Settled

I’ve moved in with my new host family, where I’ll live for the next 3 months of training. I’m living in a regional capital about 30 minutes outside Chisinau, the capital of Moldova, but for all intents and purposes it’s a tiny village surrounded by farmland.

My host family – Vadim, Oxsana, and their 9-year old daughter Katrina – is wonderful. I’m their second PCV, but the first to have my Russian skills at a conversational level right off the bat. My first dinner went a lot more smoothly than the charades game I played for my first month in Uzbekistan and I think things will only get better from here. Vadim built this house himself, and I must admit I’m happy to see he included a hot bath and indoor toilet… There’s also a small sitting area where we eat outside when the weather is nice, though it seems I’ve brought the cold with me. After our first day in the 70s, the weather has turned cool and I usually wear a sweater. Oxsana is a music teacher who was pleased to see I brought my guitar and knew the piano – I’m hoping she’ll teach me some Russian songs.

A total of 6 of the 38 new volunteers are learning Russian, and all save one have previous experience with the language. As a result, we’re able to start at a much higher level and I think between 4 hours of language most days and living with a (talkative) Russian family, I should progress fairly quickly. Perhaps I’ll try my hand at Romanian after a year or so. Unlike Russian and similar to English, Romanian is derived from Latin and thus shares many similar words and in general is an easier language to learn.

Moldova is a lush farming nation. One difference between here and UZ I noticed immediately as we were flying in is the lack of lights at night. So much of the country is farmland that you don’t see headlights or streetlights or even lights coming from houses or apartments. Even the capital city seemed dark by comparison to Uzbekistan.

Quick story about the soil: When God made the earth, he was handing out pieces of land to the different peoples. Everyone wanted the best land and it was given out first. Gradually, the less fertile land was distributed until every part of the earth was given out. Then the Moldovans came (late), so God decided to give them a piece of heaven instead.

Sleep still comes in fits and starts. I’ve yet to adjust completely to the new time zone – I keep resisting the desire to take long naps around 10am and have yet to sleep through the night – I’m actually writing this entry after tossing and turning for a good couple of hours.