Meșterul Manole

Today in Criuleni, there was a celebration called Meșterul Manole. It is an international folklore festival, with groups from Lithuania, Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Romania, and Başchiria dressed in authentic folkware. This year is a particularly important celebration because it is the 20th year of independence for Moldova.

There were a lot of venders selling all kinds of things: paintings, beaded jewelry, pieces of lace knitting and crochet, woodworks, and other kinds of handmade crafts. It was all very impressive. Doamna Parascovia had a booth as well; she was selling her knittings.

In addition to the venders, there was a lot of dancing, which was my favorite part. Each ethnic group did a performance of some kind on the stage. I often found myself bopping along to the music before realizing that people might notice me. But it didn’t matter because there were many people who danced to the music in the middle of the square. I really enjoyed hearing the music and watching the dancing. 

I wanted to know what the festival was named after, so I looked up the legend of Meșterul Manole. There are some differences between different sites, but this seems to be what I saw the most.

In Romanian mythology, Meşterul Manole (roughly meaning “the master builder Manole”) was the chief architect of the Curtea de Argeş Monastery in Wallachia. The myth of the cathedral's construction is expressed in the folk poem Monastirea Argeşului ("The Monastery on the Argeş River"). 

Negru Voda wanted to build the most beautiful monastery in the country so he hired Master Manole, the best mason of those times, along with his 9 men. Some mysterious curse made that everything Manole and his masons were building in day-time, was doomed to fall down by night. Because the walls of the monastery were always crumbling, the prince threatened him and his assistants with death. 

Manole prayed to God for help in order to continue his work. His plea resulted in a vision in which he was told that, in order to build the most beautiful monastery, he had to wall in someone very beloved by him or by his masons. He told his masons about it and they agreed that the first wife who came there on the following morning should be the victim. The other masons warned their families, so Manole`s wife, Ana (who was pregnant) came first. 

A well-known fragment of the poem depicts the struggle the oblivious Ana took in order to reach the construction site. A devoted wife, she aimed to show up in time with her husband's meal. Manole would have been watching her from atop the walls, begging God to present her with all possible challenges. While God paradoxically listened, and unleashed all sorts of small-scale disasters, Ana kept on walking. She was sent by the destiny and built alive, with her unborn baby. She implored Manole to let her go, but he kept his promise. Thus the beautiful monastery was built and the curse vanished. 

When Manole and his masons told the prince that they could always build an even greater building, Radu Negru had them stranded on the roof so that they could not build something to match it. The action forced Manole and his team to build themselves wings out of shingles (the only material available to them) and attempt to fly off to safety. One by one, they all fell to the ground. A spring of clear water, called after Manole, is said mark the spot where Manole fell.

Baby Steps, Maggie, Baby Steps

So after the first 2 days here in Criuleni, I thought it would be difficult to have time to myself. Well, I was wrong. I haven’t needed to go into work for the past 3 days. I have been calling my partner to talk about me coming in, but there have been seminars for the teachers at the school, which are taught in Romanian. So my partner told me not to come in. I couldn’t tell if they were telling me to stay home because they wanted me to rest or because they didn’t know what do with the American. I’m assuming the first.

But I finally got to go in again today. But it ended up not being exciting at all. My partner teachers were busy with their responsibilities, which they didn’t need my help with, or perhaps they didn’t want my help. So I ended up just sitting by myself and working on retyping a document I needed. After a little while, Svetlana told me I could go home.

I didn’t really accomplish much in terms of collaborating and planning with my partners, but it was nice to just be at the school. Although it was completely unintentional, I felt very left out. I was hoping to help with something; maybe planning our first lesson or coming up with a disciplinary plan. But since it’s the beginning of my relationships with my partners, I didn’t want to come in being demanding and controlling. Today reminded me that this whole experience will require a lot of patience and flexibility from me. We’re taking baby steps. And I won’t be in control the whole time. Just typing this makes me stop and realize how much work these next 2 years will involve. Whew.

The 4 Times I Almost Cried During PST

So far, I have not cried, which I think is a big accomplishment. I thought there would be at least one break down by now. However, I did have my weak moments when I almost cried. And the surprising thing is that for all but one time, I almost cried over something I didn’t think would make me cry.

1. It was during the first week of Practice School (7 weeks into my time here in Moldova) when I was teaching by myself. I had been working until 11:30 every night for 3 nights now, and I was not yet feeling particularly proud of my lessons. It was 6:00 and I had at least 5 hours of work ahead of me. I was walking my 40-minute walk home and feeling overwhelmed by the amount of work we have to do and what is expected of us. I was starting to cry as I was walking, but I still had 10 minutes before I got home and no sunglasses. I did not want everyone in my neighborhood to see me cry as I walked into my host family’s home.

2. My host family was having a masă. I was noticing my host mom and sister interacting, and they reminded me of my mom and me. I was suddenly overwhelmed with missing my mom, which grew into me missing my family and friends. I started to get teary-eyed, but there were 15 people around me and I did not feel like explaining why the American is crying when everyone was being very hospitable.

3. It was 3 days before I was leaving Cojușna. I was walking home when one of the neighbor kids has said hello to me. I had recently learned her name, Mihaela (Cute story: she always says hello to me, and her cuteness stands out compared to the others. One day, she said “hello, Maggie” to me and I said hello back. Her brother was with her and tried to tell her how to say “my name is Mihaela” in English, but she just ended up saying “hello Mihaela” instead. It was very cute. I understood well enough, and now I knew her name). It was very dark, and I could barely make out shapes. But when Mihaela said hello to me, I could easily tell it was her. She giggled when I said “hello, Mihaela”, and I could hear her talking about me once I left. All the sudden I realized that I would not be seeing her or any of the neighborhood kids any more. It took me 2 months to make friends with them, and I walk through a neighborhood everyday. In Criuleni, my house is practically on the main road. I was very upset at the thought of not making friends with neighborhood kids. But I was almost home, and I didn’t want to explain to my host family why I showed up in tears. So I held the tears back.

4. It was the last night in Cojușna, and I was spending it with Holly, Jim, Matt, Lauren, and Cassie at the Cojușna winery. On our way out, I said something about how I was going to miss them. And then it hit me that I was going to be the only American in a 30 kilometer radius, and that I was going to see these guys for several months. My eyes started to water, but Cassie demanded that I stopped because she would start to cry as well. So I did.

Miss Independence

Doamna Parascovia and Roman took me to Chișinău today, and I was able to purchase the things that I needed, including internet. I wasn’t allowed the sign the contract, so Roman signed for me. Due to language barriers and I didn’t know I was going to purchase internet today, I didn’t quite get what internet plan I wanted. But it works fine. Now I will be distracted during my free time, so I won’t be able to solve world hunger and poverty. Perhaps another time. They also took me to Metro, which is Moldova’s version of Costco except much smaller. I was able to get everything I needed.

Today’s interactions made me miss my independence in America. I did not feel like a 25-year-old adult woman. I need be driven places. I need someone else to sign contracts for me. I need help reading what a product is (a lot of things are just in Russian, and I don’t know every Romanian word). I don’t have the flexibility to go purchase anything I need whenever I want. And while I appreciate how helpful Moldovans are with me, I miss the ability to work independently. Well, I’ll try to think of it as something that will make me a better person.

Lingually Challenged

This summer, I was learning Romanian because the school I will teach at has students who speak Romanian. However, I am living with a family that speaks Russian in their home because Roman only knows Russian. Doamna Parascovia speaks Romanian to me. I found all this out when I visited my host family in June.

So today, I found out a couple more challenges with learning Romanian. Camilla is from Italy, and apparently Doamna Parascovia can speak Italian. So when they are talking to each other, it’s in Italian. Finding this out made me feel a little better because I never understood anything they said to each other. Now I know why. And Roman is from Ukraine, but his family is Polish, so sometimes he uses Polish words. Although I haven’t been told such yet, I’m guessing that Roman will also uses some Ukrainian words since that is where he is from. So the following languages are spoken in my new home: Russian, Italian, Polish, Romanian, and possibly Ukrainian. It’s a good thing I’m teaching English because otherwise, I don’t know if I would recognize the language after two years of living here.

Who Needs Internet

Well, I was supposed to have this day off since I didn’t get yesterday off. But I woke to Svetlana knocking on my door asking me for copies of the lessons plans I wrote this summer. I didn’t have to go anywhere, but being awoken by a colleague kind of throws you off. Once again, I am reminded that you never really get a day off when you’re in the Peace Corps.

Yesterday I had spent my time of rest watching a couple movies. So today, I was bored with that. Without internet, I am super productive. I have organized a whole bunch of pictures that I have been meaning to for over a year now. I organized all my papers from the PC and threw away what I didn’t need anymore. Finished up arranging my room. And all of this by 1:00pm. If I don’t purchase internet soon, I probably can come up with a solution to world hunger and poverty during my free time in my first couple weeks.

First Full Day In Criuleni

Svetlana and I met at 8:00am to walk to the school. On the walk there, she showed me around again, which was good since I didn’t remember everything she had shown/told me in June. We got to the school, had a quick meeting with Doamna Ana, and then met with the English teachers.

The meeting with the English teachers was about making long-term plans for the English department for this school year and the next 5 years. I would have probably found it more interesting if it was done in English. Alas, the teachers spoke in Romanian. I tried to follow as much as possible, but they spoke very quickly. But we did decide that I would start an English club some time during the year. And they informed me that I would be giving a welcome speech to the school the first day, in both Romanian and English. I hope I didn’t miss anything else I’m supposed to do.

The vice mayor was also visiting the school and wanted to meet me. So Svetlana and I went to meet him in Doamna Ana’s office. He introduced himself as Alexandru and shook my hand (men in Moldova don’t usually shake women’s hands). Since he was at the school and asked to meet me, I assumed he wanted to find out a little about what I will do this year. Instead, he asked about how America handles stray dogs. I explained pounds and how many Americans are active in finding homes for strays. They asked if we shoot the dogs, and I explained euthanasia. For a first meeting, I was not quite ready for this.

On the walk home, Svetlana showed me the magazins, alimentaras, and banks. I bought a few essentials before we went to the Orange store to look into me purchasing internet. However, at this particular store, I was not able to sign a contract since I’m not Moldovan. I think I will have to go into Chișinău to buy something. So it looks like I’ll be without internet for a little bit. I guess this is right since I had internet the whole time during PST. I should experience no internet for a little while.

Overall, it was actually a very exhausting day. Tomorrow, the students and teachers are cleaning the school. Since there are no meetings, I’m going to have a day off since I didn’t get one today.