Parties and Peanut Butter

Saturday, the 10th of December:

Today, like always, I went to the nearest town to buy some food. I bought peanut butter. Someone had told me that it was available in my town. Afterwards, I went to a Pizza place near by. It was an interesting day because there was a party. All the kids were dressed very nicely and one of them was clearly the birthday girl. Some of the tables had been set with place settings and water. It all looked very nice. It was interesting to see how nicely the kids were dressed.

Sunday, the 11th of December,

Today there was a party for St. Stefan. Anyone whose name is Stefan celebrates that day too. My host grandfather's name is Stefan so we went over to my host grandmother's house. The table was set with a lot of food. There was two of everything so that everyone could reach the food. There was bread, sausage, oatmeal, some sort of beet dish, a couple of cabbage dishes, and rachitore. Rachitore is a cold, poultry dish where a chicken leg is in gravy jello. I still haven't tried it because it just looks too weird. I didn't know most of the people that were there. It was fun to go some where for a change. I was also surprised by how good the peanut butter I bought on Saturday tasted.

Around Cotova

12/06/2011

Today was a pretty ordinary day at school. I spent a fair amount of time working on the teza. The teza is a test that my 10th, 11th, and 12th graders will take this month. I had to type the exercises and photocopy the reading selections. There was also a man that came to the school to sell back supporting belts. I also took some more pictures of my village.

                      This is a well in my town. There is a bucket on one end and a weight on the other.

                  This is one part of my school. On the left is the part of my school that is unfinished

                             I walk up and down this road when I go to and from school.

                           This is my school's outside toilet. On the left is the single stall, "teachers's" toilet. On the right is the students'. It contains three stalls with  short walls separating them. They do not have doors.

                                   The building in the center is a mill that is used for grinding flour.

                                  Sometimes I see turkeys on my way home from school

                                              This is the view from behind my school.

Thanksgiving

11/26/2011: Thanksgiving celebration

Today I attended a thanksgiving celebration put on by volunteers for other volunteers. There was a lot of food set up in a buffet style. There were a lot of people so I sampled some of the desserts first. There was apple pie, pumpkin pie, lemon bars, peanut butter bars, no bake cookies, chocolate cake and a couple of things I am forgetting, For dinner, there was chili and pumpkin soup, turkey, stuffing, gravy, salad and other things you might expect to find at a Thanksgiving meal. I had a really nice time. It is always nice to see other volunteers. Even some of the staff members were there, including the director and assistant director of Peace Corps Moldova.

Afterwards, I hung out at Peace Corps with a couple of other volunteers. We discussed various things including my upcoming trip to Turkey. I am going with four or five other volunteers. Then, we headed over to the mall in the center of Chisinau for something to drink. We spent some time there, and then finally made our way over to the hostel where I have stayed before. It was nice. The three of us had a room to ourselves.

12/27/2011: Sunday

On Sunday, we left the hostel and made our way over to the mall. All of us had errands to run so we spent a while there. For breakfast, I had Sbarro pizza, McDonald's coffee, and gelato. In the mall, called "MallDova", there was an electronics store so while someone was looking for something to buy, I played on the store's Wii. It was fun and I think I might buy the game when I get back to the United States. It's still a long way off, but I can't help planning ahead a little.

After the mall we made our way back to Peace Corps on a trolley bus. At around 3 I left Peace Corps and walked to the bus station. I got back to my village at around 8.

12/28/2011: Monday

I had school as usual. Afterwards, however, I finally started my English club. There were four students there, three from 4th grade and one from 6th. I asked them what they wanted to do and learn in the club. Then, we read Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss. I don't know how much they understood, but at least I enjoyed it. Nothing too new to report, although my program director is coming to observe a couple of classes on Wednesday.

Hram Day

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.

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:

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

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.

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

Pictures of my new home

My Dresser (rotated)

My Desk/ Table

The Soba (one side)

The mini kitchen, whose purpose I don't know

I am told that some day this washing machine will be hooked up and will work

The entrance way, that has a bed for some reason

The door and the refrigerator

The front walkway with a view of a chicken and the gates

The front door. In Moldova, one must take off their shoes before entering a building

The well. The black thing is the switch. The well has an electronic pump

A storage building in the front yard

The large gate. A vehicle could go through it. 

The small house, containing the kitchen, the bathroom and what will be a bedroom

The side yard. Notice the chicken and the dog (who always barks at me)

One of the three cats that lives at my house

The gate to the backyard. The metal structure is the outside shower.

The backyard/ garden

The outhouse

The hen and duck house. The dog in the background is barking at me.

The outdoor shower

Copious amounts of corn. I think they turn it into flour eventually

One of the other dogs that barks at me and lives with me

The chicken pen

The door to the soba. Wood goes in, a fire is lit, the thing heats up and warms the room.

 So, those are pictures of my new house that I moved into when school started. When I get approval from my host mother, I will post pictures of the bathroom, kitchen, and other bedroom.

Hitchhiking in Moldova

24/9/2011:

Today I needed to go to the nearest town. The only buses that go there leave at 7 and 12pm. I wanted to go there around 10:00. My only option was to hitchhike. In the United States that would be unusual. However, here hitchhiking seems completely normal. If there is no bus, then you wave down a car to take you where you need to go. Unlike in the United States, hitchhiking isn't a free ride. Usually I pay what it would cost if I were to take a bus from where I am to where I want to go. For example, from my village to the village on the main road it would cost about 2 lei (about 20 cents). Typically, I haven't had to pay for that leg of the trip. To get from that village to the main town, I usually pay 8 lei. Those drivers willingly take my money.

So, how you ask does one wave down a car? You stick out your arm, and if a car is willing to give you a ride, then they stop, if they are not willing to, they keep going. Then you hop in. Sometimes, the car will stop to pick up other people too. For example, this morning, the car I was taking to the nearest town stopped a few times to pick up other passengers. It makes sense. The more people they have in their car, the more money they make. A driver will get 32 lei if they have four passengers compared to just 8 if they only have one.

It is also completely common for people to get from the main road to my village by hitchhiking. I have yet to be the only one in the car. Instead of having a regular bus service, people make use of other people. So, as I have learned, in Moldova hitchhiking is completely normal and costs money. In the United States it is uncommon and free. Maybe it is more common in Moldova because people trust each other more. It could also be that there is more of a need because people in Moldova live in remote locations but can't afford cars. The government may also not be able to afford to provide public transit. So, if you miss the bus in Moldova, and want to get somewhere, just stick out your arm when you see a car and ask if he or she is going where you want to go.

I also learned to today that Tic Tacs do exist in Moldova. When I did my grocery shopping, I bought some.

Return to Chisinau

10/9/2011-11/9/2011: Visit to Chisinau

10/9/2011

I spent this weekend in Chisinau, primarily for a meeting of one of the volunteer run groups. This one is called RISE. RISE works with Moldovans and Roma within Moldova to help combat stereotypes and help reduce inequality and discrimination between the two groups. Roma is the correct term for gypsies. I missed the first part of the meeting because of my bus schedule, but the meeting seemed to cover logistics and be a brainstorming meeting.

You may have noticed the date, and thought "what was Courtney doing in Chisinau for a whole month?" The answer is that because I have to teach the date the British way, with the day and then the month, I have decided to do that for this post. I might do it for future posts, but I am not sure.

Anyway, after the RISE meeting, I went to lunch with some fellow volunteers, some of whom were from my training, and all were from my program, English Education. We went to a restaurant near the center of Chisinau and had pizza and talked. It was nice to talk to other volunteers after a couple of weeks on my own. It was a good opportunity to discuss our common problems. Later on we met up with some other people and went to a restaurant to hear a band play. One of the band members is the current safety and security head for Peace Corps Moldova. Later on, a couple of us went to the hostel that we were staying at near Malldova.

11/9/2011:

Today marked ten years since the attacks on the two towers and the pentagon, along with the deaths of the passengers aboard United 93. It was interesting to reflect on what my life was like ten years ago and compare it with today. For example, 10 years ago I wasn't even in high school yet, and now I have finished college and am living in Moldova halfway around the world teaching English. I also realized that only people 7 years younger than me would remember the attacks. It is strange to be old enough to remember a significant event like that, but be one of the youngest people that are able to do so.

Anyway, to commemorate the attacks, some of the students from another volunteer's school went to the embassy and laid flowers and lit candles. It was a nice showing of support from children who were barely old enough to remember the attacks and aren't from America. It just shows the global impact of the events of that day.

Later on, I made my way back to Peace Corps headquarters, hung around for a bit, and then walked over to the North bus station. Moldova is a really beautiful country so I enjoyed looking out my window on the trip back to my village. I enjoy being around other volunteers, but at the same time I am glad I am a little isolated so I can have a unique experience. One of the reasons I am glad I joined the Peace Corps is because I get the chance to be totally immersed in another culture. I would miss out on that chance if I were able to see other Americans whenever I wanted. Besides, I can still be in touch with them and people back home via the internet.

I don't know when I will go back to Chisinau, but I am glad I am far enough away to have something of a genuine Peace Corps experience.

Getting into a routine

9/2/2011-9/20/2011: General Impressions

The last time I wrote, school had just started. Now, I am about three weeks in and have a settled schedule. I also started tutoring lessons with the Russian teacher at my school. On the second of September I changed host families because of some issues I had with the host brother in my first one. So, I spent the first week of the school year getting used to both a new living environment and a new school.

I like my new host family situation, although I will miss the indoor shower that my previous host family had. For the last few weeks I have been taking a bath about twice a week. There is a sink indoors, but no running water. Instead there is a kind of bucket that you put water in and then push this thing up to make the water come out. The thing does not hold much water so I am constantly refilling it from one of the nearby water buckets. There is a washing machine in the main house, but it is not hooked up to the water yet. I have been told that it will be hooked up sometime in October or early November. For now, when I need to wash my clothes I use a machine that I think was built during the Soviet era. Basically, you put water in the machine, add clothes and soap and then turn the machine on. Afterwards, I bring my clothes to a basin near the well and rinse them. After that I hang them on the line to dry. I don't think that will work in the winter, but I am sure I will be told where to put them when the time comes. Although the toilet is still outside, I am happy that everything else, other than the clothes line is indoors.

At my new home, there are two buildings. I live in the main house which contains four rooms and an entrance way. It is a nice house and my room is large. The only problem is that I have to walk through my host mother's room to get to mine. It makes sense because I think my room used to be the living room. Apparently my host mother will be living in the other building once the room is finished, but for now I have to walk through it if I want to leave the house.

In the other building is the kitchen, the bathroom, an entrance way, and the unfinished room. The kitchen is pretty small and heats up a lot when food is made. At least that means it will not be cold in the winter. As I mentioned before, in the bathroom is a tub, a sink, the soviet style washing machine, and the soba. I don't know if I have mentioned it before, but a soba is basically a wood stove that heats a few room. You put wood in the slot and light a fire. The heat radiates from the ceramics. There is one soba in the small house and two in the main house. My new living arrangements are very different from what I am used to in America. but I should be fairly comfortable for the next two years/ 691 days.

School is relatively straightforward. I have three or four classes a day and a break sometime during the day. On Tuesday I have three periods free in a row. Having that time is very nice. It gives me time to study Russian or to listen to music. My classes are okay. I wish the children spoke better English, but I suppose that is why I am here. Hopefully my two years here will make a significant impact. One thing worth mentioning I guess, is that unlike in the United States, children in primary school do not have one teacher for all the subjects. There is a teacher for science, another for history, and so on. They have a homeroom class and teacher, and they have some classes in their home room, but for other classes, they go to the respective room for that subject, even in the younger grades (forms). Students in the lower grades also only have English twice a week. I think this makes it harder for them to learn the English vocabulary and grammar. 10th-12th grade have language three times a week, still two fewer than in the US.

My classes are going decently. My fourth, fifth, and sixth form classes are the most difficult because they have the most students and the students make noise. I still need to come up with an effective strategy to make them be quite for longer. In my 9th form class that I teach alone there are three boys who talk to each other during class. Hopefully I will be able to think of a strategy to make them be quite soon.

My tutoring lessons are going well too. My tutor only speaks Russian which means that I have to use my dictionary a lot, but at the same time it forces me to improve me speaking and listening skills so that I can say what I need to and understand what she is saying all in Russian. I am sure there are some words that I will begin to understand even if I don't quite understand their meaning simply through her use of them. For the last couple of sessions we have been reviewing material that I already know. At the same time, it is usual  because over the summer we were given a lot of information over a fairly short period of time. I have created a mini-dictionary with all of the new words that I am learning. Hopefully I will remember all or at least most of them.

First Bell

9/1/2011

Today was the first day of the new school year, referred to as the first bell. First, at about 8:30 there was an assembly at the school. Older students mc'd the event. At it, the director, the mayor, and some students spoke. The first graders collectively read a poem. Someone sang a song. Music was played through some speakers. Everyone was dressed really nicely. I wore my black suit. Many of the students had brought flowers to give to the teachers. Oh, and I finally danced the hora at the assembly. One of the students pulled me into one of the hora circles. The hora is basically the national dance of Moldova, although people dance it in other places. Students also brought food, mostly fruit. The assembly lasted about an hour. Near the end, bells were rung, hence the first bell name. It was very different from any in America. Apart from the music and dancing, it was also held outside. Everyone stood in a horseshoe, with the teachers near the front. The students also seemed to be organized by class. During the assembly some of the younger children played with balloons. The assembly took about an hour.

After the assembly, classes started. Students had a meeting with their homeroom teacher. The homeroom teacher seems to be much more important than they are in the US, although I am not sure if the students have the same homeroom teacher throughout their time at the school, or if it changes every year. It might be like the US where the class adviser stays with the class throughout high school. There were some other classes, but I only had one. The schedule hadn't been made yet, so it was an adventure trying to figure out which classes I would have, and particularly when they would be. In between one of the classes, the 12th graders gave all the teachers food and champagne. I had a couple of pieces of kiwis.

I had my class after that. My 9th form (grade) class went well, although not as I had planned because the students didn't have textbooks. The room was also really hot. After the last class, there was a teacher's meeting where we discussed the day. At around 1:30, the meeting was over and we were done for the day. The first day of school celebration is definitely something unique to Moldovan culture, and it was fun to experience even if it was kind of a hectic, although short, day.

Summer vacation, finally.

8/24/2011

Today, I went to a meeting with a bunch of teachers from my district that was held in the district capital, a large town/ small city called Drochia. The meeting was completely in Romanian so I understood little of it. Basically, from what my partner teacher told me, the meeting was about how to improve education and contained a report about schools from the previous school year. It was interesting to notice that conferences in Moldova can be just as boring as I imagine they are in the United States. I was able to keep busy by writing a story. If I ever finish it, maybe I'll post part of it here. Who knows.

In the meeting various people talked, including some kids that role played a classroom situation. The meeting was also opened by two teenagers. After the meeting, we headed back to my village on a bus. We then hitchhiked from a nearby village to mine since there weren't any buses that went directly to my village at that time of day. I think there might have been one at 5, but we would have waited for 3.5 hours to catch that one. Here, hitchhiking seems to not be a very big deal. Every time I have had occasion to do it, someone else has been in the vehicle with me doing the same thing. Although the meeting was boring, it was nice to experience more of Moldovan culture.

08/25/11-8/27/2011:

Thursday was a pretty normal day. I went to school in the morning at about 9am. Around nine there was a teacher's meeting that lasted a really long time because the school director read from a report that I imagine probably came from or was inspired by the previous day's meeting. The mayor also spoke at the meeting.Apparently teachers are upset about class sizes in schools. Some problems transcend cultures. After the meeting, I went home and relaxed.

On Friday, I woke up a little bit before 6 and headed to Chisinau. I got there around 11:30. It takes a while, but at least the bus I was in was not very crowded for much of the time, at least once we got past Balti (pronounced Balts). Balti is referred to as the northern capital of Moldova. Cahul, another city, is called the capital of the south. From what I could see, Balti is smaller than Chisinau but has many of the same stores, including some of the major chains. I haven't been to Cahul, but I am sure it is similar.

When I got to Chisinau, I pretty much just hung out at Peace Corps for a while. At about 5, I walked over to the newest of the malls. It is called "Malldova." It resembled pretty much any mall in the US, but definitely had a European flavor. Unlike malls in the United States, this one had a large supermarket on the ground floor. The mall is not very long, but is about four stories high. On the top floor is the food court and the movie theater. There was a Mcdonalds, a KFC, and a Sbarro inside the mall. I expected the Mcdonalds, and another volunteer had told me there was a KFC. What I really didn't expect was the Sbarro. As a pizza chain, Sbarro isn't even that good. I ended up eating at one of the restaurants that were also on the top floor. I had Mexican food. It was okay, although not sufficiently spiced. I had a quesadilla that was too bland even for a quesadilla. Oh well, at least I know what to expect if I go there again. I also went to a fruit juice place in the food court. I ordered a lime juice thinking that maybe they would sweeten it, but they didn't. Although it was very fresh, it was too sour for me to finish. After I ate, I walked over to the nearby hostel.

The hostel was nice, although simpler than others I have been to. It was a three story building with a bathroom on each floor and a couple of rooms. There was a kitchen on the ground floor. Supposedly there were computers to use, although I didn't see them. There was internet though. I stayed in a six person room. Something unusual about the hostel was that the guy working the reception was from Montreal. I know now that many Moldovans move to Canada, but I didn't realize there was much of a tourist industry to Moldova. I really should have asked him what brought him to Moldova. Anyway, in my room there happened to be two other Peace Corps volunteers, one from my group (M26) and one from the group that arrived in Moldova in 2009 (M24s). The person from the M24 group has extended her service for an additional year. At around 10:00 I went to bed.

The next day, I woke up at 6:30 and headed to the bus station. I left early because I wanted to try to catch an 8:10 bus to the village near mine. The bus went all over the place, and I ended up missing my stop because I expected to come after the stop that ended up being the last one. When I got to my district center I had been travelling for about 5.5 hours. It would have been less if I had seen my stop. I was in the back of the bus and couldn't really see much. I finally got home around 3:30pm. That evening, my host sister and her family arrived from Chisinau.

8/27/2011-8/30/2011:

Saturday was Moldova's independence day. Since I was travelling all day, I don't really know what my village did to celebrate it. Apparently there was a parade in Chisinau. Anyway, when my host sister and her family arrived in the evening at about 8:30, we at roast goose. It was pretty good. It was even stuffed like we do with Turkeys on Thanksgiving. There was a lot of talking fast in Romanian. This was only the first of several gatherings that have taken place this weekend. Some other people came over on Sunday, and last night one of my host sister's friends came over with her family. Today there was another gathering. I enjoy meeting the people, but it is hard in a way because they tend to only speak Romanian when they are in a large group. They talk Russian to me, but not when a bunch of people are together. I understand more of what they say than they think I do, but I still only understand a word or sentence here and there, and I am never quite sure what they are talking about. Luckily, tomorrow should be more of a normal day since I will go to the school to work and hopefully plan for the first few days of classes. I haven't had to work the last 4 days so I feel like I have had a short summer break. Summer vacation ends and school begins on Thursday.

A Moldovan Birthday party

Today I went to someone's birthday party. I went to a meadow with my host father, his friends/neighbors, and their children. Apparently it was one of the kid's birthday. In the meadow we ate grilled chicken, cake, cheese, and some other beverages. The people talked to me in Russian, and while I understood some of it, there was much more I didn't understand. Regardless, I had a nice time.

After eating in the meadow, we went to one over their houses and ate some more food and cake. I had some fish. I didn't really like it, but apparently it was sort of a special kind of fish. The people had a really nice computer. I continue to find it incongruous that Moldovans can have really nice electronics but still only have a very simple outhouse. It kind of reminds me of my situation in Kenya where I had no running water but the family had a DVD player. Maybe it has something to do with the ability of the central government to provide essential services. Seriously, when I got to the house, the children were playing Counterstrike on the computer. After some more food, I finally returned to my house. It was really nice that people were excited to meet me. So far, my experience in Cotova has been very different from my experience in Truseni.

Below are some pictures from the day. They are mostly of me because they were taken by somebody else.

my host father is sitting to me left in the last picture.

Swearing in and Move to site

8/17/2011

Today I became a volunteer. The ceremony wasn't too long. Before the ceremony started, we were all sworn in with the oath that is used for all government offices. At the beginning of the ceremony the ambassador to Moldova swore us in with the Peace Corps Moldovan oath. It was kind of funny to be sworn in twice, but I guess that is how it needs to be.

During the ceremony, two people from my group (M26s) gave a speech. One person gave a speech in Russian and the other gave a speech in Romanian. I didn't understand all of either one, which is to be expected given that both had help writing it from their language training instructors (LTIs).

Someone from the Moldovan government also gave a speech. He gave his in Romanian so I only understood some of the words. Two M25s (the previous group of volunteers, now beginning their second year) directed the events. Some of the various directors spoke. The education and health program managers delivered their speeches in Romanian also. When the country director and director of programming and training spoke one of the Moldovan administrative assistants translated. I felt bad for her because she had to translate so much. After the ceremony, there was a short reception, and then I was driven to my village.

The drive to my village from Chisinau takes about 3 hours by car, though it went by pretty fast this most recent time. On the way we stopped and had a late lunch/ a snack. My school director had hired a van for me so we were free to stop when we liked. I think she hired a van because of all my stuff. However, I think it would have fit in a car. I only had one more bag and when I was driven to the airport before I left the US it all fit in a car. It was nice that there was more than enough space for it all though.

When I got to my village, I basically just put all my stuff in my rooms and got out my computer. I watched some TV on my computer and then went to bed around 10.

The education volunteers after being sworn in the first time

(On the right in the middle row is the country director (the man in the suit), on the left in the red/maroon jacket is the programming and training director)

8/18/2011

Today I went to Drochia, the raion (think county) center closest to my town. I had to get some things and withdraw money from my Peace Corps bank account so I could pay my host family for August. I had some trouble finding the ATM. It turns out there is one right by the bus station, but I did not know that until I had already walked around town and asked some people for directions. Oh well, at least now I know where it is.

After I went to the ATM, I went to the central market. I got a trashcan, hangers, and hand soap. There are still some things I think I need, but they will have to wait until maybe Saturday. I was at the bus stop again by like 10am, and waited for a bus that I thought would be there at 11. However, it never showed up. As luck would have it, the peace corps volunteer who has been living in Drochia showed up at the bus station. He was able to help me get back to my village. What I had to do was take a bus to the town near mine. I got off the bus there and then got a ride. I knew the van was going to Cotova because some Moldovans got in it. I just followed what they were doing and then let the driver know that I wanted to be dropped off near the school. I never felt concerned for my safety and was able to get back to my village. Although things did not go exactly as planned, I would consider my first trip to Drochia a success.

When I got home, I began the unpacking process. It has been hard for me to find a spot for all my stuff. I know I will, but the process has taken a long time.

Tomorrow work begins.

Host family conference and Harry Potter

Today was a long day.

In the morning, all the English and Health education trainees had a meeting with their host families to discuss living arrangements at our permanent sites. My host father wasn't there, but my host sister was, so I made the arrangements with her. Luckily, I was able to ask all the questions I had through a Peace Corps Volunteer who was able to translate for me. I might have been able to do it on my own, but it was nice to be certain about what we were both agreeing to. I was able to understand most of what my host sister said in Russian which was nice. The conference didn't last too long. Afterwards, some of us walked over to a nearby supermarket.

Some people went to the store to shop for food so that they could cook for their families. I thought about doing the same, but I can't really make any interesting foods that they haven't already eaten. I did buy my lunch there though. We ate our lunch in a nearby park once everyone had finished buying what they needed.

Then, when everyone had finished eating, most of the group I was with went home. I, on the other hand, went to a close movie theater to see the newest Harry Potter movie. I had already watched it on my computer, but I wanted to see if it was any different/better on the big screen in 3-D. In my opinion it was basically the same. It might have been better if I had watched it in English instead of in Russian. I understood some of the dialogue, but not a lot. If you haven't seen the movie, but like Harry Potter, I would recommend seeing it.

The movie theater itself was very nice. From what I could tell, there was only one theater, or at least only one large one. Instead of getting to choose your own seats like you can in the United States, everyone had an assigned seat. I didn't fully realize this until someone told me that I was sitting in their seat. I ended up eventually finding my seat. I was surprised that I was not able to choose my own seat and that they didn't ask me where I wanted to sit, given that I couldn't choose it myself. Oh well. The movie cost about 5 dollars (cheap for movies in the US, but expensive for me in Moldova). Despite the differences, and the fact that the movie was in Russian, I enjoyed my outing.

Things are finally finishing up. I have one more day of sessions in Chisinau and my language proficiency interview. As I've said before, I become an official Peace Corps Volunteer. I almost can't believe that training is coming to a close. Although each day was long, the summer seems to have gone by fast. Yet at the same time it seems like ages ago that I was sitting in the Manchester airport waiting for my flight to Philadelphia. After I get to my permanent site, things will begin anew.

More to come once I arrive in the North.

Today, practice school ended. On the left is a picture of the room where I had language classes during the three weeks of practice school. On the right is a picture of the 10th grade class that I taught. On the far left of that picture is my partner teacher Lidia. She is nice, but has trouble understanding me because of my American accent.

My students were all very good. They provided interesting answers to the questions I asked them. On the test, I asked them how they would change the education system in Moldova and they all gave interesting answers. I enjoyed reading them when I was grading the tests. Although I enjoyed teaching during practice school, planning was a pain. So, I am glad practice school is done.

Finishing practice school is only one of two big milestones that I needed to complete before I can be sworn in as a volunteer. The second is receiving a score of intermediate low on my language proficiency interview (LPI). I have the test Tuesday morning. My plan is to spend time this weekend studying for it.

On Sunday, I have my host family conference. At the conference, I will sign a contract with my host family stating how many meals I will eat with them, what I will pay for and how much I will pay, and other relevant details. It will be nice to get those details worked out, but hopefully the conference will not contain any long talks. Either way, if all goes as planned, the conference should be over at two, so at least I will have the rest of the afternoon to enjoy or to spend studying for my LPI.

Assuming nothing out of the ordinary happens, I should swear in as a volunteer on Wednesday morning. I have already signed a copy of the oath I will have to agree to on Wednesday. After the swearing in ceremony and reception, I will be taken to my permanent site in the northern part of Moldova. I will have internet when I get there, but I don't know when I will be back in Chisinau.

Only 5 more days to go until I am a volunteer. After a long summer, it is nice that the end of training is almost here. When I go to my village, I will be the only American for miles, so on Wednesday, the adventure really begins.

Practice School and Softball Fun

Starting last Monday, I began teaching students. During training all English Education volunteers participate in something called practice school. Basically, for the first half, we work with a resource teacher. The resource teachers are experienced Moldovan teachers who have worked with Americans before. For the past week, and until this Tuesday, I have been teaching 6th graders. My classes haven't been too large. Initially, I only had six students, but by Friday I had twelve. I'm not sure how many I will have on Monday and Tuesday. It was really nice to have a chance to get used to teaching a little with only a few students, but it is definitely more fun with more. Tomorrow I am giving the students a test. On Tuesday, they will get their results and I will ask for their feedback about how they think the class went.

On Wednesday, my future partner teacher will be coming to my village. We will be partner teaching a group of 10th graders. I don't know how many students I will have yet. Hopefully planning will go smoothly.

Yesterday, a group of Peace Corps volunteers put on a softball game. I was able to participate. It was at a field behind the school where I have been teaching. I got to play a couple of different positions and had a few chances to hit. My team lost, but I still had a really good time. After the game, I went to a Greek restaurant with some other trainees to celebrate someone's birthday. The food was really good, and added some nice variety to my diet.

Other than that, practice school has been keeping me pretty busy. I am really happy that it is going as well as it is though. I have managed, in general, to speak slow enough for my students. Tomorrow school begins again.

Site Team Conference Through Return from site visit.

7/8/2011-7/10/2011:

Site Team Conference:

On Friday, all of the English Education trainees headed to Chisinau for our site team conference. There we met our future school directors or other representative from the school we will be teaching in. My school director was there. Communicating was interesting because she did not know English and my Russian/Romanian is still not very good. We at least managed to establish a time to meet the following day. Anyway, at the conference we also discussed differences in values between Moldovans and Americans. It seems like we value the same things, but to different extents. Both American groups valued individualism the most. We were asked to make lists of our values based on a list that they gave us. Both American groups put “individualism” at the top. The Moldovans approached the activity differently and listed things in terms of what is needed for a functional society or school rather than just abstractly.

Volunteers from previous years facilitated the conference. They would translate what they said into both Romanian and English. When either a school director or an American spoke, a Peace Corps volunteer would translate. I was really impressed at how strong the language skills of the current volunteers were. Hopefully I will be at the same place after living in Moldova for two years.

After the conference, some people went to their sites. Others went back to their training village. I was among the latter group. I headed to my permanent site at about 9:00 the following morning.

Site Visit:

Saturday

On Saturday morning my school director drove me to my permanent site, located in the northern part of Moldova. It took about 3 hours. We drove by some really beautiful countryside. In the center of Moldova, I saw a lot of grapes. In the north, I saw a lot more corn and sunflowers. There were fields after fields of both corn and sunflowers. Moldovans eat sunflower seeds and also use them to make oil.

We arrived in my village at around 12pm. When I got there, we went to the school where I will be working. There I met some of the director’s assistants. I couldn’t understand exactly what they did because the director described their role in Russian. At the school, I also met the mayor of my village and my partner teacher. We were in the director’s office and had some coffee, tea, chocolates, and cookies. It was nice when my partner teacher got there because she was able to translate what the other three were saying so that I could understand it. It was especially tricky for me to understand since they were speaking in Romanian (Moldovan).

After some refreshments, the director gave me a tour of the school. She showed me where the teacher’s lounge is and where the computer labs are. Apparently I can use internet there if I want to. The school is very nice. I didn’t take any pictures this time, but I will when I move there permanently.

After, my director and partner teacher took me to the house where I will be living. My host father wasn’t there when we arrived, so we sat outside on a bench for him to return. Apparently he was working at a mill in the town. When he got there, he showed me where my room and the bathroom are and then he returned to the mill. I relaxed for a couple of hours until he got back and took some pictures of the house.

When he returned we had some borsht and compot. Compot, if I haven’t mentioned already, is basically juice. It has whole pieces of fruit in it. When it is made, the fruit is boiled in water and then sugar is added. I have had compot made from raspberries and cherries. It is really tasty. After we ate we sat around for a little while. Then, he showed me around. In his garden he has raspberries, sour cherries, apricots, corn, lettuce, carrots, potatoes, garlic, onions, and some other things I can’t remember at the moment. He also has two pigs, some chickens, and some geese.

That took some time, but it was still pretty early, so we sat around inside the gate and outside for a while and talked. I understood some things and didn’t understand others. My host father seems like a really nice guy. My sense of things is that he lives alone a lot of the year while his wife works in Moscow (I think). Overall, it was a really nice day.

Sunday:

This morning I got up at 5:30 to catch the 6:30/7:00 bus. I basically got up, got dressed and had some compot. After that, I made my way to the bus stop which was only a few minutes from the house. There are two buses that head to Chisinau, and I got on the wrong one. The one I got on went all over the place and picked up people at a plethora of different villages. I got on that one because I was told that there was a 6:00 bus and a 7:00 bus. I was also told that the 7:00 bus leaves early some times. It was already 6:30, so I figured it must be the 7:00 bus. When it left early, I figured that was normal. It still got me to Chisinau, so it doesn’t really matter.

When I arrived in Chisinau, I hopped on a rutiera (think really crowded miniature bus) that took me to the central market. From there, I made my way to the McDonalds (kind of on purpose/ kind of by accident). After a long day of travelling, the cheeseburger was delicious. I also made use of the free WIFI. I ate and then made my way back to my current village.

This weekend has been interesting, but tomorrow my schedule returns to normal.

My Future Host Family:

On paper, there are three residents of my house, a mother, a father, and a grandfather. On Saturday, the only person I met was the father. He has two children. Both are married. One lives in Chisinau and one lives in Orhei (another town, kind of near the center of Moldova). The one living in Chisinau has a five year old daughter. I don’t know where the grandfather was/ if he exists.

My Future House:

My new home has two houses. There is a main house and a smaller one (Casa mica). In the main house there are several rooms, including my bedroom. The sink is outside. The compound also has a well. All the water in the house comes from it. There is a pipe that goes directly from the well into the the house. The toilet is outside near the pens where the geese, chickens and pigs are kept. The house also has a very large garden. Below are some pictures of the compound where I will be living.

Captions from Left to right, top to bottom:

Compound from Entrance, Compound from near Garden, Kitchen Building

Casa Mica, Main House, Part of the Kitchen Building

Refrigerator, Microwave and Gas Stove, Part of the Garden

More of the Garden, The Outside Sink, The Outside Shower

Pigs, TV in Casa Mica, The bed in the Casa Mica

Indoor shower, main house Dining Room, Main House Cabinet, Main House