Check out this 20 minute documentary about the Capital of Moldova, Chisinau!

An American woman has traveledthe world with her backpack and her camera to try the story of internationalaid. She traveled to Asia, Africa and South America and created 10short episodes. The stories she made are about 10 different subjects,from micro-finance to researching what works in international aid.

If you are interested at all ininternational aid or would like to hear some stories about how people aretrying to help others all around the world, check out the website:

Beyond Good Intentions: BeyondGoodIntentions.com

She also did an episode aboutPeace Corps Volunteers in Madagascar: Episode6

Overall I think she did agood job on the episode about the Peace Corps, but she didnot address the goals of the Peace Corps. The Peace Corps'mission and goals are (PeaceCorps.gov):MissionIn 1961,President John F. Kennedy established the Peace Corps to promote world peaceand friendship.The Peace Corps'mission has three simple goals:1. Helping the people of interested countries inmeeting their need for trained men and women.2. Helping promote a better understanding ofAmericans on the part of the peoples served.3. Helping promote a better understanding of otherpeoples on the part of Americans.So as you can see, the PeaceCorps is not your typical international aid organization. Wefocus more on capacity building, education and relationships rather than aidprojects. I think the episode could have been better if she would havestarted out by establishing the Peace Corps goals and then proceeding into whatwe do.

Peace Corps also affects howother countries view America. If nothing else, the Peace Corps helpsother people understand America and American people better. I would saythat most Peace Corps volunteers are one of the first/few Americans that manyof the people we generally work with meet (maybe not so much in Moldova),especially because we are Americans living in villages and speaking the nativelanguage.

A German friend of mine who has been living in Moldova for a while looked me very seriously and asked, “What is your favorite word in Romanian?”

I looked at him and replied, “Mahala.” He then says, “Yes! That is what I was hoping you would say.”

‘Mahala’ in the dictionary means suburb, but in Moldova (maybe in Romania too) it is commonly used for the neighborhood.

The reason that this word it my favorite word in Romanian is because it is just so fun to say. For English speakers I would phonetically spell the word ‘mahala’ as Mah-hall-lah. It is just so much fun to say! Just add 'mah' to the beginning of what this guys says:

The organizations I work with operates a computer lab. Since more and more people have computers and the Internet in their homes the computer lab is having difficulty making ends meet. Besides the Internet, games, and Skype we also offer printing, scanning and take passport photos.

The operator of the computer lab opens up the lab at 3pm and closes it at 10pm. He is a high school student so he cannot open it any earlier. We are currently doing a test to see in by me opening the lab earlier if our income will increase.

I volunteered to open up the lab every weekday from 11am to 3pm. After a month or so, if it was beneficial, we will try to find someone who wants the job of opening up the lab earlier. I do not know what will happen, the lab is generally just used by students but with the longer hours we could make more money through printing, scanning and taking photos.

I have worked in the lab now for five days, I really do not mind it and it is good to get to know more of the students in the village. The worst part is that my host family thinks that I am going to die of hunger on Tuesday and Thursdays. On those days I leave the house at about 10:30am, work in the lab until 3pm, and then I have Romanian lessons for two hours and do not get home until after 5pm.

Now, I pack myself a lunch but I do not think my host family trusts me to pack enough food. The tradition in Moldova is that you have soup at every lunch, so they think I am unhealthy since I do not get a bowl of soup and because I eat an apple and a few peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

The bottom dwelling fish originally from Asiawhich we call ‘Carp’ in English is a very common fish in Moldova. I would guess that it is the most common fishI lakes and streams in Moldova. It isalso a very popular and inexpensive fish to eat.

For English speakers it is fun to talk aboutcarp because is Romanian the word is crap. So if you ask someone in Moldovva, “What kind of fish are you eating?” They willprobably reply, “Crap”.

My host parent’s grandchildren came to visit for the holidayseason. We had a three year old boyand three girls that are five, nine and fourteen years old.

One day at the dinner table my host mom and the granddaughters weretalking about hairstyles. The discussionstarted because someone remarked that the grandson needs a haircut, which then starteda discussion about women’s hairstyles. My host mom was saying how it is currently popular to have hair coveringpart of the face but she did not like it. The girls said that the style was no longer trendy and now long hair waspopular.

My host mom then made the point that simple hairstyles that could bepulled back were beautiful and functional. She then said, “All the girls that have visited Tim from Germany andother countries had simple and practical hairstyles that were very nice.”

Of course, both of my host nieces gave me the look of - you have lots of female visitors, huh? I was not even in the conversation but the joke was on me. And no mom, they were just friends.

I am often asked about America, everything from how I heat my house tomy pets to American’s second language and many others. I will also bring up the differences betweenAmerica and Moldova when I think that people may be interested in thedifferences (which may not be different at all).

But I really enjoy it when I hear a Moldovan’s view of America. My host mom was in Washington DC for threemonths, so it is always interesting to hear her views of America. I also talked to a young man who moved toAmerica when he was 13 or so and came back for a month over the summer to visitfamily. It was very interesting to hearwhat he shared with his friends about America.

Most recently I listened to a conversation between a few teachers in myvillage. I was going to my biweeklytutoring lesson at the local school and found my tutor with two other teachers. It was during Christmas break and they werefinishing up some paperwork.

One of the teachers had just returned from visiting her son in America. He has been living in America, just outsideof Atlanta, for the last five years or so. I was a little jealous when I heard of her trip. First she flew into and visited New YorkCity; she went to the World Trade Center site among other things. She then travelled to Washington DC, Atlanta,Miami and then somewhere on the Gulf of Mexico.

Some of her observations were that hardly anyone lives in thecity. She said that most of the peoplefrom Atlanta actually live in one of the three surrounding cities. The point is pretty interesting, because forthe most part American cities are spread out and do not have a lot of peopleliving in the center of the city unlike European cities. She also mentioned that she never saw clothshanging out to dry. In Moldova clothesdryers are not common and everyone hangs their cloths out to dry, even in tallapartment buildings people have a clothes drying rack attached to the outsideof their window. Another teacher asked if itwas true that people do not take off their shoes when entering homes, shereplied that it was true because everything was paved and there was not mud ordirt that could get tracked into the home.

The more I hear what Moldovans find interesting about Moldova thebetter I can respond when a new acquaintance asks me to talk about America.

Generally I come home at around 7 at night. It is dark when I get home. I have a little light on my phone and sincethere is generally no one walking around in my neighborhood I might talk to myself, hum or sing as I walk to my house.

The other day I had just came up the hill turned the corner and wasabout 25 yards away from my house. With my phone light in hand I am paying attention to the ground to makesure I do not fall or step in horse dung and I see some human feet in front ofme. I do not know if they noticed, but Ijumped. I then see that it was myneighbor hanging in the road outside of her house saying goodbye to herboyfriend.

I am guessing that they were so embarrassed that I caught themmaking that they did not notice that I jumped when I saw them.

As I was walking down the snowy wet road I saw a man get out of hiscar. As he walked towards hisdestination he almost fell, but he regained his footing. When I saw this I chuckled to myself and saidto myself, “He needs to slow down”.

About twenty steps later… I stepped in an area of the sidewalk with wasuneven, tripped and fell to the ground. Not only did I get my coat muddy but I also my pants and my whole leftleg was soaked and at least one person watched it all.

As I walked home grumbling, I wondered if God was trying to remind menot to make fun of others. Or maybe, andprobably more likely, I just need to pay more attention to mysurroundings.

Some Moldovans have Christmas trees, but they are expensive

and are not too commonly grown, so this was our tree.This was my first New Years Eve celebration in Moldova. Last year I went with a few friends on vacation to acouple cities in Romania. It was a lotof fun, but I am glad I stayed this year to experience the coming of the NewYear with my host family.

Raisins, sweet brinza (homemade cheese) and sour cream rolled up and then cooked.All three of my host siblings and their families came for all or partof the weekend, so the house was full. We ate a lot of traditional Moldovan foods such as sarmale (cabbagerolls), placinta (thin amounts of potatoes, cabbage or cheese in a disc shape surroundedin breading), Olivia (a cold salad common in Russia but first done by the French) and salt-cured fish. We ate a lot and often.

Preparing for the Olivia salad.Sarmale - Rice and meat rolled in pickled cabbage leaves.Poems and songs are important parts to Moldovan culture, at least withthe families that I have interacted with. All of the children in Moldova, or so it seems, have memorized somepoems and a few of those are about Christmas. My host family celebrated New Years and Christmas together. The whole family gave candy, small gifts and money to the children after they said a poem or sang a carol.

After we had our last meal of 2011 together we each had a title of apoem writtenby MihaiEminescu at our place at the table. MihaiEminescu is a popular poet who was born in Romanian in 1850. The poems we read were about life, the seasons andChristmas. We each read the poem that was given to us.

Sometime that night a group of Carolers came by. They had a drum and other instruments. One was dressed as a ram which is traditionalfor the New Year... but I cannot remember why. They sang a song ortwo and we gave them a little money for their trouble and they went onto thenext house.

The last 10 minutes of 2011 we watched the television as the presidentof Moldova gave his will wishes for the future year. Then a stage in the center of Chisinau, wherea large concert was being held, a man counted down until the clock hit 2012. After that there were many fireworks both onthe television and in the village. Thenthey played the Chariots of Fire song, which was nice but not quite Auld LangSyne. So as I was humming Auld Lang Syneto myself I noticed that the keyboard that my host niece has plays 100 songs,one of which was Auld Lang Syne so I played it.

New Year’s Day was not too much different. There was a lot of eating, fireworks and some carolers visited. It was a lot of funand I am glad that I got to experience it with my host family.

I went caroling with a group of youth/young adults in my village. We were a group of about 25 people and wereaccompanied by guitars, tambourine, bells and an accordion. There were about 15 or so songs that wesang throughout the night. The majorityof the songs were in Romanian but there were a few in Russian.

Here are a few songs that I heard in Romanian, usually the melody isthe same but the words and overall meaning is different:-Little Drummer Boy-We Wish You a Merry Chrismtas-We Three Kings-O Christmas Tree-Jingle Bells

At my Romanian lesson a few days before Christmas I learned/wrote downthree Romanian carols, so when I went caroling I knew at least the three mostpopular. It was a very useful lessonbecause we also translated the songs which helped my grammar when I listened tothe messages given at church. Ilearned/reviewed words like manger, angles, shepherd, virgin Mary, and otherwords used a lot in the Christmas message.

As we went caroling through the village if there were children at thehome one of the people dressed as Santa Clause would come up to the door afterwe sang and ask the child to say a poem before he gave them a gift. Then generally the people could give ussomething to drink and/or eat quickly, and then we would move to the nexthouse. We visited a lot of differentpeople, but we mostly focused on families and the elderly. We caroled Christmas Eve and Christmas nightsfrom around 8pm to 2am.

One other interesting thing that I learned is that if you literallytranslate the Romanian name for Santa Clause it would be “Old Man Christmas”.

We had some snow a while back, it snowed a little overnight but it allmelted by 9 in the morning.

This snow had perfect timing. The ground was a little moist due to some rain and it was a littlemuddy. Then the snow came and the groundfroze and the snow almost completely covered the ground right before Christmas!

So we had a white Christmas. Notall of Moldova did, but I was very happy my area did.

I enjoyed this Christmas much more than last year’s Christmas. I did just about the exact same thing as lastyear, but this year I understood what events and things were going on inMoldova plus I understand the language so much better now.

During the Christmas weekend I attended a coupe church services,listened to a bunch of poems (Moldovans love saying poems during the winterholidays), listened to a children, youth and young adult choirs, watched skitsabout the birth of Christ, and I had some good traditional Moldovan food.



The Baptist church in my village celebrate Christmas on December 25th,the Orthodox Church celebrates Christmas on January 7th, so I amexcited to celebrate Christmas all over again.

This video was made by a fellow Peace Corps volunteer. The video contains some interesting facts and images from Moldova.

I want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas! This week we got our first good snowfall, I learned a few Romanian carols with my Romanian tutor and I have gifts ready for the host family.

The only thing that could be better was if I could be in and in America at the same time!

I was in a microbus (has about 20 seats) at the bus station waiting toleave to visit a fellow volunteer’s site. The bus was almost full. Twogirls around 20 years old get onto the bus and one said, “O my God” in English with anaccent. I look at her and wemade eye contact, I think she was a little embarrassed because she knew that Iunderstood what she said.

Even if I dressed like a Moldova and spoke perfect Romanian, I bet thatMoldovans would still be able to tell that I was not Moldova. On that day I was wearing a coat I bought in Moldova but I was wearingan Ohio State beanie and sporting a thin goatee. The facial have defiantly gave me away, veryfew Moldovans have facial hair, the majority can grow them but it is not fashionable here.

A little while into the trip the two girls were talking to eachother. I could not quite heareverything, but I think they were trying to guess where I was from/whatlanguages I know. I heard them mention Germanand French. A few minutes after that theone sitting next to me says, “Excuse me, where are you from?” in English.

I told them I was a Peace Corps volunteer from America. She then said, “O, we were in America thissummer.” I asked where and she replied,“Hersey, Pennsylvania.” I told her Iknew where that I was and want to visit, but I have not yet. She said that I should visit because it is,“The sweetest place on earth.”

This conversation reminded me of a story I read about how the HersheyChocolate Company and how it had many foreigners working for them and how they were notpaid very well (New York Times Article). I hope that these girls were paid decent andthat the company has fixed these problems.

My three year old host nephew has been living with us for the last fewweeks because his parents have recently become very busy with work. While at times it is difficult to have ayoung child in the house, most of the time it is a lot of fun. He is always full of energy andquestions. He always greets me when Icome home from work and enjoys sitting next to my while I am working on mycomputer, listening to music or watching a video. While his Romanian pronunciation is notalways the best, he does help improve my language skills.

The other day we were sitting down to eat dinner and he saw that I hadsome writing on my hand:

Host Nephew (HN): Tim, Tim, TimMe: Yes.HN: Look, what, what *he isexcited and starting to stutter and jumps out of his chair runs over to my andgrabs my hand* what do you have on your hand?Me: I wrote on my hand.HN: Why?Me: Because I want to rememberstuff that I have to do for these people.HN: Why?Me: I have to do work and do notwant to forget.HN: O. My dad does the same thing.

One of the many things I enjoy about living in Moldova is the chance tovisit villages. Itis always interesting because I get to see another village or city in Moldovaand even better when I get to hear about it from an American who lives and works in thecommunity. I also get new ideas forprojects and activities which I could potentially implement in my village.

One interesting idea that I saw while at my friend’s village is a gym. The gym is open afterschool for extra creditand for at risk youth. The gym is at theschool and there at up to 20 youth that come five days a week to utilize thegym.

Not only was I able to see and experience the project, but I was ableto understand how the volunteer was able to work with the school and theteachers to refine the idea and make it plausible and beneficial to thestudents.

Every time I eat an egg over-easy or sunny-side-up there is some uniquetaste that I could not quite put my finger on. It was kind of an earthy taste, not really bad, but something that I wasnot use too.

At first I thought that it was because I had never eaten farm fresheggs or maybe that is what they taste like when the chickens just eat corn andsquash. Then I thought maybe it wasbecause the outside of the egg was not washed well, but I figured that was adumb idea and that they would probable taste worse that ‘earthy’.

I then figured out what the mystery taste was… sunflower seed oil. I have written before about how sunflowerseed oil is the main oil used in Moldova and how my host fatherhas an oil press (see post). I realized thatthis ‘earthy’ taste did taste like sunflower seeds and because the oil was madeat home and was not processed or filtered the taste is not quite as refined.

As the photo shows, the oil is not filtered or processed, so all of theimperfections settle to the bottom. Nowthat I know where the taste comes from, I cannot really image eggs without thattaste… well, I guess I can imagine eggs fried in bacon grease.

I know many Moldovans that have many different ‘businesses’. Almost everyone in my village has at least alittle land outside of the village which they farm, but on top of that peoplehave bee hives, sell homemade wine, press sunflower seeds into oil, sellhomemade vodka, grow mushrooms, woodworking and other activities as a way tomake money. This is common/necessary formany because in my area of Moldova a lot of people have seasonal jobs in thegrape growing and wine making industries.

One of my friends has a metal recycling yard at his home. He buys metal from everyone in thevillage. People from all walks of lifesell him metal; you can even see young boys with a little wagon full of boltsand scrap pieces of metal so they can make enough money to use the internet labor purchase some candy to men with some metal on the back of a bicycle to atractor pulling a full load metal.

Once a month, or whenever his yard is full of metal, he hires a handfulof men to help load all of the metal, by hand, into a semi that will take it toa metal recycling facility. I do notknow how profitable this business is, but it is a service to thecommunity. Because many in the villageto not have vehicles, there is no way to get this metal to a recycling facilityand most people do not have enough metal to make it profitable to rent a vehicleto take the metal to a facility.

Villages that do not have someone that collects metal generally rely onpeople/businesses that sent trucks through the village periodically. One day such a truck was going through ourvillage, it had a loud speaker on the roof and the driver would go up and downevery road in the village asking if anyone had any scrap metal. Needless to say, the man who runs the metalpurchasing business in my village was not happy. If he found out that someone sold metal tothe man driving the truck he would make sure to visit the house and let themknow that he was purchasing metal in the village and to tell that it would bebetter to support someone from the village and also to ask the price that theother company offered.

The Austrian organization ‘Concordia’ (www.concordia.or.at/concordia_en/) has opened many soup kitchens andsocial assistance centers for youth and elderly in many locations throughout Romania, Moldova and Bulgaria. They opened a soup kitchen forthe elderly in my village; currently 35 elderly people eat two meals a day,five days a week at the kitchen. Themain goal is not onlye to feed the elderly, but also give them a social network, hostactivities, educational events and other things to give the elderly that generally haveno family something to do.

I have started to work with this organization's branch in my village a little bit; we arecurrently working on finding funding to renovate part of the kindergarten tohouse the soup kitchen. This move is sothat the kitchen can be in a central location in the village, to expand so that more events can takeplace and because it is a Concordia regulation that the building must beowned by the village, currently the soup kitchen is temporarily using achurch’s facilities.

The Peace Corps volunteer that lives the closest to me works with aConcordia soup kitchen in a village about 3 kilometers away. Their soup kitchen feeds about 70 people aday and is located at the local hospital. They recently completed a project to repair and paint the walls, installtwo showers, install a washing machine and install a few benches outside of theentrance. This may seem like a littleproject, but many of the poor elderly do not bath or wash their cloths due tothe poor conditions of their homes. Sothis project will have a huge affect on the hygiene and health of the elderlyin this village.

Due in part to Moldovan custom there was a celebration at thecompletion of the project. People fromthe village and neighboring villages came to celebrate. Children from the school danced, sang and puton a skit about hygiene. The mayor alsospoke and some representatives from the funding organizations also came.

It was quite exciting to be a part of and share the in success of theproject. It is always great to see how so many people work together to make a project like this possible.

*These photos are from the celebration at Concordia’s soup kitchen at a neighboring village

My host family, my tutor and I had another “Tim’s Favorite FoodNight”. I was going to call it Americanfood night, but so far the only things I have made for the family is Skyline Chili, tacos and now lasagna, I guess one out of the three is Americanbut I would say they are all part of our culture.

I, with the help of my tutor made lasagna, it was not I have ever had but it was fun making itand making substitutions for ingredients that are not in Moldova, I could notfind or I forgot to buy. I thinkeveryone enjoyed it and it defiantly reminded me of home.

Back in the spring my host family purchased and brought home a medium sizedpig. When we got the pig home we triedto take it out of the tractor and put it on the ground softly, but it startedthrashing around and fell to the ground. We hoped that he wasOK and it did not affect his movement or growth, so we thought everything wasfine.

A few months later we butchered the pig (see post here).

The other day we were eating lunch and my host dad finished eating arib and noticed that it was broken, but it healed up before we butchered the pig. He looked at me and said, “I guess he didbreak a bone.” Nothing like a necropsy at the table.

Host nephew (3 years old): I know the word for cucumber in Romanian, Moldovan and Russian.

Me: Do you know how to say it in English?

Host nephew: Yes. I know but you don't.

Me: You do not know.

Host nephew: Yes I do! I know, but you do not. I know but my grandmother said that I could not tell you.

Yes, he is one of those phases where he is always right.

You may wonder, why is this tractor sitting on a hill? It could roll away, it could hurt someone or it could be blocking the path. But more than likely the battery and or starter do not work, so the easiest way to start it is to park it on a hill and then when you want to go let it roll down to 'push start' the tractor.

I have seen more cars and tractors push started in Moldova than in my entire life in America. I think that is mainly because in America a huge percentage of cars are automatic and cannot be push started but the other obvious point would be that people can save some money by not bothering to fix the starter/replace the battery by push starting.

One tractor I came across had a very small motor (like that on a string trimmer) that was used as a starter for a tractor. My host dad uses a welder run through a converter to operate the starter so he does not have to use a battery.

There are many different things that I have learned or strengthened my knowledge about during mytime in the Peace Corps, many of those things are not quantitative or easilyexplained. One of the main things that have strengthened is my confidence.

The other day I was helping a fellow volunteer conduct a Halloweenparty. The party had music, facepainting, ‘pin the tail on the cat’ and other fun and competitive activities. The main volunteer who planned the event seteverything up and was working the front door, which was a good place for her tobe because she knew many of the participants. The other volunteers were pretty happy talking to each other and helpingwith the different activities. The party started out real well but after a while the participants justsat and listened to the music.

I asked the Moldovans that were helping to welcome everyone to theevent and to show/promote the different activities that they could take partin, but they were shy high school students. I, with my still fairly poor Romanian, got on stage and tried to welcomeeveryone and show them the activities available to them.

This shows two things, that I am getting more confident in my languageand that I am just more confident in myself general. I knew that we could get the youth more active by giving them their options and no one else wanted todo anything, so I had to try.

What will it be like for me when I return to America? Will this newly strengthened confidencefollow me to America or will it stay in Moldova? If I am in a future social/work situationthat is difficult I hope I will find more confidence by remembering that I am anative speaker of English, at least I do not have to fight that battle, so why should I be afraid?

This year I got to see and help my host family with all of the wine making process. Last year I was at a training and missed harvesting of the grapes (see last year's post).

The first thing that is done, is to clean the barrels which the grapes will be placed while fermenting. We just used water and scrubbed the outside and the inside of the barrels. After the barrels were clean we boiled water with Walnut tree leaves and poured the water into the and covered the barrels, the mixture disinfected the barrels.

Then the fun part comes, picking the grapes. Three of us picked 70% of the grapes in one day. It was not difficult, but it took a little while and my back did hurt the next day.

When all of the buckets were full, we took a little break to crush the grapes. After that the grapes would sit in the barrels for an amount of time based on the temperature outside. If it is warm outside the grape juice ferments more quickly than if the weather is cool.

You can check out my last year's post to see the next steps in the wine making process: 2010 blog post.

My second birthday in Moldova was enjoyable. It was not at all like last year (see post) but I had fun. I was in the capital city because I had to be in the next day for a medical checkup. I hung out with some Americans, went to a youth group housed out of the Jewish center which prompts and learns about different cultures, had dinner with a bunch of European volunteers and a Japanese volunteer and then had a few beers with a friend in the capital.

When I got back to my village Monday I was surprised with a nice meal, homemade sheep's wool socks and some shampoo with the Russian was of spelling my name. It was a nice, low key birthday and I enjoyed it.

While there is no national holiday called Thanksgiving in Moldova,churches throughout Moldova celebrate Thanksgiving. In the villages Thanksgiving really isthanking God for the weather and the food that was grown, so many rely on foodthey personally grew.

Here are some photos from the local Baptist church and theircelebration. There were many people fromvillages around that came to celebrate this event and invited everyone there totheir own Thanksgiving celebrations.

After the service the church invited everyone to have a meal. It was a lot of fun to see so many people andcelebrate a year’s worth of work to grown and conserve the food needed for thewinter.

One day my host dad said, "Tomorrow I am going to another village, do you want to come with me?" I was free that day and I never pass up aday to visit somewhere I have never been in Moldova, especially when it is one of the villages close to where I live.

My host dad and I left in the morning with a sack lunch. The reason were visited is because it was thevillage where my host mom grew up and she had some land over there. My host dad went to update the land deed andto see how much wheat was grown on the land and to pay the farmers that plantedand harvested it.

Host mom's childhood homeIt was fun to see where my host mom grew up and to see another villagein Moldova. We also visited a priestthat is originally from the village where I live. Hegave us a tour of his church and tried to talk me into becoming orthodox.

One of the goals of the Peace Corps is to share American culture withMoldovans. I decided to do that bymaking my host family and tutor tacos. Iknow, it is not 100% American, but we like and eat a lot of tacos or at least Ido.

This was the third think that I have ever made for my host fame, thefirst thing was Skyline Chili and the second was spaghetti with homemade red sauce.

Overall they liked tacos. Icould not find the fajita so we made them ourselves, my mother sent a seasoningpacket for the meat and the rest was simple. My host dad thought that the meat was too spiced and said that the, “the meatdid not taste like meat”. My host momliked them and said we will make them in the future.

It is very common for everyone in the village to have about an acre ofland around the village on which grains, fruits or vegetables are grown. My host family, for the last two years, hasgrown corn so that the chickens, ducks, and the pig can be fed all winter.

My host dad has a small tractor, but he hires someone else to plant thecrop. It is also possible to hiresomeone to combine the crop but my host family uses the corn stalks for beddingand to feed the animals during the winter and they have the time to harvest thecorn by hand.

Since harvesting around on acre of corn is a decent amount of work myhost family asked if I could help. Iagreed gladly, because last year I was either busy or they did not trust meyet.

This year there were five of us and we each took two rows and walkedthe length of the field picking every ear of corn in those two rows andthrowing them into piles. After that weloaded all of the corn into the tractor and took it home, there we dekerneledthe corn. After this my host parentswent and cut all of the corn stalks and brought them home

We also grew pumpkins and squash in between the rows of corn. We will eat them as well as grind them up to feed the animals.

A while back I wrote about the positive aspects of 'Work & Travel' programs in Moldova: See post 96.

Here is an article from the New York Times about the negative aspects that can and do occur: See article.

My village had a coal burning boiler heating system for all of the buildingsin the center of town. When the SovietUnion fell the system could no longer be used because Moldova has no coal andit was impossible/very expensive to import coal. The facility has been sitting unused for thelast 20 years. If you are interested in the history of heating in my village, see post number 122.

Within the last few years there have been talks of cutting down the 30meter smokestack of the boiler facility because one of the supports broke andwhen there is a strong wind the smokestack sways quite violently. There are a few homes within reach of thesmokestack and the village was concerned that one day the smokestack could fallon some of their house.

The mayor’s office has worked on different ideas of taking down thesmokestack for many years but the cost of renting the large crane needed woulduse all of the community’s reserves and the quality of smokestack’s metal wasunclear, so it was difficult to estimate potential gains from selling it.

A volunteer advisor who has worked in many different countries and hasassisted the organization I work with when it comes to ideas and findingmonetary sources was concerned with the danger of the potentially fallingsmokestack. The community, the NGO Iwork with and the volunteer advisor worked together to remove the smokestack.

The funds were donated by a large group of widows in Germany, which was collected a few euro at a time. Thesmokestack was then cut into two meter lengths and sold to people in thevillage with the idea that they would be used to make bio-waste heating systems(that would burn straw, corn stalks and other agricultural products generallynot highly used) for homes. The money raisedfrom the sale of the smokestack and the recycling of the metal in the interiorof the boiling facility is being used to purchase supplies to make and install sidewalksthroughout our village.

My host family has around five sheep (we had more but butchered some, so I can not keep track). The story, as my host dad tells it, is that my host mother wanted/wantsto sell the sheep but when they found out that a new volunteer was coming to live with them, theydecided to keep them. So when every myhost family needs help with the sheep, I usually try to help because one of thereasons they have them is because of me.

I have helped a little with shearing them, but this summer I helped cut (not much, I am too tall for the sickle) and bring home hay so that the sheep have something to eat this winter. One morning at around 7am my host dad, most mom and I left on the tractor to collect the dry hay that host dad had already cut.

We then came home my host dad stayed in the hay mow, I stood on a roof in front of the mow and my host mom stood in the wagon and threw the hay on theroof which I would then throw into the hay mow for my host dad to arrange.

I enjoy helping the family when I can and when they need. I also do not mind working with the hay…except I think I sneezed on average every 5 minutes during the 2 hourprocess. If it was not for my allergies,I would have enjoyed it a lot more.

I never really thought about how the collapse of the Soviet Unionaffected its citizens. During the SovietUnion it was very easy to travel to countries within the Union, it was likegoing from one state to the next in the USA. Due to this and the way the Soviet system worked, many people left theirhome countries to work in other areas of the Soviet Union, there were also somethat did not have a choice, like those deported to Siberia.

Once the Soviet Union collapsed, I am not really sure how people’scitizenship was determined. I do know if itwas hard for the deported people or those working in another Soviet State to get back to their original homes.

There is a Russian television show that works to help families and friendsto find each other. The reason theperson is ‘lost’ could be because of the collapse of the Soviet Union, lostcontact, working abroad or many other reasons. It is a very interesting show, especially when the show partners with aTV station in Moldova because when that is done they either speak in Romanianof have Romanian subtitles, so I can understand. This show partners with places all around the globe to help people find each other.

It is a heartwarming and sad show. You get the stories of runaways, people that left for work in anothercountry but did not stay in contact, past flames, and other interestingstories. Usually one person is in thecrowd and they play a video about his story and the loved one he is lookingfor. Then the story of the other personis played and they are both reunited on stage. They also have a time during the show where people can talk for oneminute and show the picture of who they are looking for, if you know anythingyou call the toll-free number on the screen.

Have you watched Deal or No Deal in America? Moldova has a version as well. Ienjoy watching it because the host is pretty funny and I can understand closeto 100% of what the host says because he does not mix in Russian while speakingexcept for the simple things that I know. It is interesting because all of the conversations are pretty basic andthe way the host and the participants interact makes it fun to watch and for meto listen to.

The show itself runs just like the show in the USA. There is a host, participant, participant’sfriends and family and a banker that tries to buy the participant out of thegame by offering different amounts of money throughout the game based on theodds.

The one difference is in the amount of money given away. This gives you an idea of how far money cango in Moldova. You have to keep in mindthat since the USA has so many citizens giving away a lot of money is easy ifthe show is popular due to commercial income, so you compare the amount likeapples to apples. In the USA you themost you can win is 1 million US dollars. In Moldova the most you can win is 250,000 Moldovan lei or a little morethan 12,000 US dollars.

If you want to see some price comparisons, here are a few Moldovanprices in USD:Loaf of bread: 0.50Pack of cigarettes: 0.25 to 1.50Cheap restaurant meal: 3.00 to5.00Half a liter of beer (17 ounces): 1.4075 mile bus ride: 4.00Chisinau Inner-city bus: 0.25Chisinau Inner-city trolleybus: 0.10Taxi within Chisinau: 2.20 to7.001 Gallon of gasoline: 5.55

I had just gotten back to the house from a weekend in Chisinau and satdown with my host mother to eat a late lunch. She then informed me that it was ‘Professional Day’ which is a day torelax with your coworkers, thank your boss and for your boss to thank you foryour work. She said that my host dad,his coworkers, his boss and his colleagues from another village are having acookout by the lake. She said if Iwanted to go, I could.

While I was a little tired from the weekend away from home, I figuredthat I needed to experience this event. Plus I knew the food would be good and I enjoy hanging out with my hostdad’s coworkers. So I finished my lunchand let my host dad I was on my way.

Like any event Moldovans put on, there was a huge amount of food. Grilled pork, placinta (thin bread flat andround with cheese, potatoes, cabbage, or other foods inside), watermelon,grilled chicken, cucumber and tomatoes salad, brinza (traditional homemadecheese) and many other good foods. Therewere seven men that worked for the gas company at the event with their childrenand wives. Each of the seven men broughta drink to share. My host dad broughtour homemade liquor, another brought homemade Champaign, and the rest broughthomemade wine. Throughout the afternoonand evening the group sat down to the table on three different occasions toeat, usually when a new dish came off the grill.

The one thing that I noticed that is a major cultural differencebetween what I am use to and the Moldavians at the event, after the final mealthe women were cleaning up and the guys took some food to snack on and broughtout some more wine. They then said,let’s dance and one guy turned up the music and all of the men age 35 to 62started dancing. It was defiantlysomething I was not use to. Buteventually the women came out to dance with their husbands.

Overall it was a very fun event. I enjoyed the discussions and tasting the different people’s wines. I hope that in the future, the company I workfor/run will have some fun event like this for ‘Professional Day’.

When I see the photo above, which was taken in Moldova, I think ofNebraska. Ohio has some irrigatedfields, but mostly for vegetables not field crops (corn, soybeans, wheat). While I was in Nebraska I saw a lot ofirrigation systems and asked a lot of questions about why they were used andhow they worked since I have had little experience with irrigation systems.

During the Soviet Union times irrigation was a common practice in myarea of and throughout Moldova. In the southeast cornerof Moldova, where I live, they used to grow mostly tomatoes and cucumbers to supplythe Soviet Union. After the Soviet Unioncollapsed the water pumping stations became too expensive to use, so for thelast 20 years the majority of irrigation pipes and pumping stations have beenunused or dismantled. In my village there areirrigation systems that are stationary and still in the field which the farmersplow around. I would guess that there isnot a demand for the irrigation systems and the scrap metal is not worth thework, but I am not sure.

How many people in the world do not recognize the golden arches ofMcDonalds? I would say that due to itbeing in so many countries as well as in movies and TV shows that there are fewthat do not recognize the brand. ButMcDonalds can mean different things depending on where you are.

I really enjoy McDonalds. Ienjoy the fries, how things look pretty similar no matter where you are, how the ordering system is similar everywhere you go as well as the memories it brings back ofbeing a small boy and getting a happy meal.

I have been to a McDonalds in the US, Canada, China, Moldova, Romania,Serbia… I cannot remember if I visited one in the Dominican Republic orIsrael. I never really mean to visitthem while traveling abroad, but sometimes you just want something fast andthat you are accustomed too.

What does it mean to eat at McDonalds in the USA? I think, it means a quick meal and a prettyinexpensive place. It is not a place youwould take someone on a first date. Youwould not take someone there for their birthday (unless they were young). It is fast food… the food is not the best orthe healthiest but it gets the job done. You will see people of all ages and salaries in McDonalds, but I amguessing people with a high profile do not really choose to go into McDonaldsunless they want a fast meal.

What does it mean to eat at McDonalds in Moldova? Well, first off, there are very few fast foodplaces, so if you want something fast to eat or a drive-through you pretty muchhave to go to McDonalds in Moldova. Secondly, this is a medium priced restaurant in Moldova. The prices are similar to US prices, butthere are cheaper restaurants in Moldova where you can eat for 3 to 5 USD where McDonalds isusually 5 to 8 USD which may not seem like a lot of difference but when yourealize that a retired person could be trying to live off their retirement of50 USD per month 1 USD makes a lot of difference. So not everyone can afford to eat atMcDonalds (or restaurants in general) in Moldova, it is considered a special meal for many Moldovans andyou can see middle and upper class people eating at McDonalds who are notlooked down upon.

I find the differences between McDonalds in Moldova and the USA. It is interesting to see a staple of the USAin other countries and it potentially being viewed in a different way.

It is amazing to me that 10 years have passed since the terroristattacks of September 11th. Idid not realize it was the 11th of September until I saw it on the news with my hostfamily. They were showing video andimages of the atrocity. I remember thatday I decided that I would join the army… I never did join, but not from thelack of trying. But I am serving mygovernment in a different way.

It was touching to hear what the Moldavians thought of the events thattook place which their shared during the news segment. There was also a display ofphotos and such at the US Embassy in Chisinau. Many of Moldova’s leaders paid their respects to the US by placingflowers around the US Embassy and sharing their thoughts and giving well wishes.

It was also interesting to hear what my host parents thought of thatday. I never really thought much abouthow others countries perceived the events. My host dad said he had not heard anything and saw it on the news whenhe returned home in the evening from work. My host mom said she was scared that World War III had started. They also said that people in Moldova reallydo care and cried for the people of the US. It was a touching conversation that I will always remember.

In August my organizations, a few churches in Moldova, an international English organization and volunteers from churches in the USA and Canada camp to Moldova and led an English camp for 50 youth (See past blog post). Here is a video that was created to capture the event:

One the first day of September school starts in the Republic ofMoldova. I remember last year on September 1st I was asked by my host mom if I was going toschool. I was confused as to why I wouldgo to school, but since my language was limited I said ‘no’ and did not ask anyquestions. Well after that day all of myfriends were posting online photos and stories from the first day ofschool. So I made sure to experience itthis year.

At the school in my village, everyone was lined up around the courtyardby grade and in the front was where the teachers would address thestudents. When they started the 12thgrade class walked with the 1st grade class in a circle on theinside of circle of students and then they took their positions. The director and a few teachers greeted thestudent body.

Then a few students did a skit that showed an uneducated boy who wantedto ride his bike and trying to talk everyone into quitting school while theother student said why school is so important and all of the exciting thingsthat would happen over the school year.

Then the 12th graders said a few poems and the 1stgrades sang a song with an accordion player.

A few more addresses were made. The director of the school signed a large poster which I think wassomething like, “We’ll have fun and respect each other…” type ofagreement. My host dad made a littleaddress when he donated a few books to the school library about Moldova’shistory. Then two 12th graders and two 1st graders walked around the circle and then into the schoolringing a bell. The Moldovans do notcall it the first day of school, they call it, ‘the first bell’.

I then walked into the school and watched the ceremony with the 1stgrade class. All of the parents were inthe back of the room and there were three 4th graders who gaveflowers to the new students and read a little paragraph about the student as a12th grader escorted the new student into the room and to his or herseat.

I was asked if we do anything like this in America by a teacher… I didnot know what to say. I just know thatwe did not do anything like this at my school, ha ha.

In my village, you can only purchase at the local stores salami,sausages, frozen chicken, and frozen or salted fish when it comes to meat. If you wanted specific cuts of meat or freshmeat you must travel to the nearest city which is 15 miles away.

One reason you cannot purchase fresh mean in the village very readily isbecause many grow and butcher their own chickens, ducks, pigs, etc. I assisted my host family slaughter one ofour pigs. Unlike most Americans, I haveactually helped butcher a pig before so it was not a new or shocking experience. But they did butcher the pig differently thanI had experienced.

We purchased the pig about three months before we butchered it. At the time it weighed about 210 pounds. The pig could have easily been over 300pounds when we butchered it.

First thing we had to do, was to go around the neighborhood to see ifany able bodied men were willing to help us, at least for the beginningpark. The group ended up being sixpeople, my host dad, host brother, three neighbors and me. We left the pig out of its pen and into alarger fenced area. My host dad did nottrust his pistol to work properly so all five of us pounced on the hog and laidit on its side. We then held it down asmy host dad stabbed its heart.

We then pulled the pig to the front of the house, outside of thegates. There we burnt off the hair aswell as cooked the skin of the hog. Manydo this process using a propane torch but the more traditional (and tastier)way to do this is to burn the hair with straw. They would throw some straw on it and then after the fire died down wewould use knives to scrap off the hair and charred areas to see if it the skinwas fully cooked.

Then we put some hot water on it and covered it with plastic andblankets. Then everyone relaxed. I was really confused. We had not drained the blood yet (which Ithought had to be the first thing done) and everyone was just relaxing. I then found out that they were letting theskin that had been cooked and hardened to soften up. We then proceeded to scrub the pig withbrushes and hot water and the scrapping the skin clean with knives.

After the pig was clean then we cut off the head and let the blooddrain and started butchering the pig. There are no photos because I was busy helping. We used just about everything from thepig. The intestines were used as casingsfor the sausages. The film around the stomachwas used to make patties that were made of up meat, the heart, lungs, kidneysand probably some other things. They cutout the loin, bacon and the skin is considered a treat and best eaten the dayof the butchering. The rest of the meatwas ground up to use in the sausages and the meat around the bones was left andthe bones chopped into small chunks so that they could be used for makingsoup. The head was cut up and boiled fora while; I am not really such what was done with that. All of the fat/lard was ground up and bottledto be used in cooking and such in the future.

Cleaning the intestines

Patties made from heart, lungs, liver.. wrapped in a stomach membrane

Meat grinder that ground up meat and lard

After butchering before the individual cuts were seperated

Sausages made from the intestine

Lard before it was ground and canned

Here are a few pictures of how a BBQ is done in Moldova. It is a great time. We had pork, vegetable salad (tomatoes, cucumbers and onions), corn on the cob, fried potatoes and the mayor brought some wine for the volunteers to taste who were staff at the English camp (Past post). The mayor wanted to thank the volunteers because they were the one of the main funding sources and around 15 youth from our village participated for a small fee (and some free depending on their situation).

At the English camp we gave out tickets as positive motivation for helping someone else, cleaning the table after meals, giving a correct answer in English lessons, showing up on time… etc. These tickets were used as money at the auction on the last day.

The auction had everything from headphones, jeans, shirts, Frisbees, balls, cosmetics, glow sticks, candy, hats… etc. The camper that had the most tickets had around 200, the least was around 50 or so, but there was enough auction items that I think everyone got at least one thing but even as much as 10 different items.

When this idea was presented, I was hoping to be a 'spotter' (the person that mingles in the crowd finding bidders and making sure the auctioneer sees the bidders). I really enjoy watching the spotters because they will try to talk people into purchasing things/bidding just a little more. The good ones are also very animated and they yell and flail their hat around when they get a bid. The problem was that the campers did not have a high enough English level to run the auction in English, so the auctioneer had to know Romanian. Also, auctions are not done in Moldova (or at least not very common) no Moldavian had really experienced an auction so I was appointed as the auctioneer.

I was not too worried. I have done auctions like this at camps back in the US and had been to my share of animal actions at county fairs and the Ohio State Fair. I was slightly worried that I would not remember my numbers in Romanian and I did not know if I would be able to say it fast enough to make exciting and fast paced.

But overall it went really well and I had an awesome time. The kids loved it and really got into bidding. They actually learned how the auction worked very quickly (faster than in the American camps I have been involved in) and I do not think we ever had anyone bid more than they actually had in their possession. The one thing they did not get, which was not well explained was that I would call out the price of the next bid, so I just called out the current bid I had and kept my finger pointed towards the person who had that bid and the youth would call out what they wanted to bid.

It was really a lot of fun. I have decided to put 'auctioneer' on the list of potential careers. The people that I work with also saw the auction take place and they think it would be fun/interesting for the people of my village if we do a large yard sale/auction as a community with me as the auctioneer.

The organization I work with in Moldova partnered with Baptist churches in our region of Moldova, volunteers from the US and Canada, and an organization that assists in the planning and staffing of Christian/English Language camps all over the world. We had a five day camp with 20 staff (10 North Americans and 10 Moldavians) and 50 youth from the ages of 13 to 18. The youth were from all over the region in which I am located in Moldova.

The camp devoted about a third of the day to English language education and American/Canadian culture, a third to sports activities, and a third to a worship service and small group discussions about life, God’s existence, knowing right and wrong, etc.

The Moldavian staff was made up of people from three different villages as well as a few guys who came back to Moldova on their summer break from working and studying in America. The North American staff was from Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Canada.

As many of you know, I just love being at camp. I have been at a camp as a camper or staff every year for the last 11 years except for a year or two. I was very excited to help. It was a blessing because I got to work closely with youth and adults from my village which strengthened my relationship with the people in my community. I was also able to practice my Romanian more than I would during a normal week.

It looks like I might have to extend my service just a little next year, so I can be involved in this camp next year.

The oldest and one of the smallest wineries in Moldova is Purcari (http://www.purcari.md). As a thank you to the group that did the eye exams in our village, we took them for a tour and a relaxing few hours at Purcari winery. Not only is this a winery, but it is also a resort with a hotel, horseback riding, fishing, and other available activities.

The winery was one a monastery and is Moldavian owned. Within the last 20 years they did a large renovation which 75% of the investment was from America. Purcari’s wine is considered one of the best, if not the best wine in Moldova but unfortunately it is not exported into any English speaking countries.

They specialize in a dry red wine made with a variety of grapes that almost exclusively grows in this area of Moldova. It was very good.

A group of Optometrists and Optometrist students from Wales spent about a week in Moldova doing free eye exams and giving away free glasses. They even ordered specialized glasses if they did not bring the correct glasses with them.

This was organized by a missionary who lives in America but is originally from Romania. The missionary also does work with orphanages throughout Moldova.

Those that organized the group at the university have been doing these trips for many years in Romania, but this was one of their first trips into Moldova. Some of them even knew the words, phrases, and commands which would allow them to give eye exams.

The group spent three days in my village and gave eye exams and glasses away to over 900 people! Many were from my village, but also from about five other villages in the area. While I was not involved in the planning process, I was able to assist the group as a translator for the exams because they were one translator short.

I was also able to meet some Moldavian medical students who were helping as translators. I have also decided to add Wales to my list of places to visit after I finish my Peace Corps service.

Exciting times have been happening here in my village. We had a group from Britain here for three days giving free exams and glasses. I just helped as a translator, but it was very exciting to see and be a part of. This week a group from Canada and America have come to help run an English/Bible camp. After that I will be taking a little vacation.

It is exciting to see all that is happening in my village and the opportunities I have and will have. I am loving my life!