Prayer of the Wampum

Wednesday, May 09, 2007

This is Me, Teaching

Here I am in my 7th grade class. Yes, I'm holding a cigarette, but no I'm not smoking. I'm about to do a smoking experiment with them, and here we are talking about the long and short term effects of smoking. At this point they are answering what would happen to my body in this moment if I were indeed smoking.
Outside, doing the experiment. There's a cigarette in the opening of that bottle, stuck in there with cotton, which represents their teeth, skin and mouth. They are watching as the smoke fills up in the bottle, which represents their lungs. And that's Profira, one of my partner teachers, in the back.
Here I am puffing the smoke that collected in the bottle into their faces, to make 100% sure they are turned off from smoking.
I posted this one because of my silly face. I'm holding the cotton that was around the cigarette, which is now all yellow and gets them to understand the yellowing effect smoking has on the teeth and fingers. They were most repulsed by that cotton.
And here I am with the 4th graders who I asked to teach me their jumping game. They kept raising the string higher and higher! I had to tell them I'm taller than them and it's not so easy for me!

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More Easter

An adorable woman talking about her dead husband, whose grave is behind her.
A couple eating at their relative's grave.
Another picture from the night before Easter.

Easter and the Day of the Dead

These are the skinned animals I saw in Soroca a few days before Easter. I saw them in the distance and knew I needed a picture but was too afraid to really look so I blurred my eyes and took it...Now I'm seeing it for the first time and I'm glad I didn't look in person.
In Moldova, Easter starts at 10pm the night before. Everyone goes to the cemetery and lights candles on their loved ones' graves. The pastor comes out at midnight and everyone, while holding candles, marches around the church several times while singing. People then stay up all night long and have a masa (dinner party) at 4am the next morning. I didn't stay up all night but still had to get up the next morning to eat!
This is Scott's host grandfather ringing the church bells. He was so, so honored that someone was taking his picture.
Scott's host family at Larissa's mother's grave on Easter morning. They lay food on the graves and sit and eat the cemetery while they wait for the priest to go around and read the names of the deceased.
The whole community at the cemetery.