The start of year three at BCA

I have just started my third year teaching at BCA!  After having two years of teaching and living in Romania experience, a lot of things are starting to feel familiar and I am starting to feel a lot more at home in Bucharest. As far as teaching goes, I really love my students, I finally have a real lunch break, and I feel much more confident in what I am doing as a teacher. It's still going to be a lot of work, but I am looking forward to a great year.

After a great summer catching up with lots of family in the US, I jumped right into taking advantage of some of my favorite things about living in Romania. First off I took a day at the seaside. I love the beach!

Last weekend I took in the outdoor opera concert that takes place about two blocks from my house.

Today I went to the market and bought all of this for $8.64.

That's 2 lbs pears, 2.5 lbs grapes, 2 lbs raspberries, 2 lbs red peppers, 1 lb blueberries. I've also been doing a lot of running at the park near my house, and just enjoying the now familiar sights of my neighborhood. 

And of course I have enjoyed getting back together with my friends after most of us have been scattered over the summer holidays. 

I'm very thankful for all of the things and people that God has given me here!

Christmas 2012

It's been awhile since I last posted. I'm afraid I haven't been very motivated to do much writing lately, but since I haven't even blogged about Christmas in England yet, I guess I had better do that!


Back in December I was able to go home with my roommate and spend Christmas with her family in Bristol, England for two weeks. My roommate, Cath, and her family made me feel very much at home and took me around to all sorts of exciting places. I was also introduced to special English delicacies such as Christmas pudding, mince pies, and fish and chips.

I visited the seaside, toured the city of Bath, and went on a pretty great shopping trip in Cardiff, Wales. Although I loved seeing new things in England, I also loved seeing familiar things in England. For instance, I got really excited when I saw the store Staples. It wasn't that I needed or  wanted to shop there. I was just thrilled to see something so familiar. I was also pretty excited to have this. (Don't worry, not all those donuts were mine.)

One of the most unique things I got to do was go to a pantomime. My roommate bought me tickets as a surprise, and I had no idea what a pantomime was. To be honest, I still don't really know what one is, but it was pretty amazing. Later on, I read an article in a magazine about the history of British pantomimes. The author wrote something to the extent of, "I have seen many an American or Australian watching their first pantomime with a look of complete bewilderment, but they always come out enthusing wildly." I feel that that sums up my feelings towards pantomimes pretty accurately. If you can imagine a play of a fairy tale, with lots of slapstick humor, puns, parodies of pop songs, break dancers, audience participation, and outlandish costumes, you will have a small idea of what a pantomime is like. I highly recommend them if you are into bizarre humor.

We also had the chance to go to London for a few days over New Years Eve. The city was crazy full of people, but it was really great to be able to see all the sights. My roommate, her sister, and I ended up standing in one place for 4 hours next to the Thames river waiting for the NYE fireworks. Although I probably wouldn't do it again, it definitely was an experience and some of the best fireworks I've ever seen.

I returned to Bucharest well-rested, well-fed, and ready for the second semester. I will let you know how that's been going next time!

International Christmas

Happy New Year!! I meant to write a few things about Christmas before I left on vacation, but that didn't happen. Right now I am enjoying my last few days of Christmas break in England before I head back and start school again on Monday. I promise to write all about England later, but for today I want share about some of my Christmas activities back in Bucharest.

I was involved in leading a choir for two different Christmas programs this year. It was something brand new for me. I have been a part of choirs for many years and I really enjoy it, but I have never led a choir before, neither have I had any training to lead a choir....so I was a little intimidated about it. However, I think both programs went very well.

The first Christmas program was at the beginning of December for our church. I was asked to lead the adult choir about three weeks before the program date. I put together some songs, and we had practice after church on Sundays. I always had a different group of people practicing, so I really wasn't sure how it was going to turn out, but in the end it was fine

 

The following week we had our school Christmas program. The elementary students put on the play "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever" and inbetween acts my high school choir that I have been teaching this semester got to perform. It was their first performance as a choir, so they were pretty nervous, but they did an amazing job. I was very proud of them. I have really enjoyed teaching this class. Choir was probably one of the highlights of my high school career, and being able to pass that on to these students has been a privilege. Next semester I will not be teaching choir, but I will be working, with the drama teacher, as the musical director for our spring drama, "Annie."