MoldovAnn

Well, I learned the other night why there always seems to be drops of water on the ground, stairs, and in the hallways. The water was out in our building, in the whole town actually, for about a day and a half. There were workers in front of our building, digging a big hole, which, as I understood it, was somehow related to the missing water, but whether they caused the problem or were fixing it, I wasn’t exactly clear.

I was worrying about how I would clean up that night. It had been a very hot day, and I’d gone for a long walk with Emily, another PC trainee in Ialoveni, and we were to have guest speakers the next day for our PC Hub Site day (when all the trainees come to Ialoveni for group lectures). I wanted and needed to clean up. Not to worry, Anya showed me where the well is behind our building! I’ve seen them throughout the town, and have heard people talk about them (“so and so has their own well”), but slow city-girl that I am, I didn’t really put two and two together. The wells are there for a reason, dummy! So, Anya and I went out with our buckets to get water for the night. It is a deep well, and you unroll the bucket and chain carefully until it hits the water, slowly letting out the rest of the chain so the bucket fills, and then crank it up. Anya did one bucket, and then a young man came by for his own water and helped us with our second bucket. We carried them back to our entrance, about 1/2 block’s distance, and sloshed a little water along the way. Viola! The reason for the wet splashes all over the place. I had thought it strange that someone would be cleaning floors and stairs so often! Well, the floors and stairs are cleaned, but I think most of the damp spots I see are from buckets of well water being carried somewhere.

There are actually only 5 towns in all of Moldova that have reliable water service 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Everyone said it was rare that we lost water for so long in Ialoveni, but it seems to me that it must not be so uncommon, or perhaps more people than I realize don’t have running water at all, as there is a well at least every block.

So, I had my first full-fledged “bucket bath” that night. There is a lot that is not instinctual about the procedure, at least not for me. Tuesday at our Hub Site meeting, I overheard a current PC volunteer (PCV) explaining the process to one of our trainees who lives in a nearby village without running water. The PCV mentioned that you always add hot water to the cold bucket, and not vice versa, because you can make the cold water warmer, but to get more hot water means waiting for it to heat on the stove. Smart, eh? Let me tell you, not what I would have thought of at first! I was so dumb at this the first time Saturday night that I put my washcloth into the bucket of hot water. Now how smart is that, to make your only source of hot water all soapy? Not too good for rinsing off with. Well, I’m learning. Wednesday night (the night without water), I had 3 buckets, and at last understood all their purposes. One hot, one cold, and one for mixing. Eureka!

The Peace Corps tells us to be happy with small accomplishments. I am 33 years old, and I am damn pleased that I have figured out how to bathe myself.