Wishful Thinking: Ziua Copiilor și Ziua Mea

Yesterday was my first day off from school so naturally the first thing I do once I get up is head off to school. As I mentioned in my last post June 1st is the first official day of Summer and Summer vacation. In America the last thing any American students want to do is head back to school on their first day off. But in Moldova...When I arrived at the school (earlier than I would normally be there on a school day) there were probably 100 or more students. At around 9 o'clock they started another assembly much like the one for the last day of school except this one was more about younger students. The students sang songs and danced and afterward all of them were given vanilla wafers like cookies and a juice packet. The students all left in quite a hurry as soon as the refreshments were passed out and I was left to wander around the school and watch all the teachers working to prepare their class rooms for next year. Although mostly they were just preparing their rooms for Monday when all of the parents come to school and voluntarily help to repair everything that needs repair before the next school year. The number one thing on that list of things to do is painting. And I dont know what it is but paint in Moldova has a much stronger smell then it does in America. Unfortunately for me someone started early and had begun painted and it didnt take long for the fumes to spread through the whole school. Not to mention that none of the windows were open which is always a definite no no by American standards. But anyway. The rest of the painting will be taking place while I am out of the country so I guess I'm off the hook on that one.

Also I almost forgot to mention the lovely congratulations I received from everyone wishing me a happy birthday. In addition to more flowers and even a few gifts. I always feel Im getting mixed signals when students give me flowers because they generally tend to be roses which is great but they generally tend to still have the thorns. So once you have collected a few it can become quite difficult to hold them all at once without stabbing yourself.

Last but not least we now have 3 baby chicks at my house...we had four...but our cat apparently decided mouse were difficult to hunt and we werent feeding it enough so it stealthed its way into the kitchen and kidnapped a baby chick. Unfortunately my host mother caught him in the act and executed a death sentence on the spot. Apparently it was an unpardonable offense.