111. I didn’t know you talked so much

One of the evenings when the group of volunteers were in my village assisting in the building of a mini golf course and doing outreach to the community (see last post) a group of youth from the village had a social night with the group.  I was running around trying to help and translate and my Romanian tutor told me that she did not know I talked so much.

I did not really notice, but I was talking a lot more than usual… but at the same time, it is so much easier to speak in English than it is for me to speak in Romanian.  I was speaking a lot with our visitors in English and my confidence was high and I knew most of the Moldovans that were attending the event so I was striking up conversations in Romanian.

Not only did the volunteers’ visit help build a park in the community but they also showed the community that I could speak Romanian and boosted my Romanian confidence.  I am somewhat shy when it comes to meeting new people and even more so when I am trying to meet new people and speaking Romanian.  So by me translating for people and being forced to be more outgoing by the group of volunteers that could not speak Romanian many have observed that I am not really a hermit and can speak some Romanian so they are now more likely to come up to me and speak to me.

Leia Mais…

110. Mini Golf

Last year I was brainstorming with the staff of the “Communitas” Association NGO (www.communitas.md), that I volunteer with, about ways to improve the community as well as discussing upcoming projects.  One interesting idea that came up during those discussions was the creation of a park in our community because other than some open grassy land, there is no park in my community.  That idea continued to grow and slowly morphed into a park, mini golf course, pavilion, and grill.

I and the “Communitas” association staff found some potential funding sources, applied for grants and asked for community support.  We also found a group of students from the Black Forest Academy (www.bfacademy.com) in Germany who were interested in working as well as an outreach/educational program for the community’s youth during their spring break.

In April, 15 students and 4 staff from the school visited Moldova for a week.  They took an empty field and created a mini golf course during the mornings and in the afternoons they did a four day childrens programming which had 35 to 90 participants from the ages of 8 to 14 from the village.

To my knowledge this is the second mini golf course in Moldova and it is in a village of less than 3000 people.  Not only will this give the youth and families of the village a place to relax and hang-out, but it will also be a point of pride.  It could also influence the economy of the village if tourist companies visit the park for a rest, round of golf and lunch.

Over the new few weeks the Communitas NGO, “Vitarina-Prim” company (www.ammi.md) and community volunteers will be working to complete this project by installing park benches, picnic tables, flowers, trees, a grill and installing the artificial grass to the mini golf course.

 

Leia Mais…

109. Happy Mother's Day!

Holidays are always a little difficult for Peace Corps volunteers due to being away from family, but it is also difficult on the Peace Corps volunteers' families.

But even so I am wishing my mother a happy Mother's Day!  Have a great day!  The time is passing quickly and I'll see you again soon.

Leia Mais…

108. Lime Please

While watching TV with my host family there is a commercial that always catches my attention.  I am not always fully watching the TV because generally it is in Russian.  But there is a commercial for a high quality chocolate bar which is called Korona and every time the commercial comes I hear this, "russian russian russian russian Corona russian russian russian."  So every time the commercial comes on I think of a cold light beer with a lime in it.

It is a tease.  I hear the commercial and think to myself, “I did not know you could buy Corona’s here” and then I look at the TV and see a large chocolate bar.  Which is not necessarily disappointing, but the two thoughts do not really mix.

Leia Mais…

107. Dear Mattel… I hate you

Uno, the card game is a very easy to play and teach even if you cannot speak the language of the person you are playing with.  I was very excited to hear that my mother sent me a deck of Uno cards, but I received this:

This un-opened deck that my mother purchased and mailed to me does not have blue or green cards but has twice the amount of red and yellow cards.  So now I am trying to make up a new game or figuring out a way to change their color.

Leia Mais…

106. New Pig

My host family recently bought a piglet.  This is a fun conversation that followed the purchase that shows the sense of humor my host parents have:

Host Dad:  Are you feeding him [the new pig] my leftovers?

Host Mom:  Yes. 

Host Dad:  Do you want him to eat like me?

Host Mom:  Yes, well, no.  I want him to eat like Tim and be fat like you.

Leia Mais…

105. Cultural and Business Exchange

In January five Moldovans who own a pasta processing company from the village where I live visited the USA.  I thought it would be a great opportunity for them to see up close the production, cleanliness, marketing, sales and quality control aspects/requirements of US food production companies.  After my third year of college I worked at the Ohio Department of Agriculture (ODA) as a contractor for the Food Export Association and because of those contacts at the ODA this program was possible due to their help and planning.

The Moldovans were in Ohio for less than three days and two nights.  They were able to visit the ODA and hear about how the ODA supports and monitors food production activities in the State of Ohio.  They were also able to visit a flour milling, breakfast cereal, pasta and a corn chip manufacturing companies.  As an unplanned bonus, they were able to visit my uncle’s 500 acre grain and 3,000 hog finishing operation.

During the two nights that the Moldovans were able to spend in Ohio they stayed with my family.  They prepared a traditional Moldovan meal and were able to meet a few of my aunts, uncles, a great aunt, parents and sibling.

From what I hear it went very well.  It has been exciting to see the improvements and ideas for the pasta company that has been born because of this visit.  The milling company in Ohio enjoyed the visit from the Moldovans enough to take the time to mail a baseball cap to their visitors.

Leia Mais…

104. Boy, what can I get you?

I was at an open air clothing market and I was looking around at some shoes that one man had for sale.  After he finished talking to another customer he said to me, “Boy, what would you like?” in Romanian.  At first I was a little annoyed.  I thought to myself, I am 24 years old… why are you calling me a boy?

But after some discussions with my tutor and more observations I see that calling someone, ‘boy’ is not an insult in Romanian.  Plus, I do not think I get ‘man’ status until I am married.  Yes, the salesman could have been more formal, but at the same time he was not insulting me.

I also need to remember that the customer service aspect of sales in Moldova is different than I am use to.  You can see the difference between large chain/foreign sales companies and local companies.  When entering the store of a foreign clothing store chain you hear a ‘hello’ and ‘can I help you?’ and also a ‘have a good day’ when you leave.  When in the local chains or the open air market sometimes you are ignored unless you ask a question or buy something.

Leia Mais…

103. Moldovan or European?

I was with my host family eating dinner and my host dad was saying how I was becoming a Moldovan.  According to him I am eating, dressing and acting more like a Moldovan.  I was pretty happy with that statement, one of my personal goals is to try and fit in with the crowd.  I am proud of who I am and will not change some things about myself, but at the same time I like changing to try and truly fit into the culture.

But then my host father took it a step further, he said that I was not only becoming a Moldovan but also a European.  That comment I did not enjoy.  The first thought that came to mind was, “I’m an American, not a European”.  I do not have anything against Europe, I have enjoyed my time on the eastern side of it, but my upbringing or patriotism or something made me not like being called a European.

I find it funny how my mind works.

Leia Mais…

102. Do you understand, do you hear?

A lot of people when talking to me will stop after a few sentences and say ‘do you understand?’ and some before starting a sentence will say ‘do you hear me?’  At first I thought that it was because I was a foreigner or because I had a funny look on my face when they were talking to me, but after a while of listening to other conversations I realized that it very common in conversations.

For a while I thought it was very strange, I didn’t understand why they would say those things.  We don’t do that in the US… or do we?

After doing some thinking, I think we do things similarly but possibly with a larger variety of phrases.  My host father will say, ‘Do you hear?’ or ‘Did you hear me?’ when he wants to talk to me (or anyone really) when I am not looking at him (because he knows that if I am not looking directly at someone, I am not usually paying attention and/or he wants to get my attention) which seems kinda rude, but it is no more rude that when in the US we get someone’s attention by saying:  Sir, the person’s name, hey, tapping someone on the arm, etc.

And when someone asks, ‘Do you understand?’ or ‘Did you understand?’ they aren’t being rude either.  It is like when we in the US say:  Got it? Right? See what I mean? Feel me? Etc.

Leia Mais…