Winter = Iarna in Romanian

Enjoy! Work is good, got to get back there!
Drew

I will try and write more often

Buna Seara,

Normalcy has entered my life finally, and I have begun a rather nice routine. All of my qualms I once had with work have been put behind me, and I am excited to head to work each day. Over the last two weeks I have been working to automate a contract writing process for my NGO, and to smooth office procedures. (We have a 400 person organization base that borrow short-term micro loans each year.) Everything I am helping with and teaching are transferable skills that I am hoping they will have a lasting effect. Also, it feels kind of good to actually walk to the office everyday with laptop bag in one hand, and tea or latte (latte in Moldova = whole milk from cow boiled till foamed, then add instant coffee) in a thermos in the other hand.

More interestingly, I just finished a questionnaire that I need to give to the 200+ students at the local school about the possibility of starting an open-gym program or an after school club. The holiday season allowed me to meet many people here, and I saw the need when I too myself couldn’t use the village’s gymnasium to play basketball. I am getting a little grief from the school director at this point about liability of opening the gym, but many other volunteers have similar programs, and thus I think I am going to be able to figure out the logistics soon.

Last weekend I spent in the capital Chişinău for an IST (In-Service Training) on language. You all should be happy to hear I am progressing at a much more rapid pace than some of my peers, not that it is a race though! My professor attributed my faster than usual acquisition to my integration into my village. In other words, I like to have a glass of wine with the locals every once in a while and thus I am practicing more than some of the other volunteers! The weekend was a blast, and tons of volunteers from other programs came in and we had a nice time in the capital. We also were granted some unseasonably warm weather, which was a great change from New Years where all of Chişinău was basically an ice rink.

I now have a Romanian tutor for two or three days a week in a neighboring village, and we are working together very nicely. All the other volunteers told us language would start to click after about month five here, and they were correct. I have been invited to parties in the new village of my tutor already, so it is going to be nice to make contacts in another part of Moldova.

The only other things keeping me busy here is a school in Batavia IL (Katy Kennedy’s Class), where I am corresponding with every few weeks about my experience here in Moldova

Lastly, yea! I am going to be on vacation in six weeks. Well deserved.

Take Care All,

Drew

I'm Back

I’m Back!

The holidays here are never-ending, and I have been trying my best to keep up with these Moldovans! It seems every time I turn around another holiday, tradition, or invitation comes for our family to celebrate. Not to mention most of the population has almost two weeks off from work to ring in the New Year!

My village celebrates new Christmas on the 25^th, unlike most of the country whom celebrate the 7^th with Moscow. We celebrated Christmas with a huge and two other families. I sat on one side of the table with all the guys, and the women took the other side. My host father had bought a huge bottle of Perfect vodka that we took shots of throughout the meal. After bottle two, a tradition began that I think originates from Ukraine. Children dress up in costumes and go from house to house and sign some sort of carol. At each house they are given candy and a little money. My host father was joking with the kids when accidentally a hand went flying, and he came back to the dinner table with a blood soaked sweater and black eye. I fixed him up with my trusty med-kit as well as I could, and one of our guests opened a bottle of brandy.

I rang in the New Year in the city centre of Chişinău. A friend of mine rented an apartment for the weekend, and I spent the night there with about ten other volunteers and a few of their Moldovan boyfriends/girlfriends. We started the night at my favorite new lounge, the penthouse, which ironically is on the first floor, and then made dinner at the apartment together before heading to the centre. New Year’s is one of the most important holidays here I now realize, so therefore next year I think I will either be in the states, or with my host family rather than Chişinău. (Now that I think about it, maybe an Egyptian Beach!)

I made it back to my town to meet tons of the university students who came in for vacation. It was great having many people my own age, and having my host sister introduce me around. Our small community centre hosted a mini-disco most the nights for the younger people to gather, and I went every time I had the chance.

Now that the Orthodox Christmas has ended, as well as Saint Jon day, I think things are really going to settle down. My host brother is currently in the hospital with a broken ankle, and my sister left for Chişinău for university. The house is quiet and the Christmas tree just came down.

Last night I think was my last hurrah for a while, as I really need to get down to work and fabricating a plan for my community. We spent the night sledding with Romania brightly lighting the background, and ended with a fast ride through the village on a horse drawn sleigh. I was with a few of my friends, some of there wives, and my host sister. It was an amazing night that words cannot accurately describe. It was raw and fun, and uninhibited and not what I expected would be my choice of distraction.

The holidays surely were not the same without all of you, but just know I enjoyed every minute of them here, and I hope you all did there!

noroc,

drew

Video Update

Take the time to check out my town and my house!

My swearing in ceremony, and the Wednesday night before!

Daily

Zi Buna! Good Day!

Hopefully in the next year or so I will be greeting you all in Russian as well! I am settling in very quickly here, and as I approach week four at site I am starting to establish a routine.

I head into the office around ten in the morning, after waking up to have breakfast at around eight in the morning. After breakfast I normally refresh my cup of tea, and take in the day’s news on the BBC. After the news, I sign online quickly to download whatever emails I have from the previous day. I then put on my work clothes, normally some sort of combination of a collard shirt and a sweater. I find if I mix them enough ways it looks like I have more clothes than I actually brought with me.

My counterpart normally ditches me within the first hour or so of the day, and thus I sit and study Romanian. The plan is I stay at work until around one PM, but normally I head out after two hours around noon. I fill my afternoons up with lunch, and them maybe a visit to the local school or the mayors office. I actually think I am going to be starting to work with the Mayor on a project soon, I have a meeting with him early next week.

The weekends are brutal here though. In fact, they are so brutal for volunteers a random German Volunteer from a different organization found out I was near by and tracked me down. We met over the weekend, and it was great have a volunteer perspective outside of the Peace Corps.

Beyond that, not much is new, if you want a laugh, my monthly allowance is less than I would sometimes spend in one night at Tampa (although it may turn out to be enough!), but on the flip side my host father informed me we are having a Russian Banya room installed soon, hopefully the influx in cash I am paying will help that along!

Pe Curînd! See you soon!

drew

Ukrainian Ikea

I write to you while “Ma doare spate” “My back hurts”! I have spent the previous three nights, and the majority of today putting together furniture with my host father, Ion (pronounced like Jon with a Y.) Imagine how annoying buying anything from Ikea is in the first place, now image doing it with Ukrainian standards. For the five pieces of furniture there was one drawing and the majority of the holes were not pre-drilled.

BUT, my entire room is brand new, and I really cannot complain my family went out of there way to make me so comfortable. Not to mention, I now know the words for screw, hammer, and etc. in Romanian now. My room is directly off the kitchen, which is new, and across from the bathroom. The bathroom has insanely hot water, and is also new. A toilet is also in the bathroom, but I think that no one is supposed to use it, therefore I venture outside for the bathroom. The window in my room looks over the Prut River to Romania.
My work is good so far, but my real focus is meeting the community and learning the language. I was already given some grant ideas, but I am not going to commit to anything for a few months. Given work has been slow to start I accompanied my host father to a conference on communication and conflict in the work place that was entirely in Romanian. I understood almost everything that was said, and I really felt great leaving. Not to mention the lunch served during the conference included shots of vodka. It’s just cultural what can I say?
On to other things… the food… the random stuff...
I thought the food could not get any better when was at my last host family, but I was very wrong. Although my last host mother could bake, my new host mother is much better all around. We eat a lot of polenta and more whole grains than I had ever expected. Also, my host mother makes the tastiest borscht I have ever eaten so far, although she thinks I am lying when I tell her how good it is. Also, we eat a ton of duck here, I love duck, and it is prepared so simply, and deliciously here. We have marinated and cured sweet peppers, as well as pickles, and many other pickled veggies. All of our foods are natural and fresh. My host father owns 12 hectares of land, but is in control of over 50 hectares of land.
On to random ruminations, I showed my family the Brita Filter for cooking water, and my crazy large distiller for drinking water, and they were not totally weirded out. I am moving into my room today after a week of waiting, and I am very excited to start settling in. I have a phone jack in my room, so I should be able to check email more often, no DSL available here though, so likely no skype! I will say I am very excited our satellite feeds both BBC World and Bloomberg, so I am keeping myself pretty caught up on current events around the world.
Just over three months down, I am officially a volunteer, if you have not received my video of swearing in, let me know and I can forward it out!
Seems like I just left still,
La revedere,
drew

Photos as Promised!

The average road after rain in Magdacesti, no boots required for Moldovans.




Surrounded with nothing but Romanian, Classroom at school.






Host Mothers "Mama Gazde" at group dinner.






Host brother directly across from me & crew.


Romania in distance, Prut River, Edinet, Moldova



Giant Soviet World War II Monument


Host sister dancing the "Hora" at wedding in Chisinau

Former volunteer working with Foreign Service, Black Tie Marine Ball at Embassy.