“Hello my friend” a frequent greeting I get from children who know about 6 words in English. I am about to go on adventure to talk about my last two weeks here and all of the crazy crap that has happened. Of course I procrastinated and I forgot most of what has happened in the past so hopefully this will be quick and to the point. Also please excuse any misplellings or grammar errors that might appear with more frequency given the fact that I was just savagely attacked by a huge Rottweiler and luckily escaped with just a few gauges in my leg. So in my rabid delirious state I will recount the events that has led up to this day.
Let us start with last week. I am not sure if I talked about Easter, we woke up at 6am ate and drank, then repeated that for the rest of the day. The following day was a holiday too and we didn’t have work. I read, watched movies and tried to stay sane as it rained outside. Tuesday I was able to go to work and sit and do nothing as only one other person showed up. I killed time the rest of the day like I did the previous day. Wednesday on my way to work I decided to change plans…
I decided to walk about 45 minutes down the road to a good hitching point to visit a fellow colleague in the town about 45 minutes south of me. I hitched a ride and mumbled where I wanted to go… I had never been there so I was a bit concerned I would not know how to get there but I did my best to explain where I wanted to be dropped off. Long story short, they though I was Russian and refused to speak to me in Russian saying kids these days don’t know how to speak Romanian. That was fine as I listened to them in Romanian talking about me. I just smiled and enjoyed the ride. Halfway through the ride they asked me again where I wanted to get off I told them and then they asked me if I was really from Russia. I said no America! They both said wow im sorry! HOW ARE YOUR DOING! SHAKE MY HAND! Anyway I figured it out arrived at my destination and spent the day with Darren in his town to see what he was up to.
Had a good time and made my way back home that night. The next day I went to work then because last week the center for children was closed for the holidays I decided to go visit Darren again and meet up with Phil who came up. We stayed the night, had a good time then the next day traveled south once again to meet up with a group of people in Orhei. We were celebrating the departure of two volunteers soon to be leaving. Then the following day I went to Chisinau to continue to see people and went to concert to watch our security officer for the peace corps jam on his harmonica with his band singing American cover songs. Great time. Sunday on my way back home I went to Peresecina to visit the old family. They wanted me to stay the night but I needed to get home.
So I got home, talked with the family and went to bed. So this last Monday was the day where everybody goes to the cemetery and visits deceased relatives and friends. They all spend about half a day drinking wine putting food and candles on grave sites and then we all sit and eat there. It was an interesting experience. On a side not it was a little strange at one point. There was a priest that would walk around reading what I assume was latin and blessing the graves. If you wanted this to happen to your loved ones grave you were required to follow the preist around begging him to come and bless your grave and slip him some money. It was quite unnerving. At one point this man started screaming at the priest because (in Russian this all was) he could not afford to pay the priest to bless his relatives grave and so the priest by passed him for someone who could. He hit the priest and pulled on his clothes then walked away raving and ranting for some time after. Quite an exciting time.
Tuesday I went back to work.. didn’t do anything, wait I wrote a letter I think yes, I wrote a letter in English outlining what I want out my experience here. I will then translate this into Romanian and give it to my partners outlining what I want to do. The gist of it is that I will be in the office only 2 days a week for about 4 hours then the other days will be spent going to nearby villages and hanging out with the local consultants where I can actually learn.
Wednesday I went into the office not really expecting to do anything other then begin translating my letter when my Russian partner asked me if I wanted to get out of the office. I said you bet ya! So we went to the bank, then a village where he paid to have access to a pond of sorts. Then we went out to see his land where he is going to put his own pond. From there we left and stopped off by this road and watched the process of draining a fishing pond. It was interesting I never knew how they did it. All the water drains out this tunnel where it catches all the fish that grew that year and they take their nets and scoop them up and put them in a truck.
Thursday I went to another village to visit with a local consultant to see if I could come there once a week so I can get out of the office. It was a good time. I was able to speak Romanian for about 2 hours with the consultants niece while she was given advice. This is by far our best consultant in the entire rayon. She works as a part time consultant and then part time in the local village bank where she helps people apply for credit and payback strategies. So when you combine agriculture knowledge with advice and resources on how to accomplish a agriculture idea you have a successful office. I will be spending at least one day a week I hope in her office and then ask her to set me up with some local farmers so I can just follow them around the rest of the day. Or maybe a half and half thing.
The rest of that day I spent at the center with the kids. I purchased some tiny toy soldiers (though farina was very against any aspect of war to be taught to the children) and got the tyrants building forts in this random sand rock pile we have nearby. It was a great time. It reminded me of the times I used to build sand castles with my dad and sisters in the sand box where I learned the art of crewing. After I got home from that I worked in the garden with my host dad digging very orderly rows of holes for potatoes. Of course the whole time the host mom was right there telling us how to do everything like any woman (wife) would. Anywho we got that accomplished. I enjoy helping around the house, especially learning how to do stuff I had no idea before how to do. To be completely honest I had no idea that you take small immature potatoes put them in the ground and wait for them to grow. I had no idea if you gave potatoes enough time that little seedlings sprout from them. Now I know… ;-).
Friday morning I was running around the track when these two domestic dogs ( I say domestic because their owner comes with them to the track lets them loose and has some what control over them.) So I normally do 10 circles at a even pace then after that I do four laps where I sprint full speed the straight-aways anyway I ran by the dogs at full speed and when I stopped sprinting at the end of the straight away one of the dogs closed on me. It was a rotwhiller and got me on the inside of the thigh then proceeded to tear at my sweats near my calf. Then he got the material stuck in his teeth and proceeded to rip my pants even more. I am posed to hit this animal in the face as hard as I can but I wait watching the 65 year old owner proceed to run that same distance while I dodge the dogs teeth in my calf. The owner ends up falling down on the asphalt rock turf of the track skinning up his hand before he takes control of his animal.
The then claimed it was my fault because his animal had never done this before. But whatever. He apologized and told me he would not let that dog loose in the mornings near the track anymore. So I was very happy. I finished running for a bit until the adrenaline wore down and my leg began throbbing. When I got home I inspected the wounds and they aren’t too bad. There is defiantly some teeth marks where he gauged me it could have been a lot worse. Had the inside thigh bite been about 5 inches higher I might not have my manhood anymore ;-).
Friday was also victory day for Europe. So we had a big celebration in our town. Everybody met up in the center with flowers and walked them down to this monument for WW2 for all the soldiers who had died. The mayor said some words, as well did some other local leaders. I limped along and snapped some pictures. The weekend is the weekend. I spent it in Orhei a village 2 hours south of mine and have escaped the boredom of being in my house when its raining outside. I am looking forward to talking with my parents tonight…. That’s really all I have.
HAPPY MOTHERS DAY MOM!
Also here is a link to an article about human trafficking in moldova. Interesting and sad.
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/05/05/080505fa_fact_finnegan?currentPage=1
Let us start with last week. I am not sure if I talked about Easter, we woke up at 6am ate and drank, then repeated that for the rest of the day. The following day was a holiday too and we didn’t have work. I read, watched movies and tried to stay sane as it rained outside. Tuesday I was able to go to work and sit and do nothing as only one other person showed up. I killed time the rest of the day like I did the previous day. Wednesday on my way to work I decided to change plans…
I decided to walk about 45 minutes down the road to a good hitching point to visit a fellow colleague in the town about 45 minutes south of me. I hitched a ride and mumbled where I wanted to go… I had never been there so I was a bit concerned I would not know how to get there but I did my best to explain where I wanted to be dropped off. Long story short, they though I was Russian and refused to speak to me in Russian saying kids these days don’t know how to speak Romanian. That was fine as I listened to them in Romanian talking about me. I just smiled and enjoyed the ride. Halfway through the ride they asked me again where I wanted to get off I told them and then they asked me if I was really from Russia. I said no America! They both said wow im sorry! HOW ARE YOUR DOING! SHAKE MY HAND! Anyway I figured it out arrived at my destination and spent the day with Darren in his town to see what he was up to.
Had a good time and made my way back home that night. The next day I went to work then because last week the center for children was closed for the holidays I decided to go visit Darren again and meet up with Phil who came up. We stayed the night, had a good time then the next day traveled south once again to meet up with a group of people in Orhei. We were celebrating the departure of two volunteers soon to be leaving. Then the following day I went to Chisinau to continue to see people and went to concert to watch our security officer for the peace corps jam on his harmonica with his band singing American cover songs. Great time. Sunday on my way back home I went to Peresecina to visit the old family. They wanted me to stay the night but I needed to get home.
So I got home, talked with the family and went to bed. So this last Monday was the day where everybody goes to the cemetery and visits deceased relatives and friends. They all spend about half a day drinking wine putting food and candles on grave sites and then we all sit and eat there. It was an interesting experience. On a side not it was a little strange at one point. There was a priest that would walk around reading what I assume was latin and blessing the graves. If you wanted this to happen to your loved ones grave you were required to follow the preist around begging him to come and bless your grave and slip him some money. It was quite unnerving. At one point this man started screaming at the priest because (in Russian this all was) he could not afford to pay the priest to bless his relatives grave and so the priest by passed him for someone who could. He hit the priest and pulled on his clothes then walked away raving and ranting for some time after. Quite an exciting time.
Tuesday I went back to work.. didn’t do anything, wait I wrote a letter I think yes, I wrote a letter in English outlining what I want out my experience here. I will then translate this into Romanian and give it to my partners outlining what I want to do. The gist of it is that I will be in the office only 2 days a week for about 4 hours then the other days will be spent going to nearby villages and hanging out with the local consultants where I can actually learn.
Wednesday I went into the office not really expecting to do anything other then begin translating my letter when my Russian partner asked me if I wanted to get out of the office. I said you bet ya! So we went to the bank, then a village where he paid to have access to a pond of sorts. Then we went out to see his land where he is going to put his own pond. From there we left and stopped off by this road and watched the process of draining a fishing pond. It was interesting I never knew how they did it. All the water drains out this tunnel where it catches all the fish that grew that year and they take their nets and scoop them up and put them in a truck.
Thursday I went to another village to visit with a local consultant to see if I could come there once a week so I can get out of the office. It was a good time. I was able to speak Romanian for about 2 hours with the consultants niece while she was given advice. This is by far our best consultant in the entire rayon. She works as a part time consultant and then part time in the local village bank where she helps people apply for credit and payback strategies. So when you combine agriculture knowledge with advice and resources on how to accomplish a agriculture idea you have a successful office. I will be spending at least one day a week I hope in her office and then ask her to set me up with some local farmers so I can just follow them around the rest of the day. Or maybe a half and half thing.
The rest of that day I spent at the center with the kids. I purchased some tiny toy soldiers (though farina was very against any aspect of war to be taught to the children) and got the tyrants building forts in this random sand rock pile we have nearby. It was a great time. It reminded me of the times I used to build sand castles with my dad and sisters in the sand box where I learned the art of crewing. After I got home from that I worked in the garden with my host dad digging very orderly rows of holes for potatoes. Of course the whole time the host mom was right there telling us how to do everything like any woman (wife) would. Anywho we got that accomplished. I enjoy helping around the house, especially learning how to do stuff I had no idea before how to do. To be completely honest I had no idea that you take small immature potatoes put them in the ground and wait for them to grow. I had no idea if you gave potatoes enough time that little seedlings sprout from them. Now I know… ;-).
Friday morning I was running around the track when these two domestic dogs ( I say domestic because their owner comes with them to the track lets them loose and has some what control over them.) So I normally do 10 circles at a even pace then after that I do four laps where I sprint full speed the straight-aways anyway I ran by the dogs at full speed and when I stopped sprinting at the end of the straight away one of the dogs closed on me. It was a rotwhiller and got me on the inside of the thigh then proceeded to tear at my sweats near my calf. Then he got the material stuck in his teeth and proceeded to rip my pants even more. I am posed to hit this animal in the face as hard as I can but I wait watching the 65 year old owner proceed to run that same distance while I dodge the dogs teeth in my calf. The owner ends up falling down on the asphalt rock turf of the track skinning up his hand before he takes control of his animal.
The then claimed it was my fault because his animal had never done this before. But whatever. He apologized and told me he would not let that dog loose in the mornings near the track anymore. So I was very happy. I finished running for a bit until the adrenaline wore down and my leg began throbbing. When I got home I inspected the wounds and they aren’t too bad. There is defiantly some teeth marks where he gauged me it could have been a lot worse. Had the inside thigh bite been about 5 inches higher I might not have my manhood anymore ;-).
Friday was also victory day for Europe. So we had a big celebration in our town. Everybody met up in the center with flowers and walked them down to this monument for WW2 for all the soldiers who had died. The mayor said some words, as well did some other local leaders. I limped along and snapped some pictures. The weekend is the weekend. I spent it in Orhei a village 2 hours south of mine and have escaped the boredom of being in my house when its raining outside. I am looking forward to talking with my parents tonight…. That’s really all I have.
HAPPY MOTHERS DAY MOM!
Also here is a link to an article about human trafficking in moldova. Interesting and sad.
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/05/05/080505fa_fact_finnegan?currentPage=1
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