It is really and truly Spring here now. The birds start tweeting early in the morning, the daffodils are blooming, the willows and other trees are budding, and the fields are green. Yippee! It feels good to be warm.
Yesterday was another Saturday in Chişinău. This week it was for the VAC meeting. As always, it was a long day, and, at the same time, nice to get out of the village. Unlike others in recent memory, it was warm, sunny, and actually nice to walk around town. Our Country Director has just resigned, taking a job in Seattle. He will be leaving at the end of this month, and our Program and Training Officer will be the acting Country Director until a replacement is here, probably sometime in June or July. It won't have much of an impact on me in the day to day life here. What might have a bigger impact is that the Assistant Program Manager, Ana, is also leaving soon. She is moving with her husband to East Timur. Brave. Last year, when we first got here, our Program Manager, Liliana, was just going out on maternity leave. She has been back for a few months now, and she is great. My initial contact, however, was primarily with Ana, and I have benefited from her support. I wish her the best in her new adventures.
Today are the elections for Parliament and a new President in Moldova. Here people vote for a party only, and not for direct representation. There are currently 28 different parties identified on the ballot, and to have a representative voice in the Parliament, a party needs to secure at least 6% of the vote. Another way to secure a voice in Parliament is to form a coalition with another party, so that there is at least a partial representation of a party platform. I do enjoy the American political process, and try to be an active participant in our political process. Here it is interesting to be a passive observer to a process that I really don't understand. It is hard for me to imagine how a system works where there is not a process to identify individuals who will represent my individual interests. I take for granted that even if I don't agree with every decision my political representatives make, that they, as individuals, are accountable to me, as an individual voter. This voting for just a party is a little confusing to me, and it has been an interesting learning experience to observe this election process. I'm glad for the opportunity to be here during this time, and I'm really glad that we are not to get involved in this process in any way. It makes my life so much easier.
I haven't done an update to my reading list for awhile, so here it is:
MotorMouth, Janet Evanovich;
Three Junes, Julia Glass;
An Ocean Apart, A World Away, Lensey Namioka;
Native Speaker, Chang Rae Lee;
The Master Butchers Singing Club, Louise Erdich;
Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister, Gregory Maguire;
Stranger Than Fiction, Chuck Palahniuk;
A River Sutra, Gita Mehta;
Absalom!Absalom!, William Faulker;
Lost on Planet China, J. Maarten Troost;
Four Corners, Kira Salak;
The Hours, Michael Cunningham, and I have succumbed to volunteer peer pressure and I am currently reading
Twilight, Stephanie Meyer.
I guess that's all for this week. I'll be home in NINE days!!! I hope to see as many of you as I can. Special birthday greetings this week for my Daddy, a remembrance for my nephew, Paul, who would be 26, and for my sister-in-law, Gale. See you all soon. xoxo, Jami
