Signs of Spring!

It seems as if Winter is unwilling to give up its grasp on Moldova. A few weeks ago it seemed like Spring was actually upon us. All the snow had melted and there was that Spring scent in the air. Unfortunately for this desert creature, winter has begrudgingly kept its presence over the land. Snow continues to fall just when it seemed the ground has cleared itself from it. As you can tell, I am frustrated with this weather. My host mom told me that at this time last year, they were planting seeds in the garden and preparing for Spring. Hopefully in a few weeks or even days, this will be the case. However unwillingly the weather is acting concerning the change of seasons, it is evident that the people of Moldova and the animals are anxious for Spring to be among us. So far some of my favorite holidays and celebrations have happened in the first week of March. The first day of March, Mărţişor (pronounced Marts-e-shor) as it is called here, is a quaint and lovely celebration where the people of Moldova celebrate the beginning of Spring by wearing decorative red and white pins (an example of this type of pin is shown to the left). I was lucky to be in the Capital around the first of March for a seminar and all along the streets were women vendors selling these pins in every shape and size. There is a legend that goes along with the tradition and many people wear these pins all throughout the month of March. At the end of March, people go outside and place these pins on their favorite tree and this is a wish/hope that this tree with have many blossoms in the Spring time. Since it is so bleak and cold outside, it is so nice to have this beautiful reminder that Spring is really around the corner! For more information about Mărţişor, here is a link to a good website that explains the legend.

http://www.iatp.md/mymoldova/news2007_en.html

Another great holiday happened on the 8th of March. This is International Women's Day. Many people were surprised when I said that this day isn't really celebrated in America as much is it is here, though I highly recommend that America looks into doing so! Schools aren't in session and everyone gives the women in their life a small gift as a token of their appreciation. My host father gave me and my host mother flowers and chocolates and we drank a bottle of champagne. I gave my host mom a new set of knives for the kitchen since they work a lot with meat and they cut huge loaves of bread for almost every meal here. She's so cute with them. She likes them so much that she only used on of the knives once to check it out and then immediately put it back in the wrapping! She said that she liked the gift so much that she doesn't want to ruin them! Hopefully they will get more use later on!

Finally, a sign that Spring is almost here, is that our dear cow Florica, gave birth to a baby boy a few weeks ago. She gave birth to him over night without any help. The next morning my host mother ran into my room at around 6 o'clock screaming something in excitement. As I was rubbing the sleep from my eyes and simultaneously trying to translate her excited Romanian, I figured something huge much have happened. And as I went into the kitchen to have my breakfast, there laid the newborn cow right smack-dabb in the middle of our small kitchen. It was really quite a sight (and a smell) and even more of an experience when he started standing up for the first time in order to get to my breakfast. Me naturally assuming it was a Moldovan cow and could understand Romanian, I started screaming "Opriţi" which means "STOP". But apparently, the translation was lost on him. :) So he stayed in our kitchen for a few days since it was really cold, but now he is outside with his mom and doing quite well. My host parents were sure that I was deathly afraid of him, and I have to admit that I was a little timid of him being so close to me. I mean, baby cows are the size of what seems like small horses! I think Florica the cow needs to have some loving on Women's Day for all the work she had to do to give birth to this little one.

In short, change will be upon us soon here in Moldova, and like many things dealing with my Peace Corps experience, it will involve patience to see it come true. Right now I am trying to wrap up my classes at school and trying to keep all my students as focused as I can. Recently I went to a seminar on grant writing and my school director, partner teacher, and I are trying to come up to realistic projects that we could complete while I'm here. I'm also in the process of trying to get some donations of English books and magazines for my school. And lastly, but very importantly, I'm starting to plan a trip to Romania for our Easter break.

Hope this update finds everyone healthy, happy, and optimistic about what Spring can bring for us and for the world.