Close of Service

This is a photo from my last day at the youth council. Near the top, you can see my friend Alina holding the homemade "yearbook" the youth made me. As of tomorrow, I am forevermore a "Returned Peace Corps Volunteer." 

I've spent the last three days saying farewell to my life in Moldova. Rather than attempting to duplicate my two years of service now, I encourage readers to use the sidebars on the right side of this page to browse through my posts on youth development, my community, and Moldovan culture. This blog is my story as a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Republic of Moldova. It exists to help promote Peace Corps' third goal of mutual understanding. If I've done my part, at least a few readers will have learned about the generosity, warmth, and beauty of the people that I shared about through this blog.

Please let me also recommend a few of my favorite moments in service to readers who happen to stumble across this page after I've stopped writing. 

[+] A Moldovan Wedding

[+] World AIDS Day 2010

[+] A local fundraiser

[+] Youth taking control of their futures

[+] A campaign completed

To those readers I personally know (or may be related to!): Thank you for your support! I can't wait to see you all soon and share more about my amazing host country. I'll probably be like folks in the video below, so be ready!

To the readers I am not personally acquainted with, thank you for reading. Please continue to leave your comments and help make this space a conversation!

La revedere!

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!

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!

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...

Job description: Fundraising Connoisseur

About 18 months ago I attended a conference with all the other Peace Corps Volunteers in my program. There was one Volunteer, Becca, who was in the middle of compiling a local fundraising book and looking for a group of volunteers to pass the project on to when she finished her service. Before she left, Becca compiled information from more than a dozen local fundraising activities done by Volunteers (see our Wine Day Bake Sale), including what the activity was, the target group, tips for others, and a short narrative of the experience.

Getting involved in this project was one of the most decisive moments in my service. Another Volunteer and I took over the Romanian translation of the book, which was finished in time for it to be printed for every Peace Corps Volunteer and his/her partner by the In-Service Trainings, in winter 2010. We again distributed it during the Pre-Service Training for new Volunteers, made it available online to all Peace Corps Moldova Volunteers, and distributed printed copies at the same winter In-Service Trainings to Volunteers and Counterparts. Somehow, getting involved in this project meant that the rest of my service I would continue to promote the use of local fundraising throughout my service. 

During the summer, I spoke with the new Volunteers in my program about the differences between local fundraising in the United States and Moldova. First of all, it is a completely new concept in a civil society that developed on a grant-to-grant budgetary model. Because it is so new, it takes a lot more publicity. One of the four best-practices we've developed is to "Talk it up!"

We have to tell our community:

Before--what we plan to do and why

During--what we are doing and why

After--what we have done and how the community contributed

The Volunteers that arrived last summer are no longer "new," as they are biting into the absolute flesh of their service right now. Over the last couple months I've spoken with Volunteers and their partners at In-Service Trainings about the best-practice above and the three others we've developed: define the budget, be an accountable team, and be transparent. At these trainings we distributed copies of the fundraising manual in English and Romanian. Very few partners have experience with local fundraising activities, but it would be an interesting project to sift through the records and find out just how many Peace Corps communities have used Penny War competitions to raise money for local schools, since Peace Corps arrived some 19 years ago. 

Yesterday, what is soon to be dubbed "Melissa's Roadshow" had its debut with a completely Moldovan audience. I distributed the guide and facilitated a short workshop for university and college students who volunteer at Medicii Lumii, in their human-trafficking prevention program.

But to be completely honest, I'm just the one who ended up compiling the information. The grass-roots work is being done by so many other great volunteers. Check out this piece about an English Education volunteer that can't get her students to stop churning out new fundraising ideas.

Vice President Biden's Visit

On Saturday, Vice-President Biden visited Moldova, the final stop on his Eastern European tour. The largest (logistically speaking) event of the day was a 15 minute speech he gave in the public square in front of the opera house. People began arriving for the 14:00 speech at 08:30. Roads all throughout the city center were closed to pedestrian and motor traffic. Secret service agents patrolled streets, building roofs, and oversaw the security stations where metal detectors were operating on electricity tunneled in through thick orange cords. 

Not sure how dedicated we were to the madness of the crowds (Peace Corps usually tells us to avoid them, not flock to them), my friends and I planned on a late arrival. Regardless if we didn't make it to the speech, we still had tickets to the meet-and-greet event afterwards. The first gate we came to was closed. The police officers said the area was full, no more entry allowed. But this is where I give a shout out to Boris, a Moldovan guest of one of my colleagues, who sweet talked the officers into letting  in the Americans and their guest.

Next we made our way through the metal detectors, but were denied entry to the main viewing area. All full, said the police. So I picked a spot on the fence that still gave us a good view of the stage. A volunteer came by and gave me a paper Moldovan flag to wave, and we were fairly content with the cards we'd been dealt. Moments later, a Peace Corps Volunteer on the other side of the fence said, "come with me," and back at the same officer who said the area was full, we were given a free pass once more. 

All told, we only spent about thirty minutes walking from the Peace Corps office to the stage, which is where we eventually ended up listening to the speech, directly behind the podium. This is a picture of Dr. Jill Biden arriving, she was looking at her feet as she walked, that is, until all the Peace Corps Moldova volunteers delivered a hearty, unison, "Welcome to Moldova!" 

The full speech can be viewed on YouTube, or you can read the Associated Press coverage. Biden spent most of the time reassuring the Moldovan people and government that the United States intends to be its partner on the path towards democratization, not just of Moldova, but the whole region. He said the work won't be done until Russia too achieves this measure. On the recent world events, Biden said he was glad “to be here at this transformative moment in your history and quite frankly the history of the world. Freedom is in the air, and democracy is emerging in countries that for generations have known nothing but authoritarian rule.”

Given that I've spent a large portion of my service working in human trafficking prevention, I was very pleased to hear Biden attend to this issue several times throughout the day. 

At the meet-and-greet event, the Ambassador introduced Dr. Jill Biden, who was the first to acknowledge the devastating events occurring in Japan. The event was only open to Peace Corps Moldova and the U.S. Embassy, so the children on stage are young Americans, many of whom I know have no recollection of ever being stateside.  

At the end of the event, we all lined up to have a Peace Corps photo with the Vice President. He happened to stand right next to me, and I chose this photo because you can see that he was clearly engaged in a conversation with us. He says we have to ensure three things in this country 1) transparent government without corruption, 2) an end to the human trafficking crisis, and 3) free press. 

When asked about the future of Peace Corps funding, Biden commented briefly on the political situation back home (I have completely missed the Tea Party phenomenon), and noted that it was his generation that started the Peace Corps; we have his support. 

He also shared a few personal stories, thanked us for our work, and said what we have to continue doing is changing attitude each and every day.

Engagement Party

Meet Justin and Rachel. Their story is much like the hundreds of others that you've heard about; the classic Peace Corps romance. They are one of two couples in my group about to tie the knot. As Justin would tell you, he planned to propose while riding on a camel during their winter vacation in Egypt. But he just couldn't wait and ended up popping the question as they did their laundry, on an average weekend at his site, and didn't even have the ring with him! 

I am so glad these couples decided to organize their own engagement party and let us celebrate with them. It was a rather classy night on the town, and one of the first gatherings (of which I fear there will be many) marking the closing of our time in Moldova. Over cold pivo, conversations inevitably turned to who's attending which graduate program next year, who's taking a year to travel, and who's still trying to figure it all out. 

We spent the evening toasting the happy couples in the only way we know how--Moldovan well-wishes include homes full of children, health, and happiness--and even dancing a huge hora to the live Irish music. 

Congratulations to Justin, Rachel, Erin, and Petru! Toate cele bune!

Meet the sun's rays

As I mentioned before the holidays, Yoel (another PCV living in my town) and I are starting to collaborate with a center for "socially vulnerable children." The beneficiaries of this center are sometimes abandoned by their families or sometimes families are unable to care for them. In either case, the idea is that is a short-term care facility. After their stay, children either go back to their families or to one of the new foster families in our district.

Yoel and I have been to the "Centru Raza Soaralui" or "Center of the Sun's Rays" a few times in the last couple weeks. Our first mission is to get to know the staff, the program, and the children. After we have a better idea of what they have and might need, the director is very eager to work with us in a development capacity. The first day we played a name game incorporating animal sounds, duck-duck-goose, and a handful of Moldovan games before the afternoon disintegrated into serious cross-examining from our little questioners.

As per their request, we came back a second day prepared to teach them a little something about America (Peace Corps' second goal, verbatim!). Yoel, prepared the history lesson--he can recite the names of all three of Columbus' ships from the 1492 voyage, in descending order by size--and I prepared to talk about my state when Yoel prompted, then do a demonstration of the "melting pot" metaphor.

Since we used the maps to explain how most American families descend from more than one culture, discussed the geography and corresponding recreational activities in different parts of the country (they drooled over the Olympic Mountains, pictured among those from my last day hike in Washington, Mount Ellinor, Memorial Day 2009), and even touched on where corn can and cannot grow in the United States, I think they understood that the United States is a big, diverse place.

Here's a fun fact I found preparing these activities, which clearly validates the continued use of the "melting pot" metaphor in the twenty-first century. According to the CIA World Factbook, the 2010 net migration rate in Moldova was -1.13 migrations/1000 people. In the United States, we welcomed +4.25 migrations/1000 people. Hence, Yoel and I repeatedly explained to these kiddos "we are a mixed people." What else is there to say?

Dumnezeu sa l-ierte | May God Forgive Him

My best friend called me at one in the morning to tell me the news. He, like other close friends and family know that Sargent Shriver became my hero after I read his biography, during my internship at the U.S. Public Service Academy.

In fact, the day after he was hospitalized, I treated my host family to a little history lesson at our dinner table. At one point, the conversation even turned to whether I could actually use the word "hero" to describe him. One said no, because I never met him. Another said yes, and used my history lesson and the fact that I am a beneficiary of the program he created to support her arguments.

All of the stories I shared about Shriver came from his 2004 biography by Stossel. I think all Peace Corps Volunteers should read it, but by now I am surely a broken record on that. Peace Corps Volunteers in Moldova can also go back to the September edition of the Grapevine, where I gushed admiration for Shriver and his biography.

I don't really know how to honor him, to celebrate his life and accomplishments. Please take a moment to watch this video. Only a 1,700 people have watched this clip on You Tube, but millions will watch dogs dance the macarana. I think we have a problem, but we'll discuss it another day...After seeing the video, I think it's relatively easy to understand why he once came to say, "Being accused of enthusiasm is something I'll never live down."

Rest in peace Mr. Shriver. 

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.

WORLD AIDS DAY

Somewhere around December 1, 2009, a member of the youth council read about World AIDS Day events on the internet and wanted to see something done here, in our town. Not that an informational campaign isn't useful at anytime, but due to the lateness of the request, the idea never caught on at the council...the moment passed. Moreover, the youth council members would have struggled to put together a campaign on an issue they themselves knew very little about. 

Thus, I am happy to report the success of World AIDS Day 2010, a three-part story.

Part One: Getting Informed

Peace Corps applicants are told that they will probably work in HIV/AIDS prevention at some point during their service, no matter the field of work. It's a worldwide Peace Corps initiative. But in Moldova, due to strict regulations regarding what can be taught in the classroom on the subject, it isn't exactly an area where we are encouraged to seek work. 

Thus, my politically correct strategy for getting the youth informed on the issue was to call in a third-party expert. Tinerii pentru Dreptul la Viață (Youth for the Right to Life), an organization from a neighboring city, is an organization with which we were already acquainted from our mutual participation in a human trafficking prevention event. 

Why it took a political loop hole for me to consider calling in a Moldovan expert to speak to Moldovan youth on this issue, I have no idea. Corina presented the information better, more fluently, and more creatively than I ever could. She's done this seminar hundreds of times, and it shows in all the best ways.  I particularly appreciated how she took the time to describe every word and definition in the acronyms HIV/SIDA. As we discussed immunity with the group, she clarified her point using an umbrella. A normal functioning umbrella protects us from the rain. A damaged umbrella, like a deficient immune system, fails to protect us.

By the end of the seminar the group felt comfortable with Corina and the information she was sharing. We sat around the table and I watched a quizzical look come across an eighth grade girl's face...

"Miss Corina, I have a question...where did the HIV come from?" She managed.
"Well, there are some theories," Corina started, before a tenth grader interjected.
"From the homosexuals of course!" The tenth grader stated.
"But, where...I mean from whom did the homosexuals get it in the beginning?" The eight grader fired back.

Watching Moldovans react to subjects like these is fascinating. In America, we have (mostly) sensitized ourselves to these issues. The generation of Moldovan youth I work with is just starting to question if sensitization is something they want for their country, for their culture. Guess what? They don't all agree.

Part Two: Preparing the Information

The day before World AIDS day, volunteers prepared materials for the street campaign. While some painted signs, others worked on finding a maxim to post around town, I translated a fact sheet to be printed, and everyone got quizzed by yours truly on the facts.

Not only did I ask the youth who attended the previous week's seminar to repeat pertinent facts, but we also worked through a basic HIV/AIDS Quiz I found online. Between the quiz and the expert opinion, there was still at least one volunteer believing that HIV is contractible from mosquitoes. But to be honest, as long as she understood all the other ways you can definitely contract the disease, I'm happy to hear the group argue and repeat the facts.

Part Three: Disseminating the Information

   

Finally, on World AIDS Day 2010, we took to the snowy streets with our signs, brochures, fact sheets, ribbons, and positive energy. Since the snow seemed to fall heavier by the minute, I can't say this is our most successful campaign (in terms of numbers of people we actually spoke with), but we stayed out there until all our materials had been distributed. When I got home, my host mom said that thing again...

"Melissa, your eyes are smiling! Where have you been?!"

Onward

This week, there were a lot of sharp turns in the road, some more expected than others. But in any case, the week is finally going to end tomorrow and I think I can say with confidence that all the week's developments actually lend a straighter road for the remainder of my service.

As my mother is fond of telling me, "That's life, not just the Peace Corps, and not just in Moldova."

Reporting Time

I'm a little confused about what to do with this blog space. Of late, Google is telling me my readers are Mac users, Google Chrome users, and in Moldova. In short, somehow this blog has become more popular with fellow PCVs than with it's intended audience of friends and family back home. And last Saturday, a colleague quoted one of my posts back to me (which was awesome). For now, I'm going to keep providing the same kind of content I have been, keeping Peace Corps' third goal in mind. But I'm open to suggestions.

    

I don't have an original idea for a post this time, but it just so happens that it is the end of the quarter and fiscal year, and I am spending my Monday night completing the beloved "Volunteer Report Form" for my program manager. I'll share here what I came up with for my "lessons learned entry." 

    

Over the past few months I have learned to be a bit more assertive. Now that I have the language abilities to offer new ideas, there is no reason to hold back. Furthermore, my relationship with my youth council is developed enough that they trust my ideas and give them honest consideration. 

     

Often, the youth council decides to have important discussions on the spot, with the goal of making a decision quickly. In the past few months, I have tried to slow down the conversation and help them develop more creative and effective ways of doing things. 

For example, in September we were responsible for advertising an event with another organization, Medicii Lumii, from Balti. The youth started to discuss the advertisment strategy by assigning someone to the task, using the same methods we always use in promoting events. I slowed the conversation and forced the youth to be more creative using a metaphor (like my program manager's use of the grapevine during last summer's PST).

After we brainstormed a list of potential advertising strategies, I assigned each person one of the strategies. I gave the youth a piece  of paper and asked them to draw a flower with the following conditions: the roots needed to represent the support/permission we would need to implement that strategy, the stem needed to represent the strategy itself, and the petals the positive outcomes that strategy could provide. After they presented "the idea garden," we chose a set of fundraising strategies that would lead to different outcomes. For example, we didn't pick two methods that would both be aimed at students, but rather a set of strategies aimed at attracting an audience from a variety of age brackets. 

My ideas work, and the youth council listens. I have learned that I just have to speak up and slow down the snap-decision making the youth council has become accustomed to with tradition.

Continuing to build the understanding

Naturally, even things from organizations like the National Peace Corps Association (NPCA) tend to arrive at post a little late. I'm sipping on some instant-brew right now, while flipping through the winter 2009 edition of the NPCA's Worldview Magazine. This issue is all about revitalizing the agency, as we inch closer to and beyond the fiftieth anniversary of its founding. 

There is a short excerpt I'd like to share from a piece titled "Peace Corps for Life: Reinvigorating the Agency by Reframing the Experience" by Joby Taylor, Ph.D. Taylor, according to the magazine, served as a PCV in Gabon from 1991-93, studied as a Peace Corps Fellow from 1999-2001, and is the director of the Shriver Peaceworker Fellows Program at the University of Maryland Baltimore County.I want to share Taylor's words, not only because they are moving, but furthermore because they again bring to attention the mission of our work. 

“The Peace Corps, at its best, is a transformative personal experience for our own citizens and their host country counterparts; it’s a grassroots development agency offering an effective hand up (not a hand out) in thousands of communities around the world; and it’s the smartest ‘smart power’ in our international affairs portfolio. This integration of goals is the elegant genius of the Peace Corps.”

Taylor constructs a portrait of the agency's three goals in a way that reinvigorates a volunteer's passion. I can fully attest to the "transformative" power of Peace Corps service. We offer our best hands when we help others help themselves, as my colleague describes here in his two part series. And the true asset in our tool kit is the collection of idea and energy on the ground, in our communities. 

This week, my group passed the point where we now potentially have fewer days left in Moldova than have already passed since our arrival. I've spent a lot of time considering what I want to accomplish in the next year, what my community needs, and where those two intersect. Reminders about why we are here, like Taylor's, inevitably help me keep my focus. I suppose I am hoping this post will help others understand and support our work too.

Ten months in Moldova, I think this is love

This week, I had many conversations with our country director (see photo), my program managers, peers, and family about how excited I am to be in Moldova right now. The thing is, I thought I loved my service last fall, but it turns out that is only because I didn't know to what extent I would enjoy being in Moldova at this point. If the rate of enjoyment continues to rise at this exponential rate, by fall I'll surely be the most happily-annoying person you have ever met.

The thing is, Peace Corps has three goals (listed on the right side of the page). So even if I haven't taught a class on program planning this week, or given a computer lesson, or whatever, it is still acceptable that I visited the homes of two neighbors, played hours of frisbee with twelve year-old boys, and cooked several new dishes for my host family. Of late, I haven't even seen my Romanian tutor much, but spending time with Moldovans outside my normal circuit is a great way to pick up new vocabulary. I feel truly blessed to me in here in such a role, a country that a year ago I couldn't locate on the map, with a people that I have come to understand, appreciate, and even love. I hope this blog conveys that message clearly.

Spring and summer also mean the return of day trips to "the forest" for relaxing and socializing. Today, some of the youth and I took the first trip of the season. One where a much-bigger-than-necessary fire was built to bake potatoes, frisbees were thrown with as much enthusiasm as the sunflower seed ammunition in the heat of battle, and I proceeded to lose many a hand at Moldovan/Russian card games. Fantastic day.

I'll leave the reader now with a recording of today's wildlife sightings. Make no mistake, these are no bird calls...only the most gargantuan amphibians one has ever seen (scratch that, heard).

Sometimes I know what I'm doing, sometimes I don't

[+] On the last weekend in February we finally celebrated youth week in my district (it's actually in October, but was cancelled because of H1N1 outbreaks). This ceremony honored the youth who have produced the most 'beautiful' results in our community. The president of my youth council was honored along with the national champion judoist (the sports specialist's speech relayed his utter amazement that a girl could be so strong), a young soldier, and another youth volunteer. I also agreed to help the district's newspaper man revamp the youth newspaper known as "Generation 9." More on this project to come...

[+/-] There were four days in a row I didn't see my partner at all. But, the weather was gorgeous and I took great walks, took my bike out for the first spin, and hung out with the neighbor kids. We played uno, a Moldovan card game, and ate rice krispy treats. Special note: there was only one of those "doamne feresti" phone calls home during this down time.

[-] I continue to lose the card game that requires you to make animal sounds because I can't remember how the kids here make the noises. They thought cockadoodledoo was just ridiculous.

[+] We had a concert for the March First holiday that marks the beginning of spring. For a country that glorifies disco and Lady Gaga, I was really surprised how many of the teenage acts involved a bass, guitar, and full drum set. The concert was also honoring a famous singer from our raion, so all the songs were his. His wife and son were in attendance as well. My favorite part of the concert was the very beginning, when the Star Wars song was blasted from the speakers so loud the vibrations put the ride at Diseneyland to shame.

[+] Martisor is my new favorite Moldovan holiday!! There are several legends about the Martisor (the red and write strings that get pinned to your left lapel). They all involve a princess named Primavara (spring), a dragon, and blood being split in her honor. On the first of March, we give the Martisor to mark the departure of winter (the white), and the coming of spring (red). Spring is here!! With the youth council, we gave out about a hundred of the Martisoare. Here is Marcela pinning Victor at the district government offices.

[+] I recently had a fabulous weekend with fellow PCVs. It involved three very productive meetings, a whole lot of socializing, eating great food, and sadly, starting the goodbyes. A group of PCVs is about to COS (finish there service), and a Dutch volunteer (left, third picture) heads our this weekend as well. It's been great getting to know Sarah. She arrived in January and has been working at a Dutch NGO for elderly people, she most enjoys the activities room. She leaves Moldova on Sunday for Israel, where she will be spending another couple months volunteering at a hostel. It's people like Sarah that making work abroad so much fun!

[+] On International Women's Day I got a free bus ride. I will remember that kind bus driver next time I run across a less amiable one.

[-/+] A fellow volunteer and I decided that since all the deadlines for grad school in 2010 have passed, it's time to start getting serious about applications for 2011. Yikes. But the more I read, the more I'm certain that I know what I want to do with my life. Which is exactly what I hoped the Peace Corps would help me determine.

[+] I love Moldova.

Moldova and Me

I am on "The Dating Game" and I just chose bachelor number two. For the sake of the story, let’s assume bachelors number one and three were graduate school and an entry level government job, respectively. But Bachelor number two found a way to be both intellectually stimulating and adventurous. Let the courtship commence!

You see, coming to Moldova, I understood about as much as one can about one strange man among three behind a semi-translucent screen. I knew how old it is (at least the modern system of governing), what languages it speaks, and what religion follows. But that’s not exactly enough to buy a bridal magazine over.

The past couple of weeks I’ve been trying to do that thing that most Type A personalities do after the first few dates—define the relationship. This has literally consumes every spare second. Moldova and I have been together for five months now, but the last few mornings have felt like blind dates all over again. What do I have to offer Moldova? Ce noi putem sa facem impreauna? What can we do together?

Work with my primary partnership has slowed down considerably, though we did have our first English club session. The youth have been clamoring for this. I am not a teacher, but I’m doing my best. The rest of my time has been divided among some more centralized Peace Corps projects among volunteers, and working at the children’s center.

Talk about blind dates! The director of the children’s center and I thought we were going to see some playground equipment the other day. To get to the manufacturer, a small furniture factory, we rode a bus to a village neither of us had ever been to before, crossed some really big railroad tracks, walked through a vodka factory, stopped to look at some ostrich and deer—no joke, just some ostrich and deer hanging out in a vodka factory attached to a furniture factory in Eastern Europe—and finally arrived at the correct office to find out that the man we wanted to speak with wasn’t there. At least that’s how I think the story should be interpreted, it all happened in Russian. But is that not how most relationships go? Some days it just seems you and your partner don’t speak the same language?

Aşa e viaţa! This is the life!