I went to Drochia this last weekend. It is a city pretty far north. I really like visiting other volunteers and their sites to check out their situation. I plan on visiting as many volunteers as possible while I'm here so I can leave knowing I saw the majority of Moldova.
Sadly though, the ride back almost killed me. Being slightly hung over, cramped and sweaty (nobody opens windows in Moldova, they think it will get you sick, long story), having a bit of a cold, and being in a hurry to catch the bus I didn't brush my teeth. This being after I ate eggs for breakfast left a taste in my mouth that was more than disgusting. My stomach hated me. I fought of the urge to puke. Somehow I made it out alive. When I got out of that bus I was so happy I was talking to myself for about a minute while I walked to the Peace Corps office in Chisinau mostly saying "oh my god" while breathing a bunch.
On the bright side I had a notepad with me 0n the trip and I brainstormed a lot of ideas that I could do in my village. Things are moving along within my organization as yesterday and today we have been talking about some general ideas. Things are slowly moving forward for a youth council as well. I am about to start a small photography group with kids in the high school, and so on.
The problem has been swine flu. No, not for me, but for this E. European area. There is a huge scare and I believe that two people in Moldova have been killed from it. Last week all students had the week off for Autumn holiday, and because of swine flu they all have this week off. Because of this things have been moving slower, because a lot of the things I have been working on include kids, and they're all at home!
Within my two years here I would really like to do two things generally:
1. Ignite some community involvement. This would be huge because in general people tend to worry about what is going on in their house, and as long as that is good then they are content. This stems from when communism was around - the government took care of everything, so it's understandable in some ways for them to have this mentality. On the other hand it's been 20+ years. If I can help to show the power of this to the people in my community I would be very pleased.
2. Promote community identity/pride. I think this one will be a bit easier because activities in within the community do this. I think this can be done through projects we take on and complete. I think it would be cool in the summer to put on some kinds of contests - Moldovans love certificates!
My birthday is coming up next weekend and I think I'm going to have two PC guys over. This will be nice and relaxing. We can speak in English some and I can give them the grand tour of the village if it is nice enough out.
And that is what I am thinking today.
