164. Visiting Another Village

One day my host dad said, "Tomorrow I am going to another village, do you want to come with me?"  I was free that day and I never pass up a day to visit somewhere I have never been in Moldova, especially when it is one of the villages close to where I live.

  

My host dad and I left in the morning with a sack lunch.  The reason were visited is because it was the village where my host mom grew up and she had some land over there.  My host dad went to update the land deed and to see how much wheat was grown on the land and to pay the farmers that planted and harvested it.

Host mom's childhood home

It was fun to see where my host mom grew up and to see another village in Moldova.  We also visited a priest that is originally from the village where I live.  He gave us a tour of his church and tried to talk me into becoming orthodox.

Leia Mais…

163. Tacos

One of the goals of the Peace Corps is to share American culture with Moldovans.   I decided to do that by making my host family and tutor tacos.  I know, it is not 100% American, but we like and eat a lot of tacos or at least I do.

This was the third think that I have ever made for my host fame, the first thing was Skyline Chili and the second was spaghetti with homemade red sauce.

Overall they liked tacos.  I could not find the fajita so we made them ourselves, my mother sent a seasoning packet for the meat and the rest was simple.  My host dad thought that the meat was too spiced and said that the, “the meat did not taste like meat”.  My host mom liked them and said we will make them in the future.

Leia Mais…

162. Corn Pickin'

It is very common for everyone in the village to have about an acre of land around the village on which grains, fruits or vegetables are grown.  My host family, for the last two years, has grown corn so that the chickens, ducks, and the pig can be fed all winter.

My host dad has a small tractor, but he hires someone else to plant the crop.  It is also possible to hire someone to combine the crop but my host family uses the corn stalks for bedding and to feed the animals during the winter and they have the time to harvest the corn by hand.

Since harvesting around on acre of corn is a decent amount of work my host family asked if I could help.  I agreed gladly, because last year I was either busy or they did not trust me yet.

This year there were five of us and we each took two rows and walked the length of the field picking every ear of corn in those two rows and throwing them into piles.  After that we loaded all of the corn into the tractor and took it home, there we dekerneled the corn.  After this my host parents went and cut all of the corn stalks and brought them home 

We also grew pumpkins and squash in between the rows of corn.  We will eat them as well as grind them up to feed the animals.

Leia Mais…

161. Work and Travel (2)

A while back I wrote about the positive aspects of 'Work & Travel' programs in Moldova:  See post 96.

Here is an article from the New York Times about the negative aspects that can and do occur:  See article.

Leia Mais…

160. Smokestack Removal

My village had a coal burning boiler heating system for all of the buildings in the center of town.  When the Soviet Union fell the system could no longer be used because Moldova has no coal and it was impossible/very expensive to import coal.  The facility has been sitting unused for the last 20 years.  If you are interested in the history of heating in my village, see post number 122.

Within the last few years there have been talks of cutting down the 30 meter smokestack of the boiler facility because one of the supports broke and when there is a strong wind the smokestack sways quite violently.  There are a few homes within reach of the smokestack and the village was concerned that one day the smokestack could fall on some of their house.

The mayor’s office has worked on different ideas of taking down the smokestack for many years but the cost of renting the large crane needed would use all of the community’s reserves and the quality of smokestack’s metal was unclear, so it was difficult to estimate potential gains from selling it.

A volunteer advisor who has worked in many different countries and has assisted the organization I work with when it comes to ideas and finding monetary sources was concerned with the danger of the potentially falling smokestack.  The community, the NGO I work with and the volunteer advisor worked together to remove the smokestack.

The funds were donated by a large group of widows in Germany, which was collected a few euro at a time.  The smokestack was then cut into two meter lengths and sold to people in the village with the idea that they would be used to make bio-waste heating systems (that would burn straw, corn stalks and other agricultural products generally not highly used) for homes.  The money raised from the sale of the smokestack and the recycling of the metal in the interior of the boiling facility is being used to purchase supplies to make and install sidewalks throughout our village.

Leia Mais…

159. Bringing in the Hay

My host family has around five sheep (we had more but butchered some, so I can not keep track).  The story, as my host dad tells it, is that my host mother wanted/wants to sell the sheep but when they found out that a new volunteer was coming to live with them, they decided to keep them.  So when every my host family needs help with the sheep, I usually try to help because one of the reasons they have them is because of me.

I have helped a little with shearing them, but this summer I helped cut (not much, I am too tall for the sickle) and bring home hay so that the sheep have something to eat this winter. One morning at around 7am my host dad, most mom and I left on the tractor to collect the dry hay that host dad had already cut.

We then came home my host dad stayed in the hay mow, I stood on a roof in front of the mow and my host mom stood in the wagon and threw the hay on the roof which I would then throw into the hay mow for my host dad to arrange.

I enjoy helping the family when I can and when they need.  I also do not mind working with the hay… except I think I sneezed on average every 5 minutes during the 2 hour process.  If it was not for my allergies, I would have enjoyed it a lot more.

Leia Mais…