Moldova 2 - See Jay 1

Do I start with the good or the sad? I guess I will start with the good/sad. This last Sunday was the Chisinau wine festival. What a trip. Kinda like Oktoberfest, only instead of tents there were huge barrels and instead of beer it was Moldovan Wine. So to say the least it was quite delicious. I had pictures (but that story will come later). Sunday was a day of excitement as we left Iolovene in a state of unprecedented enthusiasm and ready to get our “Moldovan culture” on. All started great, I bought a cell phone and the entire transaction occurred in Russian. As I left the basement cell phone store (with money exchange attached) I climbed into a beautiful Moldovan fall afternoon with people buzzing around like flies on…well, ok, bees around a newly bloomed flower. As we entered the wine festival we started to drink a few of our local wines, and then decided to grab a bite to eat. Around the corner were countless vendors selling Shashlik (Kabobs), of the most amazing smelling and tasting beef, chicken, fish (MRACO) in the world. We bought, and devoured like there was no tomorrow. Afterwards, we went back to singing, dancing the “Hora” (a sort of circle dance), and carrying on like Americans in Moldova.

That Night Moldova won. Upon arriving home (about 10:00 pm) I went to bed. At midnight I awoke with the worst case of food poisoning I have ever had. And if anyone out there has ever had it, you feel my pain. I spent the next 6 hours fetal, and wishing I were dead. The next morning (well actually only an hour after I had the ability to go to bed) I made my way to school. As I walked in my LCF (Language and Cultural Facilitator) was like “dear god man, call the doctor!” I convinced her against it and went home – obviously vomiting the entire way. Upon my arrival home, I decide to take an inventory of my belongings…uhoh! My camera is gone…SHIT! Maybe my friends have it…NO DICE. Alas, I am destined to not have a digital camera in Europe. Chort! (Russian for devil or damn it). And above it all, everyday my host mom tells me not to eat meat from the street…and all I can say is…BUT MOM – IT WAS SO GOOD!

So that is how Moldova won the last two battles – shashlik = food poisoning (but so delicious) and a stolen digital camera. However, I won most recently in regards to site placement over the next two years. I was assigned to Chisinau to work with an environmental umbrella organization. It seems that I will be traveling around the country to site through the Nistru River basin (including Transnistria…if the US Embassy says yes) and possibly even to our donor countries of Germany, Poland, and Ukraine. Although that will come with time, luck, and language. Here’s to hoping. This weekend is our site visit, and I will meet with my future host families, and my counterpart at ECO-TIRAS. Fingers crossed all goes well. Thanks for stopping by, miss you all. Peace!