It Continues

I’ve been seeing and hanging out with more native people from here in Moldova. It seems there is a common trend. Moldova is divided, pro-Russian and anti-Russian. The anti-Russian’s are angry at the Soviet’s because when borders were drawn, Moldova lost it’s highest mountains in the north and its coast lines in the south to Ukraine. The pro-Russians still believe that Moldova was in better shape and had less corruption in the government during the Soviet Union and have much nostalgia for those times. However with the recent political turmoil in April, the communist party has seem to have lost footing. One Moldovan even wished that the Germans would have been able to take over Moldova to avoid the many atrocities caused by the Soviet Union in the actions taken by its leaders, especially during the ‘Starving’ (even though that was prior to World War II). There is not a lot of trust within the government, but there is hope in the minds of the people that as time moves on, things will change for the better.

But the many Moldovan people I have met are wonderfully kind people; always willing to offer information on how to get to a certain trolleybus or another part of town and very patient when trying to buy things when neither parties speak the same language. With my mediocre Russian I have been in a much better situation than many of the other volunteers who know little, if any, Russian or Romanian. But everybody seems to be getting along in the city without any major problems.

Today was a day to celebrate the exodus of the final Canadian volunteer for the time being. Jacqui from Vancouver is leaving tomorrow to return home and find a new job to replace the one she left to come to Moldova. We went from hanging out at an outside bar to getting shish kabobs and trying to eat them on the steps of the parliament building (we got in all our pictures, but finally a guard came out and told us we had to leave). And then spent the rest of the time in the park. It was a good way for her to spend her last night with the people she’s been here with the longest plus two Moldovan guys that they’d met from the many football games during the World Cup. One of them is a border guard and will be working the border when we return from our trip to Odessa this weekend, so we should be able to see him again when we come back to Moldova from Ukraine and he‘s got a great sense of humor, especially when you try to imagine Eastern European border guards. There’s always one more interesting person to meet here.

This week has consisted mostly of Russian lessons with Monday and Tuesday spent at the daycare center. I decided to forgo Wednesday through Friday at the center because there are already four others working there (with only 6-10 children at a given time) and they don’t need my assistance. So I’ve been able to focus on Russian and wandering around the city. I may inquire into switching to the Medical program in my last two weeks here, just to see what the hospital situations are like from my own point of view, but we may be returning to the library orphanage this coming Tuesday and it would be nice to go back to working with those kids. Until then, my trip to Odessa, Ukraine begins tomorrow evening and I am looking very forward to seeing this ancient and intriguing city.