Half-Way Home

The first week of practice school is under my belt, and I must say that it was a success. There is no doubt that the kids know more now than they knew before we started, including the names of various barnyard animals, the words to "The Itsy-Bitsy Spider," how to introduce themselves, and what types of flowers grow in the summer. A huge success.

The final day was a highlight. The first twenty minutes of class were devoted to a quick review of information, then the test. For much of the test I had written a sentence on the board with only a word missing, and I told the kids, multiple times in both English and Russian, that they need only write the missing word, not everything - it would take them an hour to write out everything on the board. And of course, some proceeded to write out everything. But soon I had them ironed out, and they proceeded without too many problems (later, my partner teacher told me that she has the same problem, that she with eighteen years of experience can tell students 100 times not to write out the whole sentence and that, without fail, a few will not listen). As for the results, 7 students took the exam: two received a 10, one a 9, three an 8, and one a 5 ( but the last student had come a long way).

And during the last 45 minutes of class we simply played games that required the students to use the skills they have acquired, with the most active students receiving candy that the teacher picked up at the market in the morning. At one point a girl Polina said the sentence, "Slava is small," with Slava being the shortest kid in the room. To get back he tried to say "Polina is big" but instead said "My Polina is big." My partner teacher and I laughed and quickly translated back to him what he said, causing him a bit of embarrassment and the rest of the class a laugh. Finally, and the end of the last lesson, as is a tradition some of the students gave the teacher (me) some flowers as a show of thanks. It’s a tradition that I think needs to be spread to America.

Notes:
- Last Sunday, the three Russian trainees and I went with a friends sister to the lake to relax a bit - it was a great day. First, on the walk the sister demanded that we speak only Russian, which was good practice in such a low-risk environment. Then, at the lake we were able to sit around, sleep a bit, and just talk in a casual environment while drinking a little wine. At one point too the cousin of the sister came - she spoke amazing English. The girl, another Polina, actually lived in America for a year through a program run by, of all things, Taco Bell. That’s right. This girl spent six months in New York city working at a TB, then six months working in Fairbanks, Alaska, at another TB. It’s a program that I’ve never heard of but which she didn’t mind, as it allowed her a chance to see the nation and earn a little money too.

- The work ethic of my host family continues to astound me. My host mother wakes up everyday at 5:30 and usually goes to bed around 11:00 at night, and all day she’s either busy working around the house or in the field, as this is the busy time of year for the latter. Some days she and my host father - who get’s up earlier than her - are gone until 10:30 at night working in the field.

- This Sunday all the Americans are meeting with our host families for a few hours of a ‘cultural exchange’ in which we’ll teach each other to cook something. As Americans, we’re teaching the Moldovans how to make garlic bread and spaghetti. Should be nice. I also can’t wait to teach them how to peel garlic by just smashing it - it pains me to watch them take two minutes to peel away the skin of a clove of garlic. I’m going to add so much free time to their days that they won’t know that to do.

- Lately we’ve been having what amount to ‘rolling blackouts’ in the evenings. A few times a week, at some point during the day, the power will simply go out. We never really know when (and I never know why) they will happen, but needless to say they’re a bit of a nuisance. I usually just go outside and work when they happen, but if it’s nice . . . not much to do.

- Someone asked me about the food situation here. Well, I eat a lot of bread, a few slices with every meal, and some type of soup for lunch everyday, supplemented with something else - in fact, my host brother told me Tuesday that he finds it amazingly strange that I don’t eat soup with bread, that I eat it separate. I also eat a ton of cucumbers (they’re literally dirt cheap - last week my host mother paid twenty cents per pound and it was considered amazingly expensive) and tomatoes, the latter of which are almost exclusively grown in our garden. I’m lucky here in that my host mother is a great cook, that she takes pride in it. Indeed, all of the bread that I eat is homemade. She also often makes something called plachenta, which is a lite pastry filled with either cabbage (the best), a cheese/dill combination, or potatoes.
One odd thing - apparently, having a separate distinction of ‘breakfast’ foods is almost uniquely American, that in most other cultures in the world they eat similar things for all three meals a day. Thus, often my breakfast is simply last night’s dinner reheated. Thankfully, I always liked last nights dinner and don’t mind a repeat. Sometimes, however, I strike gold and my host mother will cook what they call a ‘rice cereal’ - something akin to a loose rice pudding - and throw in some homemade strawberry jam and homegrown honey. Sound good? Well, it tastes much better.

- We had our second language assessment was Wednesday July 26th and it was an overall success. We all had to interview someone (I interviewed my host mother), ask them about their lives and favorites. Then, we had to re-tell that information to someone else. It seemed to go without too many issues. We were greatly benefitted by the fact that the person to whom we had to re-tell the information was our Russian teacher, so we instantly had a good rapport and comfort level with her, and we are so used to hearing her that we can understand her without issue. I felt much better after this exam than I did after the first. Of course, all is moot until I have the only exam that matters: the official proficiency test on August 14th.

- Two great stories that illustrate just what kind of odd things can happen in this part of the world:

1) Tuesday night I was sitting outside lesson planning when all of a sudden the power went out. Thinking it was just another blackout, I thought nothing too special of the situation and continued
to work. An hour or so later though my host brother came up to me and asked if I knew why we had no power. Hearing my response of ‘no,’ he proceeded to tell me what happened: turns out, a flat-bed truck that had hay stacked high on the back was driving along the main road when the hay happened to strike low-sagging power lines, causing the hay and truck to instantly burst into flames (the driver was unscathed). I walked to the scene about an hour after it started, and it was quite the sight, the type of thing that really need pictures to display (which I will do when I get the chance). But to give you an idea, there was a big pile of smoldering hay on top of the burned flatbed. It was being soaked with water but because wheat is such a good insulator, the water wouldn’t sink far. So these men had to shovel off the top, wet later of hay, exposing the bottom layer that was smoldering, When the smoldering was exposed to air, it would flare up and be sprayed with water; so went the cycle. It was quite the visual feast.

2) Last Friday I was waiting on the street with my host brother and some of his friends for one of my host-cousins and her friend. At one point some guy about our age came up to us to chat, holding something round, large, and spiky in his left hand - I knew something was odd when my host brother shook his hand with hesitation. The guy chatted for a few minutes and then walked to middle of the road, put down what he was holding, and walked away, after which the mysterious creature slowly sauntered into the nearest field. It was a hedgehog. This guy had stood there for five minutes holding a curled-up hedgehog in his left hand as casually as a dinner plate.
- My address here can is:
Andy Buchanan - PCT
Peace Corps Moldova
#12 Grigore Ureche Street
2001, Chisinau, Moldova

I probably should have included it with my last request form.

- Finally, thank you to people who leave comments after each blog entry - trust that I read them with joy. I just never respond (unless it’s a cry for information) because I don’t know what to say. They are much appreciated though. And if you e-mail me and don’t get a response, don’t worry - I’ve read your message. It’s just that my internet time is limited, so I usually don’t write e-mails just for the sake of writing them - if you’ve written words of encouragement of acknowledgment, trust me that I’m thankful. And if you happen to get a note that appears rudely short, the principle of limited time also applies. It’s nothing personal . . . .

Culture Matters . . . Finally

The three Russian speakers and our teacher went to the local church for part of our ‘cultural awareness’ lessons that are required by the Peace Corps. Normally, these sessions are akin to torture. This one was great, actually.

First, it should be noted that in Moldova, something like 96% of residents are Eastern Orthodox. That doesn’t say how many are actively participating in their faith, but officially, those are the numbers. After the Eastern Orthodox church, the other 4% is made up of Roman Catholics, Jews, Evangelical Christian, and everything else.

Also, it is interesting that religion is still heavily involved in politics, to the point that there is now a push to have Religion courses taught in all public schools (even though Moldova is the only nation in the former Soviet Union to legitimately elect a Communist government, the term here is far from what it meant twenty years ago and now is basically a different word for the ‘Social Democrat’ that is seen in most of the rest of Europe). Actually, the Church had an impact on the Peace Corps last year: one type of volunteer here is as a Life Skills teacher, and last year for the first time Life Skills teachers received manuals on what to use as a curriculum. However, there was information in the fifth grade book that dealt with child abuse. Some parents complained to the church, thinking it was too much for their little ones to have to comprehend, and the church used its influence on the educational system to get the texts pulled.

As for the church (not the institute, the building) in the village, it has an interesting past. It was build in 1916 and served as a church only for a while - once the communists took over they used the inside of the church as a storage facility and actually used the outside as a set in films - we were told that there are still bullet holes in the top of the structure that were never removed after being put there during a filming.

However, after 1989 the church was allowed to serve its original purpose, and the inside was returned to a copy of its original glory - there are only two items in the church now that existed before it was used for storage, two flags with biblical images that stand near the front of the alter. There was one more icon, one gold covered and rather expensive, but a few years ago it was stolen on a night in which bandits went to all the churches in the local area and stole all everything worth taking,

Since 1990, the church has fallen on hard times, both financial and otherwise. Attendance of church in the early part of the 1990's was so difficult on priests that they went through fifteen priests in the eight years until the current one arrived - he’s been in the village since 1998. He said attendance at church is poor, that at the weekly service they average between fifteen and twenty people (this from a population of about 2500). The two biggest days of the year are Easter Vigil - when they draw hundreds - and the Baptism of Christ, which draws a hundred or so. Even weddings and baptisms aren’t done in the church itself; instead, the priest goes to homes to conduct those services. And financially, things are note easy. Income comes mainly from weddings and baptisms, and it averages out to about 75 dollars per month. Sound bad? Well, that number is actually split among 5 people who work in and for the church, meaning that employees earn fifteen dollars a month.. Needless to say, almost everyone gets a job on the side, even the priest himself.

As for other religions in the area, there are two old ladies who are Catholic - they attend the Orthodox service every week but to not take communion. There are two or three Jehovah’s Witnesses in the area but they don’t try to convert. There are Evangelicals in the area who actively try to convert people, usually using the pretext of food to draw people in (actually, there’s a Baptist camp in the village now. There are rumors of a few other Americans here but as of now, I haven’t seen any). However, once the food is gone people usually stop coming to the ‘information’ sessions. They were even so brazen as to bake cookies and make candies and invite children from the neighborhood into their homes, feed them, and preach to them. Once parents found about this, however, community pressure quickly stopped all such activies.
As for Catholic church’s in the area . . . well, there are really any. In the regional capital of Orhei there is one but it’s under repair and there are not services held there. In Chisinau actually there is a large Catholic church near the opera house, where I hear they have services in Russian, Romanian, German, Polish, and maybe English. I’ll have to check it out next time I’m there.

Notes

- Week one of Practice School is in the bag. Things are going well with the kids, actually. On Thursday we learned animals on the farm, and to describe what animal we had I simply would make the sound that the animal does. At first the kids couldn’t believe it and laughed a little, but they clearly understood what I was trying to convey. It was great also because after me they all had to come up one at a time and make the sound of an animal while the rest of the students would yell out what animal the student was describing. It was great. Because of their skill level, the goal isn’t to make masters of the kids in a week - instead, the goal is to have the kids know more when they leave the classroom than they did when they entered it. I think that every day, that goal has been achieved.

- Russian classes are still going well. We all figured out something key this week - I’ve always thought that Russian grammar was a nightmare, almost impossible to figure out and use. However, this week we’ve all realized that while the grammar is tough to memorize and usage, difficult to navigate at first, once it is in place it really simplifies things. I won’t bore you with too many details, but the bottom line is that the big picture is starting to come into place, at least from a grammatical standpoint. Indeed, about 70% of Russian grammar is in place now - the next three weeks before the final language test is basically a polishing of grammar and an onslaught of vocabulary that we’ll use with said grammar.

From what every current volunteer says too, once we get to sight and away from speaking primarily English all day, our language skills will grow rapidly - by about November or December, we should be basically comfortable using the language in most situations. Only five more months . . . .

- I’ve wondered for the last few years if, when talking about Ukraine, it should be described as the Ukraine or simply Ukraine. Well, now I have an answer. Turns out, "ukraine" in Russian literally translates to"at the edge", so politically under the Soviet Union it translated literally as "at the edge" in terms of being at the edge of the Empire. Ukrainians think that describing their nation as the Ukraine is derogatory, referring to it not as a nation but as simply ‘at the edge.’ They prefer just Ukraine, marking them as real people. In Russian there are two ways to refer to something in Ukraine, one of which is ‘in’ the nation and the other of which is ‘at’ the nation. For years - up to recent times - people have been using the preposition for ‘at’, the one that is negative to Ukranians. Now things are changing, a push is being made to use the ‘in’ preposition, to the point that on political shows they will actually argue over which way to refer to the nation.

But that is for Russians. I will now officially call it "Ukraine."

- My ‘wish list’ has now expanded, but don’t worry, most of the things are cheap to buy and send (did I mention my birthday is coming up in a few weeks. If you send something now, it should get here just in time for the 15th of August):
- A book of mad libs
- Folders, binders, a hole punch
- Simple games like UNO or any fake money, like Monopoly money
- Construction Paper
- Zip-Lock bags, any size
- Dry erase - or any - markers
- A book of quotes
- Maps of Minnesota, Minneapolis, or the United States - should be found free through AAA or any tourist office
- Old magazines - any magazine.
- Food advertisements from the newspaper or take-out menus from restaurants
- Office supplies. Anything from Post-it notes to masking tape to paper-clips are appreciated.
As for the more expensive things (to buy/ship):
- A Teacher’s planning book - they are priceless
- BBQ sauce or salsa, well packed of course. Black licorice would be great too.
- Some sort of indoor/outdoor thermometer.

That’s it for now. Of course, anything big or small is appreciated.

Thank you in advance.
- Finally, I have a new potential destination for vacation over Christmas break - Moscow. That’s right, although I already have plans to travel there a year from now, I just may double up. A week or so ago some trainees and I were discussing Christmas travel plans and a friend of mine said that he was headed to Moscow to meet his cousin. Needless to say, the wheel’s started turning. First, it’s cheap to get there from here - a train ride costs about forty dollars, though it takes 30 hours - a bus is about the same price but only sixteen hours.
Apart from my obvious desire to travel and see friends that I adore, also helping influence my decision is the fact that my friend is a Romanian speaker and that there are few places in this part of the world that are as unforgiving to non-language speakers as Russia - it can be a nightmare, to say the least.

We’ll see what happens. A visa is easy to get from here. In November Peace Corps has a conference which all the volunteers attend - if there I don’t hear of any other great vacation plans, Moscow moves to the top of my list.

Practice Makes Perfect

This week and the following two will be perhaps the most demanding that we, as trainees, will undergo. The reason: practice school.

Kids from the village have been rounded up so we, the trainees, have an opportunity to step into a real school environment and present our very own lesson plans to students. The Peace Corps has set us up with ‘partner teachers,’ teachers of English from throughout Moldova who have decades of experience. They sit in the back of the class while we teach and they observe us, giving us feedback. They also help us with lesson-plans and with techniques for teaching new information to students.

We teach two 45 minutes lessons every day with a fifteen minute break in-between - this week through Tuesday of next week I will teach to 6th graders, and following a ‘break’ next Wednesday, I will begin seven days of teaching to 10th graders. Doesn’t sound too bad, right?
Well, we also have two hours of Russian class Monday through Friday and 4.5 hours every Saturday morning. Basically, between 8:15 in the morning and 9:15 at night (Monday through Friday), I have maybe two free hours that aren’t devoted to preparing to teach, teaching, Russian class, reviewing the day’s taught lesson with my partner teacher, preparing lesson plans for the next day’s lesson, preparing activities for the next day’s lesson (the last two of which are amazingly time-consuming because, without a printer for a computer, everything must be written out by hand), and Russian studies. It’s not easy, to say the least.

And the best part: we have one day, Wednesday the 26th, when we don’t have to teach. Of course, on that day we have a second language assessment (highly stressful) and five hours of meetings.

Lucky us.

Although there is a silver lining; after Practice School we have only one and a half more weeks until we get sworn in as volunteers, and that week consists mainly of language training to prepare us for the final, important test on August 14th The light is already at the end of the tunnel.

Notes:
- Us trainees were quick to complain about the amount of rain we were getting early in the summer and our sprits had picked up lately by the lack of precipitation. However, I’ve learned from my farming host family that we really need rain. In fact, the situation was almost dire last week until we had a big storm. Now, while things aren’t great, they’re better. Before the shower, if I traveled any day they would ask me when I got home if it rained where I was. If it rained where I was not and not in my village, they would all get exacerbated.

- The high temperature last Sunday was fifty-five degrees. Fun, huh? And of course, it was the day my friend and his family and I decided to go out for a barbeque party down at the lake. Needless to say, we stayed only for a few hours.

- The level of English spoken amongst our students is, to say the least, shockingly low. They are in sixth grade, supposedly with three years of English with them, and they literally don’t know what ‘bad’ means or how to respond to ‘how are you?" My partner, with eighteen years of experience, also can’t believe just how little they know. But my partner teacher and I agree that the kids have one advantage, something every teacher really appreciates: they are amazingly enthusiastic. Although they don’t know much, it is clear in their eyes that they really want to learn, an emotion that makes them joy’s to teach.

Home Sweet Home

Last weekend I met, for the first time, my future boss, colleague, and family. On Friday all the Peace Corps trainees went to Chisinau for a conference in which we met our school directors and partner-teachers - sadly, we met them by 9:00 and it was all downhill from there (more in a sec). My partner-teacher is - and has been - the only English teacher at the school for almost twenty years, teaching about forty lessons a week. Thankfully, with me, her work load is now cut in half. And the director is great too, very excited to have a young American volunteer teach at his school. In Moldova there are two types of schools, a School and a Lyceum, the latter of which is usually perceived as being for the ‘smarter’ students. Most Schools every few years make an application to become a Lyceum: my school tried a few years ago and was denied, but my director thinks that with me working there, we should have a much better chance of getting approved.

But aside from the excitement of everyone suddenly knowing much more about our futures, the conference itself was a big disappointment, largely because almost nothing was translated for the directors - 30-40% of those present had almost no idea what was going on, and naturally, after an hour or so of hearing nothing but English, their attention and energy levels dropped. Badly. All the American volunteers sensed it too and we even told those directing activities that they should translate more but alas, it wasn’t done. It was also disappointing because 1) Many people, like my director, really wanted to learn some new things but were simply not allowed the chance, and 2) It was clear that a lot of work went into developing the information that we were presented but, like I said, it was wasted on 30% of the audience. My main suggestion for next year: cut information and translate (they didn’t want to this year because of time restrictions) - most of us felt that it’s better for 100% of the audience to understand 60% of the information than for 60% of the people to understand 100% of the information.

But alas, after the conference ended I went with my party to my village of Hirjauca. The drive is absolutely beautiful - I know now why there is not one but rather four monasteries in the area, as the landscape is picturesque. I spent the first evening with my first housing option, an older woman Raisa (like Gorbachev’s wife) who has a son and husband in Moscow, a son in "Leningrad" (certifying the Russian-ness of the area), and a daughter in the next village. She was a very sweet lady herself but her friend was over for dinner and kept asking me question after question in a racing pace, then she couldn’t believe that I couldn’t understand her. I couldn’t understand English at her pace. But alas, after a few minutes she finally said "You speak Russian badly" - trust me, I understood her just fine then. She would have been surprised to learn that I know enough Russian to chew her out for being rude and to tell her what I though; but alas, I wanted to be a good guest. But that soured me on the whole experience, as unfair as that may be to the sweetheart of a lady who hosted me.

The next morning I went to the school for a visit - I’m really impressed with the facility there. Nice and clean, with a gym and actually a computer lab with pretty good internet access (where sent some e-mails and really impressed them with my ability to type fast - people would just watch my fingers move). But on my walk to the school with my partner teacher she at one point directed my attention to a house and told me that I had my second housing option there and that the father had cancer but that "it was in the last stages and everything would be resolved" by August. Great, I though, assuming that she meant he would get better. But afer the school visit we went to the house and I quickly realized - within a minute - that the father would not be better but instead will die by August, likely within weeks. He is only 45, and because of prostate cancer he will have gone from diagnosis to death within six months. An absolutely tragic situation. The mother in the family is a teacher in the school, the daughter is in the 12th grade, and the son is twenty-four and had a wedding planned for late summer until his father’s sickness happened. Now, things are postponed indefinitely (but the wedding will happen).

Actually, they have two little houses, one of which has a kitchen, bathroom (sans toilet - maybe it’s a washroom), and living room, and the other of which has another kitchen and three rooms the family usually occupies. However, since his sickness the father is sleeping in one room of the second house and the rest of the family in the living room of the first house. I, however, shared a house with the dying father. While I only saw him once, on my initial tour (that was the moment I realized what his fate is), I sat for a day and slept in a room next to his, which was at times brutal. He is in constant pain, and I could hear him moaning for hours, often yelling out to his mother or wife for help. It was emotionally draining for me - I can’t think of how tough it is for his family, who has to help him, go through with anything. And yet this happened, I really liked the family itself, even the fiancé of the son.

The next day I went to a third family, an older couple who have a son in Moscow. I knew right away, when my partner and I (she led me from house to house) entered the gate and were greeted by a beast that conjured images of the Hound of the Baskervilles, that the house was probably not for me. And the father had an interesting trait - while he was very nice, he always looked and smelled like he’d been drinking vodka. I even spotted him walking around with a bottle. But he never acted drunk. It’s a gift, I guess. Both parents were nice but I was quick to dismiss it from my decision making.

So I left the village Monday morning with a decision to make. The journey home to my training village was fine - long, but fine. I went from Hirjauca to the regional center Calarash on one bus, from the regional center to the outskirts of Chisinau on another, from the outskirts to the center on a trolleybus, from the center to the outskirts of the village by another bus, and the final five kilometers to my home on foot. And I did it all alone, with only the usual troubles that accompany any first-time journey in any place. It was a greet feeling to have been successful, a great confidence booster.

Notes
- I had my first language assessment last Wednesday. Facilitating was the ‘questioner’ and the ‘observer’ - the job of the former is to talk, the job of the latter is to write opinions of our language skills (the questioners were Peace Corps staff who teach Romanian to others in my group - the observers were hired independently). The first part was to sit with and answer questions about ourselves and our families in America (names, jobs, ages) as well as the same questions about the host families we have during training. They also asked me about where I will work (Hirjauca) and what I know about it. Finally, we had to ask the ‘questioner’ questions about themselves and their families. The second part of the exam was role playing, to enter a market and buy some things for a birthday party, negotiate a cheaper price, then go into a shop and but some more objects (it was luck of the draw - we either had to do this with food or clothes, and because we learned clothes and colors literally the day before the test, I was glad to not draw that one. One Russian speaker did - she said it was torture). Although the results aren’t too important in the eyes of the Peace Corps, I treated the exam highly, even listening to my old ‘pre-game’ music from my Hamline University football days to get pumped. This exam was just for the Peace Corps to see how we are doing so far and for them to know any weaknesses we have.

So naturally, if you know me it will come as no surprise that I walked out of the exam thinking it was total and complete disaster. The problems came from word order - in Russian, it’s largely not important because grammar clues tell the listener what is happening (with case endings, gender and number agreements, and so on). So if you get used to hearing things said in a certain word order you have no trouble, but the second that word order is changed, it really throws off comprehension. While the words are the same, it just takes more time to put things together. And in an exam, a lot of time thinking quietly is the last thing you want. The whole ordeal was just horrible, the worst thing that could have happened and the perfect blow to my mind that was beginning to think that it was finally starting to grasp this language. ‘Devastation’ is the only adjective I could use to properly describe my feelings - in fact, all Russian trainees were crushed.

And so naturally, our test results came back glowing in their compliments, heaping praise upon our abilities; my language instructor was very pleased with the results of our test, totally thrilled that we’ve progressed in the way we have - she was an ‘observer’ of the Romanian speakers and she was especially excited because while usually Romanian learners are ahead of the Russian speakers at this point (based on the difficulty/ease of the languages), at this point now we are at the same level. Even the PC staff who tested us walked out impressed with our progress. And of course, their words did little to boost my ego. To top it off, we all had two hours of language class in the afternoon after the test, which proved to be a very difficult lesson based on a linguistic concept of ‘aspect’ that we don’t have in English but which is very strong in Slavic languages. At the end of the lesson the teacher asked us (in Russian) what we wanted after class - when I told her I wanted to drink vodka (in Russian), she just laughed and said she understood.

And for the record, there was no vodka consumed that night.

- You may have heard of the bombing that happened in Moldova last Friday in Tiraspol, capital of the dangerous breakaway region of Transnestria. Rest assured that me - and every single other Peace Corps volunteer - are and will continue to be 100% safe. In fact, we are under strict orders to stay out of Transnestria. If we enter that area at all, we need to inform Peace Corps and receive their permission, and the chances of us being given that permission is between slim and none. It’s not an option, especially now in times of unrest. Also, from what I’ve read and heard, the chances of the bombing being anything more than an isolated incident are minimal. It was a fluke that just happened to happen in the nation that I live in.

- Money is not at all a problem for volunteers - the Peace Corps provides for anything. In fact, I’ve heard of volunteers actually saving as much as 100 dollars a month during their service (out of about a 200 dollar monthly total ‘salary,’ from which comes the money for our host families). At first I thought it wasn’t true, that it wouldn’t really be possible to save that much. Then I went to my village. There, I think I would be actually hard-pressed to spend more than a few dollars a month. The only places to spend money are the two stores that sell food and the disco, a place I’m not likely to frequent as a teacher. Instead, I’ll travel - there is one girl in a village like mine and in two years she’s traveled to Turkey twice and Italy once, flying everywhere and staying at nice places, all with money she’s saved in her village. So clearly, there’s a silver lining.

- Here I’ve experienced something I’ve never seen outside of central Europe - when converting costs from Moldovan currency, I hear people more and more telling the price in Euros rather than dollars. In Russia it’s still largely dollars, but still . . . . I don’t know if the reason can be attributed simply to geography and the fact that Moldova really wants to joint the EU or to the diminishing value of the dollar in the world today, both literally and figuratively. Honestly, it’s likely the more of the former, but I think the latter can’t be dismissed either.

- At my host family stays in Hirjauca I did nothing but read for hours ever day, the main reason being because there wasn’t much else to do but also because I really just wanted to rest after twelve consecutive days of sleeping no latter than 7:30. I slept nineteen hours in two nights and read two books in three days - In Cold Blood and Interview With The Vampire. The first was everything it’s supposed to be (brilliant, riveting) and so was the second (a fun little story).

- If you want to visit me here but have never used a pit toilet, prepare yourself. It’s just a really big pit and over it is a hole there is a hole in the floor about eight ten inches in diameter. And it’s inside a structure. Part of me doesn’t like it at all, but then I realize that the vast majority of the world’s people use facilities like this (if they’re lucky). So I can live with it for a few years. I just hope a visitor can live with it for a few days . . .

- One thing that made me crazy on my visit to the village - at every home, people apologized for their homes, for the way they lived. Which I can’t stand. Even my partner teacher told me basically apologized for how she lives, and I didn’t come within 200 yards of her house. I wanted to ask each person if they would be embarrassed without me there - if the answer is ‘no’, then they need not be embarrassed because of my presence. Also, it would come as a surprise to them that many people I know would absolutely love to live in the way they do, surrounded by the peace and quite of a valley surrounded by forests. Believe me, they need not be self-conscious because of my presence.

- Thieves struck the host family of a fellow Russian-speaking trainee, my friend Aaron. Their family has a lot of poultry, and during the day it’s a common practice to just let various poultry roam around the neighborhood (we have primarily turkeys and ducks in my part of town). Well, his family had four geese stolen one day last week - his host father went to gather them and bring them in for the night and they were missing.

- I’ll do this only once a year or so, as little as possible - recommend a book. But if you are at all interested in American history, the English language, the history of the English language in America, or a combination of any of these, read Made in America: An Informal History of the English Language in America, by Bill Bryson. It’s well written, funny, accessible, and totally fascinating. I will be shocked if anyone reads this book and doesn’t thoroughly enjoy it, and I’ll be equally shocked if someone reads the introduction and isn’t drawn to read the rest.

- There is a reason why I haven’t posted pictures yet - I don’t have the chance with our internet connection in the home, as it simply takes too much time. But when I go to the Peace Corps office next time I will take advantage of their DSL and post some images of my nation. I can, however, lead you to a better map of where I am. Here is a map - northwest of Chisinau is a city Calarash - I'm about 10 miles northwest of that.

- On the housing options - things came down to either the old lady or the family with the dying father. And in the end I’m going with (drumroll please . . . . . . ) the family. It’s a gamble. I know what I’ll get with the old lady. But the family . . . first, I really liked all of them. Also, now they are in a time of great transition, and I’m taking a chance that my presence will only enhance their difficult time. I know it’s a risk, but I’m going with instinct on this one. And as sweet as the old lady is, I’m used to having a big family in America and it would be tough to live alone with just her. Actually, I plan to copy her number and call her once I get to site, as I’d love to see her and keep her company. I just don’t want to live there.

Also, in a bit of irony I’ve learned that two years ago there was another Russian speaking trainee - also named Andy - who moved into a family in which the father had also just died of cancer. And in that case, the volunteer firmly believes that his presence was a great asset to his family in their grieving process, as it helped them take their mind off the tragedy. I hope to have a similar effect on my future hosts.

С днем рождения Америка

I write now fresh off a great last few days. Tiring but great. Saturday was actually a mixed bag. As part of our Peace Corps training, we go through "Cross-Cultural" training in which we learn about Moldovan culture and compare it to American culture. However, we have problems when things happen like did last Saturday, when we are basically told "Discuss what Americans value. You have one hour." One hour. That’s all we got to summarize a topic that people write PhD theses about. Of course, as a result we are forced to make broad generalizations, however unfair they may be (and usually are) to those outside the generalization. Then people get upset about the generalizations . . . . it’s quite the scene. But after that, they gave us broad topics and said "What do American’s think about these?" And these are issues like "Are Americans generally direct or indirect in how they deal with others?" Well, in our group we had nine people of varying ages from different parts of the country. Let’s just say that this discussion got a little heated.

But after, all the trainees went to the Chisinau for the Fourth of July party sponsored by the American Chamber of Commerce. The three Russian trainees went early, were dropped off in the center of Chisinau by the monument of Stephan cel Mare, Moldovan national hero - from there we made the half-hour walk to the Peace Corps office to hang out for a while with other volunteers (not trainees). About 3:15 we took off with some of those for the party, taking a trolley for much of the way. And the party was awesome, more than making-up for the tension of the morning. We met all the trainees there as well as a lot more volunteers - I learned from our Country Director that those present were Peace Corps people and those associated with the Embassy - including staff - which made for a 2/3 American and 1/3 Moldovan ratio. The only people I saw there that I wanted to talk to but didn’t were the Marines who guard the Embassy, whom I later heard where great. But alas, it was still a recipe for a great party, especially for the trainees. Imagine the scene; take a large group of American’s under 25, put them in a highly structured and highly stressful series of situations for a month, then release them into an event in which there are a lot of new people to converse with, the drinks are free, and transportation home is provided. I’ll let you imagine what transpired . . .

To top it off, we had an excursion to the south of Moldova early the next day, departing 7:00 in the morning. Most people were in various states of exhaustion, but that didn’t diminish the quality of the trip. The south of Moldova is highly diverse with a lot of varied ethnic groups comprising the area. We spent much of our time in the semi-autonomous region of Gagauzia, which I’ve written about a little in the past. People who settled there are Christian Turks who left Turkey a few hundred years ago and settled in the south of Moldova, where today there are the only semi-autonomous region recognized by the government (the eastern-most region of of Moldova, Transnestria, thinks it has the same status but the federal government disagrees. Hence, the fifteen year stand-off and the warning by the US State Dept to not, under any circumstances, enter the area). But Gagauzia is legal, speaking their own language that is a combination of Russian and Turkish. We went to one town, Chadir-Lunga (should be on a map, southeast of Chisinau) and had an hour long meeting with their mayor followed by two hours at a restaurant where we ate Gagauzian food, watched Gagauzian dancers, and watched Gagauzian folk dancing, all of which were great.

Following we went to a village Tavarditsa that’s literally five miles from the Ukranian border, a place settled by Bulgarian immigrants 150 years ago and a place where Bulgarian is still the language of the people. It’s like a nation within a nation - again we met the mayor, toured a museum, and had a performance by Bulgarian folk-dancers who, we were told, have received numerous international awards due to their talents. I don’t doubt it too, as they were amazing.
We left for home after Tavarditsa, arriving at 10:15 at night. Yes, it was a 15 hour day. And we had to awaken at 6:15, 6:30 the next morning.

Actually, Monday night was the big day for a lot of people, as we finally learned where exactly everyone in our group will spend the next two years. Although it was anti-climactic for some of us, for most it was a nerve-wracking event. To tell us, they drew a huge map of Moldova on the ground and placed chairs every place that we were going. Then they drew names out of a hat, the named person approached, and they were led hand-in-hand to the chair placed at their site. Excitement abounded. I learned that where are two other trainees who will be within ten or so miles of me and another three who are within twenty-five miles. This weekend already we have trips to our future sites to visit with our host family options - we’ll visit three and pick one to stay with for a minimum of six months. We’ve received little write-ups on each of them but I for one have only glanced at them - two minutes with the people will tell me more about them than an hour looking at a write-up. And on Friday we’ll meet our ‘partner-teacher’(more on that later) and our school directors in Chisinau for an all-day, introductory conference. Should be exciting . . ..

Random Notes (My favorite thing to write)

- We’ve lost two people from our group, both of which were English teachers. We all think one was a real asset and will be missed terribly. The other . . .. I don’t think anyone is too upset to see him go. As much as it stinks to have lost them, we were here for just about a month before this happened, which is almost un-heard of. In fact, each of the last five groups here lost people long before that, most in the first week or so, which I think that says something about the ‘stay-ability’ of our group.

- Our first language assessment is Wednesday. It consists of two parts: 1) We have to talk about our families, talking rather extensively about each member as well as asking the facilitator (the test is conducted in an interview format) about their families. Then, we have to role play like we’re in a market buying things for dinner and trying to negotiate a price. Shouldn’t be a problem, especially because this is just a test to gauge how we are doing in our language classes and nothing is official. As Russian speakers we get a break too because we don’t have to do a part of the test - our teacher just told the managers that we’re learning a harder language than Romanian and that, as a result, we have to go slower and haven’t covered as much as them.

- Being TEFL teachers places us in a whole different Peace Corps experience than everyone else. The primary reason is that, in the end, we answer not to the Peace Corps or even to our schools but instead to the Ministry of Education, complying by their standards in the classroom. It’s the job of the Peace Corps to make sure that we do as the Ministry says. It makes our jobs a lot more pressure-packed.

- Each Peace Corps volunteer - in any field - has a ‘partner teacher.’ Basically, for TELF it will be the other English teacher in our schools. From what I’ve been told my countless people, our ‘partner teacher’ can make-or-break our experience. A good one is invaluable - they’re a tremendous resource to rely on for any information on things inside and outside the classroom Plus, if the teacher is good it means that the kids have been taught well, making it far easier for us to step in and continue their work. I know people who can’t say enough good about their partners. And I’ll meet mine on Friday.

- They have a tradition in this part of the world that I love - if you go into a store and buy something and they don’t have exact change in coins, they give you some gum or chocolate instead. And really, who wouldn’t prefer some gum to 50 ban (Moldovan coins) that converts to four cents?

- Small world - two people I’m in training with are connected to famous people. One girl has a step-father who is a legend in Texas football, who played for Bear Bryant in the legend’s first year at Texas A&M and who is one of the famous Junction Boys. When he called her house the first time and told his name to the girl I know, she told him "yeah, right," and hung-up. And another person has a first cousin, John O’Shea, who is a world class soccer player and starts for Manchester United and the Irish National Team. Insane, huh?

- There’s comedy, there’s high comedy, then there’s the comedy of Russian state TV. I have a new favorite show every few weeks - now it’s a show whose title translates to "Federal Judge": a "People’s Court" for Russia, with the exception that these cases involve murder and assault, not 400 dollars spent on a hair weave and vacuum cleaner. But people really get into it, with men chasing each-other around the room and women taking off their shoes and hitting people with them. I think if I could actually understand much, my appreciation for the show would actually reduce. And this show has nothing on another, "Let Them Talk," a talk-show that needs to be brought to America. That was my favorite but hasn’t been on for a few weeks.

- Everyone is basically exhausted now. From Monday June 26 through Tuesday July 4, we have had one day when we didn’t travel, only one day where we were only occupied for five hours and not nine. We do Peace Corps stuff for up to sixty-five hours a week, not including our time at home studying for hours on our own while talking with our families in a different language. It’s exhausting, but it seems like things are slowing a bit now. I hope they do.

- Finally, a word on language. Last Friday I actually had a bit of a revelation when my host brother and I went to a bar for an hour or so. While I literally said nothing for two hours, I could actually understand a good portion of what was said there, which was huge for me. Most of the things I’m surrounded with - outside the classroom - to hear Russian can get frustrating. If I watch Russian TV or listen to my family, I usually don’t understand much at all (the former because of the technical language on the shows, the latter because it’s half-Romanian). But in a casual setting, with people talking about real life things, I actually followed the conversation with few problems. It was nice.