This past month has been full of lots of adventure, trials, joys, sadness, and every emotion possible. For starters I have been working my tail off at my center, and at the school to get things up and running for myself and my service. And I can proudly say that I am getting somewhere, and making progress.
First Project- English Clubs
5th and 6th Grade- 2pm-2:45pm
9th and 10th Grade-2pm-2:45pm
11th and 12th Grade-3pm-3:45pm
Second Project- Sports Club for Women
Monday-Wednesday-Friday-330pm-4:15pm
Third Project- JuneBug Meets Pentru Tine
-One of my first and yet biggest projects to come. Recently I connected with Tom’s shoes on facebook asking him to contact me about helping Moldovan children. Tom never contacted me in return, however another fan say the post and contacted me. That person was Wendy BigBie- proud owner of JuneBug clothing company for children. This woman is amazing and has a huge heart to help children.
-We started talking about helping the children in my center ages 2-10 because that is what her clothing line sells for. However, after I sent her all the information about my center, about Iargara, and overall about Moldova, she didn’t want to just do that, she wanted to help as much as she could.
-Right now we are working on two projects: 1 was getting the dresses and pants for the children ages 2-10, so they have nice new clothes for the holidays. And the 2nd project is a jacket, hat and glove drive for children ages 2-18 in my center.
-We are hoping to have all these supplies by the end of December. It’s not to far away, however we are working quickly and efficiently. You should really check out our blog and facebook page. And just recognize the wonderful people in this world that are willing to help others.
Email: helpingiargara@gmail.com
Facebook page: Pentru Tine Meets June Bug
Fourth Project: Meeting with Tony Hawk
-No not the famous skateboarder, the famous author and comedian.
-This meeting is to discuss partnerships in Moldova and how to find and raise funding for my center. As well all know my center is possibly closing in March 2012 and is in dire need of some strategic planning and resources.
-Tony has agreed to meet with me around December 8,2011 to discuss all these issues and to discuss possible solutions.
-Tony started an organization in Chisinau Moldova bye the name of Hippocrates Children’s Center.
-Check it out: http://www.tony-hawks.com/about.php
Fifth Project- Halloween Parties
Currently I am planning three different Halloween parties. What can you say when the American is in the village, everyone gets crazy excited about this wonderful time. J
-The first party is with a 5th grader which will take place on October 28th. This is also Erina’s birthday. We are planning lots of games, food, and overall the works that goes along with Halloween.
-It has been pretty awesome to plan a party with this young motivated girl, whom speeks English better then anyone in my village. She has a private tutor, and has really excelled.
-The downfall about this party is this young girl approached me saying “My friends want to have alcohol at my party.” As everyone who knows me can already guess my response, NO! Yet, I didn’t say it that way, simply I expressed to her that I don’t believe that having alcohol at her party was a good idea, and let her know that if she choose that I would not be attending the party. She did ask questions on “why,” and I simply let her know the culture in America and what I did for my job in the states. She understand and respected my thoughts, and said she would rather have me at the party.. “That was nice to hear.”
Sixth Project- Soccer Tournamet- Completed
-On October 22nd Peace Corps had ten volunteers play in a soccer tournament. How this applies to me is the mere fact that I put this team together and helped raised 100 Euro for charity.
-This charity is called Hospice Angelus which is for children and elderly whom are sick and dying. This organization allows people to go into the homes of the people whom are sick and help take care of them.
-It was a really awesome turn out. We did lose all three games, but to side note we were the only team that has never practiced soccer, let alone knew how to play. All the other teams were quite professional and were on leagues.
-The upside is Peace Corps was able to go against the Uk and US Embassy, and played against the ambassador of the US Embassy.
-Overall all we raised 1600 Euro for this organization, and walked away with a big smile on our face and recognized that we all had a great time!
Overall that is the projects I have going, enough to keep me busy to say the least.
Host Family Situation
-As most know I was blessed with a wonderful family in the village of Stauceni and was able to make some great bonds with them. I have to say I am very lucky to have them here in Moldova with knowing that whenever I am said and need to be cheered up, I can go spend a weekend with them and feel refreshed!
-On the other note I wasn’t so blessed with my permanent site host family. The three months that I have been living here it truly has been a nightmare, and has begun to weigh on me emotionally and physically. I would have to say I have never met a person who genuially doesn’t care about me as a person, she only cares about the money. This has really begun to hurt my feelings due to my host mom constantly throwing comments in my face such as: 1. No person in Moldova gets sick. 2. Your host family in Stauceni has life so easy and they don’t do anything to earn their keep. 3. You need to start paying your center if you want to have lunch there. 4. Your life in American is so easy, you don’t even know. 5. I won’t make you a fire because you wore a dress today (granted it was a winter dress) .. And many many more….
-Overall I can not take this abuse any more and want to move out. The Peace Corps director and doctors all agree that would be the best thing for my sanity and my health.
-November 1st is the big day. I will be moving into a “Casa Mica,” which is a small house in the yard of a bigger house. My new host mom seems great, and will give me all the privacy in the world.
-The luxury of living in a “casa mica,” is that its my own home, I will make my own food, have privacy, be able to have quests, and decorate the home how I would like it. Very excited about this!
Things that are different today in my life:
- I have to distill all my water before I drank it (takes 5-6 hours for 4 liters)
- Im use to being unclean most of the day due to the muddy roads and dirty water.
- On a daily basis I have to ask “what is this,” about the food because most of the time its internal organs or pieces of meat that I am not supposed to eat.
- There are worms in my food, and my host mom thinks that’s ok.
- I can’t remember Spanish, mess up on my English, and recognize that most of the time I am speaking in Romanian.
- Every day I am pushed out of my comfort zone into a new situation that requires patience and determination to get through it.
- I am noticed by everyone as “the American.”
- The things I look forward to the most are my skype dates with friends and family.
- Overall my whole life has changed in Moldova.
New Experiences:
- Wine Festival
- Playing Uno with my 4 new Moldovan friends(2 sets of couples)
- Looking for Grant money
- Starting my own Projects and Clubs
- Soccer Tournament
- Latin Music Concert- attended for charity
- First COD(my group) and ARBD(ag-group) seminar.
- Picking Grapes and making wine with host family in Stauceni.
Upcoming Adventures
1. House change November 1st.
2. IST-language and experience training November 4th and 5th
3. Germany Trip to see Dana(cousin) November 24-27th- Ansbach, Munich andNuremberg.
4. Spain Trip with another PCV- December 20-27th
5. Possibly Paris Trip- New Years Eve to see my friend Mandi from Iowa
There are many approaches I could of taken to summarize what is going on in my life, but I hope this does the job. In reality I can say I am happy and things are getting better with my service in Moldova. Never did I think it would be this hard being here, and never did I think it would be such a challenge. Yet this experience is making me stronger and I really feel as if I am benefiting out of being a Peace Corps Volunteer.
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