Well today and is Sunday and it is the only day of the week that I don't have to wake up at 7:30 to get ready to go to language class. Likewise I used this opportunity to catch up on some much needed sleep miraculously awaking at 10 o'clock. A new record. While the sleep was much appreciated I did feel a little guilty because I was supposed to wake up earlier and head out to the Orthodox church this morning. But I think I'd rather save that experience for when I speak Romanian a little better anyway.
Moldovans in the town that I live in do things a lot like I am used to but with slight differences and it is getting easier and easier to appreciate and acknowledge the differences in our cultures. The town that I am living in now, however, is more of a suburb of the capital city and I am sort of curious about what the more rural parts of Moldova are like. I won't have to wonder for too long as we are scheduled to visit our permanent sites in early July. I think that the situation I have now is the best situation Peace Corps could have given me. I have a lot of set rules to follow, a lot of my time is already planned and I am near the capital. So everyday is not as much as a culture shock as it might have been in another town in Moldova. Makes it a lot easier for me to get used to living in a new culture and learning a new language in a place that isn't as much of a culture shock as I was expecting. And learning a foreign language is so much easier when you can leave the classroom and test everything you just learned with every person you pass on the street in contrast to in learning it in high school or college where that is nearly impossible unless you are lucky to have a friend that is already familiar with the language. In addition the the handy practice I get from the unsuspecting Moldovans I am also extremely lucky to have the best Romanian teacher I could ask for. She has been teaching Romanian to Peace Corps volunteers since the beginning of the program 20 years ago and teaches either French or Russian when she isn't teaching Romanian, that's language training experience you cant argue with. Our class even asked her why she never taught English and she said teaching three languages was, "sufficient" even though her English is very fluent and accent free.
So you will understand when I say that I feel very confident that by the time I leave my training I will be as prepared as I can be for my Peace Corps service and so incredibly thankful that everything has worked out as it has so far.
I'm so confused! You posted this this morning but it says SUNDAY in your post...!!!
Its called not having reliable internet. Just pretend you dont see the time/date stamp.