I have been in Moldova for over a year now and am actually coming up on the one year anniversary of being an official Peace Corps Volunteer. Throughout the year I have seen and done a lot and have learned even more.
The following are thoughts I have been writing down over the last year on random bits of paper, in notebooks, in the margins of my language workbook or on handouts. Some are funny and not very serious, most are related to the weather oddly enough, while others are actually sincere. These are not written in any particular order-just typed as I found them.
I have also included pictures from this summer throughout the blog to break up the text. The pictures do not necessarily relate to the list.
Learning a new language is difficult for me. I'm too much of a visual learner and not enough of an auditory learner.
Food generally associated with dinner can be eaten at breakfast (e.g. rice, pasta-both in milk with a little sugar).
Boots are necessary from late autumn until early spring.
Camping clean is good enough.
I have muscles in my hands that are getting a work out from wringing out my laundry (I’m worried about having man hands by the time I come home).
Jeans are a pain in the ass to wash by hand.
Having to walk everywhere gives you the chance to really see your surroundings.
But I miss my car (especially the heater during the height of winter when my eyelashes get frosty and the AC during the height of summer when I am permanently in a state of sweatiness).
My concept of a short walk is VASTLY different than it was just a year ago…4 kilometers to the next village-No problem!!
There is a huge variety in the types of mud.
There is a huge variety in the types of mud.
Living in a snowy city is not horrible (with the right gear and only for about 4 months).
Anything below 20 degrees is just down right COLD!!
Anything above 85 degrees with higher than 20% humidity is just HOT!! (And yes, I realize that 20% humidity is nothing for some of my fellow volunteers, but coming from a city where it can be 100+ degrees but dry makes it tough for me).
I miss the beauty of the Autumn because the end of winter is very bland and colorless.
Moldovan women are some of the strongest women I’ve ever met (physically and mentally).
Having a 2 hour conversation on a bus ride in Romanian can make your brain hurt, but your confidence soar and you make new friends.
Moldovan students could teach a thing or two to American students when it comes to showing appreciation to their teachers.
Pomp and circumstance in school can sometimes be very fun.
Flowers are awesome!!!
Hills are a great, natural way of making your butt look good.
You can go several days without washing your hair (so far my record is 1.5 weeks during the winter).
The most important person in a volunteer's life is the bus/rutiera driver. Make friends with them and they take care of you!!
Febreeze is wonderful and makes possible the multiple wearing of a shirt or pants.
Heat and humidity of the summer makes the random summer rain storms with the sudden (and too short) drops in temperature a blessing (until the mosquitoes come out to play)
Writing a letter by hand is fun and makes you think more deeply and slowly about your experience than writing an email or blog.
Photography is an easy hobby to get back into and I love reconnecting with this particular passion of mine.
Idle hands and the possibility of watching 5 seasons of a tv show happen in the winter time.
I miss my family and friends everyday that I am here.
Hot showers are a god send in the winter (and so are indoor toilets during the snowy days).
You can actually feel drier in a cold shower than outside on a hot Moldovan summer day.
Teaching English grammar makes native speakers re-learn grammar. There is so much about our grammar and speaking rhythm that I better understand now (For example: Did you know there is a specific order to how we list adjectives before a noun? I never really knew this until I had to teach it. But was glad to know that I intuitively say them in the correct order and when I tried to use them out of order it just felt wrong).
Food made from scratch tastes better and is not that much more work versus making food from boxed or pre-packaged stuff!
Traveling is good for the soul.
Students think its easier to cheat with the American than with their Moldovan teachers (hehe, they are wrong).
Students hate exams and I hate proctoring them.
Schedule changes are a way of life and you just have to go with the flow.
Students are the same everywhere. No one likes homework; they prefer to play than learn; there is always the know-it-all, the quiet one, the talkative one, the disrespectful hooligan (I had 3 this year), the stubborn one, the cute one, the smelly one, the popular ones, the not so popular ones and all the others who are just along for the ride.
I’m not a parent, but I now better understand when they say they love all their children equally, but in reality have a favorite.
I miss the sun when its gone for too long, and get very giddy when it finally comes back.
I am just now beginning to process some of the experiences of my first year in Moldova. I can’t imagine how long it will take for me to process 2 years worth once I get back home to America.
I am accident prone on ice and in mud. Never thought I would have to relearn how to walk-thought I had conquered that particular feat when I was a child.
I actually like jogging now that its not as difficult for me (although I realize now that I need more structure in my schedule in order to stay with it).
Rutieras (mini buses that seat about 20 people) can actually hold A LOT of people. There is a joke about this: How many people can fit on a rutiera?....Always one more!
Having been on crowded buses and rutieras I have found that I can sometimes be a bit claustrophobic.
Beer and ice cream can be great together under the right circumstances.
Tequila is still bad! Tested this theory twice just to make sure.
I’ve started thinking in military time, the metric system and day-month-year (America needs to get on board with this-its just more logical).
You want water more often when you have to prepare it before drinking (e.g. distill then filter).
Moldovan women are magic. They can walk through ice, snow and mud without getting a drop on them (I on the other hand have to bring two pairs of shoes-one to wear in the mud/snow and the other to wear in class). In the heat of summer, they look as if they are followed by their own personal air conditioning unit (whereas I look frizzy and sweaty). Its amazing!
Teaching English as a foreign/second language is incredibly difficult when you do not fluently speak your students’ native language and I have a thousand times more respect for teachers who do this.
I still want to work with youth, but not necessarily in a formal classroom, teaching capacity.
Mullets and roller blades are very much alive and well in this country and I love every minute of it!
Walking in skirts and heels makes me feel more girly.
I don’t think the relationships I have formed with people in this first year will ever be the same as those I form with people at home because of the unique circumstances that prompted our meeting.
The Peace Corps experience is like a bubble. It’s this one time and place and very hard to truly explain to someone who is not here experiencing it, as much as I try.
I’ve realized that I’m not entirely sure that I want to settle back into American living when I am done next year. For the first time, I don’t really have a plan for what I will do after this stage of my life. While this freaks out the OCD planner in me, I kinda like the unknown of it too.
I still love the work I did at Fairytale Town and want to find something similar to doing that…but in another country (sorry Mom).
Sometimes there just aren't words to describe anything about this part of my life.
This list is not complete and probably never will be since there are a thousand and one other thoughts or experiences that did not get written down.
Pomp and circumstance in school can sometimes be very fun.
Flowers are awesome!!!
Hills are a great, natural way of making your butt look good.
You can go several days without washing your hair (so far my record is 1.5 weeks during the winter).
The most important person in a volunteer's life is the bus/rutiera driver. Make friends with them and they take care of you!!
Febreeze is wonderful and makes possible the multiple wearing of a shirt or pants.
Snow and the biting cold of winter makes Spring all the better and more appreciated.
Heat and humidity of the summer makes the random summer rain storms with the sudden (and too short) drops in temperature a blessing (until the mosquitoes come out to play)
Writing a letter by hand is fun and makes you think more deeply and slowly about your experience than writing an email or blog.
Photography is an easy hobby to get back into and I love reconnecting with this particular passion of mine.
I miss my family and friends everyday that I am here.
Hot showers are a god send in the winter (and so are indoor toilets during the snowy days).
You can actually feel drier in a cold shower than outside on a hot Moldovan summer day.
Teaching English grammar makes native speakers re-learn grammar. There is so much about our grammar and speaking rhythm that I better understand now (For example: Did you know there is a specific order to how we list adjectives before a noun? I never really knew this until I had to teach it. But was glad to know that I intuitively say them in the correct order and when I tried to use them out of order it just felt wrong).
We take language and the use of it as a communicative tool for granted in America.
Food made from scratch tastes better and is not that much more work versus making food from boxed or pre-packaged stuff!
Traveling is good for the soul.
Learning about other cultures is great and at times very humbling.
The world is not as big as you think and people are fundamentally similar once you get past the surface differences.
The world is not as big as you think and people are fundamentally similar once you get past the surface differences.
Students think its easier to cheat with the American than with their Moldovan teachers (hehe, they are wrong).
Students hate exams and I hate proctoring them.
Schedule changes are a way of life and you just have to go with the flow.
Students are the same everywhere. No one likes homework; they prefer to play than learn; there is always the know-it-all, the quiet one, the talkative one, the disrespectful hooligan (I had 3 this year), the stubborn one, the cute one, the smelly one, the popular ones, the not so popular ones and all the others who are just along for the ride.
I’m not a parent, but I now better understand when they say they love all their children equally, but in reality have a favorite.
I miss the sun when its gone for too long, and get very giddy when it finally comes back.
I am just now beginning to process some of the experiences of my first year in Moldova. I can’t imagine how long it will take for me to process 2 years worth once I get back home to America.
I am accident prone on ice and in mud. Never thought I would have to relearn how to walk-thought I had conquered that particular feat when I was a child.
I actually like jogging now that its not as difficult for me (although I realize now that I need more structure in my schedule in order to stay with it).
Rutieras (mini buses that seat about 20 people) can actually hold A LOT of people. There is a joke about this: How many people can fit on a rutiera?....Always one more!
Having been on crowded buses and rutieras I have found that I can sometimes be a bit claustrophobic.
Beer and ice cream can be great together under the right circumstances.
Tequila is still bad! Tested this theory twice just to make sure.
I’ve started thinking in military time, the metric system and day-month-year (America needs to get on board with this-its just more logical).
You want water more often when you have to prepare it before drinking (e.g. distill then filter).
Moldovan women are magic. They can walk through ice, snow and mud without getting a drop on them (I on the other hand have to bring two pairs of shoes-one to wear in the mud/snow and the other to wear in class). In the heat of summer, they look as if they are followed by their own personal air conditioning unit (whereas I look frizzy and sweaty). Its amazing!
Teaching English as a foreign/second language is incredibly difficult when you do not fluently speak your students’ native language and I have a thousand times more respect for teachers who do this.
I still want to work with youth, but not necessarily in a formal classroom, teaching capacity.
Mullets and roller blades are very much alive and well in this country and I love every minute of it!
Walking in skirts and heels makes me feel more girly.
I don’t think the relationships I have formed with people in this first year will ever be the same as those I form with people at home because of the unique circumstances that prompted our meeting.
The Peace Corps experience is like a bubble. It’s this one time and place and very hard to truly explain to someone who is not here experiencing it, as much as I try.
I’ve realized that I’m not entirely sure that I want to settle back into American living when I am done next year. For the first time, I don’t really have a plan for what I will do after this stage of my life. While this freaks out the OCD planner in me, I kinda like the unknown of it too.
I still love the work I did at Fairytale Town and want to find something similar to doing that…but in another country (sorry Mom).
Swimming in the Black Sea at 4:45 in the morning while waiting for the sun to come up is a top 3 most memorable experience and I highly recommend everyone do it at some point.
This picture was taken at the Black Sea at about 5:05am 
Sometimes there just aren't words to describe anything about this part of my life.
This list is not complete and probably never will be since there are a thousand and one other thoughts or experiences that did not get written down.
