For most Peace Corps Volunteers (PCVs), the purpose of a blog is to keep their family and friends informed of the unique experiences in their life as a PCV. For me, it was the first opportunity to go abroad and keep track of what I thought would be the difference I would make on the world--my mark. As my time in the Republic of Moldova came to an end, the reflection of what I did there became so small compared to the effect that Moldova had on my life. After two years since my return, I have started to notice how dramatic that change in my life has become. My marriage, my friends, my work, and my education have all been dramatically altered due to the experiences I had in Moldova.

The initial part of this blog's revival will be dedicated to updating my extended family of the events that have happened in my life since my return and the motivations behind them. Then, I hope to be able to keep track of my life as I develop in my professional career to one day attain the professional satisfaction that I once desired as I took my first steps as a PCV.

A lot has happened since the last time I posted on this blog and I thank everyone that has contributed to the Peace Corps Basketball League. You have been the best and helped run the best basketball season in Peace Corps Moldova HISTORY! We not only had more entries to the basketball league, but a longer season in terms of games and weeks, more collaboration with FBRM (the professional basketball league here), and the highest funding ever with around $3,800 donated!!! Thanks again. Well, since that time, I’d like to update you on a couple of things that happen.1) Dinner with the US embassy

2) Victory Day (End of WWII in Europe)

3) A HIV/AIDS concert by Jessica Ginger (PC Health Volunteer)The Embassy Dinner

(I'm in the back, can you see me?)

The Edinet Police giving their respects

The morning speech from the town hall

The Lenin statue still stands tall during the speech

The veterans make their way to the ending ceremony

The town follows close behind

There's about 17 thousand people living in Edinet and a lot came to

give their respects to their fellow soldiers that fell in the second World War

The lady statue looks over everyone

The military gives their respects too

(They are the ones with the green hats)

The veterans give their respects

The priests help carry out the moment of silence

At the end, others can approach the memorial

In the background, the church choir sings for the dead

Start of the Drochia HIV/AIDS concert

Pictures taken from Jessica Ginger's Blog

JKC (PC Director) and Jessica Ginger before the concert

The Moldovan kids preparing for the concert

Jam-packed room full of support

Traditional Moldovan dancers

Traditional Russian Dancers

The final Mamaliga eating contest

(Chris M. in the middle won the contest)

Well, that's it for my blog update. Next to come... basketball articles and pictures with my trip to the Balkans. Hurray!!!

The Edinet Crew - Thanks you!

As some of you may already know, one of the projects I've been working on in Moldova is leading a team of high school basketball players in my village. In March and April, they'll be playing a five-week season against other teams in their part of the country, and they might go on to the championship in Chisinau. It's an important project because kids here don't have a chance to play organized sports like we do in America, so they miss an opportunity to learn values like teamwork and responsibility.

In order for us to play our season, though, we need your help. Through the Peace Corps Partnership Program, we have written a grant for the league through which you can help finance the league's transportation cost. The total project costs over $9,000, so we need all the help we can get. Your tax-deductible donation will pay for the transportation costs for over 30 teams; Moldovans have paid for every other necessity, including equipment costs, referee salaries,

gym usage and other expenses, by themselves. Moldovans have already contributed over $3,000 to the project, and we suggest that you help them, and specifically my team, by contributing $50 today by clicking on the link below:

PC Moldova Basketball League

Just press the "Contribute to this Project!" link

Then you enter the amount you want to donate in the box next to Moldova National Basketball League (Project # 261-151).

This will lead you to a new window where you will enter your information and confirm your contribution.

You can also call the Peace Corps' Washington office and donate at

(800) 424-8580 ext 2170. Tell them that you want to donate to the

Moldovan National Basketball League, project 261-151.

Thank you in advance for helping me, my team of kids and basketball

in Moldova.

The Bardar Group looking good at the Thanksgiving Feast

Almost 400 years ago, the first American colonists came to American and had their first official dinner with Native Americans to celebrate the new harvest and all the joy that it will bring them in the upcoming year. The tradition of Thanksgiving might have stemmed from this, but the meaning of Thanksgiving is different for each person. For some, this time has become a time of giving thanks to God. For others, it is a time of gathering with family and friends. For me, the meaning has changed tremendously. I never really put any value into this holiday, but ever since I became a Peace Corps (PC) volunteer, the value that I put in this holiday has increased tremendously. Each year, Peace Corps gives all its volunteers one opportunity to gather together (free of charge) to meet, eat, and have fun with each other. A rare opportunity for most and for most people, it is the only opportunity to meet the younger volunteers or meet the older volunteers that are about to leave. As an older volunteer, I had the fortune of already having many established friendships in Peace Corps, which made this year so much more meaningful than it did last year. As great as it is to meet new volunteers and share in their newfound enthusiasm for Moldova, this time was spent catching up with my friends, sharing problems, and enjoying each others company as much as possible. You can chuck all of this sappiness to my mid-service blues or my old age, but this week just had a special taste to it (and it wasn’t the turkey either – which I still don’t eat). I didn’t even have to urge to go out to the discoteca (club!). I had just as much fun hanging out with my friends, singing songs, drinking and telling stories. Simple stuff, but enough to bring back my excitement for this place. After coming back to site, it starts to hit you how connected you’ve become with certain volunteers and how you will probably miss them when you leave this country. I guess, in this way, Thanksgiving takes on a new meaning. Not of gathering with friends and family or giving praise to God, but understanding how much I’ve changing in the last year and how much Peace Corps will always be a part of my life. I can truly say that this week has given me a reason to give thanks again to being a Peace Corps volunteer and has truly revitalized my motivation. I hope that everyone else felt the same way and until next time. Peace.

Nice picture of the dining hall before the feastTia and I hanging out

Well, I'm officially an insomniac and can't sleep. I've finished calling my friends from the states and now ready to do some blogging. Over the past month, I've been keeping some photos for just a special occasion. Take a look, they are pretty random, but funny nonetheless.

Here's a picture of the "I Love You Bike" ridden by a kid who buys liquor for other townspeople. By the way, this kid is no older than 14. Look at those wheels. No boy will ever have a bike without hearts now. What a trend starter, this kid...

This is a picture of what I saw from the back of my classroom as I sat in one of my tutor's Romanian classes for one day.

Going to the Republic of Moldova isn't complete unless you have played the accordion. One day, I found one laying outside my house and so I strapped that baby on and this is what I get...

After hours of boredom, I tried to use my PK (psychokinesis) for some randomness and this is my result. Don't go telling my parents that I've been mentally bending their fork. Hahaha.

Last picture and then I'm off to bed again... Just wanted to know if you were going my way.

(This picture is of me trying to hitch hike a ride back from the village of Volodeni as the local rutiera decided not to go back to Edinet this day)

As the title says, “Enough with the junk!” I know that for some time now, there hasn’t really been any important content relating to my life in the Republic of Moldova. Besides my funny Shatner jokes, there’s hasn't been anything interesting to see here, but wait! I’m going to try and help people realize that yes! I am doing work here and still trying to make a difference.

If you can remember back to my earlier posts, I mentioned a couple times about a USAID funded project called CNFA farmer-to-farmer program (where I learned to castrate a calf). Well, the second US volunteer came over about a month ago and we continued to make progress on this dairy farm to help its expansion. The first thing the volunteer did was to create a feed ration (the relative proportions of grains and minerals) that would maximize the productivity of the cows.

Food ration sheet

Next, we created an electric fence as a training area and also as a grazing area for calves and heifers alike. This was possible because John, the US volunteer, brought over an electric transmitter that we would be able to plug in to a normal 220V electrical outlet. All we had to do was put up some posts and tie up some metal wire to each other. Altogether this took about a day with the help of Ben and Nadia.

It's hard taking a picture of electric wire...

Thirdly, we create a rough sketch of what John liked to call a Homestead Plan. While I was back in my center, Ben and John took the time to measure out the distances of all the building and its surrounding in a nearby clearing. The next morning, we were able to create this lovely drawing, which to much of my pleasure, has been used by Leonid. Finally, we were able to create a silage bunker (though it turned out to me above ground and very simplistic than first planned).

The homestead plan (above) and Leonid's new silage bunker (below)

Also, I was able to host a seminar for one of my demonstration plots with the help of my co-worker, Vasile. He did all the calls and off we went to Gaspar to show people the benefits of having a drip irrigation system. Although the seminar seemed to work out smoothly, there weren’t as many people that attended as I would have liked, but the people from AgroMatico were still just as willing to demonstrate the abilities of their machinery. Drip irrigation seminar in Gaspar with AgroMatco

The last thing I did in the past couple of months was to create a couple of logos for some organizations that some Peace Corps volunteers started. Take a look. The first one is for the Peace Corps anti-trafficking organization called MoldovaTIP and the second one was a favor for Linda, who is working to market a group called Sustaining Artisans of Moldova. The jury is still out on which logo we would like to use.MoldovaTIP log (above) and

SAM logos (below - colors are off for this one) Alright, I guess this is just about enough to sum up some of the things I’ve been doing. Hopefully, the next post won’t be so dry, but it’s good to make sure that people still know that I’m doing stuff and not just talking online all the time.

So another night of staying up late has produced yet another freakish search about myself. As of recent, my obsession has led me to the deep depths of the free source website of wikipedia.com. How great is this site though? Really, you can find anything about everything here. Back on track though. I thought that it might be clever to figure out what my origins of my last name was on Wikipedia, only to find out that I am destined to become either a communist defector, a sci-fi freak, or an evil villain. Wait, isn’t that what I am already? Dang, wikipedia is not only an encyclopedia, it’s a fortune teller. Well see for yourself…

The first result expressed my feelings of wanting to escape from the communist mentality. The result was for a Mr. Chol-Hwan Kang, who apparently is a North Korean defector that was born in Japan. His grandfather was accused for treason when he was 9 years old and was deported back to a North Korean concentration camp. Ten years later, his family and he were released back in to Korean society, but only to be accused again of being a traitor. At that point, he would run away for real and defected to South Korea where he later wrote a book called The Aquariums of Pyongyang. Not bad!

Chol-Hwan Kang shaking hands with Mr. BushThe next result shows how much of a sci-fi geek I am as I will always have some sort of love for Star Trek engrained into my head (no matter how much I hate it, ha!). How I love how my Klingon self is fighting William Shatner. Almost makes me proud to have a messed up forehead and bad teeth. Die Shatner! DIE! Why can't you just DIE?

Well, lastly, I have been foretold to be an enemy of any body cool. As the last several results showed characters from Mortal Kombat, the Simpsons, and the Avengers.kang the mad from mortal kombatkang and kudos from the simpsonskang the conqueror

That’s it for my second obsession with myself. I’m sure they’ll be more to come as boring nights are plenty and my sleep schedule is always messed up. But for right now, I need some rest. PEACE ya'll!

Well, after see how disguisting my workplace outhouse was, I've decided to also show the world the beauty and ugliness of my home toilet and outhouse. And to all those volunteers looking at these pictures, go for it! Take a picture of your outhouse. If there's enough we can make some sort of book of all the outhouses in Moldova. Wouldn't that be great? No, a little weird. Yeah, you're probably right, but whatever, here are the pictures. Enjoy!

Beauty and the Beast: How a couple of feet can make a difference?

Today, I awoke invigorated as I had to jump out of bed to start the day off with a fun fantasy football draft at 5:30 in the morning. Though it was tiring, it was a live draft and I was able to talk to all my buddies from back home and had a great time trash-talking to all of them. Of course, it was early and I was tired, so I had to go back to sleep at around 7 and got a nice 2 more hours of bedtime before I had to get up and walk to work.

At work, I was able to figure out how to fix up the network (my co-worker installed a new version of Kapsersky’s anti-virus program recently) by uninstalled the Russian anti-virus program my co-worker installed and throwing in the free English AVG program. Wha la! Everything was fixed and the network worked like a charm and the new anti-virus program detected the loose viruses. After that, it was game time until one of my co-workers finally arrived to work, but this time with his young girlfriend (my boss is out of town for a couple of days). Anyway, we got into a good round of conversation, which even led to them trying to talk to me in their best, bad English accents (it was a good try though, hehehe). After the funny conversations ended, I decided to take a couple of photo ops while I had my camera with me. At the request of one of the new volunteers, I took a picture of my outhouse at work so that they could see what a public outhouse looked like. That was pretty disgusting, but alas, a part of my every day life.The office outhouse. How pretty it is?

After work, I walked over to the new Stefan cel Mare monument that was erected in the middle of town. Although not a big fan of the local government spending money on monuments instead of cleaning up the park or restoring the roads, you really can’t call yourself an independent raion (regional center) without tearing down a monument of Lenin and putting up one of Stefan Cel Mare. Well after that, the weirdest thing happened. As I was waiting for some cars to pass by so I could cross the road, I saw a police officer twirling his beating stick and to my surprise, he stopped traffic for me and gave me this hand gesture as it was safe to cross the road. Wow! That was awesome and really the first pleasant gesture that I got from any authoritarian figure in the Republic of Moldova (well other than asking me in a polite tone if I had a smoke to give them ~military). Stefan Cel Mare si Sfint in all his glory

Alright, after that I was feeling good and decided to get some work done on my computer. I sat down, put on some music, and went at it. I was able to send a bunch of emails, create a nice poster for MoldovaTIP, and play around with my host nephew all at the same time. Overall, I think this was a great start to helping me come back in to my own here. My host nephew, Phillip. He's here for two more months!!!

Hope everyone else’s day went just as well and I wish everyone a great Moldovan independence day tomorrow!!!

So lately I've been kind of down in the dumps and I have decided, for my own sanity, to make up a couple of lists that will help me figure out what's on in my mind and hopefully, help change the bad habits that I seem to have picked up since my last vacation. Anyway, here's the lists I came up with. Enjoy!Things I enjoy Chilling on my computerListening to musicWatching bad English sitcoms with Romanian subtitlesMoldovan wine!!!Having running waterHaving hot running waterSpending time with volunteersMAMALIGA!!!Working out and running regularlySeeing slender, beautiful women everywhere

Things I hate Pesky little dogs that bite my legsThe CURRENTFour hour rides to the capital in stuffed-up mini-taxisGoing to an outhouse when it’s darkOver-eating every dayMUD, MUD, and more, MUD… and I don’t even live in a villageGoing to a friend’s place and having the police check my ID (when I’m sober, I mean)Allergies beyond beliefThe preserved food that I’m forced to eat during winter time (esp. watermelon)Fixing a computer when it’s in Russian

Things I miss Being able to chill with friends until the sun comes upSpeeding down the highway with my windows openEating out at any ethnic restaurant I wantQuality delivery foodPlaying tennis on a flat surfaceBeing able to drink water out of the faucetGoing to a sports bar and being able to watch multiple games on a big screen TVsFree-ballin’ in my houseQuality time with my familyBeing able to keep up with the news

Things that annoy me Going to a bar with everyone staring at meThe big golden watch clock on my wall that never worksHaving my host mom tell me that I should eat like a man every dayThe thought that I should go and visit my PST host family one more timeEveryone asking when I’m going to hook up with a Moldovan girlMosquitoesHot, humid weather without ACHaving to call my boss whenever I’m out of the houseNot being able to speak proper Korean, English, or Romanian.Celebrating a new holiday every other weekIf you feel the same way I do and have the mid-service blues, don't you worry. There's always something good around the corner waiting for you when you least expect it.

No man is happy who does not think himself so.

~Publilius Syrus

My 500 Czech Crown ($25) ticket for not verifying my ticket.

Vacation, vacation, vacation! After being in Moldova for about a year, there’s nothing more relaxing and interesting than going on vacation for the first time. The best part about being a PC volunteer is that vacation time can come at any time and for me, it started last month in Prague where I met up with Cass and Amy to start our EuroTrip 2006! Since Prague was my first stop, it was time to finally get some good cooking… so I basically went crazy and got some of the best food in the Czech Republic, while the two girls were tricked into getting 2 liters worth of Czech BEER (pictures to be shown later), ha! Of course, after that we saw all the sites like the Prague castle, Charles Bridge, Vysehrad, and the Old Town Square. Some very cool stuff, but I got to say it was all overshadowed by the World Cup Madness. Being from the states, this stuff really wouldn’t have meant so much if it weren’t for the fact that this was the first all European World Cup Finals and so we had to watch it in the best of conditions. As we sat down in our reserved seats looking up into this huge 4 sided big screen TV we saw the whole thing happen in front of our faces. There’s nothing like making a game interesting and for anyone who knows me, I usually take the underdog (in this case, France). Two beers if I won and two beers their way if I lost. After the first goal in under 5 minutes, I truly thought that I was going to win. Zidane was pulling through for me and became my newfound idle. Anyways, of course, Italy had to come back and score one and ruin all my fun. After failed attempt and failed attempt the game was getting boring again and the beer was starting to run out and then BAM! Zidane head butts Materazzi in the chest and down he went. All that went through my mind at the moment was, “Who in the world head butts anymore?” Ha, but for that reason alone, Zidane permanently became a quest on my trip as he is the only man I know that had the guts to put the World Cup Finals on the line to literally head-plant someone into the ground. AWESOME! Well, at the end, Italy prevailed and the bet ended in a draw as it was penalty shots that won the game. My time was well spent in Prague, but one piece of advice. Make sure you verify your subway ticket before you get on because they’ll get you for it as I have my 500 Czech Crown ticket still to show that they are serious. Next stop: Munich, Germany.

There are times in your life when everything just becomes plain boring and the only thing you have to do is go on your computer and fool around a little bit. Just a few minutes ago, I decided to Google search my name and found that I was the top two hits for my name. HELL YEAH! Then… I wondered… if I’m the top two, then who are all the rest of the Scott Kang’s who are so beneath me (SUCKERS!). I think you know where I’m going with this now. I’m on a quest from now on to find everything I can about other me’s and see how much alike we are. So here is my brief stalker list of most the Scott Kang’s in the world. Hahaha.

I found one Scott Kang that apparently is a track & field/cross country stud (much like myself, ha). Who would have thought that a skinny Asian kid would be good at running? Hehehe. He even made it to the Colorado College Athletic Hall of Fame in 2004. I also saw another site for this kid that said he placed 2nd in an overall male category as he ran for a Run to Read charity event. What a good heart this Scott Kang has? I love how we are all nice guys here.

The next great Scott Kang got some spotlight from being a daredevil Drag Racer in the National Hot Rod Diesel Association (NHRDA). Apparently, he’s not so hot as he only racked up 40 points from this particular event and had the second lowest score possible. See, Scott Kang’s are not risk takers and cannot drive worth a damn. What was this guy thinking? At least I can learn from his mistakes, right?

The next magnificent Scott Kang is a true businessman. This is where we belong guys. Working for the big bucks. This guy is in South Korea and the big boss of Navicom Co. Ltd. and worked with MarcoSoft Ltd. in 1999 to create the first handheld/portable GPS device complete with all the features. I like this guy already. There were a couple more stories on him, but unfortunately, this Scott Kang doesn’t like to read too much about business so I don’t know too much more about his job.

Well, had enough Scott Kang? No. Great! Because here’s the best part. I found some pictures of some Scott Kang’s which I would like to share with you now and even a resume. Ha! This stuff is so funny. Check it out and enjoy the laughs that come with it. One of them even looks like a mini-me. I LOVE IT!

Also, if you are curious to know what my resume would look if I were trying to be a lawyer. Check out this site where a Scott who even shares my middle initial shows of his life skills for his future employers. http://www.lawbjp.com/ssk.html

"Clueless" Scott was found through his Xanga and is only 16. So much to still learn for this one.

"Player" Scott lives in jersey as he is grinding on a girl while he gives her a free hot dog. Hahaha.

"Studious" scott is with Coach Carter being as "bad-ass" as can be

Alright, it’s less than a month now and all I can do is think about VACATION! Holla to Amy and Cass who are going to meet and put up with me for a month on the road (or is it the other way around?). I can’t wait for this well-needed trip. For those who don’t know what I’m talking about, you’re in the right spot because I’m here to update all those people I lied to about my vacation plans. Sorry about that, but it was all unintentional as I didn’t make up the itinerary myself. But here it goes…

July 8th: I leave Chisinau and fly over to Prague where I will meet Cass and Amy

July 11th: We leave Prague, Czech Republic and head over to Munich, Germany on a 9 hour train ride

July 13th: Stay in Munich, Germany until night time and then take the night train to Zurich, Switzerland.

July 16th: Head to Monaco and stay for a couple of days

July 18th: Taking the train to Venice, Italy

July 22nd: Arrive in Florence, Italy

July 25th: Get to our final destination in Rome, Italy where we’ll party up the final days of our vacation

July 28th: Back to the Republic of Moldova to once again live like the poor volunteer that I am.

Now you can see why I’m so excited and of course, we’ll be doing some very cool stuff. It won’t all be just traveling. Anyways, I hope that everyone else’s plans are looking like mine and if not, there’s always next summer where I probably won’t be able to do anything since I’m wasting ALL my vacation days basically with this trip and my winter vacation trip back home (hopefully!). Alright, hope all is clarified and I’ll see everyone again in August (well, not quite yet).

One of the projects that I’m currently working on is a CNFA (USAID-funded agricultural organization) farmer-to-farmer program where a US farmer will come to Moldova and consult with the local farmer or cooperative to identify problems and give plausible solutions that can create a better market for the Moldovan economy. So, for the past two weeks, I have been tagging along Mr. Robert Binversie from Wisconsin to figure out how to expand the dairy farm of a local farmer, Leonid Platon, to reach up to 100 head in the next couple of years. Of course, I have no farming background, so when this all first started, Bob knew right away that I had a lot to learn. We visited at least 4 farms and 2 factories (Starting from Glodeni to Briceni to Cupcini to Edinet and as east as Soroca) during this time and I pretty much learned everything there is to know about dairy farming in Moldova. One of these visits brang me to a cow-farm in Dusman, where one of the older volunteers created a successful running cooperative with electric fencing, proper feed rations, proper storage, etc. Everything in this place was up to par or more with Moldovan agricultural standards. Well, anyway, this is beside the point. Where I’m trying to go with this is that for some reason, a conversation about castration came about during our visit and Bob, for some reason, loves to tease me because I’m a spoiled suburban boy from Illinois. By the end of it, people were urging me to castrate a bull and finally, I gave into their peer pressure. Within a minute, I was able to take away a little bull’s manhood and all it took was a small rubber band to do the trick. The procedure was quite simple. Two guys held down the calf for me and all I had to do was take the poor baby’s testicles and pull them through the rubber band and WHA LA!!! In two weeks, the lack of blood circulation will wrinkle up his balls and allow them to fall off. Sorry for the illustration, but still… it’s great to know that my time here isn’t lost and I’m doing new things everyday. In a million years, I would have never thought I’d be castrating a bull and now I have. Really now, aren’t you jealous? Hehe…. Enough with the jokes and on with the pictures. Enjoy!

Within seconds, the band is taken off and the procedure is done. Two more weeks and it is complete. Sorry pal.

The blue thing expands the rubber band so that it fits nicely over the 2 week old calf's testicles

Leonid, Ben, and Ben's mayor helping hold down our victim

So for everyone that is wondering why I haven’t been updating my blog, let me try and tell you what I am doing nowadays so that those people who think I’m slacking can truly see that I’m trying my best to help everyone out. For some reason, I can’t say no to a person that wants me to help them out on a project. So for me, I’m stuck saying, “yes” to everything. Here are the projects that I am participating in: CNFA farmer-to-farmer program (in Volodeni, Edinet), 2 Grant based projects (hybrid seeds and drip irrigation system), MoldovaTIP (anti-trafficking and working abroad group), ActionMOLDOVA (volunteer based website for Moldova), English debate, ACSA website (nation-wide website framework), and Basketball league 2007. This on top of my Romanian studies and regular working hours at Agroinform is keeping me busy well into my hours of sleep. Thanks to everyone who is keeping me busy, but seriously, stay away if you need my help. I just might say, “yes” Ha!

The close of the basketball season has passed and gone, but the memories of the time we had together will always be a part of me and those that I coached. Although the records of both my teams were not the best, the results were still outstanding. Throughout all the practices, competitions, and tournaments, each one of my players grew through the love of the game and that was all I was hoping for. It really wasn’t the numbers that I was aiming for this season, but more for the happy faces and the cheers that I got from my students. The pictures that I posted up for you all capture just a small portion of what I’m talking about, but the real beauty of it all came from seeing everyone working together, playing together, and most importantly, having fun. I thank all those who helped in making this opportunity possible for me and my students and hope that next year, that same joy will continue on.