Sook-Chess!!!

I've had a great week. I'm starting to understand bits and pieces of the language and can put together a disjointed sentence that is somewhat understandable. Success!!! (which in Romanian is "Sook-chess!!!" - one of my favorite words at this point) Here are some highlights this week:
    • I attended a FETE (Future Empowerment through Experience) Conference. FETE is a program sponsored by the State Department that aims to provide young, rural Moldovan women the resources and skills necessary to become community leaders through service and civic engagement. It was inspiring to see young high school girls doing so much in their Moldovan communities. Examples: cleaning up parks or rivers, building community spaces, creating a library of books on leadership and civic participation, and all types of activities to bring the community together for better. Two Peace Corps volunteers worked hard all year on this successful project.
    • I spoke Portuguese one evening with a fellow classmate's host dad. It was so refreshing to be able to talk with a Moldovan through a language I can actually speak and understand (as of now!). Not to mention the conversation was over a glass of excellent "vindecasa". House wine. Moldovans are known for it. You may ask why the man spoke Portuguese- pretty standard case- like many Moldovans, he spent time abroad making money to send back to his family in Moldova. In his case, he was in Portugal for 5 years. (My Portuguese background is from Brazil- accents a bit different certainly!)
    • I indulged in some live classical music in Chișinau. A few of us volunteers were given the opportunity to attend a concert at a music hall and hear a few classical pianists play along with a small orchestra. It was fantastic and also refreshing.  (and for the price of 15 lei = $1.20 maybe)
    • I had fun attempting to speak Romanian. Learning a language can be tough. But one can choose to make it fun. And thankfully, my class of 6 trainees chooses daily to make language class more fun than not. Laughter is a part of every morning language session. Words you may like to know: Success! (sook-chess!); Mulțumesc! (mult-soo-mesk! - Thanks!); Eu glumesc! (I joke!); Da, de sigur (yes, of course); nu ințeleg (pronounced "New Intseleg," meaning I don't understand).
    • I learned that these things that some call "irrigation districts" in western Nebraska are actually a revolutionary idea based on the principle of self-governance. (Fyi: Irrigation is how farmers water their plants beyond precipitation from the atmosphere) During the Soviet time of Moldova's history, there was no such thing as self-governance. People were generally told how it was and what to do and felt secure in that. When Moldova broke from the Soviet Union, paid government positions- such as guarding or maintaining an irrigation pump station - disappeared. Irrigation governance essentially disappeared. Salaries, security, stability in some ways disappeared. A project called Irrigation Sector Reform Project funded by the Millenium Challenge Corporation is working to renovate 11 existing irrigation systems and additionally provide Moldovans the tools to organize and govern their irrigation association (district) by themselves. This involves more than you might imagine: technical training on how to use/maintain an irrigation pump/pipe; how to run an effective meeting; how to adhere to the association's election procedure and statutes; how to manage people/board of directors; how to read and utilize the association's balance statements and income statements; and so on.

So it's been a good, sook-chessful, busy week. I will find out officially my site placement for the next two years this week! I realize that the 4th of July is almost here. I will celebrate from afar with pride and a new perspective on the freedoms we've been granted as Americans! Perhaps learning a patriotic tune on my ukele would be appropriate.  God Bless America!

Pictures- "Family Summer Camp" & Moldovan Landscape

Sliced Bread & Other Creations

A couple days ago, we heard from a former Peace Corps Volunteer in Moldova, who talked about her experience from 2007-2009. She ended up marrying a Moldovan farmer, thus she remained in country and was able to come talk to us. Among many enlightening topics, she talked about how no store-bought bread was sliced when she first arrived in Moldova. She tried to convince her Moldovan friends (primarily the baker) that a market existed for pre-sliced bread. The baker and others refused to believe this or believe that it would be worth it to buy a slicing machine. But sure enough, now Moldova has sliced bread. A few more Lei per loaf of bread will pay off that slicing machine in little time. This is a very small example of the mindset in Moldova that can be hard to change. Tradition and history are strong cords of stability and familiarity here, just as they are in the U.S. and perhaps anywhere. They just might play themselves out a little differently from place to place.   In other news, my little brother is one of the most creative 8 year old's I've met. A couple days ago, he created a maze from string usually used for building small trellises in the garden. Yesterday, he built a "summer camp". My host sister just got back from a week of summer camp. Thus, he was inspired to build one- of course on top of the bars that hold up the grape vines. Where else? I would have attached a photo of his craftsmanship from yesterday but… maybe another day when the wifi cooperates a bit more!   Finally, there are these rodents here that reminds me a bit of the Demmel Farm. They are also the choir that provides me my morning wake up call- the chickens... I have yet to tell my family of my mastery skills in gutting a chicken.

Not so Moldovan.

We did some community mapping to get to know our new home a little better, so we walked around our village (of 10,000 I think). It's obvious we're not from here. We've got... backpacks.

My new home!

This is my new home. It's beautiful and so green! It's my host brother's birthday today! Here he's swinging next to a few jars of "compot", a canned boiled juice of sweet cherry/sour cherry/gooseberry juice. Limba romana. I have much to learn about the romanian language (limba romana)!!!

Buna Ziua!

Buna Ziua! Good day! It's a lovely, hot day in Moldova. I spent the morning in language class and the majority of the afternoon in a technical session for the 17 of us ARBD (Agribusiness and Rural Business Development) trainees. We ARBD's have 8 weeks of training before we disperse and begin service in our host communities for two years. We had our first public transit ride on an autobus a few days ago. Seems doable. Hot buses with lots of locals (a feeling of a current of wind is believed to make a person sick- thus there isn't much of a breeze). We will be traveling at least twice a week to other towns during training for classes with other trainees, usually via a big "autobus" or a smaller "rutiera". For about an hour on the first day, I was told I had to learn Russian instead of Romanian. Yikes! For some reason our program director switched me out at the last minute and put me in the Romanian class. I had gotten a tiny bit used to the idea of that additional challenge, but I am quite relieved now that I'm learning Romanian which is the only Eastern European romantic language (based on Latin roots rather than the Cyrillic alphabet). It makes a lot more sense in my brain, thanks to my Portuguese (although some things of course don't transfer at all). Moldovan is the official language. It's very, very similar to Romanian (some say the same), but some Moldovans choose to speak only Moldovan, some Romanian, or some only Russian. The official language prior to 1993 was Russian. Thus, signs, products, services, and literature may be found in either Russian or Romanian. I will hopefully be learning some of both languages in the end. I enjoy my host family. Mama-gazda mea (my host mother) surprised my 14 year old sister, Carolina, with a trip to summer camp (told her yesterday and left early today). Thus, this morning, I had breakfast with only my little brother Stefan who is 7(before he went over to the neighbors). He proceeded to reiterate to me that the homework he helped me with last night was not very difficult. I unfortunately don't quite agree with him - I am not yet up to a 1st grade level of Romanian. Give me a month or two or three. It's pretty warm here (not quite the strength of Washington, DC humidity!), but the land is green and beautiful. The city I live in, Cricova, is a town of 10,000, and its citizens are quite wealthy by Moldovan standards. Often in Moldova, one member or more of the family works abroad and pays remittances to their family back home. My host dad seems to have been working in Italy for the last 10+ years year-round. I have seen a BMW driven on the rutted roads of Cricova. I have walked past mansions that would be worth millions of dollars in the U.S. Most likely, they were purchased through income made by family members working abroad. I was also told that in 1998, much of a household's savings in banks (that are all uninsured) disappeared overnight. Thus, they don't trust banks and find investing their money in their home to be a safer investment. The economy is struggling, much like Europe, and good jobs are hard to come by here. They also have a lack of infrastructure, which adds an additional element of difficulty (especially considering our task of rural economic development). We learned in our technical session that Moldovans may draw a critical eye to community involvement due to coercion to participate in community activities under Soviet times. That's also why we may see beautiful homes and gardens but not so beautiful roads or public spaces. Funding issues to local governments from the federal government may be another reason for a lack of developed roads. Overall, from now until December or January, I know I will be learning a lot. And I'm enjoying it. Our village seems safe. Moldovans seem kind and friendly, although I've been told to view smiles as expensive. They work hard not to smile too often.

Alive and Well!

Admittedly, I wrote the post below without internet access. It's old but hopefully still appreciated! More to come soon! Pictures, too! I'm currently sitting in the Istanbul airport, doing my best to enjoy and utilize a 10 hour layover. I am regretful to not have gone into the city, but I probably made the responsible decision as Peace Corps would have my hide if I missed the flight to Chisinau (pronounced Key-shuh-now in Romanian) or Kishenev (in Russian). I instead bought a travel guide to Turkey, promising myself that I would come back and explore Istanbul and other areas of this country in more than a few short hours. The group of 67 of us have officially begun our new jobs as Peace Corps (PC for short) Trainees to Moldova (aka the M27's - for the 27th group sent to Moldova). Four program areas exist in PC- Moldova: Agribusiness and Rural Business Development (ARBD); Community and Organizational Development (COD); Health Education (HE); & English Education (EE). I will serve as an ARBD Business Advisor after 8 weeks of training. Training- I'm excited for this! I hear it can be rough. Hard. Frustrating. Overwhelming. But also that I won't get lonely or homesick simply because we don't have time for that nonsense. Before I left, I told my grandmother who believes strongly in education that I see the Peace Corps a different type of higher education, a fascinating, thrilling, and difficult one. And I can't wait to experience it. From the advice of a gal named Margaret from Mozambique, er Tekemah, Nebraska, I was advised to write down all the reasons I have decided to serve in the Peace Corps. I thought you might like to know a few, so that you also can remind me of why I'm on this adventure when times get tough (and surely they will): • Sticking with the Peace Corps motto, to promote peace and friendship worldwide • And I'll add to that love toward fellow mankind • To make a difference to my host community through both the friendships I make and the work that I do • To learn. A lot. • To grow and gain perspective • To motivate and inspire and to be motivated and inspired • To recognize more fully my gifts, talents, and skills that could lead to a certain vocation I hope to specify during/after the first 8 weeks of Pre-Service Training goals and objectives related to my project. My puzzle of unknown's related to where I will be living, the organization with whom I will partner, my housing situation, etc, will not be solved until then. I will finish this post with a first lesson in Romanian: Buna! (boo - nuh) Hello! Ce mai feceti? (cheh my faht - chaits) How are you? Eu nu inteleg. (yuh noo oohn-tseh-leg) I don't understand. Bine! (Bee - neh) Good! There you have it. You know just a bit less of what I know in Romanian. Imagine if you are trying to communicate anything when that's all you know. A lot of gesturing, smiles, laughter, and contented embarrassment. Just what I wanted!