MoldovAnn

Hi everybody! It’s been another busy week. I can’t believe how quickly the time is going, almost 1/3 done with pre-service training!

We had a get-together with all our host families on Sunday (we three “Russians,” that is). We learned to cook vareniki, which are boiled dumpling-like things with different fillings (we made them with cheese, cabbage and potatoes). We also learned to a make a very traditional Moldovan dish called platsendi, which remind us a bit of spanokopita, a flaky pastry with delicious fillings (potato and cabbage). The best part, of course, was that we got to eat it all! We had quite a feast. Emily’s host family grows grapes in their small yard (as do most people here); I counted at least 5 different kinds that they picked fresh from the vine for us to try. Most Moldovans make their own wine, and we had some of the family’s white wine – very sweet and delicious!

Our families have truly adopted us, and it was both funny and sweet to listen to them brag about each of us to each other. Matt’s family has a 9-year old daughter, and apparently she woke up crying the other night because she dreamt he had left them (which unfortunately will be true in a couple months!).

The exciting news of the week, though, was that we had an earthquake on Monday! Just a tiny one, most people didn’t even feel it (I think I heard it was 4.0 on the Richter scale). We could feel it in our classroom, but weren’t really sure what it was; only that evening did we find out for sure. Moldova is in an earthquake zone, but they are not known for having big, destructive ones. We all thought it was pretty cool.

The mail is an interesting situation here. One woman in our group received a post card from London that took 17 days to get here! I received a post card yesterday from Las Vegas that took 21 days. We decided it must have taken 2 days to get to the Moldovan border from London, and 15 days by slow goat to get to Ialoveni.

Moldova is most definitely a land of contradictions. I’m sitting at one of three internet cafes in this town of 18,000 people, sending emails in “real time” with folks in the U.S., but the post office is slower than the Pony Express. In the morning, I wake up to the sound of dogs barking and roosters crowing outside my apartment building. On Sunday morning, I watched cars zip down the main street, around horse-drawn carts.

Between 600,000-800,000 Moldovans are living abroad right now, out of a population of 4.4 million. They sent home nearly $500 million in the first six months of 2004 to their family and friends, nearly 20% of the Gross National Product (or something like that, forgive me those of you who understand economics!). Those leaving are typically 24-45, leaving behind children and pensioners. The current Communist government appeals to the pensioners, who are nostalgic for the “good old days” when bread was cheap, everyone had a job, and public services were provided. There is much debate and controversy how (and if) to collect the absentee votes from those living abroad, and right now it’s not particularly in the interest of the national government to do much about it as those folks have already voted – with their feet! I’ve already been asked numerous times why I am here, as it baffles Moldovans why anyone, especially Americans, would leave the land of milk and honey to come here. And when they find out that I get paid in lei (Moldovan currency) and not in US dollars, they look at me like I’m the biggest fool on the planet.

Well, home to do some studying. Send me emails, folks! I know I don’t write back very quickly, but I love hearing about life back home.

Go Bucks!