Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Well, it’s been a few days since I have written here so I thought I would give my 12 followers a quick update, even if 11 of my followers I talk to on a regular basis.

When I last wrote I had just experienced a devastating storm here that destroyed homes, tree, and crops. The local grape crop was destroyed which meant that much of the house wine that is so popular in Moldova couldn’t be made.

Since then I have been working on a project with a lady that I work with on a daily basis. Her name is Tatiana and without her I would not be able to speak a word of Romanian. She is one of the only people who has conversations with me that go past the point of my everyday conversations that I have with my host family and random people. The project involves what is called a Rocket Mass Heater (check it out here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtFvdMk3eLM). I will be putting this heater in a greenhouse to extend the growth period of different vegetables. The heater is 5 times more efficient than a normal wood burning stove and because it is so efficient the only exhaust from the heater is steam and small amounts of CO2. I have written up a PCPP application to get this project funded. Although the total cost is only about ~$480. If anyone is interested in donating to my project you can go here: http://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=donate, but not yet because it won’t be there, but keep an eye out! If you are in the States reading this… ask my parents because my whole application will be sent to them. You can look at all the details there.

As far as legitimate work goes…. that’s about it. Suzette and I have our Debate Club that we took over from another Volunteer who now lives in Chisinau. It’s only once a week though so it doesn’t provide much work. It is however one of the things I look forward to every week because I get to hang out with some of the smartest kids that I have ever been around. They all know English very well and are able to debate on topics that would stump many kids in the States. And they do this in ENGLISH!

Some of my aspirations for the near future include, a basketball team because there is a brand new gym in one of the schools here in Leova, another basketball team in another school here in Leova, but for a younger group of kids, organization of a basketball league in which these teams can compete during the winter months, and a computer training project that Katie McNabb and I want to do because the MS Office programs are not being used to their full potential in our organizations.

In 10 days I will be off on my first real vacation of my Peace Corps experience. Suzette and I are going to Berlin, Germany. I have been counting days down to this vacation since I bought my plane ticket. We are going to Berlin especially because of the Christmas markets that are famous during Christmas. I have done a little research on what exactly is involved in these markets and I have determined that basically the whole city is covered in Christmas. There will be a 4,000 sq ft market set up in front of a castle and that will be just one of the markets. Here is a video that can do a whole hell of a lot better job explaining that I can.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xP7JlK6FQZA&feature=player_embedded

Another high point of this trip will be the FOOD! We plan to eat Mexican, Chinese, I’m sure German, and much much more! I would for sure say that I am most excited for Mexican though, it won’t be La Hacienda, but it will do!