Buna Ziua!
Today marks my fourth day in the office and almost a week out of training. Crazy how time flies!
Last Friday I swore in with fellow ARBD (businessy) and COD (community developmenty) PC volunteers. What I thought was going to be a long day was, but it was great, really great. It started off with coffee, ice cream and Bailey's Irish Cream for breakfast. Whatever events followed by that as your breakfast should and will be awesome. Hands down. I had to laugh as I came down stairs and saw that on the table waiting for me. It was raining of course in the morning as we were all dressed up in our outfits packing suitcase upon suitcase into the private Ruteara (minibus/ Mercedes Spirit van) but Moldovan optimism believes rain on an important day means luck for those involved. So far so true.
The US Ambassador for Moldova gave a nice speech along with our Country Director and two volunteers, our program directors announced with a slide show where we are from in the US and where we were going to work, we stood for the Star Spangled Banner and the National Anthem for Moldova and most importantly, raised our right hands and were sworn into service. Not to boast about how cool it was to do so but... but...Peace Corps volunteers say the same oath the President of the US does when he swears into office. :) Pretty sweet.
Following the ceremony and a discussion about housing with our host family we dispersed like little worker bees and fluttered away to our future sites. I think the longest anyone had to drive was 5 hours. Not bad. My drive was about an hour and a half thanks to my work partner's driving abilities even with the occasional stop to check under the hood. By bus it takes about 2 and a half hours. The day continued to be great when we got to the apartment and Tatiana's (my new host mom) friends greeted us at the doorway with the traditional welcoming braided bread and salt and a table full of food ready to be devoured. Its such a cool feeling to be completely welcomed and emerged in a culture different than your own.
Mama gazda, Tatiana is an absolute sweetheart. She is a busy little nurse in the Romanian school in town and the special needs (boarding?) school. I'm pretty sure she never stops running around. She organizes "monastery excursions," sings in the choir and probably knows just about everyone in town. During the school year her daughter's son, Adele comes to live with her and attends school in Rezina while his parents work in Italy. Such a crazy concept but this isn't the only example of missing parents and a missing generation in Moldova. He is proving to be a great little host brother as well and I think he think's I'm not to bad either. (:
And just when I had about enough to say in this long winded blog, a neighbor dude walks into the apartment with a jar of bees and really really long tweezers.
I guess Tatiana hired him to do what I would say is the craziest thing I have seen yet in Moldova. Tatiana sat with her back to him and he picked out one bee at a time with the tweezers and had the bee sting her on four parallel parts of her lower and upper back. Some people get chiropractic work, some massages, some use Cannabis others depend on pharmaceutical drugs and in this case, Apis mellifera (honey bees) to relieve chronic pain. Since I dig acupuncture and understand it to a point (haha get it, a point) it doesn't completely surprise me that Tatiana is using it for treatment of back pain and chronic headaches but it sure was cool to watch. An article online suggests the sting provides the stimulation needed to activate the adrenal gland and start producing Cortisol. If you want to learn more google apitherapy.
Well that's all for today, I didn't want to talk a ton about Rezina or my job yet because I just don't know that much about either. So far both are great, I like it here and have no complaints! Well one complaint, ironing. Who thought that with joining the Peace Corps I would have to start ironing my clothes?!? Mama gazda gives me the up and down eye to make sure I look completely fit to go out of the apartment if not......):
:)
Kate
"If it doesn't challenge you, It doesn't change you"
Here are photos people took at the swearing in ceremony. I also added a bunch of photos in the "Photos" link under Moldova.
Today marks my fourth day in the office and almost a week out of training. Crazy how time flies!
Last Friday I swore in with fellow ARBD (businessy) and COD (community developmenty) PC volunteers. What I thought was going to be a long day was, but it was great, really great. It started off with coffee, ice cream and Bailey's Irish Cream for breakfast. Whatever events followed by that as your breakfast should and will be awesome. Hands down. I had to laugh as I came down stairs and saw that on the table waiting for me. It was raining of course in the morning as we were all dressed up in our outfits packing suitcase upon suitcase into the private Ruteara (minibus/ Mercedes Spirit van) but Moldovan optimism believes rain on an important day means luck for those involved. So far so true.
The US Ambassador for Moldova gave a nice speech along with our Country Director and two volunteers, our program directors announced with a slide show where we are from in the US and where we were going to work, we stood for the Star Spangled Banner and the National Anthem for Moldova and most importantly, raised our right hands and were sworn into service. Not to boast about how cool it was to do so but... but...Peace Corps volunteers say the same oath the President of the US does when he swears into office. :) Pretty sweet.
Following the ceremony and a discussion about housing with our host family we dispersed like little worker bees and fluttered away to our future sites. I think the longest anyone had to drive was 5 hours. Not bad. My drive was about an hour and a half thanks to my work partner's driving abilities even with the occasional stop to check under the hood. By bus it takes about 2 and a half hours. The day continued to be great when we got to the apartment and Tatiana's (my new host mom) friends greeted us at the doorway with the traditional welcoming braided bread and salt and a table full of food ready to be devoured. Its such a cool feeling to be completely welcomed and emerged in a culture different than your own.
Mama gazda, Tatiana is an absolute sweetheart. She is a busy little nurse in the Romanian school in town and the special needs (boarding?) school. I'm pretty sure she never stops running around. She organizes "monastery excursions," sings in the choir and probably knows just about everyone in town. During the school year her daughter's son, Adele comes to live with her and attends school in Rezina while his parents work in Italy. Such a crazy concept but this isn't the only example of missing parents and a missing generation in Moldova. He is proving to be a great little host brother as well and I think he think's I'm not to bad either. (:
And just when I had about enough to say in this long winded blog, a neighbor dude walks into the apartment with a jar of bees and really really long tweezers.
I guess Tatiana hired him to do what I would say is the craziest thing I have seen yet in Moldova. Tatiana sat with her back to him and he picked out one bee at a time with the tweezers and had the bee sting her on four parallel parts of her lower and upper back. Some people get chiropractic work, some massages, some use Cannabis others depend on pharmaceutical drugs and in this case, Apis mellifera (honey bees) to relieve chronic pain. Since I dig acupuncture and understand it to a point (haha get it, a point) it doesn't completely surprise me that Tatiana is using it for treatment of back pain and chronic headaches but it sure was cool to watch. An article online suggests the sting provides the stimulation needed to activate the adrenal gland and start producing Cortisol. If you want to learn more google apitherapy.
Well that's all for today, I didn't want to talk a ton about Rezina or my job yet because I just don't know that much about either. So far both are great, I like it here and have no complaints! Well one complaint, ironing. Who thought that with joining the Peace Corps I would have to start ironing my clothes?!? Mama gazda gives me the up and down eye to make sure I look completely fit to go out of the apartment if not......):
:)
Kate
"If it doesn't challenge you, It doesn't change you"
Here are photos people took at the swearing in ceremony. I also added a bunch of photos in the "Photos" link under Moldova.
good writing katalyn. sounds like a life changing experience.
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