Dustin

I have a visitor from home! My nephew, Dustin, has been visiting me since last week. Dustin is a student at the Tyler School of Art, part of Temple University in Philadelphia. He is in a Masters of Fine Arts (MFA) program in photography there, and he is here on his school break taking photographs, and checking out the local scene.

He was supposed to fly in last Friday evening, January 2. His flight from Frankfurt to Chisinau was cancelled on Friday evening. Air Moldova put him, and several, but not all, of the cancelled passengers, into a nice hotel in Frankfurt, gave them meal vouchers, and they arrived safely on Saturday evening at the appointed time. No problems with the flight on Saturday, everything went smoothly. We spent the first few days in Chisinau, and returned to the village on Monday evening. Tuesday and Wednesday were spent in the village, walking around and exploring. I went to work, and Dustin joined me for most of the day on Wednesday. Wednesday was Christmas here. It is mostly a religious holiday, and the young children did get some small gifts. Thank you to my parents and family for sending stuff for me to share with the children. Everything was appreciated by everyone.

Thursday we came into Chisinau again for one night, and returned back to the village on Friday evening, where we stayed until yesterday (Sunday) afternoon. Again, the time was spent showing him around town, introducing him to the people I know, other volunteers, my host families, both the current one, and the one from training. It has been a fun week, and the time has passed so quickly. Today we have been visiting in Chisinau, and tomorrow he is planning to go off on his own for a while and shoot some photographs in the morning, and then in the afternoon we will probably look for some souvenirs for him to take home. His flight returning home leaves at 5 am on Wednesday, so he will be leaving Moldova soon. It has been a really good break from the coldness of January to have him here. I do know that the days are getting longer, and each day I believe I can really feel it, especially in the afternoon. I think I want it so badly, I am making the days grow faster than they actually do.

Last time I wrote about letting go of people whom I have struggled with trusting. I realized that I need to figure out how to work through this issue if I am to be successful here. I think that in many cases I have such different expectations than what people here have about "stuff". I often think that casualness about time or events is somehow a personal attack, when often it is just a different expectation about time frames or work. Again, I am working on letting some stuff go, but not actual people.

I am not sure if this has made the US press, but there is a problem with natural gas coming from Russia into Europe through the Ukraine and Moldova. There has been a shortage of gas, and problems with the movement of natural gas, and Moldova has been forced to tap its national reserves. There is a lot of concern that if this issue is not resolved soon that many people may be without heat or the ability to cook. In my village, school has been cancelled this week, as there is not enough gas in reserve in town to heat the school. Most homes in the village are heated with wood, so there is not as much concern about home heating in my village as there is in Chisinau. People across the country of Moldova are dealing with a basic necessity that I have always taken for granted as being available, even if expensive. It is living Maslows hierarchy at the most basic survival level.

I hope everyone is having a great January! Enjoy the longer days, make a snowman, have some soup or hot chocolate by the fire. Spring is coming. Really. St. Croix is always an option when you think you can't stand another cold minute! Have a safe trip Mom and Dad! Miss you all. xoxo, Jami