What We learned this year...

 What have I been doing all year?  I teach grades 3-8 health education in a public school that is governed by a Department of Education and the Orthodox church has a major input into the curriculum for health. Mainly about the reproductive health and self esteem. So after 32 weeks of classes with no book for reference and teaching in Romanian I did not want to do a test.  The kids treat test like worksheet and the teachers give them answers too, so it really doesn't test their knowledge. I talked my partners into the idea of the kids doing a learning session for their parents and the community. We grouped the kids so each team had some of the less involved students with the achievers.  Everyone had to participate in a game to question the public's knowledge, information on the subject and a demonstration on how it affects lives. The achievers took to it immediately but when they had to present to my partner and I, I rearranged the participants and had the achievers bring the less active up to speed so all participated equally.  It worked pretty well except for the 2 boys that held the poster in one of the groups, they didn't talk... See photo below.

Dental care because they really don't know.

 We had few parents come but I had called some of the community members I knew and a retired teacher and they came. Small crowd and it did not happen like I anticipated... I thought each group would take 10 minutes... The parent plays the game the answers would be the information and the demonstration would last 3 minutes max.  NO, Moldovan children are taught how to preform from 1st grade and they love the venue to do this. The 6,7,8 grade lasted for 2 hours and 1/2 and the 4&5 grade for 2 hour. They did a good job and were very proud and I was happy that I didn't have to grade papers and try and figure out what the kids had written for answers.... I think back to my 7&8 grades and remember having to write "I WILL NOT TALK" 1000 times more then once... and it was in my science class.  Did I learn anything that year? Actually I did and I remember the names of clouds, how to tell the weather, continental plates and more if I really thought about it longer. So I am going with the thought that the kids are learning even if I can not really quantify results at present.

Tom answering questions about smoking

 Being a teacher is hard. If I have  not prepared with new material and information the kids are disruptive and throwing stuff around the class while yelling at each other.... Some days are not fun.  My partners have big voices and get them all back on track and it can be enjoyable... The language is going slow.  I can tell what they are saying most of the time (when they speak Romanian, but the village is heavily influenced by Russian and the words are often a mix of the languages) but I don't have all the words to respond... Little by little  it comes.
and then it goes.... We have 2 days of class left and then vacation.  We will do a summer school in June and I will post more pictures of that. These are the kids we are involved with and see as the future for Moldova! Please continue to pray for them and us as we go forward.  Love from Moldova,.

POLLUTION

SMOKING

MICROBES

Paștele Blajinilor (Memorial Easter)

In the Moldovan Orthodox Church they celebrate Easter for the dead.  Everyone from the village that has a loved one in the cemetery.  They clean the cemetery a week or 2 before and then either Sunday or Monday (depends on where you live) after Easter you take baskets of food, house wine, sweets, fruit with about 2 cups.


 At the cemetery they set up bowls with a few snacks in, a towel, candle and red egg. They have a few of these that they give away. They set up food on the table cloth on the grave or the table that they have next to the grave.  They talk to everyone around the cemetery and wait for the priest to come around and give a blessing over the grave and then they give away the bowls of food to friends, then people come over and share the food and wine at your table.  Below are some of the pictures from today. It was a beautiful day and so nice to see the whole village come together to remember those who have gone before them.

A view from the top of the hill that the cemetery is on that overlooks to the Ukraine. 

You can see the tablecloth with the food on. The blessing cost $ too...

 Our host family at the grave of Bunica's husband who was 49 when he had a heart attack while making delivery to the Ukraine.  Her sister died 3 days later of heart attack also. 

 Gifts given from strangers. The poor people (gypsies) from Ukraine came over and collected food from many people in the cemetery .                                                                                                  What it looked like shortly after the blessings were done.            

The gifts given to us. A beautiful tradition which we were happy to be included in. 

 Love from Moldova, Marcy and Tom

Kiev, Ukraine

 The arch of the Soviets to show the friendship they share.  It was built before the Soviets took Odessa or started the war on Ukraine border...

We booked a private tour of Kiev on our way home for our 6 hour layover. A young man and his father ( the driver) met us and below you will see what we saw.

 First Micheal the archangel that watches over the people of Ukraine. 

 The original founders of Ukraine. 3 brothers and a little sister from Scandinavia

 Now it gets confusing because we saw so much in such a short amount to time I could not keep everything straight.  Because of this and our short time there we plan to make another trip to the N of us and see more of the country and people. . Ukraine unlike Poland (Catholic) but like Moldova is orthodox with a church or monastery on every bloc. Many were reclaimed after the Soviets left. The Soviets often used the houses of worship as storage buildings.

 Easter markets were going on in the squares of the churches. They had large wooden eggs they gave to artists to paint and the squares were full of them.

Some of the good things that were offered at the Easter markets. Below you have another tradition of painted eggs. You must touch 10 of them as you walk down the row to have good luck! 

One of the churches with the Easter market. Below some of the food we ate.  Very good! There is more to come but it is time for a walk.  Love from Ukraine.  Mard

Easter & Poland

Easter Brunch with host family the ladies have cooked and baked all week without eating any of it. They fast from eggs, meat, fish and milk products during lent, in the  orthodox faith.They fast and have a lot of rules that we may have had when i was growing up. I don't see the catholic faith doing now. 

Easter bread made with eggs and milk in the shape of a cross on the top. This bread is taken to the monastery or basilica at 11:30pm and the people pray until 4am when the priest blesses the food (a basket with bread, red eggs, some meat, house wine and food that will be eaten at the Easter meal. We got up at 3:15 to walk to the monastery. As we were walking many people were walking back already. I asked the kids if service was over and they said no. But, when we got here it was over! So we had a lovely walk in early morning of Easter.  It was cloudy so we didn't see the full moon either.

School was on vacation now for a week and a Monday so Tom and I headed to Chisinau to catch a plane to go and visit Poland. We had a flight to Warsaw and then we trained down to Krakow.

 We belong to a group called Couchsurfers where you request to stay with people in their home and they host you for a day or 2.  It is a site that you have to fill out a profile for and then people look at your profile agree or turn down your request.  We were invited to stay with a young woman from Krakow in her apartment for the week.  She is a law student and her girlfriend is studying to be a chef for the family restaurant in Krakow. Joasia made us traditional Polish foods, helped us buy our tickets, came on the bus with us when we went to the thermal springs on the Slovakia border, told us of great places to go and the times to go to avoid crowds, where free events were in the city, she was wonderful and witty and a lot of fun and spoke Polish which is the 3 most difficult language in the world as well as English. . We understood nothing in Polish, Joasia was a gift!!!    

Below you will see random pictures taken in Krakow on very cold days with freezing rain and snow. 

 Central square of old town inside the city gate, St Mary's Church behind where a trumpet is played to mark the hour from all four directions of the tower. Below is the church of the 12 apostles.

 Memorial to the king who united Poland in the 13 or 1400's, and below is the Warwal castle. Krakow was not hit by bombs in the
                 II World War so the old stuff is old stuff

 This is one of the few original places of the Jewish district of Krakow. The area use to be slummy but is being re-gentrified and is now restaurants and shops and very clean and cute.

 A bridge connecting the 2 sides of the river Krakow is built on. Below is a photo from the bell tower of Wawal Castle's Cathedral. 

Now we go to Warsaw. The town was completely leveled by bombs during the war, There are a few corners on buildings that are original but not much else.It has been recreated post WWII from paintings done before the war. The history was interesting but not like Krakow. below are the pics from there.

 Any one know who this guy is? Hint he is from Poland, Look at what he holds in his L hand...

 This bench plays Chopin's music they have them in the old (new) district of Warsaw .

 Memorials built by the soviets when they were the occupiers after the war.

 The old central square that is really only 60 years old.

 An Easter display in one of the old churches that I thought was interesting...

 The little mermaid. She and the mermaid in Copenhagen are sisters and both are viewed as protectors of the City they are found in.

 This is a replica wall of the old Warsaw ghetto. And below is the court of justice with a memorial to the Poles that tried to fight the Germans while the Soviets sat across the river and waited to help until the Germans took Warsaw.

 We had one day in Warsaw and then had a 6 hour lay over in Kiev, Ukraine.  The next blog tells of our day in Kiev and then back in Moldova.  Love from Poland... Marc