Well, training is over. I have moved south to my site in a small village up the valley from the main road between Chisinau and Cahul. I am just north of Cahul and will most likely go there for those things you can not find in a small town.

The second Wednesday in May we were sworn in at the U.S. Ambassador’s residence in Chisinau. Our final language exam had been the Friday before. After ten weeks of training we are officially Peace Corps Volunteers.

The speaker of the Moldovan parliament along with the ministers from local government and agriculture came and spoke at our ceremony. My partner was there also. Our partners work with the organization that we are volunteering for and are responsible for making sure certain things happen. Your partner is important as along with your host family they are your entry into your new community. My partner is a physics and math teacher in the school I am working with and is just one year older then I am.

We left after the ceremony as while the mileage is not much it takes two and a half hours to make the trip. My partner’s son-in-law had returned from working in Russia for the Easter holiday and so was home with a car to come get me. Which was great as I had my entire luggage plus the distiller, first aid kit and heater that Peace Corps issues volunteers here in Moldova. Riding a bus would have not been fun!

Moldova is tied in the world for the highest percentage of GNP coming through remittances from family members working out of the country. Most families have someone like my partner’s son-in-law working in Russia or a western European country. The mother of my host family in training worked in Italy and the daughter of my new host family is in Russia. There is a need for more jobs paying a livable wage here in Moldova. Moldova is slowly adapting to a market economy after many years of Soviet control.

Today I did my first hand washing. While my family in training had a washing machine my new home does not. In fact running water comes as fast as you can carry it from the well down the street. The john is at the end of the garden. Your clothes are washed with your hands. I am not sure I will be wearing my jeans much as they are hard to wring out and drip for hours on the line.

But I can get dial-up internet through the phone. I might even be able to get DSL through the phone line. Think about it. It is much easier to use a phone line to attach to the internet then it is to put water or a toilet into a house that is already built. It makes for some interesting experience.

My next task is to find myself a tutor. While we had ten weeks of language training, in no way are we conversant at the level we need to do our jobs. Our first few months in site are supposed to help our language proficiency. Since I have yet to find someone that speaks English, Russian maybe but not English, here in town my language should soar.

I have left behind the good friends of training and am embarking on a new life and new friends.