Mailing letters

If you mail a letter, please draw a big $ sign on the front of the letter with an X through it. I just found out the letter won't reach me because customs will take letters hoping their is money inside. It will also help to put a sticker or draw a big Christian cross on the front of the envelope. The country is Eastern Orthodox (future blog idea), so the custom officers most likely will not dig through the envelope if they think there is no money inside and the letter is for religious purposes.

Sit, eat, and keep eating.

Today after school I rode the bus into Ialovin, a small town about 15 minutes away, to meet some other volunteers for a beer. I called Anna, my host sister (which seems like a real sister already), to tell her I would be late for dinner. Nui nici o problema - no problem. In Moldova, I've learned, for every hour you're late for dinner there is an extra plate of food you're expected to eat when you return home. I am one of the lucky volunteer trainees to have another volunteer as a neighbor. This will only last for the two months we train and then I will most likely be in a village of my own when I get to my permanent site for the two years of service. When Neal and I returned home to our families, you would have thought we had barely survived starvation if you could have seen the food they prepared. Trust me, you have no choice but to eat. They are all about sitting around a table and laughing over food. It doesn't matter if you have already eaten three or four meals with your family, if a guest comes over, it starts all over....infinite amounts of food, sweets, fruit picked from the backyard, homemade wine, and cognac. There are grapes growing everywhere around me, so each family is very proud of their homemade wine. I've only been with my family for several days, but i'm starting to understand a good bit of what they are saying in romanian.

I'm amazed at the perserverance of the Moldovan people. For the past few decades, Moldova has been on a political fault line. Between the Russian empire, Ottoman empire, and the infamous Soviet regime, Moldova has been stuck directly in the middle (geographically and politically) of the "East" and the "West". Political fights have damaged the country, and it can be seen by walking the roads of the villages. I can't imagine being here years back and seeing Soviet troops march though my village of Milestii Mici. However, when you step inside the home of a Moldovan, everything you think you may know about Moldova from a textbook will change instantly. Before you can take your shoes off (leave your shoes at the door to show respect for the mother's work), the family will already be in the kitchen throwing food on the table. They are all very open, affectionate, happy, and engaging people. For anyone searching out the simple things in life, come stay with a Moldovan family. Somehow, they can magically block out all of the complications and struggles surrounding their country by keeping your belly full.

Big thanks to everyone reading my blog and making comments. I will contact you personally eventually, but my free time is limited during training. Once I learn the language and get settled in, I'll have more time. If there is anything you're curious about, just let me know and I'll write about it. I love you all.

p.s. I saw a toilet for the first time yesterday during my trip to town :)

We have had many "welcome" parties from Moldova. Most every party has traditonal songs and dances like the one below (it's a video). The circular dance is the "hora", which is the national dance. The dance always starts with the folk groups, but by the end of the party everyone joins in.



Traditonal Roma dancer (known in the states as Gypsies, but that term is deragatory)My walk to school takes about 25 minutes. This is a typical sight along the way.My romanian teachers, Lucille and Stela. They are amazing in all respects.From left to right: My neighbor Anna, my sister Anna, and Moldovan Vince.This is what almost every backyard looks like. Every family is nearly self sufficient with their fruit and veggies.Walking home from school.Don't be mistaken, I eat a lot.

My village

Village life is foarte bine, "very good". I live in a village called Milestii Mici, which is about a thirty minute microbus ride from Chisinau, the capital of Moldova. I live with a family of four: Doamna Tatiana, Domnule Andrei, Ana, and Andrei. Andrei and Ana are 20 and 19 years old, so they want to spend all of their time with me, which is great. They are both learning to speak english, so we spend all evening exchanging englez for romana. The picture to the left is standing in front of my house, looking down the road I walk to school every morning. I walk about 30 minutes down the dirt roads to my school, where I have three Moldovans teaching me romanian for about 4 hours a day. After school, I have agribusiness and cultural training. The best part of the day is after school. As soon as I step in the door (actually anytime you step foot in my house), Doamna Tatiana is shoving food down my throat. "Vince, mininc, mininc, mininc" is all I hear - "Vince, eat, eat, eat". Their hospitality is amazing. I have to tell them I am full about three times before they finally stop pushing food on my plate. After I eat, they offer me tea. This is always a tough decision, because if I accept the tea, they think I should eat more food with the tea. Yesterday, I played fotbal with four village kids about ten years old. All they knew in english was "hello" and "goodbye", and they were so excited to say both. For the record, they beat us. I'm not kidding, they were good. I have tons of other pics from Milestii Mici (pronounced Milest chee meech). All of my pics are on my computer, and it died, so I'm on another volunteer's computer. I'll post a full album of pics in the next week or so. One last thing I should mention about living in a village: the abundance of fruit. Different fruits have different seasons, and cherries and raspberries are in full bloom now. There is a tree or bush every ten feet anywhere you go in the village full of fruit waiting to be eaten.

I have internet access atleast a few times a week, so I'll post soon. Ne vedem mai tirzui - see you later.

Buna!

We finally made it to Moldova. I had no idea it was going to be this rural, which is great. We are in the capital Chisinau (pronounced kee - she - now). I'm sitting in an internet cafe right now before we head to meet the U.S. Ambassador and start some language training. This internet cafe happens to be Russian (Moldova is bilingual with Russian and Romanian), so navigating my way through internet explorer and the blogger site made me feel like an idiot. When we arrived last night, the current Volunteers were there to cheer us on as we got off the plane. I wasn't expecting such a grand welcoming ceremony. The first thing I learned was that there is no such thing as standing in line . If you want to get somewhere or want something, you have to go for it. After a quick orientation, we had dinner and went out for drinks with the our mentors and a lot of other veteran Volunteers. They are showing us the ropes pretty quickly. A few things they have taught us: don't drink the tap water, don't flush the toilet paper, and the beer is always abundant and cheap. Most of the current volunteers have been here over a year, so it's interesting seeing how they have lost a little of their American qualities and have added a lot of Moldovan ones. We'll be meeting our host families tomorrow and will head out to start training in our village. I've made some good friends so far, so I'm not looking forward to having to separate from them once we get placed in our village. However, everyone in Moldova uses text messaging, so I'll be able to keep in touch and meet up with my friends once we get some time off. We are crazy busy for the next few weeks, but I will try my best to post some pics of the capital and my village. Thanks to everyone for all of the support before I left.