7.09.2008

where I will live

Today, I learned where I will be living for the next two years. From the result of interviews with schools who have applied for a TEFL volunteer, as well as interviews with each of the peace corps members in my group, “they” have decided where we will be living for the next two years.

My town is in the North-Eastern section of Romania, surrounded by the Carpathian Mountains in an area called Moldova. My town is Vama, in Suceava county.

My counterpart, the teacher I will be working with at the middle school, sent me pictures of my town, which is known for its beauty, although the guidebooks, if they even mention Vama, say there is nothing there. My counterpart sent me a letter of introduction to the town and it is basically all I know about it right now:

“It looks like a small town; it has lots of facilities including running water, internet, mobile phones, railway stations where fast trains stop, bus stop, post office, a stadium and a not very glorious local football team, a dispensary where there work 3 doctors, 1 dentist and nurses, 2 pharmacies, restaurants, a factory which processes wood, a dairy, 3 Orthodox churches, 1 Catholic church, 2 school buildings, 1 police stations, many shops […]

“The mountains around are either covered by thick pine-tree forests or deforested – anyway in the winter you can go sledging and partially skiing, while in summer you can pick mushrooms and wild berries, blueberries, raspberries, etc.; the village is crossed by 2 rivers – you can bathe there in the summer.

“Inhabitants: around 7000: they work in schools, in factories (small private factories which process the wood) in local tourism; many of them work on their small farms raising animals (cattle, sheep horses, poultry) and growing potatoes, maize or vegetables; some of them (maybe 30 families) provide food and accommodation for Romanian and foreign tourists who come here to visit the famous medieval monasteries situated at rather small distances from the village.”