New news

Our community's grant was approved and now we're waiting a couple of weeks for funding to go through. I might have mentioned this to you... Hopefully the new tables and chairs will be purchased by end of April and ready for this coming school year.

8-9 more weeks of teaching. It blows me away how fast life passes.

I hope I can stay focused with everything going on. I had some safety issues living alone and feel that it will be best for me to move in with a Moldovan host family. A middle aged man in my village with psychological issues showed up at my house earlier this year after he had been taken away to a ward last fall for showing up in my school classroom a couple of times. It was a strange situation and he was taken back to the ward for a month, but was returned this past month and I found him walking behind me to my house the other week and he then followed me back to my partner's house when I changed directions. I also found out someone has also been entering my property (confirmed) through 2 back entrances while the gate is locked. All of this happened in the same time period and these things made me very uncomfortable. The village police and mayor's office have not been extremely supportive which upset me, but I'm not here for them. So, for the months of April and May I will probably be staying with our school's secretary at her house. I went to see her house today. If the situation works well, I will stay there June and July, too. I'm a little bummed because I love where I live... It's the closest I will come to the Garden of Eden, but it's been my choice and I have to make the healthiest choice. I'm really thankful I lived in this house for a year and felt comfortable for the majority of the time. I felt very relaxed and happy here.

This month I will be completing a GLOW-Day seminar to motivate 14-17 female students at our school to apply to the GLOW Initiative (Summer Activity/Camp). I will most likely not be in Moldova in August to help at the camp, though I can be involved in the planning aspect.

This summer I hope to help with various camps around Moldova as I prepare for my COS (termination of service) date. Our COS dates have officially been announced and July 21, 22, and 23rd are the earliest dates. It seems many of my colleagues will also be wanting to receive an early date (for school, work, or they just wanna). A max of 5 volunteers can leave on any given COS date so I really hope I can receive one of these three early dates.

I am close to confirming/accepting my admittance to UNC-Chapel Hill for a Master of Public Health Nutrition/Dietetics fall 2010. Classes will start around Aug 27, and I would assume orientation is a week earlier. I have found potential roommates already and will start looking for empty apartments within walking distance to campus. One student I believe I will be living with is currently working in Thailand and will be beginning medical school this fall at UNC. I'm really excited to meet new people and miss Carolina weather... it's going to be an amazing summer with many new things coming this fall.

The reality that service is ending makes me happy and sad. I've met so many kind, caring, genuine people in Moldova... The good and bad combined, I wouldn't change a thing about the past 2 years of my life. It's an environment unlike anything I've experienced. Friendships among the PCVs are built because of our need for support and we all share many common interests and values. You can become very close to someone in a short period of time if you open yourself to them. Some of the situations we experience here make us feel a bit more vulnerable than we might in our home environments. I value and will always remember the good friends I've made here and hope to keep these people close even when we live far apart.