As of today, June 21, 2012, I am officially done with my
first school year in Romania.
One year. According to a real sing-y group of New Yorkers,
it’s merely 525,600 minutes. What I found in those minutes is that I’m
staggered at how much I can come to care about my students in that time.
Teaching has a plethora of challenges, one of them being
devising a way for students to remember the word “plethora.” Patience.
Flexibility. Adaptability. Perseverance. Compassion. Chalk dust. It’s the
hardest job I’ve ever done, and that takes into the account that some days are
only 2-3 hours long.
However, amidst those challenges, I found a wealth of
relationships. Never did I think a group of fifth-eighth graders could affect
me the way these kids have, but I now know that I’ll be invested in them long
after I leave here. It may sound cliché – probably because it is – but I guess
I hope I had a fraction of the effect on them, that they had on me.
OK, that being said, in the words of the poets Will “The
Fresh Prince” Smith and DJ Jazzy Jeff, “Summa summa summa summa time. Time to sit
back and unwind.”
On the docket for this summer are some pretty great travel,
a few camps and the continuation of some projects.
First, I have another volunteer’s camp at the beginning of
July, then Greece! We’re going to hit Athens for a few days, then unwind (see
above) on Santorini. And no, it has nothing to do with The Sisterhood of the
Traveling Pants 2. (Read: It has EVERYTHING to do with The Sisterhood of the
Traveling Pants 2.)
Then, we fly back into Otopeni, eat, drink a beer, and wait
for four of my friends from back home to fly in a few hours later. I’m then
going to take them to Tulgheș for a day and a half, translate and pretty much
overall impress them with my skillz, then we’ll move onto Budapest for a couple
days, then Prague.
Come August, I’ll be compiling information for my village to
be included on a cool NGO website called www.villagelife.ro,
working with a few volunteers on developing a yearlong kindergarten curriculum
to leave when we close our post here, doing another camp and having a meeting.
Then school starts again in September. Oh yeah, speaking of
September, I’ll be in Minnesota Sept. 7-17. The Fat Kid is getting married, and
my mom’s memorial golf tournament, the Janette Paulson Classic, is
happening. You might also want to reserve a front-row seat at Ham Lake Lanes
Karoake night, because “Walkin’ in Memphis” has been aging for more than a year
now, and it’s starting to smell pretty sweet.
I guess that’s all for now. Prepare yourself for some radio
darkness for a bit, as this summer already looks to be all fulled up. However,
I’m sure I’ll be putting up musings on Facebook and Twitter, so you can feed
the need over there.
I wish you all a great summer, and remember, whether you’re,
“riding around in your jeep or your benzos, or in your nissan sitting on
lorenzos,” don’t forget to sit back and unwind.
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