Thursday, February 22, 2007

Family and food

Aliona came home from the US in mid December and it from the minute we exchanged our first hello I LOVED her. We've had lots of talks (in english) and she is also tutoring me in Romanian as she is doing her practice English teaching at the school here in Stefan Voda. She is 22 years old and pictured here with our favorite food FRIGARUI!

This particular day was Saint Nicolas' day and the whole family went out to the park with some relatives... where we prepared a masa (which is the word for table and for huge dinner...) on the back of a car... here is Vanya cooking the frigarui.. which is marinated pork cooked bbq style... He used cherry wood that he found in the forest...




Another family favorite is preparing the traditional placinte which is a thin dough usually filled with ricotta type cheese (brinza) and green onions... or brinza and sugar (my fave... of course) or potatoes or cabbage or if I'm really lucky... apple!!! anyway... Nadia makes placinte over an outdoor fire and it is really good... so here's she and Ion proudly showing off the placinte.








Of course other days there was not so much to show off... like this fish head soup that I came home to... luckily PC has informed the parents that we are not allowed to eat any of the fish caught in local waters so I didn't have to eat it!!!






There is an older brother in the family here.. his name is Dima.. and he was only home for a few months and has returned to Moscow to work... I never did get a picture of him... but I DID snap a picture of his Manbag...as pictured below... I was so surprised to see him walk in with this beautiful purse... I thought maybe his sister had forgotten it at the party the night before or something... but turns out.. it is his!!! I had heard about these manbags before and I always wondered WHAT on earth do they carry in there??? so anyway... I became foarte curious!!! And I looked left and I looked right and there was no one in sight... I sooooo wanted to know ... I reached for the flap to look in side and it was secured by a combination lock!!!!! I had to laugh at my own self on that one!!!! Got me!!!!


I actually work here!

I start out with a good morning or good evening and then ask them the questions.... what day is today? What day was yesterday and what day will be tomorrow... they scan the posters I've put up on the wall for any relevant information and come up with the answers in a style all of their own!
Here I am with my lessons on the whiteboard... and a pix of a few of my students. Yesterday during class and mind you, we've been working on questions for awhile.... I asked them to pose a few questions and we'd have a little answer session... so the first question they constructed was "who put the pen on the table?" Sasha answered..."I put the pen on the table" and he promptly dropped it on the floor only to say... "Why is the pen under the table?" "You put the pen under the table" of course was the obvious and correct response from Liuda. I was thinking things were really going well until the next question came... from Aliona... who happens to be my counterpart at work... Her question just made me laugh... MAYBE someone reading this knows the answer... "When is red old?" Think about it!!!!

MUZA - which is the organization with which I work, is having a "get out and vote" campaign in March, which I'm so happy to hear!!! Sounds like it is a well organized program by a large donor organization with posters, slogan, contests, eventual winners to be printed on calendars and distributed throughout the country... We will be hosting a seminar on business development and entrepreneurship for the kids here in March, I will travel to Chisinau with the teachers from the school here to attend a Symphony Concerto - I guess someone famous will be there!!!! I have been invited to a town to help another volunteer and his organization learn more about Photoshop... I have a couple of language and technical sessions for PC in Chisinau, a full day seminar in Romanian, a meeting with a large donor organization in Chisinau and some oratory and art competitions to attend here in Stefan Voda. so... as you can see I'm certainly busy enough and I'm really ramping up the hours I'm spending on Romanian, as I just haven't made the grade yet!

...speaking of the democratic process and the right and privilege to vote..... I've now heard from several Moldovan citizens, that the last time there were elections, it just so happened that the rutieras (the ONLY method of transportation for most people) just happened to not be running that day, making it impossible for the people in the villages to come into Chisinau to vote... Furthermore... it was held during the time the university students were out of school and it sounds like it doesn't matter much, because there are accusations that votes were just changed anyway... so... how bout that? Rivals the 2000 Hand Counted ballots fiasco!!!!

Monday, February 19, 2007

More Holiday pix

A few more shots of the holidays... here is an example of a common tradition on Anul Nou. These boys were going from house to house yelling to the inhabitants to let them in the gate so they could sing their songs and hopefully receive some money and or food. They sang a few tunes and we gave them approximately 4o lei which is about 3 american dollars and a bag of apples from the cellar. Well then Christian decided he wanted a little limelight so he donned a jacket and broke into song as well.

Here is my family from Milestii Mici... sister Elena and brother Stefan....

Before dinner and after when we danced the night away in the
living room!!!







below Sergiu after having a bit too much to drink playing rock star with the broom and
with his brother and brother in law and of course ME... they were CRAZY!! they found a hat for me and insisted that I dance with them!!

and the next day.. a picture of the "dad" Sergiu cleaning potatoes in the cellar on New Year's Day...

THE CURRENT

Halleluiah, I got a BRAVO from Nadia!! Some of you may be aware that I am having a bit of difficulty with the mother of the house. Seems to me that I’m just not the volunteer daughter she was hoping for. Most days it seems to me that I just don’t measure up. Her former volunteer won her heart and I am just NOT Casey. I’ve grown to accept this fact.

Although she smiles and speaks with a song in her voice, my instincts tell me otherwise. So to get a BRAVO from her is quite the accomplishment! What did I do to deserve this??? She recounted the story last night at dinner with her sister Nina who is here from Russian.

We spoke about the DREADED current which those in Moldova firmly believe. Seems Moldova is in just the right place where winds from the West and the East and the Mediteranean Sea align in some kind of perfect harmony creating an invisible demon... The Current!!!! It causes jam packed rutieras (mini buses) to be void of fresh air in the summer heat…it causes women to wear kerchiefs on their heads and children to be bundled up like great big balls of yarn…

Well... I've already told them I don't believe in the current (they've reacted about the same as if I'd told them I don't believe in God)...and they're convinced that someday I'll understand that THE CURRENT is true and I need to fear it as much as they. I remember my grandma and my mom warning about going outside with wet hair etc… and I never believed them either!!! I had all but forgotten about this, until Nadia brought it up the other day and heres how the story goes

Sometime in December, I had just taken a shower and my hair was still even a little wet and I was only wearing a sweater while I went outside to hang my clothes in the sun. She spotted me and gasped at the way I was dressed and of course I responded like I always do. Este cald afara si eu port pulover de lina. "It's warm outside and I'm wearing a wool sweater". She mumbled something about the current… and "Oh Renell" as if she feared for my very life!!!! The other day as we talked about my non belief in the current, she retold the story adding this part: "I expected her to be sick and I waited and waited and 'BRAVO Renell you never got sick!!!'"

Saturday, February 10, 2007

Ryan

He made his final decision on a Wednesday night and after a restless night of sleep he awoke early to watch the laborious movement of the hands of the clock in front of him until it finally read 8:00 am. He made the call and by 9:00 am he had packed all of his belongings and loaded them in the unmarked car waiting for him outside the Moldovan place he had once called home. Along the way he searched the faces of the people on the buses and the streets, hoping to see just one smile, but he found the same stoic soviet faces we've become accustomed to here.

The following days were spent in headquarters filling out report after report necessary for his Sunday morning departure. I feel lucky that I was there to share this experience and will long remember that early morning hug from a friend and fellow PCV. He spoke only his usual and telling phrase, "la revedere frumos" and possibly before even one rooster crowed, he eagerly walked out the door into the cold dark Moldovan morning, homeward bound.

Thursday, February 08, 2007

Medicine in Moldova

Well I thought doctoring for three days ear wax was a little long and drawn out - but little did I know that it would be two weeks!! The medical staff here at PC is to say the least THOROUGH. One thing leads to another and they take it a step at a time to make certain they don't do anything wrong and it wasn't until 6 or 7 days of putting drops in my ear and taking antibiotics for a possible infection that they decided to send me to an audiologist to test my hearing.

So I boarded the Big white Peace Corps emblazoned SUV and headed to the "spital". After just a few minutes of waiting in the drafty hall of this concrete building with several Moldovan patients, we were whisked to the front of the line and brought into the doctor's office. She examined my ear, determined that it was unecessary to do an audiology test since its already known that I can't hear. She wrote a prescription for some drops and suggested we come back in a few days. We stopped for the prescription on the way back to headquarters and I was told to wait in the Volunteer lounge for a call to insert the drops, however I was never called.

The next morning I was called to be ready to go see another specialist in a different hospital. When I asked why we did not use the drops, I was told that they wanted a second opinion.

So once again we were taken ahead of all of the others waiting in the hall. This doctor was a ENT pediatrician. I was told that he is gentle and capable and that is why our Peace Corps doctors like to go to him. When I met him I liked him. He was older than me (which is tough to do) and he was dressed in a white smock with a paper white chef looking hat. Strapped to his forehead was an old fashioned large stainless steel disk... although he had gray hair, he looked a little like THIS:

He gave me some drops to put in my ear said to come back the next day (this was day10 by the way)... The next day was Friday and he flushed out the ear and I can hear again!!!!... so I ended up staying through the weekend because the"traumatologist" was going to read my foot xray and see me for my foot problem... oh yea.... Haven't mentioned the foot... well it's been bothering me for awhile.. I twisted my ankle a time or two in the secret mudholes of the village back in October... and for a long time before I wore them in, I was walking on the back of my shoe..I think this caused a bit of a stress injury to my tendon and now I am in FIZIO THERAPE !!!! Tomorrow is going to be the last day and it really still isn't better. So I will talk to the medic after my last therapy session... getting ultrasound massage to the top of my right foot every day for 15 minutes. If this doesn't work I'll probably just have to deal with it. It's hell gettin old!

So I have been in the medical facility (which is the nicest place I've been so far!!!) for a grand total of 18 days. I have enjoyed making cream of chicken and rice soup, enchiladas, quesadillas, grilled cheese, popcorn and hot chocolate. Baked banana bread and chocolate chip cookies and have finally gained some weight!!! I've read some great books, started knitting a sweater and enjoyed the other sickies that land there from time to time.

It is actually a good time for this to happen as I'm not in the middle of a project... have said it's a momentum breaker, but then I haven't really gotten too much going with the holidays and training breaks... Looking forward to getting back and re learning Romanian as the only words I've used are "daţi- imi varog" which means "I'll have please"