Site visit

The past four days I have been busy traveling to my site for the first time. I will will be living in the far southeast part of Moldova, as close as you can be in Moldova to the Black Sea, and very close to Odessa. The village has about 7000 inhabitants, and I think I met most of them this weekend! I stayed with two different families, and choose one to live with for the next 2 years. I arrived on Saturday afternoon, and went for a walking tour of town before settling in for the night with family number one. On Sunday, I went to family number two at 9 am, and spent all of Sunday and Sunday night with them. We went to the church and for a walk through the market, before meeting with a group of high school students who are involved in community service projects. Yesterday I went with my partner to the High School, the Mayor's office, the Russian school and then later in the day, the Center that is being developed for old people and children living together. The center is a long walk from where I will be living, but I think it will be several months until construction is completed, so the distance is not an issue at this point. My counterpart/partner has lived in the village her whole life, and she is very motivated to support community services and improvements. I think it will be good work, and a good community for me.

I am still more homesick than I was prepared for, but I just focus on the work, and the day at hand, and swallow until it passes. At least this morning I got a nice hot shower here at the PC office, the first since February! I am now an expert at the bucket bath! Miss you all...