Where is Moldova, anyway?

... to mud central in a week. 2008 is going to be another weird weather year.

Thanks for bearing with me on my last post, and for the outpouring of emails and notes in support of what I wrote. While Peace Corps is a small part of our national budget, for those of us who are volunteers, it is our world. I was upset by what I read in the NY Times Editorial -- while I know Peace Corps has its flaws as an organization, it is something I, personally, am committed to, an organization I am proud to be a part of, and a body of volunteers whose work I see the results of every single day.

To follow up on what I wrote, I thought I'd post the official response of the National Peace Corps Association to this article. The National Peace Corps Association is an organization made up of returned peace corps volunteers, former staff and friends of the Peace Corps, dedicated to fostering peace through "service, education and advocacy."

The following is a statement by NPCA President Kevin Quigley (what appears in Bold, I put in bold myself):

Robert Strauss's January 9th "Too Many Innocents Abroad" op-ed is misguided in at least two ways: 1) there are not too many Peace Corps volunteers, and 2) they are not innocent.

Resulting from insufficient resources, there is unmet demand for the Peace Corps from more than 20 countries requesting programs and two out of three applicants who wish to serve.

Strauss myopically considers the Peace Corps's impact simply in development terms. However, the Peace Corps is not just a development program. Cross-cultural exchange constitutes two of its three goals. In addition to enhanced understanding of our country, his analysis misses the life-changing skills and attitudes volunteers bring back home.

Like any program, the Peace Corps could make improvements in training, placement, and more flexible programming, along with better use of technology. These improvements will enable Peace Corps to better tap into a broader and deeper recruitment pool. However, the answer is not fewer volunteers but More Peace Corps.

Kevin F. F. Quigley
President
National Peace Corps Association

------

The NY Times article has stirred up much talk both with volunteers and returned volunteers, Peace Corps fans and Peace Corps critics. Here are a few links to what I think are well thought out responses to the op-ed article. While I may not agree with all of them, it just goes to show, that many people care about the future of this organization enough to both criticize and defend it. (Thank you to those of you who sent me these links!) Keep in mind, some of these sites are formal essays, some are blogs, and some are comments to blogs. Enjoy the reading.

RPCV's Comment on "Too Many Innocents Abroad"
Helpful Abbreviations : RPCV = Returned Peace Corps Volunteer, ET = Early Terminate (when a Peace Corps Volunteer decides to return to America before the end of their 27 months of service)

Reconsidering the Peace Corps
Advocates greater Host Country (Host Country refers to whichever country the Peace Corps program is working in) ownership and examines the idea of reverse-volunteers, an idea I briefly brought up before - "If the primary mission shifts toward increasing mutual understanding through personal relationships, a logical result would be to reexamine the potential for placing volunteers from foreign countries in U.S. communities."

Why the Peace Corps Needs a Fourth Goal
“ To join with people of all societies in common cause to assure peace and survival for all.”

A few weeks ago, the following article "Too Many Innocents Abroad" appeared in the NY Times, offering a rather harsh critique of the Peace Corps by a former Volunteer and Country Director, Robert L. Strauss.

Read it yourself, first, if you haven't. (Maybe you have already, I know I am a little delayed with this posting -- old news to you is sometimes new news to me in Moldova)

In the article, Mr. Strauss praises the efforts of Peace Corps as an organization to attract volunteers over the age of 50, because these volunteers come to the PC already having "extensive professional and life experience." In doing this, however, he succeeds in devaluing the work the base of volunteers -- young people recently graduated from College -- a group which I am clearly a part of, does by saying we are "lacking the maturity and professional experience to be effective development workers in the 21st century."

Thanks for your support, I'm glad to hear I'm unqualified to do the job I'm currently doing. (End of frustration/sarcasm, start of rational thought process.)

I admit, I have my share of criticisms of Peace Corps as an organization, and opinions about how it needs change and improve as the world changes and becomes more interconnected. Perhaps the institution itself is too wrapped up in the 60's mythology to be self critical enough to bring about change? I can't say. I, for example, agree that increasing the amount of Peace Corps volunteers currently serving (as President G.W. Bush suggested, Senator Dodd from Connecticut suggested, and recently Barak Obama suggested) is in and of itself a meaningless goal.

I understand that an American abroad in the Peace Corps is helpful to America -- an unarmed, hopefully peaceful, speaks-the-local-language American is a great way to combat America's image problem. A problem, that I have discovered, is not all America's fault. While aggressive military actions take away from America's good name, so do Brittney, the Big Mac and Hollywood, but in a different way. People in Moldova, at least in my town, know about America -- from TV. And while they may know George W. Bush, McDonalds and the Hummer, they do not know me (or you), or how wonderful a well stocked, free public library can be.

When people find out I am an American, from a small town, that wears jewelry made out of string and not gold, and that doesn't watch MTV -- they act shocked. Citizens of the world, apparently, know as little about Americans as a people as we know about them as a people. We are all students of a media (and commercial/advertisment) driven education. I can see how, in this respect, having more Peace Corps volunteers, in general, can help deal with this issue -- since I have been here I have cleared up quite a few things such as the proximity average Americans live to stars, the existence of poverty in America, and why we think sandwiches are so great. (When I think of how misinformed people are of "America," the media hog, it makes me wonder how misinformed we are about other cultures who aren't always on tv -- more or less?)

Cross cultural interaction and dialog is clearly the road to greater understanding, and eventually, hopefully, peace.

But is this the only goal of Peace Corps? It is two of three. (One goal is about development help, the other two involve increasing understanding on the part of Americans of other cultures, and on the part of other cultures on Americans). Which is why I disagree with simply increasing the amount of volunteers serving in the Peace Corps, unless it involves increasing the quality of their service by doing a better job matching volunteers and organizations, and increasing the amount support each volunteer has at his or her site. Quantity isn't everything. Putting more volunteers in the field simply to have more volunteers in the field could possibly lead to not-well-integrated volunteers, frustrated volunteers because of lack of support, angry volunteers who don't see their "purpose" at their site except to "represent America" and volunteers who thus quit and return to American before their service is up-- creating a negative image for Peace Corps and America in their foreign country, and creating a negative image of Peace Corps at home. When volunteers return because they "had nothing to do" in the Peace Corps-- that doesn't help anyone.

While I agree that the focus of Peace Corps changes should be focused on the quality of service not the quantity of volunteers, I, however, disagree with the theme of the article -- that there are "too many innocents abroad." First of all, there aren't too many of us. I don't know how many current volunteers there are, but I can assure you it is a SMALL FRACTION of the amount of Americans abroad in the military. If we are fighting an image battle, it's an uphill one. (I would not be opposed to increasing the size of the Peace Corps -- as long as they first analyzed the quality of the volunteer experience and work, bigger can mean better too, as long as the proper preparations are made.)

We, also, are not too innocent. According to Strauss, "The Peace Corps has long shipped out well-meaning young people possessing little more than good intentions and a college diploma."

I left America with both of those things, good intentions and a college diploma. But I left with more than that. I left with a distinctly American spirit of civic engagement that led me to put aside my own life for two years, and volunteer. Two years is a lot of time!!!! Those of you who have been reading my blog know about my work here in Moldova with youth -- trying to encourage them to volunteer, and through volunteering be active and find their voice in their local community. These are both foreign concepts -- there is no word for "volunteering" in Romanian, nor do youth have an older generation from which to model their behavior as "active citizens," - this generation in high school right now is the first to grow up in Moldova as a democracy.

I, on the other hand, have had the pleasure to experience a distinctly American education and up-bringing. While charity, as they say, does start at home, and I have my wonderful parents to thank for raising us to believe it that it is our responsibility and privilege to help others (all of my brothers are likewise involved in service in one way or another), concepts such as service-learning, leadership and group work were all reinforced at every level of my education.

Volunteering was something you did. (When I tell people here that I "HAD TO" complete X amount of service hours to graduate high school, they are shocked. "No one would do that here," they respond, "it just wouldn't work.") While Holy Angels did require us to do a certain amount of volunteer hours per semester, most students completed more. Service learning was a part of our lessons - tying larger world issues to problems in our own community we could help with, the school itself was actively involved in the community sponsoring outreach events, and encouraged also, us to volunteer on our own -- both means to both help others, and to develop skills and experience that would help us later in life.

During college, Hamilton had it's own share of ways to encourage personal responsibility to the world around us. HAVOC, our student led volunteer program there, supervised 30 some odd individual outreach projects. If you had an idea, a community service project, or something you wanted to "try", you could find support for it through the staff or through HAVOC. Hell, we organized trips every spring for students to drive across country and do service in other communities -- and we were supported by both the teachers and administration of the college. While I was there, and so caught up in doing more and doing it better with HAVOC, I guess I didn't realize how amazing HAVOC is; HAVOC specifically but also the atmosphere that supports and encourages volunteering. Looking back on it, the scale of cooperation and effort volunteers exerted there is almost unbelievable, especially in comparison.

So yes, I came to Moldova with a college degree and good intentions, but also with much volunteer experience, a spirit of civic engagement ingrained in me through education and an open mind. While the last three might be intangibles, we cannot forget to factor them into the equation.

My most meaningful work here, working with youth to set up a community wide volunteer program and youth leadership program, is a direct extension of my American upbringing and involvement in volunteer activities in college (I can't speak for sure or not, but I also would guess that the interactivity and activeness in terms of volunteer service on college campuses has increased in the past 50 years, making today's college graduates more in touch with community activism than those who graduated 20 - 30 years ago). My experience there, in college and in high school, not from any business or job, has made me specifically qualified for the work I am doing now. Even more so, my youth helps me be an effective volunteer.

The high schoolers I work with tend to think, "I am young, what can I do." I am young and "doing something," maybe not in Mr. Strauss' opinion, but in their opinion, I am. I am volunteering. Yes, I am too young to be the head of most corporations, or to find myself in a place of political power -- but that doesn't mean I can't do anything. I do what I can, and see myself as a catalyst for these youth. While I don't always have great advice, by just being here, I think I am showing them another option -- one that they hadn't considered until we met.

Also, I feel that I can better relate with these youth, 4-5 years younger than me, than someone older. I remember high school, it was rough. I remember not being listened to, it was annoying. The youth also feel comfortable coming to me with ideas, becuase I am open, good at listening, and will not shut them down.

Maybe I am not working towards development in the strictly hardcore sense of the word. But what does every developing country NEED for success down the road? The active participation of its youth. I really think I am starting to make a change here -- not a noticeable change, a material change or a political change -- but a change in the thought process of the youth that I interact with. They are more active, more ambitious, more engaged, and have started to develop avenues to express themselves and become involved in their community. No, I am not doing this for them. They are doing it themselves, which is the best part.

Yes, Peace Corps is about relationships, and yes, we tend to measure our results in personal anecdotes, but aren't those anecdotes worth something? In my opinion, this cultural exchange revolving around the concept of volunteering is worth a lot. Maybe only 2 or 3 youth will take on volunteering as part of their life for the long term. I may be overly idealistic, but think how many people they can affect... Peace Corps' bottom-up attempt at development might not be so bad afterall...

Yes, I had some selfish reasons for joining the Peace Corps. Personally, I wanted to learn more about myself in a new environment -- living on your own after college is a challenge, but doing it somewhere else is a bigger challenge, an adventure even for who knows where this will lead me -- I have my whole life ahead, and I wasn't sure what career path I wanted to go down. Peace Corps may have bought me some time to think, but it definitely gave me a unique experience and prospective that I will take with me and incorporate in whatever career path I end up taking (still not sure).

Yes, older volunteers come to the Peace Corps with their careers and experience and learning behind them; but isn't there value in Peace Corps Volunteers returning to America with whole their careers ahead of them?

I think so. As much as we want to improve the world's knowledge of Americans, we need to improve Americans' knowledge of the world. America is much less isolated than it has been in the past. A cultural aware, globally thinking, citizen of the world would be a great value to any company and any country. Especially if that person applies what they learned in the Peace Corps to their further career.

There is room for everyone in the Peace Corps. Older, younger, more experienced, less experienced -- an open mind and flexibility are all that is required. I think it is irresponsible of Mr. Strauss in his article to criticize Peace Corps for using "anecdotes" to measure its success, while he himself uses anecdotes to prove his point of mis-matched volunteers (re: organization and skills). Yes, a girl who had farming experience in her grandma's backyard isn't qualified to instruct or help someone more experienced. But what IS she qualified to do? That decision lies on the hands of the Peace Corps Staff and the volunteer itself. Maybe a handful of volunteers are mismatched every year -- who is to blame? The majority, I would like to believe, end up in positions where their skills can be utilized, thanks in part, to cooperation in finding placement between the volunteer and the washington dc staff (and the recruiters). Maybe Peace Corps needs to change as the needs of the country and the talents of the volunteers are changing -- it already has many service areas, but I am sure many needs are going unlooked. Perhaps by surveying their applicants and seeing what talents they have to offer that are being underutilized by the Peace Corps, Peace Corps could start another unique program. And then, leave the farm advice to those who really know it... Peace Corps shouldn't feel pressured to put people in programs that they aren't a fit for. Period.

Thus, in conclusion, (wow, this got longer than I thought it would be - sorry!), I think young people can be (and are) effective Peace Corps Volunteers. It is ridiculous to claim that they are not, as a group, a force for positive change in the world. Peace Corps the organization will clearly be going through some changes in the next decade or so. While I would support the recruitment and fielding of a larger number of volunteers, I think that progress needs to be made to ensure that these volunteers serve effectively. Instead of looking at other countries as "customers" of Peace Corps, as Strauss puts it, and how people commonly see them -- maybe it would be better to think of them, the countries in which Peace Corps Volunteers serve, as partners.

Volunteers are sent to communities and are teamed up with a host country national who lives there, whether it is the mayor, a teacher or someone who works at an NGO. Peace Corps acknowledges that volunteers, alone, cannot make a difference. Why not take this understanding up the organizational framework? This change, would need to be made not in Washington DC, but in the individual countries Peace Corps works in. Involve the countries more in the process of training volunteers, placing volunteers and supporting volunteers. The Peace Corps is an American organization with an international aim that is hard to pull off alone. Why not increase the collaboration at an organizational level. We already have support staff, program mangers, and language teachers who are Moldovan working at Peace Corps in Moldova. Why not extend this support further? Hire more host country nationals, network with more national NGOs, spend more time dealing with the country specifics. In my opinion, it would be money well spent -- towards the eventual goal of all Peace Corps projects, our magic keyword-- sustainability.

To round out this blabbering, I will leave you, in true Peace Corps style with an anecdote. Whenever I explain to people what I am doing here -- volunteering as part of an American governmental organization, there are usually more questions, even more follow up questions, and many raised eyebrows. The Peace Corps, in Moldova, is not very well known. When I explain that my government is sending me here to work, learn, and live for 2 years -- 2 years!!! -- and that not only did I choose to be here, but there are over x amount of volunteers in 70 or so countries in the world, choosing to be, live and work where they are, the first reaction I get is shock. The second, which I usually laughed off, is some variant of the following "Can I go to America with the Peace Corps?" or "How can I volunteer in America?"

I explain to them that their government would have to sponsor such a program, as ours does with the Peace Corps, and that usually leads into a discussion about what Moldova (Or a Moldovan) could even offer America, and how the relationship can't really be reversed (Moldova needs your help, they say, it's better in America). While materially that may be so, I wonder how America might benefit from having more foreigners, with open minds and a spirit of activeness, on its soil. It couldn't hurt, right?

One of the most kept Moldovan winter traditions is "Urator-ing". (Okay, I added the "ing" to make the word flow well with the the English grammar structure of that sentence). The truth is, there is not a real translation for this verb (a ura). Which means, according to my dictionary: to go door to door granting good wishes on new year's eve. But it's more than that. I guess, if I had to make a comparison to American traditions and practices, it would be a combination of Christmas caroling, trick or treating and halmark greeting card given on new years eve.

The tradition is, that kids dress up -- not in the traditional "fancy" costumes that they wear in things like school concerts and dance performances, but in traditional Moldovan daily wear. What does this mean? Furry vests, tall hats for the boys, head scarves for the girls. Then they go door to door on new year's eve (usually on "old new years" -- 13th of January) with an "urator" to chant (not sing) to their neighbors. The kids usually go in groups, by neighborhood, class or family. The poems they recite they have made up themselves -- and personalized for their audiences. The poems all follow the same rhyme and meter; and they all have to do with well wishes for the coming year. The chanting, which usually ends up more like yelling, is accompanied by tiny bells that the girls ring randomly throughout the urator. The whole thing usually takes about 3 or 4 minutes at every house. The boys, meanwhile, are in charge of the other instruments. The first being a whip, that one boy proudly holds and sounds randomly throughout the performance. (It is harder than it seems to get a good sound out of these whips). Next, two boys are usually donning a donkey costume. Why? I don't know, "tradition" I was told.

Then finally, two boys are working together to play another traditional instrument, that I don't know the word for. It is homemade. Out of a bucket and some twine. The twine hangs out of the bottom of the bucket. One boy holds the top of the bucket. The other one grabs the twine (which is stuck through the bottom of the bucket and doubled up) and runs his hands along the rope. (his hands have been soaked in a water and vinegar mixture). And it makes a really interesting errr sound. Anyway, they "play" that instrument intermittently through the carol.

Before putting on this performance at every house, the kids need to ask the permission of the people in the house. This was my favorite part of the day/night. You stand at the door (all 25 of us), swing it open and scream "Will you receive carolers?" -- in Romanian of course. And then if they say yes, everyone just piles in. After the performance, the hosts usually wished us great things for 2008 as well -- but also, according to the traditions, served us with wine, bread in a circle (traditional moldovan braided bread), candy and money. It seemed to me like a lot, but that is, as they say, tradition.

This year, our youth group put a little twist on the tradition. I'm really proud of them for thinking this up, as I obviously would never have because I did not even fully understand this tradition. They always complain about how my fundraising ideas won't work here in Moldova -- but this is a new twist on the old. Instead of only going on New Years Eve, this year we went around to local businesses, the mayor's office, the calhouz (collective farming agency), the nearest hospital and stores in the nearest city caroling as a means to raise money. It was strange I think for businesses to see us; most don't expect carolers, which is traditionally an at home activity. Also it was strange that we were 4 days early from the earliest new years, and the fact that the students were older (usually by the time people reach high school they have abandoned this practice). All in all it was a really fun and really exciting and really tiring experience. I got to ring a bell and say two lines. (The President of our Raion (kind of like a governor) said it was the first time he ever saw or heard of an international "urator" -- meaning by my presence there). And in the end, we did raise quite a bit of money for our organization. 10 hours is a long time to be walking though. Good thing we had all the candy to sustain us, and the wine, of course, to keep us warm!






pictures: visiting the hospital. This little boy (through the doorway) was so cute and so shy. He wouldn't come out of his room, but was literally sitting on the edge of his bed listening. I like this picture. / On the left you can see two boys playing the Moldovan bucket instrument I explained before. The one on the left is holding it, the one on the right, playing it. The boy on the far right has a whip in his right hand. / This is how we were received by workers at the local Moldovan soda company. Instead of talking to the management, they took us right into the factory -- had to stop the machines to hear it though. They weren't expecting us so didn't have candy and instead gave us soda -- which was nice, but we had to lug it around the rest of the day. / next comes the whole group, at our first stop of the day (8 am) our local mayor's office. / and finally, me dressed in Traditional Moldovan winter lady's clothing, holding the holiday bread, waiting at a bus stop in a nearby city for the bus back to our village.


Our New Years Eve came and past relatively uneventfully. We dont' even have tv to watch any balls fall anywhere. But, that's okay. I think it probably fell anyway, and the calender year changed anyway.

Next was Moldovan Christmas on the 7th of January. Although it was Christmas, it is also the day that the husband of my host mom died, so instead of celebrating the holiday we had a praznic, or feast, in honor of him. All of their relatives from out of town came. And although Christmas for them is not a real gift giving holiday (kids here do not believe in Santa Clause, and they laugh hysterically when I tell them kids in America do -- nor do kids here receive anything from Santa Clause). No Christmas trees. Kids get a few presents. Much different thing. My favorite part of this day, though, was my host cousin who lives in the South of Moldova bought me a present -- two kilos of beans! Yes, you heard it right -- BEANS! We, in my village, are out of beans. The drought really affected the fields and this has just been a bad year in general for agriculture, so maybe there are more beans -- but no one is selling them. This was a huge problem for me, because they are one of my staple protein sources here, and I love them. So I was overjoiced -- I hope I can ration them to get me through the winter. (the thought of winter stretching on here is rather depressing because it is so cold and there is such a short supply of food -- not short in amount, no one is going to go hungry -- but short in diversity and vitamins). Sometimes my body just wants an orange.

Also, we did, eventually get a white christmas. A white Moldovan Christmas! It snowed and was covered (and still is) in the fluffy white stuff for Moldovan Christmas morning. While this put hazards on already bad roads for travelers, I loved it. I have yet to take any pictures in the snow, but I will make sure to take some soon -- Moldova is beautiful in the snow!

Oh well, winter might still have 2-3 more months here -- but at least there is one more winter holiday to keep us lively. Stay tuned for reports on Moldovan New Years, in one week! :)

"Opriti Pluga. Ho, AHO! Sarbatoare Ferecite!"

The celebrations keep coming and coming...

Then, American Christmas! Fortunately I was able to spend Christmas with other volunteers. It was really great, we cooked American food (Pecan Pie too! I know how, now!), had a Christmas tree (a little one, but they are a novelty in Moldova), and had fun with food colors (dying things red and green... why hadn't I thought of this at home?). Since the Orthodoxs here celebrate on the 7th of December, we went to a Catholic church in my friend's city. It was interesting because the priest was Indian, and we had an interesting dialog about our differing outsiders views on Moldova. And best of all, since I was so good this year, Santa brought me Ketchup, via, apparently Russia! Yay!


pecan pie. red and green mashed potatoes. red and green chocolate chip cookies!

And I'm exhausted. I still have to write about caroling, New Years Eve, Moldovan Christmas, and Moldovan New Year (which is yet to come). Stay tune for Holidays Part III... in the mean time, I'm going to try and keep warm!

Welcome to long overdue blog posts, the holiday edition.


Host grandma, with turkey / Live turkey in a bag / stuffing balls, a Moldovan invention.

We Americans kicked off the already notoriously long winter holiday season in Moldova a few weeks earlier than normal, back in November, with many Thanksgiving celebrations. Last year, Peace Corps gathered all the volunteers in the capital and we celebrated together. This year, becuase of security concerns, we were not able to do that. Thus, this year became my first official thanksgiving dinner that I cooked! Okay, well maybe it wasn't "official" as there was no Pecan Pie, but I did make corn bread, turkey (which I caught alive from my neighbor!), mashed potatoes and stuffing (it is hard to make stuffing in a toaster oven!). I invited over the volunteers who are in my region of Moldova and a lot of my Moldovan friends. I think it was quite the success, if I do say so myself. We took turns saying things we were thankful for -- nothing burned -- although my host mother did get really stressed out about cleaning our house (normal) and about not having enough food -- we did have enough, just it was not NEARLY as much food as Moldovans would have put on the table. Plus my host mom thought all our receipes were "simple" and wanted to add mayonnaise to the corn and make the turkey into some kind of casserole (who eats baked poultry on a CELEBRATION, she asks?) All and all it was a great day, lots of work -- but fun. Thanks to Aunt Jo for the recipes, and Jenn for the stovetop (in case my masterful stuffing didn't turn out). Who would have known, when I arrived in Moldova, I couldn't make slice and bake without burning them! It kind of makes me look forward to going to America where they actually have inter esting ingredients readily available!


the volunteers from my region / our feast!

Next on our holiday list is my FAVORITE Moldovan holiday, St. Andrei on the 14th of December. On this holiday, for no apparent reason that anyone can explain to me, besides "tradition," young men steal the gates off of the houses of single girls. Now last year, when this wonderful holiday occurred, I had only lived in Singerei for one month, and thus was not included in the games. This year, I woke up to a missing gate and an angry host mother. I, being the naive American, assumed the "boys" would just return our gate that evening. No, not how the game goes. We had to spend a few hours that day wandering around to find the "gates"... we eventually found them in a pile on the grape fields at the end of town. That was a lot of walking... My host mother apologized for being mad though. She only has two sons, and always allowed her sons to go gate stealing, but never had to be on the other end of this game. I loved it. Gates, as you can tell from my pictures, surround almost every Moldovan house -- help keep the chickens where they are supposed to be, I guess. Too bad they are so elusive in America -- becuase this would be a fun tradition to bring back.

Next on the holiday list comes St. Nicholas, where children leave out there shoes and St. Nick puts candy in them. Not too much to tell about this day, except that the kids were all hyped up on sugar all day. Also, the school in our town held a Christmas show / concert. It was really fun and funny as they did both skits and songs (traditional and modern). I love the traditional Moldovan costumes. And at the end of the concert they gave me, as their guest from abroad, a necklace made of bread -- It symbolizes always being connected, both with Moldova and with the earth -- and never going hungry.


Carolers. / me and my half eaten necklace.

You know how some smells can take you back to a place and time? Or just in general, represent a season or holiday. Pine, fresh cut grass, chlorine, burning leaves, bbq etc. Smell can be one of the strongest memories we have.

Now I have a new one. Most everyone is familiar with that warm, sun-filled smell associated with taking your clothes off the line after they dried on a summer day. The smell: dry, warm, and fresh, almost like you can smell the sun. My new smell-orie is the opposite.

The fresh, cold, icy smell of taking my clothes off the line, when it is 10 below. They usually smell like a mix of frost, wind (i know wind doesn't REALLY smell), and smoke (from the chimney's around the neighborhood). But I love it. It's invigorating.

... and then, of course, comes the process of defrosting your clothes next to the fireplace. After all it is hard to wear jeans that are frozen shut.

Happy New Year, everyone! 2008!