Something of Impact

At our Close of Service Conference, we were supposed to prepare something for the "Something of Impact" session, where we all talked about how awesome Peace Corps was something impactful from our service. It could be anything. It WAS anything. 

I did not share. 

I had this prepared forever in advance, had written notes in my journal (which I carried to each session) so I wouldn't forget anything, and we had already placed bets on how many times I'd cry. But everyone said such great things - I laughed, I cried, I was inspired. So I thought, yeah, I can't do this. My natural "emotional basketcase" state plus a mountain of insecurity at the time just led to my sitting there listening to everyone else talk. Luckily I have a bunch of amazing supporters on my team, who said they still want to hear what I had to say. So here it is. 

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I can, with relative confidence, walk the mile or so from the bus stop to my house on a moonless night.

You're probably thinking, okay... great job, Cat. How is that Something of Impact? 

My site is a small village that's three hours from Chisinau on a good day. We don't really have paved roads, and we have about 4 streetlights (and 3 of them are right next to each other). When I first arrived, my host mom made a big deal about the fact that there was a streetlight outside our house. I eventually realized that it was literally on just for me. Someone was paying to have that streetlight on because the volunteer, the American, lived there. 

So when I first got to the village, if I returned to site at night (which I tended to do, due to bus schedules), I would have a few streetlights, hopefully a moon to light the way, and my flashlight (or, more accurately, the light on my phone). And I knew I was getting close because I had the streetlight in front of my house to guide me. In other words, I had a lot of help making my way through the village. 

The road isn't terrible, but if you don't know it, it can be a little treacherous. There are holes to avoid. It's uneven. If it's rained, there are perfect places to step so you don't get as muddy. (The American is not good at finding these perfect places.) You never want to step directly where the cows have traveled on their way home.. 

Maybe you see where I'm going with this. In the beginning of my Peace Corps service, I needed a lot of help. I had my village looking out for me (with the streetlight at my house), I had my program staff, cohort, and people back home helping me out (maybe they're the rest of the streetlights), and I was trying to make it on my own (with my phone to light the way). It was really hard at first. I might trip, or make mistakes. Dogs would come out and scare me, or I would get homesick. Even if I tried to do everything right and not step where I shouldn't, some unforeseen obstacle would come out of nowhere and upset me or make me fall. It was really frustrating at times, especially when I would leave for a weekend and come back to new holes in the ground to avoid. 

But it got easier. The road got renovated a little, and I started to get used to the life I was living in my village and in Peace Corps. I felt a little more sure of myself. I cried less. I had successful projects, and English classes, and trainings, and I was helping other PCVs. I became more comfortable in the work I was doing and the way I felt about it. I could speak Romanian. I felt relatively accomplished (most days). I knew which dogs had a bark worse than their bite and which ones were just curious about the American walking by. They turned off the streetlight, and I was okay. 

Now I can walk from the bus stop to my house on a moonless night. That maybe doesn't sound so impressive to you. But without streetlights or natural light to show the way, most of the walk is completely dark. I'm doing this on my own, and I think I'm good at it. People don't keep lights on in their houses; cars don't drive by to shine headlights for a little while. But I'm used to it. I know where to step, I know what to do. 

I don't need to make such an effort to keep myself from falling.

Sure, there is still opportunity for me to slip up. A flash of something in the road that isn't normally there; being told I have to run important meetings using a bunch of vocabulary I'm unsure of. An animal might appear suddenly; I might have an unforeseen complication with a grant. But there are still a few streetlights and at least I know where I'm going.

And on those nights when it's completely dark and I'm making my way slowly through the journey, I've got you guys. I've got all these beautiful stars, these constellations, some of which I know like the back of my hand and that I know I'll be seeing for all of my life, that make the whole trip worth it.

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Love to you, M29, my moon and my stars. You turn the darkest night into a breathtaking masterpiece. We've come so far, and I'm forever grateful that you've been there for me this whole time (whether you're still here or whether you've already gone). We did it! Vă iubesc, și mi-e dor de voi deja. 

Tour of Moldova

Life has been SO good lately. People keep asking me how I am and I keep answering with "Can't complain" because I really can't complain. (Is this right? Someone check the Cycle of Vulnerability and Adjustment. Should I be having a mid-service crisis right about now?) 

Oh, did you want to know why? Good, I'll tell you! 

First of all, M30 is here! My group is M29, and now that we've been here a year, Peace Corps decided we needed new friends so they sent 70 more people. They didn't even ask me, but so far they seem mostly wonderful, so I guess I'll allow it. I didn't think I'd have much opportunity to meet M30, but as it turns out, I've gotten to spend the last week seeing a lot of them. Mostly just the ones in my sector, but we're the best, so that seems appropriate. 

Second of all, I found out that I get to be a facilitator for the GirlsGoIT summer camp, so that's really exciting! Some of my good friends are doing it too so we're going to have a ton of fun teaching girls about tech.

AND this week I've been travelling all around Moldova and having a ton of fun doing it. 

I went to Ialoveni to help lead a session for the M30 COD group. Another M29 and I developed this session, which we didn't have last year, because we thought it would be fun and helpful! It was about healthy relaxation methods and we didn't bore anyone to tears, which is, I think, the mark of a good presentation. Correct me if I'm wrong. 

Then I went back to Chișinău for a bit and helped out with preparing for site placement - on Thursday the M30s found out where their permanent sites are going to be! This would have been slightly more exciting if I had gotten some more neighbors, but I'm sure the two that were placed in my raion will be great. 

That red triangle all the way on the right is near me!

The weekend took me to Telenești to visit my adopted bunica, the fabulous Ellen. She works at the library there and they organized a Healthy Life Festival on Sunday. It happened at the same time as a raion festival, so people from every village were there with booths and performances. For the Healthy Life part, we had games, coloring, yoga, karate, blood tests, and literature about modul sănătos de viața. I led a short yoga demonstration for the kids and helped out with whatever else people needed! The night before, we all hung out, saw the town, and had a delicious dinner together. No surprise that Ellen is an excellent host. 

The week before, another friend had invited me up to visit him in the north, in Rîșcani. So after Ellen's Healthy Life Festival, a few of us made it to the main road and flagged down a bus going north that took us to Bălți. I met him and some other friends at the bus station and we went up to Rîșcani together. Two M30s were placed there, one who would have the same host family as Andrew (as he is an M28 and will COS soon!), so we got to meet him and have some Moldovan barbecue and boxed wine. The next day we got to visit the COD M30 at his future assignment, which is an NGO that's currently under construction but will soon be a cool place to work. 

Then I went back down to Chișinău with the COD and his partner for their Site Team Conference. This happens right after site visits - CODs come to Chișinău with their partners and have a two-day conference about the work they hope to do, among other fun things. Our program manager had asked me to be a translator for the conference, which was so much fun. Some of the partners don't speak English and the M30s have only had a month of language training so far, so that can be a struggle. With the help of our program staff and two other M29s, I think we did a pretty good job of translating. Occasionally I would need to call for backup, but one of the partners thought I was from Romania, so that's always a compliment. I think about how a year ago, my mayor came with me to this, and he was the class clown of the group (there was one this year, too!). He told everyone that he wouldn't let me sleep or eat until I had learned Romanian, and here I am a year later doing the translating. Look at me now, Primar! 

The translators!

So it's been a really good week with old friends and new ones. Things I learned on my trip around Moldova: I can easily say "Sure, I'll do that!" to things that once would have freaked me out (like leading a yoga class at a festival), Moldovans are well-versed in Botticelli (but also that I probably won't be able to marry anyone since I can't remove the picture from my leg..), don't listen to people saying ridiculous things about you, young Moldovan guys will dance with American women to Frank Sinatra, boxed wine tastes better if the box is shaped like a book, long rutiera rides can actually be kind of excellent, some days I do pretty well with Romanian, and this next year is going to be some kind of adventure - not that this last one was any different. 

In-Service Training

This last week our cohort all had training in Chisinau with our partners, a Project Design and Management (PDM) workshop where we brought a project idea and worked through different elements of writing a good project.

We had three days of this PDM workshop and then two more days of language training.. I'm getting tired again just thinking about it. Workshops with Moldovan partners are made significantly longer because of the constant translation that must happen, as the partners don't all speak English. When you understand both languages, it's like you're hearing everything twice so it's kind of exhausting. Plus side, I can no longer tune out the Romanian translation because I understand it, so that's way better than before. 

For PDM, my partner and I brought our village park renovation project (maybe I've mentioned it before, as we applied for a grant for it a few months ago which we did not get) that she calls "Colț de Rai," which means "Corner of Heaven." Super cute, because that's how we all are in Caplani, obviously. 

There were sessions on writing a needs statement, making goals and SMART objectives, writing budgets, monitoring & evaluation, fundraising, sustainability, and more. I think a lot of the sessions were really valuable for my partner, and having other people there to help explain things in her language was so helpful. Hopefully it will make our project a lot better! 

And sessions about going to Dracula's castle. Just kidding, it was a metaphor.

It was also (obviously) good to see everyone again. For most of the workshop, I sat at a table full of cool PCVs who are great at Romanian, which was excellent when we all needed to communicate and do group work with our partners, two of whom do not speak English. 

After PDM was over, we moved from the hotel to apartments in the city for two full days of language IST. It was a lot better than some of us expected it to be! I think I might even be able to start using the "new" grammar stuff that we learned in September but that I had been neglecting until now. So that will be good. I got to ask my 100 questions/hour and have them all answered! I sometimes feel I should apologize to my classmates for the absurd number of questions I ask, but.. Hopefully the answers help them, too! So I'll keep asking. 

On a non-IST side.. I got to see my friends and spend time with great people! We played Джанга (aka Jenga in Russian) at a restaurant where the waiters wore lederhosen aprons, we met Moldovans who wanted to go bar hopping with us, we stayed up too late (why go to bed when you're having fun?!), and there was just a lot of enjoying each other's company in general. Not every day is a great day, but some nights are extra great, so maybe that makes up for it. I'd say that if I were ranking my evenings in Moldova, after this weekend, I could add another one to the top 5. 

Now I'm back to site, hard at work.. My to-do list is suddenly miles long (it's normally rather short) so that's going to be interesting. Hopefully it will be the good kind of busy over the stressful kind, though I suspect it will end up some of both. 

Today Iana and her friend Madelina walked me to work. Iana was precious as ever, telling me I'm beautiful, asking how the Primaria is, asking me what my favorite flower is, and being so proud to tell me about the 9s she got in school (10 is highest). 
Today I learned that I need my passport to pick up a package (books in English for the kids!) at the Poșta.
Today they told me that they want me to teach the nursery school kids something "American" for the International Women's Day program. That will be an adventure. 
Today the sun lasted SO LONG and I got to almost finish my book without turning on the light. 

If you're keeping track, I've now hit 8 months in country. CR-A-ZY! Can hardly believe it.

Bostaniada Festival

Another part of PST III I didn't mention in my recap was Bostaniada, affectionately called (aka, in English) Pumpkin Fest. This was a festival in Lozova, about an hour or so out of Chișinău, with crafts, music, performances, food, games, and of course, pumpkins. 

Some of the organizations that some of the PCVs in Moldova work with had booths, so a bunch of us volunteered at said booths. There was a food booth with American pumpkin pie and other delicious treats, all baked in various kitchens around Chișinău, and a booth for Salut, Moldova in the children's area, which was where I worked. The food booth's proceeds went towards Speranta Terrei, which is an NGO that raises awareness of and supports people with TB. Salut, Moldova is an initiative that promotes volunteering, especially among youth, as volunteering can be kind of an interesting topic in Moldova. 

The week before Bostaniada I helped a few different friends with preparations - from cutting 60 squares of orange fabric for mason jars to be sold at the food booth to making props for the photo booth at Salut, Moldova. 

On the day of, I was in the children's area for most of the day (I did manage a short break to wander and see all the sights, which is where most of these photos came from - the others were taken by people at the Salut booth. It was a lot of fun hanging out with PCVs while getting to practice Romanian - normally those things are somewhat separate. I say "practice Romanian" like I don't use it in real life.. Which, I do. But having been in language class all week, it felt like I was being sent out into the field for real world experience or something. And I think it turned out pretty well! Although I guess you'd have to ask the Moldovans I spoke with. 

At the booth, we had information about Salut, a dream tree where kids (and some adults!) would write down wishes or dreams they have for Moldova, and a photo booth. So I had to explain the dream tree and ask people if they wanted to get their pictures taken in the photo booth, and then give them a handout and tell them where they could see the photos. In Romanian! I mean, relatively simple stuff, and I did mostly say the same thing over and over, but I still reserve the right to be proud of my conversation skills. 

It was a long day, but I had fun talking to people, dancing, looking at everything, and hanging out with friends! Plus, I feel like every day is long here. I am honestly quite confused about how over a week of October is gone already.. Every day feels so long, but then suddenly a week has passed, and I've been here over four months now. I can't figure out if it feels like I've been here a decade or if it feels like I just stepped off the plane (thankfully, it rarely feels exactly like THAT day, because that one wasn't the easiest). My host mom was talking to me today and she suddenly said, you've only got a year and ten months left. I had to double take, like, sorry what? Then she said, it's practically your last day here! ("Will you stay in Moldova or go back to America?" Ummm.. Let me make it through that year and 10 months and I'll let you know, but I can pretty much confirm the latter.) I'm glad she feels the same way I do about the passage of time. 

Enjoy the pictures of Bostaniada, and have something pumpkin-flavored for me! (Sadly, I'm not a fan.)

Also, Ionela REALLY enjoyed the props later. Hours of play from those. She is too sweet.

That's probably the last post about my time during PST III, so now we're all caught up and Wining & Whining can move on to the next adventure! Whatever that may be...

PST III

I have been out of site for the past two weeks for PST III, aka more language and tech training, which, as it turns out, is infinitely more busy than site currently. Hence the lack of a blog post. But I'm back now, so now you can hear all about PST III. 

I overpacked, obviously, but in my defense, well.. I don't have a defense actually. I did not regret the amount of crap I brought, except for when I was trying to carry 14 bags all by myself. I did have help on my way out of Caplani.. 

Bringing me to the bus

After a long morning of travel (made longer by the fact that I had to sit next to a squirming, screaming child for 2+ hours - Moldova continues to be an effective form of birth control), I arrived in Chisinau, where I stayed for a few hours to see people before heading home to Magdacesti and my PST host family! 

We all know I love them so freaking much so it was awesome to see them. I walked in the door and a little one popped out of one of the rooms, looked at me, then ran and gave me a tiny person tackle - she didn't let go of me for at least a half hour. It was PRECIOUS.

Sunday was Magdacesti's Hram, aka like Village Day, so there was cooking and eating and drinking for the entire day with all sorts of different friends and relatives. There was a concert and kids' rides in the center of town, but we skipped that to go to the bar with a bunch of my host sisters' friends, which was also fun. I got to help make clatite (shown below), so that made me feel really accomplished even though it was basically nothing requiring much skill at all. 

Mama gazda - isn't she precious??

Nina și eu getting ready to go out for Hram

Then bright and early Monday morning, we were back to Romanian lessons! I cried the first day, of course, but then that was over very quickly and I think we all learned a LOT over those two weeks. So much that right now it only helps me to understand more and I'm still not sure how to say it all. Romanian is hard! I mean, any language is hard. But our teachers are excellent and patient and so freaking helpful. I wish I could bring them back to site so they could just have a class for me every single day. 

Similar to summer PST, we had language in the mornings and tech in the afternoons. The first week of tech was combined with another program, SED, also back for these two weeks. Which was great because they are all wonderful, too (well, I don't know if that's completely true, but I am in an "I love everyone" mood at the moment, so).

We had a gallery walk where we each set up a table about our village work - here's mine!

At the end of the second week, we moved out of Magdacesti and into apartments in Chisinau for the COD/SED Conference. The past two weeks had been with just M29 CODs and SEDs, but the conference was for every COD/SED in country, so we got to see all the "older" volunteers as well. The conference was great - we had informational presentations (one that I'm excited about because I think it might be something I can work on in my village!) and then a day of "open space" sessions where we created our own content. I enjoyed all the different open space sessions I went to - got to meet new people and hear some great thoughts from other PCVs. 

Open space session about secondary projects - photo by Beni Thelmia

Massage circles, always necessary - photo by Beni Thelmia

The apartments were possibly my favorite thing, as the people usually in another village were all together and we got to hang out without worrying about catching the last bus to our village and such. There were 3 different apartments in the same building that had M29s - the "boys' place" with 6 or 7 guys, the one I stayed in with 3 friends, and a third that I never visited but that had 3 more girls. We would all hang out in the boys' apt and then some of us got to go back up to our own place to sleep and such. It was nice because the people I was already close to, I had a great time with, and then the people I knew but not too well, I like even more. A definite bonding weekend, including attending Wine Fest (which for some reason I have no pictures of, but trust that there was great wine, great food, and great people). 

The view from our apartment balcony - photo by Olivia Kohrs

We did some other fun stuff that will probably be in a future post (or posts), but this seems sufficient for now!