Why did you become a Peace Corps Volunteer in Moldova?

This is a question I get asked a lot, not only by Moldovans and Americans, but also by people from other countries. I am really lucky to have other PCVs who live in the same community as I do, and we are all in different program sectors and different phases of our lives. So as we are a few months away from closing our service here, I asked them to help me explain some of the reasons we decided to become Peace Corps Volunteers, and talk a little bit about our respective program sectors, how we ended up in Moldova, and what the application process is like.

I hope this video will be helpful for you if you are considering joining Peace Corps at any point in your life, or if you want to learn more about Peace Corps.

Thanks so much to Valerie and Okxy for your willingness to participate in this video and for your friendship and partnership throughout our time in Peace Corps Moldova. You have made my Peace Corps experience so much better, and I am truly grateful for you both!

And huge thanks to our friend Alexxa for filming and editing this video. We really appreciate you!

59 days... but not really

Somehow, time keeps slipping by faster and faster. I have been marking the 100-day countdown to my COS date on social media (eventually I hope to post those here) but haven't managed to find time to post on the blog, and today I realize that it is only 59 days until I board a plane to fly out of Moldova officially as an RPCV. Only 2 months. That seems like such a short amount of time now that I have already lived here for 2 years.

As the fates of Moldova would have it, though, I will return only a few days later to help with Wave Week as I did last year; only this time I will not be a PCV. I am really thankful for the opportunity to participate in Wave Week again, and also to return to Moldova. July 19, 2019, has always felt like the right COS date for me, but Moldova has rooted itself in my heart and I am glad that when I leave it won't be forever - or even for long.

As I near the end of my Peace Corps service in Moldova, I am continuing to reflect on what this experience has meant to me: what I have learned, how I have grown, what I have been prepared to do next. I think I mentioned before that I would like to serve in another Peace Corps post, and in early December I submitted an application. One government shutdown, one application transfer, and 6 months later, it feels like I am not any closer to finding out where the next chapter might start.

Long story short, I was offered an interview for a post in Macedonia, only to then have my application moved from the Macedonia country desk to the Albania country desk (because the Macedonia post received 10 times too many applications and couldn't consider current Volunteers, so they told me). So I am currently waiting to see if I will get an interview for a post in Albania. The application deadline for this post is June 1, so there is still more than a week before I might hear something. Even after the deadline, there is no way to know when or if I might be offered an interview. And, of course, there is never a guarantee of being offered a Peace Corps post.

Nevertheless, I don't feel in a hurry to know what will be next. I am honestly trying to savor these last 2 months in Moldova. To focus here. To live intentionally. To be present. To experience this place, and spend time with people. To build memories that I will cherish no matter where the future takes me. 8 more weeks. Plus a bonus week that I have been granted. For certain, the future will come. And things will work out. I don't have to know now where I will be then. And when all is said and done, Moldova will always be part of my story.