Hello Moldova

I am creating this blog to remember and share the experiences of my Peace Corps service in Moldova. I arrived in Moldova on June 8, 2011, just over one month ago. I am currently in Pre-Service Training (PST) until I am sworn in, and become an official Peace Corps Volunteer, on August 17, 2011.
I am living in the village of Colonita with a host family (a mother, father, two brothers, and a sister). The village is located about 45 minutes away (by rutiera/autobus) from Chisinau, the capital city of Moldova.
PST consists of language classes (Monday-Saturday), technical classes (three to four times per week), and "hub-site" days. On hub-site days, my entire group (about 50 people) travels to Chisinau to listen to lectures about things like physical and mental health, money, safety, etc.
After I am sworn in, I will leave Colonita for a village called Tipala, Ialoveni. Tipala is about one hour from Chisinau by autobus. I visited Tipala last week to meet my future host family, partner teachers, nurse partner, and other people of the village. It was a huge success! My future host mother is a wonderful woman, and it will be just her and I in the house. She is a Romanian teacher at the same school I will be working at, and is part of my motivation for learning Romanian as fast as I possibly can. I am excited to return to Tipala, and be able to converse with her in Romanian!
In Tipala I will work in the school and health center. In the school, I will work with two partner teachers in grades 5-8 teaching health. In the health center, it is a slightly less clear what my actual job will be. I hope to work with my nurse partner to provide seminars and general health information for the community.
Overall, my experience thus far has been wonderful. Overwhelming at times, but wonderful nonetheless. If there is one thing that I have learned in Moldova it is: If I think something will/should happen a certain way, it is almost certain that the opposite will happen. This crazy, uncontrollable way of life is both difficult and exciting. My friends and family know that I am a bit of a control freak, and that is certainly being challenged in Moldova. I am learning many things (including a completely new language), but mostly I am learning to relax and take things as they come!