Sunday, July 24, 2005

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.

Wednesday, July 20, 2005



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.

Thursday, July 14, 2005

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.

Thursday, July 07, 2005

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.

Sunday, July 03, 2005

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.

Saturday, July 02, 2005

Legal disclaimer - For lawyers and the incredibly bored

Legal Crud:

As required by peace Corps:

This site is the work of a Peace Corps volunteer. The opinions expressed here do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Peace Corps or the United States Government.

Photographs published on the site are the personal property of the author. Publication of these photographs, either electronically or in print is forbidden without expressed consent of the author.