The last week of September

So here it is, the end of September. Another month served, and Autumn is clearly in the air. Monday was a quiet day, and I met with my partner in the afternoon to talk about my week of training, and her week in Romania. She was supposed to attend the training with me last week, but at the last minute was invited to attend a training in Romania, so she had sent her 17 year old son to attend the training with me. Teenagers here are so mature and responsible, and Andrei is no exception. It was great to have him attend in his mother's place. He took notes, and paid attention throughout all of the training, and I predict he will be a future leader in the village, based on his interest and intelligence. It was nice to be able to report to his mother how interested he was in the concepts of program development and management. She had attended some other training on developing residential centers in Romania, so we both had a lot of information to share. Most of my information was available in both English and Romanian, and hers was just in Romanian, but overall, it is more important that she have the information, so it is okay, I can translate what I think I might need. There was no English club for adults, as she wanted to meet with me, and there are ususally only 2 or 3 other adults who attend.



On Monday evening, I got an email that there was a potluck gathering on Tuesday in another village in the raion with the other volunteers in the area to meet with the new Administrative Officer. I made my bean salad, David would be proud of me, although I am sure it is not quite as good as his! There are canned beans here, and fresh onions and garlic, so it was a good addition, as several of us who were there are mostly vegetarian. Sarah, the AO, is originally from Minneapolis, served in the PC in the Pacific Islands, has 2 children and a husband who are here with her. She met with me, Renell, Janie, Jon, and Kelsey, and then was driving to see Jimmy, who also lives near me, but teaches school all day and couldn't make our lunch. So, Tuesday, a second week that I didn't meet with the kids for English club. I have to say that I missed seeing them. Wednesday, the big (only) event was meeting for tutoring. It was good to practice again one on one, and review the language training that I had all last weekend. Thursday, Friday, yesterday and today have been spent walking, reading, the usual quiet village life. This week I read: The One True Ocean, Sarah Beth Martin, The Short History of A Prince, Jane Hamilton, and 41 Stories, O. Henry. When I finish online, it is on to War and Peace this afternoon. That should occupy a week or two....

The other thing of note from this week, has been these great connections that have happened through email, and facebook/myspace, mostly facebook. On Tuesday, I got an email from the language director, Sergiu, was that I advanced on my Language Proficiency Interview (LPI). I am pretty sure it was a gift, as I was really feeling badly on Sunday afternoon at the end of 5 long days of training, and I was sure I had bombed. I'll take it for what it is, keep practicing Romanian, and just be grateful for the score. The other thing that has happened on Facebook is that I have reconnected with my cousin Ann who reached out to me, along with her brother, Robb. Great to hear from them, and know what is going on in their lives. Robb is off to China, Ann is living in Allentown, Laura still in Florida. Ann's girls are growing up, teenagers, and they seem to be doing well. Her parents are still in Florida, and seem to be managing okay, although Ann did express concern about her mother's health, and the strain on her dad trying to manage that. I also connected with my old friend from high school, Allen Hoppes, who is living and working in Madrid, Spain. He is married to a Spanish woman, and working for an organization that promotes tours to Morocco. He told me that Joel Carroll's daughter, Mary, just left this week for PC in Turkmenistan. That's almost this neck of the woods, but a little further removed from where I am now. Allen was in PC Mali in the 90's. He then spent several years of doing 6 months stateside, and 6 months of travel. Sounds like that might be a plan that works for me, post-PC. We'll see. The organization that he works for is www.moroccoexchange.org if you are interested in checking it out. So good to hear from him, Ann, and others. Hope you all have a great week and try not to let Kyle get you too wet! Sounds like he's heading straight for Maine!

Monday morning

This past week was spent mostly in training. On Monday and Tuesday afternoon, I had planned to meet with my English clubs, but no one showed up! Initial enthusiasm has waned pretty quickly. I think it may have been because my partner was out of town all week, and didn't remind students, but in any event, there were no meetings. On Wednesday morning, up at 4:30 to take the 5 am bus into Chisinau. We had technical training on Project Development and Management Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Saturday and Sunday we had language in-service training. It's been a pretty hectic week. Besides the training schedule, there were volunteers that I hadn't seen since coming to the village in May. There was a lot of catching up to do, and every night was a of late night. Overall, it was a great break from the village life.

I shared a room with Teresa and Veronica, both of whom were leaving from the training to spend a week in Budapest and in Romania. I hope they have warmer and drier weather than we have been having in Moldova. Teresa came to Chisinau with a bad cold, and now Veronica and I are both sick. I have the advantage of now being home where I can relax and get better. Its the easiest way that I can think of to rationalize the fact that I am back to the slow village life, while they are off exploring the world. When I got home last night, it was pouring, and so I have wash to do before I try to round up some interest in English club this afternoon. Missing the Common Ground Fair, and all of you. It's definitely Autumn!

Chilly

It is a chilly Sunday morning, after a soggy, rainy day yesterday. It's probably about 40 degrees, but at least the sun is shining this morning. Yesterday it started to rain about 10 am and it rained all day, and got progressively cooler as the day went on. I really can't complain too much, because it has been sunny and warm all summer, and I prefer this cooler weather over the heat that we had at the end of August. Other volunteers have talked about how incredibly hot it was here last summer, and instead of the flooding that we had this summer, there was a drought. Weather is just weather, and there is nothing to do but talk about it.

This week was spent trying to stay busy and focused. On Monday, I started my second English club for adults. There were 3 of the teachers at the high school who showed up, and then about half way through, three students showed up. We had an informal discussion, mostly about greetings and basic phrases, and it seemed to go well. On Tuesday, I met with the student English club for a second time. Last week there were 22 students, and this week there were 8! Some of the initial curiosity was satisfied the week before, and I think this is a more realistic number who will actually participate from week to week. It was a much more manageable group for learning, and I think the numbers will be fairly fluid from week to week. It is a club, not a class, so as long as a few kids show up, I'll be there to work with them. I wanted to begin to talk about meaningful things with them, not just conversation about the weather and the days of the week, and months of the year. So we translated questions about about life in the village: What is good about living here, what could be better, what would they like to see improved? Sort of combining English lesson with my community organization and development goals. Love it when I can accomplish two goals with one action!

Speaking of the Community and Organizational Development (COD) program, this coming week the volunteers and our partners will be attending a training in Chisinau from Wednesday to Friday on Project Development and Management. I'm not sure how much I will get out of the content, but it sure will be great to see everyone. Many of the other volunteers I have not seen since our swearing-in back in May. When I look forward, four months seems like such a long time, but when I think about how quickly the time has past, I can't believe that I've been here almost five months. After our technical training ends on Friday, we are to stay in Chisinau for the weekend for a language training on Saturday and Sunday. With all this activity planned, this upcoming week should pass quickly. To prepare for the Project Development training, there was a proposal that needed to be developed, translated, and submitted by Wednesday. So I spent most of my "free" time, which I still have a lot of, working on this. I got it done in time, but it was a pretty intense amount of work. Not really, but for here, at least. It did occupy my time for most of Monday and Tuesday when I was not doing the clubs.

Thursday I went to Chisinau for the day. I had called the doctor because I was still having so much trouble sleeping, and I also had to get some vaccinations/booster shots due in September. It was a long day, but it was good to get away for the day, and a nice way to "celebrate" getting my report done and submitted on time. Andrea also was going to see the doctor, so we rode in on the bus together, and had lunch between my appointment with the doctor, and hers. Plus, I knew there was a package waiting for me, and I couldn't delay the gratification of getting it until next week. Thanks Mom and Dad!! Friday and yesterday were back to the same routine, trying to fill long days without structure, with meaningful activities. Friday I did a lot of walking, and with the miserable weather yesterday I read almost all day, and played on the computer. I'm currently reading Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, by Lisa See. That's about it for this week. I hope you all are well and staying warm. I miss you all. Jami

Sunday Morning

It's a quiet Sunday morning, and time for my weekly update. I want to be able to share something exciting and new, but its not going to happen this week! After anticipating that the beginning of the school year would bring structure and purpose to my time, the reality has fallen a little short of the expectation. Monday morning did start with a celebration at the school. As always, lots of flowers, teachers greeting students, about an hour in the classrooms, and then everyone left and went home by 10 am. No one really wants to do too much on the first day of school anywhere. Here they don't even stick around and pretend that they are trying to start to work!

Tuesday afternoon I got a surprise call from my parents. What a nice treat! Nothing new at home, but it was great to talk with them! When they called I was on my way to the first meeting of English Club. This group started in May when I first got here, and met for a few weeks before the end of the school year. There were about 5 kids who would show up and we would fumble through conversation in English and Romanian for an hour. I was not prepared then, for the 22 kids who were waiting for me on Tuesday afternoon. They had lots of questions, we talked informally about what they are interested in talking about. This is not an English language "class" as much as it is a club for kids who have taken, or are taking some English classes, and want to just practice. It is good for them, and great for me, since almost everything needs to be translated into Romanian. They were so enthusiastic and energetic! It was great! There were also 3 adults who showed up, and they asked if I would be willing to have a second "club" for them, around topics and language that they might need professionally. That group will start to meet tomorrow afternoon.

That really was the high point of the week. Not much else has happened since Tuesday. Friday I went to Stefan Voda, and yesterday I met with Andrea for a visit, but that's about it. I've been doing a lot of reading. I re-read The Reader and now I'm on The Purpose Driven Life. I also read a good, but older, book about life in Alaska, Coming into the Country, by John McPhee. I wonder if Sarah Palin has read it??

This weekend I am missing the Air Show in Brunswick. I used to love to sit on my deck and watch the jets fly so low over my house that I could almost see my reflection in the sunglasses on the pilots as they flew upside down over my house. (Only a slight exaggeration!) I guess the weather isn't great there, so maybe I'm not missing too much. Have a great week! Jami

Independence Day, Limba Noastra, and the first day of school

This past Wednesday, August 27, was Moldovan Independence Day, celebrating their independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. Nothing happened. I didn't really expect parades, or fireworks, but there was nothing. Just a regular day. I only heard one reference to the "holiday" from a neighbor. I have to say that I was a little disappointed. Since Moldova has only been independent for 17 years, maybe this is the reason that there isn't more going on. Do you think that Americans celebrated our independence the way we do now, back in 1793? I did hear from some people in the village that there are celebrations in Chisinau, but there was nothing going on here.

Yesterday was Limba Noastra "Our Language" day. This date, August 31, celebrates the day in 1989, when students and others protested against the Soviet Union for recognition that Moldovans learn Romanian as their language, and asserted their belief that language identifies them separately from the Soviet Union, which unified the Republics through the commonality of Russian language expectations. There are still many people in Moldova who only speak Russian, and almost everyone who speaks Romanian also speaks Russian but this seems to be the celebration of greater pride. It is in this village, at least. Last evening there was a concert at the Casa de Cultura with speeches, recited poems, and singing.

Today is the first day of school. No labor day holiday to postpone the beginning of school for an extra day. This morning there was a celebration at the school - speeches welcoming students to the new year along with lots of flowers for the teachers. Then everyone left, or just milled around the school yard taking pictures and talking, around 10. So, it's the first day, but like almost everywhere, students and teachers are easing into the new year. The learning will start tomorrow. Its nice to have a sense of routine again.

The only other thing that I did this past week worth noting was to visit with Renell in Stefan Voda on Saturday, along with two other volunteers who also came into town to do some banking. As always, it was nice to get out of the village for a little bit. Renell is done with her service in mid-October. I'm going to miss our visits.

There is noticeable progress on the building and the pace does seem to have increased. There are now doors on the building, so construction is moving along. I have said it before, but I will be glad when it is done. It rained on Friday and Saturday, and the standing water that was remaining from the flooding last month appears to have gotten deeper with the additional rain. There are no reports of any additional flooding, so that is good news. The weather here is cool and sunny today. It feels a little like a Maine day, cool in the morning, and warm and sunny by the afternoon. Have a great Labor Day! Miss you all. Jami