There is an atmosphere of New Years at the PC office today. Excited people, TV on, all the volunteers in town. But everyone is mumbling that "our guy" is going to lose. The PC is a notorius hotbed for 'commie-liberals' as my father would say, so its pretty clear who the majority are cheering for. Kristi and Bob are our two odd-duck Republicans. We're trying not to mock them too hard.
Poppy & Pear In other news, I've found my true calling in the PC - to serve as a one-woman Humane Society for abandoned animals. First, there was Poppy - a tiny, furry, black&white, puppy who needed a home. I found her at the pet piata in a cardboard box. An old lady had dropped Poppy and her sister off in the morning and told people that she wasn't coming back to get them - if someone didn't take the puppies they were going to die. So I bought a little picnic basket, a little food, a food dish, and some towels and then took her home with me. If she stayed at my house (which really wasn't an option anyway) she'd end up chained up and that's not what I wanted for her -- so instead I took her to Topala during their village festival and found her a fabulous host family, headed by 9th grader Galea. Ironically, the next day, I was back in the capital for The Dairy and Farmer Expo (oy! the excitement!) and was accosted by an old man outside of McDonalds with a kitten. The kitten needed a home and I was feeling generous, so I took the kitten, named him Pear, and brought him back to Cimislia. He's currently living in the garage (when I get caught smuggling him into my room) and growing every day. The vet said he's only 3 weeks old, which explains his incredible neediness/cuteness. I'm hoping to place her with a family in few weeks (after she gets her first immunizations and gets bigger than a teacup). I've taken a few pictures - take a look HERE for Poppy and Pear.
The cat was fired In additional animal news, our second cat, a calico named Mel, has been fired for poor performance. She whined for food more than caught mice - and was given away. Dima, the grey, primary cat, is still head mouser and is prepared to absorb Mel's duties.
Toamna de Aur Translated as 'Golden Autumn', this annual school event celebrates all that is fabulous about the harvest time in Moldova. I was in Topala for their spectacol on October 20th and of course was a judge. Each grade presented a memorized poem (each kid had at least a stanza), a song, and a display table (with carved fruits and vegetables in the shapes of people, animals, etc.).
Hram Is the village or town festival. Every single town and village has one. It coincides with the patron saint day of the largest church in town. For Topala, it was October 27th, the day for Saint Periscovia. I got there in the morning to see the WHOLE day's activities. The school was the site of most of the competitions: chess and checkers, basketball, volleyball, soccer and wrestling. All competitions were for kids and adults. The biggest deal was the wrestling though -- the winner of the men's event won a carlan - a young, male, sheep. Did I mention the wrestling took place outside, on a few thin, home-made mats laid down on the asphalt. An awful lot of effort and risk to win a piece of meat still on the hoof.
For Pictures of Both Toamna de Aur and Hram - Click HERE
Drip, Drip, Bunica I've mentioned previously that my Bunica is totally unaware of personal space and inappropriate touching - but she really outdid herself last week. She decided to take a bath in our house (why she didn't use her bathroom in her house is a mystery to me -- other than I suspect she uses my body wash and Head & Shoulders). I was washing dishes in the kitchen (using both hot water AND soap - shocking!) when I heard her yell for me. I walked to the bathroom door and said, "yeah?". She yelled again for me to come to her. So I opened the door. I tried not to gasp as I caught sight of my my 60-something Bunica, filling the bathtub with her naked Bunica-ness, soaping herself with my loofah. She continued barking orders at me - and told me that the faucet on the sink was dripping slightly and that I should shut it off. Thanks Bunica - that couldn't have waited!
Halloween in Topala So, sometime in March, I committed myself to hosting a Halloween party in Topala. Silly Seanne. Sometime around the 15th of October I actually started doing something about it. Through the generous and free labor of Hye-Mi and David (PC vols) and host sister Virginia - we pulled it off. I made a pinata - his name was Spidey - and although he was awfully ugly, he was filled with American candy from JoEllen Hauber - so he was the highlight of the event. Hye-Mi explained the history of Halloween and the traditions before the costume contest. Most creative: the little boy who dressed up as a girl (and looked exactly like a prostitute with his thigh high boots, mini skirt, fish nets, enormous breasts and belly shirt). Most frumos: A little girl who dressed up with a fur headband and a long fur tail - as a SQUIRREL (I didn't know Moldova even HAD squirrells). Most ugly: A little girl dressed up as the arch-witch Baba Eaga - with black facepaint, layers of clothes, and a broom sewn between her legs. They won an Old Navy hat, an Old Navy visor and an I Love NY bag respectively. David hosted apple-bobbing -- with the object being who can capture an apple with their mouth the fastest (the winner got one in 4 seconds and won a pez dispenser and a spider ring). Hye-Mi had kids carving pumpkins in classes 3-8 -- the winners, the 6th graders, did a pumpkin Zorro and the 3 carvers won chocolate cell phones. Virginia hosted the mask-making table where kids decorated masks (eye-masks we cut out until midnight the night before and attached rubber bands to the sides - to go around ears) with glitter-glue (I found it in Chisinau!) and markers (purchased with a third of my monthly living allowence!). Finally, there was my station - where I told the story of Groznic Slavic - the poor guy who's body parts were now in black plastic bags infront of me. The kids heard his story and then touched his eyes (olives), nose (potato), ears (dried apricots), hands (surgical gloves filled with water and twigs), blood (tomato paste and water) and brains (WAY overcooked macaroni and water together). They ALL freaked out about the macaroni. After these activities, we took the kids outside for relay races: pass the apple under the chin and fill the bucket of water with soupspoons. The girls won the first relay and earned Halloween Straws and the boys won the second -- and took ALL of the Halloween Pencils. (Thanks Jen for the prizes!) Click Here for Halloween In Topala Pictures!
How do YOU eat your Reeses? After guest speaking at the new PCV training - topics being 'How to Write a Project & then Get Money from Grant Makers' and 'How to Set up and Work with NGOs' - I got the rare gift of a mini-bag of American candy. Snickers bites. Milky Way bits. And a few Reeses' Peanut butter mini cups. In the spirit of giving (and for being less of a pain in my butt than usual) I gave one to Virginia. We were in my room - I was cleaning and she was going through my things - as usual. I left the room for a minute and when I came in, she said, with all the snot a 13-year-old can muster (an in Romanian of course), "A little help here please! This is my first time, you know!" She was referring to the vaguely mysterious Reeses cup - that she'd managed to extract from its shiny foil coat - but couldn't figure out how to get the chocolatety/peanutbuttery goodness out of the paper skirt. I peeled it for her. She said thanks.
Odds & Ends I'm still looking for an apartment. Topala's still buying parts for the pipeline. The Dairy Coop's lawsuit isn't done yet - but it looks promising. I'm writing a grant for Lia-Cimislia's Rural Women's Business Center. Thanksgiving is coming and I'm the Head Judge for the Talent show (noone's even tried to bribe me yet!) My new favorite food is tuna fish with mayo and cajun seasoning. I'm sick again (sinus thing). And I'm 2 months w/o smoking.
That's about it - talk to you soon.
S