Springtime

First of all, did anyone else get the urge to sing “Springtime for Hitler and Germany” when they read this title? If you didn’t, I hope you are singing it now.

So on the topic of springtime, I think spring has finally showed up. Moldova celebrates the first day of spring on March 1, and I was hopeful for the season to begin. But then it snowed several more times since then. There’s a saying here that when it snows after March 15, it’s the lady in the sky, Baba Odokia, shaking out her winter coats.

The most annoying thing about spring coming is the transition into spring. Everything is melting, and mud is everywhere. And since I have to walk everywhere, I notice the mud much more than I would have in America. Many roads are unpaved, so clearly they are just mud. And there is so much mud and melting snow that those paths that are paved are flooded with mud still.

SIDENOTE: I feel like I’m using the word “mud” a lot. I don’t like using the same word over and over again when I’m writing, but the overuse of the word “mud” can be seen as a metaphor for how much mud there has been.

Anyways, the ground was so muddy that on several occasions, my foot started to slip out of my shoe because it was stuck in the mud. It’s no wonder there was so much mud after a winter with so much snow. But I think the mud is finally mostly dried up. With winter providing a frozen ground and spring provides the muddy death trap, I’m curious to see what new obstacle Moldova will provide next in my daily commute.

The past several days have been beautiful. The sun was shining and the temperature was cool. From my window, outside looks so sunny and bright and beautiful that I want to do my work outside. But it’s still a bit too chilly for that; after sitting still for more than 15 minutes, I am too cold. But it means that warmer weather is on the way, and I’m looking forward to it.

Pardon? Did You Just Offer Me My Dream Job?

Today I had my second lesson with my adult class, and so far, I’m really liking it. It is a lot of work making up lessons without a book to follow, but it’s so nice to teach a class how I want. And while I’m sure my lessons are far from perfect, it’s nice to feel like I’m making them the best that I can. It’s not like I’m not trying my best in school; it’s just very different working with partners. Most teachers don’t go into the teaching profession because they like to let go of control.

Anyway, at the end of the lesson, one of the adults asked me if I could also teach English to some children. She said it would be about 5 or so children, ages 7-11. It took all of my energy to not hurl myself onto her with a giant hug. I could barely contain my excitement at the prospect of teaching elementary kids seeing as this is something I have wanted to do for a really long time.

But the most difficult thing was remembering how busy I already am and legitimately thinking I don’t have enough time (for the planning, not the actually lesson). Do you know how hard it is to say “no” to a dream opportunity? It’s so hard that I actually didn’t say no. I told them I would try it for a week and see how it goes. I’m pretty sure I’m going to do everything in my power to make sure I can keep this. I’m not sure how I will balance everything, but I think having something like this on my plate will add a great deal of sanity to this absent-minded volunteer.

Woes of a Whiny Volunteer

When I started thinking about joining the Peace Corps, I did a lot of research. I talked to many people who had been volunteers, and I read many, many memoirs about volunteers’ experiences. However, whenever I was reading someone’s account of his or her experience, I had to remember that each person’s experience could be vastly different than another’s. Pieces of advice depended greatly on your job and location. Someone’s difficulties in Africa could be the exact opposite problem for someone in South America. However, after reading and hearing many different experiences, there were two things that seemed to be the common problems for most volunteers: loneliness and boredom. Therefore, I tried to prepare myself for these very likely future difficulties.

Loneliness is very easy to understand and quickly experienced. Everyday, I am surround by people of a different culture, which, in some ways, is pretty exciting. But when the stress of this difficult job in a different culture is getting to me, the fact that I’m the only American in a 20 kilometer radius feeling this way makes me feel even lonelier. Not to mention all the cultural and language barriers floating out there. Additionally, I don’t have social life. A lot of my work is done after school hours: planning, making material, typing everything, laminating everything (i.e. using packaging tape), etc. When I was in America, I was active in many activities after work hours. That is not true here. And pretty much any activity I do after work hours could technically be categorized as work. And I miss my family and friends back home, obviously. Anyways, being 5,000 miles away from the people I love the most and the only American in a town with a job that requires me working in my room after school hours and allows no social life results in loneliness.

Boredom, however, is not something that can apply to my situation. Many PCV experiences that I had read talked about having nothing to do when they leave work, and how their “office” cancels work a lot, so they have a lot of time to fill. In my situation, I think it would be more accurate to describe my feeling as restlessness. I feel like I am always working. When I finish my day at school, I come home to the pile of work I need to prepare for school the next day. Most night, I’m not done until 8 or 9 o’clock. I keep waiting for that day when I’m going to get faster at this. But as I start to get faster, I find a way to make something better, which takes more time, and therefore, I’m still working the same length of time. And while I feel like all the work is necessary and well worth (although sometimes I have to remind myself that fact), it can be very difficult working all the time. I’m used to being a busy and active person, but usually my time is filled with multiple things. I had activities I did outside of work, plus (what is now a foreign concept) a social life. Having my all my time filled with one thing is a new concept for me, and I’m not sure I like it very much. Sometimes, I’m so tired that I wish I had never heard so many accounts of PCV needing to find things to fill their free time. It sounds like a luxury I would appreciate.

I mentioned that I’m going to start teaching an adult English class and continue a youth English club. Both of these things seem like the perfect kind of thing I would like. They will be something I enjoy doing, and they will give me a break from my schoolwork. But I must confess, I’m worried about adding one more thing to my full days. Even though I think it will help my mentality, it will not help my constant feeling of restlessness. But I’m hoping that my feeling of restlessness will change to a feeling of vivacity and accomplishment. Here goes it!

Girls Rule, Boys Drool

Today is another holiday; it’s International Women’s Day. I was surprised to learn about this international holiday because I don’t remember hearing about it back in the States. However, based on the way it is celebrated here, Women’s Day is a close equivalent to Mother’s Day. I think I like it here better because every woman is celebrated, not just mothers.

Many traditions here on Women’s Day are very similar to USA Mother’s Day. The men give the women in their lives flowers and small gifts. It is stressed that the men get something for any woman important in their life: mothers, wives, girlfriends, daughters, colleagues, etc. Women also show appreciation for the important women in their lives with small gifts or flowers as well.

I celebrated with my host family, but it wasn’t anything huge. My host dad cooked a meal for my host mom and me. He also bought some flowers for the kitchen. Like I said, it wasn’t huge, but it was nice to celebrate together. I know some other volunteers’ families had huge masăs with lots of guests. And many men volunteers had to bring lots of flowers to work to pass out to their female colleagues. My school has a masă, but they celebrated yesterday and I was in Chișinău for a PC training, so I missed it. But it seems that no matter how one’s celebrates Women’s Day, appreciation for women is shown. Yay for women!

Marțișor

Marțișor: the first day of spring. Today is a celebration of the rebirth of life after the hard winter. And Moldovans celebrate by giving loved ones marțișors. “Marțișor” literally means ‘little March’, and they are symbols of serenity and happiness. They are small pins with red and white thread sewn together. Some have flowers, others have something crocheted out of the red/white thread. Here is a picture of some of the marțișors I received.

The receiver of a marțișor wears it until the end of March. When March is over, the receiver puts his/her marțișors onto a blossoming tree as a way to acknowledge the onset of spring. Someone who gave me a marțișor also told me that putting the marțișor on a tree would guarantee me many healthy children in the future.

There is a legend behind marțișor. An old Romanian legend says that once in a fight with Winter Witch who didn’t want to give up its place, the beautiful Lady Spring cut her finger and a few drops of her blood fell on the snow. There, the snow melted and a snowdrop flower grew. In such a way, the spring won the winter.