Chisinau International Marathon

It seems that it's been quite some time since I've done any updating here, which isn't that notable except that it means I've missed sharing about a holiday or event or two that I'm just going to skip, unfortunately.

I started this post with the paragraph above, wrote a ton, and then realized it was just too much. There was too much of me in it; no matter how many times I changed shirts my heart was always on my sleeve. Which is fine, sometimes. But I went downstairs to eat my dinner (potatoes) and decided to scratch all that and start over. Maybe those words will appear in a future post but for now, I'm going to switch my focus. 

Instead, I will talk about the first Chisinau International Marathon! There was a marathon held in Chisinau in 1986, but this is the first time since then and they really pushed for an international presence. Which seemed to turn out amazing, because their marketing and branding was excellent and I'm pretty sure people came from all over. They said there were 1,000 runners but 10,000 people there at the start. Here's a link to a story about it with tons of pictures (don't look for me in them, though!). 

I knew for quite some time that this was happening. I knew I had friends planning to run. And I knew for sure that I would NOT be participating. But, as we know, the best laid plans.. 

It turns out that all I needed was the right motivation. The right person to say, "You have to run too!" You know, those people who make you want to be a slightly better version of yourself? Sometimes we get to meet them and become friends with them. And suddenly I had a momentary lapse in judgment where I registered for the 10K. 

Let me be clear on the fact that I don't run. I've got that Couch to 5K app, but I'm not very good at using it. In my defense, the weather really determines my ability to go outside and do ridiculous things like jog near the cows. (I mean, what if they bite me? Sometimes their moos seem very aggressive.) So I didn't do much training for this thing. 

Eventually the time came for us to actually run. We were all prepared with our protein gels and our short shorts, but I don't know that we were mentally prepared. For one, I'd never even been to one of these things to watch. So I only vaguely knew what was going to be happening. 

There were SO. MANY. PEOPLE. Obviously, the 10,000 that I mentioned earlier. The PCVs were in the wrong spot but we were ushered over to the lineup (props to the marathon volunteers) and made it to where we needed to be before the thing started. When it did, everyone just started moving and we were all running through the starting line and down the streets of Chisinau. There were people all down the street on the sidewalks advertising and cheering and watching, and I think the start filled us with so much adrenaline that, at least for me, carried me a lot farther than I thought I would be able to go before I had to switch to walking. 

I beat death, AKA the pacer for the race, so there's an accomplishment, right?

We ran/walked through Chisinau, sometimes with other PCVs, sometimes alone. When you got back up towards the start/finish line, you really had about 2km left, so that was misleading, but luckily there were PCV cheerleaders on both sides for much needed encouragement. 

Really before I knew it I was passing the last group of cheerleaders (they should all be professionals, by the way - they were really excellent) and crossing the finish line, and a sweet Moldovan girl was putting a medal around my neck - I had finished! It was kind of exhilarating and I kind of wanted to cry, I was so proud of myself. But I didn't, shockingly enough. I'm not saying it was the most fun I've ever had, but I'm also not saying I wouldn't do another one in the future. 

Because now I know I can.

Photo by Beni Coombs

4,349 pages later...

April seems to be moving a lot more slowly than say, March or February. I think it's because in February I was working really hard with a deadline (plus that silly short month! 28 days, what's up with that?) and in March I had a great vacation to break up the month and to pass the time quickly. Now it just seems like I'm waiting for things to happen - a visit from a friend, the money for the grant, the 10K I'm going to fall over and die while running, and other things that I'm "counting down" to but that aren't happening anytime soon. 

However, April's length (or the many holidays, or the fact that I've spent a lot of time in the village lately.. I don't know) has made it the best month for reading so far. I've still got a week left in April but I've already read 6 books this month. I'll probably hit 7 or 8 by the time May arrives. Which is good, because May 1 starts the Semi-Charmed Summer Book Challenge, which I think I have convinced both my PC BFF and my sissy to do with me! (This is your reminder, guys.)

During the winter I read some clunkers, but lately I've been killing it with choosing great ones to read - I think that's how I'm moving through them so fast, because they're so good! So I thought I'd give a nod to some of the great ones (or not so good ones that had some good quotes) in anticipation of the start of this challenge and because, you guys, I've read 41 books since I got to Moldova. FORTY-ONE. That's way more than I normally get through. 

• "Nevertheless, each time our spirits sank, something would happen to renew our hope. Sometimes it was just a sunset. It was a beautiful sunset." - Jane Mendelsohn, I Was Amelia Earhart // This perfectly describes a bad day in the Peace Corps - maybe nothing is going right, but then, there's a beautiful sunset. Or a phone call from a friend. Or a quote in a book. Something will happen to renew our hope. 
• "And even though these last nine months have been the most trying of my life, they've also been the truest." - Claire Kells, Girl Underwater // I read this just about exactly when I hit 9 months of service, so I don't think I need to explain that one any further. 
• "I feel more like myself. That is all I need: to remember who I am. And I am someone who does not let inconsequential things like boys and near-death experiences stop her." - Veronica Roth, Divergent // Well, maybe boys occasionally, but definitely not near-death experiences..
• "But you will do it. It doesn't matter if you believe you can or not. You will, because that's who you are." - Veronica Roth, Insurgent
• "'You're the one who has to live with your choice,' she says. 'Everyone else will get over it, move on, no matter what you decide. But you never will.'" - Veronica Roth, Four // Particularly relevant these days, as people try to talk me out of what I believe I want to do. 
• "He still had some doubts about the decision had had made. But he was able to understand one thing: making a decision was only the beginning of things. When someone makes a decision, he is really diving into a strong current that will carry him to places he had never dreamed of when he first made the decision." - Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
• "The alchemist said, 'No matter what he does, every person on earth plays a central role in the history of the world. And normally he doesn't know it.'" - Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
• "So here we go, you and me. Because what else are we going to do? Say no? Say no to an opportunity that may be slightly out of our comfort zone? Quiet our voice because we are worried it is not perfect? I believe great people to things before they are ready." - Amy Poehler, Yes Please // Amy Poehler is such a genius. If you haven't read her book, DO.
• "That is the motto women should constantly repeat over and over again. Good for her! Not for me." - Amy Poehler, Yes Please // See? Genius. 
• "The only way we will survive is by being kind. The only way we can get by in this world is through the help we receive from others. No one can do it alone, no matter how great the machines are." - Amy Poehler, Yes Please

If you can believe it, I've got a ton more.. But maybe that's enough, especially because I am still going to add my list for the #SCSBC15 to this post! If you want more inspirational quotes, just ask and I've gotcha. 

5 points: Freebie! Read any book that fits the general rules. - The Last Letter From Your Lover, Jojo Moyes
10 points: Read a book you have never heard of before. (Just go to a shelf and pick a book based on the cover, the title, whatever you want!) - Michelangelo's Notebook, Paul Christopher
10 points: Read a book that has been on your TBR list for at least two years. - Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking, Susan Cain
10 points: Read a book that won a Goodreads “Best Book” award in 2014. - #GIRLBOSS, Sophia Amoruso
15 points: Read a book by an author who is completely new to you. - The Opposite of Loneliness, Marina Keegan
15 points: Read a book by an author you have read before. (No re-reads for this one.) - Since You've Been Gone, Morgan Matson
15 points: Read a book with "light" or "dark" in the title. (Or "lightness" or "darkness.") - Dark Places, Gillian Flynn
20 points: Read a book with the name of a city, state or country in the title. - Looking for Alaska, John Green
20 points: Read a book with an animal on the cover. -
25 points: Read a book that is part of a series with at least four books. - Sisterhood Everlasting, Ann Brashares
25 points: Read a book that is longer than 500 pages long. — The Lacuna, Barbara Kingsolver
30 points: Read a book with an alliterative title. (All words in the title must begin with the same letter; no exceptions for articles or prepositions. Examples: Gone Girl or Nicholas Nickleby. Yes, this is tough, which is why it's worth the most points!) - Bird by Bird, Anne Lamott

I don't have my animal book yet, and I feel as though some of the others will change when I sit in the PC library for a decade and look at every single book.. But there's the preliminary list! Now I can get back to reading, right...?

[EDIT: I've changed my alliterative category to Killing Kennedy, which Bill O'Reilly is kindly reading to me as I walk to and from work.]

Orthodox Easter

Hristos a înviat!

This weekend was filled with food and traditions, as it was Easter in Moldova. 

I left work on Friday around noon - the rest of the office had been cleaning up and painting outside the building, which I'm not sure why I wasn't asked to help with, but if I had known what they were doing, I would have - and was told not to come back until Tuesday. 

What, does Easter really take that long? Oh yes, it does.

My host mom started cooking on Friday.

On Saturday, we cleaned the entire house. (Maybe we just cleaned my room and the entryway and it just seemed like it took forever..) We took out the carpet and vacuumed and "mopped" the floors (mopping here meaning bending over with a rag and a bucket of soapy water - they could be on the next "real people" Swiffer commercial, I swear), and I reorganized everything while dusting it all off. It was a beautiful day and the sun made it more bearable to be cleaning for hours.

Later that day I was called downstairs to find my host mom making Блинчики (which sounds to me like blinch-ki and which I used to call clatite until I got to my village where they prefer the Russian). I was excited because A. I love those, and B. I know how to "make them." I have never made the crepe part, which admittedly is kind of the whole thing, but I've watched it enough that I'm sure I could, if given the recipe. I helped her with cooling and stacking the crepes and she told me I could fill them with fruit later. Which I did! I filled them with strawberries and cherries. She made cream to put on top of them, but that didn't really end up working so well, so next time we're going to melt ice cream to put on top (WHAAAAAT) - next time being this upcoming weekend, I think!

The "blinchki" process

She made tons of food Friday and Saturday, including boiled eggs that she dyed red.

There was a sunrise service and food blessing at the church way early in the morning, but I have not known her to go to church in 8 months, so we did not attend that. Nevertheless, there was knocking on my door around 9am to eat, which I thought was extraordinarily too early for a Sunday/for a huge meal. Did not matter what I thought, as the table was more full than I've ever seen it, and for only 3 of us. 

Champagne, fruit, blinchki, potato salad, eggs, chocolate cake, racituri, multiple kinds of meat, fish, etc..

She put on a kerchief and we all stood up for the prayer, where she thanked God for the meal and for our health and for a lot of other things. She had said the night before that the first thing we had to do (after the prayer, I assume) was play a game with the eggs, but it didn't end up being the first thing we did, so I hope we're okay with that. 

Pasca, traditional sweet bread for Easter - ours was store-bought but AMAZING

We had a champagne toast and then set to eating more food than I've probably eaten in the last month. We did play the egg game: two people take an egg and hit them together - whoever's egg cracks is going to die first. This is how she explained it to me; I might have gone with "whoever's egg doesn't crack is going to live longer," but, whatever. Then we each had to eat an egg. Oh, and I'm going to die first, which she thought was hilarious. 

We also had to have a jug of wine to symbolize the blood of Jesus. So after the two hour masa, I had to take a nap.

I woke up and ate again, at my host mom's insistence, which was then confusing, because we went to visit one of her friends (and then a second), and obviously they had a table full of food they wanted us to eat, too. I feel as though she sabotaged me, making me eat right before we went to more food and Moldovan women who try to make you eat everything (We can't NOT eat another Easter egg, because it's Easter!). I also think she might know some egg secrets because she won that game again with another person.. Proof that she'll outlive us all.. 

We stayed out much later than I would have liked, and I met a CHARMER who toasted to me: "La mulți ani, la mulți bani, și un moldovan!" (To many years, much money, and a Moldovan man.) Then he drunkenly, regrettably said that he would like to be that man, were it not for his wife sitting right next to him, who he loves very much. I don't know if everyone ignored just this or if they ignored him the whole time, but he would not be ignored by me. 

In the village, when I walk down the road, I greet people with "Good morning!" or "Good day!" depending on what time it is. After Easter, for the next 40 days, I will not say that. Before Easter, I was told that I would have to remember two new phrases - a greeting and a reply. I thought, oh no, I can never do that! Turns out that once I knew what I was supposed to say, it was easy to remember. Instead of my usual greeting, I must say "Hristos a înviat!" and if I don't get to the person first and they say that to me, my reply is "Adevărat, a înviat!" These mean, "Christ has risen!" and in response, "Truly, He has risen!" As we walked down to visit my host mom's friends, families were out on the roads in nice dresses, smiling and greeting each other with Hristos a înviat! and having such a great time with each other. I obviously enjoyed eating tons of good food and drinking champagne at 10am, but watching that was my favorite part of the day. 

We stayed home Monday and we are still eating delicious leftovers on Tuesday. Next weekend is Memorial Easter, so stay tuned for that adventure. 

Adevărat, a înviat.

Currently #8

Currently...

Reading the entire Peace Corps library. Okay, not the whole library - it's too big. But I've just picked up a new stack to keep me busy, and I'm almost done with my first one, Ten From Infinity (but of course I'm reading at least 4 books right now because go big or go home, right?). I actually can't wait to get back to my house so I can finish the last 30 pages or so and learn the fate of the androids (there were 10 of them, and they came from infinity.. aka outer space, aka the characters in the book have no idea about anything). 

Writing in my journal - lists and thoughts and dreams I had the other night that were so perfectly analyzed by my PCV bunica. How could I survive without my journal? Answer is, I couldn't.

Listening to Ellie Goulding lately. Though, right now I'm listening to Alexandra work quietly next to me. Thursdays in the Primaria aren't much of a thrill ride (as opposed to Mondays, which are CRAZY). Occasionally she'll tell me a story, though! Today she told me about what her son does in Texas, and that through his work, he just saw my host brother, who lives in Texas also!

Thinking about how amazing it is that I've been in Moldova for 300 days now (302, to be exact, because this post took me too long to write). On Saturday, it will have been 10 months exactly. How close is that to a year? Hint: very. I cannot fathom how that could possibly be true. Didn't I just get here?

Smelling spring! Or is that mud...? 

Wishing for more spring. And hopefully good weather this weekend, because I have friends coming to visit my village! We're about to increase the Americans in this place by 200%. Assuming I can do math correctly. They don't have long in the village because of our great, frequent bus schedule, but I think we can cover all the highlights in a few hours. (It's quite small.) 

Hoping I don't have a heart attack and die when I try to run jog/walk in the Chisinau 10K that I just signed up for. I think it was an April Fool's lack of judgment on my part - my brain fooling me into thinking registering would be a good idea.. (Or was it peer pressure? Or a combination of the two? At least if it was peer pressure, I'll have good company while I struggle.) Because the last time I ran anywhere it was because a dog was literally chasing me (thanks, Moldova) so my ability to do this is questionable. I'm good at walking though, so if I just stick with that, I'll do great.

Wearing my favorite horse sweater over a dress and bright orange tights because I think it's autumn, apparently.

Loving my walk to work this morning, even through the mud, because on my way I saw a group of little boys, one of whom I recognized from the Pregatitoare class at the kindergarten (he's one of my favorites, too!). One said good morning to me, and I passed them (little boys dawdle, whereas I of course do not), and then I heard a tiny voice shout, "Okay!" I tend to say "okay" a lot, which I didn't think was that weird because I hear Moldovans say it too, but it's possible I say it TOO much.. So for the next few minutes (until I got far enough away) we just said "Okay!" back and forth to each other - he thought it was hilarious. 

Wanting to sneak our new puppies, Buzz and Woody, into the house to snuggle them. If only, if only. 

Needing a nap. Turns out it's exhausting to get up around 4 in the morning, travel ~3 hours, walk around Chisinau all day in heels (my fault, obviously), then travel ~3 hours back to site in one day. (What?? The title of this blog has the word "whining" in it - you should expect some of it.) Plus side, I got to see the sun rise while on the bus and it was OFF THE CHARTS beautiful.. Totally worth seeing the clock at 4:00. And I got to have a lovely coffee date and bonding time with "o Moldoveanca frumoasa."

Feeling excited about our park renovation project! Remember that time we applied for a grant and didn't get it? Yeah, me too. But then we went to a project design workshop and learned how to make our project better. We worked really hard for almost all of February rewriting and making sure everything was perfect and then submitted an application for a Peace Corps small grant. After returning from Italy, my partner and I went to Chisinau to present our project before the committee, and last week we heard the good news - our grant was approved! So we will be renovating a park this spring/summer and it's going to be awesome. 

Clicking this article about How Smiling Changes Your Brain and this #100happydays challenge I'm participating in - today will be day 11! (You can find my 100 days on Instagram by checking out the sidebar or by following me.) Read about it and join me and we'll change our brains by smiling for #100happydays! Or something like that.

Roman Holiday

Sometimes you go somewhere or you meet someone or something happens that makes you think, this is exactly where I'm supposed to be (or who I'm supposed to meet, or what was supposed to happen). Sometimes all of that happens at the same time. 

Maybe you're thinking, okay but what are you talking about? I read the title of this post, aren't you just going to recap your trip to Italy with your friends? I can do that, if you'd like. But this trip turned out to be more than just going to the Colosseum 14 times (that's not even MUCH of an exaggeration; it was at least 7), or eating 5 scoops of gelato in 2 hours, or getting fast food lasagna (yeah, that's a thing), or having a different unofficial tour guide for each day (I was even one of them - how do you like me now, Goolsby). I guess maybe I'll get to that.

I went to Italy with two of my favorite PCVs. 

Was it part of my plan? No. 
When it came up in conversation, did I even think the invitation was serious? No. 
When it turned out to be serious, did I immediately think, wow this is the greatest idea you've ever had? No. 
Was it the greatest idea? Absolutely. 

I feel myself getting into soul-searching territory again, sorry. I'll get back to the narrative. 

We spent the first night in Rome, which ended up with us crashing a girl's 21st birthday party bus. Yeah, you read that right. Bartender on the bus, lots of woo girls, strobe lights, spring breakers (way to make us feel old, guys, because guess what, we aren't) and a few stops at different places in the city. That brought us to our first Colosseum stop, which was pretty much the main reason the party bus was worth going on. It was awesome to see at night. 

The night day we took a train to Naples. We spent two days there, walking around, taking Giovanni's suggestions, visiting churches, wandering around underground (maybe wandering is misleading.. There was a tour guide), drinking coffee and eating gelato and pizza, reading on the terrace of our third floor hostel, getting slightly lost, visiting the beautiful sea, making our own dinner (with lettuce! LETTUCE), and relaxing at night with about 18 decks of cards (none of which had the necessary 52) and our journals. 

We returned to Rome on Saturday and met some friends one of us knew from studying abroad. They took us around to different places and knew all about them, which was great! They unknowingly brought us to places on our list that we would not have been able to find on our own but that we were quite glad to get to see, and places that weren't on our list that were cool! They were very sweet and it was nice to meet them. We went back to the hostel and met our roommate, a sweetheart from Argentina who was our age and on his first trip out of the country. We went out for a drink with him and got to know him a little bit, and then he returned to the room and we stayed out a little later at the hostel bar, where we met some other cool people. That's when we got to cross "dancing" off our list, among other things. 

We went to the Pantheon the next day, and spent a great deal of time trying to figure out how to properly describe it, knowing the perfect word existed, but not finding it. Putting that thought on hold, we met up with some of the people from the night before who gave us another tour, also great. Everyone you meet knows different things. That's super simple; somebody knows one fact about the Colosseum (yeah, we're at trip #3 now I think) and another person knows another one.. But on a larger scale, doesn't everybody you meet have something new to teach you? That must be some quote that already exists. (If you read my blogs for my constant eloquence, you may as well quit now.) Later the three of us met up with our roommate again, and taught him very important things, like the word "cumbersome" and how to play beer pong.

Monday we had a great day with our roommate, despite the rain. We went to Vatican City, but rain + super long lines meant we didn't end up going in. Instead we wandered around to other places (the Pantheon again, a gelato place with 150+ flavors, etc.). During the afternoon, the girls had journal time while the boys napped, and we met up again to have Mexican and walk around the city at night. We visited St. Peter's again without crowds and with all the lights on, and it was beautiful. We got a tip from one of the study abroad friends that the Colosseum was lit up with green for St. Patrick's Day, so we went there again, and that was amazing, too. It was one of the best nights (well, one of the best full days, really) that I've had in a really long time. That word we were trying to describe the Pantheon with? Our roommate, not knowing that we were trying to do so, independently tried to explain it in Spanish, and came up with exactly the word we needed. We decided that it's better in Spanish, so now we all use the word imponente. If that's not fate, I don't know what is. How could we possibly be all looking for the same thing, and then meet each other and help each other find it? Again, that's simple, just one word.. But think about that concept being even more than that. 

On our last full day, our roommate had left and the three of us spent the day solo. I did things I had skipped so far on this trip and my last trip to Rome (Audrey's Mouth of Truth, to be specific), and after getting lost and found again, sat in front of the Pantheon with wine, a huge cheese plate, and my journal. Later we met up again with various friends and there was more pasta, drinks, and dancing. The next morning we split up again and I went back to a church we'd visited a few days ago, where I got to do a little more soul-searching that I won't talk about here. Eventually it was time to return to Moldova, and it was strange, because I was both sad to leave Italy but happy to return to Moldova. It's not always easy to return to site after time away, but for the first time, not only was I not dreading it, but I was happy about it, too. 

I guess after writing the recap, I find that I don't want to go into anything super existential or anything. Here's what I will say: I remember the first time I went to Rome and what an impact it had on me, and I didn't think the same city and the same sites could do that again, but it did, even more so. I learned more about my friends and I can tell you my favorite things about each one of them. We got to have conversations in multiple languages at a time and that's how we understood better, not worse (I can't imagine now what people do if they only know one, and I'm not even saying I know two, but I know a little bit of many). How often do you get to meet people and feel like you were meant to meet them, meant to be there at that moment with those people? I have a new outlook on life, love, and the future, and I don't know what it all means, or if I'll even figure it all out.. But I'm excited to try. Essentially, I'm just really glad I went on this trip with these friends and had all these adventures. Whatever happens after this.. Well, we'll just see. 

One slight addition: I just saw on the "Humans of Chisinau" Facebook page this quote by a woman (which I think is better in Romanian so I'll put that and their  English translation): 

"Întâlnim diferite fenomene, oameni, pentru care trăim anumite stări şi care ulterior se transformă într-o eleganţă a cuvintelor, care se numeşte poezie.

**
We encounter different phenomena, people, towards which arouse certain feelings in us, feelings which often create a certain elegance of words called poetry."

If that doesn't perfectly describe life, I don't know what does.

The Penguin Dance

Are you ready, are you ready?!! 

Well wait a second. 

In case you aren't caught up, the mayor asked me to teach a dance to the kindergartners for their International Women's Day program. Each class had one, but they gave me the oldest class (6 and 7 years old) to teach. They wanted it to be American, but they don't speak English, so I had to do something simple that I could translate and teach. I learned the penguin dance in college and since then have taught it to adults and kids at camp. It's simple and I figured I could easily translate it, which I did. Then I taught it to the class, and today was the big day! 

I wasn't there for practice yesterday but they apparently practiced it without me.. But I didn't know how it was going to go, and everyone's mother was there (it's a Women's Day program but that essentially means it's like a Mother's Day thing - every other poem/song was about how beautiful their mothers are) and everyone was dressed up all fancy, so I was kind of nervous, even though I wasn't even on stage doing it. 

I thought I knew when in the program it was, but it turns out I didn't, so I was always nervous at the wrong times. There were cute skits, dances, songs, poetry.. Then they said, "Acum, pinguinii!" so I went up to "direct" AKA, make sure they didn't mess up. 

I'll just let you watch it now. 





It's even more precious in tiny prom/wedding dresses, right?!! 

It was foarte successful and I'm so proud of them!! The moms even got me a flower and after the kids ate lunch, the moms and I drank beer and ate pretzels while the kids played.. So that was interesting. I mean, I should have expected it, but for some reason I didn't. 

Enjoy some pictures!

The (Little) Village People

So let me tell you about my kids. 

No, I haven't birthed any, although I have been here for 9 months now (if you read this on March 4). And I'm not a teacher, either. I don't even have any host siblings at site. But I want to talk about my kindergartners! 

I spend at least one day a week at the kindergarten/nursery school, so I'm obviously obsessed with some of these kids. Today we worked on our penguin dance for the International Women's Day program on Thursday, and I helped them with math and we got to play a little bit. I spend most of my time with the "Pregatitoare" (preparatory) class, so they're 6 and 7 years old, but my host mom is in charge of the "Ghiocelul" class, the 2- and 3-year-olds (Ghiocelul means "the snowdrop" so that's adorable). I have some favorites in there, too. 

There's a little troublemaker who is secretly adorable, and who passed me on the street once with his mom and told her who I was.

There's a boy who, before I learned his name, could only be described by smiling as big as possible, because that's what he always does. 

There are two cousins in the Ghiocelul class together who are always so sweet to each other!

There's a girl who asked me how old I was and when I told her, her eyes got big and she said, "You're so big! But also beautiful." 

There's a boy who seems to always wear sweatsuits, which are super cute on a 6-year-old.

There's the perfectionist, who has a special "poetry voice" and makes sure all of her crafts exactly match the example. 

There's the boy that got the whole class excited about the penguin dance as soon as he learned the part that goes, "Penguins, ATTENTION!" He seems tough but he'll cry at the drop of a hat. 

There's the girl who can't speak and might not be able to hear, but she sure loves to give hugs. 

There's the tiniest boy that has the best memory for poetry.

There's the girl that probably wants to talk to me but isn't as brave as the others.. But I can tell, and one day it's going to happen. 

There's the girl who carries the rest of the class when we do the penguin dance - she happens to be front and center and thank goodness, because she is awesome at it. 

And then there's the whole class who just wants to hug me after everything we do! I can't spend all day with them because they are 6 and I'm not, but.. The few hours are so precious, because they are just adorable. They want to know my parents' names and why I'm not wearing earrings like last time (guys, it's because I'm lazy sometimes) and how I got to the village from America (by plane, I said.. not fully accurate, but they were impressed).. 

I'm so excited for us to do the penguin dance for all the moms on Thursday! It will definitely be recorded so everyone can see the wonder that is the penguin dance in Romanian - this may turn out to be my greatest accomplishment so far.