International Day of People with Disabilities

 

The International Day of People with Disabilities is December 3rd.  It's aim is to raise the awareness of us all about people living with disabilities and a reminder to include those people into our community life.  Where I work as a Peace Corps volunteer, The Multifunctional Community Center "Universul",   we have a special mission to people with disabilities.  I guess for that reason we were invited by our mayor to present a program in our village of Piatra for this special day.  It was an outdoor concert type celebration ( even though it's winter and 45 degrees outside.)  Our stage was the back steps of the "casa cultura"  or cultural center.  All we needed was a desk and a sound system and we were ready to roll.  Domnul Sergiu, our center director, gave an introduction to the theme of this celebration and shared some poetry.  Some of our finest singers, and poets, and dancers performed for us.  Even one of our parents joined in with an acapella rendition of a Moldovan song.  I have tried to up load it here.  I hope you can hear the melody.  It has that distinctive Moldovan sound that includes a little bit of the minor scale now and then.  All this music got our audience excited about doing the hora.  And the sunset was a final act to close the show. 

Thanksgiving 2013

Thanksgiving in Moldova 2013.  On Thanksgiving Day I traveled from my village to Chisinau and then on to the raion center of Straseni.   It takes about 4 hours to do that.  I arrived at noon just in time to join several other Peace Corps volunteers doing a program for about 50 senior citizens at the Neo-Humanist Center, an ngo center for the elderly.  We even were interviewed by Moldova 1, the public TV station while doing it.  A great way to share our American culture with the locals.  Yvette, one of the volunteers, lives and works here.  After the "show" we retired to Yvette's quarters and cooked our turkey dinner.  That's Robyn giving you the high five and Yvette in green is right behind her.  Sue is getting down to making a menorah since this is also the first night of hanukkah.  Georgie is peeling potatoes and watching 3 mobile phones at the same time?!!  Romy is making potato latkes.  She looks happy about the way they are turning out.  Of course, there's always plenty of time for a nap while the turkey is cooking.  The turkey came out golden brown.  Time to set the table and light the menorah.  Yvette, our host, enjoys a plate of food.  And then its time to play a game.  Slide the flat chocolate mint from your forehead to your mouth without using your hands.

My second Thanksgiving was on Saturday.  Here you see Stephanie and I and Molly (not in the picture) arriving in Balti (say belts) for Thanksgiving with about 30 other PCV's .  Balti is about two hours north of Orhei.  We  find our host, David, digging a hole in the ground !  What for?  He's building a fire pit (a propane gas fire pit) to deep fry turkey with.  We believe this a first in Moldova.  Since we are many, there are two turkeys to be cooked.  Dan and Walt wire the birds up so they can be handled in the boiling oil.  And the turkey is in the pot, just a short while later, the turkey is done.  And it makes its way to the table....up on the 5th floor.  Meanwhile the kitchen crew has been busy making potatoes, green bean cassarole, sweet potatoes, curried cauliflower, lasagna, corn bread.  Wow!  What a feast.  Followed by games of course...blowing bubbles with the magic hooka.  And the tradition of the Northern Lodge is to also sing some Christmas Carols which I am proud to say is led by me.

November Highlights

 

Well today is December 1st and I better share some of the highlights of the past month with you.  Our first stop is a Youth Center open house in Orhei.  We were invited guests and you see my partner-director Sergiu signing the guest book.  The event was highlighted by the Youth Council presenting their action plan for 2014 to the Orhei Raion Council President.  They did a very impressive job.  Next we switch locations to our center in Piatra.  Here you see Sergiu leading a session with 7th and 8th graders of our village about the threats of human trafficking.  A very real threat for poor people in Moldova.  Early education about the problem hopefully guards children from making future mistakes and becoming victims.  On a lighter side, here's Doamna Daria giving the children a taste test of something they're making in the kitchen.  This month we have been stuffing potatoes and apples.  In November I attended my 5th Moldovan wedding.  This one was different in so far as it was all at a home and not at a restaurant.  You see the bride and groom at the front gate greeting guests as they arrive from the next village in a mini bus.  They proceed to an inside room (it is November) to personally greet each guest.  Dancing takes place outside in the yard.  You can see that even the bride in her fancy dress joins in the hora.  Our wedding meal takes place under a tent roof.  Of course more dancing, and eating with our winter coats on.  In the end our newly weds are wrapped in blankets of love.  Switching back to work at the center, I have a few shots from our recent program for Tolerance Day.  The kids used a TV news format to present their program.  You can see me being interviewed.  Through the magic of pretend TV, you can even see the audience.   The final picture was taken today at the public square in Orhei.  It was a celebration of Ziua Nationala Romaniei or Romanian National Day.

Many Moldovans are moved by their cultural unity with Romanians and share their cultural pride.

Well November wouldn't be complete without celebrating the American holiday of Thanksgiving and that's what my next blog is going to be about.  Stay tuned.