I'm jumping on the blogging bandwagon a little late. (Sorry, Mom.)
Living in Moldova for the last seven and a half months, I have had lots of great experiences, met many interesting people, learned a lot about a new culture and quite a bit about myself. I most definitely will not be able to summarize all that I have learned or experienced in one blog entry, but here are some of the highlights:
I'm living in a small town of about 2400 people called Scorțeni (pronounced Scort-sen).
Bine ați venit. (Welcome.) Scorțeni is beautiful.
We have a a lake
and hills
and vineyards
and lots of really friendly, generous, and hospitable people.
I live with a wonderful retired couple who have become like family-- meet Tamara and Leonid, aka mama and tata gazda.
I live in my own adorable little house. Here's a view of my front door:
Here at the Frunză household, we like to chill. We read lots of books. We cook and eat a lot of delicious (and some not-so-delicious) foods. We drink house wine. We listen to a lot of the Voice of Basarabia radio station and watch Russian programs on television. We take walks. We occasionally do yoga. We do a little embroidery. We do a lot of discussing.
We have animals- chickens, rabbits, ducks, turkeys, . . .
and a dog named Bagira.
We also have insects- two families of bees. (pictured below with my host niece, Leontina)
We LOVE our lives.
When I am not chilling at home with mama and tata gazda, I'm probably working.
I teach health (with partner teachers) to kids in the 5th-9th grades eight hours a week at the school. I also have a once-weekly after-school health club. The kids are adorable the majority of the time. The minority of the time, when they are not adorable, they make up for it by bringing me apples or being super polite by saying things like "va rog frumos" (rough translation: handsomely, pretty, pretty please). Here's a shot of the school:
I also spend about four hours a week working at the medical center. The Peace Corps is not clinical, so I don't draw blood or give medicine. This is more than okay with me. I was VERY READY for a break from the fast-paced hospital environment when I left.
I really enjoy my work at the medical center where my partner and I write a lot of presentations that we give in the community on various health promotion/disease prevention topics. (We do quite a bit of chilling and tea-sipping here at the medical center as well.) Here it is:
So, you've probably done the math, 8 hours of classes + 1 hour of health club + 4 hours at the medical center = a whopping total of 13 per week, and you're wondering what on earth I do with my OODLES of spare time.
I actually stay pretty busy. I have to prepare for my eight classes per week, which are taught completely in Romanian, a language in which I couldn't have even said hello eight months ago. So researching, reading, writing, and discussing lesson planning take a big chunk of time.
You may have read partner earlier and understood translator. This, is definitely NOT the case. Peace Corps really wants for the work that a volunteer does to be sustainable after the volunteer leaves. For this reason, every project I undertake MUST be undertaken along with a partner. The hope is that by working with me in my two-year term of service, a partner will be capable to work without me after I leave. We work together, write together, and teach/present together ALL IN ROMANIAN.
I (with the exception of the little boy who greets me every morning with "hello" and responds with "thank you" when I ask how he's doing) am the sole English-speaker in my community. So, language learning is important. I do about four hours of Romanian tutoring a week and then a little studying outside of tutoring sessions. Here is a picture of me with my Romanian tutor, Angela:
I'm hoping to start a once-weekly, after-school English club this semester. This would not likely be super sustainable after I leave, but all of my students seem really interested in learning some English, so it should be fun.
Another chunk of my time will soon be consumed with grant proposals and grant ideas as well. I recently attended a grant-writing conference (along with a partner from the community) and am really excited about the possibilities. Soon I hope to be displaying pictures of beautiful new sinks in the school's cafeteria and near the school's outhouses where the kids can wash their hands before lunch and after the bathroom.
Even with all of these activities, there is spare time. A good portion of that spare time is spent missing a lot of you at home. Hopefully blogging will be a good way for us to stay a little more closely connected and will allow you to get a better picture of my life in far-away Moldova.
Thanks for visiting. : )
