Quick Update

To follow-up from my previous post about the elections, no party won enough votes to hold a majority (61 votes) in electing a president. However, negotiations are said to be taking place about parties banding together, though the three smaller parties do not have enough votes combined to beat the Communist Party when they vote for president in the coming weeks. Read about the details here: Moldova's Election Results

As for me, I started my English Club two weeks ago and so far it has become the highlight of my week. The first week I had six enthusiastic students, ages 15 and 17, and this last week I had 12 students come! We practiced introductions, the verb "to be" and developing sentences. I try to make things as fun as possible and we played charades and ended both lessons with Uno. THEY LOVE UNO! They also find it amazing how I shuffle cards, as if they've never seen anyone do such a thing, and actually, I think that's true! So, a big Thank You to my cousin Christine, Aunt Anne, and friend Crystal for sending Uno cards over to me... they are being put to good use.

I am also meeting weekly with my Public Achievement group in the school. I am partnered with the history teacher and we have nine students ages 15-17 who have joined this group to learn and practice participatory-civic education. There are about ten other volunteers participating in this same program throughout Moldova and we blog weekly about our progress. This program was started by the University of Minnesota's Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs. At the moment with my group we have chosen a team name, "Svetliy's Future," set rules for ourselves, organized team roles to be rotated each week, discussed problems facing Moldova and our village. We do team-building exercises each week and in the coming weeks they will choose a single issue and problem in this community for them to learn how to take on themselves. What I love about being at these meetings is seeing the passion these young people have for their country. They are knowledgeable about the politics in this country, the issues facing them, and they all want for things to be better.

Lastly, I had a site visit from my program assistant this week to check in on things in my village. I've been brainstorming some ideas of project plans I want to make here (I'll tell you about that when they come to fruition) and she offered some great ideas on strategies to make them work. We also discussed ways to improve capacity in my office, including offering typing lessons and basic computer instruction to my colleagues who lack knowledge and practice on the simplest tasks. I've already been teaching myself to type in Russian so I can help them... I can't tell you how much this would improve their efficiency and time! Since the winter days are quite short now with the streets dark by 5 p.m. I have a lot more time to focus on project planning since we aren't all distracted by the work in the fields and gardens and feasting on the fresh fruits.

I hope everyone is enjoying a wonderful holiday season back home! I will be having a Hannukah/Christmas party this weekend with some fellow volunteers... the baking starts after lunch and should go through the evening! I have an extra bag of peppermint candy my mom sent me so I'm going to try and whip up something festive with that. Cheers!

P.S. Attached is a photo of me and my host mother, Elena, and host sisters Lenka, age 4, and Avigail, age 6, at the Thanksgiving Dinner we had in the nearby city, Cahul. There were about 10 volunteers plus our host families and colleagues we invited to introduce them to our great holiday! This big party included turkey, stuffing, pumpkin and apple pies, Christmas carols accompanied by an accordion player, speeches about what we were thankful for, and lots of good conversation in Russian, Romanian, and English.