Heaven = Romania

I am very happy today. Why ? Maybe because it's a Sunday, it has been a gorgeous weather and I have a wonderful  family... Let's start with the beginning. Friday was the day of a big school inspection. After doing tones of paperwork for that the nerves hit me at classes. I was more irritable than usual and really dissatisfied with my students. They seemed to be either great at English, of course the classes I expected the worse, ot seemed to lack an articulate tongue at the classes I expected the best. I think that day I was the worse teacher I could possibly be. The only moment when I relaxed was in a class I expected the worse. Usually they are rebellious and have a devilish pleasure to do the opposite you ask from them. But on Friday, they were wonderful, they were the most delightful students. Maybe they felt regrets that they are leaving me, that being the last class together. All in all they were very compliant and caring. The worst of all, a tall handsome "man", because he is around 20, although he usually behaves like a fifth grader, was especially nice. He asked me what I wanted him to do for a third mark. Being the last class together, I asked him to do a presentation about his classmates and their influence on him. He focused his speech on a tiny cute classsmate who was sitting before him.
Joking, I told him that he must be in love with her. He said he is and enumerated her qualities and the way she has helped him throughout high school Continuing on the same line, I told him that I will give him the grade he wants if he proposed to her, on his knees, in English. I didn't expect him to actually do it. But he did! He asked her desk mate to move and he went on one knee with a  ring taken from another class mate and he proposed to her. Everybody was delirious. He was a head taller that she was, even sitting in one knee, but he had no problem asking the big question. Of course their classmates were with their phone cameras ready to immortalize the moment...Feeling the censorship, I had to tell them to put them away. We aren't allowed to film in school.  But I am sure that that scene will remain engraved in their memories, as will be in mine too.
That we Friday. Today, although Sunday I had to go to school again for a meeting with parents. It was an interesting meeting, not like the boring usual ones, because I proposed a role play on some situations. Of course the parents needed some push to begin talking, but then the enjoyed the activity and really got involved.
It was funny when one of the group received a situation about a teenage girl who got pregnant and had to tell her parents. It was funny, because one of the dads wanted to play the girl exposing the problem. And he was really getting in the character, although he as only boys.
Another funny situation when one of the mums there received a situation she had encountered in real life before. The scene was about a girl who began wearing large clothes. Her mother didn't know if she had gained weight or is she got pregnant. And the mother had to approach the problem in a delicate way. As it happens, the same thing happened to her family. The woman present at the meting had to take care of her niece wile her parents went to work abroad for some years. Having two girls of her own, she left the girl with her mother, supervising her as close as possible. She was telling us that the same think happened, her mother called her telling her the niece has gained some weight and that she suspected a pregnancy. Of course the aunt had to talk with the girls, who was in her first year of high school our school, about the problem. The girl told her that she only gained some weight. The distrustful aunt, insisted to go for a check-up. Just in case...And thuds they found out the girl was four months pregnant, too late to do anything else. The aunt talked with out school authorities, and the girls finished her 9th grade and since then she is raising her child. So...my hypothetical situations proved to be real situations, not the say the other, more significant problems the parents shared with us. The discussion revealed a real gap between generations and, I think, a real reluctance from the part of parents to talk openly with their child about sexual experience. They prefer to pretend that nothing is happening and their children are not involved in any sexual encounters and approach the problem openly, only it is too late  when they are sure their children have already opened their eyes into this world. It's difficult to change a generation, they are too "shy", feel too uncomfortable to talk about this with their children. In a sense, the parents are more naive than their children.
After school, I went to the park. And I heard the hoopoe again, It's the third time I hear it in Town. This is really unusual. Usually they keep to the rural area and you can't hear there that often either. I think these birds have left their seclusion and came to town. The same with the woodpecker. You see them very often this year, while I remember I saw only one in my lifetime some years ago in the countryside. I think the woods birds are changing their habits.  I don't know why, I will leave that for the specialists to find out, but I will enjoy them ll the same. I hope it's a good thing for them too, and not the sign that something bad is happening. Hopefully
And here I get to the statement from the title. I think Romania is a heaven because I think we have it all. We don't have riches, but we have peace of mind and spirit. There isn't much stress here and we are really laid back. It's like we are high. I was looking today at a Chinese family in the park. I think they would really agree with me. They seemed really happy. The women laughed openly when I noticed to my friend that she was putting finger years at the back of her daughter while her husband was photographing them. I think they feel integrated and thy like to be seen as real people and not as rarities among us, let's say " white" people. I have been noticing that Romanians try to make everybody feel comfortable and integrate them in out life. I was thinking if they think of themselves as Chinese or as Romanians because I heard them call their son Andrei, a popular Romanian name and taking to the children in Romanian, or something that seemed this :).  I know, I am euphoric, but I don't think I am far gone. Romania is not a bad place to live. I tend to think it is one of the best places in the world, and I've seen some.

Uncanny Romania

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nf1RUTm-m7I&feature=related

Love and black dogs

Today I went in town hunting for T-shirts for my students. Walking around, I had the chance to listen to some interesting conversations. A funny one was in a gay group of junior high-schoolers. A boy was trying to keep up with a nature-gifted girl and I saw him asking flirting the question:" And...what is love for you?" The answer came with a flow of laughter: "Ohhh! Something.... It spills! ...A lot!" I liked this "definition" and the way she said it. She must be a very happy young lady. I don't know how delighted, of the answer, was the boy. She clearly alluded to somebody in particularly, so she shut the door in his face rather abruptly.
Another funny scene was in the outdoor market. Two policemen were heading in my direction followed closely by a black stray dog barking furiously at them. Behind that dog were other ones joining its attack. Seeing my smile at the scene, the shorter of the two policemen, turned around, visibly offended by the dog and tried to chase it away. This made the situation worse...And on top of that, from the market came also some gypsy kids who started encouraging the dogs with high pitched yells. I went on my way, but I am sure the only solution for the policemen was to leave some distance between them and the noisy group. I know they wouldn't try chasing the kids, they are champion runners.
I've seen dogs reacting very aggressively at bums and gypsies. This was the first time I've seen them react that way at policemen. I wonder what did a policeman do to that dog. For a minute I thought that the gypsy kids trained the dogs to behave like that towards policemen as a reward for their "persecution". But the dog was too bitter for that. I believe it had a legitimate reason to hate policemen. All the same, it was funny to see the tables turned.