August and its Hot

 

Yes, its been a hot August here in Moldova.  They call it the dog days, "canicula", a heat wave of 80 and 90 degree weather.  For those in the Midwest, let me say it's a dry heat.  No rain or humidity in sight.  You can see the ducklings in the yard, as well as our local road runner, and Mieska the dog are all looking for some shade.  Well enough talk about the weather.  Liviu has the right idea, it's watermelon season, "harbuzul"  is the solution to all this heat.   August has also been a month for birthdays around here.  All three family members you see in  next (#5) picture had birthdays in August.  Lilia and Vova are husband and wife and they both have a birthday on August 6th...same year!  And Iulia, my host mom,  has a birthday on August 11th.  We have had some fine Moldovan "masa s" recently with the family to celebrate these special days.  Everyday tasks still need to be done like the making of "brinza" or house cheese which you see Iulia doing in the window there with all the bottles of milk.  Sergiu and I are busy shucking beans from their pods after harvesting and drying the plants from the garden.  August 12th was "Ziua Tineretului" or Youth Day here in Moldova.  We had a special program with the kids at the center about it.  And it included some fun activities with balloons and also a special treat of fresh fruit for refreshments.  Good to the last bite.  Today, August 15th was the Swearing In Ceremony of the new Moldova 28 class of Peace Corps Volunteers.  That's the 28th group in the last 20 years to serve here in Moldova.  This group has 50 volunteers in it and you can see they come from all over the US  and will serve all over Moldova.  I was happy to meet my first Moldova host mom, Galina, at the ceremony.  I was her first PCV guest and this year she hosted Ann whom you also see in the picture.  Let me leave you with a quick video of the new Moldovan PCV's doing a Moldovan dance.  Yes, those are all Americans

dancing.

 

Sarbatori or Celebrate

 

Sabatori !  This was a week with many celebrations.  First thing in this week was the 30th birthday of my host brother and work partner,  Sergiu.  You see him raising a toast to the day at our work celebration.  The people sitting around the table are all staff members at the community center.  It is our custom to all chip in 50 lei and have a "masa" or birthday meal at the end of the work day.  Then we went home and had a family masa with guests to celebrate some more.  I take my turn wishing Sergiu Many More Years and Health !  "La Muti Ani si Sanatate!"  Here's a family picture.  Sergiu's mom is in front next to son in law Vova, daughter Lilia, toddler Liviu, big brother Marius.  Sergiu's dad, Ilie, is standing in back of Lilia.  Family to the right are cousins visiting from Timisoara, Romania.  Next in the week was a wedding. Dima and Livia were getting married.  Here you can see them publically signing their certificate of marriage at the ceremony.  It's official, they're  "solt si soltie" or husband and wife.  Here's a picture of me arriving to the wedding with my host mom, Iulia and a peace corps friend, Sylvia.  Sergiu and his sister, Lilia, couldn't help but clown a round a bit with the lawn decorations.   A nice shot of Iulia and her children.  Sylvia and I are welcoming you to the wine cellar or "beci."  Now we enter the reception hall being greeted by uniformed servers.  Once we are seated at the table, it's time to toast the "mire si mireasa" or bride and groom.  Look at this amazing table of fruit sculpture.  It looks good enough to eat, and we did.  Of course there was lots of dancing, until 3 am at least.  A final toast, and it's home to bed.  Good Morning!

 

 

 

 

 

Summer Scenes

 

Summertime and the livin' is easy.  At least that's how the song goes.  Last weekend I was down in Chisinau and my camera is always by my side.  I'll share a few shots with you.  The first scene is the National Cathedral which is in a beautiful central park.  One can even play a giant game of chess there.  Here are some of Chisinau's very modern apartments.  This building is only a few blocks from Peace Corps HQ in Chisinau.  I've watched it come together over the past year.  It looks like they're beginning to rent them out or sell them.  Of course, the central city has the charm of the older buildings such as this Chisinau government office.  Other sites, the central market or "piata" , the National Theater named for Mihai Eminescu, the greatest Romanian poet.  I tried lunch at the Nistru Café.  I guess I'm going to have to brush up on my Romanian.  I ordered trout and got chicken soup.  I get a kick out of cultural mix and match.  Kebabs are a favorite type of fast food.  Here we see an enterprising Kebabs Dos Amigos, mixing several cultural ingredients.  And there's nothing more touching to me than graffiti in English.  Now we shift to another part of Chisinau, the Academia de Studii Economice din Moldova (AESM).  This is where our new Peace Corps Volunteers have been training over the past six weeks.  This was the day of their work site announcements.  They draw a huge parking lot size map of Moldova and then announce the locations for the new guys.  This way they get a sense of where their whole class will be for the next two years.  You can see how eager and ready they are to go.  Back up in Orhei, summertime has meant more kids, more activities at my community center.  Here are some pictures from a day at a day camp in Orhei put on by the local Orthodox parish.   We took some of our kids from Piatra there to enjoy the fun and games.  Another week gone by and time for another walk along the Nistru here in my own backyard.  Things are looking good.  Hope they are for you as well.  La revidere until next time.

Turul Moldevei PC 20th year in Moldova

 

This year the Peace Corps celebrates 20 years of service here in Moldova.  One of the ways we celebrate that is to walk across the country!!!  For the last two weeks of June there were Peace Corps Volunteers on the march from the north and from the south.  They met in the capital, Chisinau, on June 30th for a grand celebration.  Along the way, the Peace Corps volunteers stopped in villages and towns where volunteers have made a contribution over the past 20 yrs.   When we stopped, community people welcomed us with Moldovan hospitality.  At each stopping point there was some social event and volunteer action.   Above you see some of the final group in Chisinau.  The second picture of a woman in blue and a man in yellow is our Peace Corps Country Director Janet Utech and the US Ambassador to Moldova, William Moser.  The rest of the pictures are from Peresecina which is near Orhei.  We had a grand time playing with children at a community center, enjoyed some picnic supper with a group of teenagers, and had time for making some new friends at a school for children with disabilities.  Turul Moldolvei, which mean Tour of Moldova, was a big success.  I've included a link here to news report about it.  You may not understand the Romanian, but watch the video.  I'm caught on a few background shots. 

 

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