In April 2008, the Balan Peace Corps Volunteers organized a giant cheerleading session for English Friendship Club. The 30 middle schoolers had matching T-Shirts with the club logo, a gift from our families in America, and we made pompoms to...
The four Peace Corps volunteers in my little Romanian mountain town of Balan teamed up for a middle school English club, "English Friendship Club," as named by the students. We hosted weekly meetings and a once-a-month themed party. In February,...
Balan, Romania: At a ceremony for the dead in the spring of 2008, one of my preschoolers came up to me to show off his English. He was a stellar student, besides being sweet and one of the very few preschoolers who could answer "How are you" with...
This photo was taken in southern Morocco, in my site, which is comfortably nestled into a river valley in the Sahara Desert. In April 2009, my mom came to visit me in Morocco. I treasure this picture, sitting in between my real mother (on the left)...
This was near Balan, Romania. My host mother was dropping me off in the county seat so I could catch a train to the capital at the end of my service. She gave me about 200 kisses as she cried and said goodbye. She was a woman with great love in her...
Our group just after swearing in, April 2009. From left to right: speaker, Sharmon Jules (Associate Peace Corps Director), Margo Jeanchild (Eastern Caribbean Director), Mara English (Volunteer), Aria Grabowski (Volunteer), trainer, Ann Maize...