Well, I guess that everything happens for a reason. This morning, I should have woken up at 5:45 AM so as to prepare for my 7:00 AM class. On Mondays I teach six classes, beginning at this early hour, whereas on Wednesdays, only two classes, from 11 – 1. Anyway, point is that somehow I didn’t wake up and for the first time since I arrived here, I just didn’t show up for my job. I do wake up when I hear the phone ringing and my counterpart on the other end wondering where I am. So I quickly dress, find that I’ve left the milk out after cooking last night, and head over to school. Unfortunately I’ve already missed three of my classes – unprofessional. However, nobody seems to be too upset, “eeh, it happens.”

Before my last class a few students approach me and say that they have some friends visiting from the US, and would it be okay if they sat in on the class? Sure I say, and then they suggest that we hold class in the amphitheater. I should have figured then, but I didn’t. Well, I walk into the amphitheater and instead of 3 or 4 guests, there are roughly 20 people. The people, I find out, are from some kind of church affiliated group. Although most of you could probably guess my reaction to such types, I decide not to jump into any judgement and just go on with class.

It turns out that this was one of the best classes yet. Since I didn’t want to cover anything new today, we instead kind of did a general retrospect on the American History we’d studied thus far – what did we not talk enough about , what was cool, etc… Some of the members of this group participated in the class and in a very positive way. We ended up discussing the idea of “hindsight being 20/20” (which was, by the way, a new term for my students,) the importance of perspective, and other such abstractions.

I was a bit nervous at the beginning because I do not know this class so well (for some reason this class is always getting cancelled,) but things really picked up. It was also a bit of a test to be performing in front of a group of Americans (mostly youths but with some older folks as well.) After class a few of them came up and praised my teaching – and that felt great.

The bit about oversleeping was fortuitous because had I gotten up on time, I probably would have been much more tired by the time that last class rolled around… so, there you have it. Another interesting moment here in Romania.

Till next time,