Easter

On the eve of Russian Orthodox Easter, and since I will be attending an Orthodox celebration this weekend, I wanted to share an interesting article from the Times about the Religious climate in Russia. Seems fairly similar to Moldova. Here 'diversity of religion' points to differences between Orthodox, Protestant, and Methodist, with a smattering of Judaism and a dollop of 7th Day Adventist.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/24/world/europe/24church.html?hp

Pictures from Easter coming soon..

Odessa, Ukraine

I visited Odessa Ukraine for a few days at the beginning of April. It's a lovely port city on the Black Sea, with a salty breeze, colorful graffitti, and Non-Soviet architecture. It felt more like a Western European city with cute outdoor cafes and parks. For April Fools day Odessa hosts a celebration with a parade and comedians telling jokes on stage. I never thought I would attend such a large celebration for April fools, but it really attests to the character of the city! (The first picture is someone dressed as an American Dollar "fighting" the Euro. The Ukrainian Grivna is playing referee.)

a few pics...

Making Japanese food for my friend Erin's birthday in February. We put the Moldovans to work rolling Sushi, and had a great time!












A few shots from my office, I held a seminar for International Women's Day with local girls and some members of my English Club.













Me at my favorite spot in town (the Turkish restuarant :)

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