Photos.

So I decided to finally start putting all of my photos in one album on picasa. You can find it here, equipped with captions. I had multiple different albums in the picasa website, but figured to throw them in one would be much better. I've got them organized and I plan on updating them as regularly as possible. You can also get linked to my albums from the link on the left.

Products in Moldova

So I never really thought when I signed up for the Peace Corps I would have high speed DSL installed in my room, a cell phone, and a blog like this updated whenever wanted. I'm not complaining because there are plenty of other challenges outside of conditions, but I do bring it up because of the impressions I had before writing an application to the Peace Corps. I thought I would be in a tent somewhere without a bath. Within the application process they ask what kinds of conditions you would be comfortable in where and I said "I am open to any conditions," giving me the feeling I would be somewhere really rural. Wait a second, I am somewhere rural! This leads me to an odd observation I make daily about Moldova with all of its products available.

Moldova has almost everything commercially available to it that other countries have, yet the salaries here do not match the available products. It is kind of an odd combination. I think it forces Moldovans to strive to a level they shouldn't. Almost everyone, even in villages have cell phones. Companies like Orange have got their fingers in almost every community, and I can buy more prepaid minutes for my cell in any village store. But cell phones is not where it gets complicated. This gets more complicated with larger more expensive items like a fridge, car, or TV. These items are often priced in Euros, while people here use the Lei as currency. If it is priced in Lei, it is very high compared to the average annual salary.

I think the availability of commercial products complicates the level of development Moldova is in, and forces a Moldovan to strive beyond their means. I think all of the available products are in the faces of Moldovans daily, plus Russian television pollutes the Moldovan mind as they think that ‘this’ is the level that they need to be living at, yet the prices are so high that it is nearly impossible for a Moldovan to afford many products if they are living on a Moldovan salary without remittances from family members. I say this because in order for any Moldovan to buy this they have to have a family member work abroad to afford it. I think that with this complication it may even force some to work abroad as they feel they belong on that level, with 'those' products.

Some of the luckiest Moldovans I have seen have an extra apartment that they rent out, making money off of the rent it brings. If it is in the capital city they can normally live off of the money this brings, but this is a more uncommon situation.

I think many of these things I notice because I am an outsider coming into Moldova's culture. Especially living in a village where I see the true level that Moldovans are living at. When I come into the capital city Chisinau I am bombarded by all sorts of products available that the average villager would never be able to afford, but maybe because it is available and around them they strive to. When the only real means for making money is work abroad, I think this could almost force people into work abroad. I feel that many see all the available products surrounding them, and they feel a sense of belonging in 'that' life so urge themselves to make money in order to live on the best level they see available to them. The problem with this is that the price often comes with many sacrificing themselves to work abroad, while not investing their time, energy, and knowledge here in there own country. As a simple observer it makes me nervous. This issue gets even more complicated when you considering the level that Moldovans were living under during Soviet rule for 50 years. If that does not give them a sense of belonging on a higher standard of living, and now dropping back some I don't know what would.

Photo Update

I really wanted to put a lot of descriptions next to these photos but after I uploaded them they got all messed up on blogger. That is me with a travel putter my friends sent, so awesome, thanks guys. There is a picture here with my host mom showing us one of our baby rabbits. This huge hill picture makes me want to get a bike, or something with wheels so that I can fly down to the center of my village faster. And there is another photo here, with a house with a green top in the center, that is my house. The other house is just a traditional Moldovan house with a straw roof top, which I just think is pretty cool. Enjoy.

frustrations, romanian, lost laughs, good awkward times

The toughest thing for me here is the lack of structure. I find myself repeatedly worried on Sundays asking "what am I going to do this week?" Not all volunteers in my program have this problem, but I sure seem to. Yes there is an NGO that has requested me, and I dedicate time to them everyday. But the most frustrating thing about this is how I have repeatedly tried to set us up with regular meetings, and this seems to be almost impossible. We do have meetings, which is nice, but they are quite irregular. On top of this we do not have set hours that we are open. This makes things quite slow-moving and frustrating when used to the rate of work in America. We do have a great project plan that I actually do believe in, and so I continually push to find funders and so on. It all seems to come down to money. The NGO where I work had a huge amount of funding for the three years prior to when I arrived, and they were spoiled with large salaries, as well as little monitoring in budget writing. Now nobody has salaries, making it quite difficult for me to motivate them to work for nothing. It is definitely the most challenging thing Peace Corps volunteers face in Moldova - a post Soviet mentality. At the same time I recognize and understand the people I work with. Would I want to work for nothing in America? I mean this is a funny question since I am volunteering, but all of my housing and food is taken care of so I really have nothing to worry about.

I have been getting tutored once a week for two hours. I sometimes feel like I dread going. I feel like I'm a little kid whose mom is forcing him to wash behind his ears or something. "Do I really have to go mom?" Well the answer is no, it is optional, but I choose to anyway because it is for the better. I personally feel like there are no excuses not to go, and yet I still only go once a week. I dread it in some ways, but I always feel good right after I finish. I feel as if I have accomplished something. Learning another language is hard. You really have to want it. The most difficult part about this situation for me is that I know I could get by these two years without problems at the level I am at now, but also know that the level I'm at could definitely increase.

I think of myself as a serious person, but I also like to joke with people a lot of the time. This can make for some of the funniest awkward situations when jokes get lost in translation. For instance I repeatedly try to use the word "magician" in Romanian, just because the way you pronounce it cracks me up, thus, I look for places to use it. One situation, to be exact the worst situation I used it, was when an intoxicated aggressive man asked me if I can get him to a visa to America, Christopher's response: "I'm not a magician." Probably a little too harsh, and no laughs. Moldovans do not like sarcasm too much. Luckily my host family loves it, and so we throw it around from time to time. Sometimes I cannot believe how far we have elaborated on a story. Lost laughs.

Awkward situations are funny. In fact I have come to love them. Joining the Peace Corps has thrown me into some places far out of my comfort zone. Now I've accommodated to most of them. I'll never forget the first week I was thrown into a host family with about a 3 1/2 word vocabulary. If that's not frightening I don't know what is. It's incredible stuff. The reason I mention this is that yesterday my host mom had a guest over, and I didn't know her. I was super tired as we ate food at the table, and these women were chatty Cathying it up. I didn't say much, and the woman probably thought that I did not understand much, and she said "ohhh, he's shy because I'm here." I started laughing because I was just thinking to myself "you've got to be kidding me lady, this is nothing, everyday I meet new people and eating and drinking wine with you is basically nothing." I had to go on to explain that all is well, that I can speak, and that I just am tired. I'm just realizing that I am growing some. Getting out of my comfort zone as much as I have during my time here has finally caused me to notice changes. Good changes, just not always easy changes. Although work may be slow, I know that there is definitely some personal growth going on here, and to think about the amount of time I have left really blows my mind in this sense.

Oh, and for a quick laugh, I introduced my host mother Ludmia to Labron James via this youtube clip. Go America! Stuff like this is awesome to show Moldovans. The tough part is explaining how many meters tall he is, and how many meters he jumps.

OH - and look at what I added to the right column of my blog, you can send me text messages, up to five a day via the web. So go ahead and make my day. Actually, more likely would be, go ahead and wake my middle of the night. Just click the picture of the envelope, on this page, then the next page, and fill out the necessary information. If you get really confused click the 'EN' for English in the top right corner.

Easter in my world

I'm not sure why, but I was not expecting much for this Moldovan Easter. I was thinking it would be the same old gig, or the Moldovan gig I have accustomed to. I was wrong, and the simplicity in which I had so much fun caught me off guard. Moldovans celebrate Christ's rising by going to church at about 2am with a basket of food and themselves to be blessed with holy water around 5 in the morning. Or this was the case for me in my village. Although I did not go to sleep, the meeting of the majority of the village around the church was quite peaceful. Around the church we gathered, with breads, meats, eggs, cucumbers, tomatoes, and candy in our baskets. Illuminating the entire scene were the candles lit from within our baskets, often placed in yet to be baked sweet bread. After all us, along with our food, got splashed/blessed with holy water we made our way home. There we sleepily ate our blessed foods before going to bed around 6:30am.
When I woke up it was around 2:30pm. My host sister said "hey, get ready, we're going to the woods." I said "good," brushed my teeth, wet wiped the necessary body parts, drank a coffee, and dressed quickly. My host family and I met up with some neighbors and village friends and headed for the woods with a fully equipped picnic. There we lounged around, ate until stuffed, and most surprisingly played some Moldovan games with a ball while listening to some classic Eastern European techno and some traditional Moldovan music playing from a stereo speaker attached to the old BMW we arrived in.
It was simple and that is why it was so beautiful. All of us were in our true light, fully relaxed, joking and making fun of each other, and appreciating each other for who we are. This among hitting each other with a pretty hard ball made for a lot of laughing. It was awesome to see my host mom relaxed and laughing and dancing. The woman is one of the most hard working people I have ever seen, and deserves to hang out and relax. I also got to hang out with my neighbor Victor who is pretty cool. I think what I liked the most was how we were making jokes and I didn't feel uncomfortable doing so.
Sometimes I think that Moldovans have too many holidays, but you have to give them credit for actually celebrating them. In America for the most part a holiday equals a three day weekend. Here in Moldova it often makes for a three day weekend, or often enough even four, but these weekends come with obligatory gatherings and celebrations which simply put can be refreshing.
Oh, and another thing, I guess instead of saying "good day," I have to say, "Christ has risen" for 40 days. And if somebody says it to me I have to respond by saying "it's true, he has risen." You may not think that this is a big task, but in a village where you say "good day" to everybody that you pass, it can be a change of pace. Anyway, Easter was awesome, and I hope any of you all back home reading this had a good time too.

Today

OH so today. Not too shabby, stayed pretty busy. I took pictures throughout the day, and threw them on gooooood ollllld picasa - check them if you dare. There is a picture in there of me with a welding mask. Some dude I talk to on the walk to work most days, he is about my age, saw me with my camera and told me to let him take a picture of me with it. Kind of weird, but of course I said yes.

One thing that I hope works out is our participation in a film competition. Me and some local youth met today and whipped together a pretty good idea for a short film. Actually that picture of me from above was when we were trying to figure out where to film from. The Plural + Film Festival is an international film festival that allows youth to reflect about migration and diversity. It should be pretty awesome if we put it together.

I finished up the day by working in the grape field above our house for a couple of hours. It was cool to hang out with my host mom some, and to show her that I can actually do some work. The view of the sun going down from our hillside into the valley was really pretty and a good way to finish up the day. I bucket bathed and here I am. The weekend is near, and I think I may go to Cahul to do some work and have some fun.

Go Huskies - big game.