It is the end of my first three months as a volunteer. In Moldova this is significant as our policy only allows two out of site overnights in the first three months and no vacations. But getting here is almost a let down. I have not planned any vacation and our group is struggling to get together to celebrate our imagined freedom. I think we are going to end up in the capital for a restaurant dinner. We had tried a camping spot but the excessive rains in parts of the country have closed down the river side camp.
But staying in site for a solid three months has done wonders for my thinking Moldovan brain. The language is getting better, still not easily conversant but they say that about the end of your first year that comes. Since it is summer and my first assignment is with a school organization, these three months have been rather slow. While it can get rather warm here during the day it seems to cool off at night. Part of the cooling is because we are in a rural area with trees as both Chisinau and near by Romanian cities are hot and stay hot.
The attached picture was taken during children's day at our local kindergarten. If you look closely you will notice that the children are not exactly sitting on the ground, something not allowed here, sitting on the ground. This is also the same posture you hold while going to the bathroom. It makes for strong legs and if you do it right strong knees. Both of those areas on my body are becoming stronger. I try to walk for an hour each day exploring another part of my village.
The Olympics have started in China and I was able to watch some of the opening ceremony on our television. Our reception is not good so I plan on relying on the BBC and my trusty radio for much of my coverage. It will be a new experience and I hear that the folks in Michigan are relying on the Canadian Broadcasting Company for their coverage.
My school director has asked me to sponsor an after school English Club and I look forward to further discussion with him about what he wants to happen. I believe he is interested in making English available to students, right now we offer French. I have some thoughts on how we might be able to accomplish this using the Peace Corps and a solution we used in Birmingham.
I make my regular trips into Cahul and yesterday went in to pick up a package from L.L.Bean. A friend had ordered some clothes from the states and successfully received them so I thought I would try. It took just about three weeks from the online ordering to picking them up. I have yet to decided whether the cost and time were valuable but it is nice to know I can get packages from the states. While I had to go to our rion (sort of like a state but the size of a small Michigan country) center to pick up the package and it had to be inspected by an official after I filled out a form I could not understand at the very least it was a new experience.
I am still somewhat frustrated by the internet access here as it is dial up and slow and for some reason yahoo does not always load completely leaving me without my address book or the ability to reply to messages received. But I would be lost without the ability to communicate with the rest of the world in a two way conversation. I remember years ago the first time I was in the Peace Corps communicating only by snail mail but then I was in a site with other volunteers.
Oh, I bought a phone only to discover that it does not work right here at my house. One of the reasons I started walking was to play the Verizon man to find spots in town that it does work. I have a couple that depend on the weather but that is better than nothing. Peace Corps volunteers do a lot of texting to communicate. It is cheaper then actual phone calls. It is also mostly prepaid as Moldovia is just getting the contract thing going. Unless you do make phone calls a lot and live where you can do that the contract idea does not seem too useful.
One nice thing about the internet as I have been able to Skype with Susie in Romania and when she is not out of her site and her computer is working we spend at least an hour on the phone each week.
