start of Odessa pictures Last of Kiev pictures and start of Odessa’s

Jewish Ghetto in Krakow Polish Pizza Wizz (upside down "i") Air! A real life Wizz Air pilot! Krakow and Krakopane Poland.

Hostel in Budapest--Had it to ourselves Heroes' Square Széchenyi Bath Synagogue Budapest.

my first turkey in a bag help cutting the turkey Marta to left and Diana in the middle Gicu We had a lot of leftover food We had an awesome Southern Thanksgiving this weekend.  We invited volunteers that lived in the south and each person was asked to bring one to two Moldovans.  I brought three!  I brought two students—Gicu and Diana, and the lady who helps me with film club, Marta.  We had everything from green bean casserole to turkey and mashed potatoes, to pumpkin and pecan pie.  It was entirely too much food.

Thanksgiving feast with my 6th form.  They told me that I did not need to be upset that I was not with my family because they will serve as my family while I am here.  We ate like kings and queens.  I was impressed.  After only watching a few short youtube videos the kids made chicken, mashed potatoes, pumpkin pie, apple pie, and many different types of bread with honey/jam.  They also brought all of the silverware and cups as well as the juice.  They ever stayed around afterwards to help me clean up!  Gonna miss these guys…

hanging out on the balcony bathroom with sink and mirror More house pictures from the fifth form.  

These our pictures of houses created by sixth grade students.  The directions were to create a house our of any material they wanted and label as many rooms and objects within each room as possible.  The houses ended up way cooler than I had expected.  Most were at least two stories high—one was three.  One kid even made a house with a working fan that ran on a battery.

missionary group no celebration complete without the hora More Hram.  

unveiling of our new monument teachers singing Yesterday we celebrated “Hram” or the date of the founding of Brinza.  Marta and I decided that, along with 6 missionaries from the States, Whales, and South Africa, as well as our student leaders, were going to work three tables during this event.  Before yesterday we created video in which several students as well as Marta and I were interviewed about the film club.  Additionally, I found a video on human trafficking.  We had three tables—one to sell tea and cookies (including peanut butter cookies—made possible by my momma), one for our film club—“Free Thinkers from Brinza” and one to address the issue of human trafficking.  We ended up giving away several handouts over human trafficking, informing several people about our film club, and making over 40 lei after selling tea and cookies. In addition to our tables, there was also a concert in which the teachers sang and performed skits as well as the unveiling of our new monument in the center of the village.

being a mummy is hard work Cat 'Whiskers" drawn on--just a mess Two very late Halloween parties with fourth formers.

I just got back from an orphanage where myself and six other volunteers from the Sud (“South” in Romanian—in case you can’t read my shirt) visited and led activities for two hours.  This particular orphanage has 53 children during the week, but we went on a weekend so they only had about 25.  Some of the kids have parents, but there families cannot take care of them for one reason or another.  I think our crew had a good time.

Gicu!  This kid is amazing.  The other day he took me fishing.  He speaks and has a better understanding of the English language than many of my friends.  Sorry guys.  Haha.  We are also reading the book, “To Kill a Mockingbird” together.  

This is the group of pre-school kids that I teach about two or three times a week.  It is amazing how quickly these kids learn.  So far, they know the days of the week, basic animal names, basic foods, the main colors, and “Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes.”  We are working on “My name is…” “What is your name?”  This is nothing but fun as I get to teach the kids whatever we are feeling on that day.

My 6th form class made art into trash for a lesson covering pollution and the destruction of nature.  These kids are awesome.  They are always the class to volunteer to assist with projects.  I actually had the age group for our film club moved from 14 to 12 so that all of them could attend.  Love these kids and tell them nearly every class period.

Advertising Marta being awesome. Prices for snackies Watching The Pursuit of Happyness Film Club.  This group is amazing.  We call ourselves the “Free Thinkers from Brinza.”  We meet each Monday with the purpose of watching a movie and following it with a discussion.  We have had two meetings with impressive turnouts.  The first movie we watched was “Freedom Writer”—where we got the name.  Around 60 students and three teachers showed up to this first day.  The second movie we watched was “The Pursuit of Happyness.”  This session did not have the turnout of the first day as it was at a different time (in the morning) and during vacation.  We had around 30 kids and no teachers show up. In addition to watching the movie, we were able to begin selling tea and cookies for the group.   

Halloween—6th form.  I taught them how to say “Trick or Treat.  Smell my feet.  Give me something good to eat.”  They also learned the proper etiquette of trick or treating and a few vocabulary words related to the holiday.  Mostly we just danced and listened (youtube video) of Thriller.

piles of corn tool for cutting corn--Day 1 Tools for throwing corn in back of truck Tools for bundling corn we had a large feast (masa) before This past weekend I worked both Saturday and Sunday in the corn fields with my host mother and five paid workers.  We worked one hectare of land (equivalent of approximately 2.5 acres).   Day one was spent cutting the corn and day two bundling, throwing onto a truck, and bringing home.  Of course, we started each day with a large meal and a few shots of moonshine.  The work was extremely satisfying.  It felt very good to help my host mom like this.  She even “paid” me by buying me really good juice and cookies on one day and quality meat on the second.  

Awesome cooks at the pre-school who showed me how they make large placinta.

The 5th of October--Teacher Day mayor, director, and I of course, we ended with a large meal Today was “Ziua invatotorului” or “Teacher Day.”  Our day began with very short classes.  I went around to the teachers that I knew would be interested in assisting and spread the news about our upcoming project.  We are going to show movies at our school and follow the movies with group discussions.  The goal is to get people talking about and, hopefully, taking action on issues such as volunteering, diversity, and self-respect.  After classes I went to each of the stores in town and shared our idea.  Then I went to the mayor and ended at the pre-school.  I stayed there for a bit and watched their celebration before coming back to our school to watch ours.  At our school, kids from classes 6th through 9 or 10 (not sure as I had not taught them) sang and recited poetry for all of the professors.

this guy wanted to show his boat On two separate occasions I have glued coins to the train tracks with these boys (all herders-goats and sheep).  I had the idea when another volunteer bothered me and they saw us doing it.  Now they ask me nearly every day.

School pictures are a bit different here.  When I saw my fourth graders, I talked them into coming by my house for another photo-shoot.

Following the seminar we were allowed to go on the roof to take pictures of the village.

of course, we had to eat and drink Today we had a seminar with the teachers over how to properly teach students how to watch their hands and why we do so.  Matt Mockerman, a health education volunteer, came to assist.  Last night we went to my director’s house to finalize the project and ended up getting her husband (a doctor) to agree to speak today.  The seminar was 1,000 times better with his help.  He even sent us an already made powerpoint full of information.  The teacher’s were very receptive of the information and I was pleased with it all.  Tomorrow the teachers will work with two student leaders from each grade to re-transmit the information.  After this, the younger students will be having a seminar once a month and the older students will have one three per year.  

Making grape juice This past weekend, I helped my host family pick grapes.  Our crew consisted of me, Ion, my host mom, and a friend of the family.  My host dad is still in Belgium because my host brother found him a job.  The work consisted of each of us walking a row of grapes and picking the grapes of in bunches by hand.  We would fill buckets and then carry the buckets to the bags where Ionica and I would dump them.  Each of us did two rows—down and back.  It took us four hours and we filled 20 bags.  Each bag contained between 4 and 5 buckets full of grapes.

testing for impurities where the grapes are dumped dumping from a wagon truck full of grapes dumping the place was full of bees Jico and the boss The boss and I I was approached by a tenth grader in the hallway of our school last week.  The boy, Jico, speaks English very well and even helped me teach younger kids last year.  He asked me if I would like to visit the wine factory in our village.  My host father had told me that this would not be possible.  Both of Jico’s parents work at the factory.  This was our ticket in. This past Wednesday I went with him after school.  It was amazing.  I was able to see the entire process from start to finish—dumping of the grapes, crushing of the grapes, filtering, fermenting, and eventually drinking.

The perfect end to an already awesome day—my host mom made us pizza for the first time ever.

random jars I was given NEW TOILETS! "Head,Shoulders" Etc. song Girl New stairs New Roof Our new toilets outside!

Today was amazing.  I woke, made myself scrambled eggs and met my host grandmother outside.  We walked to the Baptist church together.  This was the first time ever attending this church in Moldova.  My host grandmother has been asking me for about a year.  She asked me again last night when we were watering her garden and I thought “de ce nu” (“why not”).  Though we were not able to sit together, I did find a seat by a few students.  The church has three sections.   The middle is for the elderly, the right for men, and the left for women.  I said, “screw that” and sat with the girls because I didn’t know any of the old men.  Haha.  Actually, the preacher told me that I could sit anywhere.  The service lasted two hours and was very interesting.  I brought my dictionary with me and used it throughout.  I sat next to a woman I had met and taught English alongside last year.  She informed me of a new project she needed help with in which she wished to get community members more interested in volunteering in Brinza though the showing of films with follow-up discussions.  I have already downloaded 10 movies! As I left, I was handed four cans—two read “Sweet pickle” (some sort of jam—the rest was and German) and two tin cans.  No idea what are in the tin cans.  I came home and grabbed my host brother to go with me to take pictures of the new toilets at the school.  We left around 11:45 as I had told a 4th former that I would meet her outside at 12 for a lesson.  I was very surprised to see her because I have had countless young students forget that we had set something up.  We quickly took the pictures and sat on a bench for our lesson.    We touched on past, present, and future simple tenses and read/translated the passage from her book (homework from Friday).  I then brought out my own sing and read book—“Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes.”  I sang it to her and then we sang it together.  I then asked her and she successfully translated each part.  It is times like these that keep me going.  When I saw the look in her eyes, I knew we had to act on it.  This is a student that had never shown any sort of confidence or excitement before.  I asked her if she would be willing to go up to people on the street and, with me, sing and read this book as a sort of concert.  She lit up!  We went to a store and performed for the saleswoman, we then found the girls eldest sister, and ended with two young third grade girls who just happened to be walking by us on the street.  They loved it. In case you don’t know or remember—The song includes “head, shoulders, knees, and toes (Repeat knees and toes), “eyes and ears, and mouth and nose.”  Then repeat the whole thing several times.  When I got home I ate some borcht and quickly left with my host brother to watch two of his friends play tennis.     I am trying to learn Russian.  At the moment I can ask your name, where you are from, how your are doing, and how old you are.  I also provide my own responses to these questions and count to ten (in addition to basics of yes, now, please, thank you, sorry etc).  If you ask me anything beyond this, you are just being rude. Going to finish my book and go back to the stadium to watch Ion play volleyball.

Ionica and I made fajitas from scratch.  They went over very well.  Inside the tortillas (handmade!) we put cabbage, chicken, tomatoes, peppers, and, of course, brinza.  I really enjoy cooking with Ion.  He is always willing to try new things.  I am really going to miss him when he leaves for school…

"Asshole"--he kicks! my host brother built this house our dog likes me now! Each day we have to clean out the rabbits’ cages and provide the rabbits with fresh leaves for food.