One more video

Here is one last video from training, when we visited an Orthodox Church:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91SS-LxTqus

Holidays

Pictures: (1) Aerial view of my town a few days after the first snow. (2)My very warm, very green coat. It was a present from my work partner, she's very sweet and very concerned about my warmth here in Moldova. (3) New Years Eve in Chisinau. (4) Preserved food for the winter.

Holidays in Moldova span a 3 week period, in which most businesses, schools, and offices are closed. Thus, I was able to spend a few weeks catching up on reading books, cursing the complexity of Russian grammar, daydreaming about future vacations (Romania/ Greece !?) and attending various Holiday celebrations. There is Dec 25^th -Christmas, Jan 1^st -“New” New years, Jan 7^th -Orthodox Christmas, and Jan 14^th-Orthodox New Years. New Years Eve was spent in Chisinau with a dance party and catching up with many other volunteers. As for orthodox Christmas and New Years, I spent them with my host family in town. There is a tradition that on New Years Eve, (Old and New) Children go door-to-door, sing songs, recite poems, and receive sweets and money. Similar to Halloween in the states, but the kids were not dressed up. Often, they wrote the songs themselves, and I heard poems in both Gagauzian and Russian. The holidays were spent at my host sister’s apartment in town, eating, toasting, and enjoying time with each other. My neighbor recently taught me how to knit, so I was able to practice my new hobby with help from my host mom.

Work
After the holidays, I had 2 separate visits from Peace Corps staff to see how things are progressing at site. Up until this point, my partner has given me a lot space to get adjusted, and meet people in town. The visits were really productive because we were able to solidify some of the projects I’ll be working on, and I learnt much more about the NGO. It’s a very small-grassroots youth organization that will hopefully open a youth resource center in town, with funding.

My other main activity in town has been working with a group of students at the university on an English club and discussion group. This has been a great way to get to know local youth, and usually turns into the highlight of my week.
I also learnt recently that I will be working with a girls camp this summer. This is the first year that an entire week of camp will be conducted in Russian, so I will be helping with that.

Cuisine
I’m thinking about starting a support group for my host mom’s who deal with my diet. Really, their hospitality and creativity in adapting to my bizarre diet has been wonderful, but it’s almost unheard of to be vegetarian here. The staples at most meals are meat, bread, and potatoes. So, I eat a lot of borsch (potatoe and beet soup), pasta, and potatoes (fried, baked, in sauce). In the winter there’s not an abundance of fresh fruit and vegetables, so I have been eating pickled cucumbers, tomatoes, all preserved from the fall. My favorite dish, by far is Mama Liga. It’s a simple dish from cornmeal that is boiled into a spongy mound, eaten with onions or tomatoe sauce. I have been able to cook often in my new apartment and have introduced some Moldovan friends to the wonders of Chinese and Indian food. Now, if I can just figure out thai food, I will be set.

Videos!
A fellow volunteer has been taping much of the experience here in Moldova and posted them on youtube: 8 hour layover in Frankfurt on the way to Moldova, highlights from training, and our swearing in ceremony where you can see me dancing at the end:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXE0C5Lnkrw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUCDlYtT1ac

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OgN4HDsWw4Y

Let it snow!

The last picture is from our swearing in ceremony. I'm wedged between my host family from training.

Happy New Year to everyone back home! I'll write soon about the holidays here, I have still a Christmas and another New Year to celebrate.

Pictures from training

Inside the caves at Orheil Vecchi; Inside the monastery; painting that a volunteer bought; Halloween fundraiser we put together for training; cooking for our host families at our farewell dinner

Pictures from Training

(L-R) my host family from training; autumn outside of our Russian class; Visit to Orheil Vecchi and monastery

Last week was a flurry of activity. I spent Tuesday packing and that evening I gave my host family their presents which they seemed to like. It was a small album filled with pictures I took during training and a flashlight for my host mom (since she seemed to love my headlamp) a watch for my host sister and bubbles for my host brother. I did a little fashion show so that they could help me pick out what to wear for the swearing in-ceremony. I was told my skirt wasn’t wintry enough so we went with the pantsuit. They also had me paint my nails and iron my clothes… I kept saying in Russian “I’m a girl now…finally” which they got a kick out of. Wednesday morning I packed my things into a neighbor’s car and he drove me to the capital. I was sad to leave the house and town and basically start over again, but was glad to know they would be coming to the swearing in ceremony. That night our entire group of volunteers had a really good dinner with our mentors, then I went out for a bit my last night before the big move. The next morning we had our swearing in ceremony, where I ‘officially’ became a volunteer and performed a traditional Moldovan dance with other volunteers. My host sister and host mom came and my host mom kept crying during the ceremony and afterwards. I promised I would go back to visit them when I could!

The swearing in ceremony was the same day as thanksgiving and I was anticipating being herded off to my new home after the ceremony and not doing much the rest of the holiday…maybe catching up on sleep. But 2 of us who were moving to the South were told our counterparts couldn’t find transportation until the next morning…which meant we would have to stay in Chisinau one more night…and a current volunteer graciously invited us to a home-cooked Thanksgiving meal. So I was able to spend the holiday with good company and food. We kept looking at each other and saying, it’s the miracle of thanksgiving, it’s the thanksgiving miracle, haha!

So I arrived to my new site (after our marshudka/ transportation van broke down right outside of the gagauzian border) and met my new host family: 7 year old brother, 17 year old sister, and host mom (the grandmother). They were very welcoming and didn’t seem put-off by my copious luggage. Saturday I was quickly put to work helping break down a wall for an NGO resource center in town.

This week I spent time between the NGO resource center, going to a conference with my counterpart and meeting a few people in town. It seems my days, at first, will be spent shadowing my counterpart, making my own contacts, and studying language. (I found a tutor and begin this Friday- 4 hours a week). I also made a guest appearance on a local radio show. It was a time-slot for NGOs in town, and my counterpart asked me if I wanted to say something...I agreed and prepared a few sentences in Russian. (I am a peace corps volunteer, I will live here for 2 years, etc etc) I’m going to try and get a copy of it, so I can laugh at myself later.

I’m also getting settled into my new apartment. I spent the evening purposefully pronouncing words badly in Russian so that my host brother and neighbors could laugh. It was great. Then I gave them some Twizzlers to eat, and my host sister said it tasted like a candle.

Training wraps up

Hello everyone!
So it's my final week of training and will be a busy one. On Monday I have an oral Russian exam to test my level of proficiency. We'll be speaking with a tester for about 20 minutes and then they decide what level we place in. Peace corps has 3 different levels: Novice, Intermediate and Advanced, and they are split into subcategories. I have to test at intermediate low and the Romanian speakers are supposed to be at intermediate mid.
Then on Wednesday morning we'll move out from our host families and go to Chisinau we're we'll spend the night. Thursday is our swearing in ceremony to "officially" become volunteers, and that night we move to our new sites and in with our new host families.
Since there's no big thanksgiving dinner this year, I may try to make some candied yams for my new host family (we'll see if i can find some sweet potatoes)!

I'll write again soon, and also post some more pictures!
take care!