25 years of Peace Corps Moldova

This is a little glimpse into the lives of PCVs in Moldova. I'm very thankful to be here, and to have these colleagues and friends. Bravo to the volunteers in this video (Sam, Fritz, Ellen, Jon, Alex, Anne, and Bartosz), and the rest of the M30s, M31s, M32s, and M33s I have had the honor of serving with in Moldova. 🇲🇩

Peace Corps Moldova 25th Anniversary video

Serving Under Conditions of Hardship

It's one of the first things you are told about Peace Corps, and you have to agree to it upon accepting your invitation to serve:

Expectation #3 of the Core Expectations for Peace Corps Volunteers states that PCVs must:

"Serve where the Peace Corps asks you to go, under conditions of hardship if necessary, and with the flexibility needed for effective service."

Obviously, this means different things for each Volunteer, country, site, context, etc. Living in a town and in an Eastern European country means the hardships I face are different than the hardships faced by Volunteers living in rural contexts or other parts of the world. I really have no complaints about physical hardships in my site. For example, I don't have to chop my own wood or coal, I don't have to get my water from a well, I don't have to walk or bike miles to the nearest market. The biggest challenge I face here regarding resources is that twice a year my town turns off the water to clean the water pipes - which is happening this weekend, so I showered last night and have stockpiled bottles of water to use for the next two days while the water will be off.

However, there are non-physical hardships that all PCVs face: we miss our friends and families, we miss favorite foods, we miss events and experiences at home.

I have been thinking about this recently, as I have now been in Moldova for nearly 17 months. I've missed a few friends' weddings, I've missed friends' babies being born, I will miss the national convention of my sorority - which will happen for the first time ever in my hometown of Seattle, and which I had hoped to attend. And just yesterday, I found out that my favorite band will tour their new album in the Spring and I will miss the show they play in my hometown on my birthday.

But when we accept our invitations to serve as Peace Corps Volunteers, we understand that we are giving up the conveniences of home and that we might miss important events during our service. In my case, it was a choice I made with open eyes and willingly. Certainly, I am sorry to miss these experiences, and I absolutely miss my friends and family at home. But at the same time, what I have given up feels like a small price to pay for the extraordinary opportunity to gain new skills, knowledge, friendships, and experiences through my Peace Corps Service.

I am grateful for the people and communities that have welcomed me here in Moldova, and I would not trade this experience for anything.

A day in the life

Have you ever wondered what a typical day as a Peace Corps Volunteer looks like? Well, I'm not sure if there is a "typical" day. But I can give you a snapshot of one day. 

Today, I worked on my tri-annual report for Peace Corps, had lunch with a friend, taught an English lesson for kids along with my fellow PCV sitemate, tried to study language but ended up chatting with my sitemates instead, participated in the English conversation group organized by the Fulbright in our town, chatted with local kids on the way home (I love hearing them yell, "Hee-lar-eee!" when they see me, and seeing them come running over), ate with my host family, and helped translate a conversation between my host family and the PCV they hosted before me who is back in the U.S. now. 

I love that every day in Peace Corps is different and holds new challenges and surprises. The thing I love most is the opportunity to develop relationships and work on interesting projects with great colleagues.

One year.

I've been wanting to fire the blog back up. I got super busy over the summer and got lazy about writing. Also my computer has been overheating, and I'm not sure if that's because it's 6 years old now or because the weather is hot or what, but in any case I have been trying to use it sparingly, which is kind of getting in the way of work and of writing.

But today is August 15, 2018. One year ago I finished PST and packed all my bags to get ready for Swearing In and moving to my new home in Cahul. It's hard to believe that a year has already passed. In a fun turn of events, today turned out to be the day that I finally bought an ie ("ee-ay") - a traditional Moldovan shirt - and I think it's fitting that it marks one year spent in Cahul. I plan to wear it for Ziua Independenței (Independence Day) later this month.

I'm excited that the M33 Volunteers will be swearing in tomorrow. It has made me reflect on my own PST and the past year at site. What a year it has been. There were definitely many challenges, but there were also great experiences and beautiful sights. It's also interesting to see how I have changed, how my language skills have improved (and how they haven't - haha!), and how I've integrated into my Moldovan community over the past year.

I'm sure I will have more reflections tomorrow, the anniversary of our Swearing In and arrival at site, but I was thinking today about how from here on out everything will be a "last" instead of a "first." Probably I will not still be in Moldova by this time next year, which is strange to think about. I look forward to what this year will hold, and I plan to savor all the moments.

Mid-Service Conference

Peace Corps experience is such an interesting thing. Everyone has an idea of what Peace Corps is, and honestly I have a much easier time explaining my Peace Corps service to people than explaining the NGOs I have worked with, because Peace Corps has name recognition around the world. But at the same time, no two Peace Corps Volunteers' experience is the same, even if they are in the same country, program, or even site.

This week, my cohort - M32 - had our Mid-Service Conference in Chisinau. The last of the cohort before us has COSed now (finished their service), and we are now in the second half of ours. We spent the time discussing goals and hopes for the second half of our service, and it's strange to realize that we are on the downhill slope now. We also had a Q&A time with the new cohort (M33) who are now about a week away from finishing PST and being sworn in as Peace Corps Volunteers. They will swear in exactly one year after my cohort did. One of the main things we emphasized to them is that each of their experiences will be different, and not to try to compare.

I have been reflecting on my first year in Moldova and in Peace Corps. I have been practicing Romanian because we took an LPI exam during the conference to get a benchmark of our language level. I've been thinking about what I'd still like to accomplish before I leave Moldova. And I have been thinking about how it will feel to leave Moldova. I can't quite visualize it yet. But one of my goals by the end of my service here was to be sad to leave, and I am sure that I will be. I am happy with some of the projects I have been involved in, but hope to be able to work with my counterparts to do more projects that will make a positive difference in our community. I am happy that I finally feel somewhat confident in my language skills, but still hope to improve a lot more before I leave Moldova.

And then I have started thinking about what might come after my service here in Moldova. Honestly, although there have been a lot of challenges, that is one of the reasons I joined Peace Corps. I wanted to be challenged and grow. I have. And I want more of this type of experience. I don't know yet what will come next, but for now I am glad to have another year in Moldova.

English books!

This week, the American Resource Center at Biblioteca Publica Raională "Andrei Ciurunga" in Cahul received a shipment of books from Darien Book Aid in the U.S. We are so grateful to have more books in English for our community members to read, and they came just in time for summer reading!

Darien Book Aid is a wonderful non-profit organization that has made a big difference around the world:

"In existence since 1949, Darien Book Aid is a non-profit, all volunteer organization that builds a foundation of peace, understanding, and friendship through the free distribution of books. Book Aid sends books in response to specific requests from Peace Corps volunteers, libraries and schools all over the world. Books are also donated to libraries, prisons, hospitals, and Native American and Appalachian groups in the United States."

If you would like to donate to support the efforts of Darien Book Aid to provide books to community that want them, you can find information on their website: http://www.darienbookaid.org

THANK YOU! MULȚUMESC! СПАСИБО!

One year in

My cohort of M32s arrived in Moldova a year ago, on June 7, 2017. I remember that I was exhausted, and was wearing my Seattle spring-weather lightweight wool dress pants in 90+ degree humid Moldovan summer heat and just wanted a cool shower and to sleep. To be honest, I don't remember much else about that day. We were met at the Chisinau airport by some M31s with welcome signs, and then had to wait forever because some people's luggage didn't make it. Then we loaded onto busses and were driven to a resort where there was food and some info/meeting sessions. Eventually, I did get to go to sleep and I was grateful.

The few days that we were at the resort were a blessing so we could adjust to the time zone and to Moldova. I know we had language lessons and ate fresh cherries. I didn't spend a lot of time talking to my fellow PCTs (Peace Corps Trainees; you're not considered a PCV until after you swear in at the end of PST), because I just needed the time to recover from exhaustion (not only from the journey to Moldova, but also from the sleep deprivation for the previous several months job hunting, preparing for departure, and working two jobs). I would have loved to spend more time with everyone before we were split up into our respective training sites, but at this point in my life I also know when I need to rest and I try to do a better job of taking the time that I need. Anyway, here we are a year later and I am trying to reflect on all that has happened during this year.

I was sick for a long time this year, beginning during PST. I think my body was just reacting to all the stress it endured in the process of getting me here, and then to the actual environmental changes. It was extremely frustrating to not feel well and be exhausted all the time, and made it very hard to get motivated to work on projects or study Romanian. I feel like I've finally turned a corner, healthwise, and I feel good most days. It's very freeing and I feel much more energetic to work on projects and be active in my community. I also just had my first pedicure and my second haircut since I left the U.S. Those seem like simple or even silly things, but they help me feel more like myself again (and required foreign language confidence that I didn't have for a long time).

I feel somewhat confident about my Romanian language skills at this point. They are not perfect by any means, but more often than not I can understand what people are saying if I concentrate. In the past few weeks, I have been able to do some errands and talk to locals without feeling nervous or miscommunicating, which feels like a huge win! I am able to have good conversations with my host family now, and even joke with them. I have somewhat adjusted to the heat here, so although I do still feel hot and sweat, I don't actually feel like I am going to melt (although it's only June, so ask me again in August! haha). I still hope to improve my grammar, and also verb conjugation. I've also been trying to learn a bit of Russian. The words that are similar to Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian are relatively easy for me to pick up, which is nice.

Of course I still wish, probably like many PCVs, that I had a bunch of amazing and successful projects to show for myself. But, you can only do what you can do. I'm trying to be ok with slow, steady progress. I'm very proud of my Technovation team, and hope to work with another team next year. I feel like our English clubs that my site mate Okxy and I have at the children's library have been going well. I'm really happy that the youth English club has a service learning component now, as the participants are translating the descriptions of the items at our town's historical museum into English. I still have high hopes  for the documentary/communication club, but it has been delayed. Hopefully, we will be able to start it in the fall. The librarians like the idea of the Women in IT seminar I proposed and have suggested that we organize it in the Fall. I hope we can tie it together with recruiting a Technovation team and maybe even screening Code Girl. This summer, the main projects I will be working on are a dance camp in July and an intensive adult English course in August, both in collaboration with other PCVs. I also plan to help with the summer camp that the children's library will be doing in June.

I've enjoyed spending more time with local friends recently, too. I was happy for that chance to have my friends from home, Lisa and Jeff, visit and get to meet some of my friends here in my town and also other PCVs. One of my friends, Olesea, and her son even accompanied us on excursions to monasteries and other sites in Moldova (Soroca Fortress, Cricova winery, etc.), and invited us over to make pelmeni! My site mate Valerie and I have gotten to spend some time recently with our local friend Tatiana who is an English teacher here. I also really enjoy my language lessons with my tutor Lucia. She's a great tutor and also a good friend. My librarian counterparts are also great. I mostly see them at work, but the other evening we all went out to eat pizza at a local restaurant for one of their birthdays. It was nice to spend time with them just chatting - and I understood part of what they said! Haha.

I'm currently working on my second tri-annual report for Peace Corps. It's interesting to see which projects have been successful and which didn't work out well. That is helpful information for planning future projects. I would definitely like more collaboration with my counterparts in the planning process for projects, but often they are very busy or my language skills are lacking, so that has been a challenge. Hopefully in year two, we will be able to find a better balance for this.

Around town, lots of things have changed. More streets have been repaved, the church facade has been torn off and it is being refurbished, the stage in the Piața Horelor is nearly done being remodeled, Andy's Pizza has been totally remodeled inside, El Cafe moved to the building where the business incubator is and Family Pizza opened in its place in the Globus mall, the old cinema building was torn down and a Linella grocery store will be built on that site across from the university. I still make comparisons to the building and construction going on in Seattle, although I'm much removed from that now. In most ways I feel like the renovations here are good and beneficial for locals, but I know many people are sad about the cinema being torn down. Such is life, though, I suppose.

Summer plans involve the dance camp and English intensive course, as well as trying to find ways to stay cool from the summer heat. I'll also be saying goodbye to the M31s as they start to COS (Close of Service). Melinda is a Health Educator who lives in a village in our raion, and she will be going back to the U.S. next month. I will miss her visits when she would come into town to buy supplies and groceries! The new group of M33s arrived in Chisinau this week, and I went to the airport with some of my fellow M32s to welcome them when they arrived. It's strange to think that soon the M31s will leave and the M33s will swear in. Time marches on. I hope to take advantage of opportunities this year to see new places in Moldova, work on good projects, and continue to build good relationships with Moldovans and PCVs. These times of transition make me think about the future, and I've started considering what I will do after PC Moldova. Nothing is certain yet, but it's good to start thinking about because I am sure this year will go by quickly. I'm looking forward to seeing what the next year has in store.

Well, that's a quick update and snapshot of this point in my Peace Corps service.

Jeff and Lisa visiting Cahul!