*Edit: just as good the second day!!
Sunday, February 4, 2018
Rice: A case study in different perspectives
Rice. My favorite food since I was a little kid. Despite the fact that my parents preferred potatoes and pasta. My mom joked that she knew I was hers because I was born at home so I couldn't have been switched at the hospital, but she couldn't understand where my obsession with rice came from. People eat rice here in Moldova, so it's readily available at the stores here, but they prepare it differently than I am used to. Moldova has some sushi and Asian food restaurants in the capital, but here in my town there are no Asian food restaurants, so if you want something you have to make it yourself. I am very fortunate and thankful that rice, nori, and soy sauce are available at the grocery store in my town, though! And I was able to find sweet chili sauce and lime juice at a grocery store in the capital. So today I had decided that I would make rice and put a mixture of soy sauce, chili sauce, sriracha sauce, lime juice, and green onions on it. I had started boiling water when my host mom came out to see what I was doing. She thought my rice needed more water, so she poured some more in (oh! but...), and then after a few minutes she added even more (wait, but...!). Oh well, I thought. I will see what happens. Turns out what I thought would happen did: gelatinous rice. Not quite what I was hoping for. However, I explained to her that it wasn't how I wanted my rice and we agreed that we had different ideas about how the rice should turn out, but there was no problem. I made new rice (which turned out great!) and I offered her the first batch. She added butter and sugar to it, and said it was delicious! One thing that I've experienced while living in Moldova is that often my host family/counterparts/local friends and I have different ideas or understandings about how something should turn out that we don't realize at first. Not better or worse, just different. It's interesting to find out what the other person had imagined, and try to explain what I had imagined. In the end, we learn new things from each other, so I consider it a good learning experience. Sorry, there are no photos of my rice because I ate it immediately when it was finished! :D
*Edit: just as good the second day!!
*Edit: just as good the second day!!
Sunday, January 21, 2018
Plăcintă
Plăcintă is a staple food in Moldova. It can be savory or sweet (my favorite is when it has cherries inside!), and it can be served for festive occasions or just as an everyday food. It is similar to foods I've eaten in other parts of Eastern Europe, such as pita in Bosnia, or burek in Croatia and Serbia.
Today, I happened to be in the kitchen when my host mom started preparing plăcintă so I got to watch and even help a little! She had already prepared the filling and was using pre-made dough, so it was really quick to prepare. She laid the dough sheets out flat and then spread an even layer of the filling on them. Today she used a mixture of brânză (a crumbly white cheese), cașcaval (another type of cheese), a few eggs, and a bit of salt. Once the filling was distributed, she rolled them up and I helped her put them in the pan. She brushed the plăcintă with a beaten egg and let it sit for about 10 minutes before putting it in the oven for about half an hour. Ovens here, including ours, don't really give you the option to set a specific temperature, so I can't say how hot the oven was. But the plăcintă turned out delicious!
Today, I happened to be in the kitchen when my host mom started preparing plăcintă so I got to watch and even help a little! She had already prepared the filling and was using pre-made dough, so it was really quick to prepare. She laid the dough sheets out flat and then spread an even layer of the filling on them. Today she used a mixture of brânză (a crumbly white cheese), cașcaval (another type of cheese), a few eggs, and a bit of salt. Once the filling was distributed, she rolled them up and I helped her put them in the pan. She brushed the plăcintă with a beaten egg and let it sit for about 10 minutes before putting it in the oven for about half an hour. Ovens here, including ours, don't really give you the option to set a specific temperature, so I can't say how hot the oven was. But the plăcintă turned out delicious!
Snow Day!
It finally snowed a real snow here in Cahul. Over 2 days we got about 5 inches of snow, and in other parts of Moldova other PCVs told me they got a foot or more! I was happy to see it finally, as I know were locals here. People have been worrying that it has been such a warm winter (although I personally was not complaining about that!), because trees are already starting to bud and they are afraid that if we get a snowfall after the trees bloom it will ruin the fruit tree crops on which much of the country relies.
I walked to work on Thursday using my Peace-Corps-issued YakTrax, which are my new favorite things! They made it so easy to walk in the snow! The storm had knocked out power to parts of town, including my house. When I arrived at the library door inside the Palatul de Cultura, it was locked. So I walked over to the Children's library. The librarians were there and they had electricity, but they said no one would come that day so not long after I arrived they closed up and went home. That meant I did not have adult English or kids' English that day. Instead, I took a short walk in the fresh snow. I love to take photos of Cahul during different seasons, so I walked to the park and took some photos of the park and church in the snow.
It was so pretty. But my phone battery was dying and I wanted to get home before dark, so I walked home after that. My phone battery did die and we still didn't have electricity at home, but fortunately my computer was fully charged so I plugged my phone into it. Peace Corps asks us to keep our phones charged in case of emergency so they can reach us. The wind was still pretty strong so I wasn't sure how long it would take to get power back. It turned out that the center of town got power back late that night, but we didn't get it back in our neighborhood until the next morning. My family ate dinner by candlelight that night.
I walked to work on Thursday using my Peace-Corps-issued YakTrax, which are my new favorite things! They made it so easy to walk in the snow! The storm had knocked out power to parts of town, including my house. When I arrived at the library door inside the Palatul de Cultura, it was locked. So I walked over to the Children's library. The librarians were there and they had electricity, but they said no one would come that day so not long after I arrived they closed up and went home. That meant I did not have adult English or kids' English that day. Instead, I took a short walk in the fresh snow. I love to take photos of Cahul during different seasons, so I walked to the park and took some photos of the park and church in the snow.
It was so pretty. But my phone battery was dying and I wanted to get home before dark, so I walked home after that. My phone battery did die and we still didn't have electricity at home, but fortunately my computer was fully charged so I plugged my phone into it. Peace Corps asks us to keep our phones charged in case of emergency so they can reach us. The wind was still pretty strong so I wasn't sure how long it would take to get power back. It turned out that the center of town got power back late that night, but we didn't get it back in our neighborhood until the next morning. My family ate dinner by candlelight that night.
Sărbătorile de iarnă!
Well. As I said before, Moldova has a long winter holiday season (or at least it feels long to me!). There is "new Christmas" on December 25, "new New Year's" on January 1, "old Christmas" on January 7, and old New Year's" on January 14. "Old" Christmas and New Year are referred to as such because they are based on the Julian calendar instead of the Gregorian calendar, because the Orthodox Church in Moldova still uses the Julian calendar to determine the dates for holidays.
But there are also other traditions and celebration days that I did not know about. Which I confess is partly my own fault for not doing the research. It seems like I always learn about these traditions and holidays after the fact by hearing about them from other Peace Corps Volunteers or seeing their Facebook or blog posts. I wish I would know about things ahead of time so I could participate or watch, but at least I've started keeping track so I can next year! In my defense I didn't know what I didn't know, and even seeing the name of a celebration on a calendar doesn't necessarily tell me how my particular community and/or host family might celebrate it. Another complicating factor is that I've been battling a stubborn case of bronchitis for a few months so I've been trying to stay home and rest as much as possible since I got back from traveling at the beginning of the month.
Walking with Goats
Actually, last Sunday I was invited by a librarian from a village in my raion (district) to come "walking with goats." I was so confused! It's the middle of January and snowed over the weekend, and I couldn't understand what I was being invited to. I couldn't go anyway because I was sick and staying in Chisinau so I could see the Peace Corps doctor. That evening some other PCVs posted pictures of themselves out "walking with goats" and singing carols at neighbors' houses. And then it made sense to me what the librarian had invited me to! I told her I'd like to come another time. I learned that this tradition is called "Uratura de Sfântul Vasile" (St. Basil Wishing). Here is a great video I found that someone posted a few years ago, which based on the poem seems to take place in Mileștii Mici. Like most Moldovan celebrations, it is accompanied by music and poetry, toasts and well wishes, and colac (a traditional bread ring that is given to welcome guests). I don't know if people in my town also participate in Uratura de Sfântul Vasile, or if it just happens in villages. As I mentioned, I was in Chisinau that evening, but I also live with a family that doesn't have young children, and in a neighborhood where there aren't many young children. So I've noticed that traditions I read about on other PCVs' blogs I don't necessarily see happen in my town. Often it seems that if they do happen here, they happen at schools and since I don't work with a school I only see photos and videos shared by other PCVs who work in schools. Many people who live and/or work in my town come from nearby villages and still have family there, so it's also possible that they return to their villages for these types of celebrations. I know that one of my fellow PCV sitemates Valerie was invited by her language tutor to participate in the festivities in her village.
And here are a couple of photos of the fun taken by my fellow PCV Melinda, who lives in a village in my raion:
Zilei Naționale a Culturii
Another thing I discovered via a Facebook post by the mayor's office is that there was a concert celebrating the National Day of Culture. Darn! I would have liked to go to that, but was staying home to recover from being sick anyway. However, the post mentioned that they plan to make this an annual tradition, so I've got it on my radar for next year!
Epiphany Bathing
I also learned this week that there is a tradition on "old" Epiphany to cut a cross shape in a frozen lake and walk in, dunk three times, and cross oneself. This is called "Крещенские купания," or Epiphany Bathing. If you click that link you should see a video of this tradition that happened in a lake in my town this year. Oh gosh, it looks so cold! Especially because I watched it while staying home sick. But I really hope to be healthy next winter so I can go see it firsthand. Below is a description of the tradition, via Wikipedia:
There are probably more traditions and celebrations I missed either while I was on vacation, while I was sick, or simply because I don't live in a village or with children. But the fun of living in a different culture is constantly learning new things, and I am sure that I will find out about more celebrations the longer I am here in Moldova. One celebration I do know about because of having worked with colleagues in Romania at a previous job is the holiday called Marțișor, which is coming up soon at the beginning of March. Look for a post about that in the coming weeks!
But there are also other traditions and celebration days that I did not know about. Which I confess is partly my own fault for not doing the research. It seems like I always learn about these traditions and holidays after the fact by hearing about them from other Peace Corps Volunteers or seeing their Facebook or blog posts. I wish I would know about things ahead of time so I could participate or watch, but at least I've started keeping track so I can next year! In my defense I didn't know what I didn't know, and even seeing the name of a celebration on a calendar doesn't necessarily tell me how my particular community and/or host family might celebrate it. Another complicating factor is that I've been battling a stubborn case of bronchitis for a few months so I've been trying to stay home and rest as much as possible since I got back from traveling at the beginning of the month.
Walking with Goats
Actually, last Sunday I was invited by a librarian from a village in my raion (district) to come "walking with goats." I was so confused! It's the middle of January and snowed over the weekend, and I couldn't understand what I was being invited to. I couldn't go anyway because I was sick and staying in Chisinau so I could see the Peace Corps doctor. That evening some other PCVs posted pictures of themselves out "walking with goats" and singing carols at neighbors' houses. And then it made sense to me what the librarian had invited me to! I told her I'd like to come another time. I learned that this tradition is called "Uratura de Sfântul Vasile" (St. Basil Wishing). Here is a great video I found that someone posted a few years ago, which based on the poem seems to take place in Mileștii Mici. Like most Moldovan celebrations, it is accompanied by music and poetry, toasts and well wishes, and colac (a traditional bread ring that is given to welcome guests). I don't know if people in my town also participate in Uratura de Sfântul Vasile, or if it just happens in villages. As I mentioned, I was in Chisinau that evening, but I also live with a family that doesn't have young children, and in a neighborhood where there aren't many young children. So I've noticed that traditions I read about on other PCVs' blogs I don't necessarily see happen in my town. Often it seems that if they do happen here, they happen at schools and since I don't work with a school I only see photos and videos shared by other PCVs who work in schools. Many people who live and/or work in my town come from nearby villages and still have family there, so it's also possible that they return to their villages for these types of celebrations. I know that one of my fellow PCV sitemates Valerie was invited by her language tutor to participate in the festivities in her village.
And here are a couple of photos of the fun taken by my fellow PCV Melinda, who lives in a village in my raion:
a goat!
Zilei Naționale a Culturii
Another thing I discovered via a Facebook post by the mayor's office is that there was a concert celebrating the National Day of Culture. Darn! I would have liked to go to that, but was staying home to recover from being sick anyway. However, the post mentioned that they plan to make this an annual tradition, so I've got it on my radar for next year!
Epiphany Bathing
I also learned this week that there is a tradition on "old" Epiphany to cut a cross shape in a frozen lake and walk in, dunk three times, and cross oneself. This is called "Крещенские купания," or Epiphany Bathing. If you click that link you should see a video of this tradition that happened in a lake in my town this year. Oh gosh, it looks so cold! Especially because I watched it while staying home sick. But I really hope to be healthy next winter so I can go see it firsthand. Below is a description of the tradition, via Wikipedia:
The screenshots below are captured from the video that is linked above:
**Edit**
February 2, 2018:
I just got splattered with holy water... I was sitting at my desk in my room working on my Fall report for Peace Corps, and suddenly heard religious singing. For a minute I thought my host dad was singing, but then my host mom asked if she could open the door, and a priest was standing there singing and splattering me and my room with water! I was very confused, as you might imagine. My host dad explained that it was supposed to happen on Epiphany, but he apparently came late. Haha. Oh Moldova, you are always full of surprises!!
Sunday, January 7, 2018
Crăciun Fericit! C рождеством!
It's Orthodox Christmas today and Moldova has a large community of Orthodox believers, both Romanian and Russian. To be honest, I can't tell you the difference between various branches of Orthodoxy (or whether that is even the correct way to refer to them). I grew up in a Protestant (PCUSA) tradition in the U.S. and didn't encounter Orthodox churches until I visited Serbia in 2006. I did ask some local Moldovans how to tell the difference between Russian and Romanian Orthodox churches here, and they told me you can't really tell the difference just by looking; you'd have to know which patriarchate the church belongs to. I'm not sure if that's correct or not, but I'm interested in learning more about this.
In any case, it's a holiday today here in Moldova, and because the holiday falls on a Sunday we have tomorrow as a day off, too. I admit that I like being able to celebrate two Christmases! I really enjoyed seeing the German/Russian/Kazakh traditions when we celebrated with my friend's family in Germany on December 24, and it was nice to come home to Moldova and still see all the Christmas decorations up and have some time to rest after traveling. My town has a big Christmas tree up next to the university, and lights strung across the main streets. And my host family had put up a Christmas tree in the house and some lights. So pretty!
I'm taking this holiday time to rest, prepare some English lessons, work on some project planning, and in general -- because it is also the beginning of a new year -- think about goals I have for this year. Definitely on my list of New Year's resolutions are good projects and language learning!
First and foremost, I want to get really intentional about learning and practicing Romanian. I had a hard time carving out space for language study toward the end of the year, and then my tutor moved away a few weeks before I went on vacation. So this month I am going to work hard on creating time in my schedule to study, and also make the effort to find myself a new tutor. I've already started asking around! I've also been working a little bit on learning Russian using DuoLingo. Once I get a better foundation in Romanian, I would like to focus a little more on Russian, too. Most people in my town, and many throughout Moldova, are fluent in both Romanian and Russian, so it would be helpful to know some Russian.
Second, I really want the projects I work on with my library to make a positive impact in my community. I've been at site for about 4.5 months now, and the past few weeks have been vacation, but in the new year I'm hoping to finally get some projects going. As PCVs, I think we all have goals of making positive impact in our communities. I'm hoping to be able to do some projects that people here will enjoy and learn from. We have a Peace Corps project design and management conference in a few weeks, and I'm working on some ideas for projects to work on there. It feels good to finally feel settled enough here that I can think about something beyond just trying to understand people or navigate norms and customs. I have reasonable expectations, knowing that no project ever turns out quite as you imagine at the beginning. But I am excited about these projects and think they could be really interesting for participants. Hoping they will come together well!
Third, I'd really like to make more friends in my community. I definitely know some great people here, but everyone works and has family, and it is difficult to find time to get together. So that's something I want to focus on this year; finding time to connect with local friends, and also getting to know new people here.
As a PCV, it can be hard to set a schedule for yourself, because your time is heavily impacted by your counterpart/organization, your host family, the weather (in the case of hanging laundry to dry!), etc. I am generally a pretty flexible person and don't mind adjusting, but it does make it extra challenging to make sure I have the time I need for language study and lesson/project planning. In the coming year, my main goal is to stay flexible, but somehow manage to schedule the time I need for these important parts of my work here.
La Mulți Ani! Anul Nou Fericit! С Новым годом! Happy New Year!
In any case, it's a holiday today here in Moldova, and because the holiday falls on a Sunday we have tomorrow as a day off, too. I admit that I like being able to celebrate two Christmases! I really enjoyed seeing the German/Russian/Kazakh traditions when we celebrated with my friend's family in Germany on December 24, and it was nice to come home to Moldova and still see all the Christmas decorations up and have some time to rest after traveling. My town has a big Christmas tree up next to the university, and lights strung across the main streets. And my host family had put up a Christmas tree in the house and some lights. So pretty!
I'm taking this holiday time to rest, prepare some English lessons, work on some project planning, and in general -- because it is also the beginning of a new year -- think about goals I have for this year. Definitely on my list of New Year's resolutions are good projects and language learning!
First and foremost, I want to get really intentional about learning and practicing Romanian. I had a hard time carving out space for language study toward the end of the year, and then my tutor moved away a few weeks before I went on vacation. So this month I am going to work hard on creating time in my schedule to study, and also make the effort to find myself a new tutor. I've already started asking around! I've also been working a little bit on learning Russian using DuoLingo. Once I get a better foundation in Romanian, I would like to focus a little more on Russian, too. Most people in my town, and many throughout Moldova, are fluent in both Romanian and Russian, so it would be helpful to know some Russian.
Second, I really want the projects I work on with my library to make a positive impact in my community. I've been at site for about 4.5 months now, and the past few weeks have been vacation, but in the new year I'm hoping to finally get some projects going. As PCVs, I think we all have goals of making positive impact in our communities. I'm hoping to be able to do some projects that people here will enjoy and learn from. We have a Peace Corps project design and management conference in a few weeks, and I'm working on some ideas for projects to work on there. It feels good to finally feel settled enough here that I can think about something beyond just trying to understand people or navigate norms and customs. I have reasonable expectations, knowing that no project ever turns out quite as you imagine at the beginning. But I am excited about these projects and think they could be really interesting for participants. Hoping they will come together well!
Third, I'd really like to make more friends in my community. I definitely know some great people here, but everyone works and has family, and it is difficult to find time to get together. So that's something I want to focus on this year; finding time to connect with local friends, and also getting to know new people here.
As a PCV, it can be hard to set a schedule for yourself, because your time is heavily impacted by your counterpart/organization, your host family, the weather (in the case of hanging laundry to dry!), etc. I am generally a pretty flexible person and don't mind adjusting, but it does make it extra challenging to make sure I have the time I need for language study and lesson/project planning. In the coming year, my main goal is to stay flexible, but somehow manage to schedule the time I need for these important parts of my work here.
La Mulți Ani! Anul Nou Fericit! С Новым годом! Happy New Year!
Saturday, January 6, 2018
The meaning of time
Time and my relationship with time is something I have been thinking about a lot over the past few months. Coming from a culture that is heavily focused on maximizing time, not wasting time, and utterly obsessed with chronological time, it is ingrained in me to try to make sure that I'm not wasting a single second.
In the past few weeks, I spent around 44 hours on busses, a night on a train, lots of time in airports and planes, and even on boats just getting to the places where I needed to be to "do things." At one point, I rode a bus 4 hours one way for a 2 hour event, rode it back home 3 hours, and then did the same thing the next day.
So, all the time spent in transport got me thinking about what it means to use time well or to waste it. I don't have a lot of great insight on this, but I guess it's just interesting to see how perspective can shift. I definitely don't think I would have felt good about doing two successive 7-hour roundtrip bus rides in one day at home. But here, I got to see a beautiful snow-covered landscape, take naps, be in the places I wanted to be for the activities and meetings I wanted to participate in. And while I was in the bus I realized that there wasn't anywhere else I needed to be at the time. Maybe time only feels wasted if there is something else you'd rather have been doing?
More thoughts on this in the future, maybe.
In the past few weeks, I spent around 44 hours on busses, a night on a train, lots of time in airports and planes, and even on boats just getting to the places where I needed to be to "do things." At one point, I rode a bus 4 hours one way for a 2 hour event, rode it back home 3 hours, and then did the same thing the next day.
So, all the time spent in transport got me thinking about what it means to use time well or to waste it. I don't have a lot of great insight on this, but I guess it's just interesting to see how perspective can shift. I definitely don't think I would have felt good about doing two successive 7-hour roundtrip bus rides in one day at home. But here, I got to see a beautiful snow-covered landscape, take naps, be in the places I wanted to be for the activities and meetings I wanted to participate in. And while I was in the bus I realized that there wasn't anywhere else I needed to be at the time. Maybe time only feels wasted if there is something else you'd rather have been doing?
More thoughts on this in the future, maybe.
Thursday, January 4, 2018
First vacation
I got back from vacation a couple days ago, and two days later than originally planned. It was great, but I am definitely happy to be "home." I'm also happy that Moldova feels like home now. :)
I travelled with 3 other volunteers from my training group. One of them has family in Germany so that was our first stop. The grandparents are ethnically German but grew up in Kazakhstan. Anyway, Christmas with them was great! It was a combination of German and Kazakh, with Russian and German food and language and traditions. Then we went to Venice for a few days, where we had crazy transportation issues. Our flight from there to Budapest was canceled due to snow in London, and the busses were all full, and the train was delayed 1.5 hours, and we slept sitting up/on the floor, etc. It was an adventure, for sure!
Budapest was great! I was really happy to have more time to see things there (when I was there in 2007, we only had 1 day), even though we lost a day to traveling. I'd definitely go there again. We ended with a day in Bucharest because we had to go there to get back to Moldova. Bucharest was another adventure. We hadn't originally planned to spend a day there, but when we arrived on New Year's Eve, we found out that the hostel we had booked had closed 2 months ago! So we scrambled and found an actually really nice hotel for a reasonable price right in the center. The Christmas lights were beautiful, and I'm glad we got to have a day there. I definitely enjoyed it more this time than I did 10 years ago. I'd like to go back and do some more exploring.
I do feel more rested, and it was great to have a chance to step outside my life here in Moldova and reflect. I feel ready now to be back in Moldova and get back to work here.
I travelled with 3 other volunteers from my training group. One of them has family in Germany so that was our first stop. The grandparents are ethnically German but grew up in Kazakhstan. Anyway, Christmas with them was great! It was a combination of German and Kazakh, with Russian and German food and language and traditions. Then we went to Venice for a few days, where we had crazy transportation issues. Our flight from there to Budapest was canceled due to snow in London, and the busses were all full, and the train was delayed 1.5 hours, and we slept sitting up/on the floor, etc. It was an adventure, for sure!
Budapest was great! I was really happy to have more time to see things there (when I was there in 2007, we only had 1 day), even though we lost a day to traveling. I'd definitely go there again. We ended with a day in Bucharest because we had to go there to get back to Moldova. Bucharest was another adventure. We hadn't originally planned to spend a day there, but when we arrived on New Year's Eve, we found out that the hostel we had booked had closed 2 months ago! So we scrambled and found an actually really nice hotel for a reasonable price right in the center. The Christmas lights were beautiful, and I'm glad we got to have a day there. I definitely enjoyed it more this time than I did 10 years ago. I'd like to go back and do some more exploring.
I do feel more rested, and it was great to have a chance to step outside my life here in Moldova and reflect. I feel ready now to be back in Moldova and get back to work here.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)