Posts from my first few weeks (Part 2)

Second post I've been saving...

June 16, 2008

Well a lot has certainly happened since my last update. I could go back and explain many details related to our last 3 days in Chisinau, but what’s more exciting is what’s happened since moving in with my host family in the raion of Ialoveni (unfortunately, I am forbidden to tell you exactly where I am located.)

On Saturday afternoon, our host families came to pick us up to take us to their homes. Before this happened, our Language and Cultural Facilitators (LCFs) took us around Chisinau to buy flowers and gifts for our host families. I bought some chocolate bars for the boys in the family and some yellow flowers for my host mother. The bouquet was beautiful – until I was informed by some fellow volunteers on the cramped mini-van called a rutiera that yellow flowers were for funerals. My LCFs didn’t tell me this. First faux-pas – check!

Our host families came to meet us and I met my host mother and father. My father is 41, very outgoing. My mother is 39, very protective. When I met them, I shook their hands. Well, I had forgotten that shaking a woman’s hand, especially when first meeting her, is sort of taboo in Moldova. Faux pas number 2 – check!

My host father quickly threw all of my stuff into the back of his minivan and ushered me into the front seat of his Mercedes minivan (Mercedes is ubiquitous around here – it’s not as elite as in the States.) I complied and was pleased to see that there were seatbelts! I buckled mine, but nobody else did. From this point on, everything was in the hands of my host family. So we went to the market in Chisinau before heading to my site. On the way into the city where I am living, I was able to work around the feeble English of my host father to find out that he is a construction worker who goes to Dublin and London for 3 months out of the year and otherwise owns a local store. I am pretty sure my host mother works at the store during the week, but I have yet to actually determine if that is actually true. My limited Romanian is a huge hindrance, so I am truly putting all of my energy into learning this language so I can actually understand what people are saying to me.

Driving into the city where I am living, I noted that the countryside was “mare” which means “big”. My host father was impressed and let out a big laugh and uncovered a genuine grin that put me more at ease. This was the moment where I suddenly just knew I was going to be okay. I didn’t know these people, but I knew they would take care of me. As I was soaking in these emotions with glee, the chocolate bars I had bought for my host brothers, were soaking in the sun in my lap. Completely melted chocolate bars to hand to my host brothers as a gift – faux pas number 3.

After stopping at 2 separate markets in the city where I am living, we finally arrived to the house I will be staying at for 10 weeks. I met my host brothers first. C. is 18 and is a “professional videographer” who does weddings and parties. T. is 16 and is rambunctious and is a competitive ballroom dancer. T. also is great with sign language and really helps me out in sticky situations even though he knows NO English. So far I’ve gone with him to ballroom dancing practice (he is pretty incredible) and to his friends’ houses and to the market – okay, now that I think about it, maybe I’m following him everywhere.

My room where I am staying is pretty big. It has a queen sized bed, a dresser, a desk and 2 end tables. It’s nicely decorated (Moldovan style) and there’s even a lock on the door. A far cry from what I was expecting (isn’t the typical Peace Corps experience living in a grass hut in Africa?), but it’s nice nonetheless. For training, they have housed us with wealthier families in cities directly outside of Chisinau. We’ve pretty much already been told not to expect this kind of luxury when we actually move in with our permanent host family.

The food here is wonderful. Chicken is a staple with my host family (they raise and kill them on their own) and wonderful fruits and vegetables accompany every meal (also grown in their garden) along with bread. I’ve run into a few problems – hot dogs for breakfast, very heavy corn oatmeal, jellied meat – but overall the food is fantastic! I never liked tomatoes, now I love them. I never liked mashed potatoes, but these ones are wonderful. Cucumbers, raspberries – new additions to my diet that I’m indulging in. Raspberries are a snack that we pick off of the raspberry bushes ourselves. We also climb the cherry trees and sit up there and snack on the sour fruits and politely spit out the pits.

Since last writing I’ve also had my first day of language classes in the village. 4 hours today of straight Romanian – very intense, but very helpful. I went right home and practiced with my host brother T. and one of his cousins. Our teachers (LCFs) are great and are both Moldovans who are English teachers, so they are great to learn from.

I’ve made friends, but we’ve all been pretty much separated. We are in a group of 8 in our village and I think our group is really great.

Well, I better be off to bed before and early day of language classes again.

Pe curind! (See you soon)