Meeting My Neighbor, Zina

Yesterday evening, I decided to take a walk through the neighborhood.  I ended up spending some time chatting with my neighbor, Zina (or Zinaida).  She’s probably around 70 years old, I presume.  And she had nothing good to say about the current state of her country.  She remembers the good old days when the Soviet Union took care of her.  Now, for over the last 20 years, she has seen life transform into something she sees only as poverty.  Bandits and thieves, Zinaida told me, Bandits! and Thieves! have taken all their land or if not their land, all of their produce from their land and ruined the ability for them to maintain the standard of living they desire.  When she asked me where I was from off the bat (yes I have a very strong accent...), she shook her head in disgust, regarding my response, the United States.  She had heard from a couple men that had worked there that all they did was work.  They couldn’t make or save any money in America.  And so the U.S. is bad.  

While we were having this conversation, a young man driving a nice Mercedes Benz with the steering wheel on the right side of the car (left side is normal in Moldova) pulls up in front of us and starts talking to the baba (which means elderly woman) next to me, Zina.  After a few words, Zina recalls who this young gentlemen is.  She hasn’t seen him in years.  He was a little boy the last time she saw him.  

But she recognizes him.  He was one of the boys next door, whose family moved out and left Moldova over ten years ago.  The house still is there, empty, unable to be sold.  Zina asked about his family, and he responded that they all had left Moldova- Spain, England, Russia.  No one was living in Moldova.  His family was only visiting on vacation.  He was the only one that came back to his hometown.  The rest of his family knew what a shame it would be to see their empty house.  

So this is a story in Moldova that reflects much greater on a trend in this country.  When people face poverty in this country, some stay around and moan.  Some stay around and fight.  Some leave and search for a better life.  Not too many people like me move in to the country.  When I told my host dad about the young guy who I had just met last night and his family’s story, I asked if it made him sad.  He responded that he is not sad about it, because it’s a sensible thing for people to do- to seek a better life elsewhere.  What is sad is when people live in poverty and are stuck in poverty.  Luckily for my host family, they have worked hard; they are smart and maybe have had a bit of luck; and they have created a good life for themselves in their hometown.  I know they have made sacrifices that I don’t realize.

A Day in the Life of Laura in Moldova

Today is just a normal day in Moldova.  I wake up, go for a run, and get a bit lost on rutted out roads in my neighborhood.  After a hot shower inside, I have breakfast waiting for me (Multumesc, Tata Gazda.  Thanks, Host Dad).  Breakfast includes a large serving of mashed potatoes and a hot dog, as well as bread and cookies on the side.  Since my dad has already eaten his breakfast of champions, I return half of the serving of mashed potatoes back to the bowl.  It’s hard to convince this father of mine that I eat enough, but I tell him over and over that I do eat to my stomach’s content and often unfortunately then some.  He is a big guy with a much larger stomach than mine, and he’s Moldovan! He wants to show his hospitality by offering me limitless amounts of food.

 My host dad on the right, holding a mushroom grown by my host brother on the left.  Valentin, my host brother, sells high quality mushrooms mostly to places in Chisinau.  I have some white house wine in my hand.

After that, I made the 20 minute walk to work straight through the center of town.  I passed first a young boy carrying his purchase of a watermelon from the market.  I mumble to him, "Buna Dimineata" (Good morning).  The response is always better when I mumble and speak softly.  Moldovans like to greet each other softly, as if a wind current, which is known to make one sick here, might arise if they speak any louder than that. Next I passed an older man carrying his morning purchases- 2 holey boxes filled with chickens/geese and a punga (bag) of something.  

As I entered the center of town, the streets were busy with locals wondering to the bus stop and to and from the local piata (market).  The city of Causeni is the raion center of the raion, Causeni.  With a population around 20,000 (less probably due to those working abroad), they actually have quite a few thriving businesses.  I’m at the point that I know that when I walk or run through town, someone that I have met already is watching me, knowing exactly who I am.  They have one American girl to remember.  I have... many faces and names to remember, names that I struggle to spell/pronounce and that come in 5 different forms.  Bori, Olha, Nikolai, Victor, Vladimir, Nadejda, Svetlana, Voda, Galia,... and yes, I just named the easy ones that I have already learned.  The best is when you are introduced to someone and they give you 3 names.  “Sunt Sasha.  Alexandru. I am Alex.”  

Continuing on my walk, I pass the bank where there’s a crowd gathered, waiting for 9am to strike so they can collect most likely remittances they receive from abroad.  And also be on their way to the market asap.

So I wander for 20 minutes on my daily work commute with my stream of consciousness wandering even further. I sing American music in my head, remain curious on how to say _________ and __________ in Romanian, and recall my strong, challenging desire to learn the Russian alphabet and more. Finally, I arrive at work.

Doamna Nadejda begins to talk about plans for the rest of the week for me and also how I am to examine the X-Chel (xcel) document on the memory stick she hands me.  I do have a computer that has full capabilities (just installed Microsoft Office yesterday- woohoo!).  She also gives me a link to a site that we use quite often- http://aipa.md/index.php - the website for the Agency  of Intervention and Payments for Agriculture.  

My desk at the office.

 
After I grab my morning cup or two of instant coffee (addicted and happy), I read through news and peruse (to the best of my ability) the excel document and website (and other websites it links to).  Wheww this is a lot of work.  If you want to practice, try reading articles here: http://www.timpul.md/, in addition to the link above.

After a couple hours of this, we head to the mayor’s office to meet him for the first time.  He’s welcoming and talks about most things that I think I can understand.  Kind of.  Nadejda asks me to talk about my host family, and I stumble to say anything.  Good one.  You should have worked this out a little sooner.  Sigh.  But the mayor understands that I have a few months before my Romanian will be decent.  He mentions, of course, Kelsey, the infamous American that married one of Causeni’s own good men.  He points to the same future for me after two years.  I laugh.   When really I should have said something about how I am not all that appreciative of the offer at this time, thank you.  And that this kind suggestion has been told to me every day since arriving in this country.  But I refrain. Oh my poor Romanian.

After our short conversation, we returned to the office a block away on foot.  I attempt to call one of my host dad’s friends, Boris, who from my understanding had some type of agricultural enterprise with sunflowers.  And his operation is close to Ukraine.  (our raion to the south boders Ukraine) ...So I call him.  Try to talk, can’t understand a thing, and give the phone to Nadejda.  After only a couple sentences of conversation, all the information I wanted to synthesize was complete between the two of them.  Nadejda then said- Boris just has some land and grows wheat and sunflowers, which have already been harvested. But he lives in Causeni which isn’t right on the border of Ukraine.  Okay.  So the small understanding I had of the 5 minute conversation with Boris, other friend, and my dad on Saturday around the table  over the weekend seemed to be quite inflated, regarding what Boris actually did and where he wanted me to visit.  Hmm. I’ll try harder to listen and communicate better next time I guess?  (but that’s what I do every time!)

It’s almost time for lunch, and I can’t wait because they have a functioning toilet inside the restaurant where we will dine today!  Otherwise, I must use the outdoor hole in the ground next to the office or alternatively the outhouse at home.  Lunch was typical Moldovan-style for the summer- cooked potatoes and mushrooms; a cooked pepper filled with mostly rice; and a side of fresh cucumber, tomato, and dill salad.  And a good splash of oil on it all with a touch of salt.  And always bread.  We don’t usually go to the restaurant for lunch, but I think I prompted Nadea when I asked where the best place to eat in town was yesterday.  

After lunch, we met a couple more of Nadea’s friends as we make our way the two block walk back to the office.  The two are married and musicians and grew up with Nadea. Ion, the man, tells a joke which I fail to understand. Nadea retells it to me, and then I laugh (2 minutes after the joke was told). Before I went back to the office, I attemp to withdraw cash at the bank but am denied.  Although I can withdraw cash from any of my bank’s ATMs, I need both my residency card and a passport to withdraw any cash inside a bank with a teller. Can anyone explain?

Back in the office after that, I study some more Romanian and visit with one of the English classes in our office meeting room space.  I go home and find my host brother and his 4 year old son also at the house.  Every time I am in my room and my little host nephew comes to the house, I get a series of taps on my door until I answer/come out and play with him.  Today I play a simplified game of UNO with him, which essentially allowed me to teach him the 4 colors in English.  It makes my day to hear him say “gween” and “wed”.  After a few more times at this game, maybe we’ll move on to colors and numbers and play real UNO.

I continue to study Romanian, this time in a workbook.  After a bit of that, I help my mother in the kitchen.  She just had a gynecological operation and shouldn't be doing much.  Even though she has to go back to the hospital tonight to sleep, she is still amazingly and sadly the one cooking dinner.  I do what I can to help, although I would doubt that they would allow me to be the head chef anyway, since I am unable to cook like a Moldovan (although I'm developing simple theories on this)...   After dinner, I wash the dishes (something they know I can manage).  


And now I’m just ready to relax.  Or write this blog entry, study more Romanian un pic (a little), and read books before I fall asleep.  We ate dinner early today, so if my dad calls me to eat some watermelon later, I won’t be disappointed.

Hai! Hai! -A Pleasantly Busy First Week

When we were wrapping up training, we were told repeatedly to lower our expectations for getting started with work.  Don't expect much- you don't know the language, you don't know your organization/community all that well, and it's August- vacation season!  Three legitimate reasons why starting a new job in Moldova in August as an American may not be all that thrilling. 

I found the week to be quite an interesting one, however. 

• Monday- I was in the office.  I did a lot of reading on news nationally and internationally and studied Romanian via organization publications and Moldovan news sites.  Even this kept me busy and focused all day.
• Tuesday- Another day in the office.  I sat in on a couple English classes that are taught in our office by Mrs. Svetlana.  She's a great teacher- so great that her students from school come to class during their summer break to keep learning the language (this is quite the anomaly!).  I also got lucky and was able to visit a winery that's known to produce Negru de Purcari, the wine always requested by Queen Elizabeth II.  I went to Purcari Winery with my partner, Nadea, and some of her relatives.  Although it was less than 30 miles away from our town, they had never been there.  I appreciated being able to go with them and on my second day of work even!
• Wednesday- I spent most of the day with a former volunteer, Kelsey, who married a Moldovan and now lives and farms with her husband here.  She took me to see their farm and village.  Thankfully, for the first time in a while, the heat broke.  Cooler weather and a few sprinkles have saturated this part of Moldova since then.  Kelsey and I had a lot to discuss as we drove across the country side; inspected her greenhouses; and stopped by to check on the bell pepper-picking crew.  We have a lot in common, and it stems from growing up around agriculture.  She grew up on a ranch in western Oklahoma and studied agricultural economics in college.  I grew up on a farm in western Nebraska and also studied ag economics.  Additionally, we also have a keen interest in agricultural development worldwide but now especially in this little area where we both live in Moldova. 
• Thursday- Kelsey and her business partner, Raia, started a business called EcoValley this year, which primarily sells fresh produce through a Community Supported Agricuture (CSA) program.  I helped deliver the fresh produce directly to EcoValley customers in Chisinau with Kelsey on Thursday.  I have always been interested and supportive of the idea of a CSA, and to find myself in Moldova delivering produce to CSA customers was just a bit crazy and fun!
• Friday-I mostly recapped the week, and devoted the day to synthesizing all the information I had soaked in from the week.  I try to devote a couple hours at least each day to reading news and freshening up on my Romanian skills.   It may sound that this is pretty unproductive, but truthfully it's difficult to be too productive without basic skills in the language (if you ask me).  Smiles and non-verbal communication can certainly get you a long ways, but I hope and try to acquire more tools than those!  Even talking to my family and their friends and expanding on topics that we talk about are steps I'm taking toward language acquisition.  Topics: anything and everything.  Examples: the reasons why I like Demmel Farm chicken more than the chicken from the store; differences and traditions in religions (my host family is Orthodox, and I am Protestant); hobbies; the history of Moldova; future travel plans; dreams for the future; their vision of my life beyond Peace Corps with a Moldovan husband and a wine export business to the States; family history; my family back in the U.S.; American versus Moldovan traditions; and so on.

Whewww!  So week 1 flew by pleasantly and in an unexpected way.  I have more topics to blog about than I have time/concentration to put forward.  But I will do my best to send more updates soon!

En route to the village and the farm. - Yes, this is the main road , I do believe.  Fewer potholes than the paved street my house is on in town!

On the farm!  Kelsey's family farm has 20 hectares (~50 acres) of bell peppers this year. It's time to harvest them!  They sell most of them at the whole sale market in Chisinau.

At the Purcari Winery with my partner and her daughter

First Weekend at Site!

A lot has happened since I last posted!  I have been sworn in as an official Peace Corps Volunteer and moved myself and all my possessions to my permanent location for the next two years.  My new host family gave me a ride to our town which is only 1 1/2 hours away from the capital city, Chișinau.  I must admit I was exhausted from the heat and the early morning wake up.  But my family was gracious! 

En route to site, my host mother, Natasha, said that we will stop to "buy fish."  To buy mancarea (food)… fish…  I  then continued to tell her how I liked to eat fish and that my last host mom cooked it quite often.  As we walked through the busy market place north of Chisinau, she tells me how fish are expensive to buy at site but cheaper here in Chisinau.  And then we pulled up to the animal pet stand.  Ohh- we're not buying fish to eat.  We're buying food for the fish and an additional 10  little guppies for the aquarium.  And so it goes… I'm close to understanding, but actually I've got a loonng ways to go.

Take 2 of communicating and understanding conversations in Moldova.  I already appreciate my family, because they seem to know a lot of people around here AND they welcome friends and family with open arms from one hour to the next.  It's great!  And overwhelming.  My host mother puts together a splendid barbecue on such short notice for those that spontaneously (so it seems) welcome themselves through our front gate (or sometimes the back gate).  As  my parents introduce their friends to this quiet, foreign-looking young woman who they now call their American daughter, I hear new names that I can't seem to keep in my head.   Galia?  And her husband, Voda?  Or is it Boda?  Or is that other guy Voda/Boda/whatever they said?  But then it gets even more complicated.  I wish to understand just a little ("un pic!") of the rapid chatter around me, but the entire conversation that I wish so badly to piece together is spoken in yet another language.  Not Romanian.  Russian.  Two months of studying Romanian, and all I hear is Russian.  Sigh. 

Continuing in this unfortunate vein, most people can be called by two formal first names, plus any nicknames.  For example, I'm Laura.  But in Russian, I would be Larissa.  My father is Mihai.  In Russian and what he is called most often, Misha.  And so it continues from names to objects and verbs and so on.  The garden is the gradina in Romanian but my host mom, Natasha (or Natalia if you will) can't even recall this word.  She only knows the Russian word for it...which unfortunately has quickly escaped my mind shortly after the conversation about it.

If you aren't aware, Russian is based on the Cyrillic alphabet, not the Latin alphabet where my exiguous language skills are based.  It will be a long while, if ever, that I gain a grasp of Russian here.  But for now, I will smile, laugh, joke about things that I can understand- this weekend it included English phrases/words such as "a glass a wine please", "Good morning, Mr. Dennis", Michael Jackson, Michael Doo-glaws, & George Washington.

All that being said, my host family and I get along quite well!  They speak mostly in Romanian now.  (When they were growing up, they learned Russian and spoke Russian often and in school.)  On the first evening in my new home, my host brother inquired about the aerial view of Nebraska via Google Maps.  The big circles in the squares.  What are they?!  Great first lesson in American agriculture, particularly the type with which I am familiar.  Those big circles within the squares, Valentin, are irrigation circles!  They hold probably the only crops that seem to be doing all right in the awful heat stroke and drought conditions that hit the Midwest and West this summer.  (It's also very hot in dry in the south of Moldova, so they can empathize.)  I then showed him online what pivots look like and also zoomed in on my family's farm.

I included a picture just outside my casa in Moldova.  A very pleasant place- a swimming pool, a porch swing, a serious barbecue pit, a covered picnic area (it's some Russian word that of course I don't yet remember), and also a few things you don't see- watermelon, house wine, a guitar, and a ukele.

Trăiște Clipa!

We have quite quickly made it to the eighth and final week of training.  After seven weeks of intensive language class, my fellow trainees and I took our final exam that tests our language skills today.  On Friday, we are to be sworn in as volunteers.  Woohoo!  We will all depart ways and move to our permanent locations for our two years of service.  I am very excited for the move.  My colleagues agree, it's time to get to work!  (...that is, I hear from the Moldovans, after everyone returns from their yearly vacation that spans the month of August…)  Nevertheless, the time has come to put our knowledge and language skills to work.   

I will miss my training site, current host family, and the town of Cricova.  Most of all, I will miss my training site mates.  Not one day (truly) has gone by where I haven't giggled at something and enjoyed a few moments with my classmates.  Ordinary activities are a wonder and a cause for humor, whether it is our lack of ability to communicate; the idiosyncrasies of Moldovan lifestyle; or the views we estimate Moldovans to have of us- the offbeat pack of foreigners with backpacks.  I hope to share more on this later.

I hear the Olympics are happening.  Although much interest is sparked amongst Americans here in Moldova, I haven't heard any Moldovans talk about the Olympics.  It doesn't seem to be nearly as exciting to them as it is to us.  Mainstream television doesn't seem to have quite the same coverage as we receive in the U.S.  Feel free to fill me in on what I am missing! 

Today during our last language class, we put on a concert of sorts for our teacher, Angela.  2 ukeles, 1 guitar, and a shaker (brought from Brazil!) made for some lively noise attempting to sound like a medley of La Bamba, Twist & Shout, and a verse I made up about our teacher.  Our excellent profesoara is headed to America on a 1 year scholarship.  The verse we sang went like this: "Nu te ingrijora, Nu te ingrijora!  Trăiște clipa, Trăiște clipa in America!" (which meant, Don't worry, don't worry!  Live the moment, live the moment in America!") "Trăiște clipa" is like saying the Latin phrase, "Carpe Diem," which means to Seize the Day.  In Portuguese, they have a verb for this:  Aproveitar.  To make the most of it.  To take full advantage of something.  It's probably one of my favorite words in Portuguese.  So that's the attitude we encouraged our teacher to continue to have, knowing that many of the Americans she will meet will appreciate this attitude in her.  It's the frame of mind I hope to hold as I move to my new permanent site as well.