Exploring Cahul

As the year winds down, I am thinking about how fast the days are passing. Even though I still have more than 8 month left of my service, I know that every month will pass faster than the one before it. Each day now I feel the urgency of exploring the parts of Moldova I haven't seen yet before my time here ends. This week we had some beautiful weather, and I was able to explore more of Cahul.

When I arrived at my host family's house, there was a map of Cahul in my room. It doesn't have a publish date, but it has to be at least 5 or 6 years old based on the lack of renovation around the Piața Independenței. On the cover of the map is a photo of a church, but it is red with white trim unlike the yellow of the church in the park (which is currently under renovation). I have seen the domes and crosses on top of this church from a distance from various parts of town, and I mapped in on my phone, but I hadn't been able to walk to it yet. Finally today I decided to find this church. It's beautiful. It didn't have a sign, and it was locked, so I don't know what it's called and I didn't go inside. When I arrived the gate was open so I walked through it to take a few photos. As was was photographing, a man walked through the gate and said something to me in Russian. All I understood were the words for "our church." I apologized and explained in Romanian that I didn't understand. He said it again, and I told him "Я не говорю по-русски (ya 'ne gava'ryu pa'ruski)" - I don't speak Russian. He kind of shrugged and so did I. I walked out the gate and he locked it behind me. I hope to go back another day and see if I can go inside and learn more about this beautiful church. It's not far from the bus station, and maybe only a 20 minute walk from my house, but in the opposite direction than I go toward town.

By the time I got back to my neighborhood, the sun was setting and I knew it would be dark soon. But I have plans for tomorrow. Another site I learned about from the old map is a MiG-19 airplane that is supposed to be on the other side of my neighborhood. I've also wanted to see it since learning about it last Fall, but haven't had a chance yet. I am hoping to take advantage of the nice weather before it starts getting cold.

I never imagined that I would live in Moldova, but now it feels like home. I'm grateful for this opportunity to see a beautiful corner of the world.

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!