Spring in Moldova

Spring in Moldova is fantastic.  After one or two too many months of grays and browns and cold weather, the sun comes out, the tulips and lilacs start blooming, and my whole being naturally becomes a bit lighter and happier.  Spring is all about new life and refreshment.  Growing up in Nebraska where there are four seasons like here, I have always appreciated spring for how the dead of winter transforms into a flourishing green earth.  I empathize with those who are eager to plant their crops or their gardens just as Easter time comes.  Today, on my Sunday stroll through town, I heard some chicks peeping from a little box a young boy was carrying.  I smiled and recalled my years on the farm picking up baby chicks.  Signs of life are everywhere!

Last weekend was Easter.  Lindsey and I had a few friends over to celebrate.  I love the beauty of the traditional Orthodox Easter here, where early in the morning people gather at the church quarters with their Easter baskets of goodies to get blessed by the priest.  Lindsey and I went again this year and even stayed up to watch the sunrise this time.  Instead of saying hellow, now for 40 days, people often greet one another saying, "Hristos a inviat!"  (Jesus is risen!) And responding with "Adverat a inviat!" (Truly he rose.)  I like this tradition and reminder.

How many boys does it take to shred cheese?  Even more, to make dinner?  We had some good Mexican food for Easter! (not so traditional but delicious!)

Easter morning at the church with Svetlana's girls

Everyone leaving the church yard after waiting for an hour or two for the priest to give his blessing and shower everyone with holy water.  Lots of people up at 4:00 am!

Feeling blessed after a magical night of Moldovan tradition.

Sunrise viewed from the top of an abandoned building.  We had an exciting climb to get to this spot.

The day after Easter is also a holiday.  We went over to the host family's and then for the first time went to the forest for a barbecue, a popular thing to do in Moldova on the weekends especially if you're from the countryside.

Go Nats!  I gave Misha this hat, and his first comment was that it's the color for Communists.  But since it's from me, he'll accept and proudly wear.  I told him it's the color of all my favorite sport teams in America!

Happy Easter Photo!

Barbecue in the forest with new friends!  I have been helping a farmer with some translating to acquire new equipment, so he then invited us to join his family and relatives for the day.  On Lindsey's right is a short-term British volunteer in Causeni, working with Svetlana.

Today, for the first time since before I hurt my knee last summer, I went on a big 6 mile run.  It felt so great to be out there and lost in thought while burning calories and releasing my energy.

With a view like this, why not have a good run!?

A couple weeks ago, I randomly took a Sunday drive with my good friend Cristina and her boyfriend, Alex.  It's sweet moments like this one where I just want to soak up every moment of living in this country.  I recently have felt so blessed to have met some wonderful people in this country, who have shared with me their lives with so much kindness, love, and hospitality.

Attempts at jumping photos make everyone smile.

Cristina and I at the most idyllic spot on the road from Chisinau to Causeni.

Spring update: Galati, Technovation Challenge, & something called COS

Over the weekend, Philip and I took a ride with Svetlana and a student, Mihaela, to Galați, Romania.  Philip and I presented a workshop on why one should volunteer to members of ATAC, the Association of Active Civic Youth.  The subject content is so much of what I live and breathe that it seemed like barely any work to me.  Romania has a very similar culture in terms of volunteering:  it's very new and not very popular.

I'm really luck in Căușeni.  Students seem to know what volunteering is now and are voluntarily volunteering!  It's like a light switch flipped, and one by one youth are coming to the bright side.  Thus, during the weekend, Svetlana also got to share with the group and leaders of ATAC how the culture regarding volunteering in our small town has started to change to become more positive.

Philip and I doing our thing. With 22 months behind us, facilitating this workshop felt like second nature.

The most important part of the workshop was when participants worked on their ideas.  They began with identifying the most important needs in their community, followed by identify goals/objectives that could help meet them.  The final step (at least for this workshop) was to create an activity based on each objective they created.

Galați is a nice Romanian city of 250,000 people with the largest port on the Danube River.  I was pleasantly surprised at just how lovely their pedestrian walkway along the river was with its cute cafes and restaurants.  I even got a perfect morning run in along the Danube!

Now we are back in Moldova, preparing for our COS Conference (Close of Service that is... what? already!?) and also a Technovation Challenge Advanced Hack Day to be held Saturday.  My girls have been working hard amongst a lot of academic work and other activities to build their app prototype on App Inventor.  I give them props!

My Technovation Team nailing down some business model details.