You say potato, I say cartofi.

I think it is completely ironic that I am in a country that cooks, cultivates and cares for potatoes in a way that only the Irish could appreciate.  I have never been a “big fan” of potatoes.  They are a lot of work to dig out of the ground, then you have to peel (most of them you do), check for bad spots, slice, boil, cook, season, and finally eat.  Peeling potatoes is not exactly my idea of a fun activity.  Maybe I don’t like them because it seems the inputs for potatoes exceed the output (unless you season them with a lot of dairy products and spices).  I just find them unsatisfactory after all of the effort except today.  Today, I arrived home from school and my host mother’s brother was renovating the room outside the bathroom and my host mom was baking up a storm (it reminded me of my farmhouse in Kingsbury).  It was raining outside, so what else do you do other than bake?!?!  I learned how to prepare the dough for placenta (much like filo dough, just thicker and made with sunflower seed oil) and make the fixings for the inside.  Placenta is much like the Moldovan version of pie or spanikopita (I actually called it spanikopita for the first 2 weeks I was here).  You make dough, roll it out, stretch the circle to make it bigger and more rectangular and then fill it with some delicious goodness, roll and bake.  So today, I learned to make placenta with brinza (fresh cow cheese, dill, salt, pepper, onion and a little egg to hold it all together), placenta with varza (cabbage, pepper, salt, onion and a little oil), and placenta with cartofi (potatoes, onion, salt, pepper and a little oil).  It was the last version of the placenta that I loathe.  After peeling a bucket of potatoes, I then had to slice them very small, and then slice onions (while crying everywhere because I am super sensitive to them).  It was an amazing bonding experience with my host mom.  I think she realized that I am actually competent with a knife, and around the kitchen (kudos to my mom back in NY for teaching me a thing or two about baking and to my roommate Cheni who has taught me A LOT about Greek cooking).  Anyway, the time I spent in the kitchen with my host mom today was truly worth peeling all the potatoes, especially when she smiled and clapped after my first successfully made placenta.  Mmmm writing this post is making me hungry!

4th of July… Moldova-style

My colleagues and I received an official invitation to the USA Independence Day Picnic 2010, organized by the American Chamber of Commerce and the U.S. Embassy Alumni Association.  For 200 lei (less than $20 USD) we were able to drink copious amounts of beer and wine (including a delicious dry red Cabernet!) and eat American-style food (hot dogs, hamburgers, grilled chicken and assorted salads).  They also had some really great musical acts (live bands and a DJ) that played for us while we danced, crowd surfed and committed silly acts of debauchery.  All in all a great time was had by all (I think some more than others… but I won’t get into that here).  Our rutiera ride home was loud, crude and hilarious.  If we could have a 4^th of July party every month… well let’s just say I would need a lot more dresses in a patriotic hue.

Going back to my roots…

So I decided today that I needed to get my hair back to its natural color.  Although I was born with white/blonde hair it turned dirty blonde and then a sort of mousey brown in my late teens.  So in Moldova I have decided to attempt using a box of hair dye (with directions in Russian) to change my hair back to the color of my roots.  Because I cannot read Russian, I have enlisted the help of my host mom to help me dye my hair.

So apparently, I thought my host mom was going to help me dye my hair but she didn’t know how.  So she got right on the phone and called up her daughter’s friend to come help.  I had no idea what was going on other than the fact that someone was coming and she was going to dye my hair.  Miscommunications sometimes turn out okay.  I think this one worked out for the better.

Over the river and through the hills to my mentor’s site we go…

Today we went on a field trip for our tech session to my mentor’s site.  It was really refreshing to get out of our classroom and drive through the countryside to see a volunteer in his home site and meet his partners!  We had some very informative sessions on ACSA, which is an agricultural extension NGO that was started around 1998 with funding from the World Bank.  An interesting note is that unlike the university-led model in the United States for agricultural extension, it seems that in Moldova the agricultural university and other national institutions do the research and rely upon NGOs and other organizations of the like to act as extension agents of the research findings and information.  It seems to be functioning pretty well, however, there are some instances of contextual gaps.  Such as sending pamphlets to a small village with information on raising large numbers of a specific breed of horses, when in fact that breed is not in the village and the capacity to grow that number does not exist.  I think things like this happen in the United States as well.  When scientific knowledge becomes so wrapped up in benefiting science itself rather than conducting applicable and scalable research projects.  We were also able to meet with the Administrator of Economics for a Raion Council north of Chisinau.  It was interesting to understand the political infrastructure on the local level and the specific roles of mayors, elected council members and how this has little to no effect on the representation at the national level.  I am interested to learn more about the local representative dynamic and their involvement in agricultural extension.  This may be a good area to look into for my research on the use of information communication technologies (for agricultural purposes) in Moldova, specifically the use of mobile phone technology.  As I continue to learn more about agriculture in Moldova and the dissemination of information on a larger level, I continue to see avenues for further exploration in my research…

Wedding bells are ringing in September… and I get to hear them?!?!

So my brother is getting married in September and I received approval (pending paperwork) to go home for the wedding.  I get one week of leave from service.  I am SOOOO HAPPY!!!  I cannot thank Peace Corps Moldova enough for being so flexible and so kind.  I am so excited to start searching for a ticket!

Chisinau, Chisinau… you only have one runway?

To begin our trip off right, the bus drivers dropped us at the domestic terminal instead of the international one; so, all of us with all of our baggage marched through JFK airport to the Air train and got ourselves to the right terminal.  When we arrived at the correct terminal, we found out that our tickets were only reserved as “standby,” so while the airline worked with SATO travel all 71 of us with our bags in hand waited in line (you can only imagine the stares we received). Once we made it through security it was time for lunch and to board the plane!  Through the process of getting through the airport, I met some really interesting people, learned some interesting uses for a banana (including as leather shoe shiner), and realized what an amazing and diverse group the M25s are.

After a VERY long layover in Frankfurt, I grabbed a bite to eat which was the last time I ate McDonald’s.  I then put on some business casual clothes and prepared to board the plane to Moldova!  Once in Moldova, we were greeted by several Peace Corps staff members, gathered our luggage and tried to fit our bags on the buses.  I think everyone in the group made at least one comment about how big my bags were or how heavy they were.  Oh well.  A girl needs what a girl needs right?

Once we arrived at Hotel Turist in Chisinau, we all sat in a large room and listened to a few people speak, including the acting country director, Margaret (who served with the Peace Corps in Mexico and Guatemala)!  At this point in the evening I was so tired that it is a good thing that they gave us a folder with all of the necessary materials for the next few days. 

Our training began with two days of intensive language, culture, and safety/health lectures.  It was pretty intense.  Then all of the groups moved to our training “cluster sites.”  All of the ARBDs (Agriculture and Rural Business Development) volunteers moved to Milestii Mici!  A village boasting the largest wine collection in the world!  Yes, Moldova is in the Guiness Book of World Records.   This “village” is awesome; it is almost like a suburb of Chisinau, with many of its residents working in the city.  My host mom (whose last name means cucumber) is amazing and she works very hard around the house, in her garden and at the vineyard.

I am really enjoying PST.  It’s full of language lessons (6 days a week) and a lot of seminars, guest speakers, lectures and panels… but it keeps me super busy and from feeling homesick.  More to come soon…

(South) Philly Cheese Steak.

Pre-service training involves a ½ day of training, paperwork and awkward icebreakers.  Mostly its time to meet the fellow volunteers in your group (mine is M25) and prepare for your departure from the states on the next morning.  Of course I made my trip to Philly somewhat of an event. Instead of flying from Albany to Philly I decided it would be great if my mom and I went on a road trip and my Aunt Norma was even able to join us.  With excellent directions from our GPS and Uncle Gordon we made our way to the Hampton Inn at Center City Philadelphia. We had a delicious dinner at a nearby Italian restaurant on the recommendation of Razz the concierge at the hotel.  We started our time in Philly with an evening ghost story tour of this beautiful and historic city. It was really a cool way to see some of the historic buildings with a little bit of “scary.”  We retired early at the hotel and the next morning after a delicious continental breakfast my comrades decided to sign up for a city tour and had a fun time (according to the pictures on my camera) while I went through hours of training and paperwork.  After training and resorting my over packed bags we all decided to head to South Philly for “the best Philly cheese steak” in all of Philadelphia.  I am not going to lie, the cheese steaks were DELICIOUS but I don’t think the expensive cab ride to south Philly was worth it.  I returned back to the hotel to write thank you notes and my mom and Aunt Norma walked to the corner shop to buy milkshakes.  That was my last taste of the delicious dairy products that America has to offer.  The next morning I left for JFK on a bus with 70 of my soon-to-be comrades in Moldova. 

Leaving a splash… Birthday/Bon Voyage!

Before leaving home, I wanted to have a chance to say goodbye to everyone (family, friends, friends of friends, neighbors, etc.) so my parents and I decided it would be best to throw a huge party (it’s something we do really well).  So we had a pig roast with kegs of beer, baked potatoes, salads and yummy desserts.  It was also the Saturday before I left which happened to be my 24^th birthday.  Coincidence?

Anyway, it was an amazing party thanks to my parents, all my brothers, their girlfriends and fiancé and my aunts and cousins for all of their help.  It was a really wonderful day.  We played croquet, swam in the pool, ate, drank and really had a pleasant time.   Here are a few photos from the day…