I think I start each blog posting with "sorry I havn't written in a long time" so I won't this time. Hey all! As usual life is good here..well with me anyways. My friends at work here just won a project with the European Union to build a 250,000 euro daycenter for orphan here in Leova. This is a project we all wrote together in the spring and needless to say we are very excited! Vadim and Oleg will be very busy with this over then next year or so. As for me I am keeping busy as well, but with my own little projects. I think I already emailed most of you about my "Trees for change" project. The link to donate to this is: We need to raise the money by October! Other things keeping me occupied are working with a firm in the Netherlands to secure a market for local farmers from Leova to sell medicinal plant oils to. I am writing lesson plans for "Tree for change" project, reading about walnut and almond cultivation and talking to walnut buyers about the future potential of Leova harvests. As always I am spending my nonworking hours with friends, swimming, playing basketball, biking, reading a lot and relaxing outdoors.
I just came back to work after a week at the Black Sea in Ukraine with friends from Leova. 6 of us traveled the 6 hours to the sea by bus and spent 5 days on the beach. We payed $10 a night to stay in a run down stucture with bed bugs and an outhouse. We bought fruit and vegetables from the local bazaar and ate outdoors. We spent our days at the beach playing and swimming. It certianly reminded me of Maine and I was a bit nostalgic and missing my family, but happy to be among loved ones at least. Even though I couldnt make it to Maine this year, I still made it to a large salty body of water for the same week! Yea, not the same, but its comforting to be optimistic. Anyways I'm busy but I wanted to put a blog post up after what seems an eternity with nothing posted. So heres this and I'll put some pictures from our trip to the Black Sea up as well!
Loving and missing everyone on a daily basis!
-john
Friday, August 8, 2008
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Moldovan Easter and more
Easter or in Romanian “Paşti” is the most important and most celebrated holiday here in Moldova. For me this meant a week off work and eating lots and lots of this sweet bread that every family makes, called “cosenoc.” The night before Easter the whole town gathers at the church at midnight where we lit candles and walked around the church three times. I was very happy to spend most of the week gardening, fishing, biking, swimming (sometimes swimming biking at the same time along the flooded Prut river trails) and spending a lot of time with friends.
I spent today plowing and planting beans, with my host family, until it began to rain and hail at about 2pm. Tomorrow im taking a bus 4 hours to a used bike shop on the other side of Moldova to buy a bike with a friend from here in Leova. We also want to check out the shop and ask some questions as it is the same type of bike shop that we want to open up here in Leova; with used bikes supplied from the US through the pedals for progress program. Plans for the bike shop are going along well except for the fact that we need to come up with $6,100 in shipping costs of the bikes and another $1,000 in tools and initial costs. This will be through a grant or a donor. In the mean time we are just riding a lot. The goal for my friends from Leova and I is to ride the entire Prut river (the entire western side of Moldova) this summer. So far we have only covered about 15 miles to the north and 30 to the south of Leova via the river side cow trails.
I am moving out from under my host family’s roof next month even though I love them dearly. I am ready for a little more freedom and more of a challenge. I found a house on a farm that is separated into living quarters for the farm workers. There is one vacant section that I can live in. This will mean cooking my own food, a longer trip to work and center of town, hand washing my clothes, an outhouse without a seat and a sun shower. But I will have my own garden, so I can even can my own foods for the winter. I will have fresh milk, cheese and eggs every day from the farm; and best of all I will have my own horse and buggy to get to and from work and the center of town everyday! The farm is situated near the Prut river where I can tie my horse to graze everyday and swimming and fishing will be close as well. The plan is for me to move into the new house on June 1st, so when Mom and Ben come they can stay with me there while we are in Leova.
Work is good, I’m still focusing a lot energy on learning about walnuts and starting to write a business model and gather a list of interested farmers that together we can use in the future to attract foreign investors to start walnut farms here in Leova. Walnuts are a wonderful high value crop that grow perfectly in Moldova, are in high demand are the world are easy to raise and to transport, the only problem in Moldova is the cost of the initial upfront investment and the following waiting period for the trees to mature is to high of cost for the poor farmers. Here is where the foreign investors come in. We can sell walnuts for $5,000 a ton and we can grow from 1 – 1.5 tons per hectar (1 hectar = 2.5 acres). Interested farmers have come forward with anywhere from 1.5 – 40 hectars. One of the interested groups is actually the largest local vineyard (the only exporting vineyard in Leova). They have offered 40 hectars and actually have their own money to invest the in the startup of the orchard. So this will be the first walnut orchard in Leova. I am currently searching through the sea of thousands of different types of persian walnut hybrids for the ones that would best suite them. The will need two types of trees, one for the nuts and another (5% of the planted trees) to work as the pollinators. I meet with them next week to present my hybrid choice to them. I still have a lot of work to do before that. The other walnut project going on at the moment is the writing of a project and grant proposal to fund a walnut learning plot and program at the local vo-tech school. Following these two projects i will start to work on starting more walnut orchards with the help of foreign investors. The estimated new walnut farms could bring about $1,000,000 in profits into the Leova region’s (population 40,000) economy which would more than double the current economy as well as provide an additional $200,000 in tax money to be used for social projects. The reason most volunteers have not done anything with walnuts is because of the length of time necessary to see a project through. But our job is not to manage an entire project but merely to encourage and assist in the startup and then to ensure its sustainability through the local population.
Today I was working with my host family at a house that is halfway constructed. They started building this house for their son when he was only five; he is now 23. They hope to complete it by the time he is married. Houses can take anywhere from ten – twenty years here as the income slowly trickles in which allows them to purchase construction materials. These houses at first appear to be abandoned but they are acutally undergoing very longterm constructions. This particular house is built from clay from the river, horse dung, straw, saplings and cement. The simplicity of life in Moldova has a wonderful beauty to it that I have never seen anywhere else before. There is so much stuff that we have or use in the US that really isnt necesary. I love it here. There is still so much that Moldova could learn from some of our freedoms in the US, but there is also a lot (possibly more) that we could learn from the Moldovan lifestyle.
If you are reading this than that means that I love you and miss you... yes, even you! See you in no time at all!
- JOHN
I spent today plowing and planting beans, with my host family, until it began to rain and hail at about 2pm. Tomorrow im taking a bus 4 hours to a used bike shop on the other side of Moldova to buy a bike with a friend from here in Leova. We also want to check out the shop and ask some questions as it is the same type of bike shop that we want to open up here in Leova; with used bikes supplied from the US through the pedals for progress program. Plans for the bike shop are going along well except for the fact that we need to come up with $6,100 in shipping costs of the bikes and another $1,000 in tools and initial costs. This will be through a grant or a donor. In the mean time we are just riding a lot. The goal for my friends from Leova and I is to ride the entire Prut river (the entire western side of Moldova) this summer. So far we have only covered about 15 miles to the north and 30 to the south of Leova via the river side cow trails.
I am moving out from under my host family’s roof next month even though I love them dearly. I am ready for a little more freedom and more of a challenge. I found a house on a farm that is separated into living quarters for the farm workers. There is one vacant section that I can live in. This will mean cooking my own food, a longer trip to work and center of town, hand washing my clothes, an outhouse without a seat and a sun shower. But I will have my own garden, so I can even can my own foods for the winter. I will have fresh milk, cheese and eggs every day from the farm; and best of all I will have my own horse and buggy to get to and from work and the center of town everyday! The farm is situated near the Prut river where I can tie my horse to graze everyday and swimming and fishing will be close as well. The plan is for me to move into the new house on June 1st, so when Mom and Ben come they can stay with me there while we are in Leova.
Work is good, I’m still focusing a lot energy on learning about walnuts and starting to write a business model and gather a list of interested farmers that together we can use in the future to attract foreign investors to start walnut farms here in Leova. Walnuts are a wonderful high value crop that grow perfectly in Moldova, are in high demand are the world are easy to raise and to transport, the only problem in Moldova is the cost of the initial upfront investment and the following waiting period for the trees to mature is to high of cost for the poor farmers. Here is where the foreign investors come in. We can sell walnuts for $5,000 a ton and we can grow from 1 – 1.5 tons per hectar (1 hectar = 2.5 acres). Interested farmers have come forward with anywhere from 1.5 – 40 hectars. One of the interested groups is actually the largest local vineyard (the only exporting vineyard in Leova). They have offered 40 hectars and actually have their own money to invest the in the startup of the orchard. So this will be the first walnut orchard in Leova. I am currently searching through the sea of thousands of different types of persian walnut hybrids for the ones that would best suite them. The will need two types of trees, one for the nuts and another (5% of the planted trees) to work as the pollinators. I meet with them next week to present my hybrid choice to them. I still have a lot of work to do before that. The other walnut project going on at the moment is the writing of a project and grant proposal to fund a walnut learning plot and program at the local vo-tech school. Following these two projects i will start to work on starting more walnut orchards with the help of foreign investors. The estimated new walnut farms could bring about $1,000,000 in profits into the Leova region’s (population 40,000) economy which would more than double the current economy as well as provide an additional $200,000 in tax money to be used for social projects. The reason most volunteers have not done anything with walnuts is because of the length of time necessary to see a project through. But our job is not to manage an entire project but merely to encourage and assist in the startup and then to ensure its sustainability through the local population.
Today I was working with my host family at a house that is halfway constructed. They started building this house for their son when he was only five; he is now 23. They hope to complete it by the time he is married. Houses can take anywhere from ten – twenty years here as the income slowly trickles in which allows them to purchase construction materials. These houses at first appear to be abandoned but they are acutally undergoing very longterm constructions. This particular house is built from clay from the river, horse dung, straw, saplings and cement. The simplicity of life in Moldova has a wonderful beauty to it that I have never seen anywhere else before. There is so much stuff that we have or use in the US that really isnt necesary. I love it here. There is still so much that Moldova could learn from some of our freedoms in the US, but there is also a lot (possibly more) that we could learn from the Moldovan lifestyle.
If you are reading this than that means that I love you and miss you... yes, even you! See you in no time at all!
- JOHN
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Drunken people and work
Just helped a drunken man repair a light fixture with a huge knife by holding him up on a stool…just another day in Moldova.
So I finally made myself sit down and write something to put on the blog as I think I havnt posted anything new since 2007.
There are a lot of funny stories that I have wanted to write about after they happen, but as I sit down to write I can’t recall any good ones at the moment. Maybe later. Oh wait just thought of one that happened this morning, with that same drunk guy (light fixture); he hangs around our house. First of all he slept in my host parents car last night, for what reason I don’t know. He was calling me all this morning saying he was outside petting our dog and for me to come play with him, keep in mind this guy is like 50 (actually about 40, but he looks like he is 50 anyways). I ignored him until he came into our house while I was eating breakfast and my host mother yelled at him to go home. I didn’t really feel like getting trapped talking to him for the day, but I had to get out of the house at some point. When I emerged from the house he was waiting outside and told me to tell him something interesting about America. He speaks in Russian and Romanian together making it difficult for me to understand him. And he usually has a lot more to say about the states than I do. He was convinced that there are 52 states and preceded to try to name all of them, writing them down in Russian, which I cant read (on my list of things to learn). He compiled an impressive list of about 30 states before I completed the list. He is still convinced there are at least 51 states with DC being one. Today he told me the story of the day of the cross which is celebrated here in Moldova as an orthodox holiday im guessing. Like St. Patrick’s Day in some ways, it is the day when the snakes emerge from hibernation and people try to kill them. He sat down in our garden soiling his pants as he demonstrated how to properly kill a snake by sitting on it. If you sit on it, it can’t bite you. As you can see I am learning a lot in Moldova.
Moving on…work. Work is quickly picking up pace, I am currently writing a grant proposal to open a computer lab in one of the poorest, most isolated schools in our region. Word quickly spread that I was working on such a project and now the mayors from the surrounding villages have flocked to our office asking me to implement similar project at their schools. I had to politely tell them that I am currently too busy, but maybe in the future we can work together.
This past week I was helping to start a mushroom farm in client’s basement. Very interesting. We were mixing straw with sunflower seed shells in a large metal container, pouring hot water over the mixer and letting sit for two days to ferment, then we stuff the mixture in netlike sacks then we hang from the ceiling in the basement and paint with water mixed with spores. The floor of the basement is coated with old close to absorb moisture and keep it damp and a small fireplace keeps the room warm. In two weeks the mushrooms will be ready to harvest and sell at the local bazaar. Unlike other agribusinesses, this can be harvested year round, every two weeks (no need to preserving or processing like other crops). It requires a low up front investment and there is a demand for mushrooms at the bazaar (a two week harvest can be sold in a couple of days).
Other projects…the US embassy contacted me and asked me to assist in a project to build a greenhouse at the local orphanage in Leova. I’m working on clarifying with them the benefits to the children as there seems to be more a business model driving the project than an actual educational benefit to the children.
Another projects…just finished writing a small grant proposal with my friends Oleg and Vadim for a children’s Olympics to be held here in Leova this summer. The purpose to try to involve parents more in their children’s lives. Finally some ideas I am throwing around…opening a non profit bike shop/ co-op here in Leova. The program pedals for progress (p4p.org) can supply the shop initially with 500 free used bicycles. We will repair the used bikes as needed and sell at cost to the people of Leova. Targeting customers like orphans and disadvantaged children, as well as commuters that cant afford the high price of new bicycles. Bicycles are much more popular in Moldova than in the states. It is the primary mode of transportation for many. New bicycles are expensive, and used are impossible to come by as people hold on to these precious assets. In the US bicycles in the US have very low resale value and are more often than not left to the dumps. Pedals for progress collects used bicycles along with a 10$ donation (to pay for shipping), pack 500 of them into shipping containers and put them on boats that take them around the world to places where people less wealthy can put them to good use. There is already a shop operating in Moldova with great success. I would like to open a similar one here in Leova. I would train mechanics as well as offer apprenticeships for youth that would pay them with a bicycle (would allow children with no money to get a bike, this is how a lot of bike co-ops in the US operate). We would sell the bikes at the local bazaar. The cheapest low quality bikes sell here in Leova for $150, much too much for a majority of the population. We could sell used bikes, but of higher quality for as little as 20 or 30 dollars, which would cover operations costs. I need to start an NGO which takes about two months, as well as raised the money to open the shop, which will take 4 or 5 months. If I start now the shop would open in the fall or early winter, which in the bike business is a bad idea, so I will have to wait until later in the year to start on the project so that we can open shop in early spring of 2009.
Finally…I am very interested in walnuts, yes walnuts. Moldova is a region that wonderfully supports the growth of walnut trees. Due to a lack of market for high priced walnuts in the Soviet Union, walnuts were not cultivated commercially in Moldova. Following Moldova’s independence, the lack of investment money has not allowed this agribusiness to reach its potential in. Even though Moldova is the 5th largest exporter of walnuts in the world, these are primarily re-exports. Moldova imports walnuts from France and uses its cheap labor force to shell the nuts and the re-exports them to western European markets. This is an inefficient and wasteful business model, especially since Moldova is fully capable of growing its own walnut harvests given the proper support. Land is cheap in Moldova, about $250 an acre. Unused land is everywhere. Walnuts are low maintenance crops, but require an upfront investment of about $15 a tree, which is too expensive for Moldovan farmers. Then the farmers must wait 5-6 years until the trees produce nuts. Interest rates being 20-30% to borrow money and farmers don’t have this kind of money. Either a business model than can attract investors must be developed or trees must be supplied cheaper. Wanting to keep ownership in the farmers hands and lack of local money, means selling cheaper trees is the way to go. But how? Currently commercial quality walnut trees can only be bought from a select few agricultural institutions in Moldova. They have a monopoly on the sale of these trees, hence high prices. I would like to work with the local vo-tech school to open a nursery to grow walnut saplings, which would graft black walnut roots with English walnut branches to create the commercially viable walnut hybrid used round the world. Being a non profit we figure we can sell these trees at about $3, making enough money to support the program. Being a fifth of the cost and being local should substantially increase the number of farmers that could invest in the creation of a walnut farm in the Leova region. For example a farmer with 4 acres could plant 200 trees for a cost of $600 as opposed to the prior cost of $3,000 plus transportation from Chişinau. On top of all this the walnut market is in shortage, especially in Western Europe where the brainy nut commands very high prices. Western Europe imports the majority of its walnuts from California crops. Moldova could supply a closer and higher quality nut (because of better soil) with the proper support. This would just be one small step to bringing some local farmers to realizing crops that would bring them profits and not only losses (many farmers continue to plant every year and sell at a loss of not harvest the crop at all; they grew only to keep the soil conditions strong.) Walnuts are more drought resistant than most perennial crops and are production for 40 years after the first productive year. So that’s walnut potential in Moldova in a nutshell for you.
Anyhoo, I think I will quit blogging for the time being and try to finish writing this computer grant proposal.
Aş dori că fiecare om este bine!
(I hope that everyone is well!)
Signing out…Yours truly,
John
So I finally made myself sit down and write something to put on the blog as I think I havnt posted anything new since 2007.
There are a lot of funny stories that I have wanted to write about after they happen, but as I sit down to write I can’t recall any good ones at the moment. Maybe later. Oh wait just thought of one that happened this morning, with that same drunk guy (light fixture); he hangs around our house. First of all he slept in my host parents car last night, for what reason I don’t know. He was calling me all this morning saying he was outside petting our dog and for me to come play with him, keep in mind this guy is like 50 (actually about 40, but he looks like he is 50 anyways). I ignored him until he came into our house while I was eating breakfast and my host mother yelled at him to go home. I didn’t really feel like getting trapped talking to him for the day, but I had to get out of the house at some point. When I emerged from the house he was waiting outside and told me to tell him something interesting about America. He speaks in Russian and Romanian together making it difficult for me to understand him. And he usually has a lot more to say about the states than I do. He was convinced that there are 52 states and preceded to try to name all of them, writing them down in Russian, which I cant read (on my list of things to learn). He compiled an impressive list of about 30 states before I completed the list. He is still convinced there are at least 51 states with DC being one. Today he told me the story of the day of the cross which is celebrated here in Moldova as an orthodox holiday im guessing. Like St. Patrick’s Day in some ways, it is the day when the snakes emerge from hibernation and people try to kill them. He sat down in our garden soiling his pants as he demonstrated how to properly kill a snake by sitting on it. If you sit on it, it can’t bite you. As you can see I am learning a lot in Moldova.
Moving on…work. Work is quickly picking up pace, I am currently writing a grant proposal to open a computer lab in one of the poorest, most isolated schools in our region. Word quickly spread that I was working on such a project and now the mayors from the surrounding villages have flocked to our office asking me to implement similar project at their schools. I had to politely tell them that I am currently too busy, but maybe in the future we can work together.
This past week I was helping to start a mushroom farm in client’s basement. Very interesting. We were mixing straw with sunflower seed shells in a large metal container, pouring hot water over the mixer and letting sit for two days to ferment, then we stuff the mixture in netlike sacks then we hang from the ceiling in the basement and paint with water mixed with spores. The floor of the basement is coated with old close to absorb moisture and keep it damp and a small fireplace keeps the room warm. In two weeks the mushrooms will be ready to harvest and sell at the local bazaar. Unlike other agribusinesses, this can be harvested year round, every two weeks (no need to preserving or processing like other crops). It requires a low up front investment and there is a demand for mushrooms at the bazaar (a two week harvest can be sold in a couple of days).
Other projects…the US embassy contacted me and asked me to assist in a project to build a greenhouse at the local orphanage in Leova. I’m working on clarifying with them the benefits to the children as there seems to be more a business model driving the project than an actual educational benefit to the children.
Another projects…just finished writing a small grant proposal with my friends Oleg and Vadim for a children’s Olympics to be held here in Leova this summer. The purpose to try to involve parents more in their children’s lives. Finally some ideas I am throwing around…opening a non profit bike shop/ co-op here in Leova. The program pedals for progress (p4p.org) can supply the shop initially with 500 free used bicycles. We will repair the used bikes as needed and sell at cost to the people of Leova. Targeting customers like orphans and disadvantaged children, as well as commuters that cant afford the high price of new bicycles. Bicycles are much more popular in Moldova than in the states. It is the primary mode of transportation for many. New bicycles are expensive, and used are impossible to come by as people hold on to these precious assets. In the US bicycles in the US have very low resale value and are more often than not left to the dumps. Pedals for progress collects used bicycles along with a 10$ donation (to pay for shipping), pack 500 of them into shipping containers and put them on boats that take them around the world to places where people less wealthy can put them to good use. There is already a shop operating in Moldova with great success. I would like to open a similar one here in Leova. I would train mechanics as well as offer apprenticeships for youth that would pay them with a bicycle (would allow children with no money to get a bike, this is how a lot of bike co-ops in the US operate). We would sell the bikes at the local bazaar. The cheapest low quality bikes sell here in Leova for $150, much too much for a majority of the population. We could sell used bikes, but of higher quality for as little as 20 or 30 dollars, which would cover operations costs. I need to start an NGO which takes about two months, as well as raised the money to open the shop, which will take 4 or 5 months. If I start now the shop would open in the fall or early winter, which in the bike business is a bad idea, so I will have to wait until later in the year to start on the project so that we can open shop in early spring of 2009.
Finally…I am very interested in walnuts, yes walnuts. Moldova is a region that wonderfully supports the growth of walnut trees. Due to a lack of market for high priced walnuts in the Soviet Union, walnuts were not cultivated commercially in Moldova. Following Moldova’s independence, the lack of investment money has not allowed this agribusiness to reach its potential in. Even though Moldova is the 5th largest exporter of walnuts in the world, these are primarily re-exports. Moldova imports walnuts from France and uses its cheap labor force to shell the nuts and the re-exports them to western European markets. This is an inefficient and wasteful business model, especially since Moldova is fully capable of growing its own walnut harvests given the proper support. Land is cheap in Moldova, about $250 an acre. Unused land is everywhere. Walnuts are low maintenance crops, but require an upfront investment of about $15 a tree, which is too expensive for Moldovan farmers. Then the farmers must wait 5-6 years until the trees produce nuts. Interest rates being 20-30% to borrow money and farmers don’t have this kind of money. Either a business model than can attract investors must be developed or trees must be supplied cheaper. Wanting to keep ownership in the farmers hands and lack of local money, means selling cheaper trees is the way to go. But how? Currently commercial quality walnut trees can only be bought from a select few agricultural institutions in Moldova. They have a monopoly on the sale of these trees, hence high prices. I would like to work with the local vo-tech school to open a nursery to grow walnut saplings, which would graft black walnut roots with English walnut branches to create the commercially viable walnut hybrid used round the world. Being a non profit we figure we can sell these trees at about $3, making enough money to support the program. Being a fifth of the cost and being local should substantially increase the number of farmers that could invest in the creation of a walnut farm in the Leova region. For example a farmer with 4 acres could plant 200 trees for a cost of $600 as opposed to the prior cost of $3,000 plus transportation from Chişinau. On top of all this the walnut market is in shortage, especially in Western Europe where the brainy nut commands very high prices. Western Europe imports the majority of its walnuts from California crops. Moldova could supply a closer and higher quality nut (because of better soil) with the proper support. This would just be one small step to bringing some local farmers to realizing crops that would bring them profits and not only losses (many farmers continue to plant every year and sell at a loss of not harvest the crop at all; they grew only to keep the soil conditions strong.) Walnuts are more drought resistant than most perennial crops and are production for 40 years after the first productive year. So that’s walnut potential in Moldova in a nutshell for you.
Anyhoo, I think I will quit blogging for the time being and try to finish writing this computer grant proposal.
Aş dori că fiecare om este bine!
(I hope that everyone is well!)
Signing out…Yours truly,
John
Monday, February 18, 2008
Article
I have had no time in quite a while, as you can see, to update this blog. So in the mean time here is a draft of an article I am writing for the spring edition of the Dublin alumni magazine:
Where’s
In September of 2007, I was on a plane flying low over a landscape of fields that looked like a quilt made of matchsticks. This was my first view of a tangible problem that this country is trying to deal with. I had come to a country that I had never heard of before to try to help people whom I had never met before. When the Peace Corps had called me in March, of the same year, offering me the option of going to
Everyone asks, “Where’s
Moldovan crops include a variety of grains, corn, tobacco, grapes, sunflowers, fruits and vegetables. The amount of these crops that are actually exported is low and the local markets are over saturated with these goods making profit almost nonexistent for these hardworking farmers. The wine industry is one of
I am currently working with a local agricultural and rural business development NGO here in southwestern
Let alone working in
How does
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
New job and random thoughts on Moldova
12/24/07
Hey everyone! So I hope everyone is doing amazingly! I am great here. I started working at the Rayon (like a county) center office of local development, recently. I work at my primary assignment ACSA (agri and business development) in the mornings and I work with my secondary work, the Consiulul Raional in the afternoons. At the Consiulul Raional here in Leova I just finished working with my partners on a project proposal to plant trees to reinforce the banks of the Prut River (which is, according to locals, the fastest moving river in Europe) in both Moldova and Romania; as a cross-border cooperation project with support from the European Union. We are waiting to hear back from the European Counsel as to whether or not the project will be accepted. We are just beginning preliminary research on the possibility of a starting a business incubator in Leova. This is the project I will be working on for the next few months. Most of these projects work with the financial support of the European Union, United Nations or USAID; doing a lot of this work in English is what is allowing me to actually do work at my secondary work, unlike my primary work at the moment. These projects are great, but I see no sustainable solution to this country’s problems, through this kind of development, the major problems are political and I am in no position to do anything about those. I love being here and being with these wonderfully kind people, I think the work is good, but in the macro picture it is a dead end until political changes are made. Maybe our development works will some how positively affect the government to make changes…have to think positively.
People in Moldova make about 25 to 50 cents an hour. With the cost of labor being so low many odd jobs exist. For example the city of Leova pays a man to guard the town Christmas tree, because it is cheaper to pay to have the tree guarded 24/7 than to pay to replace stolen ornaments. Some aspects of this low pay scale can be seen as a positive. The amount of resources consumed is greatly decreased and the number of jobs is increased. For example the sidewalks in the city of Leova are cleared with a crew of shovel wielding workers, while in the US we might have a nifty machine that plows the sidewalks. It is cheaper to pay people to shovel than to pay for the creation and resources necessary to run the machine. Instead of one person being employed to drive this machine, many people are employed to shovel. Of course many people were employed to create the machine and the resources necessary to run it, but the percentage of money actually going to the workers is significantly smaller than that received by the shovelers. The amount of resources consumed through the work in the total supply chain of the machine and its resources is also much greater than that of the shovelers. Yes, they have shovels, but compared to a machine, they are low resource products. With the cost of living being so much lower in Moldova 25 to 50 cents an hour is just about manageable; this mainly only allows for the purchase of necessities. Domestically insulated goods like food costs about a 10th of what it does in the US, while imported goods like energy and clothing are of similar costs to those in the US. One last interesting fact here: being in the highest income tax bracket in Moldova means that you make $2,100 or more a year.
Moldova is a bilingual country and the choice to speak either Romanian or Russian as the daily language is usually made by the individual depending on their political beliefs. The communist party leaning individuals usually speak Russian, while the liberal party persons usually speak Romanian. This makes for a much more transparent and casual way to communicate political affiliation. While the official language is Romanian, Russian is recognized as the countries second language. The liberal party is growing in popularity, but the communist party is in power. The majority of commercial packaging as well as TV and movies are in Russian, as this is a more widely spoken language in the world than Romanian (international products). I naturally pick up some Russian, but do all of my communicating in Romanian. Often I meet people who will only speak Russian, but they often give in and speak Romanian so that we are able to communicate. It’s all very interesting.
Abandoned concrete skeletons of buildings are a stereotypical feature of ex-soviet countries, but this isn’t that much of an exaggeration. In almost every city and many towns you can find buildings that are abandoned, or at least seem that way. Many of these buildings are inhabited by stray dogs, playing children and people lacking other forms of asylum. Exploring these buildings gives you the feeling of a connectedness with Moldova’s recent past. In 1991 along with Moldova’s struggle for independence many of the buildings were gutted. The state provided apartment housing and other public buildings were stripped of their in makings by local citizens, angry at the state and as cathartic act of freedom. This was also, possibly ironically, the first signs of the privatization (of what were once public goods) to come. Some of the buildings were painstakingly slowly resurrected one apartment at a time by individuals seeking shelter. Now you can see many buildings only half inhabited, while others remain completely abandoned.
Many people still offer there services for free. The other day I had flat tire on my bike and was lacking a new tube. My host father called a man who could repair the tube for me (something that never crossed my mind, as I always bought new tubes in the US, wasting perfectly good rubber). This spoke mostly Russian with me, squeaking out a few words in Romanian for my benefit. He very slowly and methodically repaired the two holes in the tube all the time refusing my help. When he finished I tried to ask how much the repair cost. He replied that there would be no cost and then rambled on for some time about the US’s overemphasis on money while we forget the art of giving. He said this tube repair was from his heart to me. We all have so much to learn from each other.
A fun story…the other day my host father was yelling for me through the wall separating our house and small store. I quickly met him in the store and he explained to me that he needed me to get food for our dog Rex from the caruţă (pronounced car-oot-sa, meaning horse drawn carriage) parked in front of our store. I went to the caruţă asking the driver for dog food, he point to a potato sack in the back. I opened the sack and reached to the bottom, my hand came into contact with some wet and soft, I latched on and pulled it out. It was the scalp of a sheep, dripping with blood and still warm. The driver assured me it was very fresh. I replied, “I can see that.” I fed the sheep’s hat to Rex and went inside for lunch. I needed wash my hands, but on this day there was no water (not an unusually occurrence, but I still thought myself unlucky). Should I walk down the road to the well? I don’t think that would be a good way to integrate into my new community. There goes the American with his hands covered in blood. Right, lets think some more. I found water in the dirty dishes in the sink and rinsed my bloody hands as best I could. Lunchtime!
Last random note, today I saw my first machine gun wielding man strolling down the street today. I have no idea why. This is what I love about Moldova, not machine guns, but the potential intrigue that everyday holds for me.
La mulţi ani!
(To many years! A popular saying this time of year in Moldova).
And with this I leave you, thanks for reading…
Hey everyone! So I hope everyone is doing amazingly! I am great here. I started working at the Rayon (like a county) center office of local development, recently. I work at my primary assignment ACSA (agri and business development) in the mornings and I work with my secondary work, the Consiulul Raional in the afternoons. At the Consiulul Raional here in Leova I just finished working with my partners on a project proposal to plant trees to reinforce the banks of the Prut River (which is, according to locals, the fastest moving river in Europe) in both Moldova and Romania; as a cross-border cooperation project with support from the European Union. We are waiting to hear back from the European Counsel as to whether or not the project will be accepted. We are just beginning preliminary research on the possibility of a starting a business incubator in Leova. This is the project I will be working on for the next few months. Most of these projects work with the financial support of the European Union, United Nations or USAID; doing a lot of this work in English is what is allowing me to actually do work at my secondary work, unlike my primary work at the moment. These projects are great, but I see no sustainable solution to this country’s problems, through this kind of development, the major problems are political and I am in no position to do anything about those. I love being here and being with these wonderfully kind people, I think the work is good, but in the macro picture it is a dead end until political changes are made. Maybe our development works will some how positively affect the government to make changes…have to think positively.
People in Moldova make about 25 to 50 cents an hour. With the cost of labor being so low many odd jobs exist. For example the city of Leova pays a man to guard the town Christmas tree, because it is cheaper to pay to have the tree guarded 24/7 than to pay to replace stolen ornaments. Some aspects of this low pay scale can be seen as a positive. The amount of resources consumed is greatly decreased and the number of jobs is increased. For example the sidewalks in the city of Leova are cleared with a crew of shovel wielding workers, while in the US we might have a nifty machine that plows the sidewalks. It is cheaper to pay people to shovel than to pay for the creation and resources necessary to run the machine. Instead of one person being employed to drive this machine, many people are employed to shovel. Of course many people were employed to create the machine and the resources necessary to run it, but the percentage of money actually going to the workers is significantly smaller than that received by the shovelers. The amount of resources consumed through the work in the total supply chain of the machine and its resources is also much greater than that of the shovelers. Yes, they have shovels, but compared to a machine, they are low resource products. With the cost of living being so much lower in Moldova 25 to 50 cents an hour is just about manageable; this mainly only allows for the purchase of necessities. Domestically insulated goods like food costs about a 10th of what it does in the US, while imported goods like energy and clothing are of similar costs to those in the US. One last interesting fact here: being in the highest income tax bracket in Moldova means that you make $2,100 or more a year.
Moldova is a bilingual country and the choice to speak either Romanian or Russian as the daily language is usually made by the individual depending on their political beliefs. The communist party leaning individuals usually speak Russian, while the liberal party persons usually speak Romanian. This makes for a much more transparent and casual way to communicate political affiliation. While the official language is Romanian, Russian is recognized as the countries second language. The liberal party is growing in popularity, but the communist party is in power. The majority of commercial packaging as well as TV and movies are in Russian, as this is a more widely spoken language in the world than Romanian (international products). I naturally pick up some Russian, but do all of my communicating in Romanian. Often I meet people who will only speak Russian, but they often give in and speak Romanian so that we are able to communicate. It’s all very interesting.
Abandoned concrete skeletons of buildings are a stereotypical feature of ex-soviet countries, but this isn’t that much of an exaggeration. In almost every city and many towns you can find buildings that are abandoned, or at least seem that way. Many of these buildings are inhabited by stray dogs, playing children and people lacking other forms of asylum. Exploring these buildings gives you the feeling of a connectedness with Moldova’s recent past. In 1991 along with Moldova’s struggle for independence many of the buildings were gutted. The state provided apartment housing and other public buildings were stripped of their in makings by local citizens, angry at the state and as cathartic act of freedom. This was also, possibly ironically, the first signs of the privatization (of what were once public goods) to come. Some of the buildings were painstakingly slowly resurrected one apartment at a time by individuals seeking shelter. Now you can see many buildings only half inhabited, while others remain completely abandoned.
Many people still offer there services for free. The other day I had flat tire on my bike and was lacking a new tube. My host father called a man who could repair the tube for me (something that never crossed my mind, as I always bought new tubes in the US, wasting perfectly good rubber). This spoke mostly Russian with me, squeaking out a few words in Romanian for my benefit. He very slowly and methodically repaired the two holes in the tube all the time refusing my help. When he finished I tried to ask how much the repair cost. He replied that there would be no cost and then rambled on for some time about the US’s overemphasis on money while we forget the art of giving. He said this tube repair was from his heart to me. We all have so much to learn from each other.
A fun story…the other day my host father was yelling for me through the wall separating our house and small store. I quickly met him in the store and he explained to me that he needed me to get food for our dog Rex from the caruţă (pronounced car-oot-sa, meaning horse drawn carriage) parked in front of our store. I went to the caruţă asking the driver for dog food, he point to a potato sack in the back. I opened the sack and reached to the bottom, my hand came into contact with some wet and soft, I latched on and pulled it out. It was the scalp of a sheep, dripping with blood and still warm. The driver assured me it was very fresh. I replied, “I can see that.” I fed the sheep’s hat to Rex and went inside for lunch. I needed wash my hands, but on this day there was no water (not an unusually occurrence, but I still thought myself unlucky). Should I walk down the road to the well? I don’t think that would be a good way to integrate into my new community. There goes the American with his hands covered in blood. Right, lets think some more. I found water in the dirty dishes in the sink and rinsed my bloody hands as best I could. Lunchtime!
Last random note, today I saw my first machine gun wielding man strolling down the street today. I have no idea why. This is what I love about Moldova, not machine guns, but the potential intrigue that everyday holds for me.
La mulţi ani!
(To many years! A popular saying this time of year in Moldova).
And with this I leave you, thanks for reading…
Monday, December 10, 2007
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
Work and such
Hey everyone! Work is slow so far. I go into the office everyday and study Romanian. I can't really begin work until after I master the language a little better. For the first three months here in Leova my primary work will be to improve my language skills and make connections within the community. I will also be trying to study up on agricultural subjects. I translate agri-texts everyday at work to try to improve my agri-vocab. I have a tutor here in Leova, she is the local english teacher and I meet with her for 4 hours every week to work out the areas of Romanian that I havn't been able to figure out on my own. Alot of people come into the ACSA office everyday and I have had the pleasure of meeting all of them and talking to them about their projects; hopefully I will be working with many of them in the spring.
I run everyday here, usually along the Prut river, with my dog Rex. Its quiet and beautiful, with endless miles of packed, dirt, singletrack trails in the woods. Rex is a well behaved German Shepard who is starved for attention. He had never been off his tie in the yard before and now he runs everyday in the woods with me, needless to say he is overjoyed. Also, since running with Rex the border guards havn't bothered me at all.
This past saturday I went to Chisinau for the day to buy a bike. My host parents sent along money and a package for their sons who live in Chisinau. Someone stole the package from me in the rutiera (microbus) in Chisinau. I spent the whole day searching for the package with one of my host brothers. The microbus company finally called us having recovered it on another rutiera. Apparently the person after discovering there was only food in the package abandoned it on another rutiera (lucky for us). This fiasco consumed my entire day and I went back to the bus station to catch a bus to Leova. Unfortunately I missed the last bus back to Leova! I called my host sister from Porumbeni to see if I could stay with my host family from Porumbeni (which is very close to Chisinau). I ended up going to a friends apartment of my host sister in Chisinau. We had a party to celebrate my suprise visit to Chisinau, after only a week of being gone in Leova. Stayed up all night dancing and sunday I slept on the bus back to Leova. Similar to my be arrested by the border guards, what began as a problem ended as a positive experience (except for the fact that I again wasn't able to buy a bike).
I run everyday here, usually along the Prut river, with my dog Rex. Its quiet and beautiful, with endless miles of packed, dirt, singletrack trails in the woods. Rex is a well behaved German Shepard who is starved for attention. He had never been off his tie in the yard before and now he runs everyday in the woods with me, needless to say he is overjoyed. Also, since running with Rex the border guards havn't bothered me at all.
This past saturday I went to Chisinau for the day to buy a bike. My host parents sent along money and a package for their sons who live in Chisinau. Someone stole the package from me in the rutiera (microbus) in Chisinau. I spent the whole day searching for the package with one of my host brothers. The microbus company finally called us having recovered it on another rutiera. Apparently the person after discovering there was only food in the package abandoned it on another rutiera (lucky for us). This fiasco consumed my entire day and I went back to the bus station to catch a bus to Leova. Unfortunately I missed the last bus back to Leova! I called my host sister from Porumbeni to see if I could stay with my host family from Porumbeni (which is very close to Chisinau). I ended up going to a friends apartment of my host sister in Chisinau. We had a party to celebrate my suprise visit to Chisinau, after only a week of being gone in Leova. Stayed up all night dancing and sunday I slept on the bus back to Leova. Similar to my be arrested by the border guards, what began as a problem ended as a positive experience (except for the fact that I again wasn't able to buy a bike).
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