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.