General Thoughts

There is a single Russian word, привекал (pree-veek-ll), that means “have become accustomed to.” I think I am привекал to life here, and therefore haven't posted in some time because the things that used to seem novel and worthy of a blog post now seem commonplace. Nonetheless, my devoted readership demands material, so here we go with some general thoughts…

I thought I’d start with a description of some of the mundane: my morning routine. I usually get up around 6:45am. Lately, I’ve been sleeping on the floor in my sleeping bag because my bed, a fold-out futon, leaves something to be desired in the area of lumbar support. About a month ago I found some real, albeit expensive, cereal at one store in the capital and stocked up with five boxes. So, most mornings I eat a big bowl of Nestle Fruit & SOMETHING.

I ride my bike to work because I just don’t want to walk for 30 minutes. I pass by school children walking to work, who sometimes shout out a “Hello!” and then laugh at their own English, or at my Russian greeting to them. Shepherds lead sheep or cattle from somewhere out into the fields that surround the village. I have to slow down to push my way through the flock or go around it. An old women, бабушка (ba-bush-ka), hunched with old age and wearing the typical headscarf, stockings, and housedress uses a short broom to sweep the dirt yard in front of her gate. I wonder for the zillionth time whether the short brooms of the country are responsible for the bent stature of most senior citizens or if the poor posture makes the short brooms more comfortable to use.

There are ducks and geese that waddle all over the village, and they always hang out at one particularly muddy spot. I always try to navigate carefully through here since my bike has no mud flaps; they broke off long ago. I’ve found that if I just go slowly, the dirt from my bike wheels won’t be tossed into my face – and more importantly, onto my clothes – by centrifugal force.

I’m not really sure why, but at work the electricity goes off about once an hour, and then 2 minutes later it comes back on. I think it has something to do with the system being overloaded with electric heaters, radios, and computers.

December is nearly half complete, and we’re still experiencing an extension of fall instead of a true winter, not that I’m complaining. Today, however, is the first day that I’ve seen the sun in about two weeks – and it’s not because my host-brother locked me in the basement. There’s been an overcast, foggy weather to the last 14 days that I’m glad to see has finally been blown away. Apparently they’ve had some snow up north, but we have yet to see any of the white stuff down south.

I will mention one thing that was out of the ordinary: a group of PCVs had a swank Holiday Party a couple weeks ago, complete with fancy dress and a Secret Santa Swap. I walked away, literally, with these puppies – my first, and hopefully last, pair of pointy-toed shoes. I can’t wait to sport these around my village. This is the popular style in Moldova, though I can’t for the life of me figure out why.