http://s283.photobucket.com/albums/kk312/mjwilli2/

Some new photos (um... new as in most from Rusestii Noi :)... a few are from Pepeni ("Pep")when I made the quick site visit 2-3 months ago. I also added a couple of short, poor-quality videos...both videos of the great host family I had in Rusestii Noi. I have some more videos on my camera, but forgot to bring my camera with me. Later.

The past week has been a little dramatic. I'm in Chisinau today with a respiratory infection, but also was able to use the time to speak with one of my program managers about my host family situation. It's gotten to the point of ridiculousness (I'm not sure how I determine ridiculous anymore, but one of my friends wants to write a book about my family experiences which should mean something).
PC is going to visit my site this next week to help me move my things into Ludmila's house... and inspect where she lives. My biggest fear was that she wouldn't have the construction on her heating system done in time for me to get out of the house I'm in now at the end of this month. I was also afraid her outhouse wouldn't pass PC inspection, but my program manager told me today that it should be fine. I've learned that I would rather live in a house with no running water and a bucket for the toilet than a house that has hot water and an outhouse if the people are kind. Ludmila and her family have been so kind to me and are doing so much work with their own hands to fix the walls and heating system where I'll be staying. I think the money PC will pay her for rent will really help their family. As a Romanian teacher she makes about (400 Lei "Lay") $40 per month... and with this money she is supporting herself, her two adopted children, and her mother. I don't see how she's doing it. PC pays, in my particular village, 500 Lei per month for rent... and additional for food and utilities. The family I'm with now claims that isn't enough, so it will be nice to live with a family that believes the money to be more than sufficient. After speaking with other volunteers/Moldovans I've learned that Pepeni is one of the poorest villages in Moldova. It kind of makes the host family situations/problems I've had make more sense to me now that I know this. One of my friends lives in a village where she has high speed internet in her house, flushing toilet, ... you name it. Plus she mainly just observes the other English teachers at school instead of teaching. She feels that the people in her village have everything they need and that she's not really working as a PC volunteer, so I'm glad I'm not living/working in situations where I don't feel needed.
Anyway,
Interesting traditional health practices in Moldova:
My teaching partner/school nurse (Viorica) boils corn silk in hot water and then drinks the "tea". I'm not sure what the health benefits are supposed to be, but she swore to me it's good for the body.
After coming down with my cold Viorica also tried to give me a rubbing alcohol to slather on my neck. I was instructed to drink whiskey and coat potato skins with the rubbing alcohol and wrap gauze around my neck to hold the potato in place.
People also think I'm an idiot for not wearing thick clothes inside and outside. I can literally catch the cold. Sometimes if you feel hot you need to take one of the four sweaters off.

It's hard to explain to people in a different language that you prefer to not follow their health advice. It's even harder to convince them that the "traditional" medicine is not really medicine at all. I'm usually just looked at like I'm stupid. Fortunately, I can blame everything on PC. That's what PC tells us to do :).