Here’s something I’ll bet you never thought about before: When you are heating buildings made of concrete or brick with only wood or coal fires, they get very warm and retain the heat surprisingly well. But if you don’t heat them for a few weeks, they get REALLY cold and then it takes days and [...]
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The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog. Here’s an excerpt: A New York City subway train holds 1,200 people. This blog was viewed about 7,600 times in 2011. If it were a NYC subway train, it would take about 6 trips to carry that many people. Click here to [...]
I taught my kids the electric slide last week as a reward for their good behavior. I wanted to film it but they really didn’t get it together enough to be filmed. The video would have just been me doing it over and over again by myself and hollering, “Come on! It’s not hard! Just [...]
Sometimes, in Moldova, the ministry of education visits schools. I’ve gathered that no matter how small a school you are, you are liable to have at least one to two visits per year. These visits should probably be unannounced but they are not. The school knows when the ministry is coming and they prepare accordingly. [...]
The other day I finished class early so I told my 5th graders that they could ask me any question they wanted about myself or America and I would answer them honestly. This was quite the gift and they were very excited about it. The questions were as follows: Kids: How old are you? Me: [...]
A new adventure for me, living alone this winter, is in deciding what to cook. Summer was fun because I had unending access to fresh fruits and vegetables right from my host family’s garden, which allowed me to make fresh salads, tasty tomato sauces, and generally pretty healthy stuff, which was a nice break after [...]
Some of you might be curious about this soba contraption that I keep mentioning (Ehem – DAD). I have finally mastered (I think) making a fire in it and will continue to do so all winter so as not to die of cold (yay!). I am including, below, a photo-documentary of how to make a [...]
I want to preface this post by commenting that I know that I am the least practical person in the world. A practical person recognizes that vermin are vermin and should not be in your house. Needless to say, this story is about me doing the opposite. So I have been living in the new [...]
Planning the Halloween Sarata (a sarata is a presentation that Moldovan kids put on starting in middle school that is a combination of an after-school dance, a pep assembly, and a party) has been an interesting experience. I learned a lot about organizing presentations with my club kids from last year when they put together [...]
I’m going to get all sappy for a short minute. I started making my own fire recently (see other post for full details). The lead-up to this began last spring when I was moving out of my first host family’s house and whenever I insisted to the Moldovans that I wanted to live alone they [...]
I was present for the entire wine-making process this year, so now I know how to make wine. Granted, the way the Moldovans make wine is probably not as fancy-pants as the way that the French or Easter Washington or Californian wine companies make it, but you know what? It works. Here’s the process: You [...]
School has started again, the leaves are about to change, and every Moldovan family is harvesting their corn and making wine. I love the season change from Summer to Fall, and in Moldova, unlike Seattle, I am guaranteed a colorful show as the leaves change. It’s an amazing change from last Fall, when I started [...]
I was talking with another volunteer recently about our experiences planning with Moldovans. Planning happens with our partners and also with our students when we work with them to plan events for the community or school or help them put together presentations for peer teaching. The most marked cultural experience that volunteers tend to have [...]
Moldovans have a lot of freaking work to do. You see this especially in Autumn, when the harvest is on. They have to put in full days under a still hot sun bringing in their corn, grapes, and other veggies for the winter. It is often back-breaking labor but they do it because they have [...]
I have family who are teachers and principals and what have you, so I seen my share of teachers retiring. When I heard that Doamna Nastya, one of our oldest teachers, is retiring this year, I figured she’d do a masa for the other teachers, as usual. But as is always the case with Moldovans [...]
The most common major health event for Peace Corps volunteers in any country is intestinal problems brought on by parasitic or bacterial infestation. Moldova is no different. Because we all drink from wells, the water we have access to is not treated and anything that might leach into the ground near a well gets into [...]
Here is an example of something that happens a lot in Peace Corps: About 6 months ago, a couple other volunteers found a free program online for scheduling that had a Romanian setting. This was a huge breakthrough because the schools struggle every year to get the schedule for classes done on time. It’s a [...]
As I blogged earlier, I worked with my adjunct director this year at school to try and get them to use a scheduling program that would make their lives a whole lot easier every September. They didn’t end up using the program but they did ask the adjunct director from the high school in the [...]
I recently completed a project with another volunteer to get toothbrushes for all the kids in the orphanage where I visited this summer to play and talk about health. The other volunteer did most of the legwork (Bravo, Shanno Reed!), but delivered me a huge stack of toothbrushes which I then had to take over [...]
I was visiting MacKenzie the other day in his village. I had heard that his host mom, Doamna Efemia, was making rachiu that day but I hadn’t seen her since arriving. On a trip to the veceu, I found her behind her barn with the strangest contraption I’ve seen in a long time. Imagine, if [...]
Another First Bell ceremony has come and gone. I was prepared for this one, having lived through it last year. I also understood all the discussions leading up to it, all that was said during the small ceremony before classes started, and all that was said at the masa afterwards, which is a vast improvement [...]
If you recall, I went to a wedding in my village last October. It was the wedding of a couple I had never met and still don’t know how they were related to my former host family. This wedding, however, was a little different. This time I was invited by MacKenzie’s host family. MacKenzie is [...]
This will maybe only be interesting to people that like literature, but I’ll try to make it accessible to everyone because I found it really fascinating. The old Russian teacher was telling me her life story the other day, which she does every time she sees me. This time she decided to tell me about [...]
I was at a restaurant a few weeks ago getting a beer with some friends and we couldn’t help but notice the menu. It was normal for a menu – a list of all the stuff they sell to eat and drink with listing of how much they cost. But on the back was this: [...]
As Americans, investing money is a given. At LEAST in a bank where it’s safe and gains a tiny bit of interest but many Americans invest in stocks and mutual funds as well. I certainly grew up investing this way and that’s why I was horrified when I discovered over the course of this past [...]
I had this theory that everyone in the village just thought I’d gained weight because in the winter I was wearing heavy sweaters all the time. I figured spring would roll around and everyone would start telling me that I must have lost weight. Not so much. I actually did lose 5-10 pounds once I [...]
I’ve been told that this is a common phenomenon among volunteers completing their first year of service and gearing up to begin their second. I’m in good company – most of the volunteers I’ve asked about this have told me they are feeling the same way. Company helps but it is a very strange mash-up [...]
The new batch of volunteers arrived in Moldova on June 7th. Since then they have been going through PST (Pre-Service Training), which I did last year upon arriving. I have helped out with a few of their training days and have had conversations with a handful of them about what to expect and what it’s [...]
So, turns out, summer here is very different than winter. And not just the weather. School ended and I immediately went on vacation for 3 weeks with my parents. It was really wonderful to get to see them and catch up and also to get a break from Moldova and the village. We visited Austria [...]
There’s this thing that happens sometimes here. And before I tell you, it’s important that you understand that this is not me complaining. I’m actually in an excellent mood as I write this. But the point of this blog is to help my dear readership to understand what it’s like to be in Peace Corps [...]
One of my favorite things about speaking Romanian at the level that I do is understanding conversations that are not meant for my ears. The other day, outside the store where I was buying bread, I watched two middle-aged men ride by on bicycles. Their conversation went like this: Man 1: I hate this bicycle. [...]
Moldovan sheets are a little different than Amerian sheets. It’s largely because they are meant to be put on a futon each night, not left on a bed like we do in America. They also have a sheet that is really a huge blanket-shaped bag and you put your comforter inside of it. This is [...]
In my tiny house there is a lejancha. A lejancha is a raised platform that is formed from the soba, which, you recall, is a wood stove. The heat from the fire is pumped through the walls and the base of the lejancha, forming basically a little headed corner where you are surrounded by warmth. [...]
Hey, Faithful Readership! I got super busy heading into June because I was preparing for my parents’ visit to Moldova and our subsequent departure to check out Western Europe a little bit. This, compounded with the fact that my internet in my new house is slow and I’m not able to update the blog except [...]
I recently met a volunteer from Telenesti, our raion center, named Dan. Dan was in Peace Corps a few years ago but had to cut out early for some medical problems. But Dan wasn’t done with Moldova. He came back for several months and spent that time living in Telenesti and doing lots of small [...]
The week after the regular Easter holiday here in Moldova, everyone celebrates White Easter, or Easter Blajenilor. This is a really spectacular tradition and I LOVED it. So everyone spends the week making special cookies, breads, and more dyed eggs. Then, on the Sunday after Easter, the whole family puts on their finest, takes all [...]
See this? That is my landlady/new host mom. They have this giant field behind their house where they are growing assorted vegetables this year. See what she’s doing? She’s hoeing by hand. She did this ALL DAY today. Just wanted to emphasize how hard Moldovans have to work ALL THE TIME. They never get a [...]
As Americans in a foreign culture, a lot of volunteers feel quite often that we are the only ones who are uncomfortable or weirded out by a given situation. An example of this is riding on the rutieras. Rutieras, if you recall, are small bus-van hybrids that serve as public transportation within the city limits [...]
After almost a year of observation I have put together a step-by-step list of how Moldovans (and those of us living with them) have to leave a masa. Reminder: A masa is a large meal / party that includes a lot of food and drink and normally goes for about 3 hours minimum, often longer. [...]
Moldovans make house wine. Every family does this. Even families that don’t really drink make barrels of it every year because if someone ever came over and you didn’t have some homemade wine to offer then you’d be in big trouble. Every year each family goes up to their field, wherever it may be, and [...]
Easter is Moldova’s biggest holiday. It’s a bigger deal than Christmas here and, I suspect that while they like Christmas (who doesn’t – presents!), they may only be embracing it to the extent that they are because they are right next door to Western Europe which, like the rest of the Western World, is obsessed [...]
If there’s one thing the Moldovans are good at, it’s appealing to their superiors or, as Americans put it, brown-nosing. I think that Americans have been infused with this really strong sense that even your boss at work (who is your BOSS and therefore is likely to be more experienced, more qualified, and more educated [...]
A phrase that volunteers here pick up pretty quickly is “Moldovan Time.” Here, let me demonstrate with an example dialog: Volunteer 1: We have to be at the school at 7. Volunteer 2: Moldova time? Volunteer 1: Yeah, so we’ll probably leave the house at about 8:30 Get the drift? Moldova time confirms that the [...]
Living alone has been a joy so far. It has lead to some interesting concerns among the villagers though. My new host mom / landlady, is very (thankfully) hands-off but also has her ingrained Moldovan urges to offer food and help whenever possible, and whenever she sees me sitting outside or passing by to go [...]
I really have nothing quippy or interesting to say on this subject except to just let you know that your clothes are FILTHY. I know this because I wash my clothes by hand now. The thing about washing machines is that they drain all the dirty water and then rinse your clothes off and then [...]
Settling into my new house has been wonderful. I’ve been able to experiment a little bit with cooking healthier foods and I already feel better (less weighed down by animal fats at every meal!). It’s also wonderful to be able to do something like figure out how you want to wash your clothes by hand [...]
Below I’m posting pictures of the new house. It’s pretty small but it’s all mine! This is the “living room” or, if you will, the whole place, really. To the right is the soba, which appears as just a white wall, and to the left is a wardrobe with a mirror on the door and I [...]
The tagline that Peace Corps uses on their website and in all their promotional materials right now is “The toughest job you’ll ever love.” This is a very apt description. I tend to share only successes on my blog because I try to stay upbeat and, in truth, I am upbeat here most of the [...]
Moving to any new place includes new routines. Most of us don’t think about what “routine” actually means very often, but Peace Corps’ help manual defines it as anything that you can do without thinking. This means, brushing your teeth, washing your hair, cooking eggs, walking to work, etc. Peace Corps warns you before you [...]
Nothing much to say except that they are the cutest things I’ve ever seen! (And we’re going to EAT them in about 5 months!)
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