February in Susleni

Hello again. How’s life? Couldn’t be too bad in the land of Dr. Pepper, opportunity, smiling faces, logical public transportation, people that brush their teeth and speak English, and delicious salads with ranch dressing...

Ha just kidding. People email me… and apparently I could have saved myself a trip to Moldova cuz they tell me there are problems to fix everywhere… ;) EVEN in America. Thanks a lot guys, maybe next time tell me these things BEFORE I step on a plane heading to a country we’ve never heard of…

Anyway, here is a very brief overview of the past few months. (Throughout all this…although unwritten…I was missing and thinking of you!)

December: Over Christmas break I had time to travel to Prague, Czech Republic and Krakow, Poland. Spectacular. I also saw my first and only concentration camp Auschwitz…and besides this bummer…...the rest of the trip was very nice.

Although Auschwitz was a bummer, it was still interesting. There were rooms specifically for hair, suitcases, combs, etc. Absolutely sickening. We have got to take better care of each other. Just one huge room full of HAIR from victims. The Nazis used everything. The hair was used to make rope.

While visiting the gas chambers, you can’t help but imagine yourself as one of these poor souls… being forced into these rooms…full of strangers, all of you naked, being told you are going to take a shower after such a long horrible journey, only to find you’ve been tricked and will be murdered via suffocation with the rest. For some reason I always thought you just sort of passed out in these gas chambers. No, actually I discovered that the gas has an effect on the oxygen in your blood and therefore suffocates you internally. That place was messed up and not my idea of “vacation”…although it was educational…

Anyway, I traveled with 2 other volunteers. We had a great time. I ended up getting lost from them on Christmas and spent the day wondering around Prague by myself. It was really fun though. I went at my own pace… which landed me a mission to find a phone card and back to the hostel for a bit to call home. ;)

I talked to my fam on the phone…even my little nieces and although it was really comforting to talk with them...it was pretty chaotic at Granny’s house as usual…which sent me happily back out into Prague for a lovely night of lights, delicious foods with hot wine, and a surprise huge museum hall with an amazing symphony playing American Christmas songs…I eventually stumbled into my 2 friends and we went to a blues/jazz place later.

Krakow, Poland was surprisingly very nice. Castles, intricate churches, lots of art and LOTS of friendly pigeons. (I have a GREAT hostel recommendation for anyone going to Poland. Very helpful, free breakfast and internet, free Nutella!)

I was supposed to meet up with another volunteer who is actually FROM Poland and go back home after some authentic food, but her plans changed (that's the nice way of putting it) and I ended up going home on the train by myself (the other 2 girls continued their travels). It was pretty interesting making my way home with no Russian skills. It was funny; all these people were taking home Christmas trees on the train. You should have seen them hauling them around as if it were actually going to be worth it. Silly parents. You go to way too much trouble for us brats. ;)

I made a friend on the train who spoke decent English. It was nice because we were both alone and it was a 24 hour train ride. She shared her sandwiches with me and I showed her pictures. She was on her way to visit her boyfriend in Chisinau. They hadn’t seen each other in months. Wow. It was like in movie. As the train got closer…she told me to put my hand on her chest…it was pounding like CRAZY. Then as the train stopped they ran toward each other and embraced. It was so beautiful… I wanted to vomit. I really did. But I decided to be polite and curse them later. ;) Just kidding. She was great and asked great questions. Isn't it funny how easy it can be to pour your life story to a complete stranger? I have a tendency to get nervous when people ask me personal questions...I think we are conditioned this way. But when the coast is clear, this is a really healthy way to better understand yourself...having to say it all outloud.

Anyway, the train rolled in around 9:30pm on New Year’s Eve. After some difficulty, due to my huge backpack and a dead cell phone… I met up with some friends and we went to Chisinau’s big celebration on the square. The President of Moldova made his speech and TALKED RIGHT THROUGH THE COUNTDOWN. We all were looking at the big screen with the numbers going down wondering…ok…he’s going to stop talking now…no…..now…Sir!!!! There are only 2 seconds on the clock...please stop talking!…well anyway, he didn’t. So we were all quiet. Thousands of us! How did that man keep us shushed??? I aspire to have that much power when I grow up. All the same, 5 minutes later my friends and I had a pretend countdown right there because we felt jipped.

2007 is the “year of the pig” so I have received lots of little piggy gifts….and guess what you are all getting as souvenirs?? ;)

Here’s a HUGE thanks to those who are keeping in touch and those who helped out with donations for the Model United Nations Conference. It was pushed back because we didn’t have enough money, but we are close to meeting budget now. My students are really excited and have worked so hard in preparation. Our country is Belgium. For those of you not familiar with this conference, please look it up online, it’s interesting.

The rest of the months kind of blur together with different club activities (health club and travel club), health education classes, site visit from Peace Corps, weekends in Chisinau with other volunteers, MoldovaTip (PC organization helping spread awareness about human trafficking), and my baby project is getting bands together and working with other volunteers, RedCross, UNAID, and UNICEF to put on a huge HIV/AIDS benefit concert on May 19th.

There is an International HIV/AIDS Candlelight Vigil on May 20th every year…I bet it’s happening in KC somewhere if you want to be a part. Hopefully Zdob si Zdub will be the headliner (they are a pretty huge band around here and if you are familiar with the Eurovision contest…it’s like American Idol in Europe…anyway, they won.)

My Romanian skills have plateau-ed and I have been busy with other things and need to practice it more. But I still consider it an achievement that I have learned as much as I have, as foreign languages have never been the icing of my assets. This goes way back to 9th grade… I remember coloring pictures for my teacher to pass the class…ones with Spanish people with those noisemaker maracas. Well, at least I was taught to count to 10 and how to sing Feliz Navidad.

Health is good. My host mom has Hepatitis C and I really had to get past the stigma that comes with that knowledge.

Mind is peaceful. I am stressed sometimes…as everyone is… with work, family, and life in general but overall I ok. I have been training with a volunteer to practice self-defense and tai kwan do. He used to own his own studio and competed at a national level.

When possible, I also attend a group meditation in Chisinau. I wish I could go every week for this, but we are required to stay at our sites and not able to leave all the time. It helps us to get better acquainted with our community, but you can imagine the issues I have with this. As with any situation, there are a lot of advantages and disadvantages to this choice.

Overall, all is well and I feel like I’m in the right place…and here's to the rest of February in Susleni, Moldova.

Also, I have great news!

I get to come home for a week! I’ll be home April 4th-April 11th.

Please take care of yourselves and each other and we’ll meet again soon.

Mult iubire,
(Much love)

Ryan

p.s. My buddy stopped calling me. He said his phone doesn’t have 5’s and he can’t call everyone he wants to. I asked him how long this has been a problem and he said, “I don’t know. My calendar doesn’t have 7’s.” Hah.

--this joke was passed to me, use it, it’s funny.