As I sit here today basking in the peer presence of the six months that has crept up on me... I begin to wonder, to recognize and to feel everything that has changed in my life. Some may think that six months isn't a long time, but in a new country and culture it's an eternity.
I have experienced so many things in the past six months, and have grown so much with in myself. Some of what I had recognized during the Thanksgiving party that was held in Cahul, Moldova. As I found myself introducing the idea of Thanksgiving to my friend Dana(Moldovan). I soon recognized how little I knew about other cultures, and how much more I wanted to know. Myself as an American I can say I have always felt "cultured," with having visited 21 countries. However, there is nothing like experiencing a culture and also living in it. It's a whole new adventure and challenge.
Looking back at the 21 countries I have been too, excluding Moldova. I have always felt proud, recognized, si foarte desept despre ei(smart about them). Acum eu am un noau experience care este se lociesc in Moldova, eu stiu este foarte different apoi alta tara si alta experience eu am avut in trecut. (Now, I have one new experience which is living in Moldova, I know it is very different then the other countries and other experiences I have had in the past.
The opportunity to live in another country, to immerse my whole body and self into the culture, learn another language and be understood in 6 months, and to gain new positive friendships along the way, I can truly say is an adventure of a lifetime.
As the days pass, some slower then others, I learn something new each day. Whether that is playing basketball with the girls in my sports club, teaching english to my 5th, 6th, 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th graders, or simply walking to the center every day. I look around me, see things I hate, things I love, things that are new to me, and something things I simply will never understand. With each of these experiences I try to grow from them, and to teach new ways as well.
Today on December 7, 2011, I had the opportunity to teach and share new knowledge. I was standing outside my center watching the kids play volleyball. A few young girls in the 5th grade came to join the volleyball game. Myself and my colleagues noticed something strange about these young women. That something strange was that they had been drinking at a local bar in town. Their cheeks were quite red, and they were being really loud. This hurt my heart to no end. Dana (which is a girl who volunteers at my center) was telling me about the first time she ever had experience drinking, which was at the age of three. She expressed to me that she had drank so much wine at the age of three, that she ended up throwing up. This story really blew my mind and I felt was the best time to introduce some of my knowledge to her. I asked Dana to come to the computer with me. We sat there for the next 30 minutes looking at different brain scans of people whom have abused alcohol and drugs. Needless to say she was quite interested in learning this new information. It felt great to be able to provide something new to her life. I have never once been worried about Dana personally, but I felt with her being a volunteer at my center it would be good for her to know some new knowledge that she could pass onto the younger children. This is her culture, and she will have a better way at approaching this act and be able to carry this information on after I leave Moldova. It was one moment in my service that I truly felt proud of myself.
As I was saying, every day is a new day for me. Which this week has been quite difficult at my center due to everyone being worried about the future. Most recently we have found out that my center will not be receiving the money from our local Raion center, or from the mayor. This is quite discouraging and really leaves the center in a tough position. This simply means that we have three months to find 20,000 dollars. This may not sound like a lot of money for businesses back home, but for Moldova this is an extreme amount of money, that is almost impossible to find. At this point, I have no idea where my service will go from here, but I have to be patient each day to figure out the next step.
However, I can say that my center has taught me many things in the past six months. Some from the children, but a lot is from the ladies that I work with on a daily basis. Someone I admire the most is the woman who works in the kitchen. Her name is Zina. She is in her late 50's, early 60's. This woman always is in the best of spirits, and the most heartfelt person. Every day Zina will have a conversation with me and always make me feel good about myself. Simply she will either compliment me on the way I look, my romanian, or simply about what I am doing in the center or in the village. She is very interesting to talk to and she also has a very energetic side to her. Today a ball was coming at her and she didn't even flinch, she just joined in with the kids in soccer. It was great to see and brought a huge smile to my face. Another thing I have am thankful about with Zina is every Mon-Wed-Fri I go to my center to take a shower after my sports club. Zina knows that I don't like to eat before going to sports club, so she will always save me a dish of food and a cup of tea and place it on the counter for me. As I come to the center each evening, the food and tea is waiting for me. The small things such as that mean the world to me. Zina is a very caring woman and the small efforts that she makes has really bettered my service and brought joy to my heart.
Another person that I need to thank is my friend Michael Houdyshell. This wonderful man is a current volunteer in Moldova in the M26 group. We have known each other since the first day of staging in Philly. We didn't get close that day, however with being in the same group in Philly, the same village in Stauceni, and making travel plans to Spain, him and I have become a lot closer. Michael is like a big brother to me and is always watching out for me. Sometimes I tell him to leave me alone and he doesn't need to watch over me. But in reality it's comforting and I always know that I have someone to turn to while I am here in Moldova, and for many years after my service. Just a nice shout out to him :)
Six months.. things in my life have changed.... my heart... my mind... my culture... Yet, there are things that will always stay the way they are... which are... my family... my friends... my passion... and my drive to always do bigger and better things in the future!
Thank you Moldova for the good, bad and ugly...
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