Now for a lesson in Romanian...

So we (well, Ash) gave you a lesson in Hausa from Niger, so now we put together a story (ish) in Romanian for all of you to enjoy :) 


Noi am ajuns de două săptămîină. Mai înîi noi am conoscut familia noastra gazde. Eu (Ash) locuiesc în Budeşti. În familia mea eu am un tată, o mamă, şi doi fraţi. Pe mama mea gazda o cheamă Angela. Pe tatal meu gazda îl cheamă Valeriu şi fraţii mei gazdă se numesc Adrian şi Engen. Ei au 12 ani şi 13 ani. Îmi place familia mea gazda. Ei sînt drăguţi, prietenoşi, şi ospitalieri.


Familia gazda de Joseph are o soră, un frate, şi o mamă. Mama gazdă a lui se numeşte Raisa. Fratele gazda a lui se numeşte Ion, şi pe sora gazda a lui o cheamă Elena. El locuieşte în Ciorescu. Casa lui e foarte departe de şcoală. 


În fiecare săptămîină noi mergem la Chişinău pentru sesiuni cu toţi voluntarii. În fiecare weekend (yes, Moldovans say weekend..) noi vizităm unul pe celălalt. Apoi noi sîntem fericiţi. 


Amîndoi avem gradine şi amindoi locuim pe dealuri mari. În gradinele noastre cresc roşii, castraveţi, arei (dulce şi iuţi), ceapă, cartofi, morcovi, sfeclă, mărar, vănată, bostunel, zmeură, cireşe, vişine, capsune, caise, mere, pere, şi floari.


Familia gazda mea are iepuri, gaini şi o pisica. Familia gazda de Joseph are un câine şi un motan. 


Noi am învaţat limba româna mult dar noi vrem să exersăm mult. Noi am cumpărat îngheţata în Chişinău dupa sesiunele. Noi trebuie să cumparem umbrele în piaţa. Săptămîină viitoara vom descoperi unde vom locui. Noi sîntem emoţionaţi şi nervoşi.


Tocmai noi am cules cireşe în ploaie şi vînt, a fost frig. Cireşele sînt foarte gustoase. Chiar acum mam mea gazda prepare pizza! Pizza va fi foarte foarte delicioasă....






Whew!! Bravo if anyone made it all the way through, you are rewarded below with a translation and you'll see how we really didn't say anything groundbreaking, but it was fun! Life is crazy busy but we're both feeling as though we're starting to get a tad better grasp on the language and really enjoy both our fellow volunteers, and our host families. We'll write more soon! 






Translation:
We arrived 2 weeks ago. First we met our host families. I (Ash) live in Budeşti. My host family has a mom, dad, and two brothers. My host mom's name is Angela. My host dad's name is Valeriu and my host brothers are Adrian and Engen. They are 12 and 13 years old. I like my host family. They are nice, friendly, and hospitable.


Joseph's host family has a mom, sister, and brother. His host mom's name is Raisa. His host sister's name is Elena and his host brother's name is Ion. He lives in Ciorescu and his house is far from the school.


Every week we go to Chişinău for sessions with all the volunteers. Every weekend we go to see each other. Then we feel happy.


We both have a garden and live on top of big hills. In our gardens grow tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers (sweet and spicy), onions, potatoes, carrots, beets, dill, eggplant, squash, raspberries, cherries, sour cherries, apples, pears, and flowers.


My family has rabbits, chickens (we eat both....), and a female cat, and Joseph's family has a dog and a male cat.


We learned a lot of Romanian but want to practice a lot. We bought ice cream in Chişinău after the sessions. We need to buy an umbrella in the market. Next week we're going to discover where we'll live. We're excited and nervous.


We just picked cherries in the rain and wind, it was cold. The cherries are very tasty. Right now, my host mom is making pizza. The pizza will be very very tasty!!

The Enchantment of Life

Cherries. Fresh cherries; spending but a brief second in my hand between being plucked off the branch, and being popped into my mouth. I would say, and Ash would agree, that the amount of natural life, greenery, and fertility is possibly what has astounded us the most in our first 10 days in the great (albeit tiny) nation of Moldova.

We arrived after an overnight flight from New York JFK, connecting in Munich early in the morning for just enough time to pass through security, use the bathroom, and start boarding our last leg flight. There were 54 of us "M26" volunteers (we're the 26th group of volunteers to serve in Moldova since PC was invited here in 1993) stepping off the plane and waiting for our luggage - some in vain since it had been announced before takeoff that we had too much stuff with us for Luftansa to be able to fit on the plane - and I'm sure we looked a bit dumb struck. Local time was just past noon as we exited the modest but clean airport into the brilliant Eastern European sun and tried to cram said stuff into two waiting buses.

Honestly the rest of that day is a long blur. Somewhere in there we heard a welcome address from our Country Director, received cell phones and local currency, water filters, fire extinguishers, and oh, how could I forget; smoke detectors. I remember this because when you've been traveling for over 24 hours and you open a bag to find a smoke detector, your only logical conclusion is that you're going crazy.

Ash and I had to say goodbye to each other as we were split into groups of about 8 or 9 volunteers according to sector (she is Health Education, I'm Agribusiness Development), and shipped out to our respective host villages to meet our host families. Did I mention we didn't have any language lessons before meeting our host families? Yea, about that... I was fortunate that my host sister speaks a bit of English, so the first meal in the house wasn't complete silence. Ash wasn't so fortunate, no one in her family speaks English, although now that is definitely a positive as she is picking up the language (Romanian) super fast :)

Moldova is an absolutely gorgeous country. Green rolling hills and some of the most fertile soil on the planet, everything grows here. Every other tree is a walnut tree (I can't wait for whenever walnuts are ripe!), most families who live in a house (as opposed to an apartment - think outwardly decrepit Soviet block buildings) has an AMAZING garden and usually at least one kind of fruit tree. As I mentioned, cherries have been ripe for the picking so far. They are starting to disappear though, which is extremely sad until I look in my back yard and see all the raspberries beginning to ripen on the bushes and the red of strawberries glinting out from under their green leaf ground cover.

To say this is a different experience than PC Niger would be a laughable understatement. It is neither better nor worse, simply incomparable. Suffice to say that one similarity is that we feel safe and are, in spite of the overwhelmption (don't judge my words :), excited for the next two years (hopefully this time!) here.