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101 days in Moldova: one thing I love
About two weeks ago I came home from work to find my host mother’s mother laying on a bed outside of the house. Thankfully I had met her once before so I felt pretty sure this was her. Baba only speaks Gagauzian and her eyesight is fading out, so we had a hard time communicating […]
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Первый Звонок — First Bell
September 13, 2011
September 1 is the first day of primary and secondary school for Moldovan children. I had heard stories about this day, called First Bell, from my host sister Veronica, teachers, and other volunteers. The holiday sounded like a huge production – concerts, speeches, feasting all day. This year I missed my village’s events. I worked […]
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My first village friend
September 11, 2011
Last week I walked home from work to drop off my computer. I was exhausted and in need of a moment alone with the English side of my brain. My host mother’s daughter, Tanya was there with her 6-month-old daughter, Liera. I told my host mother and Tanya I needed to run to the bank. […]
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Chasing after the warm days
September 11, 2011
We’ve been busy preparing for winter and rolling with the punches. I’m looking forward to posting many updates this week while I have Internet access – stay tuned.
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A sense of community
August 19, 2011
Today is Gagauzia Independence Day. (Gagauzia declared independence from the Soviet Union on August 19, 1991.) My host mother and I celebrated by going to church. Here are some highlights of what this entailed: We toured the garden to see what we could bring with us. We picked about 2 kilograms of purple and white […]
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Birthdays – дни рождения
August 12, 2011
Monday was Aliona (my work partner)’s son’s 3rd birthday. She invited me to the party. I have now attended three Moldovan birthdays. This one still shocked me as the others did. The amount of work that goes into hosting a birthday party is crazy to me. Here, the Moldova birthday boy or girl hosts a […]
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Housecleaning
August 11, 2011
здравствуйте! Hello! I am now officially a Peace Corps Volunteer, and officially have Internet access. My Internet connection is poor during the day but usually works in the middle of the night, which will be convenient for you Central- and Eastern-Standard-Timers. The Swearing-in ceremony was pretty spanking cool. Twenty-six of us trainees took the official […]
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Lost in translation: #1 of many
July 3, 2011
Language – Limba – язык The Moldovan dialect is somewhat of a mix of Romanian and Russian. I hear and see both languages every day. A surprising amount of Moldovans know both languages but prefer to speak one over the other, largely for political reasons. Other Moldovans simply mash the two together, beginning a sentence […]
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The adventures begin
June 6, 2011
привет! Today marked my second palindromic day in Moldova. I left Columbus, Ohio and my wonderful family on 6/06 and have been soaking up the Russian language and Moldovan culture ever since. I have very limited Internet access until August, so I apologize for the puny updates until then. Here are a few quick notes […]
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Мария в Молдове 
September 17, 2011
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