of a lesson, receiving negative feedback, late hours of planning followed by early hours of teaching, planning over a drink at the omb, stressing on the language, and dozing off in afternoon sessions.
Despite the torture a lot of good comes out of practicum. People with zero previous experience in lesson planning get the opportunity to jump-start their skills through practice and careful observation of there more experienced colleagues.

Working at practicum I had a great experience to spend some time with the new group of volunteers, some of which I got to know pretty well over world-cup beers. After 2 weeks of observing them and helping them through practicum I feel confident in there up-coming services. I observed a lot of unity, positivity, and willingness to adapt, all qualities valued in a PCV. I came out of my second practicum experience having learned a lot both about teaching and the new group, allowing me to reflect on my PC experience until now.

After practicum I spent half of a day and a night traveling to Timisoara to take part in my first English camp of the summer. TETA was a two week camp but I only worked there for the second week. It is a camp entirely taught by Peace Corps Romania TEFL volunteers but organized and supported by an incredible group of Romanians that made me feel both appreciated and supported during the week I was there. I had the opportunity to teach younger students which is very different than the high school teaching that I'm used to. Classes were fun, the students were wonderful, and I met some great Romanians that were helping us out with the kids.

After 4 hours of teaching each day I typically returned to my dorm conveniently placed in the center of the center of Timisoara. The great location of our housing and our relatively short teaching schedule opened up the city to us, allowing us to see Timisoara without limitation. Timisoara is a beautiful city peppered in historical monuments and gorgeous parks. To top it off, The Festival of Hearts began on Wednesday night and occupied our last three nights in Timi. Festivalul Inimilor brought together traditional music and dance acts from all around Romanian and even from other countries. Thursday night we saw acts from Sibiu, Turkey, and Costa Rica. After six days in Timi I got to know at least the center of the city well and now it is harder to pick my favorite of the large Romanian cities. Despite the incredibly positive experience I was happy to get on that early Saturday morning accelerate(train) back to site.

Today's overcast weather is allowing me the chance to stay in, relax, and reflect on the past several weeks of traveling, meeting new people, working, and living out this Peace Corps experience. Even though I have been a bit stressed at times, in a rush at times, moving around, the past 3 weeks have been both busy and productive and I don't yet regret this busy summer schedule. Now its on to the next adventure.

Pictures:
1: one of the practicum groups doing an egg drop for their lesson.
2: two of my wonderful students at the TETA camp.
3: Timisoara Opera House in Piata Victoriei.

I love this place!

Right now I am doing exactly what my thoughts over the past hour were telling me not to do. I'm sitting in a relatively dark room with my eyes attached to a screen.

Summer has arrived in the Jiu Valley and I spent the majority of the day taking part in what Dom Ilea considers Romania's national sport, a face plaja (to lay in the sun). I decided to couple the inactivity of laying in the sun with a hike to make for a tiring yet memorable Saturday. In my bag I had all necessities, water, sun screen, a book, a towel, a knife, tomatoes, cheese, and cucumbers.

The hike from Petrosani to Petrila was a rather quick hike as stopped only to pick a couple of flowers and to take a couple of pictures. It started on the road next to my block which points straight up hill. A path cuts off the road up to Lake Stiut where there were many people of all ages swimming and laying in the sun. From there the path continued strait up the hill to an old building which controls buckets which bring stone from the mine to dumping sites outside of Petrila. The dirt road from there passes by the Petrila garbage dump site and continues down to the Jiu East where we laid out in the sun listening to the water flowing and children playing.

Over the past few weeks I have reached a point in my service where I feel integrated in my community. I know that there are a lot more things I can do to be better integrated but overall I feel comfortable here and I'm starting to feel like Petrosani is my home. Integration was by far my biggest fear as my group and I prepared to leave the comfort of our American friends in PST to arrive in foreign communities. As the weather has gotten warmer the sun has been shedding light on this city helping me to not only see the beauty that lies around me but also how I have viewed my life here in Petrosani. Rarely a day goes by that I don't appreciate this beautiful part of the world and the part I play here.

Country Roads

I've been on a bit of a country fix lately and John Denver's Country Roads has been one of the songs involved. I had a country roads experience on my way home from Petrila today. Flowers, fields, hills, grass, water, and dirt roads only minutes from my block took me back years. I heard the sound of crickets chirping and birds singing rather than the sound of wheels on ashpalt and the muffled sound of car exhaust. I saw yellows and pinks from flowers and green from the grass rather than the brick and cement from the blocks and city sidewalks. I felt the crumbling of rocks and dirt under my feet rather than the cigarette butts and plastic bottles kicking around. The beating sun combined with a light breeze to bring a sensation of freedom to any exposed part of my body. Simply going for a walk I realized that I was reliving some adventures of my early childhood. I remembered the few days spent at Uncle Bernard's farm or the trails through the woods behind Grandma and Grandpa's house. As in John Denver's hit single, today country roads took me home.

Spring Day!

Spring Day is a tradition at my school and today I had the chance to see what it is all about. Spring Day is actually a celebration of Victory Day(9 May), which was the day that World War II ended in Europe through the surrendering of Germany to the Soviets. The high school in which I work celebrates Spring Day by presentations of different cultural aspects of nations in the European Union. A week ago each class willing to participate drew the name of a European Union country out of a hat. In the past weak these classes have worked hard researching and preparing to present their country the best.

The countries presented today were:

France
Austria
Portugal
Holland
Finland
Slovakia
Poland
Bulgaria
Cyprus
Italy
Ireland
Spain
Hungry

My job in this process was simple. I joined the judges in visiting each room and I enjoyed all aspects of the show. There was a lot of information for each class to cover. They had to speak about their country's geography, leadership, religion, customs(music, song, dance, holidays), flag, costumes, and food. I saw students reading, memorizing lines, acting, singing, dancing, even painting. Each class assumed a little bit of patriotism for the foreign country that they had chosen from a hat only a week before.

The #1 presentation was Finland. The Finland presentation was a large skit which started like a boxing match with one of the students walking through the ring holding up a sign "Round 1" with the first category on it. The students worked hard on memorizing their lines, dressing up in costumes, and decorating the room to portray the cultural aspects of Finland, including Santa Claus. What made their presentation the winning presentation was that every student in the class was somehow involved.













The best part of my job today was the food tasting at the end of every presentation. The food that I liked the most was in the Irish room, the potato based dishes. The best desert was a fruit and whip cream cake in the Bulgaria room. The best costumes of the day were in the French room where I saw a painter, a mime, and Quasimodo!

The Final Degree

Last week I witnessed for the second time a teacher receiving their final degree. When teachers in Romania graduate university they are prepared to enter the workforce and begin their careers as teachers. Their scholarly obligations are over and the rest of their learning happens through years of experience that they will receive on the job, performing 18+ hours each week in front of a class. For some teachers this is enough training, but for most teachers striving for greater knowledge, greater opportunity, and greater pay there is an opportunity to progress.

Teachers can choose to continue studying by working on projects while they teach their weakly hours in the classroom. As they study, completing projects, they earn higher degrees. They receive a grade on their final degree by presenting their project to a panel of Professors, one of them being their project mentor. The project should have an original thesis, thereby adding insight to the field of study.

The final degree presentation takes place during the school day in one of the classrooms. The presenters that I have seen so far have been naturally nervous the morning before they presented their project to the panel of experts. Colleagues packed into the room to give support, adding extra pressure on the presenter. They listened attentively, gained some knowledge, and at the end of the presentation the panel, the audience, and the presenter had an opportunity to discuss the project.

After the event those people who attended congratulated their colleague and move to another room where there was a large spread of food, drinks and deserts.

The Romanian school system encourages its teachers to continue scholarly work by giving them higher pay for higher degrees. Teachers continue to progress and can even add valuable insight to their field through their research. When the final degree is presented to a panel of experts and a room full of supporters, teachers are learning more about education, research, and their colleagues. This is one aspect of the Romanian school system that I have enjoyed taking part in, even if I do not totally understand the presentation which is given in Romanian.

Elevi

Way back in the fall, it seems so long ago, I had an incredible opportunity to join some of my collegues and some students on a small walk in my now, favorite part of Petrosani. Like a good volunteer, I did not turn down the invitation and I did not regret it. We all met at the Jiu Shopping Center, some students I was familiar with from my classes were there but other students I had not yet met were also there. We all put on a green shirt, bright colored rubber gloves, and armed ourselves with a garbage bag. I spent the following couple of hours that Saturday morning picking up garbage and chatting with students. I was able to see a different side of my own students as well as meet students from other classes. That day I returned home to reflect on the day and I remember a having a great feeling of satisfaction.
The fall turned in to winter and even though I continued to make excursions with Ernest, the sport teacher, I didn't think of inviting any students along. I didn't even ask if they would be interested. Finally, the first nice week of spring I was having my morning coffee with Ernest whe
n he told me about a trail from my new apartment up to Bradet, the area that we had cleaned in the fall. I was excited to hear that a trail existed. I can see Bradet from my balcony but I thought that the only way up was by the University on the other side of the hill. I had explored a bit the day before as a way of taking advantage of the nice sunny day. We were to meet at 4:00 after English Club at the bank, and from there he would take me to show me the spring near my block and the trail to Bradet. I was excited but I still had a class and English Club left before the hike. On my way out of his office he suggested that I see if some of the students form English Club want to come. What a great idea!!! It wouldn't hurt to mention it to them and if they actually wanted to come it would be nice to partake in an activity outside of school with them. I remembered the joy I got from the trash pick-up in the fall.

When I went to the bank to meet Ernest there were three students from English Club there to join us up to Bradet, the back way. We chatted mostly in English but also in Romanian. I had a lot of fun and I received positive feedback from those students present.

My next opportunity to spend some time with elevi(high-school students) outside of school came during the large Easter break. I joined a large group of mostly 12th graders on a trip through Transylvania. I don't teach 12th grade so the trip was a great opportunity to get to know some students that I have not yet had a chance to meet. I ended up having a great time playing cards on the bus and in the dorm. We exchanged music and walked around medieval cities. We sang together on the bus and followed each other down waterslides in Brasov.
I'm am hoping that the nice spring weather and my new awareness that I can invite students along, will give birth to more opportunities to see, get to know, and have fun with some of my students outside of the school.

Easter in Botiza

Standing in a dark church holding on to an unlit candle I was surrounded by old women 2/3 my height and twice my width. This is where I was at 5am, April 4th, 2010 when the voice of a priest began to chant from behind the golden colored wall in the church. As one dim light appeared from the same location all of the small bunicas(grandmothers) around me became restless. The light grew brighter and the voice louder when a great movement of these short, dark figures around me enclosed in on a point several feet in front of me. Finally the light appeared at the top of a long candle held by a white bearded priest. The bunica’s short stature worked to their disadvantage as the light was held up just out of reach of their stretching, candle holding arms. At the priest’s willing he brought the candle just low enough to appease the stretching arms and thus lit up the entire church with the help of several elders passing their lights to the others in the church, including me.
Even though it was 5am on a non-caffeinated Sunday morning I felt wide awake after stepping outside the door to the sharp teeth of the biting cold Maramures morning. That morning it seemed as if spring had not yet sprung but it worked to my advantage in shocking me awake, enough to carefully observe some of the traditions still kept in that part of the country during their most important religious ceremony. The ceremony didn’t stop or start in that church at 5am in the morning, but as the church rapidly turned from dark to light I stopped for a moment to consider the significance. I didn’t know exactly what the significance was at the time but I could easily tell that it was a significant moment for everyone involved.
Soon after arriving in Romania I learned about Maramures. I learned that it is a place where some of the deepest Romanian traditions are kept. I also learned that it is home to the famous “Merry Cemetery”. My visit to Maramures introduced me to beautiful landscapes, beautiful life, and beautiful people. A fellow Peace Corps volunteer in Botiza openly welcomed me into his home without even knowing me very well, showing me the kind of hospitality that many of us volunteers have received from Romanians.
The 4 full days I spent in Maramures were an even mix of relaxation and activity, with days balancing between reading-time and beautiful country hikes. Even though it was a bit chilly, one of my favorite parts of the day was starting a fire in the soba before it got dark. What more could I ask for in a spring break? Delicious Romanian food. We were not at all let down by the food, eating our hearts out on snitel, pasca and cakes after the long Easter morning. I can't finish the blogpost without mentioning the midday walk that we took to the edge of town only to be stopped by a neighbor that we sat with, practiced our Romanian, watched his kids play soccer, and of course drank horinka.

First Picture: Looking down on Botiza from a nearby hilltop.
Second Picture: Looking down on Easter morning service in the cemetery above the church.