Well I found the right bus and even got the name of the driver who set me up right behind him for my two hour bus ride from Chisinau to Stefan Voda. It was for the most part uneventful.
I arrived in Stefan Voda to meet my Counterpart... Aliona - she is the lady I will be working with for the next two years. She started talking in Romanian and I was pretty much lost. I was able to pick up a word or two in between asking her to please slow down and she quickly realized my level of language was that of a 2 year old or less! Once she realized I'd only been in the country for one month the Bravos came more often!!! We walked through the PAVED streets of Stefan Voda in the cold rain to my eventual place of work. There we had tea and coffee and chocolates and cake and I tried to ask questions and hoped the answers were not more than I could handle.
After a little while we proceeded on foot to the home of the first host family.
No one spoke any English and my Romanian is sooooo bad still ! She left me there and told me she'd call me tomorrow about going to the next family home. To my surprise the medic had two young grandchildren living with her. It is quite common here as most of the kids have good college educations but NO JOBS. So the 24- 40 year olds are away in foreign countries often leaving their spouses and children behind for years and years. The little girls fought and cried and coughed nearly the entire time I visited. I had to choke every morsel of food down as the kitchen facilities were anything but clean. I asked if she had some cream for my coffee and sure enough.. I think she went directly out to the backyard and milked the cow herself. She brought a bowl of milk with lumpy chunks that floated in my coffee no matter how hard I stirred.
When it was noticed that I wasn't eating much, she asked me what I would buy for myself if I went to the store. I told her ice cream and cake and pasta (macaroane) . Next thing I know she comes back from the kitchen with a ball of dough and starts to roll it out thin making pasta for me. She then directs her son to start shaking up a big jar which he shakes for about ten minutes and when finished he spreads it over some dry bisquits. Turns out it is smintina which is pretty much like plain yogurt. They layer it a few times, she gets some walnuts off of the tree in the back yard - crunches them up on top of the cake and a grated chocolate bar finishes off MY CAKE! It was so nice of them to try so hard, but the conditions were very depressing and I started to cry. In fact I cried into the next day.
My counterpart called to tell me that we would go to the next family at 5:00 pm on Sunday, so I just sat next to the soba (the in wall wood stove) and worked on a pair of mittens for Stefan until finally Aliona came to get me.
Fortunately House number 2 was immaculate and the accomodations are outstanding. the father even had a machine ah.. although I later figured out that he was a "chauffer" so the machina wasn't really HIS! They even have a bathtub! I still have to heat water on the stove, but during the winter when the house heat is on the water is also heated, so I will get to actually take a warm shower during the winter!!! Ion (John) and Nadia and their 5 year old son Christian also have a 24 year old daughter who will be coming back from a vacation in the United States and speaks English I guess.
Monday morning this family left for work and kindergarten so I had the whole morning to myself. I took a bucket bath and drank tea and leisurely got ready to go to "the office" at 2:00. Ion came home to pick me up as I had no idea where I was going in town. He heated up chicken soup for me and we drank a glass of cognac for the road... hmmmm... interesting way to start my day!
At the school I was introduced one by one to all of the professors and my counterpart having to go back to teach a class, left me with the Director of the School for an hour. The Director was sweet and understanding and after explaining in Romanian as much as I could handle about how things run there proceeded to sit me down in the posh chair of the Director of Rural 21 (another NGO in the school). She brought me coffee and cake and put a slide show on the computer for me.
Come to find out, a famous Moldovan opera singer Maria Biesu who is equivalent to our Luciano Pavarotti was born in a little village near Stefan Voda. She established and helps fund this Maria Biesu School of Art. It is wonderful! Seems that it is rather difficult to be able to study there. Potential students go through an application process and few are chosen. They are able to study dance (ballet to fox trot to samba) art (drawing, painting and sculpture) accordion, violin, piano. Although I do not work directly for the school, I will work for the NGO MUZA whose board of directors are all teachers at the school. One of their goals is to introduce through teaching and hands on experience the concepts of American Business to adolescents - (capitalism at its best... ) I'm excited about this prospect.
Of course I have to now visit the third family before venturing back to Chisinau for a conference. In talking with my counterpart, it was decided that since the third family lived in a Soviet Style Block Apartment with only 3 bedrooms and 3 children, if Family number 2 seemed to work, that is probably my best option. (Of course family number 2 had many comments to me to help sway my opinion!!!)
I tell Aliona that she can call family number 3 to let them know that I have alre
ady chosen my family. Family number 3 is a Priest and his wife and three children. He says that they have already planned for me for dinner and they understand but they would just like to have me over for dinner and visit for awhile which I agree to do. Robertino (father) comes to the school to get me and we stop and pick up his wife and we all walk together to the apartment. I stayed for almost four hours! We had such a good time together. The place, although nice was small. They were soooo nice and I know we will visit many more times in the future. I have been invited to join them at the BISERICA in a little village outside of town caled ANTOINESTE. They also have a home there that they stay on weekends. It was good that I had a chance to meet them.
So I will live in the home of Ion and Nadia. I have my own bedroom quite separate from the main living quarters... the kitchen is quite modern and there is an indoor toilet, although I have to go to the kitchen to plug the pump in before going to the bathroom so that I can flush it. They have a pump hooked up to their well in the back yard. They have hot water radiator heat although there is no insulation on any of the homes, so it is quite cold inside. I sleep in many layers and am soooo thankful that Bonnie bought and encouraged me to bring my fluffy pink bathrobe. It is a luxury item that I very much appreciate having now!
My language skills jumped slightly to a new level after the weekend but I was EXHAUSTED speaking only Romanian. It made me realize that I have a long way to go to anything resembling proficiency! -but it will come!
We had a field trip yesterday and briefly - I must report that we joined a community celebration for 15 minutes and the people there appeared star struck seeing all of us Americans... they were asking for autographs and taking pictures. When we walked away altogether to go to a museum in town, 50 people followed us down the street! One girl kept screaming I love America!!! Crazy!
Feel free to leave comments and/or write me at binksink@gmail.com
I arrived in Stefan Voda to meet my Counterpart... Aliona - she is the lady I will be working with for the next two years. She started talking in Romanian and I was pretty much lost. I was able to pick up a word or two in between asking her to please slow down and she quickly realized my level of language was that of a 2 year old or less! Once she realized I'd only been in the country for one month the Bravos came more often!!! We walked through the PAVED streets of Stefan Voda in the cold rain to my eventual place of work. There we had tea and coffee and chocolates and cake and I tried to ask questions and hoped the answers were not more than I could handle.
After a little while we proceeded on foot to the home of the first host family.
No one spoke any English and my Romanian is sooooo bad still ! She left me there and told me she'd call me tomorrow about going to the next family home. To my surprise the medic had two young grandchildren living with her. It is quite common here as most of the kids have good college educations but NO JOBS. So the 24- 40 year olds are away in foreign countries often leaving their spouses and children behind for years and years. The little girls fought and cried and coughed nearly the entire time I visited. I had to choke every morsel of food down as the kitchen facilities were anything but clean. I asked if she had some cream for my coffee and sure enough.. I think she went directly out to the backyard and milked the cow herself. She brought a bowl of milk with lumpy chunks that floated in my coffee no matter how hard I stirred. When it was noticed that I wasn't eating much, she asked me what I would buy for myself if I went to the store. I told her ice cream and cake and pasta (macaroane) . Next thing I know she comes back from the kitchen with a ball of dough and starts to roll it out thin making pasta for me. She then directs her son to start shaking up a big jar which he shakes for about ten minutes and when finished he spreads it over some dry bisquits. Turns out it is smintina which is pretty much like plain yogurt. They layer it a few times, she gets some walnuts off of the tree in the back yard - crunches them up on top of the cake and a grated chocolate bar finishes off MY CAKE! It was so nice of them to try so hard, but the conditions were very depressing and I started to cry. In fact I cried into the next day.
My counterpart called to tell me that we would go to the next family at 5:00 pm on Sunday, so I just sat next to the soba (the in wall wood stove) and worked on a pair of mittens for Stefan until finally Aliona came to get me.
Fortunately House number 2 was immaculate and the accomodations are outstanding. the father even had a machine ah.. although I later figured out that he was a "chauffer" so the machina wasn't really HIS! They even have a bathtub! I still have to heat water on the stove, but during the winter when the house heat is on the water is also heated, so I will get to actually take a warm shower during the winter!!! Ion (John) and Nadia and their 5 year old son Christian also have a 24 year old daughter who will be coming back from a vacation in the United States and speaks English I guess.
Monday morning this family left for work and kindergarten so I had the whole morning to myself. I took a bucket bath and drank tea and leisurely got ready to go to "the office" at 2:00. Ion came home to pick me up as I had no idea where I was going in town. He heated up chicken soup for me and we drank a glass of cognac for the road... hmmmm... interesting way to start my day!
At the school I was introduced one by one to all of the professors and my counterpart having to go back to teach a class, left me with the Director of the School for an hour. The Director was sweet and understanding and after explaining in Romanian as much as I could handle about how things run there proceeded to sit me down in the posh chair of the Director of Rural 21 (another NGO in the school). She brought me coffee and cake and put a slide show on the computer for me.
Come to find out, a famous Moldovan opera singer Maria Biesu who is equivalent to our Luciano Pavarotti was born in a little village near Stefan Voda. She established and helps fund this Maria Biesu School of Art. It is wonderful! Seems that it is rather difficult to be able to study there. Potential students go through an application process and few are chosen. They are able to study dance (ballet to fox trot to samba) art (drawing, painting and sculpture) accordion, violin, piano. Although I do not work directly for the school, I will work for the NGO MUZA whose board of directors are all teachers at the school. One of their goals is to introduce through teaching and hands on experience the concepts of American Business to adolescents - (capitalism at its best... ) I'm excited about this prospect.
Of course I have to now visit the third family before venturing back to Chisinau for a conference. In talking with my counterpart, it was decided that since the third family lived in a Soviet Style Block Apartment with only 3 bedrooms and 3 children, if Family number 2 seemed to work, that is probably my best option. (Of course family number 2 had many comments to me to help sway my opinion!!!)
I tell Aliona that she can call family number 3 to let them know that I have alre
ady chosen my family. Family number 3 is a Priest and his wife and three children. He says that they have already planned for me for dinner and they understand but they would just like to have me over for dinner and visit for awhile which I agree to do. Robertino (father) comes to the school to get me and we stop and pick up his wife and we all walk together to the apartment. I stayed for almost four hours! We had such a good time together. The place, although nice was small. They were soooo nice and I know we will visit many more times in the future. I have been invited to join them at the BISERICA in a little village outside of town caled ANTOINESTE. They also have a home there that they stay on weekends. It was good that I had a chance to meet them. So I will live in the home of Ion and Nadia. I have my own bedroom quite separate from the main living quarters... the kitchen is quite modern and there is an indoor toilet, although I have to go to the kitchen to plug the pump in before going to the bathroom so that I can flush it. They have a pump hooked up to their well in the back yard. They have hot water radiator heat although there is no insulation on any of the homes, so it is quite cold inside. I sleep in many layers and am soooo thankful that Bonnie bought and encouraged me to bring my fluffy pink bathrobe. It is a luxury item that I very much appreciate having now!
My language skills jumped slightly to a new level after the weekend but I was EXHAUSTED speaking only Romanian. It made me realize that I have a long way to go to anything resembling proficiency! -but it will come!
We had a field trip yesterday and briefly - I must report that we joined a community celebration for 15 minutes and the people there appeared star struck seeing all of us Americans... they were asking for autographs and taking pictures. When we walked away altogether to go to a museum in town, 50 people followed us down the street! One girl kept screaming I love America!!! Crazy!
Feel free to leave comments and/or write me at binksink@gmail.com
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