Weekend visit to my new site!

Well here it is, my new house…and more importantly, my new place of work! When I arrived, my partner and several teens from our youth center greeted me with a huge banner and the traditional wine, golden bread, and pies. It was one of the most special things that has been done to show I am wanted in Moldova. One of the boys presented me with a wristband that bears the name of the youth council and said that it was the way they could show that now I am one of them. Where are the pictures of that you ask??? Well…some things you just enjoy in the moment.

After the welcome I spent the day at the youth leadership conference for our whole raion (district/county) that is put on each year by the youth council. Again, this is a sustainably planned program because the facilitators of the summer-long course are graduates of the course themselves. Almost like being back at res-life camp, we did teambuilding activities and exercises to build communication skills. Funny though, with only four weeks of Romanian under my belt, I had a little trouble “communicating” in this activity. The youth welcomed me with as much curiosity as I have for them and I know we are going to do great things. My partner spent a couple days introducing me to people around town, both the A and B “listers” of the community. Then we hitched it down to the capital city (literally, and not for the first time that weekend) to a conference to learn about one another’s objectives and setting my work plan for the first three months. Objective number one: continue studying Romanian!

My new host family is what we in Moldova call “mica.” That means small. I will be living with only a host mom, but it is great that she is already so supportive of the Peace Corps because she has hosted volunteers for the past four years. Together we made apricot jam, cooked dinner, and I worked in the garden with her sister who was visiting from her village.

MOST importantly, I met a fabulous neighbor who already offered to teach me how to crotchet lace table cloths this winter! I am so excited about this. A creative outlet, a skill to take home, Mom already knows what she’s getting for that big birthday when I get home, and I can’t think of a better way to encourage cross-cultural exchange (which is supposed to be about 2/3 of my work here).

I absolutely had a great time at my site visit and look forward to the opportunity to serve there.