MoldovAnn

Hard to believe it’s February already! It’s the usual “time flies” syndrome, but also I’ve had so little reason to think of time by the calendar, it hasn’t really mattered what the date is for the last few months. As we approach the end of our first 3 months at site, and will soon be allowed to travel as needed for work or vacation, my calendar is becoming a daily tool again. I’m getting busy, feeling a little stressed and overwhelmed about the fact that I’ve got meetings this month in Chisinau, starting some activities here in Tvarditsa, and thinking about traveling to visit other PCVs at their sites or even traveling to another country for vacation. I don’t feel like I need a vacation at all, in fact it’s the opposite, I need some structure and some work. I’m having a hard time sorting out the many possibilities, the unstructured time and the “looseness” of my time and activities. I’ve got a lot of ideas, but am having trouble getting myself started. It’s true that I’ve become more passive here, needing and wanting others to help me get started. There comes a point, though, when I realize it’s on me now, gotta get myself up and out and do something. There are a few burners in the fire, a few programs that should be coming to fruition soon, and I hope the energy created from one thing fuels the next, and so on.

I spent this last weekend in Chisinau for a Language In-Service Training (IST), which meant 10+ hours of Russian instruction over Saturday and Sunday. It was exhausting, but good. Of course, in addition to the work to be done at an IST, there’s an awful lot of socializing that needs to get done! It was the first time our group had been together, all of us, since Thanksgiving. Not enough time to catch up with everyone, but it was nice to chat with as many as I could.

Peace Corps Nepal closed down in the fall due to the civil unrest there, and four PCVs relocated to Moldova in October to continue their service here. They finished up an extremely intensive language program in December and hit their sites right after Christmas. They are all teachers (3 TEFL and 1 Health, I think) so they started at their schools in the second half of the academic year. They attended the language IST, also, and it was nice to get to know them a little bit better. As an aside, it’s very sad that PC had to close in Nepal; Volunteers have been serving there since PC was founded, over 40 years. Listening to the Nepal Volunteers (heretofore known as Moldova 15) talk about their experiences there, their communities and the lifestyles, gave me a whole new perspective. One guy lived 3 days by donkey from the nearest hub site! Internet? Hah!

As for me and my blog, I’ve been having a hard time writing. Partially from being busy and/or tired, and partially from finding it increasingly difficult to describe life here, to explain what I’m doing and why. It sounds counter-intuitive, I know, to say that the longer I am here, the less able I am to tell you about it. However, it feels like every story requires more and more background information, a longer explanation, or I simply don’t know how to put things into a coherent essay. I’m going to keep trying, though, I promise! I’ve been working for weeks on an essay about economics here, namely the average Moldovan’s lack of understanding of capitalism. One of these days I’ll get the thing finished.

So, as I start to wane in my ability to accomplish PC’s goal of educating Americans about people of other countries, it’s appropriate that I start to make some progress on the our first goal, namely, helping the people of Moldova. Specifically, three activities are in the works.

We are organizing a seminar on human trafficking with the international organization La Strada. They released a film last year called “Lilia 4-Ever” which was shown for free in movie theatres all over Moldova, a fictional but unfortunately all-to-real story of a young girl in the former Soviet Union, desperate and alone, who falls for a typical story and finds herself a sex slave in Western Europe. Human trafficking is a huge problem throughout the former Soviet Union, and La Strada is the premiere organization working like crazy to educate girls and women about the dangers of vague offers of work abroad. Later this month, La Strada volunteers will come to Tvarditsa, show the film, and then lead small group discussions. We hope to have three discussion groups, two for high schoolers and one for parents and other interested adults. I think it will be very interesting. If you have the chance to see the film, I highly recommend it. Terribly sad, but important. It was shown in theatres for free last year in Chisinau when it was first released.

My second project is an English Club. I am adamant that I don’t want to be an English teacher here, and have been stubborn with folks that they must speak Russian to me as I really want to master this stinking language. But, I’ve also come to realize that if I don’t start an English Club, every parent in Tvarditsa is going to ask me individually to teach their kid English. There’s great interest in learning English, and not just textbook English. Parents know that their kids will have better and more opportunities in the future if they have a good command of English. So, I’m starting my English Club on Tuesday. I’ve made friends with a 16-year old boy named Petya, and asked him to be my “partner” for the club. He’s energetic, already speaks excellent English, and it will be fun to work on a project together. We’ll see who shows up on Tuesday, what they want to do, and we’ll go from there. I can see the group evolving into more than just an English Conversational group, but that’s already thinking ahead…

The third project I’m working on is Model UN. Five years ago, a PCV brought Model UN to Moldova, and participation has been growing every year since. I’m excited that we’ll have a team from Tvarditsa, and we found out this weekend that we were assigned Canada for the competition. Our team of 3 high schoolers must research Canadian history, culture, political system, economic system, international priorities, customs and traditions, social structure and society values, state and government leadership, national priorities of government and people, foreign policy, and geographical situation. They must prepare a visual aid and make a presentation at the Model UN conference. Team members are also assigned to sit on UN sub-committees, such as Security Council, Environment, Terrorism, Nuclear Proliferation, HIV/AIDS and Drug Trafficking, representing their team’s country on the sub-committee. It’s my first time involved with Model UN, too, so I’m looking forward to the coaches’ meeting in a couple weeks to learn more about how we do this!

We could use your help in making Model UN a great experience for Moldovan youth this year. Many of you have written that you want to send me something, a package with stuff I might be missing or need here. I truly appreciate the offers, and although it’s fun to get mail, please, could you instead make a donation to our Model UN Conference via the Peace Corps web site? We need at least $50 for every team, to fund travel, housing and accommodations for the 90 teenagers participating in 30 teams this year. The Partnership Grant can be found on the Peace Corps website (http://www.peacecorps.gov) by clicking on “Donate Now” and then on “Eastern Europe and Central Asia.” Scroll down to the Moldovan grants, where you’ll find Model UN Conference. The Partnership Grant program is an important way for PCVs to generate funds for projects, and it’s a great way for you to contribute not only to my PC experience, but to that of all the PCVs in Moldova and around the world. I suspect that I’ll be seeking your help with other projects over the next two years!