I feel like I am really beginning to get the hang of the way things work (or in some cases, from my American perspective) don't work. I am having the most amazing time at the university teaching this practice school class. You wouldn't believe the way the students are so anxious to learn! It has been a 100 plus degrees for almost all of practice school. The students are adults with jobs and lives and they are not getting any credit for the school, yet they continue to come. They are interested, interesting, and unbelievably intelligent. They bring gifts, they bring me water (so that I don't pass out in class, and they even clap at the end of class sometimes! This is a very different experience from any I have ever had before. I am liking it!
I am also learning to do the national dance of Moldova (the hora!) for our swearing-in ceremony. I will get to wear the costume and everything!!!!!! Be sure that I will post pictures of the entire event on an upcoming blog. It should be a hoot! It is a hell of a lot of work as we practice three days a week for 3 hours a night. Most days are 12 hour work days while we are in practice school. It sounds like a lot, but that is really all that I am doing. I don't have to worry about bills, food, cleaning my house, and all of those other things that occupy life at home. I definitely sleep well at night, so I must be doing something right.
I am learning some fascinating things about the culture and the problems here. Yesterday we had a fascinating discussion about Chernobyl and the connection with Moldova. Chernobyl was located in Ukraine (a country that borders Moldova!). Many people from here were sent to help in the clean up efforts without being told anything about the dangers of radiation! That combined with proximity has meant a startling incidence of cancer in very young people and children. We are so lucky in the US! I feel like I take so much about our water, soil, etc. for granted. Here it is very important to know where food comes from, how it has been stored, etc. These are not things I give much thought to at all in the US.
Well, that's about it for now. I am going to try and post one more time before I head down to Cahul, but it may be a while after that before I get up and running in my new place. I wish all of you great starts to the new school year, more good than bad in life, and the company of people you love!!!!!!
Sunday, July 29, 2007
Sunday, July 22, 2007
Sunday in Moldova....
I decided to dedicate some time today for getting the hang of this blogging thing, so be sure to scroll down to the end of my page and take a look at the pictures I have managed to add! Sometimes all it takes is a little time to get to know your computer. Other times it takes a sledgehammer and a bottle of wine!
Well, here it is week seven in Moldova and I have learned many important lessons in this time. I will start with the superficial lessons. First, when the Peace Corps officials tell you to be careful about the water, not to eat the home-made cheeses, etc.-LISTEN! They know what they are talking about. I have always been able to eat the craziest stuff and live to tell about it. (Suni, remember the Chicken Feet at that nasty Dim Sum place in Chinatown?) I have discovered that being sick is not fun when you are in a foreign country, so the lesson I am taking from this is to be more careful about what I eat and listen to the Peace Corps. They know of what they speak!
Lesson #2: This lesson involves temperature. I didn't go to Africa because I was afraid the heat would kill me. Enter the 115 degree temperatures in Moldova. (Andi, I am sorry about what I said about global warming! I believe, I believe!!!!!!) It has been over 110 degrees for a week now. I thought it would not be a big deal. After all, I am from Arkansas. Summer sweltering is a part of life. I am afraid that there is a difference between running out to your hot car and giving it 5 minutes for the air to kick in and trying to sleep when the low temperature is about 95 degrees. I am tired of sweating and having my brains fry out of my head on the walk home from language class!!!!! Please, if you believe in God in any of her forms, ask her for a bit of divine intervention. I was so busy obsessing about the winters it never occurred to me to do a bit of a rain dance and light a candle for cooler temperatures!
Enough with the whining about conditions. (This is what I went into the Peace Corps for, wasn't it? The adventure of living in another country?) Let me tell you about some of the truly beautiful things about living in Moldova. The people are amazing!!!!!! I have never met a kinder, more hospitable group of people in my life. Everywhere I go, people are interested in talking to me, finding out where I come from, practicing their English, letting me practice my broken Romanian, etc. I don't know if there is enough room to begin to tell you about my wonderful host family. They take such good care of me and have made me feel so comfortable and welcome in their home it is unbelievable. I am one lucky lady!
Right now I am in Practice School. That means that I head to Chisinau every morning (Peace Corps is wonderful. They send a driver to pick us up every day and take us into the city to the University there!) I teach two classes a day with students from assorted universities all over Chisinau. They are amazing students! They range in age from 18 to 61 and are all wonderful students of English. We can talk about all kinds of topics, from the deep to the shallow and they hang in there for it all. One of the students brings me cold water every morning because it is so damn hot! The most amazing thing is that the students keep coming. It is unbearable hot (no air conditioning anywhere!), it is their summer vacation, and they still come. As I said, I am one lucky lady! Practice School lasts until one in the afternoon, then we head back to Peresecina for language class (with two of the most wonderful, patient and kind instructors in the world!), then starting next week I will have to go to Orhei every evening for dance and voice lessons. It seems I have gotten myself into another fine mess. I have agreed to learn to dance the Hora (the national dance of Moldova!) and sing the national anthem for the swearing in next month. Not so worried about the singing, but I am terrified about the dancing! You have to follow directions and touch someone to dance it. Not my strong suits on the dance floor! I have decided, in the spirit of adventure, to give it a whirl (HUGE pun intended!), but won't get my feelings hurt if they politely tell me I should concentrate on the singing....
Right now the days are pretty long, so I haven't had a lot of time to myself, but everyone (i.e. the other volunteers who have already been here for a year!) say that PST is the most difficult time in Peace Corps. I am feeling a little lonely for my family and friends, but that is to be expected. I think the two years will go by faster than I ever expected. It is already hard to believe I have been here for six weeks already!
I miss all of my friends in the states and hope that everything is going well. After Christmas I will start looking for an apartment, so keep me in mind when you make your summer plans for travel. I hope that you will take me up on my offer to show the beauty of Moldova. I will have a piece of Futon ready with your name on it! Stay well.....
Jennifer
Well, here it is week seven in Moldova and I have learned many important lessons in this time. I will start with the superficial lessons. First, when the Peace Corps officials tell you to be careful about the water, not to eat the home-made cheeses, etc.-LISTEN! They know what they are talking about. I have always been able to eat the craziest stuff and live to tell about it. (Suni, remember the Chicken Feet at that nasty Dim Sum place in Chinatown?) I have discovered that being sick is not fun when you are in a foreign country, so the lesson I am taking from this is to be more careful about what I eat and listen to the Peace Corps. They know of what they speak!
Lesson #2: This lesson involves temperature. I didn't go to Africa because I was afraid the heat would kill me. Enter the 115 degree temperatures in Moldova. (Andi, I am sorry about what I said about global warming! I believe, I believe!!!!!!) It has been over 110 degrees for a week now. I thought it would not be a big deal. After all, I am from Arkansas. Summer sweltering is a part of life. I am afraid that there is a difference between running out to your hot car and giving it 5 minutes for the air to kick in and trying to sleep when the low temperature is about 95 degrees. I am tired of sweating and having my brains fry out of my head on the walk home from language class!!!!! Please, if you believe in God in any of her forms, ask her for a bit of divine intervention. I was so busy obsessing about the winters it never occurred to me to do a bit of a rain dance and light a candle for cooler temperatures!
Enough with the whining about conditions. (This is what I went into the Peace Corps for, wasn't it? The adventure of living in another country?) Let me tell you about some of the truly beautiful things about living in Moldova. The people are amazing!!!!!! I have never met a kinder, more hospitable group of people in my life. Everywhere I go, people are interested in talking to me, finding out where I come from, practicing their English, letting me practice my broken Romanian, etc. I don't know if there is enough room to begin to tell you about my wonderful host family. They take such good care of me and have made me feel so comfortable and welcome in their home it is unbelievable. I am one lucky lady!
Right now I am in Practice School. That means that I head to Chisinau every morning (Peace Corps is wonderful. They send a driver to pick us up every day and take us into the city to the University there!) I teach two classes a day with students from assorted universities all over Chisinau. They are amazing students! They range in age from 18 to 61 and are all wonderful students of English. We can talk about all kinds of topics, from the deep to the shallow and they hang in there for it all. One of the students brings me cold water every morning because it is so damn hot! The most amazing thing is that the students keep coming. It is unbearable hot (no air conditioning anywhere!), it is their summer vacation, and they still come. As I said, I am one lucky lady! Practice School lasts until one in the afternoon, then we head back to Peresecina for language class (with two of the most wonderful, patient and kind instructors in the world!), then starting next week I will have to go to Orhei every evening for dance and voice lessons. It seems I have gotten myself into another fine mess. I have agreed to learn to dance the Hora (the national dance of Moldova!) and sing the national anthem for the swearing in next month. Not so worried about the singing, but I am terrified about the dancing! You have to follow directions and touch someone to dance it. Not my strong suits on the dance floor! I have decided, in the spirit of adventure, to give it a whirl (HUGE pun intended!), but won't get my feelings hurt if they politely tell me I should concentrate on the singing....
Right now the days are pretty long, so I haven't had a lot of time to myself, but everyone (i.e. the other volunteers who have already been here for a year!) say that PST is the most difficult time in Peace Corps. I am feeling a little lonely for my family and friends, but that is to be expected. I think the two years will go by faster than I ever expected. It is already hard to believe I have been here for six weeks already!
I miss all of my friends in the states and hope that everything is going well. After Christmas I will start looking for an apartment, so keep me in mind when you make your summer plans for travel. I hope that you will take me up on my offer to show the beauty of Moldova. I will have a piece of Futon ready with your name on it! Stay well.....
Jennifer
Sunday, July 15, 2007
Even the mighty fall.....
You know, I have always said that I have a cast iron constitution.... These things always come back to haunt me!!!!!! I have had my first case of 3rd World ebola and am now able to talk about it in humorous terms. I came down with a whopping case of Giardia at the beginning of the week that about killed me! From what I understand, Giardia is a bacteria that produces anaerobically in your stomach and intestines. That basically means that you get the screaming stomach pain, the horrible diahrrea, and horrible throw-ups. All of this is made more difficult by the whole outhouse experience, I must say. All I can tell you, my friends, is that you haven't lived until you have tried to position two opposite ends of your body over the same whole in the floor. THIS is what I came into the Peace Corps for.... Adventure, raw adventure.
Despite my brush with ebola, I have had a great couple of weeks. Tomorrow we start Practice School at the University here in Chisinau and I am really excited to get started on the giving portion of the program. So far I have just been absorbing information and trying desperately to learn Romanian, so I haven't felt much like I was really doing what I came here for. Now is my chance to show my stuff and do a little teaching. I am ready and thrilled!
You might remember that I was headed out to Cahul last week to visit my new host family and the university in Cahul. That was great. I got there on the weekend of a big international folk festival called Nufurul Alb. There were folk dance teams and folk singers from all over the (Eastern) world. It was pretty amazing. My new host family was in charge of showing the team from Romania around, so I got to go back to where they were staying and see them dance and listen to them sing til 3 in the morning. It was stunning to see! My new family seems fabulous. They are cool with me being in the kitchen and promise to teach me all about canning summer vegetables and harvesting the grapes in the fall. My university colleagues are all about mid to late 20's and gorgeous! Jeremy, tell Tidwell and the crew they really need to come visit. Man, can I fix them up! Pottery ladies, I am still looking for pottery opportunities. I can learn how to create baskets from corn, carve wood and paint eggs, but so far, no kilns in sight!
The next few weeks I will be finishing up in northern Moldova, then I will head south and get ready for the University there. More later.....
Despite my brush with ebola, I have had a great couple of weeks. Tomorrow we start Practice School at the University here in Chisinau and I am really excited to get started on the giving portion of the program. So far I have just been absorbing information and trying desperately to learn Romanian, so I haven't felt much like I was really doing what I came here for. Now is my chance to show my stuff and do a little teaching. I am ready and thrilled!
You might remember that I was headed out to Cahul last week to visit my new host family and the university in Cahul. That was great. I got there on the weekend of a big international folk festival called Nufurul Alb. There were folk dance teams and folk singers from all over the (Eastern) world. It was pretty amazing. My new host family was in charge of showing the team from Romania around, so I got to go back to where they were staying and see them dance and listen to them sing til 3 in the morning. It was stunning to see! My new family seems fabulous. They are cool with me being in the kitchen and promise to teach me all about canning summer vegetables and harvesting the grapes in the fall. My university colleagues are all about mid to late 20's and gorgeous! Jeremy, tell Tidwell and the crew they really need to come visit. Man, can I fix them up! Pottery ladies, I am still looking for pottery opportunities. I can learn how to create baskets from corn, carve wood and paint eggs, but so far, no kilns in sight!
The next few weeks I will be finishing up in northern Moldova, then I will head south and get ready for the University there. More later.....
Wednesday, July 4, 2007
Hello to all my friends in the states! I know it has been a while, but internet access hasn't been as easy as I thought. (I can get on the internet a couple of times each week, but the pages are all in Russian for everything, so navigating and knowing what buttons to push has not been easy!) At any rate, I want to update you on what has been going on since I left, so here goes...
We started this adventure in Philadelphia, what seems like a lifetime ago. We went through two days of intense (but strangely non-specific!) orientation, getting-to-know-you activities, etc., then the next thing I knew we were on a bus headed to JFK for our flight! We spent about 24 hours en route, then we arrived in Chisinau to begin our official training.
Our first few days in Chisinau were packed with warnings about safety and security, not drinking the water, etc. We were all pretty jet-lagged, overwhelmed etc., so a lot of the information went in one ear and out the other, but they are repeating things during our PST (pre service training!) so I don't feel like I missed out on too much. Chisinau is a big city, but it is different than other large cities I have been to in Europe. First, it is a bit more run-down, but it is also lacking in a lot of the historic buildings you see in most European capitols. My theory on this is that Western Europe spent billions reconstructing what had been destroyed in WWII. I get the impression that it wasn't the biggest priority under Communist rule, so what was rebuilt was done in a more communist-era style.
After three closely-supervised days in Chisinau in a hotel, we were sent out to our families in villages about 25-35 kilometers away from Chisinau. I am in a village called Peresecina, the largest of the PST villages. It is an interesting place. The past seems on a collision course with the modern here. Most families have a number of cell phones, TV's, etc. but no indoor bathroom. The streets off of the main road are mostly not paved and are rutted and full of potholes. Horses and carts hug the left lane of the main street here while BMVs and the occasional Mercedes fly past at break-neck speeds.
I am living with an amazing family. My "host mother" is Luda. She is a nurse and about the hardest working woman I have ever met. She has two drop-dead gorgeous daughters that live at the house. Olga is 25 and a doctor; Zina is 20 and an accountant. Neither of them are married, but Zina will marry in the spring, so I am looking forward to my first Moldovan wedding!!!!! Now to the important stuff... The food and the wine is amazing. It is an interesting mixture of Italy and Eastern Europe. We eat stuffed cabbage, polenta, borscht, and all kinds of meats and cheeses. Cucumbers and tomatoes are to be had at every meal. My host mother is a fabulous cook, so I am all kinds of great food. There is a mysterious and seemingly unlimited supply of wine (brought to the table in little pitchers!) in the basement, so nothing ever gets too bad! I have a big room with a bed, table and chairs and a bit of space in a wardrobe for my things. The only down side is.... the toilet. It is a stroll past the chicken coop, a squeeze past the pigs, and ... an outhouse! I have to admit that it was the hardest thing to get used to, but I am also proud to say that I am getting used to the whole process. I don't want to say that I love it, but it definitely does not overshadow the fact that I am living with a kind and wonderful family that I adore!!!!!
My days are basically spent learning Romanian, attending sessions on how to be a great foreign language teacher, and learning about what it is going to take to be a great volunteer. This week we learned where we will be going in Moldova for our permanent teaching sites, so I am happy to say that I will be in Cahul at the university there. This weekend I go to visit the university, meet some of my colleagues, and stay with a couple of potential host families to see which one I like best. Wish me luck!!!!
I hope that I will be able to do better keeping up with the blog once I get to Cahul. They have an English lab at the university, so keeping up with e-mails and things should be easier. I have uploaded a few pictures of some of the adventures, so take a look if you have time! I miss you all and hope that everyone is doing well and staying safe and busy. Pottery ladies, I hope you are making beautiful things and having a blast!
We started this adventure in Philadelphia, what seems like a lifetime ago. We went through two days of intense (but strangely non-specific!) orientation, getting-to-know-you activities, etc., then the next thing I knew we were on a bus headed to JFK for our flight! We spent about 24 hours en route, then we arrived in Chisinau to begin our official training.
Our first few days in Chisinau were packed with warnings about safety and security, not drinking the water, etc. We were all pretty jet-lagged, overwhelmed etc., so a lot of the information went in one ear and out the other, but they are repeating things during our PST (pre service training!) so I don't feel like I missed out on too much. Chisinau is a big city, but it is different than other large cities I have been to in Europe. First, it is a bit more run-down, but it is also lacking in a lot of the historic buildings you see in most European capitols. My theory on this is that Western Europe spent billions reconstructing what had been destroyed in WWII. I get the impression that it wasn't the biggest priority under Communist rule, so what was rebuilt was done in a more communist-era style.
After three closely-supervised days in Chisinau in a hotel, we were sent out to our families in villages about 25-35 kilometers away from Chisinau. I am in a village called Peresecina, the largest of the PST villages. It is an interesting place. The past seems on a collision course with the modern here. Most families have a number of cell phones, TV's, etc. but no indoor bathroom. The streets off of the main road are mostly not paved and are rutted and full of potholes. Horses and carts hug the left lane of the main street here while BMVs and the occasional Mercedes fly past at break-neck speeds.
I am living with an amazing family. My "host mother" is Luda. She is a nurse and about the hardest working woman I have ever met. She has two drop-dead gorgeous daughters that live at the house. Olga is 25 and a doctor; Zina is 20 and an accountant. Neither of them are married, but Zina will marry in the spring, so I am looking forward to my first Moldovan wedding!!!!! Now to the important stuff... The food and the wine is amazing. It is an interesting mixture of Italy and Eastern Europe. We eat stuffed cabbage, polenta, borscht, and all kinds of meats and cheeses. Cucumbers and tomatoes are to be had at every meal. My host mother is a fabulous cook, so I am all kinds of great food. There is a mysterious and seemingly unlimited supply of wine (brought to the table in little pitchers!) in the basement, so nothing ever gets too bad! I have a big room with a bed, table and chairs and a bit of space in a wardrobe for my things. The only down side is.... the toilet. It is a stroll past the chicken coop, a squeeze past the pigs, and ... an outhouse! I have to admit that it was the hardest thing to get used to, but I am also proud to say that I am getting used to the whole process. I don't want to say that I love it, but it definitely does not overshadow the fact that I am living with a kind and wonderful family that I adore!!!!!
My days are basically spent learning Romanian, attending sessions on how to be a great foreign language teacher, and learning about what it is going to take to be a great volunteer. This week we learned where we will be going in Moldova for our permanent teaching sites, so I am happy to say that I will be in Cahul at the university there. This weekend I go to visit the university, meet some of my colleagues, and stay with a couple of potential host families to see which one I like best. Wish me luck!!!!
I hope that I will be able to do better keeping up with the blog once I get to Cahul. They have an English lab at the university, so keeping up with e-mails and things should be easier. I have uploaded a few pictures of some of the adventures, so take a look if you have time! I miss you all and hope that everyone is doing well and staying safe and busy. Pottery ladies, I hope you are making beautiful things and having a blast!
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