Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Preparation, Take 2


Wow. Life has brought us here again. To the edge of yet another adventure, another (maybe) two years away in a strange land. When I glance at the calendar, I have to do a double-take, verify it's working properly (perhaps a paper calendar would be simpler...), and wonder where the last four months have gone. It seems as though only yesterday Ash and I were stepping off the plane into the blistering cold of Colorado's winter, shell-shocked and wondering why we weren't still in Niger.
Since that time, Ash spent some time at with her family, invested herself in taking care of the beautiful son of friends of ours, and has filled the much needed role of Volunteer Coordinator for my nonprofit (saying "my" sounds so wrong but i don't know how else to say it). I have also had the opportunity to work for Revision International as well (aka, "my" nonprofit), which has been such an amazing blessing I can hardly describe. We have split our time living with friends (thank you Debbie and Pam and Brad!!) while trying to help them with various things like urban farming (www.farmyardcsa.com) and interior painting.
This unexpected time has been simultaneously an amazing gift and an intense time of testing (well, let's call it like it is; frustration). A gift in that we have connected with our friends in new and profound ways. They have helped teach us the meaning of trust, both practically by supporting us in this lean time, and emotionally and spiritually by encouraging us as we've struggled through intense Niger withdrawals. The testing/frustration has been really learning how to trust (then instantly forgetting and having to relearn it again after first realizing that indeed we did forget!). Trust in the belief we have both always shared that things do in fact happen for a reason, and trust that all that is ours to do is to try to let go of our vain sense of control.
So about that letting go part... We were reassigned to Eastern Europe, Moldova to be precise. And now that flight takes off in 8 days from Philadelphia to begin another 8-10 weeks of language (Romanian!) and cultural training. However this time Ash and I will be split up for training, living separately in different villages, able to see each other once a week and hopefully (if we live close enough and can afford transportation) on the weekends. So that is adding a whole new angle on our preparations, both physically and emotionally. While we know we'll be 'ok' through the separation, who would want to be away from their best friend for 10 weeks?
Anyhow, here we are and here we go! We're excited for the next chapter, however long it ends up being, and we know we're going with purpose. Thank you to all of our amazing family and friends who have been there with us during this transition, it couldn't have been better. 
We have a new address! We'd love to hear from you and from what we can tell, the shipping procedures are a bit more straight forward and secure than Niger, but there are some notes below the address if you're thinking of sending something...

Joseph & Ashley Teipel, PCT M26
Corpul Pacii
12 Grigore Ureche Str.
Chisinau 2001
Republic of Moldova

*PCT stands for Peace Corps Trainee. Once you become a volunteer this abbreviation will change to PCV. It just helps the office to sort your packages more easily.

*If you send a letter or card draw a dollar sign with a slash through it on the envelope (to indicate there is no money inside).
*If you send a package write "Dumnezeu te vede"(God sees you) on the outside.
For some reason packages tend to arrive more promptly and intact than letters.