It's been a little up and down, I must admit... the time has really flown by - I have been here for over 4 months already.. that is almost 1/6th of my service!!! I don't feel as if I've accomplished a whole lot of work yet... but now that the holidays are past I have been doing alot of thinking about how I can best assist the community of Stefan Voda and I will hopefully soon be engaged in a satisfying and helpful project.
This is an interesting place... the existence of the communist government is still evident in the attitudes of the people. I was told by a Moldovan that it was common to see this phrase during the Soviet Rule... INITIATIVE IS PUNISHABLE. It really helped to make sense of it all for me and I am moving forward with a new understanding. It's gonna be a tough job to feel a sense of accomplishment but I've vowed to keep positive and affect the things I can.
How about this for getting things done in a timely manner......Monday, I decide to clean out my ears and I put something smaller than my elbow in it and now I can't hear... so I called Peace Corps Medical at 10:00 am on Tuesday. I wait for a return call and don't receive it by 11:00 so I call again and speak to the medical officer who tells me she wants me to get on a bus and come to Chisinau and bring jammies and toothbrush because I'll be staying.
So I get some things together, call my work partner, text my tutor, write a note for Nadia and head to the bus. I realize I only have 36 lei with me and the cost of my bus trip is 34 lei and the bank is a 30 minute walk from my house... No problem unless of course I decide to go by private car if the bus is late and that costs 50 lei.
Interestingly enough the bus depot, my house and the bank form a perfect triangle with each side a 30 minute walk... so after a moment of thought, I decide to head straight to the bus depot and take my chances.
I arrive at the bus depot just after 12 to find out the last bus was at 10:30 and the next one is at 2:00. So I have time to walk downtown to the bank (one hour round trip) so i have enough money in case I can find a private car which I don't... so I leave at 2:00 on a bus and now I have a 2 1/2 hour bus trip and a 30 minute walk to Peace Corps HQ. I arrive close to 5:00 they examine me and I am told that I will stay until Thursday. So it takes all of Tuesday and Wednesday and probably most of Thursday to take care of my little ear blunder. I spent all of last week in Chisinau at Peace Corps. training and now this week is nearly shot...
Have to say a bit more about funerals... just today as I walked to the bus depot I saw my third funeral procession. The first oneI saw was disturbing, although I watched it from a bus window. It was the first and only snowfall of the year here. I was wondering why the bus stopped and as I peered out the window I saw people carrying flowers, wearing arm bands and a large truck carrying the body of the deceased.
The home made pine box was in just the shape you'd expect it to be and the dead woman's face was covered in snow. Because I watched from above I saw her very clearly - she appeared to be dressed for the weather.The second procession was just last week as I walked to work. Here I knew a bit more what to expect and I recognized the procession from off in the distance. Same ritual... Men and women carrying flowers and wearing armbands, a large two ton flatbed truck with the home made casket and a woman wearing fur, but this time the women walking behind the truck were carrying baked goods and the priest walked along with his incense. I didn't know exactly what to do... I didn't want to appear as if I was gawking, but I remembered many years ago when the funeral procession for Great Grandma Stiles wound its way through the dusty roads of Walnut Grove to the cemetery and I was so moved to see a farmer in the field get off of his tractor and stand at attention as we went by.
So I decided that this would be appropriate and I stood beneath a tree on the sidewalk as they passed. There was no wailing or crying - a few people were talking.
Today however as I walked to the bus depot, I noticed in the distance a group of people walking... saw their flowers and crosses and armbands but no truck. As they passed by me I soon realized the reason. The casket was being carried on the shoulders of a man... quite possibly the father of this dead infant. As I stood at attention on the side of the road, the last man in the procession carrying a bucket and a cup came to me. I didn't know exactly what to say, so I just said " I am sorry". He shook his head and offered me a drink of the sweet water from the cup. Saying something that I didn't understand as he pointed to the front of the procession. I don't know the significance quite yet but it was an emotional moment for me.
