#peacecorpsmoldova

[lehmanrl]

The #TurulMoldovei2017 group had an amazing time in #Feştelița! We had a cultural discussion about celebrating Independence Day - ours is tomorrow, Moldova's is August 27th - with @ogdenelisabeth 's students before taking this photo. We met with local librarians and learned about the variety of programs they offer. Then, after tea with Beth's host family, we made our final steps on this long journey, stopping in Marianca de Jos to talk with the mayor before ending our weeklong trek in the city of Ştefan Voda. I'm so proud of our group of Peace Corps and local volunteers for walking and walking and walking for a whole week in heat and rain and storms and humidity. I'm so grateful to all the kind and generous people who welcomed and hosted us along the way. #PeaceCorpsMoldova #HowISeePC

[jc-travels-the-world]

Swearing In

I never talked about the day I felt my happiest. Swearing in.

It was a bitter-sweet day because I would be leaving my PST host family, with whom I have grown quite close. But, I was off to become an official PCV in Moldova.

I will start by speaking about the evening before. My PST village and volunteers got together to with our host families for a celebration. We went to Michael’s host family’s lake and had a barbecue. It went on for hours, until about 11p. We got back to the house at about midnight. Ana-Maria and I had already planned to have one last movie night together before I left but the party interrupted that plan. So, I decided I would suffer the tiredness and do the movie night anyways! (Spoiler: I fell asleep through 90% of the movie) At about 2a we went to sleep. And then at 6a we were up.

My stomach was in knots. I was so nervous about the unknown. I wasn’t quite sure what was going to be happening. I couldn’t even drink any tea. So, the rutiera that was here to pick up Diamond, Jorge, Katie, Kathryn, and I (and Emilia and my host family) arrived and we loaded in our stuff. Then the bumpy road to Chișinău commenced.

We finally arrived and were one of the last ones. Sadly, a couple people on my bus ended up getting car sick and we had to yell to the driver to pull over to let them off. I think from the long night before and nerves for today mixed with the driving didn’t help anyone’s stomach. Once finally parked in the correct location we needed to bring all of our luggage into a luggage room…..down a set of stairs…. I came to Moldova with a big suitcase, hiking backpack, a large school backpack, and a purse. In addition to all of that my suitcase was MUCH heavier and an additional five bags of stuff from Peace Corps that I acquired all summer. I was thankful for having Danu there as he assisted me bring my stuff downstairs.

So, now that we’ve arrived it was time for us to get changed. Those that were performing were allowed to wear the national costume through the ceremony! We did a run through of our performances. To be honest, we all didn’t know all of the word to the song and thankfully we were allowed to have a paper with the words on it to assist us! Made it so much better.

Then came the dance. We’d been practicing on a stage but where we were dancing now was not a stage. We didn’t have as much space available and had to adapt as we were dancing with placement. After that we did our Peace Corps Oath. Then stood around waiting for the actual ceremony to begin.

It was all so exciting. The choir from my PST village came to sing the Moldovan National Anthem. Then five volunteers went on stage to sing the US National Anthem. They did a very good job!

We sat through speeches presented by people in the Moldovan government, the Ambassador, and Peace Corps staff. It was quite the occasion! When it came time to officially swear in EE was first! We went up and stood in our specific locations. It amused me because EE was off to the left while HE and COD were off to the right.

Finally, at the end we did our performances. Another village had prepared two songs which they performed. Then came my village’s turn. We did our song. Then we did our dance with a couple other girls from the other EE village and Danu and Clayton. (As the perfectionist that I am, I was upset with my singing and dancing. I and another volunteer began dancing at the wrong moment while we sang. And while doing our dance routine I forgot a part. But, forever grateful for Jorge, he remembered and tugged me to get me moving!)

Once our dance was done we ran off to get changed out of the costumes. We were no longer PCTs but PCVs. Some of the people talked to the PC staff and apparently our performance was one of the best performances they had seen at the swearing in ceremony. Very up lifting.

Once done getting changed I found Liliana, Danu, and Ana-Maria. We went and got some food. I found my director and introduced them all. While the room began to disperse, Emilia came and said goodbye to me. And I lost it. Once she walked away I began to cry. Then Ana-Maria began to cry. And we were all getting teary. It wasn’t a goodbye, but see you later. After living with them for ten weeks it was hard to leave. Many people saw us all getting emotional and came over to give me a hug goodbye and wish me succes, such as Galina my LTI and Nina my PM. We went off and found my director outside again. Then together we all got my luggage and brought it to his car. After our final goodbyes the Director and I were off to my permanent site!....with a quick stop to pick up his daughter in the capital.

It was a fairly quiet ride. My brain wasn’t fully functioning for English, let alone Romanian. I was full of so many different emotions.

When I arrived at site mama was there waiting for me. We didn’t talk much and I rested a bit. I remember being a bit chilly in my room even though it was so hot out. This. This is where I will be living.

Leading up to Swearing In a lot of changes occurred. Our Country Director was moved to another country and we had an Acting Director. We had two people leave Peace Corps the week of Swearing In. There was a language assessment a few days before we swore in which stressed me out immensely. But overall, it worked out. Everything was fine.

[jc-travels-the-world]

Hi everyone! I wanted to give a shoutout to another EE volunteer who is starting a vlog with an accompanying blog. If you have any other interest in reading and hearing about her adventures on the North East of Moldova (as opposed to myself on the North West!).

As I mentioned in a previous post, be wary of a single story! By hearing about other stories you can see how vastly different Moldova is!

Good job, Alleyce! :]

[jc-travels-the-world]

Otherness: Passing as Moldovan and What that Means to Me

The following was a brain purge about my experience of being other than Other.

We are told from before we even come to country about how our identities and who we are will be questioned. We were given materials to read and how to adapt. One specific one I will remember and try to emphasize in this blog is: The Danger of a Single Story. No matter what, being the American, the Peace Corps Volunteer, the person from the North East, the Girl, the Woman, the whatever other labels I am given, I am a representative of all of this to the people I will meet. I am but a snapshot of each identity presented, but could be shown as the only source of knowledge about it. The stories that I tell about those I meet in Moldova are also but a snapshot, only a piece of the story, my interpretation, and all that I wish to share.

These identities I hold can create an Other. I know who I am, Peace Corps made sure to remind me who I am. We did identity mapping where we wrote our names in the center of a paper and from that we wrote what we identify as: a daughter, sister, aunt, cousin, university graduate, American citizen, Sicilian-Irish-Scottish-Canadian-American, Slytherin, Pokemon Master, book worm, and much more. At one specific time, at one of our hubsites, I found a specific exercise we did to be curious. We were told to make sure we had at least eight bubbles of identity. If there is something that we identify as but did not want to publicly share to put a question mark.

Then came the hard part.

We were told to choose half of those identities and cross them off. We had to decide what parts of our identity are not as important as the rest. Then once we were done, cut it in half again. We did that until there were only two parts of our identity left. I remember specifically mine was my Heritage and University Graduate. At this point we were not told to choose between the two but to change papers with our neighbor and they had to choose one of our identities to cross off. This was an important exercise in order to show what it could be like when we got to site; how people may identify us and only see a part not the whole.

And this is what leads me into My Identity and what it means here:  

I came to Moldova acutely aware that I don’t speak the language, I don’t look or dress the part, and I am American, not Moldovan. So I prepared myself. I prepared myself to stand out.

But that’s not exactly what happened.

There have been a few instances where people had assumed I was Moldovan. To my memory:

1.     When I went to Chisinau with my PST family we were on the trolleibuz and Mama was talking to an older woman. They’re talking about how Diamond and I were volunteers from American learning Romanian. The problem was the woman didn’t realize Mama was talking about me too and only thought she were talking about Diamond. So when she finally got a good look at me she realized I was not, in fact, Moldovan. Later, when we were at the museum we had a tour guide in Romanian. Ana-Maria was translating for us. At one point I turned and asked a question in English to Ana-Maria who responded in English, the tour guide turned to Mama and said something along the lines of, “she’s not Moldovan? She’s American?”

2.     During practice school I had a resource teacher whose job was to help observe my teaching, give my advice, and assist in creating lesson plans. We were talking and I told him about the museum and he laughed because he showed my Facebook pictures to his wife and she, too, thought I was Moldovan at first.

3.     I went to a birthday party with Mama Gazda in my permanent site. While there I was assisting to set the table and joking around a bit in the kitchen with my very limited Romanian and even more limited Russian (I can say maybe three or four words. I understand the words that are similar to Romanian or English plus context clues). I was with Mama and another woman in the room waiting to eat and then the woman finally says, “wait?! She’s not Moldovan??” And Mama had to explain that I’m American and the woman was very confused because I blended in so well.

4.     Walking to Hram in my permanent site Mama and I were strolling along talking about whether or not it was going to (finally) rain. Then a group of men came up to us asking where the bar is, except when I say us, I mean me. They were asking me where the bar was. Mama responded and they went away. She then tried to explain to me what they were asking…even though I understood. I was just confused as to why they were asking me. Then it hit me: I blended in.

I may be able to fake it, as these examples show, but these are far and few between. Once people know I’m American I can feel the looks. I’ve had some interesting observations and comments made about how I look and comparison to other Americans. One instance was made where a specific volunteer was asked to have her picture taken with a child, then I and others jumped in because it was obviously about the colour of her skin. Yet, another instance happened where without my permission prior, I was going to have my picture taken with some people. So there’s a novelty in the fact that I may look one way, but I am still an Other. Especially when it has become known.

[jc-travels-the-world]

Statement of Commitment

I mentioned in a previous post about my Statement of Commitment. It is due at the end of PST, before the last interview. I am posting parts of it because I am proud of what I wrote. Some of it is cheesy and I removed some parts that I feel like are more or less fluff/trying to answer the prompt.

Two months ago, I left everything I had known behind to move to a country that I had never even heard of a year ago. I did not know what I had ahead of me; I knew what I had read on the internet and what Peace Corps had said, but those were generalizations not exactly what I would experience. I knew initially there would need to be superficial changes in my own behaviour. I began by dressing differently. I began to wear more dresses when I went out, I made sure that my tattoos were always hidden. An odd change in dress was that I had to pay particular attention to how dirty my shoes were and make sure they were relatively clean always.

A part of this attention to how clean my shoes were came from how I interacted with people. Every day when I would walk to school, to the magazin, or around the village I would make a point to greet everyone I passed. This is not normal behaviour for me. I am used to ignoring anyone I passed unless I already have an established friendly relationship with them. The people in the village were acutely aware that I was new there and first impressions are everything.

I can utilize this sense of protection and community with the EPIC model: Empowerment, Protection, Integration, and Connection. Empowerment is meant as a way to lift up oneself in the face of a challenge. I, as an individual and volunteer, will be in charge of my own life and decisions. Protection comes from being able to form relationships within the community; by living with a host family and becoming one with them, I am able to have ingrained protection from the beginning. Integration comes from the ability to become a part of not just one’s family, but the community and the school one will be working with. All of this together brings in the Connection. Building relationships helps to create a connection within the community.

I have been explaining to my friends and family back home that my best friend in Moldova is not another volunteer, but my host sister, Ana-Maria. From the beginning we were able to connect because our interests and hobbies are similar. As we got to know each other more, on a deeper, emotional level, I see so much of who I was in her when I was her age. But, this connection was not instantaneous. We needed to build trust in each other. I needed to learn how to navigate living in a new host family dynamic. I am close enough in age with my host siblings that I have been able to connect with them and become very close. But, my age has also been added as an older sister and friend. My host mother has said how they, the family, will also be there for me, they will always be a source of protection while I am in Moldova, regardless of where I am living. My PST host family has given me the opportunity to practice how to integrate and navigate family life in a village in Moldova.

Just as with when I was in college I had to take the initiative in my learning. I had many personal and academic tests that would discourage me, trying to see if I am ready for graduation. When I finished college I knew that it was not the end. It was a beginning to a new chapter in my life. I decorated my graduation cap with a summary of a John F. Kennedy quote: “All this will not be finished in the first one hundred days. Nor will it be finished in the first one thousand days…But let us begin”. I am ready for this challenge. I will take the initiative in everything I do. My work in Moldova is not only for me, but for each person with whom I interact. The change I hope to make I may not see, but it will come. My influence is just the beginning.

[jc-travels-the-world]

Pre-Service Training (PST)

Ten weeks. Ten weeks studying Romanian. Ten weeks full of learning how to teach English in Moldova. Ten weeks living with a Moldovan family. Ten weeks getting to know my government-issued family. Ten weeks trying to figure out: what am I doing in Moldova?!

A general week during PST for me looked like the following:

·      Every day, regardless of what time I needed to be somewhere, I was awake sometime between 445a to 530a.  I would lay in bed, wander my house a bit, talk to family and friends that were awake back home, or other volunteers who also struggled to stay asleep at such an ungodly hour. Some days I was able to fall back asleep until 645a.

·      Monday to Wednesday, and Friday:

o   I would start to get ready for school at 7a. I would have a cup of ceai (tea) with mama around 710a. At 720a I would finish packing up my school bag. 730a Diamond and I would start our trek to school. I say trek, but we had the flattest and one of the shortest walks. But, often times a dog would follow us. He wasn’t a bad dog, we just weren’t the biggest fans. We would arrive to school at about 750a. This is when I would eat breakfast that mama packed for me, usually a filled croissant.

o   I had Romanian from 8a to 12p. We were split into two classes. Five in one and five in another. Halfway through PST one of our teachers had to leave and they sent a teacher from one of the HE villages. HE got three teachers for more intensive training, EE only got two, so it evened out.

o   From 12p to 130p I would have a lunch break. The other EE training village would take a rutiera to my village. I would eat my lunch waiting for the other village then I’d share my left overs with whoever didn’t get lunch that day or was still hungry. Once done with lunch, Alleyce, who came from the other village, and I would often go for a twenty minute or so walk. We knew that the next four hours were going to be long and we needed to make sure we had the energy to get through!

o   We would have technical training; training for when we go to site and teach. Tech sessions began at 130p and were supposed to end at 530p, but that did not always happen. There’s always more to learn. Topics varied greatly: from panels from current serving volunteers (M31s and M32, and one M30!), classes on multilevel classrooms, and how to teach grammar. I have many books, a notebook, and a large binder to review when needed!

·      Thursday: Hubsite Day, where all Trainees would be in the raion center for group training, usually medical and security related.

o   I would start to get ready for my day at 6a. Ceai, packing my school bag, getting money for the rutiera ready. At 630a, Diamond and I would walk to the bus stop. There were a few in town and the first half of the summer we all met at the one by the school then the second half we all took it wherever was closest to our house. Diamond and I would take it in centru since it was just past the bridge by our houses.

§  I will always remember the first day we took it alone. We got to the stop and 30 seconds later a rutiera showed up. We both got seats, there was good music playing, free wifi, and the driver was in a full out suit. So fancy, probably the first and last time I’ll see that!

o   We would arrive around 715-730a at Hubsite. We would all hang out and talk to the other volunteers that we hadn’t seen in a week. Sometimes I would hang out in the gazebo outside, I’d play uno or another card game, or hangout inside and just chat with people.

o   At 830a sessions would begin.

o   At around 5p it would be over. Once it was decided who was staying in the Raion centre and who was headed back to the village we would depart for the bus stop! Trying to catch a rutiera is a fun experience. The shortest time we waited was only maybe ten minutes, while the longest was about 90 minutes (I’m estimating because it was hot and we were all cranky, so I don’t actually know how long we waited).

·      Saturday:

o   Thankfully a short day! Morning began similar to M-W&F. Romanian class began at 8a. Then would end at 12p. After 12p we would have a weekly evaluation. First we were given a paper to self-evaluate on a scale of 1-5 with where we believe we were at on the listed topics; ranging from vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation. Then we would go to whichever teacher we had that week and have a quick discussion and see what they score us as. We discussed where we feel we are at, how our stay in village is, and any concerns or questions we may have, whether it be about Peace Corps or Moldovan culture. Most of the time I would get sternly talked to about how I need to stop speaking English at home and speak only Romanian, but knowing me…if given a crutch, I will use it!

·      Average Afternoon and Evening:

o   It all depended on the day but most days after being in school I would head straight home. Always exhausted. I would hang out with my family. We would chat, eat dinner, and just live life. I enjoyed it a lot. This bonding is what made my life in PST wonderful.

o   Some days all of us Trainees from my village would go to the magazin for chips or ice cream (or often times both).

o   In the evenings Diamond and I would take walks together, Ana-Maria would join us. When she was not around, Danu joined us. Then sometimes Jorge would join us, or walk with one of us if the other wasn’t available. It was funny, I will discuss it later, but towards the end of our stay we were too exhausted and busy to walk. Even in the mornings during Practice School we would go separately because our schedules were so different. People would stop Diamond on her walk to ask why she was alone and where I was because we were always just out walking.

o   A couple of Saturday evenings Ana-Maria and I made ourselves a movie night. For Before the second one I took out my hot chocolate packets and we made microwave brownies with everyone at the house. It was fun!

·      Sunday

o   Now, these were supposed to be our rest day but I believe I really only had one, MAYBE two, Sundays where I actually rested. As always, I was awake before the sun. But, since I did not always HAVE to wake up for a few hours, I would force myself back to sleep.

o   Some of the most fun I had was on Sundays.

§  I went to raion center with my family and I bought a beautiful, fitted lemon dress and a long, heavy black skirt (each for 100 lei! Quite the steal!).

§  We went to Chisinau and walked A LOT. Diamond joined us and we went to Ethnographic museum, walked where there was a lot of photos for weddings. We walked along the water and found where the beach was. We ate lunch at “Fancy Annie’s”, as Jorge called it. (It’s actually called Andy’s Pizza, but it’s the fanciest one in town and someone called it Fancy Andy’s, but he misheard it. Haha)

§  One Sunday was spent at my future permanent site. I got the opportunity to meet my partner and host family. I will go into more detail about that in a later post.

§  I went to Chisinau with Alleyce and her Host Granddaughter and met up with her friend while there. We started at the PC office since I wanted to raid the loot me room. I ended up getting a shirt, a sweater (from Target), a pair of worn black jeans, and a skirt (also from Target). In the pants I found 20 lei, so my ride home was paid for! After, we went to a bunch of different restaurants and an art museum. That was one of the funniest evenings. We showed up for the last rutiera out of the capital to our village and there was a crowd of people waiting to get on. Among the crowd was another volunteer and trainee. Turns out this one was full and the last one was broken down. While waiting to figure out what to do another trainee shows up also needing to get home. There was no way out. The four of us, who I had been with all day, end up sprinting through Chisinau to try and get to another rutiera that passes by both of our villages. When we arrived, it was gone. So we hopped on another rutiera that at least gets us to the raion center. While waiting for it to leave, the other trainees and volunteer arrive. There weren’t enough seats so they had to stand. We get to the raion center, and thankfully, Alleyce’s host brother had a van and he came to get us! So all of us piled into the van and got home safely!

§  Another day, Sebastian came over from another village and we hung out with my fam. We were getting ready for the Language Proficiency Interview (LPI). I was so nervous. Because it was a week after Practice School ended I was not at my best, so having someone to practice with helped a bit!

§  Another Sunday was spent celebrating Katie’s birthday by a lake. It started with me doing my Letter of Commitment. Mama made a bunch of pizza, thinking that Beatrice would be home, Danu and his friend would be over. But that didn’t happen. So, it was just me and mama. Then, Katie and Angela were going to meet at Diamond’s place, but Nana Mila brought Diamond over to eat pineapple. The pineapple wasn’t ripe enough so Diamond ate some pizza. Since the others arrived at Diamond’s while we were eating pizza they came over and ate pizza, too. The kicker is, they all had already eaten lunch and I was still in my PJs….at 3p…… From there we walked to the lake. Hung out on a swing listening to music for an hour. Walked back. It was one of the most relaxing days.

 The joke within the family was that everyone, even from the other villages had to come to see the castle that I was staying in. Because Diamond and I’s house was in centru we were often a meeting spot for people. But for some reason the meeting spot was actually my house and everyone would end up staying for a meal (Pizza above, Hram, and Team Teaching Prep).

And this is pretty much it! That was an average week during PST. I digressed quite a bit, but that’s okay. It was an exhausting ten weeks that I will never forget. These ten weeks I spent getting to know my government issued family. It’s odd how fate brings us all together, and although I have only known them for ten weeks, we have grown so close that we know more about each other than I would have ever imagined being possible.

[jc-travels-the-world]

Quick Update

I apologize for not having the time or ability to keep my blog updated. Training ran six days a week, and I dare say it was actually seven, considering I was always learning something new or preparing for the next day’s work. From here on, I will be sure to try and hit on everything important that happened. If you’d like me to expand on something please let me know and I will try to explain further, if I am able. If there’s anything I don’t touch on but you’re curious to know, please ask! 

I apologize for any repetition. I’m currently writing this without internet or access to what I have written thus far. It’s being written in Microsoft word, so some formatting is different and may not look pretty right now. I figured I’d start by laying things out and start from the beginning and work my way up. ( Scaffolding :D )

Mulțumesc mult și acum incep o istoria despre vara mea!

 Family Update:

My house was an interesting place in these ten weeks. I spoke about the kitten Spidey. A few days later we got another cat, Nina. Sadly Nina got very sick and stopped eating. I came home from school and Ana-Maria told me she wasn’t going to make it. The next day I left the house and I saw that Spidey also was very sick, I thought that when I found him he had already passed. That night, they both died. Danu brought another cat home a few days later, but the cat didn’t like Ana-Maria, so it had to be rehomed. Finally, another, healthier cat came. I’m still not 100% sure if we named him, but the joke name at least was „Caroot”. Meant to be a running joke about the English word Carrot.

 Beatrice is who named Caroot. She’s my host cousin. Her mum went to work in Italy so she stayed with us for a few weeks. She was there until my last day when she went off to summer camp.

Ana-Maria went to summer camp as well for ten days in Belarus. While she was gone, a family of four came from Italy. They stayed with us for a few days. This is when I realized I forgot how to speak Italian. Thankfully, I could still understand. They spoke to me in Italian and I responded in Romanian. The youngest child did not understand Romanian so one evening when she was playing with the cat and needed to be watched I had her sit on my bed and I played a bunch of Disney songs on my computer. I tried so hard to speak in Italian. I tried oh so hard, but thankfully we were able to communicate with my difficult memory!

[jc-travels-the-world]

Diamond, Ana-Maria, and I went exploring one evening and saw the beautiful sun setting sky.