Celebrate Good Times

I don’t really feel the need to write a post about how it feels now that I have been away from home more than a calendar year; to have one year in Moldova.  Instead, I just have a few memories to share about all the things that happened around the date of that particular anniversary that made it memorable.

[+] A colleague and I gave a presentation to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), at its monthly technical coordination meetings. These are attended by all the local and international organizations working to combat human-trafficking in Moldova. Specifically, we discussed how Peace Corps Volunteers can serve as partners to Moldovan organizations in this effort. Whether that be with skills transfer, the facilitation of strategic planning, or translations, we have PCVs who want to help. Thus, our task is to advertise that desire to our host-country nationals.

 [+] We welcomed the brand new batch of trainees to Peace Corps Moldova! There are close to 70 of them, the most ever to come at one time to Peace Corps Moldova. I thought I remembered those first few hours in Moldova pretty well, until I saw all these new faces experiencing it again. Suddenly, details of those moments came flooding back. That conference room was HOT. I wanted fresh air. Moldovan money looked so little.

 [+] I got invited to play in U.S. Embassy versus Peace Corps Moldova softball game (slow-pitch). I actually ended pitching most of the game…haha…that was funny. But oh how fun it was to be in little America for a couple hours! We arrived in a hodgepodge of taxis and public transportation, while the embassy gang drove up in their Jeep Wrangler, unloading coolers. Coolers filled with ice! Moms and kids sat on the sidelines. The opposing team consisted of accountants, Foreign Service Officers, and Marines responsible for the security of the Embassy. All in good fun.

[+] Saturday night we headed to the city center and the various jumbotrons to watch the U.S. and England tie in the World Cup match. Surprisingly, Moldovans root for England! Either it’s a regional thing, or our homeland really has become the big and the bad.