59. Time Travel

When I answer the question, ”If you had a superpower what would it be?” I always answer time-travel. Ever since I was young I have wanted to be able to stop time and/or travel back in time. I just really do not like making, what I deem as, incorrect decisions.

If I look back on my life, there are things I would change, but not what you might think. I don’t want to change where I went to college, that I was homeschooled, where I worked, what I drove, joining the Peace Corps…… The ‘big’ decisions I am OK with. The things I want to go back in time and change is how I treated people or the things that came out of my mouth.

There are people out there who could care less how they treat people or how those people felt after they interacted with them. But I am the opposite. What I hate the most is when I hurt someone’s feelings. Some may consider that a weakness, but I am a people person in that respect. I was raised to make people feel comfortable. As an example, I dislike flea markets because I do not like arguing over the prices of things because I don’t want to be mean to people or cheat them out of money.

So, if I had one wish on a genie’s lamp I would wish that I could go back in time to write my wrongs. But the question is, if I could go back in time and fix something to clear my conscious, would I learn anything?

Probably not…. Well, then I guess for my superpower I would want to have Spiderman-like powers. Or at least have a Mary Jane like girlfriend that calls me ‘Tiger’, ha ha.

Leia Mais…

58. Drinking for Courage

My host parents and I are sitting around the dinner table chatting.

Stefan (host father): Tim, in Moldova sometimes young men will drink two or three glasses of wine to get courage to talk to a pretty girl.
Me: Yes, it’s similar in the United States except we usually drink liquor or beer.
Stefan: Hear that Maria? It is the same all over the world, people are people.
. . .
Maria (host mother): Did you drink wine before you talked to me?
Stefan: No.

Leia Mais…

57. Living Alone

I have never really lived alone, well at least not for a long period of time. From the age of 0 to 20 I lived with my parents. From the age of 21 to 23 I lived at a fraternity house and my meals were cooked for me. After I graduated college I worked for my fraternity for 9 months, 3 of those I lived by myself for the first time and cooked every meal, the other 6 months I was on the road eating at fast food establishments or at fraternity houses. Now I am a Peace Corps volunteer who eats three meals a day prepared by my host family and they even wash my cloths.

When I am done with my two years as a Peace Corps volunteer, will I extend my time in the Peace Corps? I will I stay in Moldova or visit another country? Will I come back to the US and go for an MBA or trying to find work in Ohio or DC? Maybe I’ll find a girl and get married? It’s possible that I’ll never truly live on my own besides the short few months when I was in Kansas City working for FarmHouse International Fraternity.

Leia Mais…

56. Circus

One interesting things about Chisinau is that 20 years ago they built a building totally dedicated to circuses. My host brother-in-law said that he use to go to the circus a lot as a child. It was very tall and a lot of acrobatics could be done very high in the air.

Unfortunately, the circus building has fallen into disrepair and hasn’t been used for more than a few years. So as you can see from the picture above, the circus took place in a tent in front of the old circus building.

I with my pre-service training host family (the family I stayed with my first two months of language and technical training) went to the circus in Chisinau. It was a circus from Kiev, Ukraine and was in Chisinau for a couple months. It was a pretty small circus, it was outside under a tent and they had clowns, muscular men who did some pretty interesting acrobatics, animal trainers with raccoons, monkeys, miniature horses, baboons, cats, dogs, llamas, lions, tigers and bears (o, my). While there was little speaking, when they did it was in Russian, but the clowns did speak English a little (mostly, “Ladies and gentlemen”).

It was the best circus I’ve been too so far. But the only one I’ve been to was 10 years ago at the Delaware County (Ohio) fairgrounds. The best part of this circus was watching my host sister and her daughter jump/react to things going on during the show.

Leia Mais…

55. Ziua Națională a Vinului (National Wine Day)

If you would like to experience a hobby and/or business for many Moldavians you should try to visit in early October. This year from the 9th to the 10th of October was a national wine celebration in Chisinau. It was much like a jazz festival, food fair or art festival in the United State, except it was focused on Moldavian wine.

The festival is a mixture of tourist attraction, a way to attract foreign investment and a showcase of the wine Moldova has to offer. There was also a lot of food and crafts. Unfortunately it was a pretty cold and rainy weekend, which made it pretty miserable. I was only there for an hour to snap some pictures and see what it was all about because I wanted to go to the circus.

I am hoping next year it is nicer so I can more fully experience the wine festival. It looked pretty cool and there was a lot of work and money that went into this two-day celebration.

Leia Mais…

54. 10 Year Old

I feel like a 10 year old boy again. My host mom washes my cloths, cooks all of my meals, sweeps my room, I take showers once a week AND I sleep on Spiderman sheets.

Leia Mais…

53. Ziua de Nastere (Birthday)

My first birthday in Moldova was a lot of fun. Four other volunteers came down south to help another volunteer with a Halloween party/fundraiser in a village 15 kilometers away. So I spent Friday night with them and helped with the celebration. They brought my birthday package from my family that was sent to the Peace Corps office in Chisinau. After the party we went for pizza (as far as I know, only pizza place for miles) and cake.

Early on my Birthday they needed to go to Chisinau, so I was back to my site by 6am. I promptly got home and went back to bed. A few hours later I was working on the computer and my host father knocked on my door and said the normal, “Hai să mîncim” which means, “Come, we’re eating”. He then asked for my camera.

I come into the dining room and there is a tablecloth on the table, pizza, cold salad, cake and racui (a homemade fruit whiskey, it sounds nice, but it has a high alcohol content). My host mother then gives me flowers (flowers in Moldova are very common gifts for men and women; they are also given for weddings, baptisms, new children, new houses…). She also gave me a nice umbrella, which I needed and told them I was planning to buy. Then my host family gave me well wishes like: I hope you live long and have many years, your health will always be good, good health to Kim and your family and a happy life in Moldova.

They then had me blow out 24 candles on my cake. I am not sure if it is common to have candles on your cake or not. At the birthday parties I have been too, they usually have on candle in the piece of cake (on in a loaf of bread). The candles were the slim-yellow candles used in the Orthodox Church celebrations.

We then ate and drank until out bellies were full. I then gave them a gift, which I don’t know if it is common, but they were not upset. I asked my mother to send me a map of the US and of the world, because we talk a lot about the states (where my family is, where I’ve been, where I’ve worked, etc) and the maps were in my package. So for the last 3 days we’ve been talking a lot about geography and talking about population.

I had thought about going to Chisinau to celebrate my birthday with my fellow Peace Corps volunteers but I was happy I did not. My host parents were excited to be able to celebrate my birthday with me. I think I had as good a time or better with my host family. So don’t be worried my real family, my host family is treating me like a real son.

Leia Mais…

52. Drink Water?

My host father was in the village talking to an older man who was finishing up making a bunch of wine.

Host father: Why did you make so much wine?
Man in Village: I don't drink water!

You may not believe it, but it has been said and I have observed that Moldavians do not regularly drink water, especially the older generations. It depends on the home, but in my home wine is on the table every lunch and dinner (unless we are having a dairy based meal). My first host family did not make wine, so alcohol was about as present in the house as it is for my family in the US.

The main way people stay hydrated here, is by having soup. It is uncommon if I do not have a big bowl of chicken based or beet based soup for lunch.

I guess I believe in the system, I don't carry a water bottle around anymore. But it isn't 90 degrees anymore and I do drink water and tea when I am at the house.

Leia Mais…

51. Life of An Artist

My host father likes to say: Noaptea veselă, ziuă tristă, aceasta este viaţa de artist.

Translation: At night cheerful, during the day said, this is the life of an artist.

Leia Mais…

50. Mowing Lawns

I have spent a lot of time on a lawnmower in my life.  At the highest point, I would be on my mower about 8 hours a week.  What I enjoyed about mowing is the fact that my body was doing something but my brain could be thinking about other things.  I enjoy driving for the same reason.  When driving on the highway, as long as the cruise is set and you are keeping an eye out for other cars, it doesn't take a lot of brain power.  They key for me, is to be doing something.  Because if I am sitting in bed thinking, I feel like I should be accomplishing something.

Not only will I think while I am driving or mowing, but I'll sing, pray, review recent decisions and think about future options.  It is good to digest what is going on in my mind.  In a way mowing or driving is my quiet time with myself and God.

I miss mowing and driving a vehicle.  Both of which I am not allowed to do in Moldova, because of the rules of Peace Corps.  And besides, there aren't a lot of lawnmowers in Moldova.  So I have tried a few things to keep my body moving while allowing my mind to work.  I have helped my family in the fields, which is good.  I have tried running, but that's just too much work and it is hard to talk to yourself when you are gasping for air.

The best thing, I have found so far in Moldova is... assisting a local pasta manufacturing company make pasta.  I have been consulting with company and doing some labor to really understand the production process.  My job is usually to spread the freshly formed pasta into trying containers.  So it is a very easy, mundane task, but it gives me a lot of time to think, so I enjoy it.

Leia Mais…