iTunes and NPR

This post has little to do with Moldova, except while living here I've recently stumbled upon something to bring me a little slice of America.  It is the ability to download (for free) National Public Radio through Apple's iTunes.  Everyday, NPR creates its "shuffle," a selection of stories from that day's broadcasts which are then assembled into a 20-30 minute collection.  When I'm in the office, I download several day's at once, load them onto my ipod, and then my 3-hour bus rides between my village and the capital aren't quite as long as they used to be.  In fact, it's almost like I'm back in the States (thank you, Hal) listening to the radio in my car on my way to work.

So once again, my hat is off to Apple and NPR for making the life of at least one Peace Corps Volunteer a little better.

A Visitor

Today, a generous visitor left Copceac to fly home. Her name is Edith and she has led an amazing effort in Germany to help the people of this village.

It all started a couple of years ago when one of the German teachers from our school went to some sort of training in Germany. During her three weeks there, she stayed with Edith. They became fast friends and stayed in touch after the training ended. A year later, in October 2005, Edith and her husband came to Copceac for the first time. After experiencing some of the problems that face the local residents, Edith decided to do something about it.

She organized several donation drives which resulted in new desks, chairs, computers, and clothes being sent to our village. She even made a brochure about Copceac to help explain the situation and how the people of Germany could help.

It was great to meet such a generous person - and I hope to take her up on her generous offer to visit her in Germany.

TV

We've received the money from the US Embassy for our TV project and will soon start buying things to revamp the local station. I really think this will be great for the village - highlighting successes or celebrations, starting a beginner English show, and hopefully recruiting young people to volunteer there and begin a kind of film-maker's club. I'm excited to get this project under way.

Last night, while watching a little of the news from Moscow, I saw a curious thing: local advertising. This is the wine/grape season, and across the bottom of the screen I saw scrolling messages like, "Excellent grapes! Call Sergie 50-388 or mobile 0693 87999."

Smelling the Roses

When I went to Ceadir-Lunga for the American Corner opening ceremony, I planned to walk the 30 minutes from my house to the center of the village to get the bus. I usually make this walk whenever I need to go somewhere by bus because (1) the bus doesn't come to my house and (2) there's really nowhere to leave my bike, even if it was locked up. But, I was running late that morning so I needed to ride 7 minutes instead of walk 30. I brought along my bike lock and gave one of my co-workers the key, saying I'd be back the next day and he was free to use it while I was gone.

When I came back to following day, my bike was still locked in the office, but my coworker and key were nowhere to be found. Well, technically, they could be found - in Ukraine. So for the last couple of days I've been without my bike, and it's actually been pretty nice. Usually I just whiz by people, perhaps shouting out a hello as I race past. But on foot, it's easier to get sidetracked by curious onlookers as I did coming out of a store last night and walking to work this morning. I like answering their questions about my work, my country, and myself. A big part of being a PCV is just being here to share that simple information and a couple of laughs.

So, while I'll be glad to pull back into the fast lane once I get my key back, perhaps I'll leave my "hog" in the garage every now and then and just take a stroll.

American Corner

Yesterday I attended the opening ceremony for the "American Corner" in the main library of Ceadir-Lunga, my regional capital located about 1 hour from my village.  American Corners are funded by US Embassies throughout the world and are places for nationals to learn about America through English books, newspapers, magazines, films, and the Internet.  I was particularly impressed by this Corner because it didn't seem to pull any punches in attempting to give those who used it an accurate description of America.  There were resources there that showed both the height of our achievements and the lows of our history.  In the near future, two other PCVs and I will hold one of our Poosk Business Seminars at the new Corner.

The ceremony also afforded me and other local PCVs to meet our new Ambassador, Michael Kirby, and his staff.  He and his wife have had pretty wide-ranging lives, living in all over the world and he had some good insights for me about my upcoming Foreign Service Exam (like don't put my feet up on the table during the interview...)  Ambassador Kirby also expressed interest in buying some walnuts from my host-brother's fledgling nut business, so hopefully I can set that up.

Thanks to Amy for letting me crash on her couch.

ps - Can you believe it totally slipped my mind to get my photo with the Ambassador?!  Guess I'll really have to do that TV project now so he'll come to Copceac for a visit and present another photo opportunity.

Handshakes and Beards

For men in Moldova, it's very important to shake hands.  Whereas in America a wave or head nod or simple "Hello" will suffice when meeting large groups of people, in Moldova it is often considered insulting if a man does not shake your hand.  Mind you, this is regardless of the number of people you are greeting or their relationship to you.  The hand must be shook.

I'm sure that I've managed to make some social mistakes in this quarter since arriving in Moldova - and if you're a Moldovan whose hand I forgot to shake, I apologize.  It was never intentional; it's just not something we do to the same degree in America.

So, you can imagine my surprise when my offer to shake hands with several of my co-workers was turned down.  My hand was extended, they clearly saw it, but refused to grab on.  I somewhat jokingly insisted as they retreated further from my greeting.

Then a female co-worker explained that they could not shake my hand because someone in their familiy had died.  Wow, foot in my mouth.  In the Gagauz (and perhaps Moldovan?) culture, when a family member dies the men must grow beards for 40 days, during which time they cannot shake hands with anyone.

Fortunately, most Moldovan men are clean-shaven, so in the future if I see a beard I will know to keep my hand in my pocket.  Then again, there are some men who do wear beards and I may offend them if I don't shake.  This will be a tricky situation...

Phone Saga

As I posted earlier, my mobile phone was recently stolen.  In my quest to find a replacement, I've run into a tiny problem - there are no cell phones for sale in Moldova.

I don't exactly understand the situation, but I believe the police have cracked down on unauthorized sales of cell phones and have confiscated large numbers of phones all across the country.  Two stores in Comrat, two stores in Cahul, and several stores in Chisinau had zero phones for sale.  There were a few stores along Chisinau's main drag that had some phones, but the cheapest model available was $75.

I'm going to hold out for a couple weeks until the next group of PCVs departs the country and hopefully pick up one of their used phones.  In the meantime, you can call me at home.  Oh yeah, and I will have the same cell number when I do get a phone, so no need to go through the agony of reprogramming or re-memorizing my digits.

THIS JUST IN: People are nice!  My mayor gave me an extra phone, one PCV offered another extra for free (thank you, Ian), and another departing PCV offered to give me his for free.  So, I'm back and you can once again call me on my cell phone - same number as before (posted to the right).  Also, I have two cell phones for sale...

Right Away, Mr. Speilberg

As I've mentioned before, two other PCVs and I are creating a 3-day business seminar.  To assist with the marketing class, we decided to shoot a commercial.  If I can figure out how to post video next time I'm in the capital, I'll try to put it here.  For now, content yourselves with this written account of the commercial:

SETTING: A cold, winter day.  The ground is covered in ice.  A young boy and girl are walking together.  The boy is carrying a couple bags of groceries.

SCENE 1: The Street
Boy: I was hoping you'd like to go to the disco with me on Saturday?
[Suddenly, Boy slips on the ice and falls.  The groceries - especially the eggs and flour - go all over him.]
Girl1: Never!  Look at you - you can't even stand on your own two feet!  [Girl storms away]

SCENE 2: The Store
[A saddened and messy boy returns to the store to buy more groceries to replace those destroyed when he fell]
Store Owner: What happened to you?
Boy: I slipped on the ice and all my eggs fell on top of me.  And then my girl said she didn't want to go to the disco.
Store Owner: You know what you need?  Yak-Traks!  [shows sign in store]
Boy: [Sees a sign for a new product called, "Yak-Traks."  Boy reads the sign and sees that this product promises to keep you from slipping on ice.]  Hey, mister, do these things really work?
Store Owner: You bet!  They're the best things in the whole store.  And cheap too!  Only 50 lei!
Boy: Wow, I'll take 'em!  [Boy puts on Yak-Traks]
[que "Bad to the Bone" music - Boy's messy clothes are magically transformed into a super-cool outfit.  Boy leaves store]

SCENE 3: The Street II
[Girl2 and Girl3 see the new, improved Boy]
Girl2: Would you walk us home?  It's so cold and slippery we might fall without you.
Girl3: Would you like to go to the disco with us on Saturday?
Boy: [looking directly at the camera and giving a "thumbs up"]  Thank you, Yak-Traks!

We plan to talk about the ad with our students.  Since Yak-Traks are designed to fit over shoes and not high-heels (which most women in Moldova wear) we really needed to market this product toward men.  Thus, it made sense for the purchaser in the commercial to be a man.  It also made sense to associate purchasing these Yak-Traks with being able to attract women, a typical male goal.  Having the store and the sign show people where our product will be available, and describing the price as "cheap" makes our audience more likely to purchase.

We're also going to use this ad as part of a larger recruitment video that we will show to other PCVs who might be interested in teaching at our seminars in the future.