Gata

End

no grant, no problem

It has been a while. I have had my ups and downs here as I have mentioned probably too much. One thing I have said is that if this project with Calendula gets of the ground I will feel as if I have had a successful service here in Moldova.

Guess what!?

The project is with the company Calendula-Oil headquartered in Holland being financed with VC funding. The quick and dirty on it is it a partnered company between an agriculture college and a business consulting firm using oil from Marigolds in paint. After some extensive studies on behalf of the EU about 10 years ago they had concluded that the oil pressed from marigolds can be very useful in strengthening the properties in paint which pass on these advantages to wood products. This allows abundant wood from trees available locally to have the strength of trees in the Rain Forest.

After talking with a college of mine who had done some work trying to gain awareness for the possibility of growing Calendula in Moldova I became instantly interested. He ran into some dead ends and he gladly handed it off to me. I continued to address the opportunities for their company to grow this crop in Moldova. After some back and forth through email and some information searching on my organizations part here we managed to get them to come to Moldova for a visit. The visit was a success and we are planting 6 test plots through out Moldova to educate the farmers in Moldova on the crop.

The company is paying for the demonstration plots and paying the farmers for their harvests at the end of the season. My organization is also getting paid to do the consulting to the farmers and organizing field visits. The plan is to grow from 6 hectares this year to 30 next year and if things go smoothly up to 300 in year 3.

The benefit to the farmers in Moldova is that this crop is a great rotational crop to be rotated with Rapeseed, Wheat, and Corn. They farmers get a upfront set price at the beginning of the season so that they will know how much they will receive at harvest time eliminating the risk of going bust at the end of the season if there is no market for their product.

I am pretty excited about this project and the success I hope my organization will have after I leave.

content.

Update… it’s the 15^th of march and I am inching my way closer to being done here in Moldova. In a way that’s scary, and in another way entirely its really exciting.

My life for better or worse hasn’t changed all that much. I guess I have fallen into a routine where I have accepted my experience this far and have come to realize it is not going to be that much different here on out. I came with some hopes, and plans, and reality slapped me in the face.

That has been a bitter pill to swallow. So after wallowing in self pity, taking my frustrations out on the world for a little bit there, I am coming to grips with it all. I am content in where I am. I am content on where I am going, and I have a plan for the future that is concrete enough that I can look forward to it.

My day to day is still the same. I do not have as big as smile or as upbeat an attitude as I did when I first was going to work but that will come back as I continue to realize where I am. My role here at my work has been anything but clear. I don’t know what I can get out of my workplace and don’t know what I can put into it that will make any type of lasting difference.

I have done several seminars in a village 7 hours south of where I live on business basics with regards to starting a business. I gave 3 seminars from what it takes to be an entrepreneur to how to write a business plan followed by a seminar on marketing.

It was fun and stressful putting together those presentations. Building my subject matter from a variety of sources and throwing them into a power point slide and then giving the seminars. This is all in Romanian of course. I felt stupid up there the first time because it was really hard for me to feel comfortable up there teaching 18 or so local villagers in my un correct Romanian but I made it interactive enough so I was the pressure was not entirely on my to carry the show.

All in all doing those seminars gave me a solid month of work to do. I would prepare the seminar the whole week then Saturday I would give the presentation. This went on 3 weeks straight and I was happy when they were all over.

Apart from those seminars I have been continued developing a business plan for this couple who are wanting to expand their pasta factory from their house into a larger building upping their capacity to keep up with demand. I have been having a fun time building up a pro forma, estimating our costs and possible revenue numbers. It is what I did in college and something I really enjoy doing.

With a little encouragement we have performed a little market study by handing out some surveys to the local population to get their thoughts on our product and hosted a taste testing session where locals could try our product against 2 of our closest competitors. The idea of being an unbiased survey didn’t really click in as we had the founders of this company doing the taste test as well and filling out the questionnaire. I just kindly asked them to put their names on the paper so I could exclude their opinions on the matter.

I hope to have this plan completed by the end of this month. We have a few places to send the plan to with the hopes of them assisting with the startup costs. We are having the business contribute a percentage of its profit to this NGO to keep it sustainable and by doing so we hope to get some percentage of a grant element to be included with the credit we are going to take out.

Finally what I have been keeping myself busy with is still the Calendula Oil company. My partners I am working with are really getting excited about this idea and some new developments have come about. We have received more interested letters from this company asking for more information from us and responding to our questions. If all goes well we might even open up a processing plant to process Calendula (marigold flowers) into oil. This opportunity needs to be analyzed some more, and we hope to have a few members of this company in Holland come down to Moldova for a face to face meeting.

So I have been having things to do. But my days have been filled with ups and downs never the less. I guess the biggest strain is still going to work and living in the town that I do. I really have been a loss in what I can do here. I look forward to next month so I can begin working in the fields again with my partner. We are going to be working in his plumb orchard and at his lake as well. He decided to invest in some land next to a lake that he has rented the rights to and with that land he is going to be raising fish… (growing fish? I dunno). I am not completely versed on how this will all work but we are going to dig about a hectare of land up next to the lake making a pond for this.

I had a man come into the office this last week and really make me angry. I held my tongue but it really got to me. He is the leader of this organization Agro Inform. It is basically the same organization as the one that I work at (an agro extension office) . He comes in and the first thing he does is say,

hey kyle your language seems to not be that good.

I say ok…

then he says have you written any grants?

I respond with no.

he pushes me more, why not? I remember this volunteer that was here 3 years ago that wrote 3 grants in his first year, why don’t’ you do that, don’t you want to help people?

I tell him I didn’t come here to write grants, and secondly I am working on some business plans involving credit.

He pushes me again about well if its free money why don’t’ I just get that, how im stupid for going after credit when I can have free money.,

I explained its not free money, you have to have a project and you have to be serving some type of purpose and I have not been presented with an opportunity that I feel fits those criteria for a grant.

He just kinda has this smirk on his face and says well whatever, if I don’t want to do anything that’s my decision.

I wanted to hit him in the face and scream at him! This is exactly what I hate about this whole situation here. This grant hunger from everybody here. Moldova gets so much free money for bull crap projects that require no sustainability and its poisoning the people. They all just want handouts and they are not willing to put in the effort. ( I realize I just made a strong statement, I recall ALL from that statement because there are plenty of examples that prove the opposite, it is just the vast majority who work in NGO settings are guilty of this).

So I sit in my office for a little more then leave pissed off at life and my situation here. I was ready to never go back to work again. I plan on going back tomorrow of course, to sit at my desk and work on my business plans, helping with some computer problems that come up throughout the day while I keep myself busy. CONTENT! BE CONTENT WITH THAT!.... so I struggle.

Turkey Vaca

Left top: Spice Market Top Right: Modern Art Museum BL: Hagia Sofia BR: Turkish women making our food

TL: Phil and i at the blue mosque, TR: A street in istanbul
BL: Hagia Sofia, BR: Topekii Palace

TL: Heroplis TR: Efesus BL: Pammukale with phil, R: Efesus BR: Virgin Mary's House

TL: Heropolis me being awesome, TR: Me in a fashion show (jacket over $1500) BL: Hanging out with japenese friends in Anatolia, B: Man making pot in Selcuk, BR: Camel being scary in Anatolia

Turkey

So I took a vacation this winter. I went to Turkey and I was there for 12 days. I went with some other volunteers and overall had a good time. The biggest downside to the trip was the weather. Nearly everyday we were there it rained. It was cold and gloomy but we still made the best of it and saw what we wanted to see.

The trip started with 6 days in Istanbul the final night there ended with New Years. The celebration in Turkey was supposed to be really huge but given the circumstances with the Gaza strip the Turkish government canceled the celebrations in the center square. They had already removed all the trashcans on the street for fear someone would put a bomb in them.

After Istanbul Phil and I took a trip to the middle of turkey in the area of Anatolia to see some caves and rock formations. From there we went to the more western region passing through a place called Pammukale and Heriopolis. There we saw some natural hot springs that was formed in these salt rocks making for a spectacular site. Not only that but Heriopolis had ancient Roman ruins so we were able to just walk freely through this massive field that used to be a city.

Our last stop was this place called Selchuk (I spelled it how it sounds) where we saw the famous Efisus which is another ancient Roman city. There we also did some tours seeing the acclaimed Virgin Mary’s house where she fled with Jon the Baptist after Jesus was killed. After seeing such a site what better place to go then to a fashion show and participate.

All in all the trip was fun, I just wish the weather would have cooperated with us a little more. In Anatolia the temperature was around -12 degrees Celsius and all I had was a fleece and a hoody. And the rain was barely kept off with $2 umbrellas that I had to keep buying because they would break at the slightest wind gust.

Its February 1st. My time here is going by rather quickly. I am more in a reflection mood then anything else here. I have a few projects that have the possibility of going somewhere or nowhere at all. Lots of potential but in all actuality none of them could pan out and that Is just how things go.

I miss America. I miss my family and my friends. That’s all.

winter.

its come again. winter. i just got back from vacation in turkey. i was there for around 13 days or so. it was a long time but it was fun to get away and see a new country. i will post follow up pictures a little later. i will begin to update this again soon. sorry grandmas...

Aspiration Statement before i became negative.

ASPIRATION STATEMENT
Kyle Stremme
Moldova
September 9th, 2007


A: The professional attributes that you plan to use, and what aspirations you hope to fulfill, during your Peace Corps service.

After reviewing the VAD I feel that I will be able to use my experience at the Enterprise Center that I am currently working at to help local entrepreneurs raise funding they need to get started. I understand the financial markets will be different but the fundamental strategy of taking an idea from the concept stage to a commercial stage is a critical attribute that I possess.

I really would just like to hopefully help anyone commercialize an idea so that they can provide for their family and learn along in the process. I hope to take on side projects which involve taking an idea and do cost and revenue projections to see weather the idea has any validity.

B: Your strategies for working effectively with host country partners to meet expressed needs.

I think the biggest key to success in working with host country partners is open mindedness. I will be a participant in their activities, learning their culture and their way of things before jumping into a leadership role. I am very much a student to their lives as they will be to what I will be teaching them.

C: Your strategies for adapting to a new culture with respect to your own cultural background.

Open mindedness is a large part of adaptation. I am going into this with little to no expectations of it being easy or hard. Without expectations it is hard to be disappointed or disgruntled. I will exercise respect for everyone I meet and I will attempt to show compassion and dedication in every activity I take on. I will gain their respect through exhaustive language studies and hard work outside of my normal job.

D: The skills and knowledge you hope to gain during pre-service training to best serve your future community and project.

I hope to learn ways of raising capital in their country. From my studies I understand it is hard to obtain capital. I hope to learn why the agricultural market is so risk averse, and how to overcome this obstacle.

E: How you think Peace Corps service will influence your personal and professional aspirations after your service ends.

I joined this program to learn compassion for others. I believe this is a skill that has to be taught and experienced and is not an innate aspect to the human race. I hope the experiences I gain through this will give me the confidence to be successful in my future endeavors and enforce putting other first in everything I do in the future.

photo update. click the photos to make them bigger.

winter is knocking

11.24.08
Thought 1.

Today I was just sitting out on my balcony getting some fresh crisp winter air in my lungs. The first time I did this today I realized im not unhappy here. It is a good feeling to have. I am happy here. I do feel a little unproductive but im content. I have been for a while now I guess. I drafted a plan of action to get myself better aligned and prepared to take on this next year, hitting the ground running. I call it my Peace Plan for the Winter. I feel pretty good about it. I did a little goal setting exercise to improve myself and then how im going to go about making any sort of impact here as a peace corps volunteer.

Peace Plan Winter 2008

There is two categories for my plan this winter. The first is actions that will better myself as a individual to make better use of free time. The second addresses my work for the Peace Corps.

Self Improvement Plan
Total time put towards self improvement 1,515 minutes or 25.25 hours a week

Music (45 minutes a day, 225 minutes a week)
· Practice playing the guitar no less then 30 minutes a day on week days
· Practice or have fun playing the harmonica 15 minutes a day on week days
Body (90 minutes a day 3 days a week, 270 minutes a week)
· Go to the gym 3 times a week
· Stretching for 30 minutes a day
· Hydrate
Mind (Totaling 15 hours)
· Listen to the economist audio edition every week to keep up on world end economic events. (easily accomplished during long bus rides to and from Chisinau) 7 hours
· Language Development
o Study with Rosetta Stone Language program Russian
§ 3 lessons a week or 5 hours in total.
o Go to my language tutor twice a week for 3 hours in total.
Miscellaneous ( 2 hour a week )
· Cooking proficiency 1 new dish a week
· Learn recipe 30 minutes
· Find ingredients 30 minutes
· Cooking of the dish Variable average 1 hour


Work Plan
(No less then 3 hours a days spent on any of the following ideas or a minimum 15 hours a week.)
Divided in 4 parts
Agriculture
· Develop a plan for promotion of soil testing before the use of chemical fertilizers, carrying out the promotion at agriculture supply stores to address the issues of over fertilization or improper fertilization. As a side advantage promote correct usage of fertilizers to receive maximum yields.
· Research the possibility of growing a type of Marigold as a type of cash crop to be sold to a Netherland Pharmaceutical company. Pilot test plot, and logistics work for what to do with the yields.

Community Organizational Development
· Youth Action Group
o Facilitating and Promotion of youth community development activities.
§ Student Disco (student initiated)
· Mayor’s office Website
o Design and instruct on how to develop site
· Networking NGO Site
o Project involving data basing Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and posting their needs so that international organizations, churches, or volunteers looking for places to lend their aid or resources can make an informed decision.

Business and Rural Development
· Working with the “COMMUNITAS” Association in the south of Moldova through their chairman of this organization to spread information on the steps needed to take in planning a business plan and finding financial resources to implement the plan.

Peace Corps
· Volunteer brainstorming sessions
o Organize interested volunteers for monthly brainstorming sessions, get volunteers working together and sharing experiences. Idea sharing and group think sessions will give volunteers feeling ineffective an environment where they can gain ideas they can use to become effective or strengthen current project ideas.


Thought 2.

So after finishing my list I went out to the balcony again just to kind of reflect on my goals. Its cold outside. Cold enough to freeze some puddles from a rain we got a few days back forming some nice little ice sheets. The little kids coming home from school begin to play on them running and sliding across them. I notice they are playing a little violently as they push and shove each other out of the way to get their turn to run and slide. More kids show up and they begin shoving harder and yelling at one another in Russian. I am far enough away not to catch any words but I can see they aren’t being all that kind. These kids are ages ranging from id say 7 until maybe 10. They are not just shoving but punching, with clinched fists aiming for the face. Soon enough all hell breaks loose. Kids begin choosing sides and they shoving matches and punching matches ensue. From here kids begin to grab clumps of dirty frozen leaves and throwing them at one another. Then one kids goes over breaks a smaller patch of ice, grabs this shard and throws it at another. After this escalation both sides being doing the same picking up anything from sticks to pieces of fragmented asphalt to chunks of ice and dirt. Throwing and fighting go on right out in my apartment complex courtyard area. Its violent. I thought about going down to stop them but its not my job, I don’t think I could even begin to solve this problem.

It saddened me. What can I do to alleviate this? The Answer is nothing. All I can do is observe and report. What are the causes of this problem? Is it the lack of work in this country or poor standard of living? Is this causing domestic violence at home teaching this kids to be this way? Is it the lack of supervision of these children? Is it just in human nature to be violent and mean to one another?

I am doing fine

This is from left to right, darren, phil and me. they come up to my sight to hang out and see my awesome pad.

This is what we in the family call "west chicago". thats for you dad. i even did the whole west chicago voice when my and my roomate were cooking it. so whenever we fry random things on the skillet he asks if we are going to be making some west chicago.

Thats my roomate on the far right. to his left is his friend, and then two other volunteers david in the plad and andrew at 12 o'clock. just enjoying a nice dinner at our aparment

look at the joy west chicago brings to his face!

October 16, 2008

First of all happy birthday dad. You’re a great man and I am happy to have you as a father. So just to clear some stuff up, no I am not dead. Sorry I kind of fell off the blog universe for a while but in all actuality I kept waiting cause there wasn’t really anything I wanted to say. I Am done with recapping my day to day and try to just put down thoughts as they come. To be honest they just were not coming. It was kind of the same old same old day in and out. Start the day, go to work, research some stuff for any kind of project that I could do with my organization and coming up empty.

Quick ideas I was bouncing around on involved dabbling into some cash cropping. This type of marry gold that is being purchased by a pharmaceutical company that uses the oil for different types of medicines. They offer to buy the oil at a set price so there is no risk about the price falling at the end of the harvest. It had some promise to it only it just ran out of steam. I had my partner all sold on it to a skeptical point but closer then I have sold him on anything else. Finally I convinced him enough to peak his interest to the point he asked me to do a forecasts on the profits that could be had. He also made it clear this would not be a seminar to that we would show others how to do this but would be a business for him. The project ran out steam once we hit our first obsticale that we need a plant that can process the seed from the mary golds and turn it into oil. We assumed we can use this plant in Balti to the south of us but we were unclear if we could use the same machine that would do this with sunflowers and make it work for our needs. It’s a Russian company and I can’t talk to them in Romanian. My partner just kind wussed out on calling them and we left it at that.

Also tried to push for combining three different crops on one plot of land. The first would be a walnut orchard. In between the walnut trees would be plumb trees along the same rows. And in between the rows would be the mary golds. In the plan it would allow a person to take out credit to pay for the different inputs. Because to take out credit requires you pay it back really quickly if not in one year be able to pay it back you need a quick returning investment. So you use the cash crop of mary golds and get your investment back and use that money to fund your orchard, where after 4 years you can begin recouping your investment. If that whole thing doesn’t make sense I am talking with my host brother about how he needs to cook these cookies in the oven and he keeps interrupting me. … [end thought]

10.24.08

Ok im back on board. Today is moving a long a good pace. Let me see where I last ended… uh huh. Ok so I was explaining some of the things im trying to do at my work without success. Ok well recently im really starting to pick up pace on this whole composting idea. I have been bouncing around with this for sometime and only receiving crap from my partners. I decided against including them. I have this book lasagna gardening by patricia lanza that my wonderful mom sent me that has some great tips on composting and then sheet composting. Sheet composting is just like using organic materials used in composting put layering them where you are going to have your garden. You start with we newspapers as the first layer then build up from there, using things like peat moss, yard clippings, leaves from trees (in the fall) and so forth. You alternate the layers and as long as you use a decent ratio with the high carbon (green things living or were living) and low carbon (dead things like fallen leaves, corn stalks…) your little compost pile decomposes by heating up then leaving you with wonderfully fertile soil.

On top of this wonderful “black gold” as it is referred to by some, it helps reduce landfills by up to 60% all organic materials were disposed of properly by composting. I hope to encourage its use by using high school students as the median. I started carrying around my book and having people ask me what it is. I tell them and then give them my pitch to hopefully get them excited and so far its working. I am going to start collecting materials this week. I have found news papers, and going to buy garbage bags so I can rake up all my ingredients for my compost pile from the park. I also found out where I can buy peat moss or hopefully can and will be going to there to check on the price. I will fotograph my experiment and document how I did it with the kids. Then wait for the garden to do its thing this winter and wait for the spring to have freshly decomposed fertilizer. We will compare the yield from this fertilized organic composting gardening with normal gardening and see if there is any difference. If there is we log results and show others how.

Also I have started finally volunteer groups at the highschools. Plenty of stress and adventures to be had just getting the attention of the kids, and putting up announcements and talking to classes all in Romanian to get them interested. Really difficult but im glad I did it! There is about 20 kids showing up from one school. We meet on Sundays at 2 and from another school we will see as in we have our first meeting tomorrow. But with this brings promise of doing good by empowering the youth to develop their own ideas and projects and them we will implement them. I learned a lot since my last group and I hope to have even more success with this one.

That’s really all I have going on. Im researching butterfly farming for my partner.. there is not even one here in moldova that we have found out about, and we would raise them like a cash crop to sell at weddings kinda like throwing rice you release them at weddings for good look or something. It would be interesting to say the least if it would take off.

I love living here in this apartment. My day to day life is much improved, im happier, independent and enjoy having a roommate who I can cook with and play games with during down times. I started doing sprints again to get back into shape. My partner dropped the news that he might be going to Moscow this spring for a few months to find some work and money because its just cutting it where we work now. He will also take a month vacation in November so my life will get a whole lot slower at work, if that is even possible.

I dunno what life has in store for me in the coming months, but as long as I have more good days then bad I call them a success. That will come with positive thinking, and a drive to really be content with my life as it is. I have a guitar now, I will begin picking that up as a hobby, and then starting in the next couple of weeks I will take harmonica lessons twice a month.

I am done feeling sorry for myself.

Lesson Number One of Leadership: .
For the best leaders, the people do not notice their existence. The next best, the people honor and praise. The next the people fear, and the next the people hate. When the best leader's work is done, the people say, "We did it ourselves."
Lao Tsu
.
First Rule of Project Design: .
If you fail to plan, then you plan to fail.
Anonymous

Lesson Number One of Management: .
There are only two things in life: Reasons and Results. (Reasons Don't Count)
Robert Anthony
.
Lesson Number One of Planning: .
If you do not know where you are going, then any road will do.
Lewis Caroll
.
Lesson Number One of Self Reliance: .
If you blame others, you give up your power to change.
Robert Anthony
. .
First Rule of Awareness Raising .
A good message must be:
Kept very simple, and must
Reach all people.
Phil Bartle
First Rule of Management: .
Do not work hard, get results.
Bill Owen

I will stop wallowing around in my own self pitty and do somthing. May those be my famous last words. Eye of the Tiger baby! I hope to have somthing of use to report in the following week or two. For if I don't it's because I didn't try hard enough. That is just somthing I will not accept.

8.27.08 brutally honest.

Drinking is culture here. It is everywhere, from the celebrations, to mid day work shots, to dinner shots with whisky or wine. You see it in drunks walking the streets stumbling by, or breakfast shots at the local bars as you walk by and there are a handful of men standing around a small table doing straight up vodka shots at 7 in the morning with guys all around them just sipping on their beers going about their days.

Word to the wise for future volunteers, this should have been stressed to all volunteers thinking about coming here. Its part of the culture and if you are not comfortable throwing down with the men you will have a very hard time fitting in or even enjoying yourself here.

I know some volunteers who in coping with their environment, may it been low productivity, a hopeless situation, homesickness, or just plain boredom are drinking more then maybe they had in the past or more then they should. When volunteers are put in a situation that is stressful and unknown like we are in then throw in a culture that you have to refuse drinks at ever corner if you don’t want to be drunk it can be a hard thing to say no. I remember in the winter, as I was being offered glass of wine after glass saying come on one more, “I don’t like to drink alone” you give into it and maybe you fall asleep at 8 that night ending a possibly boring or stressed out day early... Once you realize you are doing it you have the choice to stop it or continue it. I stopped it once I realized what I was doing and feel in control of myself. This summer has allowed me to escape it given in the host family I just left to live alone they ran out of wine and I was not forced it every night like I had been before.

Our peace corps doctor here in Moldova who is a native Moldovan said on this topic…You have to understand this is the culture this is our culture and society and if you reject it we reject you. He tells of times he knows of friends who refused to drink that wer fired from their jobs, there is this feeling of if you don’t drink with us you want something from us, your not our friend maybe you’re a spy.. (going to the extreme there but he was honest in what he was saying)

That makes me think about those days at work I would refuse to drink because it was a work day maybe my partners thinking less of me or don’t include me in things because I don’t take to drink as they do. It puts a whole new dynamic to saying no the drink and as that doctor was insinuating … you can’t really say no if you expect to be integrated in your community.

I am not saying I don’t drink here, I do, but I try to do it where kids would not see me or even high school students who are potential students of mine if I get any of these project groups off the ground here in the future.

Its not an easy job we do here, and with this added element of alcohol pressed on us on top of everything else it makes it that much harder.

I live without a host family now. I have an apartment. I will be sharing it with a 15 year old boy who is going to the local high school so he doesn’t have to commute from the village about 45 minutes away every day. His mom bought the apartment and I am renting a room from her. I am looking forward to having a roommate, even if he is so young. I hope this will help my conversational skills because he is a Romanian speaker.

I am also feeling alone at work. Given the level of corruption and inherent problems with my organization I don’t see myself really writing a project with them. I also don’t even know if I have the possibility to write a actual project that might leave any kind of lasting impact on them. This realization is a scary one because it mean what I do might be me doing this on my own.
I will focus on the youth because they are more receptive to making a difference or working for others without this “I work for only one person and that’s me” mentality. I have been planning my next year and have some ideas. I am in the process of making an action plan and we will see where it takes me.

I don’t want to just do a project so I can say I did something here. I don’t want to write a grant that my friends and family from back home fund either because I feel im forcing a project here that might necessarily be needed if the only funding I can find is with my own resources. I am here to learn, I am here to teach, but im not here to force anything on anybody. If someone comes to me for help may it be ideas I might have about a project or the a broken communication link I will do it with open arms. What I am not here do do in my perspective is force change, force things on people as things I want to accomplish but the inherent ideas need to come from locals, from there I will just capacity build.

For anybody out there who I might be letting down with these goals… sorry. I am over the expectation I will come here and change the world for the good as the realization has set in that I might be getting more out of this then anybody else here and that the Peace Corps helps the volunteer to a greater extent then the host country nationals.

8.27.08 Picking grapes making wine… and then squash..

Luckily for me I have been homeless one of the things I was able to experience was working in the fields with the old host family from Peresecina. They all went to the fields to go collect grapes to make wine and I was invited then told to reconsider. I was like heck yea ill go to the fileds and collect grapes to make wine! They said it wasn’t fun but I just wanted to help with something.

So about 18 hours later ill tell ya this, its not horrible but its not exactly fun either ;-). Spent the entire day the first day from 7 am until 9 at night working. There was about 15 of us in total and we had this little process going on where we would have pickers and bucket carries with the grapes. I made sure to do every job, from the picking, to the carrying, to the delivering the grapes with car and trailer and dumping them into barrels through this hand crank grape smasher. This wonderful time was finished off with a Masa or meal where we filled our mouths with watermelons, soup, bread, beer and of course some whisky. ( given I had run out of my store bought water I was forced to resort to drinking the well water like everybody else) I got lucky having little side effects after the consumption.

SQUASH!

Now for the squash. So I was homeless for a bit so in my travels I stayed in a this village with another peace corps volunteer near my site. I woke early one morning and forced myself to be able to go to the fields do to whatever they were doing. Turns out we were picking squash and throwing them into this truck trailer. Just had to throw that story in because I had never picked up a squash before I don’t think having only seen them at thanksgiving festivals next to pumpkins who dominate that holiday.

8.27.08 I bought a bike, but there was nothing easy about it …

So I purchased a bike. I have this friend here where I live who was very adamant about buying a bicycle and convinced me more or less that I wanted also to buy a bike like he did. I convinced myself I could ride all over the place to the different villages surrounding our town without the need to pay for transport or wait for transport, I can just bike anywhere no problem its easy!
So to get a better selection of bikes so we could get more for our money we decided to take a bus taxi to balti (pronounced belts) to peruse the second largest city in moldova for a bike that we could afford and wouldn’t fall apart.

We left early searched the city in all the largest outdoor markets we could find, an indoor bike shop then settled finally on two that looked the part even if it was a little more expensive then we had budgeted for but not enough to really break us. So its now about 2 in the afternoon we have our bikes and the only thing that stands in our way is the 70km back to Edinet. Why not in the heat of the day just ride back right? Good Plan!

We made it around 30 km before my legs refused to go anymore. I am going to blame it on me being out of shape, lacking on sleep the night before and last but most importantly least my bike was riding with resistance and we lacked the tools and know how to fix the problem. It felt as if I was riding with my rear brake on the entire time giving me constant resistance even on level ground.

We left our bikes in my buddies cousin’s village and took a car the rest of the way. Our bikes followed the next day, still not sure hoe it was arranged but they made it here. I am also not sure who designed the seat but if was to thoroughly bruise my tail bone (so much so that after nearly 3 weeks after the event it still is tender) they accomplished their goal.

8.27.08 International Work Camp.

That little girl was my best friend at camp even if she did abuse me with that racket.

What is that? In short it is a 2 week extravaganza of learning how to work with others giving some children something to do in a poor country in Europe. Here is the down and dirty.
It began on the 4th of August. The first of august I moved out of my house where I was living with a host family for a more comfortable environment of living on my own in an apartment. It really was my goal from the first day I did come to site was to get back to some normalcy for myself and live on my own again. It is quite a shock to not only move into another country but also move into another family. I mean I had fun living with my real family in the state but once I hit 18 I was ready to get out and do my own thing! So being forced to live with a family was a good experience but I was ready to move out once I could.

Any way, back to the camp. I left my house the first of August only to find out my apartment that I was going to be moving into was going to take a few extra days to finish before I was going to be moving in and living there. No problem, I took off down to the south to where my old host family lived and stayed with them for 3 days or so expecting to come home to an apartment ready for me.

Unfortunately or fortunately it was not completed and they quoted me a few more days. (lets just say this quoting 3 days into the future goes on for nearly 4 weeks before I was finally able to move in… last night).

So I needed a place to stay in the mean time… Farina my German site mate had space at her house but it came with a catch… I am not working full time with this camp her organization put together for 2 weeks and sharing her accommodations with 12 other volunteers from all over Europe plus Azerbaijan.

I had a really great time all in all and made some good friends from countries all over the place. The camp taught me a lot about how to go about planning a camp, and team work, and managing expectations.

The scenario was this… 12 volunteers with a a description of their 2 week service was working with disabled teens ages 18-20 somethings… and what they were brought into was a 2 week summer camp working with kids ages 7-14. Quite a surprise for a few of them but they took it well and we put on a sporadic camp from 9-4 every day then spent the evening planning for the next day and cooking for ourselves. We did this with no running water (water was out for the city for the first week and a half) so bucket baths and one outhouse for all of us. I slept on the floor on a few blankets and we all were mercilessly attacked by mosquitoes who feasted on all of our foreign bodies like it was thanks giving.

Nearly everybody went home happy and we all learned about each others country and culture such as … nearly all of them didn’t like America for various reasons and in the end they all liked me so they thought America can’t be all that bad ;-)

Busses and the sweating that comes with them 7.29.08

This will just be a little blurb about the busses and the current. This is something I just have to get off my chest. I HATE THE FAKE THING KNOWN AS THE CURRENT!.... ok I feel better. Im not sure if I have described the current before… it’s the act of opening two windows so that wind passes through one window and out the other.
The current can attack you in the car (and most likely does) and is the culprit of sore throats, coughs, getting a fever… and the cure is quick injections or feet in hot salty water, or simply shutting a door/window to keep that nasty brut out away from you.

This craziness doesn’t bug me to much except when I am in a situation where I have no control. Such as riding in a crammed backed bus (which is more or less a plumbers van with some seats in the back and some windows for viewing but not for opening. We sit in this hot box sweating profusely if its summer outside until we reach our destination. I normally get up drenched in sweat and slosh my way off the bus at my stop rubbing my perspiration on anybody I possibly can as I squeeze through them to get to the door.

I like to rub the perspiration as if to tell them look at this nonsense and look what it is doing to me!

Wondering through life eating fruit 7.29.08

A few weeks back I was taking a lot of walks through the fields just taking in the senery and the agriculture enviorment that is all around me I just have to hike out of town about 20 minutes to see it. Its easy to forget its there.

As soon as I get out there its like I am in a different part of the country. There are wheat fields acres and acres long, next to sunflower fields and corn. As I walk down the dirt road I see little patches of land that has been partitioned off that people work out, outlining their fields maybe with a box of corn all the way around it then inside that box is a box of carrots then, peas or beans or even potatoes, its beautiful and interesting.

I also have been working with my partner on his plum orchard and the last time we finished cutting grass with a scicle? (I don’t know how to spell it .. but its that blade grim reaper carries with him) in mud half way up to my knees… I got to go to a neighboring orchard and eat some fresh peaches off the trees. They were easily some of the best fruit I have ever eaten in my life.

Other days I will just be walking and grab a handful of cherries off a tree or go through a garden picking strawberries. It really lets you appreciate how wonderful fresh fruit is and really brings nature back into the picture where it seems so lost from view or thought.

Kids with handicap (situation here about that) 7.29.08

Give you a quick situation enlightenment. Kids with handicaps here are seen as inferior human beings. At least that is my understanding from people or the impression I am getting. I have heard remarks of people about them that stems from a lack of understanding in why the children have turned out they way they have.

It is sad, and because of this they children are suffering. Because the parents are ashamed of their children they don’t go outside of their house or their yards. There is an estimated 15 kids in our town that have not seen more then their most intimate relatives. Farina the German volunteer has been working with two twins, taking them on walks through the town a couple of days a week. I walked with her a couple of times and now the whole town thinks we are married and have children. Not only this but they look at us with pity on their faces and some udder fear and distaste.

I am not sure what can be done really to convince the parents of the children to take them out of their houses and take them on walks or send them to play with other children if they can but it’s a concern I have.

Success? Soil testing? Not shot down immediately… well not totally…

7.18.08

So I am sitting at work reading this gigantic book about soil in English because it is just more productive for me to learn in English then read information in Romanian, though I do from time to time read in Romanian to pass the time while learning about agriculture and learn some terminology… that was a long sentence, I hope nobody passed out reading that aloud. ;-)

Anyway, I am reading about soils, crops, and fertilizer use, a book I never thought I would ever have any interest in ever in my life has me interested. So it is talking about soil testing for people so they can know in what condition their soil is in. With this information they might add some fertilizer (may it be organic or with chemicals I am not getting into that debate) to improve their yields of the crop or just the vitamin content of the fruit or vegetable.

So I ask my partner if he knows of any place where we could get tests like this done.. a lab or something near by. He said he didn’t know but there probably is. I asked if he does it, he says no, I know its necessary but I don’t do it, and neither does anybody else. After pestering him with questions and ideas as usual we get into a debate on weather or not this would be a good project or not.

Finally we decide to find out if it is even possible. I ask him if there is a testing center in Balti (big city south of us about an hour). He doesn’t know, I check the internet with avail. We decide to call our local office in balti and ask. They know of a place, they give us the number, we call, we find out they do exist, they do provide these services and guess what! They are really cheap and fairly fast. Aproximately $4 for a test and it takes roughly only 30 days to complete.

Then after finding out this information a man walks in a friend my partners of course he is not a random person looking for agriculture help from our hidden organization hears us talking about it and says, maybe he will go and get it done for his land. That sparks me into thinking, nobody really knows about this program, if they do they don’t’ know how about doing these tests, how about we do a project surrounding this topic?

Then after a second thought after my partner who doesn’t like working (the less the better, says we could just write we did this on paper but not really do it). I decide well how about we get the information from this lab (I hope they have information on how to do the samples and then how to interpret the results) and do some seminars for real in promotion to a business we can start by taking taking samples for people, taking multiple samples to lab, getting the info, translating the results for the locals in language they an understand then charge for this service.

Right? Sounds promising? Then comes him thinking… hmmm.. I dunno… lets ask people, so he goes about with me asking everybody we can find in the building if they would play, he of course didn’t pitch it right because you have to say the importance of doing the tests… you know really sell the idea before asking them for the $10 for the tests and results…. So everybody said… na… that’s ok and there goes our idea.

I will still try to do a seminar or so at least getting word out about it and whey its important. ( overuse of chemical fertilizers or misuse is horrible for the environment and detrimental to crop yields and nobody know how much to use but just buys the crap and puts it on their crops). From there if I can get enough interested I will try to sell the idea to them that we are a value add and maybe we can get some takers…

Next week we hopefully plan to go to balti and find the lab and ask for information. I offered to pay for the gas to get there and back, (without this its… a uhh its too expensive… we won’t go).

Crossin my fingers ;-)

Gimpy and quackers

That’s right, the title is correct. We have a new addition to our array of animals in the back yard now. I am sitting out side reading no other then War and Peace ;-) that’s right that 1300 plus classic that I never though id read and I am sure countless Peace Corps Volunteers get the chance to read during our schedules…. When my host mom comes around the corner with a duck in her hands and says look what I found!
This guy who is 1 month old and almost the size of a full grown chicken some how made its way into our yard, nobody knows how cause we have and fence and he can’t fly. Anywho we put some food down for him and some water, he guzzles them down and then walks around scared to death of us. We have a little gimpy chicken that I need to take a picture of, I hope to attach it here… anyway his mom doesn’t want him back after sitting on him breakin his legs where my upon my host mom had to nurse him back to health and now he gimps around the yard by himself. But he is scared of the duck and the duck just wants some company, so they are a funny sight to watch waddle around the yard.

Anyway, I got my computer out to show my host dad what a pressure washer was and then with that I got the idea to look up duck calls. With that I set off to have some fun with our new friend. I went to google put in duck calls and then began to call the duck for thigns like feeding time, or just for him to come close… he was really confused then after some time I just felt bad because I was growing a little attached to him knowing in 2 months he would lose his head and he would be meat… that’s a horribly depressing way to end that little snip… sorry. A happy ending is that last night the gimpy little chicken and duck snuggled next to each other as orphans and had a good night sleep.. (true story).

I am a peace corps volunteer

I came home last night soaking wet from the rain. Its was 10:30 at night, I had just spent about 4 hours discussing this summer camp which has turned into a fiasco of the highest magnitude. To spare the details and angry words… there is a big problem with planning over here… there is a summer camp that might or might not happen that I am not really even a supporter for but have been dragged into it through acquaintances.

And I am now in charge of getting the budget done. It is now 6 am and I am waking up to do this get this budget done, then go to the store to price items so I can meet with a woman who is possibly the most difficult woman I have ever worked with. She talks to me with a tone and attitude that I would really only let me own mother get away with or possibly my future wife after 10 years of marriage and I just take it.

So long story short, I worked with this difficult woman finished up, walked home in the pouring rain through the complete darkness, in my sandals, sloshing through puddles, dodging potholes with the light of my cell phone under a umbrella. As im walking I see a car in the distance, I quickly jump to the side of the road as far as I can from the street, but of course he turns right next to my spot runs right over a huge puddle, I prepare, turn the umbrella to the side to repel the onslaught only to angle the umbrella wrong and take a tidel wave of dirty water all over me.

Who else would put up with crap? After screaming a few obscenities after the car I started laughing, and smiled the whole way home. :)