One Day in the Life of Andrew Scottovich
To give the reader an idea of just how odd my life can be at times, I thought I would present 24 hours in my life- 7:00 in the evening of Friday, November 10th through 7:00 in the evening of Saturday, November 11th.
7:00 PM - Met with some students to go the bar. Really. The two girls with whom I spend the most amount of time invited me to go with them, and I was more than glad to accept their invitation. So we met at 7:00 and headed out to the bar, about a mile and a half away on the one road to and from the village. The plan was to go to the bar for an hour or so, then head back to school where the was going to be a dance for students 8th grade and higher. They’re always a good time.
7:30 PM - Arrived at the bar. On the way we talked about stars and what their parents do for work. Good time all around - turns out, the Milky is the same in Russian and they call the Big and Little Dippers the Big and Little Bears.
8:30 PM - After taking for a while, the husband of one of the teachers came up to the table and introduced himself - he knew who I was but I had never met him. He had drank a little and it was clear, and he kept saying odd things, like complimenting the girls on their beauty (remember, they are 15 and 17 years old) and telling me that I could have one of them for a girlfriend if I wanted, that it’s not a big deal that I’m a teacher. It wasn’t that bad for me but it was really awkward for the girls because he kept of complimenting them in ways that were a little appropriate, although he did buy me a beer - that was nice. The girls really didn’t like him, because when we left they used a word to describe him that is best described as a combination between ‘selfish’ and ‘impolite.’
9:00 PM- Somehow we got a ride from some guy back to school to avoid the 20 minute walk. Of course, three other guys were with us and they were carrying a bottle of vodka and some juice.
9:15 PM - Arrive back at school to find a huge throng of people waiting in front. Turns out, to get tot he music we needed a key that only the director has, and someone forgot to take it from him. So no dance. Walked home.
9:30 PM - Arrived home, watched TV for a while, then prepared for bed - on Friday nights here I’m totally wiped usually. I did learn from my host family that we would kill our pig at 6:00 the next morning.
10:30 PM - 7:30 AM - Sleep.
7:30 AM - Woke up to the sound of a screaming pig. One thing you have to realize, however, is that pigs make the same sound whether they are forcefully moved or they are killed - it’s amazing but true that’s there is no difference. So when I woke up I wasn’t sure what scenario was taking place but I figured I would sleep a little more.
7:38 AM - Woke up to the sound of a screaming pig again. This was the killing part (with, of all things, a sharpened corn cob shoved through the heart. It’s actually a quick way to kill because the hole in the heart is large and the animal dies faster). This time, however, there was no returning to sleep. Not all that bad though because my body has adjusted to waking up every day at 7:00 anyways.
7:50 AM - 11-00 AM - Watched the dismantling of the pig, a totally fascinating process. First they blowtorch the skin to burn off all the hair, then again to scrape off the outer layer of skin (about a two hour process). Then they cut off the head and gutted it, putting the organs aside for frying and consumption later. Once that is done they literally cut the carcass in quarters and moved it to prepare if for further butchering. The whole time I watched I also went to the water for well multiple times - I was the unofficial ‘mule’ of the day.
After it was quartered they scrape off the final layer of skin to eat - it’s considered a delicacy by all Moldovans. At first I declined, and everyone had the same reaction they would have had if I told them I was, in fact, a member of Al-Quada - an initial reaction of shock and disgust, followed by them urgently trying to convince me of the error of my ways. They kept telling me how great it was, so finally I gave in and tried it. The verdict? Nothing special - it really doesn’t taste like anything.
11:00 AM - After telling the family I would return home about 3:00, I took off on foot to meet my tutor for language training - our first lesson together. I found my tutor through one of my students when I asked her if she knew anyone who could teach me. She set everything up.
11:30 AM - 1:00 PM - Arrived at the museum in the next village for our initial meeting. The woman’s name is Tatiana Andreivna, a retired teacher of Russian and Romanian who now works at the museum. It was a good lesson, with her just feeling me out to see what I know.
1:00 PM - Walked with one of my students to another girls house for an English lesson with them. They both live in the next village where I have to work (the same girls with whom I went to the bar) and asked me if could work on Saturday after my work with the tutor - it doesn’t make sense for them to walk the 1.5 miles to school if I was already in their village, so we agreed to meet at one of their homes. After the tutoring session I called one and we walked to the next girls house.
1:15 PM - 4:00 PM - Worked with the girls. Actually, we spent about 30 minutes working, the rest of the time messing around, eating, chatting. They learned how to talk on the phone, so after they figured it out they spent 20 minutes calling their friends to speak English on the phone as a joke.
4:00 PM - 4:30 PM - Walked home, stopping the way to talk with one of my 6th graders who was driving cows through the village.
4:30 PM - Arrived home expecting to receive a verbal whipping for being late - they were too busy to notice, actually. With the pig slaughter there was meat everywhere - now there is pig parts in all the fridges and freezers.
5:00 PM - Ate dinner. Actually, it was just the heart, lungs, and other edible organs fried up and served. It’s not too bad actually, once you get over the fact of what exactly is being eaten. And we ate it too with some sort of salty watermelon - together they make a fascinating, rather tasty combination.
5:30 PM - 6:15 PM - Cleaned corn, my new job around the house. It consists of taking an ear of corn and putting into a hand-cranked contraction that strips the corn from the ear. It’s a time-consuming but easy job, one that is painless (unless your finger gets caught between the metal teeth of the grinder - trust me, that hurts a lot). Normally I just stand there, listen to the Ipod, and grind away until a bucket is full.
6:15 PM - 7:00 PM - Went for a walk so I could send a text message on my phone to a Moldovan girl in Chisinau. The phone doesn’t really work in the village but there are three or four places where it sometimes gets a signal - I usually just go from place to place to until I get a strong enough signal to send and receive messages. Again, time-consuming but easy enough.
Note:
Only one - I can’t wait for next week. I will teach Monday, then on Tuesday is the ‘day of the village’ so we won’t have classes and will spend the day eating and drinking wine. Then on Wednesday I need to travel to Chisinau for the All Volunteer Conference - all the volunteers in Moldova will be there for three days of meetings and a Thanksgiving feast on Thursday that will feature likely every American in Moldova there, about 200 of us. Should be an amazing time . . .
7:00 PM - Met with some students to go the bar. Really. The two girls with whom I spend the most amount of time invited me to go with them, and I was more than glad to accept their invitation. So we met at 7:00 and headed out to the bar, about a mile and a half away on the one road to and from the village. The plan was to go to the bar for an hour or so, then head back to school where the was going to be a dance for students 8th grade and higher. They’re always a good time.
7:30 PM - Arrived at the bar. On the way we talked about stars and what their parents do for work. Good time all around - turns out, the Milky is the same in Russian and they call the Big and Little Dippers the Big and Little Bears.
8:30 PM - After taking for a while, the husband of one of the teachers came up to the table and introduced himself - he knew who I was but I had never met him. He had drank a little and it was clear, and he kept saying odd things, like complimenting the girls on their beauty (remember, they are 15 and 17 years old) and telling me that I could have one of them for a girlfriend if I wanted, that it’s not a big deal that I’m a teacher. It wasn’t that bad for me but it was really awkward for the girls because he kept of complimenting them in ways that were a little appropriate, although he did buy me a beer - that was nice. The girls really didn’t like him, because when we left they used a word to describe him that is best described as a combination between ‘selfish’ and ‘impolite.’
9:00 PM- Somehow we got a ride from some guy back to school to avoid the 20 minute walk. Of course, three other guys were with us and they were carrying a bottle of vodka and some juice.
9:15 PM - Arrive back at school to find a huge throng of people waiting in front. Turns out, to get tot he music we needed a key that only the director has, and someone forgot to take it from him. So no dance. Walked home.
9:30 PM - Arrived home, watched TV for a while, then prepared for bed - on Friday nights here I’m totally wiped usually. I did learn from my host family that we would kill our pig at 6:00 the next morning.
10:30 PM - 7:30 AM - Sleep.
7:30 AM - Woke up to the sound of a screaming pig. One thing you have to realize, however, is that pigs make the same sound whether they are forcefully moved or they are killed - it’s amazing but true that’s there is no difference. So when I woke up I wasn’t sure what scenario was taking place but I figured I would sleep a little more.
7:38 AM - Woke up to the sound of a screaming pig again. This was the killing part (with, of all things, a sharpened corn cob shoved through the heart. It’s actually a quick way to kill because the hole in the heart is large and the animal dies faster). This time, however, there was no returning to sleep. Not all that bad though because my body has adjusted to waking up every day at 7:00 anyways.
7:50 AM - 11-00 AM - Watched the dismantling of the pig, a totally fascinating process. First they blowtorch the skin to burn off all the hair, then again to scrape off the outer layer of skin (about a two hour process). Then they cut off the head and gutted it, putting the organs aside for frying and consumption later. Once that is done they literally cut the carcass in quarters and moved it to prepare if for further butchering. The whole time I watched I also went to the water for well multiple times - I was the unofficial ‘mule’ of the day.
After it was quartered they scrape off the final layer of skin to eat - it’s considered a delicacy by all Moldovans. At first I declined, and everyone had the same reaction they would have had if I told them I was, in fact, a member of Al-Quada - an initial reaction of shock and disgust, followed by them urgently trying to convince me of the error of my ways. They kept telling me how great it was, so finally I gave in and tried it. The verdict? Nothing special - it really doesn’t taste like anything.
11:00 AM - After telling the family I would return home about 3:00, I took off on foot to meet my tutor for language training - our first lesson together. I found my tutor through one of my students when I asked her if she knew anyone who could teach me. She set everything up.
11:30 AM - 1:00 PM - Arrived at the museum in the next village for our initial meeting. The woman’s name is Tatiana Andreivna, a retired teacher of Russian and Romanian who now works at the museum. It was a good lesson, with her just feeling me out to see what I know.
1:00 PM - Walked with one of my students to another girls house for an English lesson with them. They both live in the next village where I have to work (the same girls with whom I went to the bar) and asked me if could work on Saturday after my work with the tutor - it doesn’t make sense for them to walk the 1.5 miles to school if I was already in their village, so we agreed to meet at one of their homes. After the tutoring session I called one and we walked to the next girls house.
1:15 PM - 4:00 PM - Worked with the girls. Actually, we spent about 30 minutes working, the rest of the time messing around, eating, chatting. They learned how to talk on the phone, so after they figured it out they spent 20 minutes calling their friends to speak English on the phone as a joke.
4:00 PM - 4:30 PM - Walked home, stopping the way to talk with one of my 6th graders who was driving cows through the village.
4:30 PM - Arrived home expecting to receive a verbal whipping for being late - they were too busy to notice, actually. With the pig slaughter there was meat everywhere - now there is pig parts in all the fridges and freezers.
5:00 PM - Ate dinner. Actually, it was just the heart, lungs, and other edible organs fried up and served. It’s not too bad actually, once you get over the fact of what exactly is being eaten. And we ate it too with some sort of salty watermelon - together they make a fascinating, rather tasty combination.
5:30 PM - 6:15 PM - Cleaned corn, my new job around the house. It consists of taking an ear of corn and putting into a hand-cranked contraction that strips the corn from the ear. It’s a time-consuming but easy job, one that is painless (unless your finger gets caught between the metal teeth of the grinder - trust me, that hurts a lot). Normally I just stand there, listen to the Ipod, and grind away until a bucket is full.
6:15 PM - 7:00 PM - Went for a walk so I could send a text message on my phone to a Moldovan girl in Chisinau. The phone doesn’t really work in the village but there are three or four places where it sometimes gets a signal - I usually just go from place to place to until I get a strong enough signal to send and receive messages. Again, time-consuming but easy enough.
Note:
Only one - I can’t wait for next week. I will teach Monday, then on Tuesday is the ‘day of the village’ so we won’t have classes and will spend the day eating and drinking wine. Then on Wednesday I need to travel to Chisinau for the All Volunteer Conference - all the volunteers in Moldova will be there for three days of meetings and a Thanksgiving feast on Thursday that will feature likely every American in Moldova there, about 200 of us. Should be an amazing time . . .
posted by Andy Buchanan at 6:21 AM
5 Comments:
Buckster,
How do you do laundry? Do you have to relive the college days or are you able to do you do it often and easily?
Jake
Andy--I'm slow but sure--it's my first time on the blog. How exciting! I'm so jealous that you get to experience this--I'm happy for you and I love the stories. Pictures anywhere? I'll look more on your page--remember that we are thinking about you and wishing you well.
Theresa Hinnenkamp
Heart, Lungs, etc.. Really! I am not sure that I oculd get over that.
Any plans for what you will do when you get home? Are you married yet?
Happy early turkey day Andy!! Have fun :)
Liz
Hey Andy!
Happy thanksgiving!
Scottovich? Did I not read close enough?
Post a Comment
<< Home