8 Martie

 

March 8th....that's what 8 Martie translates to in English.  It's a national holiday here in Moldova.  March 8th is International Women's Day.  This year it came on a Friday in a week where children had no classes at all.  You might say it was a spring break week.  We used to refer to it as "clean-up week" when I was in school.  So activites at the Community Center Universul were a little more intense as the children come earlier when there's no school and leave at supper time.  Much of the week was spent in preparation for a 8 Martie concert.  Painting windows, making paper flowers.  And since the weather was a little more like Spring, playing outdoors.  There are some down times when you just need to stare off into space, but then you connect like Valentina and I did here in the picture above.  The concert was a great effort.  The children love to dress their best and sing, and dance, and recite poetry.  And even throw in a bit of humor as these boys dressed as girls...well it was International Women's Day.  The staff appreciated the humor, Inga our psychologist, Ala our soical assistant, and Sergiu our social worker.  And many of the mothers were there too to applaud and receive the homemade Mother's Day cards from their children.  Yes 8 Martie is also Moldova's Mother Day.