These last few months have been flying! After a lot of work and tracking down receipts all over the country, I successfully finished reporting for the three project funders. I also finished all of my documents and reporting for Peace Corps, and did a final evaluation with the bee kids, so basically my work here is finished. I’ll be having a few more English classes and putting together some information for the economic planning center, but that is all! Now I’m concentrating on saying goodbye and doing as many ‘Moldovan’ activities as possible. A few days after writing about the sunflower beatings, I had the opportunity to partake in it myself. I went over to my counterpart’s house with my two host sisters, and together with her and her son and husband spent about three hours hacking away at 20 huge sacks of sunflower heads. This year was really dry, so the flowers were all crunchy and kept picking my hands. But it was a fun experience, and of course afterward we were served with lots of food and drink!
A few weeks ago was hram, the village day celebration, and I was fortunate to have several guests of my own this year. Two volunteers came, and randomly, two American women (Peace Corps Malawi volunteers in the 90s) who were traveling through Moldova on bicycles and just happened to be passing through my village on the big day. So it was a great opportunity for cultural sharing. After eating and drinking a lot, we put on some tunes and taught them the hora, and then we were off to some village friends’ house for more eating and drinking. After some singing and dancing in the house, we headed off to the dance in the center of the village, and had a grand old time. I think I was a little tipsy though, and I got all sad about that being my last opportunity for a good hora, and I didn’t want to leave, and the others were all tired.... not such a good host I guess.
I finally finished the blanket that I had been knitting since March, and I went with my handicrafts teacher to give it to Enesia, the social worker who had her baby back in April. (The idea was to have the blanket finished by then...ooops). Although not perfect, it turned out pretty dang cool, and we shared a few tears when I gave it to her. Then it was fun just hanging out with her and my teacher for the afternoon and laughing and gossiping. Unfortunately I had to rush out a little bit early to go to choir practice. It was raining, and the electricians were working on the side of the road near Enesia’s house. They offered to give me a ride to practice, at the other end of the village. Their truck, however, is HUGE, and there are no steps to get up, just the tire, so I looked absolutely ridiculous, and the young workers had a good laugh at my struggles. But I got to practice on time, and dry.
I had my last appearance as a Moldovan folklore star this past Sunday. It was the annual wine festival, and folklore choirs from all of the region were invited to perform in Soroca. So we sang songs about wine and young men, including my favorite ‘badisor de pe tractor’ – the cute guy on the tractor. The host of the local cultural tv show greeted me enthusiastically as always. I’m seriously a local celebrity. ;-) Anyways, it was sad to have my last concert. I’ll be having a little party with all the ladies before I leave.
I somehow managed to make friends in the last few months. Three guys (all named Andrei) who had been working or studying elsewhere until now, moved back to the village, and they have taken care to show me a good time before I leave. Most of the time is spent drinking coffee or hot chocolate from the automatic coffee machine at the 24-hr gas station at the edge of the village, but they’ve also taken me to the candle monument in Soroca in the middle of the night, gone for a middle of the night row on a lake, ran 5k in the middle of the night to the neighboring village, danced in the park in the middle of the night, and had a middle of the night bbq. So my sleep cycle is a bit messed up, but I have really appreciated their company.
I enjoyed a visit from a former college friend and rowing teammate at the end of September. I showed her around chisinau before heading up to the village, where I gave her the village and Soroca tours. She got a traditional mamaliga dinner with my host family, and met the ‘bee lady’ when I went to get some honey at the school. She also got a taste of the three Andreis for a couple of interesting nights. It was fun to catch up with her and share my Moldovan experiences. After all, that is part of my job! My fellow volunteers have given me the prize for the most visitors over the course of our service...four family members, four friends (separately), and three random couch-surfers. I’m glad I’ve had so many opportunities to see people that I love and to show them Moldova!
This past weekend I made my last fun trip to Chisinau. I took care of some business, and went to order copies of the book that I wrote as a present for my village. I spent the night with a friend from the village, who is studying in Chisinau to be a chef. She made me an incredible dinner and I got the chance to meet her roommates and hang out, which was a blast. But the biggest reason for my going to Chisinau was to gather with my fellow volunteers one last time as a group before we leave. The 21 of us M21s who remained put together a dessert bar for the Peace Corps staff, and used the time to say thank yous and goodbyes. We wandered all over Chisinau for the evening and in general enjoyed each other’s company. It is strange to think that I will probably never see over half of them again. We have been each other’s support over the past two years, and many of us have grown quite close. The first volunteers leave on October 21st and the rest of us trickle out after that up until Christmas. Ahhhh!!! 27 days for me.....
