Stereotypes and Roma Culture Workshop

Understand: Like the word "gypsy" is used in English to refer to a Roma person with rather derogatory connotations, the word "țigan" is used in Romanian to refer to a Roma person who supposedly lies, cheats, and steals. 

A year ago, a girl at the youth council started a new relationship with a Roma boy and was teased mercilessly for it. Ignorance is rampant all over the world, no doubt about it. 

 Hence, a few Peace Corps Volunteers recently ignited a new effort specifically dedicated to increasing understanding and respect toward Roma people in our communities. This group calls itself RISE: Roma Inclusion, Support, and Education. 

Almost a year from the day I first heard that ignorant language at the youth center, RISE came to facilitate a workshop on stereotypes and Roma culture. The workshop required participants to learn definitions of key terms, identify their own prejudices, and learn about the Roma communities in Moldova.

All throughout the workshop, I could see the kids either a) wanting to believe whole-heatedly everything the facilitators told them, or b) wanting to argue every point the facilitators told them. Result you ask? Great discussions all around.

Here are a few of the key learning points, paraphrased:

Boy: I don't think this 'Roma' word is correct because I've never heard it. We say 'țigan.'

Facilitator: Roma is correct term. Ask a Roma person and that is what they will identify as.'

Girl: This is all so hard to believe because all our lives, we are taught that these people are this way, or do that. Then, when my father was taken advantage of by a Roma person, we say 'look, he's Roma and he did this.

Facilitator: But I bet a lot of Moldovans have also stolen too.

Boy: Discrimination means treating someone wrong because of who they are or what group they belong to.

Facilitator: You are going to be a great president some day!

Thank you, Moldova!

Among the attributes that makes Peace Corps a unique agency is the fact that we only go where we are invited. We work in partnership with local government and civic organizations at their request, not our own. 

Peace Corps' mission is to promote world peace and friendship. We do this by 1) helping people of interested countries in meeting their need for trained men and women, 2) helping promote a better understanding of Americans on the part of the peoples served, and 3) helping promote a better understanding of other peoples on the part of Americans.  

In recognition of more than 1,000 Peace Corps Moldova staff and Volunteers' efforts to achieve this mission, Peace Corps Moldova was recently awarded an "Order of Honor" by Acting President Marian Lupu. 

According to Moldpres on 24 June 2011: "Acting President and Parliament Speaker Marian Lupu signed a decree decorating the U.S. Peace Corps in Moldova with the Order of Honor as a sign of profound gratitude for distinguished contributions towards economic, social and cultural development of the Republic of Moldova."

To me, the news this week serves as a reminder of that invitation to serve in Moldova. Moldovan people want us here to help prepare them for their future and foster cultural exchange. 

Thank you Moldova for your support and partnership!

I'm not supposed to write about politics

It would be unfair, inconclusive, and unsettling if I wrote about any of the electoral outcomes I have witnessed in Moldova. The mission of my organization is world peace and friendship. On a day-to-day basis, this rural youth-development worker is hardly ever impacted by the political climate of the country. I do not make any concerted effort to contribute to the marketplace of political ideas and solutions. I hear what I hear, read what I read, but tend not understand the implications of everything I'm told. I can practice empathy, but I'll leave economics of developing countries to the experts.

Yet, with local elections for mayoralties and city councils just around the corner, politics are starting to matter in the daily lives of my friends and neighbors. When I first started hearing the stories I'm about to share, my immediate response was to ask "What year is this?! How is this happening?!"

Thankfully, I took some time to unpack these stories and their implications before deciding to share them with you. I now understand my immediate reaction as ethnocentrism and ignorance at their worst. My reaction was ethnocentric because I recognized these stories as replications of history's hardships, and my socialization encourages progress to the point that we attempt (though not always successfully) to avoid those Polaroid-perfect hardships. My reaction was ignorant, because I though I have lived in Moldova for two years, American tax payers are very generous. Never do I think twice about buying bananas in winter, the Peace Corps doctors recommend it! Never do I worry about my house being cold, Peace Corps pays the bill! Though I have lived without many contemporary American comforts, it's not as if I truly had to make it on my own as my Moldovan friends and neighbors.

These stories were told to me by my host mother. Her political affiliation doesn't matter, because both of the political camps chose the methods she described. Let me say that one more time for clarity, both political camps are described below, using the exact same tactics.

First, she told me that our elderly neighbor (who would otherwise never leave home) took part in a political rally in a neighboring town this week. When my host mother questioned her about her motivates, she said the political party sponsoring that rally gave all the participants a chicken, fish soup, and half-liter of wine.  She took the food in exchange for her support of that party.

This is when that ignorant reaction came into play.

The next night, my host mother said the same neighbor admitted she is conflicted about her vote. She really needed that chicken from the rally and committed to voting for that party. But now a different party is offering other goods to potential voters. This party is giving away sacks with a kilogram each of rice, sugar, and flour.

Again, ignorance and ethnocentrism came shooting up my spine, flooding my thoughts with images of Stalin, Animal Farm, and the hammer and sickle icon still hanging on many public buildings in town. But I'll say it again, both political camps are using this exchange of basic commodities for votes. It is not as red as this ignorant American would have assumed. It doesn't matter what party gave my neighbor a chicken and what party might give my neighbor flour. The news merely hit me in that shocking way that stops one mid-breath without knowing precisely why or if it should. The kind of news one must commit to understanding immediately, or it will be forgotten just as quickly.

I suppose hearing this news startled me because I understood it to be wrong, and the exact opposite of the progress my culture promotes. But then I thought, it doesn't matter what I think, I am neither a beneficiary or victim of these tactics.

The only thing I can really know is that a beneficiary of these tactics (my neighbor) is confused, and a victim of these tactics (my host mother) doesn't blame the beneficiaries for participating, but yearns for progress she sees other countries making on the evening news. "How can someone who watches the news still think that giving away bread is something we do to earn votes in this modern year?" She asks, again and again.

I don't have an answer for her now, but try to explain that life isn't a sweet peach in America right now either. That's a lie. How can I honestly say that it's hard for the elderly in America right now too? How can I say medicine is expensive for them and that our government is arguing over how to care for them? I can't. Put in my neighbor's position, a chicken and kilogram of flour would sound pretty good to all of us.

Go ahead, call me privileged and pretentious. The former I am learning to accept, the latter is what makes people write blogs in the first place. 

GLOW workshop: "How to run a youth empowerment camp"

Meet Irina and Marcela, president and vice-president of the Local Youth Council. These two young ladies are standing in the Peace Corps Volunteer lounge the morning of GLOW's workshop on "How to run a youth empowerment camp." They wanted to attend this workshop to see what new ideas they could take back to the council for this summer's upcoming leadership course. 

Dozens of other Moldovan youth and Peace Corps Volunteers came to the workshop with similar intentions. School ends next Tuesday and then summer camp season will officially commence! This year, GLOW is focusing on a local day camp model, encouraging Peace Corps Volunteers to work with local partners to hold day camps in their communities. Day camps, unlike overnight camps, do not require transportation and boarding costs that sometimes prohibit camps from actually taking place. 

At the workshop, participants learned about the logistics of running a summer camp, how to finance a camp, potential activities, instructional topics, and the wide-range of resources available from our partner organizations. The workshop was an all-day commitment and the room was stifling, but enthusiasm remained high for most of the day. As with similar events, this workshop provided time and space for ongoing experience exchange throughout the day and camp organizers learned from one another's stories.

At the workshop, I facilitated a session on local fundraising. I've delivered this session five times in the last ten months, but I think this was my last. As it turns out, one of the Moldovan camp organizers and a Peace Corps Volunteer in attendance at this session heard my talk before and were able to tell me about their local fundraising efforts since we saw each other last. That feels good!

 

When I joined the local fundraising movement two years ago, things were a little more challenging. I'll never remember the first people to come "taste" our chocolate chip cookies, say thank you, and walk away without making a donation to our cause. But now, penny wars are one of the most popular ways to raise funds in a school. Benefit discos are organized for teens, tweens, and children alike. Local fundraising might be the only grassroots movement I've ever participated in successfully.

Once again, big THANK YOU to the organizers of this workshop!

World Map Project | Proiectul Harta Lumii

When a fellow Peace Corps Volunteer had to urgently leave the country, she wasn't able to finish the World Map Project she initiated in her community. The World Map Project is a worldwide Peace Corps initiative that began in 1988. A Volunteer in the Dominican Republic was struggling to teach her geography lessons without materials, and thus resorted to painting the map directly on the wall of her classroom.

I traveled to my friend's former village this week to help her community implement the project. Through a penny war, the students raised close to 300 USD, enough to re-finish a wall and buy all the necessary supplies to paint a map in their main corridor. Though I was rather intimidated by this project, my friend's former partner (Liliana) and I found the Peace Corps' World Map Handbook extremely easy to follow. We even finished the project hours ahead of schedule.

We spent the first day reading the manual and organizing our plan. Day two we made a grid on our map to make the sketching of the countries practically fool-proof and started painting. According to the manual's color-coding, Russia was painted yellow, Ukraine red, and China pink. If you are eager to make a political joke about the color coding, too late. I've heard them all this week!

By the end of the third day, we had every country painted and came back the next morning to make last minute touches and let two girls from the eighth grade scribe the names of each country.

I could not be happier with the results of this project. I was a skeptic at first. Had no idea what I was doing. How could I help with a project I knew nothing about? But now I am seriously considering doing a World Map Project in my own community. I owe a big THANK YOU to the other volunteers who gave me advice along the way. You know who you are!

Easters in Moldova: Two beautiful days

For the play-by-play of Orthodox Easter, click over to my post from last last year. I hope that post and the pictures below convey the high regard I hold for Orthodox Easter in Moldova--two of my favorite days in my whole service. The Easter customs and traditions in this faith community are some of the most beautiful things I have ever seen.


Think of a family-friendly Christmas movie in which, perfectly, the entire town carries candles to the central square and carols around a large Christmas tree. Fast-forward from that scene to Easter, and there you have it. Easter in my community means that the church courtyard is filled with warm smiles, anticipation, and candle-light.

It means that adults and children alike will squeal when the holy water landing on their faces chills their bones. It means the number of meals in a day will double. It means that sun will shine (at least that has been my luck) and we will go to the cemetery to be with those we loved and lost. It means we will greet an unusually high number of strangers we pass on the way. This is Easter in Moldova.

*Big thanks to my host brother, Sergiu, who spent his last two Easters teaching me everything I've shared in these posts. Merci mult, Serji!

Summer of Eurovision

Nelly Ciobanu's "Hora din Moldova" was the most popular song on the radio and television when I arrived in Moldova two summers ago. Now, it's impossible to attend a wedding or town celebration without dancing a hora to this song. It was the song "chosen" by Moldovans to represent their country in the 2009 Eurovision competition.

I have to include the quotation marks in that one because I have had more than one conversation with Moldovans about how the voting in this competition is often inherently skewed to those in the cities with access to things like the internet. Since most of the voting during the international competition takes place by phone, more than one person has expressed to me that Moldova's chances of winning this competition are inevitably wedded to the country's economic well-being. Perhaps when enough Moldovans are earning a disposable income, and are able to make those expensive phone calls, Moldova will garner more votes and win the chance to sing in the final round. 

Eurovision is a televised, annual song competition that began in 1956 under the management of the European Broadcasting Union.  During the summer, every pub not showing a football game on the flat screen, will be tuned to the Eurovision competition. Most songs are mostly or all in English, as participants are probably trying to become the next ABBA. Eastern Europe loves ABBA. The group got it's big break when it won the Eurovision competition in 1974.

Zdub si Zdub, one of the most popular musical troupes in Moldova, will return to the Eurovision competition this year. Making it into the top 10 songs, Zdub si Zdub represented Moldova's first entry in the competition, in 2005. I don't actually like this year's entry, but here I've included that 2005 song about a granny who liked the drummer.

Youth Council Open House

Last fall, a number of my Peace Corps colleagues started asking questions about my youth council. What is a council? How is it different than a volunteer club? Can I come visit? Thus, we developed the following program to both educate Volunteers about the council model and provide a space for an experience exchange between two youth councils and the Peace Corps community. 

The Guests

From the Peace Corps community, I first invited another Volunteer working with a Local Youth Council in a neighboring district. She and three of her most active council members came to help us convey the essence of the youth council model. In this picture, the visiting youth council is presenting our President with a medallion and pennant from their city.  

Other Peace Corps guests included Volunteers working with civic education curriculum, and those interested possibly starting a youth council in their villages. 

Part One: Youth Councils

In the first half of the program, both my youth council and the members of the visiting council discussed their activities. In true contemporary Moldvan fashion, each group presented picture slideshows of their favorite activities. My council also showed a short video, with a Mandy Moore song for a soundtrack that makes you...well....pray for it to end quickly.

As if anticipating the day's second act, I watched as the presentation to Peace Corps guests, about council activities, soon turn into a series of discussions between the two councils about how each group pulled-off their respective activities.

Lastly, my youth council presented their summer leadership course model, the best youth program I have seen in Moldova yet (credit to a previous Volunteer, not me). This is an 8-week course taught by youth, for youth. Each year's graduates are given the chance to be trained as trainers for the next year, making it an incredibly sustainable event. Since the program's initial success via a small grant, the district and city councils continued to fund it annually, no questions asked, no grant applications.

Coffee Break

Almost every Moldovan event comes with a coffee break. Ours was very typical, instant coffee and tea made available with hot water from an electric kettle, cookies, chocolates, and pastries. 

Naturally, as the group migrated to coffee break, it settled into three distinct communities: my youth council on the couch, the visiting council at one end of the table, and Peace Corps Volunteers at the other. But, since I happen to work with the best youth around, Victor volunteered to provide a mixer, resulting in the activity shown above, mixing the participants and providing an opportunity to present a united presence via a perfect circle. 

Part Two: Experience Exchange

The goal of part two was to generate as many ideas as possible. Additionally, since the Peace Corps guest learned so much from the youth in part one, this was a way for them to give back a little, and provide examples from their own experience in clubs and organizations.

Using a very simple rendition of the Open Space Technology, we brained stormed a list of topics, chose three (recruiting volunteers, maintaining and motivating volunteers, and promoting youth talent), and divided into small groups.I loved watching these small group discussions. Frequently, expressions of intimidation (upon hearing about another's success) turned to curiosity, and finally enthusiasm crossed the faces of those most engaged in the discussions.  

After 20 minutes of sharing experiences and ideas, each group reported their notes (which each participant will receive an electronic copy of), and we closed the day with our Local Youth Council secret clap, the one we use to finish every event at our council. Though, I guess that gave away our secret...

Human trafficking prevention for youth

For a little to  over a year, I've been serving as a board member on a Peace Corps Moldova committee dedicated the issues of human trafficking and migration. Our primary work is to connect resources (which are concentrated in cities) to rural communities (through Peace Corps Volunteers across the country). I had no particular interest in these issues before I came to Moldova, but migration is such common fate for Moldovans that it was hard not to notice.

I work rather closely with a local branch of Medecinus de Monde (Doctors of the World), a French human rights organization. This organization's post in Moldova is a pilot program, the first in the organization's history to occupy itself with the issues of human trafficking. This office offers both assistance to victims, as well as a prevention program. I only work with the prevention staff, chiefly Cristina (pictured below). Cristina's volunteer program was named best in the country, in December 2010--an award they absolutely deserve.

Cristina and I have worked together to promote her organization's youth seminars among Peace Corps Volunteers. Last fall, we hosted a joint event with the Medecinus de Monde volunteers and the youth council in my town. We also held a small open house for Peace Corps Volunteers at her office, in October, where we discovered that more than one volunteer actually lives in a "priority location" for prevention programming.   Months later, the seminar featured in this post is a direct result of that meeting.

On Monday, I traveled with Cristina and two of her college-aged volunteers to a village in my district that is denoted as one of the "priority locations." Thanks to the help of Rachel, a fellow PCV in that village, we were able to schedule two simultaneous seminars for ninth grade classes.

Now having seen the Medecinus de Monde seminars several times, I can practically recite the material by heart. First, Cristina helps the students come up with a working definition of human trafficking, followed by activities and discussions related to what trafficking looks like, the steps of trafficking, why people are trafficked, and how to prevent oneself from falling victim to it.

In this picture, Cristina is reviewing a drawing the students made of a trafficking victim. She is pointing out that while the students drew a sad, weak, and female victim (presumably trafficked for prostitution), there is a growing trend in male trafficking. I know this to be true from the reports I've seen, and as Cristina is discussing in this photo, male victims are typically those who go off to work three months at a time in Moscow, Russia and never get paid for their work. These men do not identify themselves as victims, but merely unlucky individuals who took a risk by taking an under-the-table job, and therefore do not often report their experiences to officials.

This class of ninth graders took all of 30 seconds to remind me why I hated junior high school, and I wasn't particularly certain the students would allow us to make progress. I ached for the five female students in the first row as their 15 other male classmates attempted to one up each other in all their ruckus. But I admit, I was too quick to judge. The best moment of my day was made by those who were the most disruptive students of all. At one point, towards the end of the seminar, Cristina recited the phone number of a 24 hotline, based in Chisinau. I wouldn't have guessed that these three boys in the back of the room were paying attention, but as Cristina recited the number a second time, all three boys took out their cell phones, and entered the number.

Whoa. That was a great moment. 

Youth Exchange, take two.

Recall my trip to Zachariah's village last December. The purpose of my trip was to facilitate a youth experience exchange between Zachariah's youth group and another youth group in a neighboring village, led by PCV Shannon. Both of these volunteers are facilitating youth initiatives according to the Public Achievement curriculum. 

The previous attempt to have the event was cancelled due to a blizzard, literally. But this time we pulled it off and had a lot of fun doing it. Big thanks to Zach and Shannon for the invitation!

The Purpose

The goals of a youth experience exchange (Schimb de experienta) are rather simple; to give the youth a chance to share their ideas and intentions, learn from one another's experience, and foster new acquaintances. 

On the bus ride from the first village to the village were the event took place, we couldn't help but conclude that this afternoon outing was one of the few "field trips" these kids have been awarded. The distance from one village to the other is just 15 minutes by bus, but as a student group, the practice of visiting another group is not yet venerated like the countless youth exchanges an American student leader might attend during his/her high school career.

Standard Beginning

Shannon's facility was a great place to have our event, and after her director and the mayor of the village said a few introductory words, the director introduced the first activity: Human Bingo.

Up until that moment, as my colleague noted, the scene was so terrifyingly typical of high school students it made us cringe. The two groups took seats on opposing sides of the room, looking at the other group but trying as they might to pretend they have not a care in the world. Lipgloss shimmered off the shy smiles of almost every girl in the room, one boy wore a full suit, and though many of the participants introduced themselves as 18 year-olds, I hardly believed they could be 15.

Project Ambitions

Each of the youth groups is working on a community project. At this point, each group has identified a problem in their community and a potential solution. We wanted to give the youth an opportunity to discuss their projects and improve their solution proposals at the youth exchange.

Representatives from each of the groups gave a short presentation about the problems in their respective communities and their potential solutions. Shannon's group yielded the floor for Zach's group (the guests) to present first. Two of the youth described the problem their village: no place for the youth to congregate in their free time (very common opinion in Moldova). Their solution to this problem is to build a youth park, near the school. The youth showed off their sketch of the proposed park, as well as the results of a survey they did in their school, which speaks to the support they have from their peers in undertaking this initiative. 

Shannon's group then spoke about the limited access to food in their school cafeteria, the problem they have chosen to attack. Their proposed solution, to provide a tea service service during class breaks, is having trouble attracting the necessary support.

Teamwork

Since both of the groups are rather new, it seemed only appropriate that our interactive break from project analysis came in the form of a team-building activity. The human knot is a perfect way to do this, with groups who have never done it before, because they will participate in the debrief with sincerity. In order to continue the acquaintance building, we mixed the two groups together for this activity.

One team manage to complete the task of untangling themselves. When I asked the group how they succeeded, the common response was perfectly textbook, "We had to listen to everyone's ideas." (Thanks for playing, tell them what they win Bob!)

I asked the other group, which didn't manage to finish the task, if there was a clear leader in their group. "Yes!" They shouted, "Zach!" Hmmmm....

  

Project Analysis

Keeping the two groups mixed, but divided equally. We spent the next 20 minutes analyzing the project proposals. We decided to use an activity called "Driving Forces," that I found in a Peace Corps manual. It requires the participants to consider the "positive forces" propelling their project forward, and the "negative forces" pushing back the progress. Both groups needed to hear the truth, that they need support of other partners (school directors, other administrators, parents, etc) in order to succeed.

At the end of the day, two participants said that they learned something new about their project through this activity. Thus, my job was done and I went home a satisfied facilitator.

Diplomas, Pizza, and New Friends
At the end of the event, Shannon's director awarded each of the participants a diploma (very important in Moldovan culture). Though I somehow don't have a picture to prove to you...Shannon created beautiful diplomas complete with a photo of yours truly and the title "Moldovan Youth Facilitator." Shannon is amazing like that.

The Mayor of the town took a moment to speak again, awarding the Peace Corps Volunteers who participated our own diplomas too (pictures in the slideshow, above).

Then it was on to the pizza party, where we observed as the youth took it upon themselves to make sure there were youth from each village sitting at each of the tables. Way to go kids! Job well done!

After seeing how impressed youth from Shannon's group were with the youth from Zach's group, and vise-versa, I am once again convinced that experience exchanges are the way to go in youth development here. It hardly matters if I, an American, go to a group of youth and tell them they can be the change they want to see. If they hear it and see it being done by their neighbors, the youth are much more likely to believe that they can do it too.

To each cook, his own kitchen

In this picture, you can see my entire kitchen. Our townhouse is small, having exactly four rooms of almost equal size.

But in the village, the soul of Moldova, it is much more common for kitchens to be separated from the rest of the houses.

Below are some photos I snapped of a colleague's kitchen, while he prepared some scrumptious curried chickpeas for our dinner. We also made a couple trips to the cellar, where another colleagued risked the future use of his fingers by pulling pickles out of their freezing liquid with his bare hands. Ever heard of a fork, Mr. Laurie?

This kitchen is pretty typical of a village home. Since it's not actually in the house, to me it feels a little like cooking in the garage. Where my Dad might hang coiled extension cords and a collection of wrenches on a wall, this kitchen is bedecked with pots and pans. 

It's also unheated. In the summer, that is a great method of keeping the home cool. In winter, it means we exchanged house slippers for regular shoes and I donned one of the thick winter vests for the duration of our cooking. 

"The vest is better for cooking," explained my host when he brought me this vest instead of my coat, "no sleeves to get in the way."



Just like we should have anticipated, this meal (with two Moldovans and three Americans) quickly digressed into a tri-lingual spectacle that only we, Peace Corps Volunteers and our Moldovan friends, think is entertaining. Everyone arrived at the house that day from different locations, somewhat road fatigued and attempting to fight off the common cold. So, fits of laughter would quickly turn into fits of coughing, thereby inducing more laughter given that the coughing because of the laughter was just that hilarious.

"And that is why we are Volunteers," declared my colleague. "That is world peace and friendship, right there."

Romanian: Two countries, one language?

Shortly after the arrival of 2011, I took a three-day trip to Transylvania with three Peace Corps Moldova colleagues. This is a shot I snapped from inside the infamous Bran Castle. Heard of Dracula, anyone?

The border crossings between Moldova and Romania are frequented by Peace Corps Volunteers with relative ease, since most (but not all!) study the Romanian language during our Pre-Service Training. I say we are taught Romanian during training, specifically, because once we leave training, some volunteers find it necessary (or more desirous) to deviate their studies from clean-cut Romanian to "Moldovaneste." Discussing language can lead to a rather political argument, but we'll leave that for someone else to un-pack.

Put one way, it's village speak. Put another way, it is a dialect that makes it easy for Romanians at universities and tourist spots to pick out the Moldovans. Moldovaneste tends to include Russian nouns, 'b' sounds dropped for the grunting 'g' sound, and words for fruits and vegetables that you will not find in a Romanian nor Russian dictionary.

My host family and neighbors will sometimes ask me to speak Moldovaneste for sport, entertainment for the crew painting a fence, or as a sort of 'party trick' that gets new acquaintances laughing. But for the most part, I work and live in a place that is perfect for the Romanian I was taught and continue to study every.single.day.

Thus, traveling in Romania is appealing because it's a foreign culture that I neither live in, nor rely on English for during my visit. This trip was the longest consecutive stretch of time I've stayed in Romania, and as the days went by, so too did my confidence as a "Romanian" speaker.

Menus with foods I didn't recognize. Signs I couldn't fully understand. Words necessary for our ski trip that honestly, I've never had to encounter in Moldova (and being the over-confident one that I am, I didn't bring a dictionary).

Okay, I concede to being a bit over-the-top....and almost everyone we encountered was fascinated by our group of American, Romanian speaking volunteers, from Moldova. Once, we found a cabby that spoke our language. The minute we mention Moldova, he abandons 'b' sounds for 'g' sounds and proceeds to tell us everything he knows about Moldova (a whole other story!).

I probably could have added 40 words to my Romanian repertoire, if only I'd had a Romanian dictionary on that trip. But then again, would those new words have been any use to me on this side of the border? Therein lies the Romanian question.

Eastern Orthodox New Year

According to the Eastern Orthodox calendar, I am obliged to wish you all a new year greeting. That makes today New Year's eve and tomorrow the start of the new year, marked on Saint Vasile's Day. The boys in this photo are my frisbee mates during the spring and summer. Tonight they came to wish us a happy new year in the same style as the boys in the short film from last year--by reciting one the poems that have memorized. It's called "urătura" (oo-ra-toora), and as you can see from last year, it's more of a chant really, and always accompanied by a bell. Also, as I mentioned before, this tradition resembles Halloween a bit, in the sense that after the children recite the appropriate greeting, the host/hostess dishes out candy, money, and loaves of celebratory bread (colac). They even come ready with bags to stow all the goods.

I read up on what all this sing-song is about in National Traditions (Capcelea Valeriu, 1998. Chisinau, Moldova: Evrica 70, 74.), which I received on my birthday. Below is what I learned, translated and summarized for your reading pleasure. If it sounds like an abundance of idyllic notions, it is. But imagine it full of rolling 'r' sounds and rapid-fire diphthongs and you have the Romanian language.

"The urătura is a new year's greeting extolling the homemakers, farmers, and livestock keepers. It is a greeting for those that love work, and for those that provide for the rest of us. It glorifies the work of the country people, who are charged with caring for the sanctity of the land. It is to celebrate him with  sweat on his forehead as he ensures us rich fruits and an abundance of everything. 


Modern verses may also include wishes for success in the recipient's village, and for those born in the coming year. The urătura always ends with a verse for the good of humankind, for everyone to have rich fruits, and to be happy and healthy in the new year."

Tomorrow morning, the children will come again. This part of the Moldovan New Year's celebration is called, "the sowing" (may the agrarian tradition continue as long as the soil will support it!). The children will recite another poem, and throw grain on our threshold as they do. Tomorrow's "sowing" may go something like the poem Capcelea included in my book:

To snow
To rain, 
To morning dew drops,
And for wheat to bud,
Rich with fruit!
To bring us hope
While passing through danger.
So children will grow,
And flower for many years
Like apples,
Like pears,
In the middle of summer
And in springtime.
Strong like stone,
Quick like an arrow,
Strong like iron,
Hot like steal.
To this year and many to come!


I'm sure most children will come deliver lines like this because their mothers compel them. But unlike why I can't tell you why fruitcake is an American Christmas item, I can tell you why the tradition of "the sowing" began, at least, according to Capcelea.

"In the old days, it was considered that children needed to learn how to plant the seeds necessary for bread--the source of life and joy--to love the animals, and now how to grow them." 


So how about a verse for the animals too?

For the lives of oxen and cattle
And your life also
To this year and many to come
With good health!
To be everything well!

Gifting the Third Goal

I wrote this post before leaving for Christmas vacation (I’m back HOME for a few days, meeting the newest member of my family)! If all goes according to plan, it should be published the day after Christmas, so as to not spoil any surprises from under the tree!

Peace Corps’ third goal is to share host country cultures with Americans back home. Thus, I offer you some of Moldova’s best, which yesterday you would have found under my family’s Christmas tree.

House wine and a single shot glass:

This wine is a gift from my oldest host brother, Mulțumim Vitalie! Typically, Vitalie bottles at least a portion of his wine in glass bottles, but he is one of the few that practices that for house wine. To be perfectly honest, most simply can’t afford it. What you see here is quite typical, a recycled plastic water bottle that he has filled from the barrels in his cellar. Everyone in Moldova will tell you that their house wine is the best. Though, I’ve had Vitalie’s several times now and the pitcher always seems to run dry...

The shot glass is something I purchased at the local market for three Moldovan lei ($0.24 USD). I procured this glass to accompany our wine because, as explained before, one glass is really all you need! Passing the wine is a customary. It doesn’t really matter if the guests are attempting to leave your house after a feast, it doesn’t matter if people are headed to a wedding celebration next, or if you are the host/hostess and you are exhausted. The passing of wine completes any engagement.

One person, usually the head of the household, is in control of the wine pitcher, and a circle is seamlessly formed. The controller of the pitcher will take a shot of wine and give an event appropriate toast. Toasting to health and happiness is always appropriate, but if it’s a wedding celebration,  then most people toast to lots of children, health for those children, and for the bride to acquire all the skills of a good housewife.

After that person drinks his/her shot, the glass is refilled and handed off to the next person. And so the passing of wine goes until at least one pitcher has been emptied. If people are having a good time....it’s always easy to run to the cellar and fill another!

Hand woven carpet:

Given the number of sheep in Moldova, it’s no wonder that carpet-making is held in high-regard. In most Moldovan homes, carpets cover both the floors and walls.

This carpet is small, so I don’t imagine my mother will hang it on a wall anytime soon, but it was custom made for her by an acquaintance of mine, Ecaterina Popescu. Check out her site here, in Romanian or English, but be sure to have your pop-up blocker disabled. Hoping that my Mom will actually display the carpet (either in this house or a retirement cabin on a lake in the woods), I asked Ecaterina for something incorporating the color blue and one of her less busy patterns.

It’s winter time too, so check out the snowy carpet washing I learned from my host family.

Chocolates and tea:

Moldovans love their novelty chocolate and their tea. There is really only one candy company from Moldova, so that is where I collected this variety of sweets to share with friends and family back home. I also snagged some “Green Melissa.” Melissa is a fragrant herb that many women grow in their gardens for tea. Unfortunately, this Melissa isn't originally from Molova, but I think the idea still counts (Russian, I believe). 

Sometimes when people ask me to repeat my name, I say to them “Melissa, you know…like the tea.” 

Unwilling to be disappointed

With the planning complete, my guides to working with youth thoroughly adorned in sticky notes, and diplomas for participation printed by my colleague, I headed south this week to help two fellow volunteers facilitate a youth experience exchange.

For the youth from these two villages, we planned an exchange that would quite intentionally direct them to clear action plans in the projects they have already selected. One group has a problem, but is seeking an appropriate solution. The other has a solution that needs to be fine-tuned for optimum success and sustainability. By mixing the groups and conducting two separate activities (one for each of the respective projects, in their respective stages of development), we hoped to expose both groups to tools appropriate for both needs. And finally, end the evening with a small disco-tech, as requested by all the involved parties.

The hour before we were to depart from one village to the other, I quickly lost track of the number of phone calls my colleague, Zach, was fielding. Partner teacher. School director. Bus driver. Youth. Until finally, despite our best intentions, we had to resign to the decision by the school district to cancel all extracurricular activities in the region due to the poor weather conditions (something Zach and I had been ignoring all day, unwilling to admit that the event might be in danger).

We allowed ourselves a few moments of despair, but I absolutely refuse to be disappointed about this site-visit. And the youth exchange WILL happen shortly after the holidays.

Zach is a volunteer in the Health Education in Schools and Communities program. This means his program manager assigned him to partners at both the school and local health center. In Zach's first six months at site, he's also began working with partners at the social cantina, a kind of soup kitchen for elderly members of the community. I learned so much about the Peace Corps experience of my health education colleagues by spending this day and a half in his village. I think they have the best of both worlds: a set schedule and routine at the school, plus flexibility to build capacity and meet the needs of the communities through the health centers.

For more on what it means to be a health education volunteer in Peace Corps Moldova, check out part one and part two of Zach's recent discussion on this.

This perfectly normal thing I do

My absolute favorite Moldovan hobby is called "going as a guest" or "plec in oaspetia." Some families (like the Popa Family) actually get upset when I don't invite myself over often enough. Yes, inviting myself is a perfectly normal thing I've learned to do. And...after separately running into three different members of this family, last week, and trying to explain why I haven't been to their house in a while, I decided to make the call.

But there is a catch. Guests should never go empty handed. In the summer, I might take a basket of apricots or bake a sour-cherry pie. Last winter, this family got introduced to a slew of American baked goods...Aurel digs banana nut muffins, and if her mother isn't in the room, Aura can eat five rice krispy treats really really fast. 

On this occasion, I baked nothing and brought nothing we grew in our garden. Instead, I picked up a box of chocolates and a bottle of Moldovan champagne at the corner store so that we could celebrate my Mom's birthday. Make no mistake, I don't mean my host mom, Maria. I mean MY MOM. Maammmica! This too, is a perfectly normal thing, in Moldova. I took a bottle of bubbly to another family's house to celebrate someone's birthday that couldn't be with us today.

Mom, the ladies of the Popa family (and the walking Kansas adversitsement, Yoel) wish you a wonderful birthday. Health. Happiness. Everything you wish in the coming year!

Youth Consultancy

My role in Moldova is changing again. There was the "try to fit in stage," followed by the "now you fit in and try to work with what you are given stage," but now, it's all about delivering change using what I've learned. Bring it on.

To my absolute pleasure, this transition doesn't just affect my work here at site, but more and more I am taking on a consultancy role, helping other PCVs working with youth in Moldova. I am writing the chapters of a book every time I respond to emails from Zach and Cammy. They are both working with brand new youth groups, trying to identify missions, solve community problems, and keep kids motivated. I do not even begin to claim to have all the answers, but it is incredibly rewarding to be able to help them prevent mistakes that I made (or continue to make). Also, as a colleague doing similar work on another topic recently pointed out, I am finally given the avenue for organizing all my thoughts and experiences. 

In a sense, this work is also why I was down south last week at Jen's site. Her partner has a group of youth that are too old to be direct beneficiaries of their children's center, but are quite interested in staying involved and developing new skills and understandings. I offer up the session we put together for them as an example of what it is I do in Moldova, it's been a while since I wrote about something other than birthday parties and my awesome host family. 

The Afternoon:

1) Evaluation of the group's Halloween party the previous week: What was the best element? What was the weakest element? What will they change if they do it again next year? Since this was one of their first major events...what was it like to work as a team?

2) Team-building activity: The human knot. Moldovans are not afraid of physical contact and have few personal space boundaries when compared with Americans, so it's an easy, and fun activity. What happened during the activity? Did they have to work as a team or could they succeed individually? Which was more important, listening or leading?

3) Building on their interests: The problem tree method (had I not prepared for this the day of, I probably would have chose a more asset-based activity, but I sadly fell for my old stand-by). After making a list of four youth problems in their village, the youth chose to attack teachers' vulgar vocabulary in the classroom. 

This is the most original problem I've ever discussed with a group of youth in Moldova. I was thrilled that they didn't chose litter in the street or poverty. Though, I cannot comment on the actual extent of the bad language problem and it should be noted that eventually it was admitted that possibly pupils' behavior is a contributing factor of the vulgar vocabulary. Anyway, moving on...

With the problem tree, we put the problem on the trunk, then address the visible consequences of the problem in the branches. This is the easiest part and usually takes only minutes to complete. Then, we move back to the bottom of the tree and identify the causes, or "roots" of the problem. This takes longer and just like always, the girls in this group were not all in agreement about the cause of the problem. 

4) Identifying solutions: Once our tree was developed enough, and the youth were focused again on the causes of the problem, we began to identify possible solutions. This is as far as I was able to lead them during this session, but next time they meet, the director of this center will continue with them to analyze the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) of their two proposed solutions: A) Writing a letter to the school director and B) Doing a pupil's campaign for good classroom behavior and teacher appreciation activities. I wish them the best of luck and can't wait to hear how it goes!

All in a day's work...

I'm down south working at my friend Jen's site for a couple days. She works at a center for kids that is funded by the American NGO "Keystone." Today, our mission was to teach a smidgen of English, and play a new game. 

Duck, Duck, GOOSE!

Embarrassingly generous, much appreciated

*Last post ever about birthdays, see 'holiday' posts for more*

Here's my PCV colleague Craig putting some remarkable mayonnaise art on the little tomato and eggplant stacks. My idea for a simple, American-style dessert gathering with the neighbors turned into a full-blown Moldovan masa. Maria was having none of that American nonsense this time around! Instead, she dedicated about a day and a half work to preparing this meal.

The menu went something like this: cheese pies, potato pies, chicken/pineapple/olive/cheese salad, beet salad, cabbage stuffed bitter-peppers, smashed beans, walnuts in about every dish, walnut pie, a roast chicken with potato wedges, adjika, those tomato and eggplant stacks, a dozen beautifully crafted pepper flowers, and homemade cake.

I can't really put into English words how much I appreciated this event. As I told the guests in my toast, last year I was in Chisinau, with other Peace Corps Volunteers, on my birthday. I thought those people were my friends. But all day my Moldovan neighbors called me to wish me well. So for over a year, it's been decided that I would do something with them to show how much I appreciate getting to know them.

Though, for all my efforts to make this evening modest (failed) and as little work as possible for my host mom (utterly failed), my friends and neighbors still managed to trump me. In the photo below is a snapshot of the beautiful table cloth eight women pitched into to buy for me. EIGHT! As they hoisted it above their heads and started whooping in high pitched tones, I knew what was coming next.

"Dear Melissa, we probably won't be able to give you this at your wedding. So we wanted to do it now," Svetlana said.

"It's for your home someday," Eugenia said.

"Get married soon!" Aliona lectured, again.

"To remember us at every special occasion," Maria said.

"I don't know what Mrs. Svetlana is talking about, I'm coming to America when you use this table cloth," Fedorita said, winking as she did.

What's left to say? I love Moldova. I love Moldova. I love Moldova.

My Moldovans

Last week I headed back to my roots, at least the ones that were developed in Moldova, and returned to the village and family where I trained last summer. In the afternoon, we did a short seminar for the new trainees, but really it became just an excuse to go back to the village. I  much appreciated the time I was able to take with one of our old language teachers, over tea, to converse no longer as child-to-adult, but as colleagues. She is among the most patient women I have ever met—proof is in her return to Peace Corps for a second summer to teach us clueless Americans.

I thought that going back to visit my old host family might be a little awkward, since so much time has passed and I know I wasn’t around for a recent wedding. But arriving to open arms, kisses, and smiles…followed by the dragging of my own two feet at the night’s end, when I needed to leave, is testament that we really did appreciate each other’s company last summer. As the house wine flowed, so too did some of the best conversations I ever had with the family. Amazing what a few more months of study can unlock! 

Since they are knee-deep in remodeling their home right now, I couldn't stop commenting on all the changes. For a woman with so many grandchildren, the installation of bunk-beds was a fabulous idea! They've also added new paint, a dining table longer than a village road, walls, doors, energy efficient windows, and gas heat. To cut to the chase, one of the daughters recently returned from her work in Canada.

My host mother and sisters were also adamant that I had changed too. Since I've heard this even here at my regular site, I think it's time to just come out and admit it. Moldova is teaching me to be a girly girl. I'm okay with it, I think. Maybe some day I'll even decide to have some of those...yikes...children.