School's out for the summer!

The month of June contains many significant milestones in my Peace Corps service in Moldova.

June 1st was our last day of school…I have officially survived my first year of teaching here! The last day of school is mostly ceremonial in Moldova. All of the teachers, students, parents, as well as the village mayor and some members of the national ministry of education met outside our school in the morning. I, along with a few other (more important) people, gave speeches and a variety of students were recognized for their achievements during the school year. The students I took to Belarus for the Odyssey of the Mind competition were presented with their medals and diplomas in front of everyone. I was really glad that their hard work and achievements were recognized in front of their classmates. The students in the 9th form were recognized for graduating to high school and the students in the 12th from were recognized for graduating from high school. After all of the ceremonial stuff, a lot of the students gave their teachers flowers and we all took a lot of pictures. Once the students had left, the teachers met to celebrate with my host mom who has officially retired after many years of teaching Romanian at the school. She has actually been considered a pensioner for the past couple of years - which means that she was able to collect a pension but still work part time at the school for a salary. Starting next year, the government has decided that pensioners have to pick one or the other so my host mom has decided to hang up her teaching shoes for good.

The week leading up to the last day of school was pretty much a joke. We had to turn in all grades the Wednesday before so student attendance trickled down to just about nothing by the end of the week. The Friday before the last day of school (which was a Monday) was considered a “Day of Health” at the school. Instead of having classes, all of the students went to the sports complex across the street to play basketball and soccer. Interestingly, the attendance for this particular event was significantly higher than that of my lessons during the days leading up to it. After the kids went home, a bunch of the teachers had a BBQ behind the school. There was a ton of food, drinks, and singing…it was a great way to celebrate the end of the year.

All of these festivities would have been a lot more enjoyable for me if I hadn’t been suffering from some severe stomach issues. Apparently I either fell victim to some toxic cucumbers (the general consensus of all of the old ladies at my school) or I finally picked up the oh, so lovely parasite that about 85-90% of volunteers here deal with at some point during service. Unfortunately I only made it through about 15 minutes of my host mom’s party before I had to hop on a bus to the capital to see the Peace Corps doctor. To make a long story short, after a few days of staying in the PC medical apartment in Chisinau and consuming only rice, tea, and Gatorade, I was finally able to come home.

The 9th and 12th forms have a series of very intense exams this week so I have been doing some last minute English tutoring with some of them. For the 12th formers, these test scores will determine whether or not they can go to university next year.

On Friday I am heading into the capital to meet up with some old – and probably some new – friends. The new batch of PC volunteers arrive on Thursday and Friday marks the one year anniversary for the M24’s so this weekend should be fun-filled. On Sunday, I am going to be meeting my mom and Isaac at the airport and I can’t wait!

I hope you all back home are enjoying the summer as much as I am so far :)
Be well.

May in Moldova

Today marks my 11 month anniversary here in Moldova. It is hard to believe that in just one month, I will have been here for a year. Even though I won’t officially be half-way through my service until the middle of the summer, the end of this school year has become a significant milestone in my time here. I only have about 3 more weeks of school left (our last bell is on the 31st of May) before our summer vacation. The past month was a busy time for me, and May seems to be continuing in the same way.

As I mentioned in the last post, I recently returned from a trip to Belarus with some of the students from my school. Organizing that trip was quite an arduous experience. With the help and generosity of so many people back in the US, I was able to raise enough money to fund the trip. After the money side of things was taken care of, I had to obtain the proper travel documents for all of the children and myself…let me tell you, this was no easy feat! We had to have documents signed by each student’s parents and a notary designating my partner teacher as the person responsible for their safety and well being while outside of Moldova. This was a bit tricky since a few of the kids don’t actually have any parents living in Moldova to begin within. Once we had all of those forms sorted out, I had to get a visa. Since my students are all Moldovan citizens, none of them needed a visa but I had to get one…that doesn’t happen very often. Anyways, we finally got everything organized and left on a rainy afternoon to meet with the other 4 teams from Moldova who were going to the competition as well. We all loaded up onto a big charter bus (there were about 50 kids and 12 or 13 adults). I would not wish that bus ride on my worst enemy…it took us about 32 hours to get to the children’s camp in Belarus and by the end of it, I would have given my first born child for a shower, a bed, and a toothbrush! It was interesting to travel through the Ukraine and Belarus…a lot of the towns and villages we saw reminded me of places here in Moldova. The camp we stayed at was really nice. It was in a forest and right by the biggest lake in Belarus. We were about 2 hours north of Minsk, and it was cold! I opened the curtains on the second morning there and was greeted by big fat snowflakes. My teams did well in the competition (but didn’t win) and got to meet a lot of new people from other countries. There were teams from Poland, Germany, Estonia, Switzerland, Romania, Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and of course Moldova. There was supposed to be a team from India as well, but the volcanic ash prevented them from being able to fly into Europe. I found it very interesting that all of the Moldovan teams automatically supported the team from Romania (and vice versa)…even though none of the students knew each other prior to the competition. There was a talent show one evening in which a few teams from each country got to do a performance of some kind and then all the teams voted for the winner in the end. As soon as we found out we couldn’t vote for our own teams, all of our students immediately voted for the Romanian team (even though their performance was definitely not the best). The Romanian team returned the favor. Any time, throughout the entire competition, when the Romanian team was presented, our teams were their loudest supporters. I have seen in my time here in Moldova, that many people feel a strong connection to either Romania (Moldova used to be part of Romania, after all) or to Russia, but it was interesting for me to see my students make such a strong statement of their feelings on the matter. I was also a bit surprised at the Romanian kids’ unwavering support of the Moldovan teams. There was definitely a feeling of brotherhood and friendship between the two countries at the competition. On the way back to Moldova, we spent about half a day in Minsk and in Kiev. While we were in Minsk, it was interesting to see all of the preparations that were being made for the 9th of May celebrations. The 9th of May is celebrated as the Victory Day of WWII. This year is the 65th anniversary of the end of the war and there were banners and streamers everywhere…and I mean, everywhere.

After seeing the elaborate decorations and preparations being made for the celebration of Victory Day in Minsk, it was interesting to return to Moldova and see how many Moldovans feel about May 9th. For many people here, this holiday arouses very mixed emotions. While the day marks the anniversary of the end of a terrible war, it also marks the beginning of the Soviet occupation. Many people in Moldova suffered greatly during the years after the war at the hands of the Soviet government. There is a war memorial in our village (and pretty much every other village in Moldova) and on the morning of May 9th, many people from the community met outside the primaria (mayor’s office) and then joined a procession to the war memorial. Once everyone had gathered at the monument, the mayor said a few words and handed out medals to the only 4 surviving veterans of WWII from our village. The veterans from the war in Afghanistan and the conflict in Transnistria (the break-away region in the east of Moldova that considers itself to be autonomous but is not recognized by any other government in the world) were also recognized at the ceremony. After the speeches were done, everyone went and placed flowers on the monument. My host mother decided not to go to the memorial and when she was asked why, she responded that Moldovans lost the war and that she did not want to celebrate the horrific things that happened here as a result of the Russian occupation. She has told me many times that while she worked in Italy (she worked as a house keeper for about 6 months a few years ago to help pay for my host brother’s studies in Romania) she told many people there that they should be thankful that it was the Americans that liberated Italy and not the Russians. She also told me about her own father’s experience with the war. Moldova was caught in between Romania (who was fighting with the Germans) and the Russian forces coming from the east. The Russian army would go into Moldovan villages and draft the men into the Russian army. When my host mother’s father was sent to report for duty at a Russian base in the Ukraine, he hid some cured lambskins under his clothes. When he arrived at the train station, he happened to hear a man speaking “Moldovaneşte” (aka Romanian) to his horses so he stopped to talk to him. The man told him to go see a certain doctor who would, for a price, say that he was mentally unfit for the army. My host mom’s father did not want to be forced to fight against the Romanian army since that would mean he would be fighting against his own countrymen so he gave him the lambskins and was declared unfit. He hightailed it back to Moldova as soon as he could. After the war, many Moldovan families were shipped off to Siberia…especially if they refused to become part of the farming cooperatives that the Soviet government set up throughout the country. If a farmer refused to give up his land, crops, and animals, he - and usually the rest of his family as well - were sent to Siberia…where many died of exposure and starvation. I guess the holiday and the constant stream of Russian war movies that have been playing on TV as a result of the holiday have sparked a lot of conversations about the war and the effects of the subsequent occupation in my house. It has been incredibly interesting to listen to these stories about real people that my family here knew. It has definitely provided me with more insight into why things are the way they are here today.

The next couple of weeks are going to be pretty eventful for me. Wednesday is my host dad, Boris’, birthday. Despite the fact that he detests celebrating his birthday, his sister and niece (and maybe some other random relatives that I don’t know yet) will be coming over for dinner. Thursday marks the end of Easter here. Orthodox Moldovans (which is pretty much everyone in this country) celebrate Easter for the 40 days after Easter Sunday. During this time, you are greeted with “Christ has risen” instead of hello and are expected to respond by saying “True, he has risen”. I am not exactly sure what this celebration on Thursday will entail, but I plan to just go with the flow like every other holiday here. I am sure it will include lots of food and wine…and probably vodka too. On Saturday, my school is having its “Meeting of the Graduates”, which is basically like a reunion for anyone who graduated from the school. They host a presentation and a party for the classes that graduated 10, 20, and 30 years ago. The current 12th form class act as the hosts of the event and students from the school will put on different performances for the guests. My partner teacher, Svetlana, is also the adjunct director and is responsible for coordinating the event…she is also going to be celebrating the 30th anniversary of her graduation. She told me that last year the guests celebrating their 30th anniversary stayed at the school eating, drinking, talking, and dancing (of course) until 7 the next morning. I plan on attending the event, but I doubt that I will make until 7am! Next week, some of my students will be participating in a web conference (via Skype) with some students from Germany. They will be discussing the topic “Youth for a Healthy Way of Life” and will be doing everything in English. For the past week or so, I have been helping students prepare for this by helping with translations etc. I am looking forward to sitting in on the conference (I won’t actually be participating myself) and seeing how my students are able to communicate with their peers from Germany.

Once school lets out for the summer, I will have a couple weeks of complete freedom. While I am looking forward to some time off, I am a little concerned about getting bored…there isn’t exactly a whole lot to do in my village when I am not working. My mom and little brother, Isaac, will be coming to visit me in June and I can hardly wait. I won’t have seen my mom in a year and I won’t have seen Isaac since Christmas by the time they get here. We are planning on spending a week here in Moldova…a couple of days in my village and then the rest of the time we will stay in the capital and take day trips to other areas of the country…and then we will take either a bus or a train to Romania and do some exploring there as well. I am so excited to be able to show them where I live, where I work, and what I have been doing here for the past year. My host family and friends here are also excited for the “guests from America”…my host mom is already talking about how she is going to have to clean and cook to prepare for these honored guests. After my mom and Isaac leave, I will be involved in some of the technical training sessions for the new group of volunteers that will be arriving in June. During PST (pre service training), Peace Corps likes to involve the “older” volunteers in the technical training sessions. Last year, we had some volunteers that had been in Moldova for a year facilitate our sessions, and this year, I will be doing the same thing. I am looking forward to getting to know the new batch of trainees and hopefully it will occupy my time so that I won’t get bored over the summer.

I think that is about all for now. I have posted a few pictures from the Victory Day celebration and in my last post I included the link to the facebook photo album of my trip to Belarus. Hopefully you find it interesting!

Eurofest 2010 - Belarus

As most of you know, I recently took 12 students on a trip to Belarus for the Odyssey of the Mind EuroFest competition. The competition was a total of 5 days at a children's camp about 2 hours north of Minsk. It took about 32 hours on a bus to get there, and even longer to get back because we stopped in Minsk and in Kiev. I was really happy that we all got to do some site seeing while we were there. Both Minsk and Kiev seem to be really neat cities and my kids were happy to experience new places. I have included the link to the facebook photo album that I created of our trip...enjoy!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=226313&id=777838447&l=b3c926c216

Spring in Moldova

I can now say that I am officially twitterpated. Shortly after writing my last blog, the weather took a turn for the worse and the warmer temperatures and sunny skies I wrote about disappeared. March 1st is a big deal here in Moldova and it marks the coming of spring. Everywhere you go, you can buy mărţişoare, which are red and white handmade pins of string, ribbon, and sometimes flowers. While I am not sure of the full story behind these accessories, I do know that people here wear them until the end of March when they are supposed to pin them to a tree. March 1st actually seemed to mark the beginning of spring…for a few days at least. Then, one day, I woke up to a nice new layer of snow on the ground. There is another legend here about a baba (old lady) who takes off one layer of her winter clothing every day and beats it to remove the dust and snow of winter. She does this every day from March 1-14th, and the snow that we see here during that time is due to her “spring cleaning”. I had been told that story by my host mom at the end of February and I chalked it up to an old wives’ tale until I actually experienced that 2 week period of sporadic snow showers. It seems, however, that spring has finally kicked winter’s butt and I could not be happier. It is amazing to see what a difference seeing the sun makes in my overall mental and emotional state!

During the first week of March, all schools in Moldova were on spring break but all English Education volunteers had to go to the capital for training on project development. While I was initially less than thrilled to spend my vacation in another training, it ended up being pretty interesting. It was great to be reunited with some of my other volunteer friends during the training. We all stayed at a hotel in the capital and were able to hang out and relax together like we all did during our Pre Service Training in Costeşti. Each volunteer brought a member of their community with them so the entire thing was bilingual. Some volunteers brought their partner teachers or school directors, but I was joined by my village’s librarian. Doamna Angela is also the mayor’s wife and mother to one of my favourite students so it was nice to get to know her a little better. It was rather mentally taxing since we worked together pretty intensely for 3 days and since she does not speak English, I had to bust out my Romanian (and a lot of hand gestures). The training was to better enable us to assess our communities’ needs, wants, assets, and resources. We also covered the basics of writing grant proposals. This was helpful information since many volunteers end up working on proposals to find funding for things like running water, new wells, desks for their schools, improved gymnasiums, etc in addition to their work as teachers. The health volunteer in my village built a sports complex across from my school that was finished a couple of weeks before I arrived at site (I have some big shoes to fill). I actually have some mixed feelings about doing a project like this myself while I am here. I have felt some pressure (as many volunteers do) to find something that I can build and then put my name on. I have actually been told by someone I work with that I need to find something to do so that I can “leave a legacy” after I go back home. This is the part I have a bit of trouble with. I want my work here with the students and the impact I hope to have on them as they grow up to be my legacy. My main goal when joining the Peace Corps was not to build something that can display my name after I leave…I came here to teach. I would rather make a difference in the lives of my students than build a new well or find money for new windows or floors. I guess the conclusion that I have come to at this point in my service is that if I find something that my community really needs, or if I am approached with a good idea for a project, then I will absolutely be willing to help…but my focus, time, and best efforts will continue to be on the kids I work with every day.

As I have mentioned in previous posts, my Odyssey of the Mind teams were asked to go to Belarus and participate in the Eurofest competition in April. While I am extremely excited about this amazing opportunity for my kids, there have definitely been some stressful moments while preparing for the trip. I have been amazed by the generosity of so many people and their willingness to help raise the funds for this experience. I really appreciate all of the contributions that people have made and I know that my students do too. The other issue that has been a source of stress for me lately is obtaining the proper travel documents for all of the kids. Travelling is not easy for Moldovan citizens, and although they don’t have to have a visa to go to Belarus (but I do), they have to get passports and official documents designating my partner teacher as their official chaperone while out of the country. The problem with this is that the document is supposed to be signed by both parents and I have quite a few parents who have one or both parents out of the country. One of my students was actually unable to obtain a passport because her parents’ official documents all have their family name listed with the Russian spelling, while hers has it listed with the Romanian spelling. In order for her to get a passport, her parents would have to go have all of their documents changed officially…this would cost too much money and take more time than we have before the competition. In the end, due to problems like this, I now only have 12 students going instead of the original 14. I think the next month will continue to be stressful as we prepare for the trip, but I know that it will be well worth it once we get there. We will spend 5 days on a campground in a forest north of Minsk and then, on the way back to Moldova, we will stop in Minsk and Kiev for some sightseeing.

We will have the first week of April off due to Easter (which is a huge deal here…my host mom has already started preparing for the meal) and then I will be gone for over a week later in the month for Odyssey of the Mind. That only leaves 2 weeks in April and then the month of May before the end of the school year. I can’t believe I have almost made it all the way through my first of 2 school years here!

I attended my first Moldovan funeral a week ago. One of the Romanian teachers from my school, and one of my host mom’s close friends, had been fighting cancer ever since I came to Bravicea. I never actually met her, but everyone I spoke to said that she was an amazing woman and teacher. On the day of her funeral, every teacher from the school, most of the high school students, and many other members of the community gathered outside of the gate of her house. She was placed in the front yard in an open coffin so that the priest could come and say some prayers before moving her. There is a tradition of giving presents to close friends and family members of the deceased person so each teacher was called into the front yard and given the traditional circular loaf of bread and a towel. Other people were given blankets, rugs, and towel sets. After the prayers were finished at the house, the coffin was carried to the school (her house was right next to the school) where the mayor, the school director, and one student all said some words in her honour. It was very emotional and everyone there was crying. After the speeches, a couple of women (I think they were the woman’s sisters) draped themselves over the coffin, wailed, and sang. I have heard that this is a tradition at Moldovan weddings. When the women were finished, the open coffin was then carried through the village to the church and everyone followed behind it. As we walked down the street, we met with another funeral procession that was taking place at the same time. I did not go to the actual church service or to the ceremony, but after the burial, everyone gathered once again at the school cantina for the praznic (funeral meal). Since we are in the middle of Post (Lent), none of the dishes contained meat. My host mom was in charge of the cooking for this praznic since she was such a close friend of the woman and she spent a full 2 days before the funeral preparing the food. Once everyone was seated, each guest was given another round loaf of bread and a candle. The tradition is to light the candle, kiss the bread, and then stick the candle into the bread and leave it on the table throughout the meal. Each person is also given a glass of wine with the bread and candle and it is traditional to drink in honour of the deceased person. This tradition is repeated throughout the meal. The whole experience was very intense and unlike any funeral I have ever attended before.

On a lighter note, after the funeral, I went to my partner teacher’s house to celebrate her birthday. There was a lot of food, drinking, and even some dancing. Svetlana’s son and daughter in law (the couple whose wedding I attended in January) came back to the village from the capital to celebrate with the family and there were a couple of other teachers there as well. I always have a great time with Svetlana and her family…like my host family, they have really made an effort to make me feel at home here which I appreciate immensely.

This past weekend, my host mom put together a workshop at the school about folklore and traditional food, handicrafts, and songs. It was based on the old tradition of women gathering together for a sort of sewing circle. While this tradition isn’t really practiced any more, my host mom wanted to teach some of the students about it. Some of the students and teachers brought in examples of different embroidery and other handicrafts that have been in their families for years. They were made by their grandmothers, mothers, aunts, godmothers etc, and it was really interesting to hear about the stories behind some of them. A couple of older ladies that were there sang some old traditional songs that they learned as children from their grandmothers. After the songs and handicrafts were presented, there was a meal. Each of the girls that came brought a traditional dish (again, since it is Post, there was no meat) that they had made. There was, of course, some wine to be sampled…but the students just got a taste. It was a really interesting event and I am glad I got to attend it. I have posted some of the videos that I took of the singing…I hope you find it as cool as I did.

Odyssey of the Mind EuroFest 2010...Please Help!

As most of you know, I am currently serving as an English Education volunteer with the United States Peace Corps in the Republic of Moldova. For the past few months, I have been coaching 2 teams of students from my village's school for the Odyssey of the Mind competition. This is an international critical / creative thinking competition that you might have heard of before. Both of my teams (one team is made up of seven 8th and 9th graders and the other is seven 11th graders) placed at the national level and have been selected to compete in the EuroFest competition this April in Belarus. I am incredibly proud of their hard work and achievements!

Unfortunately, Moldova has been listed as the poorest country in Europe, and as a result of this poverty and lack of resources, making this trip a reality for my students will be difficult for me...especially on a Peace Corps volunteer's "salary". Many of my students have at least one, and in many cases, both parents working abroad in order to support their families. These families do not have the disposable income to fund a trip like this and while the school and village administration might be able to contribute a small amount towards this endeavor, I am going to have to find the majority of the funding for this experience on my own.

I have not yet received all of the information about the cost per student for this trip, but at this point, I know we will be responsible for the following amounts:

$150 per TEAM for registration ($300 total for both of my teams)
150 Euros per STUDENT for accommodation and food during the competition (about $203.55 per kid)
Plus the cost of transportation to and from Belarus (still to be determined) and food on the road

So far, even before adding the transportation and incidental expenses, we are looking at a total of over $3,000.

With that said, I am asking your for your help in making this trip a reality for my students. This trip will provide a unique and valuable experience for 14 students who truly deserve this opportunity. Any little bit will help, and will be greatly appreciated. If you are able to give any amount of money to help the funding of this trip, please contact me (either on facebook or at abgraham85@hotmail.com).

Thank you so much and I hope to hear from you soon.

Odyssey of the Mind 2010