14/10/2011:
Today my village celebrated their hram day. It was less exciting than I expected. In preparation, my host mother spent the previous day preparing by working on the house and cooking copious amounts of food. Today, starting at about 1, my host mother's relatives came over. At about 3:30 everyone was here, and we ate food. The cold food was put out at the same time while the warm food was put out later. The cold food consisted of sausage, chicken, some sort of potato salad, mushrooms, and fish. Later, a bread like thing and some stuffed peppers were brought out. Afterwards, cake and cookies were brought out. Everything was tasty, although I wish there had been more warm food. My house has been sort of cold and the warm food would have helped. 10 people were at the masa (feast). My host mother has two brothers so I think their families were there. There were two elderly people. One of them was my host mother's mother. The older man could have been her father, but I don't really know for sure. I was surprised I wasn't clearly introduced to more of them. Oh well. Now that hram day is over, everyone in my village will be a lot less busy. Hopefully I will be able to start an English club soon.
Friday, October 14, 2011
Monday, October 10, 2011
The Moldovan Wine festival
08/10/2011
Wine fest:
I left my village at
7:00 in the morning. I then took a four hour bus ride to Chisnau, with a stop
along the way in Drochia, the raion nearest to my village. When I arrived in
Chisinau I walked to Peace Corps headquarters and took a shower, the first one
I had had in about a month. Baths are a regular thing, but showers are not
because my family does not have one. After my shower, I hooked up with some
other volunteers and we made our way to wine fest. We walked to a rutiera stop
and took that to another that went near the Moldovan Expo center where the wine
festival was held. The wine festival celebrates wine in Moldova. Since wine is so important, it makes sense that they would have a festival to honor it. When we got there, we waited for one of our fellow
volunteers who was already there to meet us at the entrance. When he found us,
we made our way back into the festival. On the way to the stage, we passed
numerous honey and goods stands. I didn’t buy anything since I will have a
chance next year and I was feeling too cheap to spend my money, knowing that I
would undoubtedly spend a lot on various things through the course of the
weekend. When I passed the stage, some people were performing Moldovan folk
music. Anyway, after we walked around for a bit, we found the rest of the
people that we were looking for, and went to find food. The lines for food were
pretty long, but it was worth the wait. I had a sausage with some sashlik (barbequed
meat). I had two different kinds. Eventually, I left the festival and went to Peace
Corps to get my stuff. I relaxed there for a little while and then went to the
hostel that I had stayed at before. The guy working there was from Seattle,
Washington. I am always surprised when I see people from the US in Moldova. I
can’t remember exactly why he was there. Regardless, the hostel is definitely a
great place to meet interesting people. After talking to some other volunteers,
I went to bed around one, the latest I had stayed up for about four weeks.
9/10/2011:
On Sunday, I was woken
up earlier than I wanted to by a large group of Peace Corps volunteers that
were leaving relatively early to go help in an orphanage. I tried to go back to
sleep, but around 8:30 I got out of bed and had breakfast. I had some toast
with some melted cheese on it, along with some tea. After I had gotten ready, I
drank some more tea and talked to a person from Germany. He was living in
Romania, but decided to spend a few days in Moldova. There were also two people
visiting from Japan. I can’t recall why they were there. After drinking tea,
and around 11, I decided to head out. I went first to the mall and bought some
groceries and ice cream. I think the ice-cream I had was probably the closest
to pink berry I will find while in Moldova. It was normal vanilla ice cream,
but I was able to put fruit and chocolate sauce on it. It was pretty good. Afterwards,
since it was raining, I called a cab and went to Peace Corps. I hung out at
Peace Corps for a while. While there, I watched part of Austin Powers. I had to
leave to catch my bus before the movie was over. I think I might download it
though.
The trip back to my
village was long, but uneventful. It was raining, dark, and cold when I finally
arrived in Cotova. I basically got home, ate dinner, unpacked, and then went to
bed. On Monday, school started again.
Some pictures from the wine festival:
Some pictures from the wine festival:
The wine here had something to do with the year 1842
The entrance sign (It reads: The national wine day, 2011)
The stage at the festival
One of the wine stands, from the village Milestii Mici
Another picture of the entrance to the festival
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Teacher's Day
5/10/2011
Teacher's day is a day that recognizes the value of teachers. Today, the schedule was different from normal. All the classes were held, but they were only 30 minutes long. Also, the break in between classes was only 5 minutes instead of ten. However, there was some chaos because on Tuesday, students were told that they would have only the first four periods. Both teachers and students were not a 100 percent sure what was going on. The school day ended around 11:30.
I was actually late to school today because I thought that the classes were the same length they usually are. As I don't have a first period class on Wednesday, I got to school at 9:15. Basically, that meant that my 2nd period class didn't exist. Oh well.
The students were dressed nicer than usual today, and in some ways it reminded me of how they were dressed on September 1st. The students also gave flowers and gifts to the teachers. Some of my students gave me flowers and another gave me a rose. I like roses, but the thorns can be annoying. Two of my 6th grade students gave me chocolate. I can't see American students giving their teachers such nice gifts. I don't know if the idea comes from the children, their parents, or their homeroom teachers.
After school was a teacher's meeting. Some of the students in some of the classes had provided a lot of food. There was sausage, chocolates, champagne, fruit, cheese, and wine. Before we got to eat any of the food, the Director adjunct thanked us for our hard work (I think, she was speaking in Romanian). After she spoke, each of the various departments gave a little presentation. The teachers were divided into language teachers (including Russian and Romanian), primary school teachers, math and science teachers, arts teachers, social studies teachers, and humanities teachers. One of the teachers from the arts group sang a song. The primary school teachers had some of their colleagues look into a box and describe what they saw. Apparently in the box was a mirror. We were told it was a picture. After the presentation, we were able to eat the food.
Overall, it was an enjoyable, if a little chaotic, day. Moldovan holidays are a great way to learn more about the culture.
Teacher's day is a day that recognizes the value of teachers. Today, the schedule was different from normal. All the classes were held, but they were only 30 minutes long. Also, the break in between classes was only 5 minutes instead of ten. However, there was some chaos because on Tuesday, students were told that they would have only the first four periods. Both teachers and students were not a 100 percent sure what was going on. The school day ended around 11:30.
I was actually late to school today because I thought that the classes were the same length they usually are. As I don't have a first period class on Wednesday, I got to school at 9:15. Basically, that meant that my 2nd period class didn't exist. Oh well.
The students were dressed nicer than usual today, and in some ways it reminded me of how they were dressed on September 1st. The students also gave flowers and gifts to the teachers. Some of my students gave me flowers and another gave me a rose. I like roses, but the thorns can be annoying. Two of my 6th grade students gave me chocolate. I can't see American students giving their teachers such nice gifts. I don't know if the idea comes from the children, their parents, or their homeroom teachers.
After school was a teacher's meeting. Some of the students in some of the classes had provided a lot of food. There was sausage, chocolates, champagne, fruit, cheese, and wine. Before we got to eat any of the food, the Director adjunct thanked us for our hard work (I think, she was speaking in Romanian). After she spoke, each of the various departments gave a little presentation. The teachers were divided into language teachers (including Russian and Romanian), primary school teachers, math and science teachers, arts teachers, social studies teachers, and humanities teachers. One of the teachers from the arts group sang a song. The primary school teachers had some of their colleagues look into a box and describe what they saw. Apparently in the box was a mirror. We were told it was a picture. After the presentation, we were able to eat the food.
Overall, it was an enjoyable, if a little chaotic, day. Moldovan holidays are a great way to learn more about the culture.
Saturday, October 1, 2011
Metro
1/10/2011
Today, I made a brief trip to the nearest city. It is called Balti. I went there to go to a store called Metro. Metro is like Costco except that you don't need a membership to go there. You can become a member, but it doesn't seem like it is mandatory or like it costs anything. There was a section for clothing, a section for office supplies, electronics, food, and pharmacy type stuff. In terms of what it sold, it was more like a small Walmart, but I think it is like a Costco in terms of how it looks. It resembles a warehouse. You can find most of what you need there, although the selection of office supplies seemed kind of small. I have been told that I should be able to find Crayola markers at Metro, but this one didn't seem to have any. It is interesting that most countries that I have been to seem to have one stop shopping stores. They definitely are more convenient than having to go to a bunch of smaller stores. In Moldova, things seemed to be cheaper than they are in the nearest town to mine.
Weather wise, fall has definitely arrived. It has been chilly in the morning, and only slightly warmer in the afternoon. Although today it has been quite nice. Otherwise, things here are pretty much the same as always. I hope to make another trip to Balti soon to go to Green Hills, a supermarket. I think I might cook my own lunch on the weekends and I need some stuff to cook with. If I want it, Green Hills will most likely have it. The draw back is that all the labels are in Russian. I can read Cyrillic, but that doesn't mean I will understand the words. My best solution so far has been to look at the packaging. Happy October everyone
Today, I made a brief trip to the nearest city. It is called Balti. I went there to go to a store called Metro. Metro is like Costco except that you don't need a membership to go there. You can become a member, but it doesn't seem like it is mandatory or like it costs anything. There was a section for clothing, a section for office supplies, electronics, food, and pharmacy type stuff. In terms of what it sold, it was more like a small Walmart, but I think it is like a Costco in terms of how it looks. It resembles a warehouse. You can find most of what you need there, although the selection of office supplies seemed kind of small. I have been told that I should be able to find Crayola markers at Metro, but this one didn't seem to have any. It is interesting that most countries that I have been to seem to have one stop shopping stores. They definitely are more convenient than having to go to a bunch of smaller stores. In Moldova, things seemed to be cheaper than they are in the nearest town to mine.
Weather wise, fall has definitely arrived. It has been chilly in the morning, and only slightly warmer in the afternoon. Although today it has been quite nice. Otherwise, things here are pretty much the same as always. I hope to make another trip to Balti soon to go to Green Hills, a supermarket. I think I might cook my own lunch on the weekends and I need some stuff to cook with. If I want it, Green Hills will most likely have it. The draw back is that all the labels are in Russian. I can read Cyrillic, but that doesn't mean I will understand the words. My best solution so far has been to look at the packaging. Happy October everyone
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