Yet another big day around the corner...

July 11, 2009

Do you remember that age when your parents started letting you ride the public bus on your own? Well the current PC recruits just got their permission and now tomorrow at 6:00 in the morning I am going to get up and leave by 6:30 so I can make a bus in Chisinau that is going to my new town. My excursion will only last until Tuesday, but it is still a little nerve-racking. Imagining my groggy half-functioning self walking around the 2-million person capital of Chisinau at 7 a.m. trying to find a bus sounds kind of funny.

In this short visit I will meet my business partner that I will work with for the next two years as well as my host mother in the new village. I’m sure this trip will include a small tour of the village, possibly a walk from one end to other, which will take a whopping 5 minutes-- 10 if I am lucky. It is a pretty surreal moment. I just packed up a bag full of clothes and books to fight the uphill battle of the language barrier. I am hoping for the least sweaty bus ride possible. Riding the Мапшуткы (big vans, seats about 15 people—usually has about 30 in it) is fine if you like to sweat incessantly and smell whatever brand of stink you are surrounded by. It really is an adventure, Мапшуткы really have character.

As for the pictures attached. The one of all the water on the road is from a torrential downpour two days ago. I couldn’t go to school the normal way because there was literally a foot of water flowing over the path. Instead I went the long way and got completely drenched and broke my external hard drive. That was quick. The other pictures are of the fields behind my current house walking home after a wonderful night with friends (can you sense the euphemism?).

As for now I am tired and in desperate need of sleep if I am going to wake up on time tomorrow.

Brief Reflection

If you have been sitting at your desk for the last few days thinking why the hell hasn’t Aaron posted anything, then I am sorry but I have had to study for a test that I just had today on the ol’ Rusky language. I have to admit, it was pretty tough. I was not alone in the utterly beaten category. Power in numbers I suppose makes you feel better—that’s kind of sad. As bad as I butchered the grammar and sounded like a thickly-accented American-yits. I feel pretty good about it. It is quite the challenge to surmount, and it is impressive that we have come as far as we have with the language.

We are half way through the PST training, pretty crazy that I have already been away an entire month. I guess that calls for some sort of reflection or something:

Moldova is an amazing place. It may not have the Louvre or Taj Mahal, but what it seemingly lacks it makes up for in sheer character. I’m pretty positive that 1% of you (including myself) actually knew where Moldova was prior to my excursion. A few quick reads of topical Moldovan history found on the internet and I was in Moldova. The metaphor scratching the surface is an obvious understatement. According to Peace Corps guidelines I can’t talk about specifics on this blog, damn those affiliations. What I can say is that the gamut of emotions that we as Americans, as Washingtonians or what have you feel on a daily basis is both equal yet totally different here. Happiness, life, sadness, etc are all the clearly here albeit viewed from a different perspective altogether. Much like Americans, societal, political, family, monetary pressures all play a part in forming the base of a person, like the great tectonic plates something unique is formed regardless of similar scenarios because no one situation is identical. Moldova itself has many unique characteristics that have formed over hundreds of years. From an American perspective some good, some bad and all interesting.

V-Day

July 6, 2009 Village-day

So I could post this today, although I think it would be best to let the anticipation get the best of all of you. Just to give you a sense of what I am going through. Although the joke is on me I’m sure. Most of you probably check this thing once a month--if ever--so the rising tension that has been strategically placed into my PC story is undermined by your lack of punctual blog checking.

And the big news… or should I say small village news.

So moments ago we were all gathered around a very large chalk-outlined map of Moldova outside of the local school. Chairs were placed all over the map with city/town/village names placed on each one of them. One by one our names were called and we took a seat where we had been assigned. We all had done our research, at least so far as to what the big cities were, so you could see the nervous anticipation on people’s faces build as the larger cities chairs were taken. I ended up in what in America would be considered a pretty small town of 8,000, although relative to other volunteers I believe I ended up somewhere in the middle of the ol’ population spectrum.

The first thing I read about my new house was that I would be living with a 70-year old widow who is the proud owner of cows, ducks, dogs, cats, hens, and rabbits. I’m going to be right at home. The second line I read looked exactly like this:

Plumping/Pipes look safe? _Yes _No √Not applicable

This obviously caught my eye. After reading on I realized I may still have some sort of bathing usage, because a line further down the page says that I have running water for baths. So no pipes, but running water? These people are thinking outside of the box. Maybe that means I have to run to the well, heat up some water and use it to bath. I’ll post more when it comes on that issue. Until then my fingers are crossed for a decent shower this winter.

The description of my future job came in a mix of Romanian and Russian, which means I couldn’t read it except for a select few Russian words. I took the time to figure out what the direct translation of the section that described what the NGO thought my job could possibly look like. The direct translation read as follows:

1. Application biological greenhouse power

2. Help with technology mushrooms.

Well that is what you get for now. Be sure to tell your showers that you love them. Treat them well you may not have one someday and you’ll regret not saying it. J

SHTY (Stinky as Hell for Two Years)

No-to-Low Expectations

No-to-Low Expectations

July 5, 2009

So tomorrow is a big day. We have it very easy right now as trainees; we live in villages with multiple volunteers that we can socialize with at almost any given time. After one more month here I move to another area where there is a good chance I will be the only volunteer. Tomorrow I find out where I will be living and what it is exactly that I will be doing for the next two years.

Apparently the older volunteers draw a large map of Moldova behind the school and we all stand where our cities/towns/villages are. The feeling is definitely surreal. I’ve been told that the Russian assignments typically are in cities rather than villages. So there is a good chance that I will be in a city rather than a village. I don’t have strong feelings as to where I go, but my only real hope is that I end up with a good business partner and host family.

In regard to what I will be doing I’m pretty certain I will be working in an extension center. I believe that means that I talking to numerous people on a daily basis about problems that they are having with growing agricultural products and seeking out good candidates for projects. I feel pretty good about the job especially after talking to more than a few Ag volunteers about their experiences in extension centers.

Oh yeah, about the 4^th of July party. It was great. It was made up of socializing, dancing, taking two types of pictures: American style and Moldovan style. The American style means to smile in the over-the-top fashion that we are accustomed to in the US. Moldovans tend to smile a lot but as soon as the camera lens points in their general direction any indication of a previous smile disappears and a stern, serious expression is formed. It is difficult to give such a serious pose. The pictures posted are evidence our futile attempts.

Lost in Expression

третья Июля, Две тысячa девятый год

Stephanie has brought up a very good point about yours truly. I predominately speak in expressions and I feel sorry for the Moldovan that tries to communicate with me with the intention of learning something about English. I would like to rest assured that my words are pure poetry, but undoubtedly I will fill their heads to the brim with nothing but colloquialisms from my adolescence and college years. For instance I recent spread the saying “Up shit creek with a terd for a paddle” and to be honest I don’t think I helped anyone with that. Except of course if you count myself. This brings up a broader point about the seemingly insurmountable goal of learning one of the hardest languages in the world. After two years here I will definitely understand the gist of what people are saying although there will be the “Aaron’s” of the world that I simply will respond to by saying “wtf does that mean?”

I recently found out that the popular INXS song “Hungry like a wolf” is a quite popular saying here. I’m assuming that that particular song was about sex or lust in English, although here, you definitely use the phrase in the context of food alone. Another similar Russian saying related to food is “you will lick your fingers” obviously a very close relative of “finger-lickin’ good”—although it is not quite the same without the southern drawl.

Tomatoes and War

ТРИ, ИЮЛЬ 2009

Yet another hot day in the land of Mordor. My host mom is in the kitchen making the next couple of meals while my host dad is spackling the cellar walls for better insulation in the winter. I asked “Вам помочь?” although no one seems to need any help. So I’m practicing Russian/posting a blog.

So yesterday was an eventful day. We spent the afternoon on a site visit. We went to visit a agribusiness volunteer who had spent a considerable amount of time working on a heirloom tomato project. It was an impressive project. He helped the farmers get awarded a grant for a new greenhouse and then started producing heirloom tomatoes, something that few Moldovans have seen much less produced. The project seems to be highly successful thus far. He had proven that the greenhouse was substantially better at producing the tomatoes. The family that he is helping out is trying to develop a market for these by selling them to the nicer restaurants in Moldova. The family was very generous and let us fill up sacks with tomatoes for gifts to our families. My personal favorite of the varieties of tomatoes were the Zebra tomatoes that are red and green. Absolutely delicious.

After the tomato farm we drove to a World War II monument where one of the biggest battles for Moldova was fought. It was located at the Neistri River which you may recognize if you watched the videos at the beginning of this blog. Directly on the other side of the river is Transneistria, the semiautonomous separatist region of Moldova that is loyal to Russia and not recognized by many countries.

All in all a very interesting day in Moldova. I am very excited about the week to come though, we have the fourth of July celebration with the embassy folks tomorrow. Most importantly on Monday we find out our assignments. I will find out what where and what I will be doing in Moldova. Will I be in a city or an isolated village? I know that my job will have a choose-your-own-adventure feel to it, although I find out who my partner is and which organization I will be working with.

More to come.

Aaron

Stormin' Norman

Двадцат девят, Июнь, 2009

So I am sitting here in the midst of a fairly large lightning storm enjoying the marathon of pouring rain and thunder outside my window. During the last few moments of language class we began to hear the gentle rumble of lightning approaching from a distance. I walked outside to see one ominous, enormous cloud swiftly spreading its vast tentacles into our little valley of Ialoveni bringing with it the type of weather that is only fun if you are not stuck in it. Luckily it postponed the torrential downpour until the last block of my walk. A little bit of a storm is much appreciated especially after the last two weeks of nothing but sun, sun and sun. I love a good farmer’s tan as much as the next but a little cooler weather was in order.