Stale Videos - Moldova Pre-Service Training

Sunday, June 28, 2009

Peace Corps: Moldova

For the next two years, Ill be using this blog as my Peace Corps journal, a way for me to put my experiences in writing, and to let my friends and family know that yes, I am still alive.

Where to begin? I left for Moldova almost 2 weeks ago, but I have been so busy, and have experienced so much, it feels like 2 months. I arrived in Chisinau, with 60 new volunteers, to the cheers of our mentors and country director. It was a pretty surreal experience, maybe because of jet lag and sleep deprivation, but I think knowing that we had just landed in the country that would be our home for the next year played a part.

The next few days were a blur. Our mentors took us to our hotel in Chisinau, and then took us out for a night on the town. The first real Romanian I learned was how to order a beer, and then how to pay for it. Suitable, I think, for a Penn State grad.

After several days, late nights and early mornings, days packed full with language training, information and security briefings, I and 12 other Community Development volunteers (COD's) left for the village that would be our home for the next 8 weeks of training. Peace Corps discourages publicly posting the name of my village, for security purposes, but it's a small village, a rustic village, and definitely what I expected a Peace Corps assigned village to look like. A strange blend of modernity and meager means, we are as likely to see a horse drawn cart driving down the one main road as we are a BMW.

My host family is extremely generous, and, like all of our host families, I believe one of the more well off households in the village, although it's not saying much. Their kindness, and their willingness to make me apart of their family, has blown me away. And they are very concerned with my well being. I don't know exactly how much Peace Corps is paying them, but it must be pretty nice. My host mother will barely allow me to go anywhere by myself, and at least for now I have a 10 o'clock curfew on Saturday nights. Yup, it's almost like high school all over again. But it doesn't phase me much, because primarily I am here to learn -to learn the language, to learn the customs, to learn the culture. And my motivation for doing so is all around, from the dinner table conversations I cannot understand, to the words of appreciation I'm dying, and yet am unable, to express.

That's all I have time for at the moment, I'll post some videos as soon as I am able. I think it's important to say, though, that after two weeks, although it is evident I'm going to have my work cut out for me, I think I'm going to enjoy my two years here. The people are hard working and generous. The food is delicious, and the country is beautiful. Moldova has many problems, but I believe it also has much to teach.