Lack of Communication

It really is the lack of communication that has been the most challenging thing for me, and I find that it is evident in so many ways. First, there is really only one person in the village whom I have met who speaks English really well, although many are willing to say the few words that they are comfortable with. Many people will greet me with "hello" and try a few words, and all are patient with my feeble attempts at Romanian, and the three or four phrases that I have learned to say in Russian (hello, thank you, yes and no!). I have found a good tutor for Romanian. She is the French and English teacher at the Russian school. She is very nice, and I think she is a good teacher for me. She does speak some English, but with a French accent, and between Romanian, French, English, and the dictionary, we are able to figure out a conversational level of communication. She is leaving for a month in Moscow, so I will need to find someone else to work with in the meantime. I am not sure who I will ask, but I will figure that out. My preference is to work with a young person, maybe one of the teens, rather than a formal teacher, but at this time, I just am not sure which direction I will go in.

The second, and much more frustrating piece about the communication is the inability to communicate regularly with friends and family at home. I had thought that when I got to my village that things would improve, as far as being able to stay in touch with people. On some levels that is true. I do have much more ability to communicate in real time via the Internet. The phone is far less reliable, and I can't seem to dial out on the house phone. My cell phone works for several hours on some days, and then won't have a signal for several days. It is frustrating, when I send emails that I will call at such and such a time, and then I can't! Drives me up a wall!!

The third, and maybe the MOST frustrating thing about communication, is that I have not gotten some mail recently that I know was sent to me in April. What other volunteers have shared with me is that there is a problem specifically with getting greeting cards sent from the US. Several volunteers have shared with me that they also have not gotten cards that were sent. There is a general belief that these cards are opened and checked for the possibility of money being enclosed. I just wanted my card so badly! It hurts that someone else got to read the words that were written to me, and I can't. That may be selfish, but that is the piece about the lack of communication which has been the hardest thing for me to deal with over the past week or so. And thinking about the next couple of weeks, if anyone has any thoughts about sending birthday cards, (and this is not a shameless plug for cards!), please do not send them. If you do, please put the card in an envelope that does not look like a greeting card envelope. If you take the time, and spend the money, I surely want to get my mail.

On a totally unrelated note, although I guess some of these events could also come under the heading of lack of communication, they have begun construction of the place where I will be working when the construction is completed. The workers were supposed to arrive last week, on Monday, and then on Thursday, and they finally arrived this past Tuesday evening. I was very surprised that the workers had brought bedding and cooking equipment, and were planning to stay in the shell of the building that they are here to reconstruct. No per diem/travel expenses for workers in Moldova! There were some beds, and I am using that term very loosely, left in the building, and the workers have moved them into two rooms, and are sleeping there. They also dug a fire pit to cook over. Yesterday morning, some officials from the organization who is funding the re-construction came to the site, and there were some strong words about food, and who is preparing meals, and cooking for the men. There are no hotels or restaurants in town, so there is no real way for them to get extra money to buy their meals elsewhere. There was a woman at this meeting yesterday morning, whom I believe is preparing meals for the men. There was some fairly loud disagreement about how she was to be paid, and if the men even wanted her to cook for them or not. It seems to be a general practice here that if workmen come to the house, they are fed as a part of the payment. This was true at my first home, when the electrician came, he was fed before he went home, and this is also true here, where yesterday the man who helped in the garden also got breakfast before they left for the garden, and dinner when he was finished. Anyway, this "discussion" appeared to be another lack of communication, but this one hardly affected me at all, only being an observer.

Other than this, there is not much new. I did go into Chisinau on Thursday for a shot, and got to spend some time with my friend, Teresa, who lives very close to Chisinau. It was nice to get out of the village for a day, but it is a long day without much reward. It is about 7 hours on the bus, for about 3.5 hours in town. I won't be doing that more than once a month! Take care all, and know that I miss you! Jami