First day in the Village
Today we met our host families in our respective villages. I am going to be spending the next three months in a village called Milestii Mici. This is a village in the southern half of Moldova but only around 45 minutes from the Capital and 20 minutes from the regional center of laloveni. Milestii Mici is a very famous village (and one of only a few tourist attractions in Moldova), home of one of the world’s largest (if not the largest-- people here say it is the largest, but I am not really in a position to be fact checking...) underground cellar for wine in the world (200km long). It is also a very nice little village, although I am unsure of the population, the land itself is spread out with farms and dirty roads (when the PC said to be sure that you can carry your own luggage, they forget to make sure you account for the fact that you CANNOT roll suitcases where there is no pavement. OYE!) , but the people are friendly, and like to greet you and laugh at your attempt at Romanian. The village has power for the most part, but no running water. I am going to be spending the next 9 weeks here with 6 other trainees.
My host family consists of a mother, who is very well educated and fairly upper class (she is a micro biologist at the wine factory), and a son who is 19, and every bit in the middle of an awkward adolescence. The son doesn’t’ talk to me that much, but the mother is very strong and very sociable. I have my own room here which used to be their living room. It is very nice and comfortable enough. They laughed at how much suitcases I had. The house is surrounded by gardens and a chicken coup, and the outhouse which is just a hole in the ground, is right next to the chickens. It makes going to the bathroom at night very noisy and inconvenient, but at least it is not snowy (yet!) The family has hosted 3 volunteers before, all of which the mother seems to have loved, so I definitely have hope for this relationship.
My first day here was definitely very awkward and not one of my best. I was feeling sick and nervous upon being dropped off (and bad for the amount of luggage I had). Also, I spoke but 3 words of Romanian. There were no children at the house to break the tension so I found myself either sitting by myself for most of the day, not sure what to do, or doing something wrong (ie going out without my skirt being ironed, or not understanding that I ws supposed to unpack.) Things definitely will get better though. I am just trying to push past this initial distaste for the situation.
My host family consists of a mother, who is very well educated and fairly upper class (she is a micro biologist at the wine factory), and a son who is 19, and every bit in the middle of an awkward adolescence. The son doesn’t’ talk to me that much, but the mother is very strong and very sociable. I have my own room here which used to be their living room. It is very nice and comfortable enough. They laughed at how much suitcases I had. The house is surrounded by gardens and a chicken coup, and the outhouse which is just a hole in the ground, is right next to the chickens. It makes going to the bathroom at night very noisy and inconvenient, but at least it is not snowy (yet!) The family has hosted 3 volunteers before, all of which the mother seems to have loved, so I definitely have hope for this relationship.
My first day here was definitely very awkward and not one of my best. I was feeling sick and nervous upon being dropped off (and bad for the amount of luggage I had). Also, I spoke but 3 words of Romanian. There were no children at the house to break the tension so I found myself either sitting by myself for most of the day, not sure what to do, or doing something wrong (ie going out without my skirt being ironed, or not understanding that I ws supposed to unpack.) Things definitely will get better though. I am just trying to push past this initial distaste for the situation.
This entry was posted
on Tuesday, September 19, 2006 at 2:37 PM.
