For the holidays this year I spent a WONDERFUL two weeks in Ireland with my good friends Lindsey and Kelly! We spent our time in Dublin and Derry! What an amazing time we had. I felt like I was 25 again (and probably acted that way too!). Dublin is such a fun city! This was my second time there and I can't wait to go back for more! We stayed in great hostels and met lots of amazing people from all over the world. A special shout-out to our new American and Australian friends...how much fun we had!!! Our time in Dublin was spent pub-crawling, eating, drinking, sleeping...and that's pretty much it! ;)
The best part of the trip, though, was out time in Derry. Kelly has a friend of the family (Tony) who lives there and he graciously opened his home to us. Poor guy...probably didn't know what he was getting into when he said the three of us could crash with him! We quickly took over his home and made it our own. We toured the area (which is beautiful) and got some first hand details about the history of Northern Ireland - very interesting!
Some of my favorite moments in Derry...Christmas Eve: After having a few pints at the local pub we headed to Midnight Mass where they had a wonderful choir singing John Rutter music...heaven! Christmas morning: we actually had presents to open! Kelly's mom had sent a big package in advance with gifts for us! New pj's, earrings, socks...how great was that! Christmas evening: after visiting some of Tony's friends during the day we had an amazing dinner at another friend's home. A chef from Spain was visiting and he made all the goods: turkey, ham, lamb, potatoes...but, forgot to cook the veggies! No problem...we just ate a LOT of meat! During the meal we played charades, told jokes and just had a marvelous time. And, we had a real, honest-to-goodness Christmas Cake for dessert. Yummm!
After a messed up flight home (I will not bore you with those details) and a cold New Years Eve in București with Kelly, I was back in Drobeta Turnu Severin for the beginning of the 2nd semester of school.
School is going very well. My classes are all good (well...maybe a few that are more challenging than others, but overall good!). I'm also doing Adult English classes every week and I'm really enjoying those. We have our final PC conference in a few weeks. This is when we find out about all the paperwork we have to complete for closing our service...fun! It will be good to see everyone again, but sad as well as this will be the last time I see many of the other volunteers. :(
When I first started my Peace Corps adventure it seemed that 27 months would take forever. Now, it seems like it just started and it's already almost over. Each day that passes I realize how soon it will be over. It makes me sad. I feel so settled in now...school seems like a normal job to me and I have made this town my own - I'm very comfortable here. It will be hard to leave. Especially since I will be leaving early, before school actually ends. I feel like there is so much to get done in a short time. I only have about three months left and then I'll be back home. And you can't help but ask yourself...has my service been meaningful???
Here's what I think makes it meaningful:
- One of my little 1st graders said to me in class (it was translated for me by another teacher-since my Romanian sucks!), "Barbara...did you know that if you're in another country and they don't speak your language you can speak in ENGLISH and you will understand each other???" He was so amazed when he said this, like it was his discovery!
- In my Adult English class one of the women came up to me and said...in English, "You have helped us so much...this class is wonderful and we all love it!" Wow!
- A teacher friend had an inspection in her class. The inspector is another teacher that I work with. The inspector told her afterwards, "You did a great job...I can see a little bit of Barbara in your teaching style."
- Today, while hanging outside during break, little 3rd graders kept running up to me for hugs...they love to hug. And, they always say, "Miss Barbara, I love you and I love English!" How sweet is that?!
- One of my 8th grade boys, who could barely string a sentence together last year, always runs up to me, gives me a hug (with a, Miss Wilger, I love you!), and then has something obnoxious to say about one of the girls in class, i.s. "Did you know that Maria has a husband now?" Of course, then Maria hits him and they run off. I know, it's silly, but he's actually speaking in complete sentences...and in English!
I may not have done a lot of big projects here, or changed the city itself, but I really do feel like I have made some individual connections and helped the students, and maybe even some of the teachers, realize more of their potential. It's a good feeling.
