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.