Brianne in Moldova

13 days and 3 countries

2007-06-22T11:32:00.000+02:00

As usual Bri is not allowed to go anywhere or do anything without some sort of chaos ensuing! So, this time...

When I was in Budapest I traveled by train from there to Bucharest. I had bought a 2-way ticket because it was cheaper, so I thought that it would be a good idea to see if my ticket was still valid and use that and then just buy a ticket to Bratislava once I arrived in Budapest. The woman at the ticket window in Bucharest said my ticket was still valid. So I get on the train and of course the conductor tells me that my ticket isn't actually valid. It was only valid for 2 months and I had bought my ticket back in November. Luckily the next stop on the train was in a town called Brasov (pronounced Brashov) and they sell international tickets. And even luckier for me, there would be 1 more train heading to Bratislava. So, in the end, I made it to Bratislava no worse for the wear.

Bratislava, in general, was good. I had too many days there though. I spent 3 full days there and I really only needed 1 or 2 full days. But, the hostel I stayed at hand a really nice garden area and they even had lawn chairs (something I haven't seen in almost 2 years) so I took full advantage of those and sat outside and read. I fully enjoyed being able to do that.

One cool thing was the UFO tower that was positioned on top of one of Bratislava's many bridges. There is a viewing platform on top of the UFO and I went up there to take some pictures of the river and the castle.

The guards at the Presidential Palace are all decked out and they even do a little march every hour or so. I managed to catch it while I was taking these pictures.

I also met some cool people at the hostel I was staying at. One of them was even going to Moldova. I tried my best to give him a quick summary of the top things to do for someone who is only spending a day or 2 in the city.

And then it was off to Prague...

I met this group of people from Ireland and pretty much hung out with them while I was in Prague. Apparently Prague holds a theater expo every 4 years and drama departments from universities all over the world use it to showcase their students' work. That was why the group from Ireland was there. They were quite the fun group and made it possible for me to sample some of Prague's nightlife.

Prague, in general, I feel is an absolutely beautiful city. I really wish that I had spent more time there. If I had known I would have cut a day off the Bratislava part and added it to Prague. But, now I have a reason to go back!

While I was there Prague had their annual Museum Night, where most of the museums are free after 7pm and they stay open til 12 or 1 am. There were special exhibitions at some of the galleries and concerts in the main square. We checked out one of the natural history museums. This one had a whale skeleton hanging from the ceiling. I was impressed, the thing was HUGE and it weighed over 8000 lbs!

And then it was off to Vienna...

Vienna is another city where I wished I had atleast one more day there...and a ton more money. Vienna has managed to mix it's past quite well with it's present. My hostel was right off the main shopping street and this was a western style shopping street. There was 1 KFC, 3 McD's, 2 Starbucks, and a ton more sandwich and coffee shops. There is also a small english language movie theater playing a selection of recent releases. Of course my first stop was Starbucks...Banana Java Chip Frappacino...and it was good.

I had only planned on having 1 full day in Vienna but my train back to Bucharest didn't leave until 8 pm the following day so I basically had 2 full days and I made good use of them.

The morning of my one real full day there I headed down to the Museum Quarter. And, as one who expect, that is where the musuems are located. The majority of them are attached to eachother. The area is really well marked so you can always figure out where you are and how to get to the next place. The Quarter also is where most of the old architecture has been preserved. There are tons of little corner cafes and knick-knack shops to check out. There were also really nice gardens in the quarter so it was a nice place to just sit and relax. I treated myself to sushi for lunch. That made me happy. Then I saw Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End at the english theater. Also a good thing.

Basically by the time I got to Vienna I pretty much had my fill of walking around and seeing all the cool buildings and taking pictures of the monuments so Vienna became my "western" vacation. Before heading back I hit up Starbucks once more and then saw another movie. I do want to go back. The next time I'll pay more attention to the museums! :)

But now, I'm back in Moldova and ready to finish my term of service with flair :)

War Memorial

2007-02-07T12:34:00.000+01:00

So two other volunteers and I decided to be tourists last sunday. In Chisinau there is a World War II Memorial which we visited. There is an eternal flame with guards posted at the main monument. There are also names of soldiers who died during the war and even a small cemetary in the back. Even the Moldovan go and take pictures. I know that sounds like an odd comment but sometimes being the foreigner you tend to think about what will get you noticed and maybe get you into some type of trouble and taking photos in places where people don't normally take photos falls on the top of the list. So, when you see Moldovan taking pictures of the various monuments you don't worry so much about doing something that could attract police attention.

It was definitely a worthwhile trip. Being so close to a major city with attractions that I could essentially go to anytime I wanted usually means I don't bother to take the time. There are many different museums and theaters, like any major city, and so far I have only been to one museum and now this memorial. I have to keep reminding myself that there are things to see here and that I should see them while I can.

Sfintul Nicolai

2006-12-21T07:44:00.000+01:00

First off, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all! I hope the holidays are fun filled and not too stressful.

Now, I don't know if I have talked about this in a blog before but if I have then I feel that it is something worth noting twice! December 19th is (atleast according to the Eastern Orthodox calendar) St Nicolas Day and I feel that the way the Moldovan's celebrate it should be brought everywhere. I woke up on the morning of the 19th to find a chocolate bar in my shoe. The tradition here is to put a little something in your family member's shoes, either chocolate or money or, as my host sister did for her parents, a little note. Of course it's easier to do it in a house where the shoes are left out in the entry way but if you know St Nic will be coming by to give you a little something, you leave your shoes out. I personally think that the best part of the morning was when my host mother went out into the entry way and then came back into the living room and started going on about "oh what great things Sfintul Nicolai has brought us, oh sfintul Nicolai..." I'm 26 and my host sister is 15. I'm quite positive we are both beyond the whole sfintul Nicolai thing but she wanted to make sure we knew it was sfintul Nicolai that came to the house and not her. My host sister's notes to her parents were even addressed as "from Sfintul Nicolai". Quite cute.

So that's my little diatribe for the day. As I said before, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!

Thanksgiving 06

2006-11-29T15:31:00.000+01:00

Once again Thanksgiving was an amazing success. The football game commenced at 3pm. The promise to our wonderful medical personel that the game would be a touch football game was effectively broken on play #2 and we the first injury occured roughly 5 minutes later. Thankfully it wasn't much more than and bad skinned knee. Dinner was pretty typical Thanksgiving food served for 291 people. That's roughly 100 more poeple than we had last year. I guess we have quite the reputation for providing a worthwhile holiday dinner. We even had greenbean casserole and real cranberry sauce. You read it correctly REAL cranberry sauce, a direct benefit from being able to order food in bulk from the commissary at the embassy! We finished off the evening with the annual talent show which, as usually, was packed with talent-less performances. However, all were quite entertaining. We had once group lipsync to some fantastic 80s hits and even managed to have dayglo pink spandex sent to them specifically for the performance.

Work wise things are going pretty well. My boss keeps telling me that he is so busy he's pulling out his hair. Basically that means he has a lot of reports to write which means in about 2 weeks I will be stuck at my computer typing said reports!

Really not much else to write. But don't worry, both my host parents' birthdays are coming up and then starts the holiday rush so that will provide plenty of fodder for the next few blogs!

Viva La Budapest

2006-11-10T10:50:00.000+01:00

I know there are many people waiting with bated breath for this blog so I do not want to delay!!!!!!!!!!!

My first stop was Cluj Napoca, Romania. I didn't expect to spend so much time there but due to a bus break down a websites with misinformation about train schedules, I did. Yup, you read it right, my bus broke down. At 6 am, less than 2 hours from Cluj Napoca my bus broke. I was stuck for 4 hours. My host brother (he goes to school in Cluj) waited for me at the bus station starting from 7 am. I didn't arrive until noon. Talk about dedication! We went to the train station and I found out that there is no 2:40 pm train as I had come to believe, instead there is a 1:40 am train...so my host brother and his friends took me around Cluj, which is absolutely gorgous and treated me to dinner. The first 3 pics are from Cluj. I made it to the train with no problems and arrived in Budapest around 9 am.

First I would like to thank everyone for my cards, presents, and donations! All are greatly appreciated. Mom - I hope I manage to save the nativity calendar until December!! So the first of the Budapest pics is of the Chain Bridge. The hotel that aunt Marianne and I stayed at was a 2 minute walk from the bridge. The second pic is of Parliament. It is absolutely mamoth and disgustingly gorgeous. We could see it as soon as we walked out of the hotel. It looks spectacular when it is all lit up. The last pic is of the fenicular which we rode to go up to the Castle District. There we went to the Royal Palace and saw one of the many museums Budapest has to offer. We also went to the Budapest Labyrinth. It was the huge underground cave system.
This picture is of the entrance the courtyard of the Royal Palace.
This picture is from the labyrinth. It is a wine fountain. We walk into the area where it is and I can't figure out why I keep smelling wine until I take a closer look at the fountain and it has wine and not water running through it!!

We also went to the shopping district (of course). Budapest is definitely a city that could do serious damage to someone's check book. If I had a MUCH larger budgest and a house to put everything in I would have spent have my vacation at the post office arrange to ship things back home! I did however manage to buy some pretty sweet stuff even with my limited budget. Budapest is also a city where someone on a limited budget could still do very well there. There is a city market where you could easily buy all the fixings for a good lunch for cheap and then you just go sit somewhere outside and eat. There are a ridiculous number of coffee shops, all with food. I definitly ODed on coffee!! It was nice to be in a place where freeze-dried coffee isn't even an option!
We also went to the Statue Park just outside of Budapest. It has most of the monuments put up in the communist era. That was definitely a cool place to visit. I bought myself a pair of socks that had Lenin's face stitched onto it! Of course I go home and I show my host brother my socks and he asks me why I didn't get him a pair. I didn't think anyone else would like them as much as I did so I didn't get any extra pairs. Actually, I kind of thought that they either just "wouldn't get it" or might actually be insulted. If I had thought he would have found the socks funny I totally would have gotten them. I probably should have known, he's only 18, Lenin socks would be funny to him! Now I know for next time.

So needless to say, my vacation was an awesome time of site seeing and eating. I even got serenaded by a violenist the night before my birthday!

I hope you all are well back home and getting ready for Thanksgiving. Things here are in full swing in preparation for the holidays. Stay warm.

The Man Purse

2006-10-02T13:28:00.000+02:00

I felt this had to have it's own section even though it's gonna be kinda short. It's a minor commentary on cultural differences between the US and Moldova. In the US most men hate to be seen holding on to their significant other's purse for an extended period of time, especially when shopping when they might be seen by someone they know. However, here I really don't think it makes much difference to the men here because men have purses here. I forgot to get a picture of my host dad's but I am on a mission to photograph it and get it up here. Most of them are very nice and leather and in a file folder style design. The majority of business men here in Moldova have atleast one. I just find it amusing because I know guys who would rather carry around their bulky briefcases just to hold 2 small pieces of paper rather than carry around something that might even resemble a woman's purse.

Autumn Has Begun

2006-10-02T12:47:00.000+02:00

So I just finished up a IATA business camp at my site. We didn't have too many kids but they were really into it and were happy about participating which is all I can really ask for. I had 4 other volunteers come in and help me. This was my first camp that I put on myself so I was a little nervous and definitled had more volunteers come and help than I really needed but oh well, we had a good time hanging out together.

I got to help harvest corn!!!! And let me tell you, that is not easy. I was all ready to get right in there and get dirty and sweaty cutting down cornstalks, but after 8 unsuccessful whacks at the stalk we all realized it was better for me to just watcha and take pictures. I did however manage to cut down a few, granted they were a little on the small side. Those big ones were just too much for me.

AND..........!!!!!!!!!! I got to help harvest the grapes and make wine! That was awesome. The wine festival is this coming weekend. My raion also has a celebration so I am currently trying to decide which one I really want to go to. Since I've already been to the one in Chisinau I might decide to stay in town this time. I know, I have such hard decisions to make in life!!

Commentary

2006-08-29T14:00:00.000+02:00

FYI, I just put up a new link. It is a database of PC blogs from all over so check it out. I found it because the guy who runs it come across my blog and added me to the database and then emailed me to let me know. You can even read blogs from those lucky duck PC volunteers working in Fiji...wouldn't I love to be there right now!!!

Commentary: Fences

I may have talked about this before or just mentioned it to people in emails, but now I have pics to back up my tyraid so I'm going to talk about it again. EVERYTHING is behind a fence in this country, it's really crazy. People here honestly believe that if their property is not fenced-in other people will steal everything, including flowers straight from the garden. Granted, it might actually happen.

Case and Point: I was in Pepeni a few months ago. The volunteer who used to be there had won a grant to put in new soccer goals at her school. When I was there the goals had just been put in. Now the design of the goals was pretty typical and at the bottom was a second rebar for added support. As we are walking by them to admire the volunteer's grant's handiwork we realized that the rebar had been stolen. Someone had come by and unhooked the wires around the bar and removed the bar.

Of course, the craziest thing about these fences is the amount of money people are willing to spend on them. Now there are the traditional picket fence and the even more basic wire fence but then there are some that are just completely crazy. A large percentage of the work force is in other countries sending money back to family members still here. These family members do not invest this money and very rarely put it into a bank. They quite literally put it into a sock and hide it under the mattress (I am so not kidding). Much of the time the money goes to property improvements including putting in the "blingiest" fence they can. Some of these fences are really nice, and I mean nicer than most fences people would put up in the States.

Now, for all of you wine people, it's about time to harvest again and I have a few pics of the grapes growing outside my bedroom window.

Travelin' Around

2006-08-18T14:06:00.000+02:00

So I got to hang out in the North of Moldova this past week. I taught business classes with some other volunteers to a group of students. Some of the students had been at these classes last year so they taught some of the sections. It was a really good time. At the end of each day we did some type of activity with the kids. On the first night we played ultimate frisbee. I had never played before but it was a lot of fun. The next night was basketball and then we ended the whole deal with a BBQ. I'm including the pics for everyone.

So, funny little escapade during my 4 days in the north...one of the volunteers decided to sleep outside in a tent. Well, 2 of the other volunteers...

Sidenight - yea, it was me and 5 boys so I got to listen to bawdy jokes and the general rude comments they made to eachother - highly entertaining

...thought it would be funny to mess with him on our last night. They found two host country nationals to tell him he was not allowed to sleep there - mind you this is about 1 am and he was sleeping when this all happened. All the poor kid wanted to do was sleep and here are 2 Moldovans doing rapid fire questioning about why he was sleeping in a tent and what he is doing in town. It may have been kinda mean but it was rather funny for us. Otherwise it was a pretty tame few days. It was nice to get out and do some traveling.

So NOT A Teacher

2006-07-22T13:42:00.000+02:00

So, I just spent the last week helping out at a camp that was done in a neighboring village. People from a school in England came and put on the camp. I was there to help translate during the camp. The first couple of days I kept saying how cute the kids were and one of the other volunteers there commented that it's obvious I'm not a teacher. By the end of the week I was completely done with being there and now I know what the other volunteer made that comment. By Friday, those kids were no longer cute they were little hellions!! But it was a good time. The camp was circus themed so in the mornings the kids switched between English, Art, Drama, and Sports classes and then after lunch we practiced for putting on a circus on Friday night. The circus was really cute and as you'll see in the pics the kids got their faces painted. We had kids that juggled or did skits or played music. We even had ourself a clown and let me tell you that kid was not only a clown for the show but also a clown in the class room. I will never teach children!!! Some of the pics from the week are below. Of course, I can't say that I didn't have an absolute blast because I volunteered to help translate at the camp next year.

I hope everyone is enjoying their summer. Mine has been quite busy. It is extremely hot here right now and very humid and we have yet to hit the hottest days of the season...sarcastic comment to follow: oh I can't wait!

Creating the World

2006-06-25T14:39:00.000+02:00

I didn't really create the world but it was close enough! I just spent the last few days at a local village with some other volunteers painting a map of the world at the school there. It was an excellent time. Painting world maps at schools where volunteers teach has been a tradition here. This year roughly 10 volunteers painted maps at there schools. The kids are normally excited to help but you get atleast a few adults who tell you that you must be using an American map because Ukraine is "too small"...ya gotta love the people here! And of course the food was hooked up american style. Julie busted out dip mix that got sent to here from the US. My thank you gift for helping her out was taco seasoning, ranch dressing mix, and italian dressing mix. She also has a french press which reminded me that I really enjoy real coffee. It reminded me so much that I just bought myself a french press - any one who sends me Starbucks will be my best friend forever!!
Alright on coffee, back to my weekend in Gura Bicului...
So I got there thursday to help with sketching out the map. We just hung out after and made taco salads. Making Mexican food tends to be a favorite for all the volunteers here. Friday we finished sketching it all out and started painting. Luckily The World Map Project, as it is aptly named, comes with detailed instructions on which colors to use for each country. Firday night we were joined by 2 other volunteers. While we waited for their bus to arrive we took a walk down to the Nistru River and waved to Transnitria.
Sidebar: Transnistria is technically part of Moldova but since 1992 they have wanted to ceced (yea I know my spelling is horrible but its phonetically correct and that's what counts and if it is spelled correctly than that's just bonus!) and rejoin Russia. Moldova doesn't want to hear anything about them going back to russia, there was a civil war because of the tensions and now the Transnitrian bored is protected by the Russian 14th Army. It's a major bone of contention here and is one of the major reasons why Moldova will not be allowed to become part of the EU. The EU will not allow serious talks about Moldova becoming a member state until the "Transnitrian Conflict" is settled. It keeps things entertaining here.
So, on the way back from the Nistru we come across a very large section of the path that is all nice swampy marshy muddy goodness. I, of course, am wearing flip flops because they are the shoe of choice this time of year. My foot gets stuck in the mud and as I pull it out I break my flip flop (pics are included). I end up walking barefoot through a football field's length of nasty water and mud then have to walk barefoot down the dirt road until we finaly come to a store where Julie buys me new shoes (a pic of those is also included). I found the entire incident highly entertaining, I considered it a "donation to the cause". 2 days later and I'm still picking dirt from my toes!!! Friday night's dinner was pasta with a thick vegetarian sauce. All the fresh fruits and vegetables are coming out...it's awesome. Saturday we did some crazy painting. Unfortunately I had to leave before the whole thing was finished which is why there is no pic of the finished product but it was mostly finished by the time I left. It was coming along really well. It was a good time.
So now I'm hanging out in the capital writing all about my 3 day adventure. I just saw "Lucky Number Sleven" which I highly recommend. I can't say what it's about becasue there are some nice twists so you have to see it for yourselves!!
Alright, that's all for me folks hope your having a good time and enjoying your summer

Fashion Show

2006-06-06T08:16:00.000+02:00

I realized that I didn't actually explain some of those pictures the way I should have. In my last post I said that I was at another site helping teach kids about business. The volunteer at that site is a teacher and every friday the students put on some type of themed show. The theme of that particular event was how to better manage the village's garbage problem. The students put together a presentation on how the town can better manage garbage and litter and then groups of students had to put together an outfit for a fashion show. The ballgown that I took a picture of is made entirely of candy wrapers. These kids were unbelievably creative with some of their ideas. It was quite the experience.

Littering here is a very large problem. Many people just toss their garbage into any open area they find. These open areas over time end up becoming unofficial (and illegal) dumping sites for garbage. Some towns have official garbage dumps and trash pickups but that means money and some people can't pay and others just don't want to. People will walk down the street and will just throw what ever trash they have in their hands on the ground. With the coming of the warmer weather I'm forseen a spike in ice cream wrappers floating around on the streets. My town has trash barrels in the center which helps keep the garbage problem down a little but definitely doesn't stop it. The larger cities will have trash buckets every few hundred feet on the main streets and in the parks but again, doesn't completely stop people from throwing their trash on the ground. It's interesting to hear someone talk about the trash problem. They understand that trash is bad and would never through trash on the ground inside the walls surrounding the town biserica (church) because that would be uncivilized but they don't attach that same feeling to the center of town, or anywhere else in town. You ask the teenagers about it and they just shrug their shoulders, it's very much the everyone else does it and you can't stop everyone so I might as well do it too, type of mentality.

So that's my little commentary for the day. :)

Pictures

2006-05-30T13:53:00.000+02:00

Hey

I just wanted to let you all know that I put some more pictures on line. On the side bar of this page there is a links section. Just click on the word pictures and you'll get a bunch of photo albums for different volunteers, including myself. I put 30 new pics up there. Some of them are from my weekend in Pepeni. That is another village in northern Moldova. I was there with some other volunteers doing a weekend camp teaching high school students what it means to be an entreprenuer and how to be one. It was a lot of fun and the kids really enjoyed themselves. The whole camp is done in Romanian, which was rather nerve racking but the other volunteers that I was there with have been doing these camps for the last year so I knew that if I got into a bind they would jump in and help me out! There is a health education volunteer who lives in Pepeni. She arranged for the whole camp and we all slept at her house for the weekend so I got to eat some good ol' american style food. We tacos and lasagna and french toast - I guess it really wasn't "american" food was it...oh well, you know what I meant! :)

Hope you all enjoy the pics!

Adjustment

2006-05-10T13:32:00.000+02:00

This is gonna be a shorty, I just wanted to let you all know I changed my settings. Due to some spam I changed the settings on how to post comments. You now have to do a word verification - one of those wavey random letters things where you have to retype the letters to verify you are actually a human and not an alien. I am sorry for the inconvience but I don't like spam and I don't want to worry about cleaning it off my site. I hope you all understand!

:)

HAPPY EASTER

2006-04-25T12:23:00.000+02:00

I realize it's belated but Happy Easter. Easter here was this past Sunday (the 23rd) and of course one easter is good so 2 must be better. Next sunday is the "Easter of the Dead" where everyone goes and hangs out in the cemetary for a few hours and gives presents to their relatives whom have passed. Later, the presents which have been put on the grave stones are then passed out to other family members and friends. Not so sure how hot I am on that particular aspect of the tradition. I can appreciate having a specific day to commemorate the dead but having someone give me a gift that had the original intention of being for a dead person, that I really can't get behind. Maybe it's just me? I have been told that the whole thing is very beautiful, I believe however I will be finding other things to occupy my time this coming sunday!

So, to back track and give updates on recent events...

Awhile ago we didn't have water for a week. Apparently the pump which brings water up our hill (we have city water) broke. After 4 days of searching for where it broke they "fixed" the problem and we had water...for all of 12 hours. Apparently the actual problem was that the old pump is not powerful enough to bring pump all the the neighborhoods water needs and thus we need a new one. Getting the new one and installing it took another 4 days. On the plus side I was able to acquaint myself with my host family's outhouse which until we had no running water, I had never used before. I also learned from this experience that there is more than one way to build an outhouse. Until now I had only been familiar with the bench seat system. However there is also the simple yet effective hole in the floor system, and also the varient which is the double hole in the floor system (I could go into detail but I'll let you all use your imaginations instead), and I have also had it reported to me by fellow volunteers that they have used outhouses where the family has actually used the hole in the floor method but then but a toilet boil over the hole. I applaud the Moldovans on their Outhouse Ingenuity!

We have also gotten a new puppy. He's very rolly polly and will not get much bigger then his current fit in your palm size. That will make him ineffective as a typical garden guard dog, however he is very yippie and will therefore make a good Moldovan Doorbell with Teeth. That is the basic use of dogs in the country (which I think I may have mentioned before). Dogs are not pets, they are yet another underfed work animal. However my family seems to be rather atypical. My host mother was carrying our dog around the other day while we were all outside.

That brings me to Easter. Preparations started on friday. I left work around 10:
30 which I definitely was not complaining about. Both me and one of the other women I work with had the same theory - if there is nothing to do why stay, so we ate some sunflower seeds and then left. My family came home a few hours later and spent most of the time working in the flower garden to make all nice and pretty. We have some crazy flowers and trees growing in the flower garden. Since I was hanging out outside without anything to do they made me carry a dead rooster and its severed head into the kitchen...that was a new experience. Later I walked into the kitchen to find a dead lamb laying there. I don't know what happened to the rooster's head but the lamb's head became the neighbor's dog's new chew toy. Saturday was spent cooking, and I mean quite literally from the time we woke up until about 9 pm when we all sat down to watch Passion of the Christ. Thankfully the subtitles were in Romanian and not Russian, of course I'm pretty sure I didn't really need any subtitles to get the jist of what was going on. So I finally go to be around 12:30. My family takes a little nap and then they all went to the church from 2-5am. That one I was so not going to do and thankfully they didn't even ask if I was interested. Around 9:00 Sunday morning we all got moving and then headed out the door around 9:30. We didn't get back to our house until midnight. We made stops at four different houses and of course that meant 4 different meals. When my host family told me that saturday was spent cooking and sunday was spent eatting, they really weren't kidding. Thankfully I had monday off, I don't think I could have survived otherwise. Now it's back to normal, at least for a few days.

:)

30 Minutes in a Car

2006-03-14T12:22:00.000+01:00

So, this won't be too long, I just wanted to relay an interesting tidbit in the life of Me:

A few weeks ago my program manager visited me at work to check up on my progess and meet with my boss. This is normal, he does it yearly with all of us Ag Vols to make sure things are on track. I had expressed my desire to him about visiting all of our local consultants, my office has 10 local consultants. So he relayed this bit of info to my boss who resonded that he would do that as soon as the opportunity arose. Well...with the possibility of being hit hard by Avian Flu once birds start to migrate back this way, USAID has been funding major educational seminars. Our office is part of this effort so yesterday and today I went with the veterinarian of my region as well as one of the other women I work with to give a seminar on Avian Flu to the towns where we have local consultants. (Between this week and next week we will have done 11 total seminars-all 10 towns with our consultants plus my town.)

Because we have an outside funding source for this particular event, we have money for some "perks" and in a few lines you'll understand why the word perks is in quotation marks. Part of our funding covers money to higher a car and driver for transportation. Our office is in the "capital building" of my region.

SIDE NOTE - Moldova is divided into regions, each with it's own center. These centers are cities which act like what we would consider capitals even though these "capitals" don't really have any autonomos power, but it is the easiest way for me to refer to them and make sure everyone gets the jist of my point.

So, that is where we are located and we have cars available for people who work here to use so we are using one. Well....this is where the fun begins. Yesterday we take our car to a town which is about a 30 minute drive. I have yet to see a car here that isn't a stick shift and this car was no different. So, about 10 minutes into the drive, Nadia (one of the women I work with) gives me a little poke. She indicates to me to look at the stick shift. Now, there is a piece of carpet covering the center floor console with a hole cut in it for the stick shift. There is nasty smelling, blue-ish colored smoke coming from the stick shift area. I personally am a little worried about what could possibly happen. You want to know what the driver did? Oh yes you do. His answer was to push the carpet down farther onto the stick shift base, because that is going solve all problems. As long as the carpet is firmly in place, there is nothing to worry about!! For the rest of the drive the driver would just randomly stare at the stick shift eveery time we went up a hill becuase the added pressure on the transmission would result in smoke. The guy just had this "what am I supposed to do with THIS" look on his face. I'm just hoping to make it home.

But, needless to say not only did I survive the ride in the car yesterday, but I also survived the ride in that same car today...and guess what I get to do tomorrow!!!

:)

Welcome to March, Have Some Snow

2006-03-06T09:25:00.000+01:00

March 1st is a pretty big deal here. Apparently both Moldovan's and Romanians celebrate March 1 as the first day of spring. So as part of the celebration you spend about 5 minutes wishing each family member, friend, and coworks health and happiness in the coming spring.

(Toasting and general wishes of congratulations are big here. People really will spend 5 minutes "well wishing" you on your birthday at your wedding etc., it's crazy)

Also on March 1st, and it seems for atleast a week following, women wear these things called Martisor (pron: mart-ee-shore) They are cute little things that you put on your sweater and they have a fake flower, beads, and some type of embroidery.

Now, of course Mother Nature decided to remind us that she's in control and dumped 6in of snow on us on March 2nd. That one was entertaining. I wake up to a snow storm and my host mother says "isn't it beautiful?" My response: "yeah, if I didn't have to go to work in it!" However, as usual these days, it's been warm"er" all weekend so now that 6 inches of snow is a wet sloppy mess that I get to slosh through. Good time.

So that's all I got for now.

The Nunta

2006-02-14T07:01:00.000+01:00

First, Happy Valentine's Day to everyone. Valentine's Day is definitely not a foreign concept here. The post office has been selling valentine's day cards for the last few weeks and my host sister told me that they give out valentine's day cards to eachother during class. Yesterday I saw here bring down her "mail box" to take to school.

So as I'm writing this it is snowing here once again. The "municipal workers" who's job it is to clear the sidewalks have basically given up. I don't blame them. Now they just throw down more dirt on top of the already brown snow. Snow plows are almost nonexistent. They clear the major highways but thats it so the roads through town are covered with a solid 3" of hard packed snow with I'm sure more to come. My host father's shovel I find to be rather effecient but entertaining. When you open the gates to our house it's all concrete outdoor tile for the enterance to the property to the door to the house (which is a pretty typical setup, the backyard and maybe a side yard are dedicated to gardens of vegetables and flowers and then further back would be the house vineyard), so a shovel that we would imagine wouldn't work, it'd destroy the tile. So, my host father's shovel is a piece of plywood with a pole attached to it which he slides along the walkway pushing the snow. It works well but you have to watch out because a large amount of snow can accumulate on the shovel rather quickly making it impossible to lift.

Now on the the main topic for the blog: The Nunta

Pronounced noon-tah, it is the romanian word for wedding or the code name for massive amounts of food, alcohol, and dancing. I attended my first nunta this past sunday which turned into quite the event from the time we left the house to the time we returned. On Friday a whole lot of snow got dumped on us which wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing if roads actually got cleared in this country. There is a rather steep hill that leads into the town where the nunta was held. Needless to say many a car got stuck for a while making our trip that much longer. Our car turned out to be quite the champ. Here the bride and groom choose a couple to be the godparents for their marriage which is quite the honor. When this couple's godparents shoulded up to the house a band started playing. There was some dancing and then we had dinner #1 around 3:30. During dinner 2 family members went around the tables carrying a plate which people would put money on for the new couple. In return for the money they got a shot of some unidentifiable alcoholic beverage. At one point the women that were incharge of cooking and making sure the tables were packed with food came into the tent (oh yeah, the wedding was outdoors in 0 degree weather) doing this high pitched yipping and carrying a good number of the presents that had just been given to the couple. (You don't open presents in the quite of your own home they get presented to you before the dinner begins and wrapping presents doesn't happen because you are supposed to wrap the item you bought around the couple or leave it by their feet. If they have a serious number of guests it's quite possible to be buried under your own gifts.) So these women come in carrying the clothes and blankets that the couple were just given and proceed to tie them onto other people who then wear them for the rest of the evening. Dinner goes to about 6:30 and during those 3 hours more food gets randomly brought out so by the end there are plates on top of plates at the table. Then there was some dancing. The best man decided that I needed to get brought into the middle of the circle (we were doing one of many horas at the time) and dance with him. He had to slow the pace down a little so I could keep up. The dancing here is quite energetic. Then at 8:30pm there was dinner #2. When we left at 10pm the dinner was still going on and would probably continue for a while followed by more dancing. I was rather wiped out by the time we left but of course our adventures were not quite finished. A random snowplow had been deployed to clear off the road we were on because a mac-truck needed to pass through so there was much stopping and going and we didn't get home until midnight. So that was my first wedding experience but hopefully not the last. It was a good time.

Alright, that's all I got for my latest crazy adventures.

The Weather

2006-01-21T10:56:00.000+01:00

So it's supposed to be -20 celsius today which means that it will be -4 farenheit. And I was told that is supposed to be hitting -27 celsius sometime this week. Needless to say even my CT self has started wearing hats and gloves while being outside. We also have some countable snowfall which has made me very happy. I see snowmen in my future.

I would like to introduce everyone to the fun and entertaining world of pig. My host family decided that I needed to eat pig skin and pig ear the other day. Pig skin, not so bad. At a little salt, forget that it is really rubbery and you will do fine. The ear...not so much. It's really crunchy because you eat the cartiledge with it (no it was not a dog's chewy toy thank you very much!). Don't think I will be dining on that again any time soon. And then my host mother wanted me to eat pig tail. My "I'm going to throw up know" look on my face managed to get me out of that one so instead I watched my host mom crunch on it for a while because again what you are eating is cartiledge.

So, I tried Lebanese food while I was in Chisinau last week. Yup, I spent an entire week in the capital because we had another week of training. So basically days were spent learning more romanian and nights were spent sampling the restaurants that the capital offers. Highly impressed. I was in the capital for 6 nights and yup I have eaten at 6 new restaurants. Life is good...cold...but good.

I would like to give a HUGE congratulations to both Marci and Mandy on the births of their babies. I am happy to hear that all are doing well.

So that's it for me.

PS for those who are asking for pics. I put a Pictures link on the side bar of this page so check it out. You should all be very happy.

Happy New Year

2006-01-08T10:50:00.000+01:00

Happy New Year to everyone.

So my new year and Moldovan Christmas ended up being rather entertaining. New Year (Anul Nou) here is outta control. My host family had my host uncle, 2 cousins, and one of my host grandmothers over for a mini celebration. My friend Nate also came in for the festivities. We had our first dinner around 9 pm. At 11 pm there was one set of fireworks for New Years in Moscow. When I say fireworks I mean everyone in town setting them off in their yards. These people had some serious fireworks and then at midnight there were even more fireworks for our New Years and then we ate an even bigger dinner after midnight. Then of course around 2 am people shoulded up to wish us a happy new years. I didn't go to bed until 5 am. Absolutely in sane!!! Christmas was yesterday. That involved going to 3 different houses and of course eating at every single one of them. I was wiped out by the time we got back home at 4:30.

Other than that not much to report. I hope everyone enjoyed their new years.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

2005-12-25T13:03:00.000+01:00

Merry Christmas to everyone. I hope you all are entering the holiday season happy and healthy. Things are pretty much the norm around here. The majority of Moldovan's do not celebrate Christmas until the 7th of January so today is pretty much like any other day. One of the piata in town just started selling Christmas trees, that was a very exciting thing to see. My family is having a Christmas party on the 31st which I am looking forward too.

It's starting to get rather cold around here, especially at night. So far during the day it's been similar to weather in CT but the night is turning into a different story. I may have to relent and start wearing my long-johns under all of my clothes. My tutor still can't believe that I haven't already started. It snowed today as well. That's not exactly big news since it's snowed a few times and as usual it doesn't stick around long. The snow always melts within an hour of falling. My host sister keeps telling me that there will be 3 feet of snow on the ground...I'll believe it when I have to walk in it.

I am currently watching a friend's dog for the next 2 weeks. His name is Butch and he is 3 months old. He's this little tiny furball that like eating garbage. Most people in Moldova burn their trash (those who don't want to toss it in some random field on the side of the road) and so Butch has become quite taken with the area where my family burns it's trash.

Things at work are pretty normal. I basically do my homework there and read whatever materials are around. My office (like all cooperatives) has factsheets and other materials on produce and animals that can be raised in the area so I basically sit and translate them as a way to practice my language. The director of my office has me keeping track of produce prices at our local piata. If anyone wants to know what a kilogram of potatoes or beets cost here just let me know because I'm the unoffical reigning authority! :)

Alright, that's it for now. Happy Holidays to all

Thanksgiving

2005-12-07T10:34:00.000+01:00

Yeah, I realize that its December 7 and I'm writing about Thanksgiving. I was sorely mistaken when I thought I would have more time on my hands after I became a volunteer!

So, all of us converged on the capital for Thanksgiving. We had the ultimate in traditional dinners complete with turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pie. There is talk of having a green bean casserole next year so if anyone would like to include a can of those fried onion things in any package which might be sent to me closer to next Thanksgiving I know many people who would be very happy with you.

Prior to dinner there was the traditional football game. It was supposed to be Evens vs Odds but it basically become New Guys vs. Old Guys. We held them off for almost the entire game going 7-0 up intil the last half hour and then lost by a touchdown. Very upsetting but I think next year will be our year!

After dinner we had a talent show. I have to say it's always entertaining to see what some people can come up with! The staff did a skit on what it's "really like" when the volunteers are not in the office. Highly impressive! There was a lot of singing. I am here with some extremely talented people. One guy did a rap version of Hamlet. It was incredible. He did a summary of all 4 acts and changed the rythm (yup, I can't spell anymore) of reference various rap songs. It was totally amazing and he won first place. Two of the women here busted out with a tribute to SNL. They did a skit based on the radio talk show that 2 female members of the cast do. I cannot for the life of me remember what they call it on SNL but hopefully those who watch SNL will catch the reference. It was really funny, the women did an awesome job with it. The night didn't wrap up until midnight...is was beyone tired but it was totally worth it. It was an amazing Thanksgiving.

Now, on to more recent things. Let's talk about mud. It is EVERYWHERE. Thankfully I live in more of a cityish town so most of the roads are paved but my house is located on a dirt road which is now one big pile of mud. And I swear the mud here is different. It is sticky and gets into everything and goes everywhere. It's mutated mud! This wouldn't be such a huge deal since I really don't care about being dirty, however appearances are a big thing here and clean shoes are a must. You are not allowed to have dirty shoes it doesn't matter that it hasn't stopped raining for 3 days and the mud is everywhere. You will clean your shoes every night and again in the morning as soon as you arrive at work. There are some people who carry rags and shoe polish with them everywhere just to make certain their shoes are always clean. It is absolutely incredible. You get judged on your shoes. If you shoes are dirty and appear unpolished you will lose points. I actually got scolded by my host father for not washing my shoes the night before...I was highly entertained!

Well, that's it for now. I'm going to try and get back onto a regular blogging schedule. Since most of the interent cafes around here are 24 hours I really don't have much of an excuse.

I Made It

2005-11-21T14:30:00.000+01:00

I am officially a volunteer! The night before the ceremony we all went out to dinner with some current volunteers. That was great. I got to talk with and meet some people that I hadn't had a chance to yet. The ceremony itself was phenominal. We had some highly distinguished guest speakers (the US Ambassador to Moldova for one) and then we had speeches from volunteers and other volunteers performed. One group performed a traditional Moldovan dance that was very well recieved by the audience. It was a really good time. They put on a nice reception afterwards too. The entire event was held at the Opera House which is absolutely gorgeous. Could not have asked for a better place, the weather even cooperated with us. It was raining when we all left the hotel but by the end of the ceremony it had brightened up.

Now I am settling in to my new place. I'm very happy. It's a fantastic house in an awesome town. There seems to be lots to do here. I'm in my second day for work. Apparently the director wants me to be their new Marketing Consultant. That one should prove entertaining, but right now I'm concentrating on improving my language so I can stop sounding like a three year old. My goal right now is to form sentences that contain more than four words and use words with more than 2 syllabls. Of course, that might be a lot to ask since I can't even do that much in English (LOL) we'll see how things go. All in all, a pretty good week. This week is our annual conference and Thanksgiving Dinner with all the normal accoutrements! Very excited. There is even going to be a football game. Can't get much more thanksgiving-y than that, now can ya!

25

2005-11-07T14:13:00.000+01:00

TODAY IS MY BIRTHDAY DU-NANA-NA-NA!

Yup, the big 2-5. We had a little party during class this morning. They made me sit in a chair and they lifted me in the air 25 times. A little freaky, but apparently it's tradition and they wouldn't let me not do it. One of my teachers also pulled on my ears 25 times, also in the name of tradition. Also, it's traditional for the birthday girl or boy to supply their own birthday meal so in the name of tradition I brought placinta that I made with my host mother. It was very good and a rather large hit also. So far, quite a good birthday.

So, this past Saturday we went on another field trip. This time it was to Gagauzia. Gagauzia is a semi-autonomous region in the south of Moldova. Currently it is part of the Republic of Moldova following all of its laws. However, if Moldova was ever to join the EU, Gaguazia would seceed and become its own country. The Gagauz people decend from the Turks and their language is considered a Turkish dialect. On our trip we visited Ceadir Lunga and we had a panel discussion with the primaria (mayor) and other Gaguaz representatives. Then we visited this carpet factory where they make carpets by hand. They have some very cool stuff. After that we went to a horse farm. The owner raises race and show horses. Some of his horses are also the Presidential horses. For lunch we were able to taste traditional Gagauz dishes, very good stuff which included stuffed grape leaves and lamb. There was also a performance of traditional dances during lunch. After Ceadir Lunga we went to Tvardita which is a Bulgarian Village. The Ceadir Lunga segment ran a little late so we didn't get to have a panel discussion with Bulgarian representatives. Instead we went straight to a museum which contained historical memorabilia from that area. It was pretty cool. The students from the music school performed traditional Bulgarian songs and dances. After that was more food! Bulgarian food is heavy on the lamb.

bri

Soroca

2005-10-31T13:59:00.000+01:00

The trip to Soroca was thoroughly entertaining. We first went to a town called Ivancea (Ivan-chee-a) which is a Ukrainian village. Three representatives from the town talked with us about their history and how they manage to keep their Ukrainian traditions. While we were there we also saw the Ivancea Ethnographical Museum which has traditional pottery, wood work, carpets, and clothes from all over Moldova. It was interesting to find out that houses were traditional made of clay but they would put wooden accents onto the homes. There was very intricate detail work in most of the pottery and woodwork.

After Ivancea we went to Soroca and first took a tour of a fortress their. You can see Ukraine from where the castle sits. It's pretty cool. There is a well located in the middle of the fortress and legend says that anyone who drinks from the well will be rewarded with success at whatever they are doing. Given the fact that I'm all set with getting giardia I decided to forego drinking from the well. After the fortress we had lunch with representatives from the Roma population. The Roma people are historically gypsies and one of the many ethnicities which are found in Moldova. We were able to have a panel discussion with representatives from the Roma population as well as see some traditional Roma dances. That was very cool. After that we walked through the Roma section of Soroca and saw their houses. I have a picture of myself with the Roma Baron infront of his house.

On our way out of Soroca we stopped at another monument which is located at the top of a clif and you have to climb 672 stairs to get to it. Yup, I climbed 672 to see a tower with religious icons inside of it. There is not a single person on this planet, especially myself, who would have ever thought I would do that but I did. Of course, it was more to say that I climbed the 672 stairs. It was dark out by the time we got to this monument so I couldn't get any pictures to come out but there will always be time for me to go back. However, the nighttime view of all of the lights from across the river was definitely worth the climb.

We didn't get into Chisinau until about 9 Pm which isn't too bad. The gave us food to munch on during the ride home so none of us felt deprived of mancare (food). However, the ride from Chisinau back to my village was entertaining. We shared a rutiera with another village and we dropped them off first. While we were on our way to our village we found out our rutiera had a flat tire so we had to get on another rutiera with another one of the training villages who thankfully had ended up driving behind us on our way to our village. In the end, I left town at 7:20 am and didn't get back until 10:30. Needless to say "Eu am fost foarte obosita!" (I was very tired!)

The Bus Station

2005-10-25T14:59:00.000+02:00

So, I didn't think that anything blog worthy had happened to me recently but I was oh so kindly reminded about my harrowing experience at the bus station so hear it is!

I had to go to a town about 45 minutes outside of Chisinau as part of training. According to one of the other trainees there is supposed to be a bus and/or rutiera going to Anenii Noi every 20 minutes. One of my language teachers told me to just going to Gara Central (the central bus station) and hop on a rutiera and just pay the driver, no worries. Yeah right! I get to the bus station and first off I can't even find where the bus or rutiera to Anenii Noi is located. Now I was going around the corner to see if there were more buses and rutieras but guess what, I was going around the wrong corner. I should have taken the first corner and not the second corner. My logic for going around the second corner was that their were rutieras parked there. At the first corner there were just kiosks and women trying to get you to buy clothes and sunflower seeds. By now I should realize that the kiosks and women selling sunflower seeds are only located where large groups of people congregate so it really should have been my first clue that the the first corner was the right corner but whatever!

So, we need to move back a little bit. At this point I'm still aimlessly walking back and forth down the same road staring at the same signs posted in the same rutieras hoping that they will magically change and say "Anenii Noi" and also going around the wrong corner to look for more buses. Well, I finally decide to go into the actual station to look at the schedule and buy a ticket and hope that maybe the woman behind the counter will provide some much needed help. Yeah, that was serious wishful thinking that did not get fulfilled. Why? Oh, don't worry, I'm gonna tell ya!

I look up at the schedule and guess what, Anenii Noi is not on it. That should have been my first hint that you don't buy a ticket if you want to go to Anenii Noi but I still proceed to the counter to purchase a ticket. Well, this woman tells me I need to buy a ticket for a town I can't spell, let alone pronounce and she says that it will stop in Anenii Noi. Fine, I can handle this. By the way, she takes ZERO pity on me and the fact that my Romanian is still very rough so all she does is speak louder and faster. The woman standing next to me in line is trying to slow it down so I can understand. Finally I get what they are trying to say and I take my ticket and leave. However, I still walk aimlessly up and down the street looking for this bus before I decide to go around the OTHER corner and there in this bright halo of light are the other buses. AAAAHHHHH

Well, you would think that all my problems would be solved, oh you are so wrong. The bus I bought the ticket for does not exist. People keep telling me I was just looking in the wrong spot but my story is that the bus doesn't exist and I'm sticking to it. The city was not listed on any sign hanging in the bus stalls nor was it on any of the signs in the bus windows! Now, I do see a sign for Anenii Noi but the bus located under that sign is not going to Anenii Noi...oh yeah, I've at this point missed the nonexistent bus that I bought a ticket for. So, I see the sign for AN but no bus so I ask people where the bus for AN is located. What do they do, point to the sign and say "acolo" which is "there"...well it ain't acolo when the bus is going to Hincest which is in the opposite direction where I need to be going. So I once again start to wander aimlessly down this new road and finally happen upon no one but TWO vehicles going to AN, one bus and one rutiera. So I finally made it to where I was going but I was 3 hours late. But atleast I made it.

Moral of the story: DON'T BELIEVE THE SIGN BECAUSE IT'S PROBABLY WRONG

Festival Vinul

2005-10-10T14:56:00.000+02:00

We got into the capital around 11:30 and caught the tail end of the openning ceremony parade. They had a whole section of the street blocked off for the wine festival. There were vendors from each winery in the country. All of them were selling. There were food vendors set up all over. People were selling hand made crafts. There were a ton of people everywhere. There was a stage step up in the middle of the street and their were traditional dancers performing. The park across the way was holding a concert later in the day. It was an awesome time! Pretty much you just buy a couple bottles of wine, get yourself some food and either try to find a table to site down at or just find a nice grassy spot under a tree, plunk yourself down and eat and drink for as long as you are able.

There was one woman selling hand crafted chairs and these huge spoons. They all had the Moldovan crest on them. They were amazing. The pasteries in this country are fabulous.

Alright, lets just talk food.

Mamaliga. It's this polenta style dish but polenta tends to be just mushy stuff on your plate. Mamaliga is much firmer. It hold the shape of whatever it was cooked in. You cut it with a string and it is generally used to dip into a soup or sauce. SO GOOD

Placinta (pla-chin-ta). It's this thinly rolled dough that you can put fruit or cabbage or cheese or any combo of anything that you want. You roll it up and then pan fry it with oil. Again...SO GOOD

Sarmale. This can be one of two things. It is either a boiled cabbage leaf stuffed with rice and chopped peppers or it is a pepper stuffed with rice and chopped peppers. I live for this stuff!

I have to say though that this country is all about the carbs. Not a meal goes by where they don't expect you to eat a thousand pounds of bread. And everything (and I mean everything) is cooked with oil made from sunflower seeds. It takes a little getting used to. Meat is mostly chicken. Beef is extremely expensive so people don't eat it. I haven't seen much pork yet but since my family raises chickens in the backyard, I probably won't be seeing much other than chicken.

The chocolate here is okay but nothing I would really rave about. Some things are definitely better than others. You have to know what you are buying before you spend the money, that's for sure. The snickers you get here tend to be from Russia and they definitely taste different. I had a Milky Way from Russia and it tasted the same but the wrapper was totally different. Small things I find interesting.

Today we took a tour of a local ostrich farm. So cool! The owner also had pheasants, picks, chickens, peacocks, and quail. A lot of the birds were imported from USA and it was odd to think of items from the USA as being imported and exotic. Then we went to tour a local winery. That was interesting. They are just cleaning all of the equipment now because the wine making season ended a couple of weeks ago but we got to see where the make, store, and bottle the wine. I'm amused by the fact that I had to leave the country just to tour a "local" winery!

Well, that's it for now.

Top 10

2005-10-03T14:23:00.000+02:00

Top 10 Things I've Learned So Far

1) It is amazing the facial reactions you will get when you say "I have peanut butter"

2) When chickens rule your backyard, don't leave the backdoor open

3) When chickens rule your backyard, watch where you step

4) When using the outhouse it is always better to roll up the pant legs before entering

5) When bathing from a bucket, if you ask yourself "Should I let the water heat up longer," the answer is always "YES!"

6) Adding a vowel to the end of the word does not a Romance Language make

7) It doesn't matter how loud and slow you talk, they still will not understand you

8) As long as you are creative, you can pantomime anything

9) There are 101 ways to cook a potato

10) You can never have enough socks or underwear

The Craziness

2005-09-28T15:45:00.000+02:00

Talk about busy. It's nonstop everyday, but it's worth it. Training in agriculture and language are mixed with cultural experiences and field trips. We get language training almost everyday. We have technical sessions twice a week that introduce us to agriculture in Moldova. Almost every ag session has a guest speaker going over his/her expertise. It's been fun so far. The staff here is great and our language instructors are fantastic. I really enjoy the volunteers that I am here with. We are definitely a diverse group of people.

Currently the volunteers that I am at my training site with are working on a "History of Moldova" project. We have to put together a 15min presentation on Moldova until 1457. I've definitely learned a lot since I've been here.

So lets talk about the "bus" we take to get places. It's called a rutiera. Basically it's a minivan with 30 people shoved in it. It's an entertaining way to travel. The rutiere drivers have no problems with shoving as many people in them as possible. I've never been so close to so many people at one time. The best thing so far that I've seen on the rutiere is a woman breastfeeding. Now, I don't mind public breast feeding but this woman took it to an entirely new level. We are talking the whole thing just right out there for the world to see. An educational experience if there ever was one!!

A couple of days ago we did "team building activities" in a local park. It was nice to get together as a group and not be in training the entire day. They provided us with lunch and a BBQ dinner. They put us in groups to do various activities. There were the traditional human knot and cross the acidy river activities mixed with ones I've never done before like form a square from a circle with a blindfold on. It was fun, a nice little bonding experience.

This saturday I think we'll be in the capital checking out the "piata" (pronounced pee-ats-a) or outdoor market. That will be quite the experience I'm sure. It's part of an agribusiness assignment to research how products in Moldova are marketed in various situations...the piata, the magazin (store), and supermarket.

Alright, that's it for me now. I'll put some more up when other fun and exciting things happen.

Moldova

2005-09-19T11:36:00.000+02:00

The flight to turkey was uneventful, however trying to get out of turkey was entertaining at the least! Delta screwed up so our bags were only tagged for Istanbul. So that turned into this whole saga of what to do because to check our own bags through for the flight to Chisinau required us getting visas for turkey and growing through about 5 security check points. Long story short we basically ran through the airport trying to get all this done and not miss the flight...big mess!

So far things in Moldova have been great. We spent two nights in the capital getting oriented. Then on Saturday I met my host family. It's rather entertaining to sit at a meal and need the translation dictionary inorder to have a converstion!

Today is our first day at the "hub site" this is where we get technical training for Agribusiness and then we have language classes everyday, sometimes at the hub site and the rest in the town we're living in. It's rather entertaining. We were waiting for the bus this morning and a farmer with his goats and cattle wondered by. Things you just don't see in Haddam, CT.

Alright, I have more to share but I need to eat lunch and other people want to use the computers.

Blog more later,
Bri

Philly

2005-09-14T15:11:00.000+02:00

AWESOME

I am having the best time. The people that I have met have been absolutely fabulous. The final count is 39 volunteers. We are from all over the country with totally different backgrounds. We've definitely been run ragged but it's been a great experience so far. I had a "real" philly cheese steak sandwich. A bunch of us went out for a nice "last meal" together and now in 30 minutes I check out of the hotel and will be on a bus to JFK. 9 hrs 55 min flight to Turkey where they have gotten us day rooms...thank goodness....then 1 hour to Chisinau. We meet a bunch of current volunteers and then start a whirlwind 3 days. It'll be non stop for quite some time. I meet my host family on Saturday! Alright, so public comp so this is it so I'm not taking it away from other people. I'll put up the next post as soon as possible and probably get into more detail about Philly and everything else I've been doing.

Bye

Party

2005-08-29T20:20:00.000+02:00

Hey everyone,

I realize I gave the impression that I wouldn't add another post until I got to Moldova but, I changed my mind...female prerogative! (And that is the correct spelling, I looked it up.)

My "Going Away" party was yesterday...total craziness. My mom said final count for total number of people that showed up throughout the event was 75. Thankfully, there was enough food except for the extra chip run that was required a few hours into the party.

I would like to say THANK YOU to everyone who attended. It was nice to get everyone together before I left eventhough most people only saw me for about 5 seconds the entire night. Party started at 1pm and I didn't make it off the deck until about 4!

So, now it's just crazy packing. I have a 100lb weight limit...that should be entertaining! For anyone who has seen my closet, you can stop laughing...it will be possible for me to pair down everything to 99.99 pounds! Plus I also have my carry on for the "must haves" that won't fit in the checked bags. :)

Okay, that's it for me.

Post for you later,
bri

Testing

2005-08-24T17:59:00.000+02:00

Alright,

This is just a test to see if this worked and if I liked how this looks on the internet. Basically, I'm setting this up so people can keep informed about how I am doing and what I am up to. I officially leave on September 14th for Moldova. I have no idea when my first post will be once I'm there but keep checking back because putting up a new post will be the first thing I do everytime I get a chance to go online.

Write ya later,
B