Things have started to heat up here, finally. Today I stood in a magazine waiting to make my order and felt the sweat dripping everywhere, so I know its summer. Jenn and I changed apartments last week when it was still cool, so I’m grateful that we’re not hauling our stuff now that the heat has come. We’re living with our friend Erin and her roommate right now because of our finicky landlord, but I’m happy to be out of that situation. Erin leaves on the 20th of June, which we are dreading because she has been such an amazing person to be with here in Moldova. I know she’s going to do great things and I’m happy that I got to know her. She’s moving to Nepal after this, and Jenn and I have agreed that we will visit her on our COS trip, but losing her emotional/work support here in Cahul is going to be hard. Jenn and I have been talking a lot about friendships that are built during a volunteer’s service–often we find ourselves in groups of people that we would never have been a part of in the States–but the things we go through together make us overlook whatever character differences there may be. Erin and Jenn and I have become somewhat inseparable so I know that Jenn and I will be cranky with each other for awhile. Este viata.
Anyway, its been an emotional couple of days–my sitemate Ryne COSes today (Close of Service) and he will also be sorely missed. He was sort of a brother to me in Cahul–always told me when I was overreacting to something, or would tell me to shut up and drink a beer when things were out of my control. I will be bothering him in Romanian via skype.
I am going to miss them, but that’s a volunteer’s life. People come and go, and eventually we have a network spanning the globe of people’s couches we can crash on. I’m lucky that I got to share my experiences with people like this, and I hope that the new volunteers heading down south feel the same way about us.
Speaking of the new volunteers, they arrived on Thursday. I’m a part of a special PC Moldova initiative called “Mentors” who help ease new volunteers into PC life, especially in PST. Moldova is such a small country that its easy for us to come to Chisinau where they have their trainings and help them buy things at the piata or offer an understanding ear. We went to the airport to welcome them and haul luggage, and set up their new phones, and offer advice for the first few days of PST. I stayed with my PST host mom a few nights before they got here and gently reminded her that the new volunteer that would stay with her wouldn’t speak Romanian yet. She seemed pretty excited, so I think it will be nice for them both.
Saturday I went to a leadership training at my friend Rachel’s site which is about an hour south of Cahul. It’s another PC Moldova initiative called “Haiducii” which means the Rebels. We travel to villages and do leadership and group activities. It was my first real one, so it was interesting to realize which words I didn’t know but needed to, like for ‘rope’ and ‘follow me’ but I had a lot of fun. I will be doing this training again in Chisinau next week for the new volunteers, and it will be in English. Of course that’s also Jenn’s birthday, so it will be a six hour commute kind of day so I can make it back to celebrate.
vorbiţi româneşte? 