Este cald! (It's hot!)

The hardest part for me about being in Moldova so far has been the heat and humidity. We had a super long and cold winter in Seattle this year, and really didn't have Spring so I didn't have time to adjust to warmer temperatures before I arrived to summer weather in Moldova. So I went from wondering to myself in May if I would EVER be warm again, to wondering the past few weeks if I would ever not be TOO warm again. To be honest, culture shock hasn't really happened for me, for which I am thankful to have previously spent a great deal of time in other Eastern European countries. But the heat and humidity (it has been in the 90s this week, with 50% humidity) have made me so tired. It has felt like I have been walking through a fog, and I have been uncomfortable all the time in my business causal clothes that are meant for cooler climes. Every day by the time I finish my half-hour walk to school I am dripping. It has made language study extra difficult. Today was slightly better, so I think I must finally be starting to acclimate. I hope so! I have certainly lived in warm places before, although Cape Town and the mountains of Croatia were not nearly so humid.

94 degrees and 95% humidity?!

The humidity does break on occasion, due to incredible rainstorms. We are due for another this week, apparently. (In fact, I hear it starting right now!!) Last week, while visiting a mayor's office in a village about an hour and a half away, we saw a sudden rainstorm with wind and thunder and lightening! Rain was pouring down the windows of the office, and the mayor had to run out to roll up his car window; he had left it down because it was sunny when he had arrived to meet us 20 minutes prior. In fact, the storm knocked out electricity in some places in the country, and even pulled down a large tree outside the mayor's office. When we first arrived in Moldova, we had a few days of training at a hotel near the capital. In the landscaping at the hotel was a tall tree with all of its branches cut off, and someone told us that Moldova experienced a fluke snowstorm in April, after flowers had already started blooming and trees had leafed out. That snowstorm pulled down a lot of tree branches, because of the weight of the snow. So it's likely that the tree next to the mayor's office had been damaged by that snowstorm, and when this rainstorm hit, it could not withstand the wind and rain. Thankfully, we were inside when the tree crashed down and smashed in the window of the rutiera (mini-bus) we had ridden there in. Unfortunately, the driver's insurance did not cover 40-foot tree smashing the windshield and ripping off the bumper. :( Hoping he is able to get his rutiera fixed without too much cost and trouble, as it is his means of livelihood.

arriving at the mayor's office

meeting with the mayor

post-rain storm puddles

jumping over the puddles

on the left is the root ball, on the right is the top of the tree

After our meeting, the mayor took us over to the town library, which is housed in the school. The librarian told us about the services offered at the library. Many libraries in Moldova are also community centers and offer programs like dance classes, health classes, English language classes, and technology training. This library has dance classes for kids, diabetes education classes for adults, and computer classes. They have benefitted from the Novateca program, which has had a big impact on many libraries in Moldova. The librarian also said they have many Romanian books written in Cyrillic that no one checks out anymore. She is trying to figure out what to do with them. When Moldova became independent of the Soviet Union, the language was changed back to the Latin alphabet, so many people now prefer to read books written with the Latin alphabet.

the mayor is on the left and the librarian is on the right

My first Moldovan recipe: Compot

Friends in Seattle have been asking for Moldovan recipes, and my language skills aren't good enough yet to get very far on that front. But today I did finally get one! It's perfect, considering the bounty of cherries that greeted us when we arrived Moldova. Cherry season is in full swing here, and people are using them for everything. Each night, and sometimes also for breakfast, my host mom offers me "compot," or cherry juice. I know she boils it on the stove because sometimes it arrives in my glass hot if she has just made it. Tonight I asked her if it was cherries, water, and sugar. To my surprise, she said, "mentă!!" and pulled a fresh sprig of mint out of the cupboard for me to smell.

That's it! I thought there was some other flavor besides cherries, but I couldn't place it. It's mint! Yum! I love mint, especially paired with fruit. She showed me the contents of the pot she had boiled the compot in and told me it was sour cherries, sweet cherries, mint, sugar, and water. Bine! (She also thought I was weird for photographing the remnants in the pot, but I told her my friends want recipes!) So I give you cherry compot:

Ploua! And a birthday party

It rained this morning. A lot! I love that kind of rain when I'm inside. It's Sunday, so I didn't have to go to school and got to sleep in. There is nothing better than hearing the sound of rain outside your window when you know you don't have to get out of bed. I did peek out the window during a lull in the rain and saw a bunch of fluffy birds sitting in the tree outside eating cherries. Lucky birds!!

I have to go work with my classmates on a school project this afternoon, so I am hoping the roads aren't muddy. We are planning to meet at one of their host family's homes, so that means I need to walk up the hill out of my neighborhood and down the hill into town (about a half-hour walk) and then 10 minutes up another hill to get to our classmate's host family's home. That's about an hour of walking, so you can see why it would be more challenging in the rain/mud.

Here's hoping the rain stays stopped for the rest of the day. Although, we hear that it's supposed to rain tomorrow afternoon, too, which means walking home uphill for 40 min in the rain. I wonder if my raincoat will do me any good here? I didn't bring an umbrella!! Seattleite problems...

Update: It was my host mom's birthday party today! I didn't know until I went downstairs that there was a birthday lunch for her! Relatives came over to celebrate. I got to meet her sister and daughter-in-law. And then her sister's nephew and his fiancé came over to announce their engagement! 

It stopped raining, so I was able to go to my classmate's house to work on a project. We are mapping the town and have to present to the class on Tuesday. 

While I was walking in her neighborhood, I saw the most amazing flowers and lots of cherries! Her family also has a rooster and chickens.

On the way home I peeked into the market just to investigate. Lots of lovely things, like pelmeni in the freezer case and pickled watermelon in the produce section! (And of course, lots of dill!)

When I got home, mamă mea gazdă (my host mom) was watering flowers in the yard and she took me around the backyard and told me the names of the different fruits: caisă (apricot), prună (plum), struguri (grapes), căpșună (strawberry), and of course cireaşă (sweet cherries) si vişină (sour cherries)!

Rest and thoughts about weather

Today is Saturday. We had language and cultural training in the morning, but had the afternoon free. I walked around the town a bit with one of my colleagues and then wandered home and took a nap. A nap!!! I can't remember the last time I did that. There was so much to do to get ready to come here that I was busy nonstop for several months before I left the U.S., from early in the morning until late at night. Since we arrived, we have also been scheduled nonstop. It's a weird feeling to have a few hours to myself. I've been told that once training is finished and we go to our permanent sites, that we will have quite a bit of free time as we get settled in and get started with our work. But for now, I will take these few hours of rest to get ready for more training next week.

It's was a perfect day for a nap because it's overcast today, and the forecast is rain. I haven't heard or seen any rain yet, but obviously this PNW girl feels at home in overcast drizzly weather! It's humid, though, and that is something I am not used to. Still getting acclimated to it. I'm also thinking ahead and trying to prepare myself for cold, snowy winters. Yesterday, when I was walking home from the school, I noticed huge drainage ditches on the sides of the road. Definitely something we don't have in Seattle. I've experienced snow, but have never lived in a place that gets lots of it or has it for long. It's hard to imagine a snowy winter right now when I am so warm all the time, and haven't worn long sleeves since I arrived in Moldova. But I know it's coming. I have my warm coat and snow boots, but it's the mental preparation I really need, I think.

Challenges and cherries

We arrived in our communities for Pre-Service Training on Sunday afternoon, and today is Thursday. We will be in these communities for 10 weeks. I have been working on integrating into my host family and community, but it has been challenging because I don’t understand the language very well yet, and am probably missing lots of cultural queues. Sometimes I feel like I blend in ok – like the time a truck driver pulled over to ask me for directions – and other times I feel like I am obviously an outsider. But so far, the people we have encountered have been willing to talk to us and help us get to know their community better. Yesterday was a tough day because my host dad was speaking to me a lot and I couldn’t understand anything he was saying. I was so frustrated because I really wanted to understand him. But I have to be patient and realize that I have only been learning this language for about a week! I have definitely learned a lot more Romanian in a week than I have ever learned of any other language in a week! The language training is really fantastic, and I feel privileged to have the opportunity to participate in such a great program. It was helpful to talk to my Peace Corps mentor, who reminded me that the language skills will come with time.

Today I felt better about my language skills. I was able to communicate more with my host family, and even understood a joke my host dad told! My PC colleagues and I also started working on a project to map our community. In small groups, we spent the afternoon walking around town, visiting offices and landmarks, and asking people about the town. Despite our very limited Romanian, we were able to talk to staff at the Mayor’s office, the city council, and the cultural center. We have also talked to staff at the library and at a few cafes. I was interested to learn about these places, and glad to have this assignment to give me a reason to go talk to people. I definitely feel like this helped me get to know the town better so I can feel more at home here.

Before I came here, I had no idea that Moldova is full of cherry trees! They are everywhere in town, and the cherries are delicious! There are gorgeous roses everywhere, too, and they smell amazing. I’m also very lucky to have a view of sunset from the window of my room. A few times this week, I have stood staring out the window for half an hour or so watching the sunset until there is just a faint pale pink glow in the distance. These are some of the things I already love about this country (at least this town!), and I am sure that there will be many more.