Fericit Craciun!!!!

Merry Christmas everyone!!! Hope everyone is having a great day. We
here in Moldova, or at least in this specific village, are enjoying a
white Christmas, with snow still falling when we awoke.
I am hanging out with the in another village for the holiday, making the
delightful eight hour bus ride yesterday. There is an old Moldovan
adage, "How many people can you fit in a rutiera
(minibus/transport)---at least one more". Not only does this philosophy
make American college students and their telephone booth packing antics
pale in comparison, it even makes the Japanese and their white gloved
train porters seem somewhat wussy. Luckily for me though, my final two
hours of transit, spent standing on a bus, was easily the nadir of my
experience, and everything has been on the up and up since then. Upon
arrival I was greeted by my friend's host family, and whisked me off to
the Russian Baptist church. There was a kids concert there, and though
I recognized some of the tunes, my knowledge of Ruski (which includes
the words hello and cheese) was not really sufficient to understand the
Russian perspective on the birth of Christ. That experience was capped
off by an invitation to sing in English in front of 300 villagers I had
never met. Hopefully their ears survived the experience.
We then bolted home and prepped "Americanski" sugar cookies for the
kids, and started laying out Christmas eve dinner (Hawaiian pizza,
potato salad, strawberry juice, and cake---not my plan, but it worked).
After eating, we hung out with friends from the village, and had an
interesting time negotiating through three languages. My friend is one
of the few Russian speakers in Peace Corps, and thus when she is talking
with Moldovans I don't understand a thing and vice versa. It makes for
an interesting evening, and very complicated dinner conversation. The
evening was punctuated by two visits by carol singers, which fortunately
is still a large tradition in Moldova. Again, I didn't understand a
word, but it was fun to stand out on the frigid steps, handing out sugar
cookies and listening to the kids sing before bolting back inside to
warm up by the fire. We fell asleep watching movies and awoke to snow,
not too shabby if you ask me.
December 25th isn't really that big of holiday in Moldova, partially due
to the fact that this was a communist state for a long time, and part
also because many Moldovans still recognize the orthodox calendar, with
Christmas on January 7th, and New Years on January 13th. Those that do
use the new calendar typically celebrate what we know as Christmas on
the 31st. Anul Nou is when Mos Craciun (old man Christmas) comes, and
when families exchange gifts. With religion banned when the communists
took over, they simply shifted it all over six days and cut out
everything about Jesus. Thus, it was probably quite strange for
everyone to open presents and hang out around a Christmas tree. It was
all taken in stride though, and a good old American Christmas was had by
all.
The rest of today was spent lounging and visiting friends in the
village, after which we had a giant snowball fight with all the kids. I
am still hanging out in my snow pants now, as I have been banned from
removing them by the kids on the vague chance that we will head out for
another round.
All in all, I'd have to say that it has been a pretty good Christmas. I
definitely miss all of the friends and family back home, but my
surrogate families ain't too shabby. However you celebrate this time of
year, I hope you are with people you love, and had a great and peaceful day.

Two Tongues

So I just returned from visiting Crasnoarmeiscoe, a Russian village in the central part of the country (try saying the name just once, it was a real hoot trying to buy tickets at the bus station). There is another volunteer stationed there, and we gathered to celebrate her birthday over the weekend. She is one of a handful of volunteers who is trained in Russian rather than Romanian, conducting her classes and activities in the former national language. A good time was had by all, and despite the language juggling, we all were largely able to communicate with her friends and family.

Many times in Moldova I have been annoyed by the language barriers I encounter, despite the fact that I have been trained to at least stumble along in the “state language”. Typically my frustrations arise going into town to go shopping or visit the post office. More than once I have had to beg a stranger to help me translate what in the world the Russian post office lady is saying. It is also common at the piata (pronounced piatza) to have the vendors shout across the rows to ask someone to translate into “Moldovski” for me. Most everyone understands basic Romanian here, but not everyone is willing to speak it. There is a large anti-Russian sentiment among the Moldovans because of this, not only for years of occupation, but for the simple fact that Russians who have lived here in country for 20-30 years still refuse to learn or use Romanian. Logically for them, why should they...everyone speaks Russian, why learn another tongue? Since Moldova was a part of the USSR, most affairs were conducted in the “international language”. Russian nepotism kept Moldovans out of public office, and even low level government jobs were handed to Russian immigrants rather than Moldovans, and the problem worsened. Eventually this meant that any interaction with government or business services was conducted in Russian. Thus making the language a de facto necessity for residents of the republic. Thus today, everybody speaks Russian, and depending on where you live, people also speak Romanian, Turkish, & Ukrainian. My “host brother” is nearly qudralingual at age 13.

Why then are 90% of Peace Corps volunteers here trained in Romanian? Because as an nod to the Romanian ancestry of many of the country’s residents, the “Moldovan” language was re-Latinized from it’s standing Cyrillic form shortly after the country gained it’s independence (early 90s). Thus not so tacitly acknowledging the fact that Moldovans actually spoke a dialect of Romanian, a fact staunchly denied by Russian lingual scholars for many years. This was part of a USSR campaign to build a Moldovan identity apart from Romania, and further integrate Moldova into the USSR.

There is literally a 200-page book written on the subject of language and nation building in this part of the world, but I will dispense with the history lesson.

The closest US analogy that I can draw is in the south, and the rise of Spanglish in Florida, Texas, California, and other border states. This subtle mixing of two languages that eventually makes it so that the speakers forget which tongue they are using, and universally adopt the easier or perhaps more melodious version of a word for permanent usage. There are also some concepts that are easier to describe in another language, as there may be something that does not have a direct translation. Volunteers here frequently speak in Rom-English when we are together, mostly I feel because many of the words we use every day are strictly expressed in Romanian, and we find we have easier access to the vocabulary when speaking rapidly. I also find that I may go months without expressing a certain concept in English, or may have only used the Romanian version since I arrived in country. This being my first opportunity to really be immersed in a language, I am continually surprised that I don’t “translate” in my head; I merely accept the word meanings as concepts and do not hunt for their English equals.

Something similar happens with Moldovans, except that they speak Rom-Russ. Many folks don’t even realize that they are speaking in Russian until I inform them that I can’t understand a word that they are saying. In other cases people simply don’t know the Romanian word for things. I had to teach my fifth graders the Romanian word for cheese, and quite frequently my host mother/Romanian tutor sheepishly admits that she only knows how to say certain things in Russian, and she is a Romanian language and literature teacher.

I used to feel great pride in the fact that people assumed that I was from Romania, not America, foolishly believing my language and pronunciation had advanced beyond toddler stage. I now realize though, that people assume this because I speak in Romanian, not Moldovan (Rom-Russ), using Romanian accents, grammar, and vocab. The difference is so profound in my village that my program manager gave me a mandate to study language more, not because I was doing particularly bad, but because she felt it would be one of the few opportunities for my students to hear correct Romanian grammar (talk about pressure).

So onward with language we all plunge, hoping to get to the point where we don’t have to think to talk (there has got to be a jab at a certain US leader in that last phrase), and also to get to the point were we can start learning Russian as well. Not only because I want to be able to go to the post office sans escort, but because it would be nice to know just how rude my 8^th graders are being sometimes, and whether or not the lady selling bread told me to have a nice day or to go jump off a cliff (even polite Russian sounds mean to the untrained ear).

*Footnote – Crasnoarmeiscoe is a Latin alphabet translation of the Russian words for “Red Army”.......who thinks there might still be a Russian influence here????

Life

So this is a picture of the sign on the back of our hotel room door. "If there is a fire RUN!!". I found it amusing at least.

Happy belated Thanksgiving everyone! Hope you had a great day of food and family. We folks here had a big dinner at the Hotel National. All 140 volunteers gathered at the hotel, along with the Moldovan Peace Corps staff and a group of ex-pats from the embassy.
We were given one of the old kitchens in the hotel to work with, and spent two days prepping food for 200. Who had turkey, cranberry sauce (imported from the states), pumpkin pie, and all the other fixens


Turkey day shots of the kitchen that we used at the Hotel National in Chisinau. We prepped dinner for slightly over 202.

The silver lump in the foreground is one of our 10 -20lb birds. Yum!

It was definitely an experience. Not only did we have the fun and excitement of using 50 year old Soviet cook gear, we also had interesting challenge of explaining what we wanted to do, and what we needed to the Moldovan staff there (who don't speak English). You would think that this would be fairly easy, but the concept of roasting a turkey is completely foreign to them, and things like cranberry sauce are alien. They also don't really ever do buffet style dinners, thus large serving bowls are non-existent. This meant that we served up mashed potatoes for 200 in vessels slightly larger than a cereal bowl. Good times.

It really was a great dinner though, and everybody seemed to have a good time. It is the only time of the year that all the volunteers are in one place, and thus you end up meeting all the other folks that are outside of your sphere of 20 or so in your specific program. It was definitely a great surrogate for the typical US experience. Hanging out with the Peace Corps family.

Pictures of my village. One was taken during harvest season, and looks back from the former collective farm up in to the village's apple orchard and tree line alley leading into town. On the right is a fog covered view of my village before a snow storm. You can just pick out the church spires in the background.

This was after the first snowfall we had. In between classes the kids made "foot slides", skooting down the hill on tramped down snow and ice.

Our town church, which is actually a landmark of the country. On the right, a shot of one of the traditional horse carts going down the tree lined street through the center of town.

Strangely, despite the fact that my village is less than a degree of latitude from the capitol, the weather is drastically colder. Thus we have already had our share of snow and ice. This resulted in a 9 hour bus ride one night trying to get into Chisinau, and some very muddy clothes and boots. Despite some of the drawbacks, my village definitely has a Norman Rockwell quality to it when it snows. The kids take advantage to the upmost, making foot slides in between classes and having "lupte de zapada" (snowball fights). One difference though is that they make "Babe de Zapada" (snow grandmas), dressing them up in head scarves and aprons.

The horse carts also lend an old world feel. The muffled hoof clops breaking through the silence of the falling snow, and the breath of the horses encircling the drivers head as it slides back through the air.

Our profusion of lakes nearby should make things interesting once the weather turns consistently cold. I will be hanging out with the kids on the ice, hopefully avoiding breaking my tailbone.

A day in the life

So here is an “average” day for me. Wake up around 6 (ideally, 6:30-7 occasionally (normally)). Prep for the day and study a little Romanian. Around 6:30 my host mother and brother head out to feed the pigs and milk the cow. I head for the kitchen to prep breakfast. Milk on the stove for coffee, potatoes in the pan, an egg or two every now and again. Fill the lower cistern with water from the well while I’m waiting for everything to heat up. Eat with the fam around 7:45, scrape my teeth and throw on some clothes, and I’m out the door by 8:05 for my 15 minute “commute” (I walk, no horse carts or anything like that). Arrive at school and prep for classes. Today’s vocob or some crazy drawing on our homemade white boards. Four classes with 10 minute pauses in between, just enough time to sprint outside to the bathroom around the back of the school. If it is one of our short days then I stay after with my partner and plan for the week ahead. Head home by three for lunch (nope, not a typo). Prep lunch if I beat my family home, and then eat between 3&4pm. Scrub up the dishes quickly and head outside to help with whatever chores need to be done. They are pretty stubborn about letting me help with the animals, but are ok with my lugging heavy sacks of whatever to wherever it needs to go. I also have taken over as the “barbat”(man) of the house, so I do plumbing work or electrical when needed (often). I head inside whenever it gets dark and start to prep dinner, host-ma and son head for the cow. Whip up some more potatoes, maybe a cabbage salad for a treat, and read my Newsweek while waiting (our sole consistent connection to the outside world, delivered every Friday).

Eat dinner, and then fight with my host mother over who gets to do the dishes. If she wins I head to my room to study (or read more in my Newsweek). When I can start to see my breath we go ahead and start a fire in the “soba”, which is an ornate wood stove built into the wall between our rooms. Fire is lit, and I settle in for a few more verb conjugations. Around 9 or 10 my host mom pokes her head in the room and we have our Romanian lesson. Sometimes as late as midnight we finish, and she traverses the freezing hallway back to her room. If I’m lucky, and my lesson in Romanian grammar has not knocked me out (grammar is my anti-coffee), I read a little, clean up my room or try and get some writing done. In bed by midnight with my two down comforters, waiting until I see daylight again.

Now this is my “average” day, though in reality every day is different. Mondays and Thursdays I have basketball practice at the high school (I teach at the middle school), after which I head to my partner teacher’s house for planning sessions. Wednesdays I don’t have class, but have been using the time to act as tech support for the computer labs in our region, or to head to the regional center to get mail or use the Internet. In the future this will be my time to work with the hospital staff or develop a side project. Fridays are a wild card, as I have to go into Chisinau fairly frequently for meetings, and thus have most of the day absorbed by the six-hour bus ride into town. Saturdays have been used almost exclusively for working in the fields, tending our six hectares, and Sundays are split between heading into the regional center to go shopping at the “piaţa” (pronounced peeatza), and then back into the fields to finish what we can.

Pictures

Moldova 16 group shot at our swearing in ceremony.
Howdy folks, just wanted to get some pictures up while I actually had a decent internet connection. They have removed the sole internet computer in our region, and thus I am left with a 33.6 dial-up connection, not the best for photos.
We are currently on fall break, and after spending the first 4 days harvesting, I decided to head down to Chisinau to get some work done online. Time here is of the essence, thus I will do an update on life when I get back from my village, and will only put in some captions for now. Hope all is well in the states.

These are some shots from my classroom. Me explaining first aid in Romanian (very interesting), and my partner teacher leading a class discussion.

I went back to visit my first host family, and rejoined the kids going to get the cows at dusk.

Some shots from my village. Left, Dried sunflower husks from the fields, we use the oil exclusively for cooking. Right, a traditional homestead in the village. These are fairly rare now, with most people upgrading their houses after returning from abroad.




My host mother and I at a freast prepared for when the director of PC Moldova came to visit us.

Trip to the big city

So, I just realized how long it has been since I posted. Hopefully there are still a few folks out there listening, my breathless audience of 10 or so. As I always promise, I will try to post a little more often, which may actually be possible in the future. My village finally got a touch tone phone server (yes, rotary died here on Oct 17^th, 2005), and along with it the ability to access the internet......at 33.6 kbps. Slow but tolerable, and while I won’t be posting a lot of photos from the home office, I can at least put my thoughts online.

This weekend was again spent in Chisinau, though it was a bit of a departure from the typical mini vacation of discussions in English with volunteers, and a trip to the “Big” pitata centrala (central market). We volunteers were hosting a Public Health Exposition/Conference. It was a gathering of health professionals, Moldovan non-governmental organizations, and ....our students. I know this last group is a bit of a wild card, but in the vein of making our program sustainable, we are getting kids involved in public health as soon as possible. Plus, technically this is the only way they can get some solid information on “taboo” topics such as sex-ed and AIDS.

So, I dragged two of my ninth graders down to the conference to see what they would get out of it. Since we are so far away though, this entailed an overnight hotel stay (we are about a 6 hour bus ride from the capitol). I, foolishly, decided to head into the city early to get some work done and to make arrangements for the evening. This meant that I took the 10pm bus into the city, arriving at 4am. While the bus that leaves our village at 4am is comfortable, and heated, the 10pm bus is not. Typically, one is able to stay on the bus and sleep until 6 or so, and then depart for their business in the city. It just so happened that we had a wussy bus driver, and he decided that it was sooo cold, he needed to go someplace else, and thus invited us to leave at around 4:45.

Luckily, the rest of my weekend went a little smoother. After crashing for 2 hours in the volunteer lounge at headquarters, I spent the day roaming the city on errands for my village. One trip into Chisinau costs roughly ¼ of a teacher’s monthly salary, so most folks try and take advantage of my frequent forays.

My kids arrived later in the day, and we spent the rest of the day exploring, as one of the boys had actually never been to the capitol. The other had been there for surgery when he was 9, but couldn’t remember any other occurence.

So after visiting a restaurant for the first time in their lives, and eating pizza for maybe the 3^rd time ever, we set out to find the monuments in town. It was absolutely amazing, one of the things the boys wanted to see the most was the collection of sculptures in the park of famous local writers and poets. Not only were these 14 year olds familiar with the names of all 20 or so on display, they could actually recite some of their works. I was more than slightly impressed.

Besides our nighttime run around the monuments, there was another great moment of the evening, that will stick with me for a while.

Dino, the one who had never been to the city, and who is one of the most intelligent kids in his class, was absolutely fascinate with the escalator we found in the old Soviet department store. After coming back down to the first level via stairs, he politely asked if he could ride up again, just because he had never done it. We were crushed to find that the system was already shut down for the night. Later on though, we found another one in a newer store, and he again begged to ride it. I almost fell down laughing watching him combine all the crazy and weird things that kids do on escalators throughout all their years growing up into three short circumnavigations. Finally, on a return trip, with some interesting gymnastics, he was chided in spitfire Russian by an old Baba (Russian for grandmother). He looked completely crestfallen, but hopefully he will keep the experience in his memory as a positive experience.

So, after an evening in the hotel, watching them savor glasses of Coco-cola like it was a fine wine, we headed off to the seminars. I spent the day taking people’s blood pressure, and explaining BMI (body mass index). Telling people they are fat tactfully is a bit difficult in English, just think what a treat it was in Romanian. The boys attended lectures on narcotics and AIDS. Hopefully their parents are progressive!!!

We snagged some great materials for our peers, I said a few words in English to the rest of the volunteers, and then we headed off into the city to catch our ride home. The car we were going home with was in need of a little repair, which was just fine our opinion as it gave us three more hours in the big city. Though the 4 hour car ride is what finally capped off our evening, it will be the three rounds of Frisbee that we played outside in unseasonably warm weather that I will prefer to remember.

Sunday was spent with the family, picking beets and carrots in the fields. Which though not really enjoyable, isn’t really that bad either. I won’t bore you with the details.....at least until next time.

Waiting for the ball to drop.

Update:
So, thus far, things will proceed as normal. I talked to my school
director, and he stated that since he had not received anything official
from the ministry of education, he wasn't planning on changing
anything. This may be permanent, or it may simply be a stay of
execution, but for now we can keep teaching in the schools. As it all
seems to be on a case-by-case basis, with each village making it's own
decision, we may never have any problems at my school......time will tell.
Otherwise, life marches on at it's slow yet hectic pace. After a week
in the capitol attending two conferences, I am glad to be at home in my
village.

Let the fun begin.

Howdy folks.
So things are getting real interesting over here for the PC health program workers. This Friday there was a meeting with the ministry of education. At this meeting, the Orthodox church announced that they disagreed with the new health curriculum, and wanted it withdrawn from the schools. After two hours of lively debate, heavily listing towards the opinion of the church, the program was stricken from the Moldovan school system as a mandatory subject. All this after officially being a subject in school for 4 weeks.
The church sited opposition to sexual education, and to informing kids about some of their freedoms in life, such as choosing your own religion. (please bear with me, as I am attempting to write this without adding my opinion.....as stated in peace corps policy). Those of you who know me, and my views on education, can guess my response these proceedings. It would run parallel to my feelings on the churches of America demanding that the theory of evolution be stricken from the curriculum. The only difference here is that rather that it being a single idea erase, it is the entire subject.
Granted, the subject may still exist in some schools in the future. The program will return to a testing phase, and each school with have the option to keep the subject. Thus, to put it simply.... If the school director decides to keep the subject, the mayor agrees with this decision, the school is able to retain a teacher for the subject, and there is a sufficient number of students who wish to still take the subject (as it is now their choice), and they have their parent's written permission-> then... this select group of students in Moldova will be able to receive education in life skills and health. For those of you wondering if this subject is at all valuable here..... I taught a lesson in hygiene last week and no one, not even my teaching partner, knew how to use dental floss, or that it even existed.
This is the current drama in Moldova for us. While I realize that this may pale in comparison to the greater problems of the world, we are grass roots workers, and we have just been uprooted.
More to follow.....

Hai la hora noastra!!

So I just got back from chaperoning a middle school dance....... I didn’t really realize that I would be chaperoning, but as I was the only adult in the building for most of the time, I guess I was in charge. Ok, so the assistant principal was out on the front porch of the school, but I was still amazed at the level of supervision that was not present. Realistically though, it wasn’t needed. The kids set up and ran the whole thing themselves, kept each other in line, and cleaned the place up when they were done. It’s amazing what a group of preteens is capable of.

Anyway, back to the awkwardness of being the lone adult/American at the weekend “disco”.

Actually it was kind of fun. I got to witness first hand the awkward slow dancing of 13 year olds. Mix that in with the fact that these kids have gone their whole lives only witnessing white people dance, and the whole evening was nothing but rap infused europop, with a little techno on the side. The highlight of this musical bouillabaisse was the “crazy frog” song. This “catchy tune” is a thumping techno remix of the theme song from Beverly Hills Cop, mixed with random interludes of the “crazy frog” making weird bleeping noises (think-Alvin from the chipmunks, on speed, having convulsions while trying to sing). Despite the fact that each reiteration (10 time in a 2 hour span) was greeted by squeals of joy (in that particular octave that only 10-14 year old girls can achieve), I will be happy to have this one quietly fade from the charts.

As I said, I did have fun. After a while I got over the “fish bowl” feeling and just had fun dancing with the kids. I was able to make a fool of myself dancing the “hora”, which is an amazingly simple traditional Moldovan circle dance, though I seem unable to grasp the oh so difficult concept of “four steps to the right, two to the left”.

Some new pictures

After spending the weekend near the Chisinau I had a few minutes to add a post to the site , but not much time to write before my bus comes. So, here are some pictures of life in my new village.

Some of the grapes outside our house. While grapes and wine are common in Moldova, they are relatively uncommon in my village. We have 5 varieties, and probably more grapes than anyone in the region. The really weird thing is that they actually taste like "Grape" flavored stuff (popsicles, cough syrup), except that they actually taste good. The grapes in the US don't taste like this. We have the common variety of white grapes you see in the store in the US, but they are less typical, and the others species tend to be sweeter and more robust.

Our new German Shepard puppy that is currently being trained to be our guardian. Three months old and ridiculously cute. He has a habit of chasing the chickens though, and eating the eggs before we can collect them.

My host mother is a Romanian language and literature teacher, as well as a fairly decent artist. This painting is on the back wall of her classroom, and is a copy of a famous painting of the Romanian poet Mehei Eminescu. He is somewhat revered here.....Like a god. I have yet to really get into his work, as I still have the vocab of a 6 year old.

Group work in my classroom with the 7th grade class. Yes I actually do have my own class, though it is a rival for most college dorm rooms as far as space goes. I guess I really can't complain though, since in do have my own room at school. As you can see, there is not a large difference in clothing for students, though track suits seem to be the all time frontrunner in favored apparel.

Back from the dead

A shot of Chisinau near the Peace Corps office. You can see the lines for the electric bus system overhead, and the old soviet style apartment buildings.

Hi folks,
Sorry it has been so long since the last update, but for those of you who still actually check the account, I will try to post with more regularity now. The is only one internet connected computer that is publicly available in my region, and close to 50,000 people, so getting time has been a bit interesting, that along with the fact that this computer is 30 minutes by car from my house.
Anyway, I am safely in my new village, and have started working in my school. I helped "repair" my school, which was an interesting process. Due to financial constraints, things are more frequently painted over rather than actually repaired. My school was built in the 60s, and is in reasonably good condition, especially now that the new heating system has been installed. The expression "everything looks perfect from far away" is perfect for describing many things in Moldova though. Every year everything in the school receives a fresh coat of paint, thus everything is "framos" (romanian for beautiful). There are some problems with this though. The major one being that all of the windows have been painted shut. Thus, you can't open the windows.....ever.....and there is no air handling system in the building. This makes my classroom somewhat fragrant. I actually have my own classroom though, which is a wonderful thing, and will make my work that much easier.
Teaching during practice school in my training village.

Tomorrow will be my first real class at my school, three classes to be more precise, completely in Romanian. Should be interesting to say the least. I did well at my end of training evaluation for language, but there is a large difference between a test and real life. Throw in the fact that the kids use incorrect grammar, talk fast, and actually speak a mix of romanina & Russian and my life gets real interesting. Hopefully it will all improve as my language does. I think I just need to get through the first six months without losing my mind.
Outside of school life is pretty darn good. My host family is great, a single mom and little brother......along with a cow, 8 pigs, 10 chickens, 4 dogs, and 7 geese. Needless to say, you always watch were you step when you are outside. My host mom is also a teacher, Romanian grammar among other things, which is great and horrible and the same time. My language will improve fairly quickly I feel, as long as I can continue to tolerate being continually corrected. Every once and a while though, a could use a quite meal without a grammar lesson.
She really does mean well though, and all other aspects of life are nearly blissful. All of the horror stories from other volunteer families simply aren't true in my house. They respect my privacy (remember there is no word for the concept of privacy in Romanian), they let me cook (unheard of for men generally), and they both speak slowly and clearly, and never seem to lose patience with my infantile language.
We spent over 12 hours harvesting potatoes yesterday, and though it was a lot of hard work, we generally laughed and had fun the whole time. We talked about life, told jokes, sang songs, and generally made the spine deforming process fairly enjoyable. I really do feel lucky to be where I am.
I will try and post again soon, hope all is well in the states, and in the rest of Moldova. My condolences to those affected by the recent storms in the southern US. I hope that the recovery effort gets a little more steam behind it and that things get cleaned up as quickly as possible.

Kids practicing gymnastics outside my school in my training village.

Buna Ziua. I snuck into the regional center today to try and get some work done, and wander around the market. We have one week left until we start teaching, so it is prime procrastination time. I am justifying the trip, by thinking that it is the only time I will have to purchase school supplies, but really I am just avoiding my work back at home. Who would have thought that writing lesson plans in a foreign language would be difficult. I will honestly say though that six weeks of study is not sufficient for drafting a sex-ed lesson in Romanian. Should be quite the chuckle fest.
Luckily this is only practice school, meaning that we are teaching real kids, but we will have other moldovan teachers in the room, evaluating our performance. This means that they will be there to reign the kids in if necessary, but they will also bear witness to the finer points of our embarrassing moments.
As you can tell, it will be a very relaxing week. All I have to do is create eight hour long lesson plans in Romanian, pass my second language examination, and create a two hour seminar to be attended by the adults in our village. Dire prediction abound amongst my fellow volunteers. I'm sure we will survive, and the humiliation will prepare us for what is to come when we actually step into "our" Moldovan classroom.

On a brighter note, or at least a less stressed out one. We had the opportunity to visit a local monastery on Saturday as part of our cultural ed classes.

Unfortunately this shot is not the greatest, as it was taken from the window of our transport on the way there, but if you look carefully, you can see the vineyards in the foreground and some distinct yellow bands in the background. Those are actually large fields of sunflowers. Sunflower oil is what is primarily (exclusively) used here for cooking, and people eat the seeds habitually. The other major agroindustry in wine making, and vineyards can be found everywhere. Almost every house has a few barrels in the basement, crafted from grapes in their backyard, and commercially the Moldovan wines are fairly well respected throughout the former USSR and eastern Europe. Just as an interesting historical side note to give an impression of the agricultural importance of this country for the former USSR; Moldova only accounted for 0.2% of the land area of the USSR, but provided ~10% of the agricultural products for the republic when the collective farm system was at it's height of production.This is the exterior of the "Summer church", and is the grandest of the buildings as far as ornamentation, but is significantly smaller than what most Americans would conceive of. It is more than sufficient though, as there is no seating, and thus many people can be packed in while standing during the services. Apparently they stand for the entire service, which I am told lasts between 3&4 hours. Which certainly gives me a great deal of respect for their devotion to their faith. The interior of the church is highly ornamented, with frescos covering almost every surface, including the vaulted ceilings. The alter is actually behind the giant gold wall pictured below, and much of the service is conducted with the priest behind the edifice, sometimes with all of the doors completely shut. We had a short tour from one of the nuns, but much of the details of the orthodox religion still elude me, and at this point I feel I have an even less than superficial understanding.

As this site is a regional gathering point for the faithful, they are working on the construction of a Cathedral, modeled below, with the framework nearly completed at this point. It was actually kind of interesting to be standing in the church with the chants of the priest and nuns accompanied by the visage of 1950s vintage tower cranes, visible through the alter window, slowly working away on the new structure.

The construction, along with all other activities of the monastery, are completely financed by donations. A truly impressive fact, as the new Cathedral will have a capacity of 3000 worshipers, and will be completely paid for in advance (there is no credit system in Moldova, no loans or morgages). In addition to supporting the 100 nuns that live here, and maintaining the immaculate grounds, the parishioners also completely support ~60 orphans who live at the monastery in the summer time, and are sent to boarding school in the capitol for the remainder of the year.

Ok, procrastination completed. Until next time.

Howdy folks, I have exactly 2 minutes left online, so this is going to be extremely short. Life is hectic at this point, as I start teaching actual students IN ROMANIAN in 11 days. Did I mention that all of my lesson plans must be in ROMANIAN as well. Needless to say, we are all stressing big time, and deciding who to listen to. Our project manager who says we need to get more sleep, or our language teachers, who say we should never sleep. All time should be devoted to studying.

Gotta catch the bus. Here are the two pics I successfully uploaded. A map of Moldova, and a shot of my Host family.

My little brother and cousin, overlooking the fields.



Taking a break from my studies to crank out a few thoughts. Don't know when I will get a chance to post, as I have no plans to venture onto public trans unless required to. I had my fill this weekend traveling to my new home for the first time.
We received our site assignments last week, and spent the weekend visiting with our possible host families. My situation was slightly different than most. First, I win the prize for most time spent in a rutiera (Moldovanesque for mini-bus), and Ididn't get any choices concerning host families.
To give you a perspective on the Rutiera experience, a little cultural eccentricity must be explained. Moldovans are not fond of breezes in vehicles. Thus, regardless of the outside temperature, or the number of souls packed into the vehicle, the windows are left closed! This of course is truly baffling to most Americans, and quite frustrating on a six-hour voyage in a rustic post-soviet transport. Especially since everyone is obviously uncomfortable. Air conditioning is a nascent concept, and even a vent rarely exists. My return to the capitol on Monday was a bit quicker, and cooler initially, as I was at the beginning of the route, and it was raining. In trade though, I was given a fragrant gentleman of significant girth as a seatmate. Luckily, I really like my village, and thus will only be traveling to the capitol when absolutely required. Those that have heard my affectionate verbiage concerning commuting will appreciate how fervent I am on this issue.
Some Moldovan kids who we met in our hub city.

Departure from the norm part two; most volunteers are given multiple families to interview and visit, eventually choosing the one who fits them best. I was informed that my familierenegadeed when they found out that a male volunteer was assigned to their village. Thus my weekend of interviews simply became an early chance to settle in.
So, after all that complaining, here are all the good parts. My village rocks, my host family seems great, and my school is progressive, well maintained, and highly rated. I havn't really figured out how I got so lucky, but lets hope my first impressions are correct.
I will be living with a single mom, and her son in the village. The have very nice home, a gaggle of animals in the yard (chickens, geese, pigs, and a cow), a lush garden, and a relatively large apple orchard for a back yard. My host mom is a Romanian teacher at the local high school, and has been a language tutor for volunteers in the past (she does not speak English though). I also think she will be my teaching partner, though I must admit that my fledgling Romanian, combined with Rutiera-lag may have created some misinterpretations. Regardless, she should be a great person to be around. She is pleasant, patient, and not smothering (a frequent challenge for some volunteers).

A little about the school. I will be a teacher in the Gymnasio, which basically has all of the grade levels excepting high school. It is a small school by American standards, with about 400 students. It is well cared for though, and seems to have a very enthusiastic faculty. Another amazing factoid is that the school is installing a gas heating system for the winter. This is huge for them, as it is not unusual to have to cancel school due to the cold, or a lack of funding for wood or coal. Even when the sobas (giant concrewoodstovesves) are running, most teachers and students wear their winter coats and hats indoors during the winter. Gas heat tends to be more efficient though, and cheaper, so there is a good chance I will be able to shed my parka for lessons, or at the very least have student whose fingers still function.

My host grandmother at her home, with fresh baked bread.

I will write more about the village when I actually have some pictures to share. I was a bit busy keeping up with the rapid-fire Romanian, and thus the camera stayed stowed in my backpack.
For now, it is back to my studies, which I am still efficiently avoiding. We have to start teaching full classes for students, IN ROMANIAN, in about three weeks, so I guess I should get back to my verb conjugations. My cousin and I were headed out to bring the cows in.
I avoided my vocab this afternoon by climbing trees to pick plums, and helping my sister make compote out of them for winter. It is actually fun work, but I only do it when I have the time outside of class. For my family, it is a part of their survival. Their life in the winter is dependent on their hard work in the summer and fall, farming and canning. This is a constant process, as things are continually coming in and out of season.
It may not make as much sense for those who have not spent time in an agrarian society, but I am learning more and more the significance of what another Peace Corps member told me about the life of Moldovans, and our perception of it, "What is quaint for us, is a hardship for them."

Homemade pickles for winter.

Our family garden in the backyard, at least part of it.

Where am I going?

So I found out where my new home is for the next two years. Due to security issues I am barred from posting it, but I can say that it is in the far north end of Moldova. It looks like I will have a great host family, a progressive school, and a large village by Moldovan standards.

Not much time to post anything else as I need to catch my ride home, but here are some more pictures. Thanks to everyone who dropped me an email, I will reply next week when I get the chance. For now I have a lot of prep work to do. We travel to our new sites for a visit on Saturday, and I have my first language assesment tomorrow, along with a meeting with my school director.
On Monday, I travel back to my current home solo! Should be a blast with only 4 weeks of Romanian under my belt.

Hope al l is well back in the states. My condolences to those in London, and those with family there. We were briefed this afternoon, and there are currently no concerns here in Moldova.

Some other photos

First Three Weeks

Howdy everyone,
Buna Ziua from Moldova. We are starting up our fourth week here, and I finally had a chance to get into town to get on the internet. Access is fairly easy, but transportation here can be spotty, and getting stuck in town is not a great option for the fiscally challenged. Anyway, I have posted some photos for everyone to check out, and will describe the country a little for those who are interested.
A little about Moldova.... This place isn't exactly what most people would expect for a peace corps assignment. This isn't a third world country, it is a developing nation. I am not out in the bush, 1000 miles from civilization, talking in tongue clicks and eating beetles.

This place is a strange mix of the old and the new. The roads are shard by horse drawn carriages and spanking new Mercedes. There is electricity (sometimes), but most houses don't have running water or toilets. We use outhouses, even in the dead of winter, which as I hear is going to be very cold. The best way that I can think to describe this place is 1920's rural America. Many people are poor and live and agrarian existence, but there are a few who have made some money, and are bopping around with all their new found material possessions. Everything you could possibly need or want is available here, it is just that no one can afford it.
The average Moldovan make ~2000.00 U.S. per year, and anything that is not produced in the immediate region is exactly the same price as it would be in the U.S. . Gasoline included. So as you can guess, there aren't a lot of privately owned vehicles in the villages. There is no real credit system in Moldova, everything is bought outright.

There are tractors, and modern farm equipment available, but ~99% of the work is done by hand. People will ride a bus or a horse cart out to the fields each day with a hoe over their shoulder, and spend all day bend over caring for their crops. Evenings are spent tending their gardens at home, caring for their animals, and doing all the time consuming chores of surviving and keeping a clean house. A good deal of time is dedicated to prepping for winter as well, as the only food available that is affordable, is whatever the family managed to get canned during the summer.
The up side of this is that everything is fresh, ridiculously fresh, at least in the summer and fall. The down side is that the winters are mostly filled with bors (a sour cabbage soup) and potatoes. Jars of homemade jam and pickled cucumbers offer brief respite during those cold times.

So what I am doing here in Moldova? The Peace Corps runs four programs here. English education, heath education, agricultural development, and economic development. I am in the Health and Life Skills program. I will be working in a local school, co-teaching with a Moldovan Partner. This may sound a bit hokey, but a lot of the knowledge that we take for granted in the U.S. is largely unknown here. I will be teaching neutrician, sex ed, communication skills, disease prevention, sanitation, financial management, and a host of other things that would wind up in a U.S. heath class in high school. The thing about it is that this is the first year this will be offered officially in Moldovan schools. Most of this info will be completely new for the students and the teachers.

Ok, so that is the grand overview. How am I doing? Pretty darn well actually. I have an amazing host family. We have an extraordinarily dedicated staff of in country trainers, and our language teacher is amazingly patient.
After three weeks, I feel like I can talk like your average three year old, but that is about it, unless it is some scripted dialogue that I have memorized. I can do likes and dislikes, where I am going, how I am feeling, and foods, and clothing. Not much, but hey, I still have 7 weeks to become fluent!!!!! (suppressed screaming). The days are long, and many times you just want to go to sleep, but there are verbs to be memorized. I take breaks by picking cherries and raspberries with my family, going running with my little brother, and reading technical manuals in English (this is all I have got that isn't in romanian or Russian).

Ok, for those of you still with me, that is enough for now, I will keep this updated as well as I can, but especially for my first 10 weeks in country, things are going to be nuts. We find out our permanent assignments on Thursday, and I will travel solo to my site on SATURDAY!!!! --- I need to go study.

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