This week was another busy week of language and technical training! I think this week was the hardest in terms of language that we’ve had so far. We learned a LOT of new vocabulary, grammar, and such, and it was hard to get our brains to remember it all.
Here’s what we covered in language class this week:
- Clothing, shoes, and accessories
- Colors
- The verb “to wear” (a purta)
- How to ask and answer questions about clothing and colors
- Shopping dialogues (how to ask for something in a store, how to ask for a different size, etc.)
- Comparisons (“the most…”, “…is more [exensive] than….”, etc.)
- The rooms in a house
- Directions (go left, go right, continue two blocks, etc. as well as here, there, on, under, etc.)
- Furniture in a house (about 40 words)
- The verbs a sedea (to sit), a vedea (to see), a putea (to be able), a vrea (to want), and a bea (to drink)
- The buildings and other points of interest in a city or town (ex: park, store, pharmacy, etc.)
- Another group of verbs, called Group 3 verbs
- Classroom supplies
And what we covered in our technical trainings:
- A panel with current volunteers on “Teaching English in Moldova”
- Listening (how to incorporate this in our English lessons)
- We did a peer teaching, where we created a lesson plan, presented it to a small group of peers, and taught one of the activities
- Speaking (how to teach/incorporate into our lessons)
- Grammar (again, how to teach/incorporate into our lessons)
- Pronunciation (how teach/incorporate)
- How to develop technology use in Moldova
We also went to Chisinau for a hub site day, where we get together with the other programs and have more general sessions. This week we covered:
- Common Health Problems, Urgent Health Problems, and Emergencies
- Sexual Assault Awareness
- Moldova Political and Economic Status (someone from the US Embassy came to talk to us about Moldova in terms of its politics and economics)
- We also got shot #2 of our rabies vaccine
While we were in Chisinau for hub site day, many of us went with some current volunteers to the Peace Corps Headquarters, so that we would know where it is and could check it out! The PCV lounge is pretty cool- there’s a decent-sized library of books you can borrow, clothes people want to get rid of (which are free for the taking!), a computer area, a room to do work in, showers, and a pretty big lounge for just hanging out. I was glad we got to check it out!
Yesterday (Saturday), we had shortened language classes so that we could go to the National Museum of Ethnography and Natural History in Chisinau. This was both a cultural excursion, and we were there to help a current volunteer who is currently working with the museum as a secondary project. After we had a guided tour through the museum, where we were encouraged to take pictures of what we liked and perhaps didn’t like, we gathered in small groups and were asked to provide feedback on various aspects of the museum.
After our museum visit, many of us stayed in Chisinau to attend the Launch Event, an event held by current volunteers to welcome the new group of volunteers. There was networking, with booths set up for the various committees so we could learn about them. There were also sessions of short presentations on things such as exercise, life at site, traveling, empowering youth, and many more. It was very hot in the building, so I didn’t stay for all of it, but it was nice to meet some of the M29s (who are leaving within the next few weeks) and M30s (the group that will be here until next summer), and get some additional information about topics that are specific to being a volunteer here.
I went to a restaurant for drinks and appetizers, then we made our way home. This weekend is the first weekend we can travel on our own, which was nice! I am confident in my ability to get home from and get to Chisinau.
This coming Thursday, we will find out our permanent sites and then on Friday, we will meet our school directors. Then, either Friday night or Saturday morning, depending on how far our sites are, we will go with our school directors to our sites and spend the weekend there until Monday morning! I’m both excited and nervous!
The Oke Den 