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Where is Moldova, anyway?

Musings on my Peace Corps experience in this small, Eastern European, Republic.
 

Fall?

Friday, September 19, 2008

This past week has been rainy and cold, and of course muddy. I got that chill in my body - the chill of winter in Moldova - of knowing that you will be really cold (indoors and outside alike) for the next 5 months.

A few days ago it stopped raining because it was too cold to rain (the nights have been as cold as 0 degrees celcius). Today, September 19th, it snowed in Moldova.

What happened to fall?

GLOW Summer School(s)

Saturday, September 13, 2008


Peace Corps volunteers at the bonfire; my class on leadership; tie-dye! (an American staple)

This summer I spent a significant amount of my time working as a co-director for GLOW Summer Schools. (GLOW = Girls Leading Our World) GLOW Summer Schools are, if you can imagine, traditional American summer camps on crack - as in everything you imagine at a camp plus lectures, leadership development, health seminars, guest speakers, and lots and lots of s'mores. They are designed for girls ages 14 - 17, to teach them to make informed decisions for their own lives. If you remember, I worked on this project last year as well. My involvement in GLOW is what Peace Corps calls a "secondary project," as in it's not my main job in my community --we worked with Non-Profits and girls from all over Moldova. Next year other Peace Corps Volunteers will pick up the work where we left off - and continue it.

This year we completely re-designed the program. Instead of one national camp, which was costly and depended on foreign aid grants, we designed two local camps - and got donations of camp spaces, transportation, food, etc. We also worked directly with local non-profits instead of a national organization, and this allowed us to reach more of our target group (poorer girls from villages, girls at risk of trafficking). It was a transition year - but this year was GLOW's 10th birthday in Moldova - and it was a good time to change it, to make it more sustainable.

My favorite part of the camp this year was our Counselor-in-Training program where we invited the best girls from last year to apply to be jr counselors. These girls were so amazing, so energetic, and so dedicated to GLOW that it was a pleasure to work with them. Some of them were only 16 years old, but were very responsible. Sometimes, in Peace Corps especially, I feel we get stuck on the "sustainability" of a project in terms of money - but this jr counselor program focuses on sustainability of people -- when Peace Corps pulls out of Moldova (eventually) there will be trained Moldovan women who went to GLOW, loved GLOW, learned something at GLOW, and can now lead it.

Plus - talking to the girls about their experiences at GLOW is always so heartwarming it borders on cheesy. True, though. As you can tell from the pictures, it was a lot, a lot of fun, as well as very very exhausting. (I know it's the end of September already, but I couldn't not write about this camp -- it was too big a part of my life in Moldova to leave it out).

And a big shoutout to Danna Klein, provider of tie-dye!!!!!!!!!! Thank you!


Myself and our incorrectly colored Olympic rings; the girls in a contest to eat cookies off of a string (no hands!)


Two different classes at GLOW; the classes are in Romanian and Russian.


Peace Corps Volunteers working on GLOW; a class


"Rock, Paper, Scissors" in the "Bear, Hunter, Ninja" version; the medal ceremonies at our GLOW-impic Games.

My Last Words: On the Moldovan Post Office

Monday, September 01, 2008

Going to the post office in Moldova always puts me in a bad mood (in case you can’t tell from previous blog posts- this is your official notice). No matter the time of day, or the day of the week, one is required to wait on line behind loads of people buying postage, paying their electricity bills, receiving their pensions, buying soap or getting a passport – and it is always too hot (winter, spring, summer and fall). Understaffing? Nope. There are usually 4 or 5 employees doing literally nothing, while one person tries to hold back the masses. Also, when you do get to the front of the line – the postal workers act like you are bothering them. To America, a letter? I don’t think we do that here… or you are somehow waiting on the wrong line (even though there is only one), … or you need to come back on Thursday between 9:00 and 9:02 am for that particular service.

Plus. No one seems to get mad at the lines, at the rush, at the crowdedness. Sometimes I feel like people, the older ladies especially, fill their days by coming to the post office to gossip, see who is getting packages and letters, and to generally be recognized. Not to mention to ask one little question that they already know the answer to – or could find out the answer to by calling a neighbor or friend.

I was reading Bill Bryson’s “Notes from a Big Country” and he, I think, adeptly characterized American Post Offices while comparing them to British ones. His description is fitting here:

From Pg 41:
"The counter staff are always briskly efficient and pleased to give you an extra piece of stick tape if it looks as if our envelope flap might peel open. Moreover, American post offices deal only with postal matters- the don’t concern themselves with pensions, car tax, family allowances, TV licenses, passports, lottery tickets or an of the hundred things that make a visit to an British post office such a popular, all-day event and provide a fulfilling and reliable diversion for chatty people who enjoy nothing so much as a good long hunt in their purses and handbags for exact change. Here there are never any queues and you are in and out in minutes."


--------------------
Minutes! Minutes!? Imagine that... if only.

In summary, Scott – I hope you eventually get my letter – Moldova doesn’t seem to know what an APO is. And the person who tried to “help” me at the post office would only speak in Russian – I miss my friendly westwood post office.

 
   





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