Moldova 101

There isn’t a ton of new developments to update you all on…. because language classes just aren’t that exciting to outsiders. However, I thought I would take an opportunity to regurgitate to you some of the things I have learned about my host county. This will probably be brief, but only because my understanding is still brief. Let me know if you have specific questions and I’ll do my best to answer them (or find an answer to them).

To grossly over simply much of history, you have Moldova as part of Romania, Moldova as Moldavia, and Moldova under the Soviet Union.

It just so happens that my language teacher grew up in my village. She graciously gave up part of her afternoon the other day to tell us about what it was like to live in this village under the Soviet rule. Her story of this village is fairly similar across the country. In Soviet times, the communities had centralized economies. That meant that every person played a role in the greater good. The community thrived because everyone was working together. Our language teacher said schools were full, and people looked out for one another. Now, there are some in Moldova who are nostalgic for the old, stable, comfortable times. However, there are others who don’t miss those times at all because of the other restrictions (i.e. closed borders, etc.). I will make no assertions as to which side of this debate is more qualified.

Our teacher also told us a little bit about the “most tragic times in Moldova.” You could almost equate it with the “trail of tears” in the states. Basically, a group of people were taken out of Moldova and sent to Serbia in order to make room for more of another kind of people (Russians). This episode is referred to as the “deportations.”

Acum (now), in the independent state of Moldova, things are almost exactly as I would expect a young democracy to be. There is no other experiment on earth like it, and no one has ever truly mastered it. As part of this process, Moldova is facing a demographic challenge. With little work in Moldovan industries, many many many young people go abroad to work and send money back to their families. Repartitions are the number one source of income in Moldova.

This trend has a tremendous impact on the demographic make-up of Moldova. Essentially, there are lots of young children who live with their grandparents because their parents are away working. It is common for women to go work as caretakers for elderly people in Italy and men to go work in construction in Moscow.

The priest in our village told my classmate that although it is sad, it is necessary for people to go abroad. The priest’s own son (he’s Eastern Orthodox, not Roman Catholic) has been abroad for 9 years. However, the priest said holidays and fasting times give him hope because he sees young people coming home for these periods and participating in the traditions. It conveys a sense that Moldovan roots are strong and pride worthy. On a side note: I plan to attend my first service at the basilica with my mama gazda (host mom) this Sunday, I don’t intend to comprehend any of it.

So that is a small, very incomplete brief on what I understand thus far. I can only imagine how much more I will understand when I actually understand the limba romana!

P.S. Don’t you guys have any good news these days? We’ve heard about Michael Jackson, Farah Facet (sp?), and the cheating governor. How about some good news?

learning our prepositions in relation to this chair...

Cultural Day in the Park

Me, Miranda, Tara at Monastary

Monastary Trip

Buna Ziua!

Hey everyone! I am at an internet cafe right now with my fellow trainees and word is getting around that Obama killed a fly and Jon and Kate Plus divorcing! You guys have to keep me in the loop! :)

Anyway, it's been a long couple of days of studying Limba Romana, hanging out with my host Mom, and learning about Moldova. In Chisinau we spent the day learning our way around the city, how to buy goods and exchange money, meeting current volunteers, and most importantly ordering off a menu!

At home I spent the past couple evenings picking fruit. The raspberries are my favorite, but last night I had a cherry picking lesson because I picked the wrong ones last time. Oops! then last night I helped my mama gazda clean my room...no swiffer or vacuum there! We actually used a wet cloth to gather the dirt in my carpet, then a broom to smooth out the pattern in the carpet. Make sense?

We are working on learning more about our community and I had the opportunity to eat lunch with the mayor last week. He was very helpful and informed us of the work NGO's are doing in the community as well as the work of his office. I was happy to hear that the community likes to work together. A local company hired local labor to restore an old bakery building they are going to use as a textiles factory. Also, another building is being retrofitted to store construction equipment. These buildings were left without care when the soveit system collapsed.

The mayor also said that the community recently had a couple community days where volunteers came together to work on projects. That's very exciting for Moldova and I am very encouraged!

Lastly, a colleague of mine posted some video from our cultural lessons--great music and dancing! Check it out here: www.thenothsinmoldova.blogspot.com

The Nuts and Bolts

Since I’ve arrived in Moldova I’ve given much thought to the first Peace Corps Volunteers who set the stage for the work I able to do here. The trials and tribulations of those who have served before me set the pace for the efficient machine the Peace Corps is today.
Regarding food and water…we are given a list of things never to eat in Moldova, a list of things never to drink in Moldova, and yet another piece of large—though incredibly useful—luggage, a water distiller. The distiller pumps out crystal clear water and leaves behind tiny stalagmites inside the basin composed mostly of the heavy metals, bacterium, and minerals that are not healthy for us to consume.

Regarding communication…I have a cell phone that has a four day battery life and text plan to keep in touch with my colleagues (My parents have the number if you want it). We each purchased these individually, but the Peace Corps Moldova mentors orchestrated the process beautifully!

Regarding the healthcare…the fantastic medical team has been interviewing us, immunizing us, and supplying us with anything we need (i.e. calcium supplements and hand sanitizer). As our medical officer says…we are useless if not healthy, so her job is most important. Haha!
I promise to have more interesting (and often) posts when I move to my permanent site. Right now I cannot use the internet regularly so I am writing the posts as I go until I have access to it. Miss you all!

Colegi (colleagues)

So who am I preparing to serve with? Well...with the last one arriving today, we have a grand total of thirteen trainees in my village. The oldest is 72 and a former Foreign Service administrator. The youngest is yours truly. We hail from LA, Phoenix, Milwaukee, Chicago, Fairfax, and Seabeck/Port Orchard, Wa. W e have guitar players, Frisbee tossers, half of a married couple (the other half is training in another village), walkers, runners, former YMCA camp counselors, and disco freaks.

We are all COD trainees and will be working as “Community Consultants” throughout the country. Some will be placed in mayor’s offices, some with partnering non-governmental organizations. NGOs are a new trend in Moldova since the former Soviet state has continued to develop its independence. Two weeks from Monday our permanent sites are revealed to us and we start to go visit them. In some ways I hope to be headed south (closer to the beaches of the black sea), but there is so much I don’t know about Moldova yet I am hard pressed to state a preference. I can only hope to be placed in a community where I can be of use.

Special note: PCVs are not sent to random communities, the communities go through an application process to receive a volunteer. Peace Corps only goes where its invited!

Host Family and Food

If you’ve spoken to my Mom, you already know this part was very intimidating at first, but I am slowly slipping into a routine I find comfortable.

My host family consists of Mama , Olga (a widow), her daughter who is about to have her second child, one twelve-year-old-boy, and one seven-year-old girl. Recently another of Olga’s grandchildren was staying with us, but he was picked up by his mother yesterday. Olga has six children total, five girls and one boy. All are grown. Two live in the capital city, and are very kind. They visited recently and befriended me for an afternoon. They both speak a little English which they learned by watching American television.

My house is one of the nicest in the village. It is actually three stories and has basic amenities inside the house. I am very lucky. I have a private bedroom that overlooks the fields, and is decorated mostly in red (how did she know??). Though, I do not have internet, so that is why I am posting several blogs at once. Don’t forget to post questions/comments here…Peace Corps’ third goal is to relay what I learn back to you!

For security reasons I can’t say too much about my village on the blog. But some general trends about villages will be shared soon. Specific question? Let me know.
There are a lot of animals here, and yes, I have eaten some of them already…Chicken, turkey, rabbit, hog, etc. Every time I turn around it is time for another meal and I have learned to tell my host mother to only give me half so I don’t waste it. Her daughter is an excellent baker and already she has made several desserts.

My favorites so far are: raspberries (from our garden!), cherries (from Suzette’s yard), banana (not really from Moldova), suc (juice made from raspberries and water—the fruit is actually still in it--yum), and vegetable soup (supa). Soon the apples and grapes will be in season, strawberries too, but I don’t know about that winter!

Limba Romania este dificil!

Yes, learning Romanian is difficult, but it is proving to be really fun. We received roughly 10 hours of instruction before being dropped off with our host families (YIKES!), and now we have about four formal hours of instruction every morning. Not only do we have these three lovely Moldovenca teachers (seen here with America’s finest confections), but almost everyone we meet challenges us to learn something new. A neighbor, bus driver, PCV, etc. Acquiring the language is the most important skill we can acquire at this point!

Particularly fabulous of help is my host niece. This little seven-year-old taught me my numbers, colors, animals, gives me the funniest look whenever I say “nu intleg” (don’t understand), and is currently helping me learn the names of the body parts via my introduction of the Hokey Pokey. Hi-stinkin-larious! All of the neighborhood kids laugh at us. What a sight to see! Especially since my colleagues and I are already the talk of the town. If anyone has anymore suggestions for easy to learn American songs…shoot them my way, please!

So far in class we’ve learned the verb tenses and basic pronouns, dozens of adjectives, numbers (which includes being able to tell ages and time), family titles, greetings, and formal dialogues. Everyday builds on the previous, and it’s hard, but we are thriving and I can already have brief conversations with my host Mother at dinner (far fewer awkward silences!).

Almost all of my class studies Romanian, but a few were selected to learn Russian since much of the northern part of the country is mostly Russian speaking (See Moldovan your favorite Moldovan history book Re: actions of Soviet Union). We see them a couple times a week at our hub site for technical training.

Salut!

Buna Diminesta, everybody! It is a beautiful morning in the city. We will be here through today and then head out to our training villages. Mine is the farthest away, with about a 30 minute drive. My group is absolutely in love with our three language teachers. I will post a picture of them soon.

Yesterday we tried a variety of Moldovan food and wine, purchased our cell phones, and met with Peace Corps and U.S. Embassy staff. Today it's all about language language language since we are preparing to meet our host families tonight. It was very encouraging to go to dinner last night with our mentors because their language skills are fantastic! That's going to be me in a few months (hopefully)!

Stay tuned...

Arrived

We made it! I'm not really sure what there is to say....we took a long flight to Istanbul...slept on the floor their...took another flight and a bus from the airport. Flying in was exciting. It's absolutely beautiful here--very green! I spoke my first official Romanian at the airort to a nice Moldovan there. Last night some volunteers took us out to favorite hangout near the hotel and today we start training. Exhausted. But safe and here!

En Route to Pre-Service Training (PST)

Okay, nowhere too adventurous yet...just the Philly and the infamous JFK Airport...but I thought I would check in with everyone. So far so good on the Peace Corps bandwagon! My training class is about 60 Volunteers strong...with myself among the youngest, lots of eager English teachers, and a couple gentlemen preparing to serve for the second time.

So far there have been lots of laughs, a long workshop on Peace Corps Policies and our shared anxieties, baggage shuffling, and little sleep. But, the long plane ride ahead should mend most of the latter.

Anyway, don't forget to post questions and comments on the blog. I hope you'll try to make it as interactive as possible!

Buh-bye U-S-of-A!