I got a letter a while back from Sherrod Brown, my US Senator. He thanked me for serving in the Peace Corps and informed me that I am one of 289 volunteers currently from Ohio in the Peace Corps.
Peace Corps, started March 1st, 1961, by the numbers:
200,000 (almost) – People have served in the Peace Corps
139 – Countries have had Peace Corps volunteers
8,655 – People are currently serving in the Peace Corps
77 – Countries with Peace Corps Volunteers currently
15,318 – Volunteers have served in Easter Europe and Asia
289 – Current volunteers are from Ohio in all of Peace Corps
89 – Ohio State University alumni are serving in the Peace Corps
119 – Current volunteers in Moldova
6 – Moldova Volunteers are from Ohio
Volunteers by Work Area
• Education: 37%
• Health & HIV/AIDS: 22%
• Business Development: 14%
• Environment: 13%
• Agriculture: 4%
• Youth Development: 5%
• Other: 5%
Where Volunteers Serve
• Africa: 37%
• Latin America: 24%
• Eastern Europe/Central Asia: 21%
• Asia: 7%
• The Caribbean: 5%
• North Africa/Middle East: 4%
• Pacific Islands: 3%
Monday, February 28, 2011
91. Peace Corps by the Number
Friday, February 25, 2011
90. Visiting other Countries
The hardest think about visiting other countries is not saying "Mulțumesc" which is "Thank you" in Romanian. When I was in Israel, a large percentage of the population would speak in English. So when ever I ordered food I ordered in English, but the majority of the time I would say mulțumesc instead of thank you.
I guess habits are hard to break, plus mulțumesc was one of the first words I learned in Romanian and is a fall-back word if I don't have anything to say.
It'll be interesting when I get back to that US to see how long it will take me to stop throwing in Romanian words into conversations.
Thursday, February 24, 2011
89. White Boys Can't Jump
I was playing volleyball at the local school with a group of youth and a few adults one Sunday night. One of the teachers from the school was telling me that I was serving the volleyball illegally and helping me work on my form.
A few minutes later she came over and gave me a jump rope. She said that it would help me jump better and give me better posture. She said I could give it back whenever I wanted.
I am glad people are looking out for me. Plus, I forgot how much I liked jumping rope, maybe I will get in shape!
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
88. Why are you wearing glasses?
I have been playing volleyball two nights a week since Christmas at an open gym at the local school. There are a lot of high school age kids as well as some adults. One of the teachers from the school was there and has told me twice it is dangerous to play with my glasses on. The last conversation went something like this:
Woman: Why do you wear your glasses while playing?
*I look around and notice no one else is wearing glasses*
Me: I cannot see without my glasses.
Woman: It is dangerous to wear them while playing. *Makes a motion with her hands showing the glasses breaking into my eyes*
Me: It is strong glasses (I mean to say: they are strong glasses). They will not rip (couldn’t think of the word ‘break’). It is more dangerous for me to play without glasses.
Woman: *shakes her head and goes back to her seat*
Monday, February 7, 2011
87. Things are Bad
While visiting an open market in a village a few miles away my host dad had this conversation with a friend of his.
Host dad: How are you?
Friend: Not good.
Host dad: Why?
Friend: I have no one to drink with and I do not want to drink alone.
*They laugh and start talking about a few other things, a minute later:*
Host dad: How is life?
Friend: Terrible.
Host dad: Why?
Friend: I already told you why.
Friday, February 4, 2011
86. Terrible 2's
You think the terrible two's are bad when it is your kid. Try having a two year old in your house that speakers Romanian. It isn't too bad, but at times it isn't fun.
But I am like the cool uncle. I cannot do anything wrong. Even if I ignore him or make him cry because I will not play with him, 10 minutes later I'm the coolest person in the world.
I feel bad for him sometimes. He wants to learn new words and will ask me, "What is this called?" and I will look at him and say, "I don't know" half of the time.
Thursday, February 3, 2011
85. Frumos (Beautiful)
I believed that the word “frumos” (said: Fr-oo-mo-ss), which in English is “beautiful”, is one of the most common positive adjective used in the Romanian language.
Unlike in the US where the word “beautiful” is used to describe a woman and the word “handsome” is used to describe a man, the difference in Romanian is smaller. When describing a man or masculine word you would use the word “frumos”, when describing a woman or a feminine word you would use the word “frumoasă”.
It is almost comical how much the word beautiful is used. In my observation if someone is describing anything that was good, they can and will use the word beautiful. Some examples I can remember now include: It was a beautiful day, it was a beautiful party, the food is beautiful, his work is beautiful, it is a beautiful road, beautiful jacket, beautiful smell, you cleaned beautifully, beautiful (in ping-ping pong and volleyball after a good volley or spike). I was watching the movie Tron in English with Romanian subtitles and when the words like, “nice!” and “far-out” were used they were translated to, “frumos”.
You can also use it negatively by say “nu fromos” which means not beautiful. One example is when a child is behaving badly or playing with their food at the table or throwing a temper tantrum they will tell the child that he/she is not being beautiful.
Also, if you really want to be nice when you are asking for something you might say something like “vă-rog frumos” which is saying literally in a formal tone: I ask you please, beautiful. That sentence can be said to any sex, I most commonly hear it when you are asking a bus driver to stop and let you out.
I apologies in advance because when I return to America I will probably compliment things, people and events with the word “beautiful”. Hopefully I will return to being an American soon after returning and revert to using words like “good” and “cool” and “nice”.
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
84. Peace Corps or Fraternity?
In some ways I feel like the Peace Corps is very much like a fraternity. The way they are most alike, I believe, is the “automatic” bond that those have who are involved.
My fraternity at the Ohio State University was not diverse in the terms of skin color or where members came from, but it was a mix of personalities and viewpoints. If you wanted to argue about a topic, there was someone in the fraternity who had the opposing view. If you wanted to celebrate about something, there was at least one person who felt the same way. But the one thing that I greatly enjoyed about the fraternity is that I became friends with people whom I might not have ever talked to, but because we were together working for a greater good our differences we worked through our disagreements.
The Peace Corps is very similar. I came into Moldova with around 70 people (plus the 50 that were already here) from ages 21 to 55 years old, every color of the rainbow, different religions, and many different life views. But because we all have the same goal and we are some of the few Americans in the country, we have bonded together and put aside out differences to really get to know each other on a deeper level than can be normally found in everyday life with a group so diverse.
So that is why I believe that the Peace Corps is like a fraternity. In a way, they both take you out of your element, focus you on a common goal and then you work and learn together which creates strong friendships that are difficult to form with a group that varies this much.
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
83. Attraction
When living in another country the most attractive thing about a potential friend or significant other is… English.
I know not all people living abroad will agree with me. Currently, I cannot see having a strong friendship with someone that does not speak English because my Romanian is pretty basic. We’ll see how I feel after a year, but currently the Moldavians that I feel I am good friends with speak English.
