Still Packing

Okay, I'm leaving my fourth packing job for a bit because I need the break. Weighed my largest bag today and it came in at 57lbs. before I get my hiking boots in, so, it was back to the packing this morning. Just 5 days left before I head to staging.

 My friend Sharon keeps texting me, wondering about could have beens and might have beens, and I'm getting a bit maudlin myself. But... I'm constantly pulled by the promise of the new adventure, the smell of change in the air, the taste of something different, that tingly feeling you get when you board an airplane; possibility around every corner. There's a great quote in Illusions by Richard Bach: "In order to live free and happily, you must sacrifice boredom. It is not always an easy sacrifice."

I'm also thinking of another truth I've heard: "Life's like a movie; write your own ending. Keep believing, keep pretending we've done just what we've set out to do, thanks to the lovers, the dreamers, and you." - The Muppets

On a side note, I had a great Memorial Day weekend with my friend Kate. I made a "last supper"(of my all-time favorite meal) for us of thin pork chops, milk gravy, biscuits, broccoli (something I understand is not available in Moldova) smashed potatoes, apple sauce and a razzleberry pie for dessert. Okay, I gained about five pounds, but it was well worth it. The sun was brilliant and the weather cooperated all but one day so we got in some sight seeing, some long beach walks and, as it was garage-sale weekend on the Peninsula, some great deals on games for me to send to Moldova and some going away gifts for friends and family. Talk about an absolutely beautiful sunset:

Memorial Day weekend sunset in Ocean Park, WA

Thank you to Kate for making my weekend and my last visit to the beach for three years so special!

Thinking about, and thankful for, all the friends and
family who serve and have served our country.

Memorial Day Bald Eagle on the beach

Pack Up Your Troubles

With less than two weeks to go, the packing has begun in earnest. I found an incredible duffel bag with wheels at my local Army Surplus store for only $35, and thought that it could hold all of my clothes and I could use my cool "suit" suitcase to hold games, host gifts and my various personal effects such as deodorant, toothpaste, etc... Nu este posibil. [New yes-tay poh-see-beel] (It's not possible.)

The duffel bag is full, and I didn't get the recommended clothing in it, so I filled up the other bag with polo and t-shirts. I'm going to have to rethink this. The Peace Corps is permitting me two pieces of luggage at no more than 50lbs. My carry on bag (back pack) will have all my electronic equipment and some flash cards to study on the long trip to Moldova.

The PC strongly suggests packing all the winter clothes as well, but I don't have room for my Summer clothes and the books I want to have with me when I arrive, let alone a large Winter coat, boots, etc. And... I think I'm overweight on the duffel bag as well. Where the heck am I going to pack the shoes?

And, yes Mom, I did roll all the clothes. :o)

Not my suitcase, but I know the feeling.

Luckily I have a few more days to try again.

La Revedere Prieteni Mei

I absolutely cannot believe that I hop on a plane for Philadelphia in two short weeks. There is so much yet to do in the way of packing, saying goodbye to friends and family, and sorting through clothes and other assorted goodies for donation.

Daily, I am more and more excited, yet sleep is dwindling as I wake up in the middle of the night thinking about language and teaching techniques. My rational side says, "I have no idea what's ahead, so just enjoy the ride," but my less rational side keeps trying to predict and play "chess" with players I don't even know.

This weekend, I had an incredible time with many friends, saying goodbye. First, went up to Canada and said la revedere to my friends Laura, Campbell and Kelvin. Thanks for the great dinner y'all, and for the always-stimulating conversation. You never fail to inspire me. And Laura, thanks for the wonderful poetry by Herman Hesse! Great food (spicy Thai - as I will be missing spice in Moldova), and better company. What's not to love? Go Avafina Pet Products and Commodities!

As I arrived early in Canada, I decided to get a few shots of Vancouver, and found my way to the top of Boundary Rd thinking I could find a great vantage point of the city and the river. As I was walking around in this posh Burnaby, BC neighborhood, a very friendly woman came up to me and asked what I was up to on such a beautiful day. I explained that I was trying to get some great shots, and she volunteered her deck as a vantage point. I further explained that I was joining the Peace Corps, and did that ever open the flood gates. We stood chatting for a good half hour. Sharon and her husband are retired elementary school teachers and they had lots of advice for me, and stated that they would have loved to have done what I'm going to do. It was a true affirmation of my trip, and I felt somehow less apprehensive about taking my camera around Moldova when I get there. Sharon invited me to come back after I return from the Peace Corps and share my experiences with them. Already, I'm fulfilling my mission for the Peace Corps.

Vancouver, BC as seen from the top of Boundary Rd in Burnaby.

The stunning mountains that backdrop North Vancouver.

The rest of the weekend was spent outside of Deming, WA (extreme Northern Washington State) with my adopted family: the Cohea clan. This is a group of close friends who are not blood family, but are the next best thing. Many of my friends showed up to send me off, and I have to admit to several moments of being a little verklempt about missing them for nearly 3 years. I know that I'll have all the wonders of technology at my disposal, but I'll still miss them.

Judy, the matriarch of the group, hates for anyone to go hungry, so there was more food than any one group of nearly 20 could possibly eat, and oh was it delicious. Of special note were the baked beans with bacon, hamburger, and about a quarter bottle of Drambuie! The ribs that were smoked all day literally fell off the bones, and the list goes on and on. Thank you, Judy, for your out-pouring of love!

Judy and her bff Maryanne. Hugs to you both!

I also have to thank Liz for one of the coolest cakes I have ever had! It was a red-velvet cake in the shape of a suitcase, complete with handle, lock and a real leather appearance. It was as delicious as it was creative and I was really touched by how much work went into the effect.

The cake reads "Goodbye and good luck" in Romanian.

I also want to share one of the neatest cards I've ever received. As I will be teaching and I collect children's books, much of the card is inspired by Dr. Seuss. Shana, you are amazing, and I was so touched by this handmade card.

A closeup of my Bon Voyage card.

A wise woman (and I've been fortunate to have met many) once said to me that life is a river, and we bob along in the current of the river. As we do so, we meet people who influence our lives and we influence theirs. The current, however, often sends our friends off in a different direction, but we frequently meet our really good friends many times as we flow down the river of our lives.

Thank you to my many good friends, and thank you for letting me participate, even if for a short while, in your adventures.

I'm off to have my own now in two short weeks!

What a spread! Enough food to feed the Moldovan military.

Rich, Shana and Chester

Trei prieteni şi de familie.

Fraţi

A Little Bit of Green

Another thank you to Char for taking me to the Kruckenburg Garden in Shoreline, WA. We had a delightful afternoon and a tour of this incredible space that features primarily plants native to Western Washington. I wanted to share a little bit of the green that we saw, and a little color as well.

Dew on Maidenhair - from the Kruckenburg Garden website



Japanese Pine

Oxalis

Maidenhair Fern

Equisetum (Scouring Rush)

Cyclamen

Korean Spirit Pine

Crab Apple

Bleeding Heart

Rain drops on bleeding heart foliage



From the Kruckenburg Garden



Swordfern

Variegated Cedar



Silver Broom

Poppy



Fringecup

Lilac



Skunk Cabbage

Red Leaf

Non-native Leaf

Hosta

Camilia

Non-native Leaf





The Price We Pay

Money is always one of those delicate things we dance around in the U.S. Some are bold enough to walk up and ask, "what did that set you back?" Others, are more tentative, hmming and hawing around the subject, but not wanting to be rude. I was brought up never to talk about one's financial situation, and certainly it was none of my business what someone else's salary was or what a large ticket item like a house, boat, car, etc. cost.

But, bottom line it, everything does cost. This little adventure of mine is going to cost plenty. There is a mortgage to pay, insurance to keep going, and the little expenses that are the infrastructure of a life. So, I must give a major shout out to two people who have helped to make this adventure in the Peace Corps possible financially: Char and Kelvin.

Char Garrett is my most excellent accountant. I've never met a sharper mind when it comes to taxes and tax law. The woman is a genius. She and Kelvin (my bookkeeper who helped craft my returns for the last three years) were able to get enough taxes back to allow me to build a pot from which I will be drawing for the next three years. Without their help, I simply would not have been able to leave a great paying job and set off to work in a very poor European country. Mulţumesc mult to both Char and Kelvin.

When I land in Moldova, I plan on sharing with my readers the various prices and values of goods and services in Moldova, as well as the various places I visit in Europe. I know I find these things fascinating, so hopefully some of you as well. I did find out the other day that the average monthly salary of a full-time teacher in Moldova is 1,000 lei. As of this writing, the leu is worth about 8.4 U.S. cents. That means that a monthly salary would be about $85 U.S. While the leu stretches much further in Moldova, than the dollar does here, that is still a pittance on which to live. I will be paid less than this per month while in Moldova. Should be fun. :o) It's certainly belt tightening time.

The leu (singular) [pronounced lee-oo but run together], by the way is also the Romanian word for "lion". Lei [lay] is the plural. Stephan Cel Mare (Stephen The Great) is pictured on all Moldovan currency.

The 5-Lei Note with Stephan Cel Mare pictured.

Speaking of Passports...

It ends up that I will have two passports: one personal and the other specifically a Peace Corps passport. I should have read the instructions better when I received them at the end of January. I completely overlooked this little tidbit, and had to rush this week to get more photos and fill out the paperwork to send to the Peace Corps for my special passport that will pretty much be limited to moving in and out of Moldova.

My standard passport will be used for other travels I plan on throughout Europe and Eastern Europe.

Getting very excited now... one month from staging! Still have not heard whether we will stage in Philadelphia or Washington, DC. I'm certain those details will be settled in the next week or so. In the meantime, via Facebook a large number of M27s have been posting and sharing their building excitement. It is quite a diverse group and I'm really thrilled to see that. I was unnecessarily anxious that I would be one of the oldest volunteers heading to Moldova, but there is a good-sized number of older volunteers in our class. Having the maturity and experience of some of the older volunteers to balance against the enthusiasm and creativity of the younger volunteers should help us accomplish some great things.

A Passport for the Peace Corps

The other essay that I was asked to write was on the subject of "Why the Peace Corps?" Again, these essays were to be very short and to the point.

A Passport for the Peace Corps

Occasionally, life gives one a glimpse of the synchronicity of events that together comprise the sum total of a human being. My father often told me that we are all born with a blank passport for our travels in life, and each experience we have is a stamp in that passport. These "stamps" help show us where we've been, but also facilitate the opportunity to explore and develop.

As a military child not only did I experience and learn to love a diversity of cultures, but I also developed an avid curiosity and desire to break the "code" of foreign languages and to unravel the ways that various cultures are both similar and distinct. This led to three things: 1) a strong desire to understand how all living systems and people are interconnected; 2) a healthy appetite for learning; and, 3) an equally strong enjoyment of teaching what I've learned.

My interests are as diverse as my background, and this would significantly assist in the development of a partnership between myself and the Peace Corps. I lived and worked in a small farming community, mid-sized towns, as well as in major metropolitan areas. A love of plants and their nutritional value caused me to study nutrition and botany. This, in turn lead to studying and teaching the care and wellness of small animals and animal husbandry. My strong interest in language led to a minor in Spanish and the pursuit of a Master's degree in English literature, which I also taught at the University level. I've started and owned two very different and successful businesses which taught me the value of customer service as well as the navigation of the steps for starting a business. Finally, I've worked for and managed a wide variety of people in several increasingly executive roles -- learning and teaching along the way.

My father often told me that we are all born
with a blank passport for our travels in life,
and each experience we have is a stamp in that passport.

The biggest challenge I will face in the Peace Corps is the possibility of working under difficult conditions in the absence of amenities  that the First World simply expects. However, my extensive travels and interface with differing groups of people and distinct cultures will help me face these challenges directly.

The Peace Corps is a sum total of the "stamps" my metaphorical passport has received in life's journey. It is the logical next step in continuing on that journey. My personal, educational and professional life constitutes the collection of experiences that bring me to this fantastic opportunity, and I strongly believe that my "passport" would not be complete without the chance to serve another country through the Peace Corps.

Learning My Ah, Beh, Vuh's

As I was told that many of the merchants in Moldova lived under the Soviet regime, and they tend to list pricing and count change in Russian, I am working on my basic Russian with an emphasis on numbers. Here's one through four in Russian: Один, два, три, четыре ...

It ends up that the Russian or Cyrillic alphabet is very phonetic, as long as you know what sound each character makes. So, I took a step back today and began the process of learning just that: the sound of each character. I made my flash cards and was beginning to relate each character with a sound. However, some of the characters sound very close to each other. My friend Kelvin knows Russian, so I brought him my flash cards for his help in differentiating the sounds. Not only did he tell me that I didn't have the sound right for several of the characters, but he also informed me that I would never print out the characters. Rather, I would need to learn each of the characters in cursive for writing sake.

This chart shows both the print version and the cursive version of each letter.

So now, I have to learn essentially two separate visual alphabets. I am really beginning to empathize with people learning to read in English, especially if they come from a culture with a different alphabet. Thinking about all the variations of handwriting that my students would turn in when I taught English at KU, I can only imagine that I will run into as many variations on the Cyrillic cursive. In fact, I feel like a child again -- contemplating the mysterious code of cursive writing that adults would use. Even in my own family, Mom's cursive was (and is) flowery and flowing, well-rounded and bold - that of a designer and artist. Dad's, on the other hand, is that of an engineer -- staccato and barely legible. We would often have teachers questioning the legitimacy of permission slips if Dad got involved.

Good thing I find this so fascinating! I strongly recommend this learning process to anyone desiring to give one's neurons a good athletic stretching. I may be imagining it, but I really feel like my brain is getting a workout.
But wait, there's more. See that third set of characters in the chart above? The character that looks like our "B"? That is a Cyrillic "V" sound. The "H" looking character in the fourth row sounds like our "N", and the backward "N" looking character in the third row is our long "E" sound, while the lower case cursive looking "m" is our "T" sound. The "X" looking character in the sixth row is our "H" sound, and you begin to see how my brain is getting mixed messages. This goes on for most of the characters.

And... some of the characters don't have any sound at all, but when combined with other characters, change the sound that the original characters make.

I have about a month to practice before we go to staging the first of June. Crikey! Where is the time flying?

By the way, my name in Cyrillic print is roughly -- Тим and sounds like "Team". (Luckily, my names sounds exactly the same in Romanian, and I shall now turn attentively for the next 27 months to anyone discussing team building, team sports, or anything relating to "team" in English).  

At least two of the characters of my name are familiar in print. I can't say the same with the cursive:

Stranger In A Not So Strange Land

My friend Sharon asked that I post my Peace Corps entry essays. These are required upon applying to the Peace Corps and they are to be extremely short and succinct. This particular essay was to touch on how I would handle living in a foreign country.

Stranger In A Not So Strange Land

Growing up in a military family afforded me a number of rich experiences in travel and exposed me to several diverse cultures, languages and monetary units. As an adult, I continue to travel extensively and make monthly trips to Canada where there are cultural, monetary, linguistic and measurement idiosyncrasies that are quite different from my own. However, the most unique place I lived was actually in Nortonville, Kansas in the heart of the United States.

Having lived in major metropolitan areas such as a suburb of Tokyo, Japan, Brooklyn, New York, San Diego, California and several others, moving and adapting to, and living in the extreme rural Midwest was quite a culture shock, and it taught me the value of respect, trust and confidence.

Despite a supposed common language and some familial ties when I moved to this town of 600 people, I found I had to learn to dress differently, adopt the language of the farm, and adapt to a closed community of people - most of whom had never ventured beyond the state lines, and many of whom had never left the county. These were mostly small farmers, raised with no exposure to anyone other than more German-Americans, instilled with strong prejudices regarding other cultures and minorities, and deeply entrenched in their ideas and belief systems. To try to impose my own views or share the experiences of my travels was irrelevant to their daily lives and served little purpose.

Instead, the only thing I could do to gain their trust and live comfortably among these people was to dress more like them, integrate into the community by working beside them, and share in their cultural traditions with church and community events. But, most importantly, I had to listen. I sang in the church choir, worked for a number of local farmers, baling hay, weeding fields, plowing, sowing and taking care of animals. I joined 4-H and taught communications, entomology, care of poultry and rudimentary botany. Eating at the local cafe allowed me to understand more of the traditions of the community and, after a time, become less of a stranger or outsider.

Sometimes, we don't have to travel to far-off destinations to find challenging environments where we are the stranger and have to build trust and confidence in who we are and what we do. Sometimes, we are the strangers in our own lands. This experience was helped me to understand how to better integrate into a wider stratum of societies, and that will be the biggest help in serving through the Peace Corps.

Downtown Nortonville, KS - a different culture.