Life in Tipala, Moldova

Teacher's Day at the school. Each teacher selects an older student
to teach for them for the day. Students sing, and bring flowers
to the teachers. At the end of the day all of the teachers enjoy
lunch together.

Teacher's Day is also celebrated in the raion center (similar to a
state capital) with a concert and presentation of certificates for
certain teachers.

My second wedding in Moldova. Very exciting, and lasting until
about 4am (when I asked my host mom if we could go home to sleep).

The same wedding. 

The Hram of Chisinau (the capital city of Moldova).
It was a large celebration with great food, and a concert
that lasted all day and into the night. 

My host sister and I at the Chisinau Hram!

It's Fall

It's Fall in Moldova, and I'm really enjoying the cooler weather (though not at all excited for Winter). Things have been quite busy over the past few weeks: a wedding, hram, work at the school and clinic, picking grapes, making wine, and much more.

A friend from school and her husband recently took me to my first Moldovan wedding in the capital, Chisinau. It was an amazing experience! There were many interesting traditions, great food, and LOTS of dancing (until about 4am). I met many great people, and had a wonderful time.

I was also able to attend my first hram last week. As far as I understand, every village and city in Moldova has a day of celebration called a hram, in which people eat, drink, and then meet in the village center to dance. Last Tuesday, I was in my room preparing for school the next day when a woman that I've never met came and started talking to my host mother. Before I knew it, I was in the car with her, my host mother, and two other people going somewhere. (In Moldova, I've gotten accustomed to not knowing what is going on about 50% of the time.) So, we were driving for about 30 minutes when we arrived at a house, in village that I had never seen. We went inside to tons of food, and soon I found out it was the home of my host mom's sister-in law (or something like that). We ate too much, and then went to the village center to dance the hora, it turned out to be a great night. 

Last weekend was grape pickin' time. We spent most of Saturday and Sunday picking grapes and then putting them into large barrels for wine. This may not sound like a great time, but somehow I had a blast. The work was easy, and involved bonding with my amazing host mother and eating a ton of delicious grapes. 

My "boss" or the program manager for Health Education came yesterday to visit my school, the clinic, and my home. I haven't been able to do much at the clinic thus far, but my boss was able to get my better connected with one of the nurses at the clinic. I went in today to talk with her, and things went really well. We talked a lot about our families, and the idea of having a "Blood Pressure Clinic" where people can come to have their BP measured, and we can provide them with information about Hypertension. I'm excited to finally have something to do at the clinic.
My boss also observed two of my classes with my partners. We got really great feedback, and it was amazing to hear how much my partners enjoy working with me and how much they appreciate my hard work.
The best conversation of the day came when my boss visited my home. She, my host mom, and myself sat down to talk about how things are going, and if any changes need to be made. My host mom said that everything was great. The day ended with the three of us crying (good tears). My host mom said how lucky she feels to have a new daughter, how much happiness I bring her, and how she never thought that after just one month she would feel so close to me. Goodness gracious, I love this woman. I'm so lucky to have her!

Firsts

My life thus far in Moldova has been full of several "firsts." I would like to mention two very important ones that took place recently.

Friday, September 2- I co-taught my first health class for my 7th grade class! It was mostly an introduction class, and it went really well. After I introduced myself (where I'm from, what I'm doing, etc.) the students all clapped for me. What a wonderful experience! I am excited to meet the rest of my classes this week and begin working at the medical center.

Saturday, September 3- I participated in the preparation of the chicken.

How to "prepare" a chicken:

1) Cut the chicken's head off.

2) Put the chicken into a boiling pot of water.

3) Remove it from the pot and remove the feathers.

4) Hold chicken over flame to remove excess feathers.

5) Clean it with warm water.

6) Begin the "operation" as my host mom called it. Cut the chicken, and place the parts in the pot for cooking. (This absolutely includes head, liver, and stomach).
7) I almost forgot this step... Wash your hands!

And yes, this tasted much better than it looks :)

First Bell

School begins in just two days! Thursday, September 1st, is a day called "First Bell". Students will come for one hour, meet with their homeroom teachers, and listen to opening announcements for the school year. I will introduce myself in front of the entire school! Friday is the first day of actual classes, and my first day of teaching. We will be having a simple introduction lecture, and I hope to begin learning about students' names and favorite activities. I am anxious to get the year started!

My school week:

  Monday: Class 5b 8:30-9:15

                 Health Club (Class 6c) 12:15-1:00

  Tuesday: Class 6b 8:30-9:15

                 Class 8a 11:20-12:05

                 Class 6a 12:15-1:00

  Wednesday: Class 8b 10:25-11:10

  Thursday: Class 5a 10:25-11:10

                 Class 7a 1:05-1:50

  Friday: Class 7b 1:05-1:50

I was also informed that I will be teaching a class for students with disabilities. This class, as I understood, will only have about five students. I'm very excited to learn more about this in late September/October. 

School has kept me quite busy during these first two weeks at site. My partners and I had to create our plan for the entire year. Luckily, we are almost finished! 

Life in Țipala is still wonderful. I feel like I need to say this again, my host mother is absolutely amazing. I am a lucky lady! We plan on getting our hair done together tomorrow, so we can look "beautiful for school." I look forward to getting to know her, and other people in the village, better during my time here.

Aside from life in Moldova, I have decided to make a small (or rather large) change in my educational pursuits. I will finish my B.S. in Psychology (I have 4 classes to go) and apply to graduate school (at K-State) in either the Cognitive/Human Factors or Social/Personality program. It is a bit of a drastic change from medicine, but I am quite positive that it is the avenue I would like to pursue. I miss taking classes very, VERY much, and am anxious to begin taking online classes (hopefully this Spring)!

My New Home

On Wednesday I was sworn in as an official Peace Corps Volunteer (Moldova 26), and moved to my new home in Tipala, Moldova.

The Swearing In Ceremony went by quickly, and before I knew it, I was saying goodbye to the people that I have grown closest to while in Moldova. It was extremely difficult for me, I will miss walking to language class with them every day. It is a bit scary to be the only American in my entire village. 

Tipala has been wonderful thus far, and my host mother is great! On Thursday I was able to explore the village and find stores, the library, post office, mayor's office, schools, church, etc. My host mother was gone all day in Chisinau, and I was left to eat sarmale (stuffed green peppers, yum) with Kansas City BBQ (thank you Richard),  a PB&J, and Kool-Aid. 

Friday was also an interesting day. In the morning we visited the church, and left grapes for the religious holiday. I was finally able to go inside of the church, with a covered head, and purchase candles to light and place in different shrines. Supposedly the service can last for several hours, but we only stayed for a few minutes to walk through. After church, we went to the school to meet some fellow teachers. We sat in my host mother's classroom (she teaches Romanian), and talked for an hour or so before heading home. I was also able to make placenta with my host mom today. I was a little worried that she wouldn't want me to help after I greased the wrong side of the baking sheet. Luckily, she forgave me and they turned out great.

Overall, Tipala is great. I have been able to run a few times, and was only almost eaten once by a dog. I am excited/anxious to start working!!

Swearing In Ceremony

A small video from our Swearing In Ceremony. I am an official Peace Corps Volunteer! 

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M26 English and Health Education Volunteers

Fiti Creativi!

     One of the reasons that I will be a teacher in Moldova is to assist my partners in creating new techniques for teaching. It is important that my partner and I work together to come up with these ideas, so that these changes will last even after my two years in Moldova. Essentially, I need to be creative. My family used to tell me that I was original, trying to put a positive spin on the fact that I'm a bit strange. I used to believe them, sometimes, and I am realizing that this uniqueness/Dahnikaness will certainly come in handy in Moldova.

     We are halfway through with the first week of practice school. On Wednesday my partner and I taught about smoking to students ranging in age from 15-18. Today, we taught the same subject to students ages 11-13. We will teach again on Friday and Saturday, and to my surprise, it isn't terrible. My partner is really great, and luckily teaching together came quite naturally. Today, one of the Moldovan observers said that we seem like we are related (I'm guessing because we mesh well together). She has been teaching for twenty-six years, and I am so excited to learn from her and hopefully teach her a few new tricks.

     Today was a great day. While jogging through the village, I saw a few children kicking a soccer ball against a building. Even in a foreign country, I can't resist soccer (er, fotbal). I decided to stop, and try to join in. They were a little wary at first, so I decided to do a few moves to impress them and show that a girl could actually play. Before I knew it, we had been playing for about twenty minutes and the few children that were playing in the beginning had multiplied by six. After they were tired of soccer, they took me to the playground for another game. One of the little boys was excited to have me on his team because I am tall (this never happens!), and this game involved jumping. By the end of the game the number of children had doubled, and we were all laughing. It was a wonderful time!

     I have decided that whenever life in Moldova seems a little rough, and going back to the states seems like the only logical solutional, I wll do my best to be creative.