Help my school and I build a park!!

The school that I teach English at is Liceul Teoretic "Alexandru cel Bun." There currently is no place for our students to hang out and relax outside of class. Since we have a lot of space around the school, we would love to build a park.

Our goal is to plant 100 Oak trees and put in park benches and trash cans around the area so our students will have a place to sit down and relax when not in class. This park will also serve the members of the community, since there are no parks in our small village as of now. If you want to go to a park, you have to walk 30 minutes away to the next village over.

Please help me if you can by donating so my village will have a beautiful Peace Park for years to come.

-Anita

If I had a leu for every time I apologized for not keeping up with my blog….I would be able to buy an ice cream cone. (And not one of those cheap 3 lei ones either).

So now that summer is almost over, let me recap my vacation home. Now people said that I would get bored since I took such an extensive vacation home (three weeks) and that I would regret going home for so long, but that is not true at all. I was so eager to get home and see my family that I didn’t really mind the 10 hour bus ride to the Bucharest airport. Lucky for me, there was another volunteer who was taking a bus to Bucharest later than me and when he heard that I was leaving that night too, he switched his ticket to go at the same time I was. He had been to the airport before and was familiar with the trip, so that was comforting to me.

When I bought the ticket, I asked if the bus goes to the airport because I didn’t want to hassle with getting dropped off at the bus station and trying to find my way to the airport with my luggage. They said yes, so I bought the ticket. Now, I wouldn’t have ever imagined that the bus would have dropped us off on a freeway overpass and I would be scrambling across lanes of traffic, with said luggage, down the street from the airport…but Raymond, the other volunteer with this knowledge, was able to assist me with my bags and knew the routine, so I am ever grateful to him.

I landed at S.F.O. around 4pm and picked up my luggage and waited outside by the curb. Brooke was picking me up and bringing along Bebe, so I waited patiently. I didn’t have a cell phone that worked in the states, so it was not like I could call her. She knew what time I got in but she had bought a new car since I had been gone and I wasn’t sure what to look out for. Well she surprised me for sure because she had parked the car and came into the airport to get me. There I was, expecting her to pull up curbside, and instead she sneak attacked me from behind. Before I even knew she was there, I felt a little cold wet nose on the back of my leg and was wondering, “what the heck was that?” After we embraced and I picked up Bebe, we got on the freeway and headed home. Brooke asked if I wanted to stop and get something to eat, since I had been missing good old fashioned American cuisine but I said no, I was sure my mom had cooked something fabulous and I didn’t want to spoil my appetite. (Talk about willpower!) We did stop off at a gas station, where I bought a Dr. Pepper and some chips (road food) and the funniest thing happened. Upon seeing an African American man ask for change and a crazy looking Asian lady rummage through the trash, I told Brooke that I missed America and my people. She said something funny to the fact that I related to the homeless people and the deranged as my people and I explained to her that it had been weird, living in a country for a year where there is little diversity. I stick out like a sore thumb back in Moldova, but here at home, I fit in. It was a nice feeling that I had as I sipped on my Dr. Pepper, holding my little rat in my lap as we drove along the freeway towards home.

I was right of course, when I got home, my mom had made her famous Spanish rice, beans and chicken. I devoured my plate like I hadn’t tasted this beautiful combination in over a year….it was heavenly. I unpacked my bags and gave my mom and dad the house wine that my host family in Moldova had given me and the rest of the souvenirs that I had acquired. It was so nice to be home, to see my parents, to sleep in my own bed and everything felt as it should.

Now three weeks flew by quickly and there were some things that I did not get a chance to do but many things that I had wanted to do and did accomplish. Instead of writing tons of paragraphs about them, I will 

just write a list and then show you some pictures. 

Things I accomplished:

Get a slurpee (Got two)

Get a pedicure

Go to a movie (Went four times!)

Go to Taco Bell (Not sure why, but I miss this a lot)

Go to a grocery store

Eat my dad's bbq

Hang out with my family/friends

Eat my mommas rice and flautas (By far the best accomplishment)

Go shopping at Wal-Mart and Target

Go swimming (Thanks Renee!)

Get pizza (Did this twice)

Drive my car

Eat a regular breakfast with bacon and eggs

Go to Chipotle

Go to La Bou (did this twice!)

Spend the Fourth of July with family (including Bebe)

Things I didn't get around to:

Get a turkey sandwich from Subway or Togos

See everyone (Sorry Dana, Forrest and Jen, Stacy's parents, Anne and anyone else who wanted to see me).

Get sushi at Wasabis.

Take Bebe to the dog park (We did take her to Tahoe though)

End of school year/Summer vacation!

Moldovan flag outside of school

So the end of the school year came and left already.....and here I am, trying to play catch up. The last day of school was May 31st and it wasn't really a school day, just a celebration known as Last Bell (Ultimul Sunet). Everyone showed up to school at 9am, nicely dressed and all of the students gathered outside in their classes. The celebration started by the 12th graders exiting the school for the last time and parading around the courtyard. They wore red sashes across their chests and looked very regal. Students then were handed out awards for contests they participated in throughout the year and received cash prizes. Some teachers even received cash prizes as well! The local priest was there, gave a speech and blessed us all. The mayor came out and gave a speech too. There were even doves that were released! The festivities wound down with the 12th graders singing a song and reciting a poem and then they paraded around the courtyard again, this time holding some of the students from second grade on their shoulders while they rang the last bell of the school year.



Students lined up, holding their flowers


Having worked at schools back in America, this celebration was vastly different than the end of the school year festivities I was used to. Moldova just has a way of doing things right. Everything is beautiful (frumos) and cordial....whether it be a celebration for remembering someone who has passed away some years back or the last day of school. All the students came to school carrying flowers to give to their favorite teachers and I came home with a nice bouquet of lovely smelling flowers.

For the rest of the week I kind of just sat at home and relaxed. I'm not going to lie and say I wasn't a little bored the second day when I didn't have to be at school at 8am. I started going through my school papers and cleaned and organized them. I read some books and downloaded some movies to watch. I picked some fresh strawberries from our garden, which were divine by the way. I took a long walk in the village and wondered if my students thought it was funny to see me at the local magazin (store), buying a popsicle in basketball shorts and a t-shirt, wearing flip flops and my sunglasses. Summer is definitely here. Or was here. It was nice and hot for the week after school got out....but now it is rainy and cool.

12th formers making their last round at school

After having a week off, I headed to Chisinau, the capital of Moldova, for week. The new trainees arrived in Moldova on June 8th and since I am a mentor to a few of the trainees, I had some work to do before their arrival. We were all very excited to meet the trainees or newbies as some of us were calling them. It was an interesting experience because I can remember getting off that plane and not knowing so much about this new land that I was going to call my home for the next 27 months. It was nice to be able to answer questions for them and have a year's worth of experience under our belts. We got them acquainted with the city (or tried to at least) and hosted a luncheon for them. We also had a picnic in their perspective villages where they will be staying for the first three months.

12th formers holding second form girls, ringing last bell

I came back to my village after being gone for a week to meet my host sister's mother and step-father who live in Italy. It was nice to meet them finally since my host sister Skypes with them almost every night and I have been accustomed to hearing their voices. My host sister and her parents then left our village the next day to visit another village where the parents of my host sister's step-father live.It has been very quiet around here after they left.

So now my bags are packed and I am getting ready to go back home for a long, much anticipated visit. Tomorrow I will catch a rutiera to Chisinau at 6am and hang out all day in the capital, waiting for my bus ride to Romania. My flight home is from Bucharest, Romania, so I will have a long overnight bus trip and then fly out on Thursday morning. If I had flown from Moldova home, it would have cost around $700 more....so I can endure the long bus ride. I will be home from June 17th-July 7th. People keep asking me what I want to do, where I want to go and what I want to eat when I get home. I know I want to hang out with my family and friends, spend quality time with Bebe, go to a movie, eat some of my dad's bbq....get a slurpee, drive my car. You know, all the stuff I have missed for the past year. I can't believe a year has gone by already....and now I only have 14 months left here in Moldova. What an adventure it has been!

The last bell has been rung....see ya' in September!

Easter in Moldova

My first Easter spent here in Moldova has come and gone and I have experienced many new traditions and got a much deserved vacation from teaching. On Friday, I got home from school at 9am since I only teach first period on Fridays, and the house was filled with the smell of delicious bread. My host mom had been up since 4am making the different types of bread that are tradition here for Easter. I got a sample plate of the breads at lunch time and it was very delectable. You can’t beat the taste of freshly baked bread!

bread table

On Saturday, I spent the day dyeing eggs in the garden with my host sister and my host aunt who was visiting from Italy. It was the first day in months that I can truly say was a sunny day. I took breaks from dyeing and just close my eyes and felt the warm rays on my face, like a lizard perched on a rock, taking in the sun…..or Bebe, my dog, when she lies in the sun by the sliding glass door. It felt so nice.

dyeing eggs with my host sister, Valeria

When I asked what our plans were for Easter, I was told that we would head to church at 11:30pm and return after 4am. Apparently at 4am, after the church services are over, the priest will bless your basket of bread, eggs and food that you bring with you and once it is blessed, you are free to go home and this blessed food will be eaten on Easter morning. I took a little nap after dinner and tried to get some rest since I knew that I would have a long night ahead of me. My host parents didn’t go to church; it was just my host sister and my host aunt and I who went.

There werent a lot of people at the church when we arrived, and the service started at midnight. The service began with candle lighting that spread throughout the church and everyone helped light their neighbor’s candles. (My host dad had told me earlier in the week that a lit candle was flown from Jerusalem to Moldova and that all the churches had lit a candle from this candle, which I thought, was pretty cool). After all the candles had been lit, we all went outside and walked around the church building, in the brisk night air for four times, then we returned inside the church for the rest of the service. There was a lot of praying and a choir of women who sang throughout the night. At first I didn’t think I was going to be able to make it, standing in the church for four hours….yeah, that’s right, STANDING. They don’t have pews in the churches here so everyone stands but there are a few chairs for the elderly and man did I start to envy the babas (elderly women) in the chairs around 1:30am. My back started hurting and it began to get increasingly warm in the church as more and more people arrived, so we decided to go outside to get some fresh air. My host aunt asked if I wanted to go home, and I told her no. I was determined to get through this….and plus, if we left, we wouldn’t have any blessed food to eat on Easter and I didn’t want to be the one to blame for that.

lined up and waiting for blessing

The closer it got to four in the morning, the more people started arriving. I wish I had a head count because it seemed like the whole village was there in this tiny little church. I saw a lot of my students from school and talked to them and then before we knew it, it was time. The church bells rang and it was four o’clock in the morning and everyone grabbed their baskets of food and rushed outside on the lawn of the church. My host aunt found a spot to stand and everyone had formed a circle outside the church. They then carefully placed their baskets of food out on the lawn on towels and arranged the food as they pleased and put the candles next to it and waited for the priest to come out and bless the food. When the priest came out of the church, there was a procession with a large cross and the women singing followed. First there was a large basket that two men carried around to everyone and people placed money in the basket. After this, the priest used tree branches which looked like a small broom and dipped them into holy water and then blessed the food and the people with the water. I didn’t expect to get doused with holy water but it was fun and my host sister seemed to take the brunt of the dousing. After everyone had been blessed, another large basket came around and everyone put some bread and/or food into the basket and this would be donated to those who cannot make it to church for whatever reason, whether they be poor or elderly, so everyone in the village could eat the blessed bread/food on Easter. This really touched me. My host aunt had a plastic bag filled with bread/food that my family donated and the family standing next to me cut a huge chunk out of one of their large circle loaves of bread to donate. I liked seeing how each family had a different basket of bread, decorated how they felt and there weren’t two that looked alike.


walking home from church at 4am, cold but happy


We arrived home around 4:45am, very tired and immediately went to bed. I woke up at 7am because I had to catch a bus at 8am (I decided to go to the LDS church in Chisinau for Easter services since my host family would be visiting their family in another village). I was still kind of groggy after my 2 hours of sleep. I first washed my face with two eggs, which is an Easter custom here in Moldova. One egg is a plain egg and one is dyed red and there was also some coins in the bowl of water that the eggs were in. This is a symbol of abundance, health and luck for the year to come. After this, I ate breakfast with my host mom and dad since my host sister and aunt were still asleep. I expected to have a big Easter dinner, like back in the states, but here we had a big Easter breakfast. I first drank a shot of holy water that was from a monastery nearby and then we ate the bread that was blessed at the church, along with hard boiled eggs, chicken, lamb, salads, cheese and veggies. The greeting here in Moldova on Easter is “Hristos a Inviat!” (Christ has risen!) and the response is “Adeverat a Inviat!” (He truly has risen!). My host father greeted me this way when I sat down to breakfast and when I responded correctly, he smiled and it felt like I had passed the test.


eggs to wash face with



bottle of holy water



hard boiled eggs



dyed eggs, candy and blessed bread

2011 International Writing Olympics

Daniel and I with his award certificate

The I.W.O. is a creative writing competition that was created by Peace Corps volunteers in Armenia a few years back and currently has extended to include 11 Peace Corps countries from all over the world, including Moldova, the Ukraine, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Albania, Georgia, Cambodia, the Philippines, and Mongolia.


This is only the second year being held here in Moldova and I was very excited to have the opportunity for my students to participate. It is offered to students from 6th form all the way up to the university level and each form/grade was given three writing prompts and they get to choose which one they like best.

I posted a sign about when the event was going to be held and offered two different days that they could come, in case one day was better than the other. I went out and bought 25 little notebooks and was hoping I would get some students to show up. Some of my students seemed a little worried, they had to write an essay, in English….which sounded difficult, but I told them that the essays would be judged by creativity solely and not grammar or spelling mistakes. This seemed to ease some of their worries.

The first day of the competition, I only got a few students that showed up, but I would have been happy even if just one had shown up. I figured that the 10 students total who decided by their own free will to participate in an essay writing competition in English was a huge success for me, and next year, there would be more students.

I later turned in the essays to Peace Corps where they were to be judged by a group of volunteers and Peace Corps staff. I then received an email stating that one of my students in the 6th form had received 2nd place in the essay competition! How exciting! At school the next day, I told my student that he had placed in the competition and now was invited to a reception at the Peace Corps office in Chisinau on April 18th to receive his award and meet the other students who had placed. He was very excited about this, and since it was on a Monday, we both got to miss a day of school to attend.

I couldn’t have been happier for my student, Daniel. He is the first student at my school to have caught my attention because of his love of the English language and his eagerness to learn. He is also pretty darn cute! He always tells me that he loves America and is always happy to talk to me in English and ask me questions about music, family and friends. He also told me that I was his new favorite teacher when I first started the school year, which made me smile.

Opening the door to Peace Corps

So the day of the event, I met Daniel at school and we then caught a taxi to the bus station in our raion center, which is only a few minutes away by car. Normally the 2 hour bus/rutiera ride to Chisinau is boring one, and I usually just listen to my iPod and/or nod off and fall asleep but sitting with Daniel, there was no time for that. He asked me tons of questions about my life back in California and places where I had traveled to and I think it was the most interesting rutiera ride to Chisinau thus far. A lot of people stared at us because we were speaking English the whole trip but I didn’t mind. When we arrived at the bus station in Chisinau, we had a little bit of time to kill so I suggested we go to the piaţa (open air market) because I needed to buy a few things. He offered to help me buy things at the piaţa from the vendors, and was a little surprised when  he saw me talk to them without a problem. He was very anxious to get to Peace Corps and kept asking me where the office was and I assured him that it was just around the corner. I thought it was cute when we got to the building and I asked him to pose for a picture before we went in and he told me that he “had emotions,” which when translated properly from Romanian means he was excited.

Walking into Peace Corps

I took a lot of pictures of him at Peace Corps, gave him a tour, and he met a lot of volunteers and other students who participated in the competition and had placed just like him. After the wonderful reception, we went to MallDOVA, which is the shopping mall in Chisinau where we had lunch at Mc Donald’s, did a little bit of shopping and then came back to our village, after a long, exciting day. I know Daniel had a fun day and loved every minute of it and it made me smile and remember why I left my home for 2 years to come to Moldova…..for moments like this.

JFK and Daniel

Learning how to play Connect Four in the PC lounge



Lunch at MallDOVA



Hai Moldova! April 16th clean up day.

Today, the school that I work at, participated in a clean up that happened throughout all of Moldova. When I first heard about this event I was extremely happy. One of the first things I noticed when I arrived in Moldova was the amount of trash that litters the streets. There is also a lack of trash cans around, so if there is no place to put your trash, it just goes on the ground. Also, coming from California, where there are extreme littering fines and most people do such a good job at recycling and being green anyways, it was hard for me to get used to.



The director of the school and I

 I first heard about this clean up day at a meeting that we had in the capital about grant writing. My school director was with me and also heard about this event and I was shocked when I saw a poster hanging up at my school saying that we were going to participate in this event. Of course, I wanted to, but I thought I was going to have to ask my school director for permission to participate but she went out and signed up by herself. This made me proud.

Carolina and Valeria (my host sister)

We received around 150 sets of suits for the students to wear, which included a face mask, protective goggles, and trash bags. They ABSOLUTELY loved the suits. They thought it was so cool to be able to wear this suit that looked like something out of the movie Outbreak and took tons of pictures dressed in it.


We first did a clean up day on April 13th, which confused me since the clean up day was scheduled for April 16th. When I asked why we were doing it early, I didn't receive a clear answer. I showed up to school on wednesday, ready to teach my classes and was told that we weren't going to be having classes, we were going to do the clean up. It was raining all day long, but the students and teachers went out into the village and cleaned up a lot of trash. When I talked to my partner teacher about why she thought we did it earlier than the scheduled day, she said that they doubted the students would have showed up on a saturday to clean. If you ask me for my opinion, I think it is the teachers who didn't want to show up on a saturday.....and I am pretty sure I was correct since we then held the second clean up day today, saturday, the director of the school, one other teacher and I were the only staff there. That is one  thing I am having a hard time with here, the lack of participation from teachers for events outside of school time. I have heard teachers say that they are just too tired to show up to school for events after school and/or on weekends and that they don't get paid to be there, so why come. I am extremely grateful to that one teacher who did come out today, my school director for deciding to still participate today, and of course to all the students who DID show up on a weekend. The sun was out today, and since it has been raining off and on for the past 2 weeks, it was a perfect day to be outside.

On a side note, one thing that confused me though was this....the clean up was focused on an area in the village by a creek. I understand that trash should  not be by water and of course believe that cleaning up around the creek was needed, but I feel that other places around the village were neglected during our clean up. Students walked right past trash that littered the school campus and headed out to clean up the area by the creek. I stopped a few of them and said that there was a lot of trash on the school campus, and we should clean it up. They saw me doing this and participated for a few minutes, but then headed down to the creek. I feel that their definition of trash was large plastic/glass bottles, or other items that are big. Around the school, there were tons of ice cream wrappers, chip bags, candy wrappers and paper that they didn't seem to think needed to picked up. I also noticed some students discarding the items they were wearing when they were finished and leaving it on the ground. This made me furious. If you just spent 3 hours outside cleaning up trash, why on earth would you want to create more? I am coming to understand that this is something that they are used to and is a learned behavior and they don't really understand the concept of putting trash into a trash can, especially if there isn't one around.

This is an area that I would love to work on while I am here in Moldova. I would love to install trash cans around my village and the school and teach the students that throwing trash on the ground is not good for the environment, and it is not frumos (beautiful). I believe today's clean up was an awesome success but I would like to get a club started at school or some type of group organized where we could do monthly clean ups, or something on a regular basis. I just have to remind myself that it will take time, change doesn't come easily or overnight, but today was a step in the right direction.

*I will add pictures later

Doamna profesoara, va rog!

My partner teacher was out all week last week due to illness and I think it is a nice break sometimes when I get to teach bymyself....but sometimes it can be difficult. So on Wednesday last week, I was sitting at my desk getting stuff ready for class during the 10 minute break in between classes and one of my 11th form students comes up to me asking me for my permission to miss class. It's my experience here that if a student asks a teacher to miss class, for whatever reason and gets approval, they will not be marked as absent. No "a" will be written in the catalog for that day, they just won't receive a grade for that day....and here in Moldova, not every student recieves a grade everday. So she asks me if she can be absent and I ask her why. Sometimes if students say they are feeling sick or need to go home for whatever reason, my partner teacher will let them go.....so I figured I would give this a try. I would still put an "a" in the catalog but I wanted to hear her excuse/reason.

She then told me her reason was because she needed to go to the piaţa (outdoor market) to buy some shoes. I was kind of in shock, talk about being truthful...I mean, she could have said she was feeling sick and I would have never known she went to buy shoes so I will give her props for her honesty. I then ask her why she cannot buy the shoes on the weekend and she said that she goes to another village on the weekends to be with her mom and they do not have a piaţa. I tell her no, that she cannot miss class but then she puts her hands together like she is praying and begs me, saying, "Doamna profesoara, va rog!!" (Please teacher!) She continues to beg and I finally say to her in Romanian, "if buying shoes is more important to you than your education, go!" She left the classroom. A few minutes later the bell rang and she returned. I was really proud ....because maybe my words meant something or made an impression on her. I totally expected it to backfire and for her to skip class...but she didn't.

I later heard her talking to her friend saying that she could just go during geography class....so my victory was short lived....but at least she stayed for English. :)

Found this interesting

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Cities

I've been to 19 cities in 17 countries

Gecko is an explorer that:

likes popular destinations

likes a bug-free bed and hot showers

likes a little risk

Travel cred: great

I rank in the top...

3% most cities visited - Singapore

4% most cities visited - South Korea

6% most cities visited - United Arab Emirates

Asia

China: Beijing

China: Xinzhuang

Malaysia: Kuala Lumpur

Singapore: Singapore

South Korea: Seoul

Thailand: Bangkok

Turkey: Istanbul

Europe

Czech Republic: Prague

France: Paris

Ireland: Dublin

Italy: Rome

Netherlands: Amsterdam

Russia: Moscow

Spain: Barcelona

Spain: Madrid

United Kingdom: London

Middle East

United Arab Emirates: Dubai

North America

Canada: Toronto

United States: New York

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Valentine's Dance

Poster announcing the event at school

I thought I should probably get around to posting about the Valentine’s dance that I threw at my school while it’s still February, so here it goes. I originally wanted to do a Halloween dance at my school last year but with less than 2 months under my belt at school I didn’t get around to it. By February, I felt that it was time. I begin by telling my partner teacher at school about my idea. She originally thought it would be an English event, but I told her that wasn’t necessary. I wanted to incorporate everyone at school, whether they were learning French or English and the event would be held in Romanian. With that figured out, we talked to the director at my school and she gave us the green light.

English Club kids getting crafty making decorations

Finished product

Now, it came as a shock to me that schools here don’t regularly throw dances for the students because back home we always had dances in junior high and high school. I just wanted something fun for the students at school to attend and we all know that Moldovans love to dance. So with this idea being new to my partner, I explained to her that I wanted to serve refreshments and a light snack at the dance….you get thirsty after dancing and some munchies are always appreciated. She then asked me how we would pay for the food and drinks that we were to serve and I told her that I could front the money and then if we charged an admission (5 lei, around 50cents) it would pay for the food, drinks and decorations. My partner was sure that no one would attend the dance if we charged an admission but I kept a positive outlook.

Now back home, I would just drive on over to Party City to buy some Valentine’s decorations, you know…. balloons, streamers, signs, etc. but being here in Moldova I had no clue where to go. I luckily was able to find red and white balloons at a store called Metro (think Costco) and my English Club kids were more than happy to help me make decorations. In my raion, my partner introduced me to a store that sells drinks, snacks and supplies in bulk to people who own small magazines (small stores). There we bought 300 cups, bags of candy, a box of pretzels and liters of soda at a really good price. Now came the hard part….back home I would just take my purchased items in a shopping cart out to my car and drive home, but I do not have those luxuries here in Moldova. My partner and I had to carry punga bags filled with 20 liters of soda in hand from the store to the raion center. We would carry the bags for as long as we would, which seemed forever but in actuality was like 15 steps and then put the bags down to rest. It was so funny. Once we got to the raion center, I was able to get a cab home with all the items but then had to carry all the goods from the paved road that leads to my house, onto the dirt road that the taxis don’t drive on because it is such a bad road. Fun! It was all worth it though…sore back and all.

Inga (5th form) showing off her prize

My super cute, super yummy, heart shaped cookies

I made little goody bags for the students that participated in games we held during the dance. The goody bags were brown lunch bags that my mom sent me filled that I filled with candy, a caiet (small notebook for school), a pen and some stickers from my collection Everyone who entered the dance got a small heart shaped piece of paper with a number on it and then at different times during the dance a number was called and the winner received baked goods that I made, either a plate of cupcakes or a plate of heart shaped cookies. My host mom also helped me in popping bag upon bag full of popcorn to serve along with the pretzels.

snack table-pretzels, popcorn and candy

drinks

So the day of the dance came and I went to the gym to decorate and started pumping some 200 balloons. When school got out, I was accompanied by some of the 8th form girls who helped get the gym ready. I set up a backdrop for pictures which I craftily made out of my bed sheet and got nervous while the 4 o’clock hour came upon us. We split up the dance into 2 parts, the first dance was from 4pm-6pm and was for grades 5-8 and the second dance was from 6:30pm-9pm and was for grades 9-12. It was a long day but such a fun one. The dance was a success and we had around 180 students show up with smiles on their faces and I hope to continue the dance next year.

You are my life

They loved the backdrop



Strike a pose



Vogue

Notice my toothy smile compared to the others