That's A Wrap
Every year there is only one mandatory even that every Peace Corps volunteer in the country is required to be at - the Thanksgiving All Volunteer Conference, held at a hotel in Chisinau. So whereas on my last entry I described a twenty-four hour period in the life of a volunteer, I now present what exactly happens when all the volunteers in the country get together:
Wednesday, November 22: I actually spent the first part of this day in the village, teaching two classes in the morning before heading to Chisinau after school. Normally the last bus out of the village is at 2:00, right after school, but that day was different because the day before was ‘xram’ in the village (more on that in a minute) and while standing at the bus stop with other teachers it was clear that there was not going to be enough room for everyone. But just at that moment a taxi pulled up and I was told that it would only 15 lei to get to the regional center of Calarasi (the only bus right to Chisinau leaves at 6:00AM - if someone’s not on that they need to transfer in the regional center). It was a great event; while the bus takes 45 minutes and costs 8 lei, the taxi was 20 minutes and costs 15 lei (about 1 dollar and 15 cents for a taxi ride of 15 miles). Then in Calarasi I walked in to buy a ticket and some guy said something to me in Romanian - when I said ‘excuse me?" in Russian he asked if I was going to Chisinau. I was and ended up being between transportation vehicles for only 30 seconds, tops. It was without a doubt the smoothest trip I’ve ever had to the capital.
Upon arrival I went to Peace Corps office, met friends, rested, and then spent the evening in a hotel with others from my group, just having a few drinks and talking about life - we ended up talking for four hours together, which is an unreal amount of time for something like that to happen in the states.
Thursday, November 23: Thanksgiving! - We had meetings from 9:30 until 2:30, where we discussed things like the importance of dressing well (something I do anyways) and of why exactly we need to write detailed activity reports of our work twice a year. After the meetings about 40 of us gathered in a field to play the Annual American Football game, North vs. South. I won’t go into details other than to say that my team lost and as a result, I’m taking control of the north team next year. We’re going to operate things differently, because the lost this year bugged me for four days. And also, while we played a group of Moldovans slowly gathered around to watch this odd spectacle unfold before their eyes, even applauding when someone make a play or two.
After the game, at 6:00 in the evening, the real event started - homemade Thanksgiving dinner. It was divine - there were 290 people there, about a 2/3 American crowd ranging from Volunteers to Fulbrights to Embassy staff ( the Ambassador sat at our table). It was the full standard fare, and it was beyond words comforting (more on Thanksgiving later).
Following the feast was the talent show put on by volunteers, again great. Highlights included a group singing "Don’t Stop Believing" with 150 people in the crowd following along and "Here Comes The Sun" by the Beatles done by two guys with guitars. But my personal favorite was when a Moldovan girl and her brother (guitar in hand) got on stage to sing a song they described as an American Classic and sat. One second later the brother played the opening notes of Ray Orbeson’s "Pretty Woman," eliciting a moan of glee from the crowd, a crowd that proceeded to sing along for the length of their performance.
Friday, November 24 - More meetings in the day, including an hour presentation by the Ambassador, who was really interesting, and some guy from USAID in Moldova, who was equally interesting. We also passed the time learning about different projects we can do at sight that are sponsored by the Peace Corps, and then went with some friends to scout out airfare to Istanbul over the holidays. In the evening I went to hang out with a Moldovan girl I know but she had to get up at 6:00 Saturday morning so then went to a bar and hang out with friends for two hours in the evening. Again, there were thirty or so of us American’s at the place, just hanging out and talking with those of just who we had never met before.
Saturday, November 25th - Bird Flu day. Really - we say through six hours of information about Bird Flu in the world and whether or not it is a threat to our health (the verdict - I’m not losing any sleep). We went from 9:30 in the morning to 3:45 in the afternoon with an hour break for lunch.
In the evening I bought airfare for Turkey (I’ll be in Istanbul from the 23rd of December to the 1st of January and going there with friends) and hanging out with some friends watching a movie. In the evening we decided to all go to a local disco to celebrate the one year anniversary of a married couple in our group. With nothing to get up for the next day, we didn’t arrive at the disco until 12:15 at night and returned home at 3:00. A great time - the place is called People and it’s on par with any disco of it’s kind in America. The music is good, that atmosphere is relaxed, and most of all, there is the chance to meet people like the Dutch National Rugby team, who were there. Nice guys - they were easy to spot on the floor and were clearly not Moldova, so we ended up chatting them up for a while.
Notes:
- We had the ‘xram’ in the village on Tuesday, the 21st - it literally translates as "day of the village." It involved my host mom and sister-in-law spending a combined 50 hours over the course of four days to prepare everything, house included. I’ve written it before and I’m sure I will write it again - the amount of food that needs to be prepared for something like this really has to be seen to be believed.
We spent the day just sitting around before the dinner feast commenced at 6:15 or so at night, eating for two hours before going to the center where the community gathered and listened to music. I was lucky in that another American was there with me, a guy named Ryan who just arrived as a volunteer in the regional center. It was great for me to speak English at home and it was cool for my students to hear me speak English in a way that is natural, as opposed to the way I speak it in lessons. Plus, because he speaks Moldovan and this is a Russian village, I served as the translator for him, which was really a cool feeling. My family would tell funny stories and laugh and then tell me to translate, or he would want to say something to my students and I again would relate (they asked him if it was warm where he lived and he told me to tell them, "I live 20 minutes from the ocean" - things like that). Overall, a very solid time.
- Thanksgiving was a day that I thought would be very emotional, very tough. Surprisingly, it came and went very normally for me. On one hand clearly I thought about my family in America and what they were doing, but on the other hand I was here in Moldova with a whole new type of family. I also realized too that in two years, when I’m back in America I will surely think about those of here in Moldova, of those who are continuing their service while I’m at home - that will be more interesting, I think, than anything I went through here.
Wednesday, November 22: I actually spent the first part of this day in the village, teaching two classes in the morning before heading to Chisinau after school. Normally the last bus out of the village is at 2:00, right after school, but that day was different because the day before was ‘xram’ in the village (more on that in a minute) and while standing at the bus stop with other teachers it was clear that there was not going to be enough room for everyone. But just at that moment a taxi pulled up and I was told that it would only 15 lei to get to the regional center of Calarasi (the only bus right to Chisinau leaves at 6:00AM - if someone’s not on that they need to transfer in the regional center). It was a great event; while the bus takes 45 minutes and costs 8 lei, the taxi was 20 minutes and costs 15 lei (about 1 dollar and 15 cents for a taxi ride of 15 miles). Then in Calarasi I walked in to buy a ticket and some guy said something to me in Romanian - when I said ‘excuse me?" in Russian he asked if I was going to Chisinau. I was and ended up being between transportation vehicles for only 30 seconds, tops. It was without a doubt the smoothest trip I’ve ever had to the capital.
Upon arrival I went to Peace Corps office, met friends, rested, and then spent the evening in a hotel with others from my group, just having a few drinks and talking about life - we ended up talking for four hours together, which is an unreal amount of time for something like that to happen in the states.
Thursday, November 23: Thanksgiving! - We had meetings from 9:30 until 2:30, where we discussed things like the importance of dressing well (something I do anyways) and of why exactly we need to write detailed activity reports of our work twice a year. After the meetings about 40 of us gathered in a field to play the Annual American Football game, North vs. South. I won’t go into details other than to say that my team lost and as a result, I’m taking control of the north team next year. We’re going to operate things differently, because the lost this year bugged me for four days. And also, while we played a group of Moldovans slowly gathered around to watch this odd spectacle unfold before their eyes, even applauding when someone make a play or two.
After the game, at 6:00 in the evening, the real event started - homemade Thanksgiving dinner. It was divine - there were 290 people there, about a 2/3 American crowd ranging from Volunteers to Fulbrights to Embassy staff ( the Ambassador sat at our table). It was the full standard fare, and it was beyond words comforting (more on Thanksgiving later).
Following the feast was the talent show put on by volunteers, again great. Highlights included a group singing "Don’t Stop Believing" with 150 people in the crowd following along and "Here Comes The Sun" by the Beatles done by two guys with guitars. But my personal favorite was when a Moldovan girl and her brother (guitar in hand) got on stage to sing a song they described as an American Classic and sat. One second later the brother played the opening notes of Ray Orbeson’s "Pretty Woman," eliciting a moan of glee from the crowd, a crowd that proceeded to sing along for the length of their performance.
Friday, November 24 - More meetings in the day, including an hour presentation by the Ambassador, who was really interesting, and some guy from USAID in Moldova, who was equally interesting. We also passed the time learning about different projects we can do at sight that are sponsored by the Peace Corps, and then went with some friends to scout out airfare to Istanbul over the holidays. In the evening I went to hang out with a Moldovan girl I know but she had to get up at 6:00 Saturday morning so then went to a bar and hang out with friends for two hours in the evening. Again, there were thirty or so of us American’s at the place, just hanging out and talking with those of just who we had never met before.
Saturday, November 25th - Bird Flu day. Really - we say through six hours of information about Bird Flu in the world and whether or not it is a threat to our health (the verdict - I’m not losing any sleep). We went from 9:30 in the morning to 3:45 in the afternoon with an hour break for lunch.
In the evening I bought airfare for Turkey (I’ll be in Istanbul from the 23rd of December to the 1st of January and going there with friends) and hanging out with some friends watching a movie. In the evening we decided to all go to a local disco to celebrate the one year anniversary of a married couple in our group. With nothing to get up for the next day, we didn’t arrive at the disco until 12:15 at night and returned home at 3:00. A great time - the place is called People and it’s on par with any disco of it’s kind in America. The music is good, that atmosphere is relaxed, and most of all, there is the chance to meet people like the Dutch National Rugby team, who were there. Nice guys - they were easy to spot on the floor and were clearly not Moldova, so we ended up chatting them up for a while.
Notes:
- We had the ‘xram’ in the village on Tuesday, the 21st - it literally translates as "day of the village." It involved my host mom and sister-in-law spending a combined 50 hours over the course of four days to prepare everything, house included. I’ve written it before and I’m sure I will write it again - the amount of food that needs to be prepared for something like this really has to be seen to be believed.
We spent the day just sitting around before the dinner feast commenced at 6:15 or so at night, eating for two hours before going to the center where the community gathered and listened to music. I was lucky in that another American was there with me, a guy named Ryan who just arrived as a volunteer in the regional center. It was great for me to speak English at home and it was cool for my students to hear me speak English in a way that is natural, as opposed to the way I speak it in lessons. Plus, because he speaks Moldovan and this is a Russian village, I served as the translator for him, which was really a cool feeling. My family would tell funny stories and laugh and then tell me to translate, or he would want to say something to my students and I again would relate (they asked him if it was warm where he lived and he told me to tell them, "I live 20 minutes from the ocean" - things like that). Overall, a very solid time.
- Thanksgiving was a day that I thought would be very emotional, very tough. Surprisingly, it came and went very normally for me. On one hand clearly I thought about my family in America and what they were doing, but on the other hand I was here in Moldova with a whole new type of family. I also realized too that in two years, when I’m back in America I will surely think about those of here in Moldova, of those who are continuing their service while I’m at home - that will be more interesting, I think, than anything I went through here.
posted by Andy Buchanan at 6:29 AM
4 Comments:
Buckster,
I am going to ask until I get an answer. How do you do laundry.
Good Luck Don't Die,
Jake
Andy, all you do is go to meetings and then go to the bar. Whats the deal? Anyways Happy late Thanksgiving!
I am not losing any sleep over the bird flu either... :-)
I guess I will jump on the band wagon and ask my question till I get an answer.. Are you married yet?
And Jake from the posting above, Andy doesn't shower much so I am guessing he doesn't do laundry much either.. Its 21 degrees Fahrenheit here today, whats it like there? We still have no snow, it stinks. What will Christmas be like there?
Hey!
Youre car can speak immobilizer read super vehicle diagnostics tool!
admiral report
admiral book
admiral equipment
Thank you!
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