Bringing in 2013

The biggest holiday celebrated over what we call "the holidays" in the states is most definitely New Year's. Santa Claus actually comes to Moldova on New Year's, not on Christmas. (Following a tradition from Soviet times, where Santa was forbidden to come on a religious holiday, I am told) And in fact, most Moldovan's don't celebrate Christmas on December 25 but rather on January 7, following the tradition of the Orthodox Christian calendar. So what does that mean for me? I celebrate them all! I celebrated "new" Christmas with fellow volunteers. I am staying home with the host parents for New Year's Eve. (They seem to have built it up a little too much... Come to find out, it will just be the three of us!) I'm headed to the mountains of Romania for a few days later this week, and then I will be back in town for Christmas here on the 7th. (Perhaps we'll also have a small celebration of Old New Year's on the 14th.) Work essentially comes to a halt and celebrations/relaxation continues these few weeks.

As we've got a good amount of snow and then some sunshine this month, sidewalks and streets are often snow-packed and glazed over with ice. It's cold outside and in some rooms in the house that are cut off to heat, it's cold inside as well. (our bathroom for one is cold- which makes the thought of showering not near as attractive).

At the end of every year, I do think it's wise to look back, take stock, and prepare for the future. So as I look back at the last year, I think to myself, Whoa! What a year! Over the last year, I’ve moved from Washington, DC, to this little country in Eastern Europe called Moldova.  I’ve made more than a handful of new friends, who have supported me since arriving in June.  I’ve learned the basics of a whole new language and quite pleasantly settled into a new town, into a new culture, and with a new Moldovan family.  And every day, I seem a bit more grateful for where I’m from, for my family and friends back home, and for all the simple things I have often taken for granted.  I can’t help but feel so blessed for all that God has given me.  

As I look ahead, I couldn't feel more assured that where I am is exactly where I am to be and that 2013 will be a year of learning, teaching, working, relaxing, traveling, and living my dreams! Challenges from day-to-day will arise. A good attitude will be necessary. And like I said before, I already know that the support of my friends/fam will come in handy. So as we look forward to 2013, I leave you with this great new "Recipe for a Happy New Year" that I found from an anonymous cook:

"Take twelve fine, full-grown months; see that these are thoroughly free from old memories of bitterness, rancor and hate, cleanse them completely from every clinging spite; pick off all specks of pettiness and littleness; in short, see that these months are freed from all the past—have them fresh and clean as when they first came from the great storehouse of Time. Cut these months into thirty or thirty-one equal parts. Do not attempt to make up the whole batch at one time (so many persons spoil the entire lot this way) but prepare one day at a time.

Into each day put equal parts of faith, patience, courage, work (some people omit this ingredient and so spoil the flavor of the rest), hope, fidelity, liberality, kindness, rest (leaving this out is like leaving the oil out of the salad dressing— don’t do it), prayer, meditation, and one well-selected resolution. Put in about one teaspoonful of good spirits, a dash of fun, a pinch of folly, a sprinkling of play, and a heaping cupful of good humor."

La Multi Ani!  Happy New Year!

Christmas already?

I can barely believe that Christmas is just around the corner.  Well, that is the first Christmas I will be celebrating.  It's going to be about a month of celebration.  Moldovan's celebrate primarily New Year's Eve on December 31st and Christmas from the Old Church calendar (Orthodox tradition) on January 7.  In between those two holidays, I will spend four glorious days outside of Moldova in the mountains of Romania.  This will mark my first trip outside of Moldova since arriving over six months ago!

I'm trying to figure out how exactly time has slipped away and how exactly I've spent it in the last few weeks.  As a Peace Corps volunteer here, a lot of activities happen on the weekends, related to Peace Corps initiatives and activities (i.e. GLOW/TOBE, Peer Supporting, etc.).  Thus, one week transitions into another with less of a stop and pause between them.  I really don't enjoy this process and weekly try to step back at some point and establish my priorities/to-do list for the week.  Don't get me wrong though- the flexibility of my service is something I really enjoy!

Winter has arrived here, and snow and cold came with it.  Some places in the north of the country have been snowed in for a few days.  In the southeast, we have had less than a foot of snow (8 inches maybe?).  So if you ask me how I'm doing, it will depend on the moment.  At about 4:30 pm when it's already getting dark and I'm walking home from class in the freezing cold, I might want to cry through my frozen face.  If it's an hour later eating dinner with my family, then I might be rather jolly.  If it's the third day since I've showered and I have to shower in the cold bathroom, I may have mixed emotions.  Mixed emotions.  That's what I have quite often.

Back to what I've been up to the last few weeks, here is a summary:

• Class- I'm wrapping up class with my 25 students with Business Plan Presentations.  I ask them to create a business (the more realistic, the better) and use all that we've learned to create a business plan.  Yesterday, I had an expert judge (i.e. another business volunteer) come in and offer suggestions for their presentations, which was actually helpful and fun for them.  Evaluations from the students are telling me that they enjoyed class, that it was helpful, and that they want more!  So it appears I have no excuse to be without activities in the next few months.
• Grant writing- I helped our town hall complete a grant application for cultural preservation for restoring the exterior parts of our old historic church in town.  This took up some significant time at the beginning of the month and was a good practice in Romanian (the grant had to be written in English so I had a lot of communicating to do before I could draft the proposal).It was my first try in grant writing as a PCV and a good team building exercise for me and those at the Primaria (town hall).  Now we get to sit and wait a few months to see if we will win the grant.
• Events in Chisinau- 
• I attended a Winter Charity Bazaar, where multiple embassies and organization sell crafts and goodies, with all proceeds going to charity.
• GLOW/TOBE Meeting- we're upgrading the training materials, and I'm excited about it and thankful for my background with Nebraska FFA and summer camp for this!
• I attended Vernisajul Vinului, a wine tasting event at the National Palace, where Parliament usually meets. I was reminded of receptions on the Hill, as the room was filled with young bucks that are pretty cool or think they are anyway (me included!) or older politicians/NGO leaders/ex-pats, making the rounds and shaking hands.  Also add on the actual Moldovan winemakers and wine enthusiasts, who make the whole event worthwhile. 
• Staying warm- Here's a list of theories/strategies- tea, shots of cognac, izvar (the delicious hot, sweet, peppered wine), real heat, layers and layers of clothing, eating raw pork fat (I choose not to participate), and soup
• Staying happy in gray Moldova- And another list of strategies- get in the sun when it's out (it hides behind clouds quite often), exercise in your room (i'm sore from 10 minutes of exercise- not a good sign), take your vitamins, do things that make you happy (emails, skype dates, ukele playing, reading, hanging out with other volunteers)

DYK (Did You Know):  Moldovan's actually give sleigh rides to their kids as a means of transportation.  I guess there's one reason they don't so much shovel the sidewalks.

A Thankful PCV in Moldova

A few things this girl’s thankful for:

• A wonderful, supportive family in the States
• Friends that are irreplaceable, fun, and down-to-earth
• A wonderful Moldovan host family, who has patience and (almost) sympathy for me and my foreign ways/ideas...
• Kind Moldovans, stern on the outside and jolly on the inside
• My fellow PCV friends, who keep me grounded and sane
• My kind Moldovan colleagues
• That I get to teach eager students that have patience with me, even when they can’t decipher my rapid English in an American accent (they are used to British accents)
• Faith in God and hope for the future
• Funny things that are everywhere. Examples:
• Two old men in my community, sporting crisp new Kansas City Royals baseball caps (I doubt they know the town or the sport, but maybe I’m wrong!)
• On my run the other day, a guy was cutting through what looks to me like a winter wheat field (but it’s probably something else) on his old rusty, one-speed bike to get to the other side of town.  I wish I had my camera.
• My host mother asking the neighbor in Romanian about the whereabouts of my slippers.  One slipper from each of my two pairs went missing the other day.  The funny part is her explaining to the neighbor that their little dog took our American’s slippers, specifically her slippers from America!  (i don’t think my retelling it is quite as funny, unfortunately)  Since then, I’ve been wearing two very mismatched “shlawps”
• My host dad telling me I don’t need to go running and he certainly doesn’t need to exercise, because he does “Shaping” every day all day at work.
• Coffee from America, that I french press every morning.
• How small Moldova is- I can get from place to place pretty easy compared to other PC countries, and it appears to me to be a very “small world” in Moldova
• The young generation in Moldova that has so much potential to do so much with their lives and so much good for their country

Other Update:
Last week, I attended a training geared toward businessmen in Moldova, who wish to improve their web presence through websites and social media.  Being someone who is not so well informed on these issues, it was an educational opportunity (as always) and a chance for me to hear and practice Romanian in a new context amongst new Moldovan acquaintances.  After the seminar, I did a bit of tweaking to my blog and pondered advertising on my blog...  I of course decided to google search whether it’s been done in Moldova by a Peace Corps Volunteer in the past, and it has.  I found evidence from two years ago:  http://onebloceast.tumblr.com/post/2374726108 So now I’m kind of curious to see how advertising might be different on my blog, considering I probably have different content as well as it being 2012, not 2010. If you see advertising come up on my blog, you’ll know why!

Last week, I taught class on SWOT Analysis.  This week, I’m teaching about good management...  I’m starting to run into so vocabulary hurdles with students, making class a bit too strenuous...  But I think they’re learning!  

I’m headed to a Rural Women Leaders Forum tomorrow in Chisinau, followed by some celebrating and thanksgiving with other volunteers.  I seriously am so thankful for this opportunity to be a Peace Corps Volunteer and for all the things mentioned above.  I couldn’t ask for a better job at this point in time.

Business Courses and a GLOW'ing Preview

My Wednesday Class

Last week I began my first training sessions of Business in English at the Primaria.  I think it went really well.  The students seemed eager to learn and to practice English.  I introduced them to a bit of basic economic theory by playing a market simulation game.  Over the course of the next 7 weeks, they will learn the basics of what a business is and what it needs to operate, including a business plan that includes budgeting, marketing, management, and market analysis components.  Presentation skills in addition to general English communication will be a focus, as well as professional development including business communication and resumes.  That’s the hope, anyway!  

If you’re wondering how I’m hoping to pull all this off, I’m using the skills in my back pocket from my time working as a camp counselor and as a state FFA leader and combining them with the knowledge and resources I’ve gained from my ag economics education, background in business, and training from Peace Corps.  Out of the students I’ve heard from thus far or through the grapevine, they enjoyed the first class and learned new material, such as how buyers and sellers interact in the market place; how free markets with many buyers and sellers can provide information to all parties involved and establish the market price; and how this all relates to business.  This is most definitely a test run, and I really hope I hit all the important areas when it comes to business basics.  

This week?  The focus will be on SWOT Analysis.  Fun stuff!

Over the weekend, I was in Chisinau for a training regarding two Peace Corps initiatives called GLOW, Girls Leading Our World, and TOBE, Teaching Our Boys to Excel.  I’m really excited to get involved with these initiatives, because of their mission. GLOW/TOBE Moldova aim to promote gender equality by encouraging girls and young women and boys and young men throughout Moldova to make healthy life decisions, develop life-skills, and to become active members of their communities by providing educational, skill-building, and inspirational opportunities.  Its approach is to train Peace Corps volunteers such as myself to partner with a Moldovan, who can become a Seminar Leader and thus train or educate their own youth in areas such as entrepreneurship, civic engagement, leadership, communication, time management, healthy eating, gender equality, substance abuse, etc.  The idea is for it to be more Moldovan-lead at the end of the day, and not just Peace Corps.  At the end of the day (in 2 years), we won’t be here!  

I’ve been appointed as the Junior Director of Training, which is exciting given my desire to see Moldovan youth succeed and my passion for superbly facilitating learning.  The position comes with responsibility, but I’m looking forward to it and to working with other superb volunteers, who have been working hard in the last year to revamp GLOW/TOBE in Moldova.

Other Updates:

• My diet is changing into more roots (beets, carrots) and conserved produce and less fresh fruits and vegetables.
• I took a bus ride longer than expected.  Usually a rutiera ride from Chisinau to my town is 1 hour and 15 minutes.  I decided to take this old Greyhound bus, which much to my chagrin, went the long way around through a countless number of villages and stopping at them all.  It was a 2 ½ hour ride this time...  Good thing I left earlier than I thought necessary.
• It’s getting cold outside indeed.
• I had a mini-planning/dreaming session about how to spend my vacation days in the next year...  and it’s really exciting.

My Thursday Class outside to make a "frumos" or pretty photo with Doamna Lidia (on my left) and the flipcharts I made that are apparently good enough to showcase.

November Already? Time to Get to Work!

November is the month I will begin teaching a lot.  Starting next week, I will begin a 7-week course on Business in English.  I will have 3 separate classes that will meet once a week for 90 minutes each time.  I’m a bit nervous but looking forward to it.  I never would have imagined that ~35 students and even a few adults who I didn’t invite but asked to participate would be so interested in this subject.  My colleague, Nadea, who proposed this class to me correctly observed the need and desire.

This week, I have been busy securing a spot for the classes, which was a little more difficult than imagined.  Schools, you would think, would be the obvious choice where to hold these classes.  I have opened the course to three different schools in my town and was hoping to mix up the students, partly due to their level of English as well as due to their availability.  The high school students here also participate in extracurricular activities, such as music or dance lessons, language lessons, and sports.  I talked to two directors of two schools, asking if I could use their space after school to teach the course.  Both directors were absolutely welcoming to the idea, BUT with only their pupils.  No students from outside their school.  This was frustrating to me, as I thought about the worst possible alternative which would be that no school would allow mixed classes and thus some students would be forfeited the opportunity to learn.  It also sparks curiosity in me, if that same pride/protection of one’s school rising over the overall benefit of youth in the community exists also in the United States, particularly amongst public schools such as the ones with whom I’m working.  Unfortunately, I think it maybe does.

After a few days of a bit of anxiety about securing a place to have the course, I got some help from my tutor and met with a woman, Doamna Lidia, at the Primaria, the Mayor’s Hall.  What I found was that she was very welcome to the idea of the Business English course at the Primaria.  In fact, she sees it as just a launching point for what activities could occur.  It could lead to more advanced classes perhaps, or maybe to training students to teach such a course (that was Doamna Lidia’s very nice idea!), or to teaching students from the villages around our town center even.

In other news:
It’s gotten colder this week, and the soba (fireplace) is in use.  
I had my first haircut in Moldova-nothing out of the ordinary.  
My host mother refused to let me leave the house today with only ⅔ blow-dried hair.  She herself took out the blow dryer and made sure I finished the job.  
I’m getting over some type of cold that’s left me exhausted all week.
I’ve been happy to chat with a few friends back home recently.  How refreshing!  I’m thankful for your support and for the chance to catch up.  Technology rocks in Moldova!!!

This weekend, I’m headed to Balti, the largest city in the North, to help teach a Business English seminar with another PC volunteer to some eager college students who are in an organization called AISEC.  Should be fun!

The Good, the Bad, and the Nonsensical

I created a few lists of random observations/opinions.  Hope you like them.

Good-  Things that Make Me Smile

• The cute little babas (grandma's) that wear whatever they want and also always a scarf on their head regardless of how scaldingly hot it is (I believe along the lines of their Orthodox tradition as well to keep that darn "current"  away from getting them sick).  Although they may be wearing the same thing that they wore 5-10 years ago and have a distinct odor at times, they still get the respect that I see Grandma's get where I'm from.  Don't mess with them.  They've earned their keep.  But here, they're still earning their keep!  Every morning and night there's this baba who looks as tough as nails, maybe age 75, who takes her calf to the pasture and back home again.  I pass her on my walk to/from work, but other times while I'm going for a run on the road in that pasture.  She surely thinks I'm a bit crazy.
• Aw the Moldovan hospitality.  They want to serve you everything and make sure you're nice and comfortable.
• My host family- my host dad, the soft-hearted, yet stern, yet joking big guy; my host mother, the chatty, spry keeper of the house; and my host brother, the tall, young guy with whom I can sympathize (being  a 20-something year old wandering what to do with life and making the most of it while pondering this question). My family is pretty easy going and so kind to me.
• Snickers. They're at every little shop, satisfy my chocolate craving, and remind me of home (& I always tell the story of getting Snickers from Grandpa Swan!).
• The calm lifestyle of this place.  Moving away from DC, there are definite things that I miss there (hanging out with good friends, easy access to all types of entertainment, great restaurants and neighborhoods, etc).  But fortunately I'm a sucker for quiet mornings, country roads, and lazy, calm evenings.  I get a lot of them here.
• My very blue and white room.  I've never had such a coordinated, "frumos" room in my life.  I feel like a princess sometimes.
• Working with youth.  Last week, I played the guitar and led a song for ~15 kids that attend an after-school program for at-risk youth.  What fun!   I've also enjoyed my brief time, interacting with students in English classes I've visited.
• Fall weather!  Although my toes have already gone cold from time to time, I love the crisp, fresh air!  Not so crisp you don't want to breathe, but enough to put on an extra sweater/scarf.

Bad-  Things that Don't Make Me Smile

• Number 1 issue:  the service industry.  There's this huge disconnect in my mind.  Moldovans are so hospitable at home, but formal hospitality in the service industry has been quite disappointing.  I thought I was a pretty reasonable customer in general when I go out for a meal/drink.  But I've learned that I have strong preferences for good service.  My question is… how do you improve this culture? Tipping isn't really a thing here, so maybe that would help incentivize the industry. 
• When I'm excited for a masa (or party), and then I realize that they all are going to speak Russian the whole time.  Wohwohwoh.  Debbie Downer.  I've picked up a few phrases enough to get some ew's and aw's.  And then they say I'll learn Russian, for sure, in two years.  Yeah…  I'm just trying to keep my head above water right now with Romanian.  Throw Russian in there?  I'm sure to drown.
• When people don't want to collaborate and don't trust each other.  We're lucky to have such a "team" attitude in the United States amongst companies and amongst organizations.  Certainly there are disagreements and fierce competition in the U.S. too that don't encourage collaboration, but in general, people and institutions work together for achieving shared outcomes or for the improvement of the industry they share.  This is surprisingly not as common of a practice as I sincerely wished it would be here. Cooperative development works in the states.  It's a harder sell here (and to some, it sounds too similar to communism).
• My English grammar- it's not so good.  My grammar is poor in all languages I thought I knew well.  My vocabulary bank is convoluted.   I'm not full from a meal anymore.  I'm saturated from a meal now.  I don't need to check with my colleague.  I need to verify with my colleague.   But of course, this is part of the fun.

• Thinking about winter.  And cold.  And people that might be hungry this winter in Moldova, due to the poor crop harvest this year.  

Nonsensical- I Just Don't Understand.

• Why Moldovans don't believe in neutering their pets.  There are way too many vagabond dogs.  And they're skinny little dirty things, poor guys. 

• Why my host family has a spice rack… full of mild pepper varieties.
• The outhouse tradition.  Why continue to use the outhouse when you've got a nice clean toilet inside?  It's way more frumos (pretty), Moldovans.
• "House wine is always better than bottled wine, because it's natural without added water or sugar."  Checking with how bottled wine is made, no water or sugar are added  to it either.

• Why there seems to be just two stations to listen to on the radio and two genres of music in stores/restaurants.  Traditional Moldovan music (musica populara) or else pop music from the      states/international scene.   Where's the variety?  Jazz/blues, alternative, folk, country, samba, classical, etc.  (yes, those would be my preferences)

• Is it soo necessary to fry everything?  I eat prajiture (fried things) about every day.   I do like fried food- don't get me wrong- but is it necessary?  Every day?  With that much oil? 

This is rather a hodge podge of information, but hopefully you like it.  Happy Toamna (Autumn)!!!

More Training and Moldovan Traditions

Another few weeks have passed by soo quickly!  It's finally feeling most certainly like fall.  Three weekends ago, I took off from Causeni for first a wedding weekend in the north of Moldova, then two weeks of language training and program-related meetings with Peace Corps and other NGO's, followed by the National Wine Fest.  Busy weeks and weekends but fun, educational ones as well!

I unfortunately had my camera stolen, so I can't show you all the fun wedding pictures I snapped.  Thankfully, they're all saved, just not on my computer.  So I'll post about that joyous, interesting, and long cultural experience later on.

Many of us volunteers were not necessarily thrilled to go back for more training- including me.  But on the other hand, what's not to love about being with some of the coolest people in the world (i.e. other Peace Corps volunteers!)? ...  We were just getting settled at site and then had to leave again for a couple weeks.  However, as it turns out, I took away some more grammar lessons and some valuable insight regarding projects I hope to implement in my town.  First and foremost, I'm working on starting an interactive Business Course in English for high school students.  I have a lot of ideas floating around on what sessions I can facilitate for them, and it's a bit nerve-racking to plan for it.  But God willing, it will work out well!  Scheduling is one of the biggest issues I've been told, as many students who would be the type to participate in such a class often are busy with school, work, and extracurricular activities. 

Below is a picture of a few of the coolest people in the world, dancing it up in Chisinau to the song, "Staying Alive", in an effort to promote National Sudden Cardiac Awareness Month.  Stay tuned for a video clip perhaps as well. 

To top off a couple weeks of me contemplating my goals and objectives for the next few months in Causeni, I celebrated the National Wine Holiday in Chisinau with some fellow volunteers.  I feel I'm lucky to have already made some friends in the wine industry in Moldova.  They're some really hard-working, talented, and kind people, for which I am already grateful to know them.  Maybe I'll be of use to them by the end of two years.  Certainly, I'm telling all my friends to check them out and buy their wine!  For a number of years now, I've wanted to learn more about the whole process of viticulture, winemaking, and wine tourism/sales. So I'm quite happy to be here in Moldova.  We'll see what more I can learn!