This summer is very quickly coming to a close and I've realized that I haven't written anything about the past few months. The school year ended much like it began and that was with a beautiful assembly where the graduating class released balloons into the air signifying their new found freedom. Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on how you see it), many of them will leave Moldova to attend school in Romania but we're all hoping they will come back with their new skills and help improve Moldova.This summer has been full of afternoon walks in the countryside, getting to know and train the new volunteers here in Moldova, helping my host family with repairs on their house, and of course some traveling. Justin and I (a fellow volunteer and my best friend) were able to go for a couple of days over to Odessa, Ukraine. It really wasn't until we were on the hot 6 hour bus ride that we realized that we really knew no Russian at all and that even getting to our hotel would be a challenge. (My Russian knowledge spands from spacibo "thank you" to random kitchen appliances which unfortunately for this trip proved useless). However, with some miming and at one point pictionary, we were able to get to all the places we wanted to. Luckily, for the upcoming trip with my parents, we will be in Romania where I definitely know the language!
The summer started out
very cool and wet, with a rain shower almost every afternoon. This lead to some flooding around Moldova, and I know at least on of my partner teachers lost all of her crops due to flooding. However, the last month or so has been extremely dry and hot. Luckily, due to all the rain in the beginning months the land is still very green and beautiful. My eyes were always looking out for the sunflower fields that blanket much of the fields here.This afternoon my host mom let me make borsi which is a traditional soup that is very common here in Moldova. My host mom has been keeping her own house since she was 18, so it's hard for her to let someone else do anything around the house. So for her to suggest that I peel and cut all the vegetables was a miracle. I jumped at the opportunity. I thought that finally, she was entrusting me with some of the house work and a meal nonetheless which in this culture is a sacrament almost. It wasn't until after we put the soup on the fire that she mentioned with a warm smile and knowing eyes that this would help my marriage prospects.There are still so many things that seem foreign to me in this country. I'm learning just to take them as it is for now, and hope that someday when I'm older and wiser I can look back at those experiences and find the connections beyond the cultural confusion.
School won't start back up until the 1st of September. I'll meet with my partners a week before and before I'll know it the year will begin and fly by, with many more challenges, lessons, and I'm sure a nice dose of humility and growth. Another volunteer will join me in my village and I'm excited to work with her and possibly get to know more of my community by collaborating with her partners.
I'm thankful for this summer and the ability to get to sit and really try and see what Moldova is all about. There are times when I am frustrated with it and want to head back home where things seem familiar and logical - but there are enough moments where I see the extraordinary in the ordinary moments of people's day's here: a young man giving up his seat for a older lady on a crowded rutiera, my host mom talking to her chickens like they were her children, my students saying "Hello" in English to me on the streets of my village, and the loyal friendships that the local women make between themselves in order to survive. I'm thankful for another year here where I can learn to see more of these moments and judge less harshly the not so pleasant ones. And I hope this will follow me when I return home.
