Walking here... walking there.... through the mud... through the snow..... life in Iargara is something I would of never known if Peace Corps hadn't became a part of my life...
Born and raised in the United States of America the reliability I have had on cars is incredible.. Back home it was a way of life and never really crossed my mind on how it would be with out.. Now with walking through the bitter cold every day I begin to grasp the cherished moments with my car..
The steps I take each day remind me of the culture I have immersed myself into.. I look down at my feet and see them covered in mud as I strut my way to my center... Getting many comments from the locals on how I walk so relaxed and appear as if I am in no hurry to get any where.. and most of all don't look stressed out every time I go place to place.. This seems like a new concept for Moldovans.
I questioned the cook at my center on why she mentioned to me on the pace of my steps.. She expressed "because I walk so quickly and my whole life I have always been in a hurry to get from place to place," as she expressed further that "every day there is so much to do, so little time and so little money, so every minute of the day I feel like I need to go go go to make use of my time."
Admiration is what I have for alot of people here who work so hard. However, the expressions that many of the locals make including Domana Zina(Cook) is that they "go" so much that soon they wear themselves out and don't have time to think..
An example of this is my current host mom. She is such a hard worker no matter how the weather is. Every day I see her working so hard to take care of her grandchildren, the animals, and her and my home. She is such an admiration to me, but also scares me at the same time. My host mom has had some health problems in which I have great concern for. I have expressed that she needs to go to the doctor for these issues, but her response is that "I have to work Jamie, and I can't take time for myself."
This really hit my heart and also reality for me. Some people live there lives off the idea of work work work and never take care of themselves.. To be honest I can relate to this with having done this in the states. I was always on the go and working 19 hour days and I never had time to think or recognize the lack of sleep I was getting. Something I have learned for myself here is "take care of yourself first and foremost," then move to the next step in life.
With looking at other areas of winter in Moldova I have noticed instances that hurt and bring much aching to my heart... As I go to my center I hear and talk to many children who have no electricity or warmth in their homes. Many of the children will freeze over night and simply have no other options. It really upsets me with feeling like I have so much and they have so little. Lately, I have been taking several items from my house and giving it to my coworkers or to the children knowing they can get more use of the items then I can and need them more!
Here's a run in I had this week:
A young mother of Angela(I am sure if you have kept up on my blogs you will remember this young woman), came into my center expressing the pain that she was having. This woman expressed that she doesn't have any way to keep her warm, no soba, no electricity, no food, simply nothing. As I am sitting in my chair listening to this woman my mind is going 100 miles a minute.. Thinking to myself on how I would feel if my life was like this.. My eyes began to swell with tears as I had to shake them away so she couldn't see my pain.... But all I could think about is how horribly I feel for this family and even more so for Angela... Because the truth is even though they don't have these things in their house this woman still finds time to drink all day long and engage in sexual activities with numerous amounts of men.. She has chosen the live to deceive herself verses helping her child live a healthy life. So as much as it makes me sad, it also makes me angry....
Overall the devastation that I have seen in Moldova during the winter is nothing but pain. I was talking to another Peace Corps volunteer about life in Moldova and this person expressed to me " Moldova is like living in a cloud, nothing is ever clear and it's hard to see. It's like your living in a fog of pain, and never can be yourself, never can feel whole." I truly believe this and I have felt this personally. It is extremely hard to live in this country seeing these devastations, along with the response that we as volunteers get from the local people in terms of helping....
Winter in Moldova brings great reality and understanding to my life.... each day I take another step in this country I recognize the strength one has to have to make it each day...
Take one step at a time, understand who you are, know your limits, and prosper!
Saturday, January 21, 2012
Saturday, January 7, 2012
Winter with out snow???
As I move into the first week of January here in Moldova I have realized something is missing in my life... SNOW.. Being born and raised in Iowa, snow has always been a part of my life.. Not going to lead you astray and say I like the stuff, but it makes my winters feel whole...
Moldova has the strangest weather during the winter months, but the locals say its far from normal. We have had a lot of sun and stayed in the 40's and 50's, and also some rain off and on which caused nasty mud pits.. The adventure I have had the past few days here in Moldova is going to my host moms house or to the bathroom. Both make me venture outside and down a hill... well needless to say the hill is made of mud!! I fear for my life every time I do this thinking I will fall... Not that I care about being dirty, it's more of the fact I know I won't be able to shower for a couple days and possibly get made fun of by the locals that I fell in a mud hole. :)
This week has been some what joyful. My host brother has been home all week and he keeps me company. It's nice to talk to someone every once in a while :)... The funniest thing he has continued to say his the idea of Moldovan "black snow." This topic came up with Ion asking me if I like Moldova and what are my thoughts of the village. The more interesting thing is he asked me this after he saw me struggling to get across our street because I was sinking in each mud hole! haha... can you imagine?
Other events that have went on this week is "Moldovan Christmas." Here they celebrate Christmas on January 7th. In which this morning we got up early and had our Christmas dinner at 10am. The hardest part for me was drinking wine and champagne that early... Host dad offered me vodka but I refused in the nicest way possible.. He wasn't having that answer, so I told him it makes me vomit and I hate the smell.. that worked....
The Christmas was interesting with meeting my host families relatives. One man said "WHAT! Your American..?? Well, now what do we talk about when there is an American in our house?" Well.. you guessed it-- Barack Obama and alcohol..
The simple conversation about Obama was for me to send my compliments about our wonderful president...
And about the alcohol was about how American people don't know how to drink wine. How this got started is they noticed I was sipping my wine.. And the man asked what I was doing and I said I don't like to drink the whole glass like a shot. He didn't quite understand that. Well in that case I decided to show him what we do in American and how it's proper to taste a sip of wine. He laughed at me and didn't think it was the right way to do it, and in lamens terms I believe he called us pussys. To add on my host mom said "Moldovans don't drink every day they only drink on special occasions. I didn't respond to this fact, but most of us volunteers know that Moldovans drink more then on special occasions, they drink almost every day.. Not every person, but a lot of them.
Really the Christmas was great, and I have to admit this "I tried the meat jello." I can't believe I did, but I can now mark that off my book. For those of you who don't know what I am talking about, I would gladly explain. Meat Jello is chicken in a yellow substance thats cold. Some say it taste like gravy but in a gelatin form. Not my favorite, but it's a moldovan tradition and a must try.
Another thing I had the pleasure of viewing today was the children singing. A tradition here on Christmas is children will visit peoples houses and sing Christmas songs. I couldn't quite understand them because I haven't learned those words in Romanian yet, but it was quite beautiful. After the children are done singing the parents or guests will give them money. Something I wish I had when I was a child! But to add in I did get some gifts of my own: bananas, oranges and some sweets. These came from my host mom and one of the guests which was my hosts mom's brother. Was very generous of them.
.................................................................................................................................
Now moving onto what has been happening outside these events.. Recently I have had a series of things happen during my service that have made life a little more difficult. As I described in my last blog there was a break-in, assualt, and food poisoning. This week there was a break-in at my center, a drunk man confronted me about talking with the police, and one of our directors passed away here in Peace Corps Moldova.
It's been a hard week when I look at more of the internal aspects of my life. Every night it's very hard to go to sleep and most nights I stay up until 4 or 5am just so I know it will be safer. This isn't a good answer to my problems, but right now this is all I have. Hopeful in time that things will change and this village will become a safer place. But from the reports of the officers, I don't believe that will be happening any time soon.
The drunk man that approached me is our "town drunk." What I mean by that is he is homeless, yet lives in an abandon house with no water, electricity or heating. He begs for money and alcohol every day on the street that I walk on that takes me to my center. I had been noticing that he was watching me for a couple days and on Thursday he decided to approach my work partner and I. He expressed that he didn't appreciate me talking with the cops and telling them that he had tried talking with me. Continued to talk about who I was and where I was from. My partner and I simply walked away from him, he is never up to any good and not worth listening too..
My director who passed away... My deepest regards goes out to her family. Margaret was back in the US visiting her family over the holidays when it was said she complained of a headache. She passed away due to a brain aneursym. She will be greatly missed here in Peace Corps Moldova.
............................................................................................................
Graduate School
On January 3, 2012 was the beginning of my masters in Criminal Justice. This first week was an experience in itself. Never did I expect the amount of reading that I received, but I feel like I more then excelled at it. Haven't received any of my grades back yet on my first 2 discussion questions and 2 papers, but I am confident that I have done well. It really feels great to be at school and advancing my education. I have many hopes and dreams in my life and I am more than determined to achieve each and every one of them.
Hopes for the future is to obtained my masters by December 10, 2012. After that I hope to get a teaching job along side my counseling/probation career. Life is good
Moldova has the strangest weather during the winter months, but the locals say its far from normal. We have had a lot of sun and stayed in the 40's and 50's, and also some rain off and on which caused nasty mud pits.. The adventure I have had the past few days here in Moldova is going to my host moms house or to the bathroom. Both make me venture outside and down a hill... well needless to say the hill is made of mud!! I fear for my life every time I do this thinking I will fall... Not that I care about being dirty, it's more of the fact I know I won't be able to shower for a couple days and possibly get made fun of by the locals that I fell in a mud hole. :)
This week has been some what joyful. My host brother has been home all week and he keeps me company. It's nice to talk to someone every once in a while :)... The funniest thing he has continued to say his the idea of Moldovan "black snow." This topic came up with Ion asking me if I like Moldova and what are my thoughts of the village. The more interesting thing is he asked me this after he saw me struggling to get across our street because I was sinking in each mud hole! haha... can you imagine?
Other events that have went on this week is "Moldovan Christmas." Here they celebrate Christmas on January 7th. In which this morning we got up early and had our Christmas dinner at 10am. The hardest part for me was drinking wine and champagne that early... Host dad offered me vodka but I refused in the nicest way possible.. He wasn't having that answer, so I told him it makes me vomit and I hate the smell.. that worked....
The Christmas was interesting with meeting my host families relatives. One man said "WHAT! Your American..?? Well, now what do we talk about when there is an American in our house?" Well.. you guessed it-- Barack Obama and alcohol..
The simple conversation about Obama was for me to send my compliments about our wonderful president...
And about the alcohol was about how American people don't know how to drink wine. How this got started is they noticed I was sipping my wine.. And the man asked what I was doing and I said I don't like to drink the whole glass like a shot. He didn't quite understand that. Well in that case I decided to show him what we do in American and how it's proper to taste a sip of wine. He laughed at me and didn't think it was the right way to do it, and in lamens terms I believe he called us pussys. To add on my host mom said "Moldovans don't drink every day they only drink on special occasions. I didn't respond to this fact, but most of us volunteers know that Moldovans drink more then on special occasions, they drink almost every day.. Not every person, but a lot of them.
Really the Christmas was great, and I have to admit this "I tried the meat jello." I can't believe I did, but I can now mark that off my book. For those of you who don't know what I am talking about, I would gladly explain. Meat Jello is chicken in a yellow substance thats cold. Some say it taste like gravy but in a gelatin form. Not my favorite, but it's a moldovan tradition and a must try.
Another thing I had the pleasure of viewing today was the children singing. A tradition here on Christmas is children will visit peoples houses and sing Christmas songs. I couldn't quite understand them because I haven't learned those words in Romanian yet, but it was quite beautiful. After the children are done singing the parents or guests will give them money. Something I wish I had when I was a child! But to add in I did get some gifts of my own: bananas, oranges and some sweets. These came from my host mom and one of the guests which was my hosts mom's brother. Was very generous of them.
.................................................................................................................................
Now moving onto what has been happening outside these events.. Recently I have had a series of things happen during my service that have made life a little more difficult. As I described in my last blog there was a break-in, assualt, and food poisoning. This week there was a break-in at my center, a drunk man confronted me about talking with the police, and one of our directors passed away here in Peace Corps Moldova.
It's been a hard week when I look at more of the internal aspects of my life. Every night it's very hard to go to sleep and most nights I stay up until 4 or 5am just so I know it will be safer. This isn't a good answer to my problems, but right now this is all I have. Hopeful in time that things will change and this village will become a safer place. But from the reports of the officers, I don't believe that will be happening any time soon.
The drunk man that approached me is our "town drunk." What I mean by that is he is homeless, yet lives in an abandon house with no water, electricity or heating. He begs for money and alcohol every day on the street that I walk on that takes me to my center. I had been noticing that he was watching me for a couple days and on Thursday he decided to approach my work partner and I. He expressed that he didn't appreciate me talking with the cops and telling them that he had tried talking with me. Continued to talk about who I was and where I was from. My partner and I simply walked away from him, he is never up to any good and not worth listening too..
My director who passed away... My deepest regards goes out to her family. Margaret was back in the US visiting her family over the holidays when it was said she complained of a headache. She passed away due to a brain aneursym. She will be greatly missed here in Peace Corps Moldova.
............................................................................................................
Graduate School
On January 3, 2012 was the beginning of my masters in Criminal Justice. This first week was an experience in itself. Never did I expect the amount of reading that I received, but I feel like I more then excelled at it. Haven't received any of my grades back yet on my first 2 discussion questions and 2 papers, but I am confident that I have done well. It really feels great to be at school and advancing my education. I have many hopes and dreams in my life and I am more than determined to achieve each and every one of them.
Hopes for the future is to obtained my masters by December 10, 2012. After that I hope to get a teaching job along side my counseling/probation career. Life is good
Happy New Years in Moldova..
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Bringing in the New Year with friends and a great family in Moldova. Each year my normal tradition is to spend time with my friends back in the states, head to a bar, dance the night away and end our evening around 2pm..... |
Moldova........ Well is a whole other story. My evening on the 31st of December started at 4:30 pm with another volunteer Brandon McKeel, we enjoyed a beer at the underground bar near Peace Corps. This volunteer is someone I will greatly miss when he leaves. He has been a great friend and a good listener over the past 7 months..
After heading back from the bar to Peace Corps I proceeded to moldovanize myself for the evening.. High heels, and a short black dress with gray tights... It was very important on this night to look good 1. Because we were going to a oscar party, 2. New Years Eve. Then around six Alex came to pick me up to head over to his families house to enjoy festivities. In Moldova it's a tradition to bring in the New Year with your family and afterwards go out to the bars.
How we spent the evening at Alex's families was loads and loads of food, champagne, wine and presents. The other tradition in Moldova is they receive presents on New Years Eve verses Christmas. This was a new experience for me. I received a bottle of wine and some green tea. :)
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| Me, Dasha and Alex |
At 10:00 pm we celebrated the old Russian New Years with toasts and the traditional cheek kisses. And again at 12:00 am we toasted to our New Year. While discussing the bad and good things of the past year, and our hopes for the future.
12:30am finally came around and we took off for Eli Pili. This is a bar that our friend owns. Ruslan had an amazing set up and we had our own private room. There was MORE food, champagne, wine, whiskey, vodka, hookah... really anything you can imagine. The night was spent dancing, signing karaoke, watching the entertainment. It was pretty awesome to see one of the most popular Moldovan Pop Singers at the bar as well!! :)
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| Alex and Tanya |
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| The famous moldovan singer.. |
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| Ruslan |
Our night ended at 7am...
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