Two of my friends and fellow volunteers, Becky (the Appleton, WI schnauzer) and Geneva (our sister from Georgia) are heading home. I'll miss them terribly and expect them to write and send stuff.
On a slightly brighter note - my third box - the ones mailed in September - including my sleeping bag, picture of Me & Jimmy Carter, and the good one of my mom and me - finally showed up. A month after the other 2. Gotta love the postal service here.
In Moldova, there's this folk story about Baba Dochia who, in February takes off one of her 12 fur coats every few days or so. Somehow this is supposed to explain the mind-boggling temperature swings we're experiencing. We've snowed and thawed so many times I've lost count. Every thaw brings rivers of mud running down the streets and thick, gloppy puddles that threaten to yank off my Columbia boots (or at least toss me off balance so I can get a 'Moldovan Spa Treatment' as we're starting to refer to the process of taking a header into the muck). All this mud means one thing - the season for washing your shoes is back. I must say, I detest that process vehemently. Its goofier to me than the whole 'make-your-bed-even-though-you're-going-to-get-back-into-it-in-12-hours' thing. I hate washing my shoes - it pains me to waste 15 minutes of my evening, knowing that at 8am I will be up to my ankles again in mud/sunflowerseeds/animal waste and my shoes will be unreckognizable brown hooves. But today, it was another cold snap, and I was quite excited to find all the mud frozen into mini-relief maps -- until I skidded and did a 'Bring It On'-esque move that landed me in the 1/2 splits (no, Jen, there were no jazz hands involved). Jeans were dirtied, I was laughed at (of course I was being followed by a pack of teenagers), and I banged up my right knee (not to be confused with the left knee that's giving me all sorts of problems right now. I'm getting an x-ray and MRI next week on it -- it hurts when its bent - but no problem walking? Dr. Lica is impressed that I centralized all my injuries to my left side - the ankle and now the goofy knee. I suggested amputation and she told me not even to mention that when we're in a Moldovan hospital. Do doctors here take suggestions on procedures?). Dr. Lica alcohol swabbed (hey!ouch!) and band-aided my right knee while agreeing my left one sounds "crunchy". I love vocab lessons in the middle of a physical.
Although I've dropped another 12 pounds since Christmas (weighed myself today), my Bunica (grandma), informed me that I was too fat last week and I needed to lose weight. She said it as if it was the first time the issue had been brought to my attention. I told her she wasn't being nice. She told me that I needed to listen to my grandmother if I was ever going to get a man into my bed. This disinegrated into a mini birds & bees talk in Romanian (we've already had another talk along the same lines - but maybe she thinks I didn't understand at first?). It was gross - but I know she really cares about me. And she's taught me all the vulgar words for my anatomy. :)
Work is interesting. We registered the women's NGO - Lia-Cimislia. And I wrote a grant and finished their web site (www.geocities.com/ngoliacimislia). Viitorul Topalei - the NGO for the village of Topala got registered and the village is putting together figures for the completion of the Orthodox Basillica - so we can write a project and hopefully get a grant. The Mold Health Expo looks like it will be held on May 22 - if I can come up with $700 to reserve the rooms at the National Hotel. I submitted a grant to the Embassy, but we haven't heard if we've won, or when the funds will be distributed. Grrr. We (Stacey B from Georgia and I) are also trying to finish a Peace Corps Small Projects Assistance grant to get the remaining $1000 we need (total cost of Mold Health Expo - $2000). I'm also helping Jerry write plans/documents/press releases for both the TRUST business camp (where I will be the Ethics lecturer in residence) and Odyssey of the Mind World Finals (Jerry's team won a bid to Budapest, but need money to go). On top of all of this I'm presenting a 1/2 hour on accounting in America to a bunch of women at an accounting seminar Sunday. And I've been tapped to be on a Pre-Service Training revision team - essentially to make those first 10 weeks a little less spy-novel-like (They took notes on everything and some of the weirdest stuff showed up in evaluations. Not terribly helpful.)
Life. Jerry is still around which means a ton to me. A big problem for volunteers is isolation, but I really do feel supported with him and a few others (like Karen B in my town & Mark G in Basarabeasca) in my life here. Jerry's having a bit of a problem with his host fam - they accused him of stealing eggs out of the hen-house as well as stealing canned goods from the cellar. First, the hen house is gross - poop and mud make a paste that Jerry, even in his most egg-loving moment, wouldn't walk through. And second, there is nothing in the cellar, other than wine (which he's not drinking because of that tricky pancreas) that is even remotely appealing (yes, please give me another pickled cabbage - or how about some home-made fruit compote. . .wait a second while I strain off the FUZZY MOLD ON TOP!) He feels very uncomfortable there, but he's going to stick out the next 3 months until we're all able to move, if we want to. I still love my host fam and have no plans on relocating in May (when everybody else is planning on finding their own apartments and such). They talk about my cousin Amy and Jen Waterman as if they've met them. Virginia (12) is so excited that Jen's coming in August. Oh, and the host mom wants to open a B&B in her sister's beautiful and empty house (sister is working in Italy - like almost every body else in Moldova). In addition to the normal B&B stuff, she's planning excursions to the forest for a Moldovan BBQ (I'm not a big meat fan, but the Shaslik is good!), the nearby monestary, to a farm (ostensibly to introduce city-slickers to the real lives of Moldovans, complete w/goats to milk & chickens to harass), and finally to a real Moldovan Masa (one of those big feast things, with tons of little plates, but only serving food I've approved of. i.e. things that don't freak ME out such as the chicken jello w/a claw in it.) The B&B planning is well under way and I'm really glad to help. But I will NOT be changing linens - I've already made myself clear - to which she replied that I'm a sloppy bed-maker anyway.
Gotta hobble to a meeting.
Thank you to the Wessels, Jen, and the Mommies of Spirit of Hope - not to mention Anna Gresser (who sent blank paper, envelopes, and pens so I would write her) - for your thoughts and packages. Good job.
S