Ann's Moldova Trip

The Best of Pictures

2008-09-03T13:14:00.001-07:00

The End

2008-08-30T04:15:00.000-07:00

My hotel room in Paris was so small, but cute. I felt like a bull in a china shop.

At the airport at 3:00 am.

This is the end of my journey. It sure felt good to sleep in my own bed last night. I’m sitting in my living room at home submitting this last entry to my blog, because I wasn’t able to connect to the internet in Chicago. Later this morning I will try to find a place with high speed internet and add some pictures.
My lost luggage was delivered to the hotel at 4:00 Friday morning, and everything was in tact. Sometimes, it doesn’t pay to worry too much, as it always works out like it’s supposed to in the end.
I feel so blessed to have been part of something so amazing and to also be able to share my experiences with you along the way. I hope that you have all enjoyed by blog. It certainly gave me something to focus on that was fun and interesting and kept me from getting bored. I also want to give a special thank you to Jen Dockerty for helping me to figure out how to actually do this blog and also for helping me pick out the best camera. I certainly have learned more about the power of technology.
I also, am so thankful for all your great comments and for the encouragement that I got from each of you along the way. It made it all seem worthwhile. You are the best group of family and friend that I could ever dream of having.
I hope I didn’t bore you with too many details. If you aren’t to sick of it all yet, I’ll be looking forward to sharing more of my adventures, videos and pictures with you before too long. Oh, and yah the great wine.
I'll make one last post on Tuesday with some of the best of pictures.

Last Day in Paris

2008-08-28T14:16:00.001-07:00

Well I'm sitting here finishing up my blog in the hotel room. Paris is totally beyond what I had expected. As you can see from the pictures it is just a beautiful and unique place. I wish that all of you could have been here with me today.
I left the Chisinau apartment at around 2:30 this morning. So, currently I have been up for almost 23 hours. I was so excited to see everything today that I just kept right on going. Kind of like the energizer bunny.
First, from my hotel I walked down to the Arc De Triomphe and then along the Champs Elysees. Then, I went the the Louvre, but I know that I didn't do it justice. You could spend at least two days there. I wanted to see the Mona Lisa so bad, and I thought that this might be my only shot, so I decided to go in a take a look around. I made myself leave after 1 hour, which was sad. Then I walked to Norte Dame and then to the Eiffel Tower. I ended up taking the subway (RER) twice, just because of the distances between.
Sad to say, but my luggage has not arrived yet. It never made it on the flight and they said that it was coming on the 1:30 flight and would be delivered to the hotel at around 5:00. Then we called them again about 8:00 tonight and they said that it had left the airport at 7:30 and should be here by 11:00. But, now it's almost 11:30 and I haven't gotten it yet. I am getting nervous wondering if I'll every see it again. There's three bottle of wine and two boxes of chocolate and other presents in them, so I hope it makes it here before morning. I leave at 8:00 am tomorrow to go back to the airport, to finally make my way back home. I might have to wear the same clothes and I'm going to have to find a least a toothbrush. Yuck!

I'll only add a few pictures tonight, so be sure to check back tomorrow and hopefully I'll be able to add more in the morning.

Last Day's In Moldova

2008-08-27T03:03:00.000-07:00

Independence Day

Joh, me and Robin, a Peace Corp Volunteer

An old Soviet map of the Village of Copceau.

The frontier (The border of Moldova and Ukraine)

The party at the border

Wine in the "fancy' golden glasses

A toast (one of many)

John, me and Mr. Alexi from the Ukraine

Riding the field roads

Trying to unplug the combine

Two vounteers at the sign to the town who's name is prononuced volunteer in English

Mr. Valarei and his grapes

Canning Tomatoes

Mihails's grandparents at their summer home

Grandma Dominique

Picking corn from her garden for our lunch

A mural in the Grandmother's house that was done in the 1940's

Homemade wine and "moonshine" from Poland

Mihail's aunt

Strange sculptures in a roadside park

The village cow's

Garden at Mihail's aunt's house (Soon to be a bed and breakfast)

The bed and breakfast house

It's hard to believe that today my adventure of a lifetime is coming to an end. It's Thursday morning, and I am waiting at the airport to fly first to Frankfurt and then to Paris. I'll be leaving about the time that all of you will be going to bed on Wednesday night.
I have so many great memories and stories of my time in Moldova. What an experience. I can feel that I have benefited as much from this trip as the people that I came over here to help. It was very rewarding to have my host tell me that they have had a lot of vounteers come in the past. but that I have helped her the most.
I have open invitations from many people to come back. So hopefully I'll return again for a visit before to long. It's was so hard to say goodbye to all the good people that I have meet. But, I'm also looking forward to getting home again.

Day Thirteen

2008-08-26T09:03:00.000-07:00

I've missed a few days with my postings. I'll send more complete details tomorrow. It has been a busy few days and I've been doing a lot.

One Sunday I went to the North of the country to meet Mihail's grandmother and aunt. His aunt is starting a bed and breakfast at her home and also runs a nursery and sells tomatoes. I got some really good pictures of the village. His aunt' s garden was very beautiful and we ate lunch there in the outdoor dining area. We went to the grandmother's house and she picked fresh corn and tomatoes from the garden, which we ate at lunch along with a old family recipe of eggplant, vegetables and chicken. It was wonderful Then we went to visit his other grandparents who have a summer home in the same area. His grandmother was canning tomatoes, which they do outside using a wood fire. His grandparents took us on a tour of the gardens. There was no space in the yard that wasn't used, mainly to grow vegetables. In addition, in addition there was every kind of fruit tree imaginable (apricot, walnut, apple, etc.) These grandparents spoke very good English, so we had a very lively and interesting conversation.

On Monday I traveled with Victoria, John and Virginia to the southern part of the country to Copucea. I'll write more about this and put some really awesome pictures tomorrow. Needless to day, this was a day that gave me really good insight into village life. We meet Mr.Valeriu, who is a very successful farmer in that area and employees about 300 employees in his various operations. He currently has a hog farm, a vineyard, crops and is in the process of trying to start a dairy. After our lively meeting regarding water elevations and manure systems, we headed for a ride through the fields in Mr. Valeriu's brand new Russian Chevrolet 4-Wheel drive vehicle that he had just bought the previous day. We were flying through the fields at about 60 km, it reminded me so much of home. We then traveled over the fields to the frontier the border between Ukraine and Moldova for a picnic. I am now affectionately know as Anna in Moldova. Once you've proven that you can enjoy a picnic in a hayfield, drink vodka and wine in makeshift glasses and then successfully encounter the border guards, you're officially one of them.

Hope you enjoy this quick picture. My battery is staring to die, so I'll add to this tomorrow.

Wednesday is the National Independence Day and its a holiday for everyone here. So, today was officially my last day of work.

Day Eleven & Twelve

2008-08-23T08:26:00.000-07:00

Birds going crazy at the Cathedral

Saturday afternoon service

This boy was trying to see how close he could get before the birds took off. This reminded me of Luke when he was young and of Sam.

A wedding party

A building on the way downtown. I'm not sure what it is.

Material for sale at the department store. $150 lei is about $16 US. Some of the really sparkly material was $1500 lei

Sample dresses that you could sew yourself

School outfits for sale at the outdoor bazaar

The flower market is two blocks long and open 24/7

Kids in the park

The map in the office that shows where all the volunteers have came from over the past 5 years. The most are from Wisconsin.

The CNFA FtF people. From left to right Peter, volunteer from Illinois; Violeta translator; Lewayne, volunteer from Kansas; me; Eugenia, FtF employee; John K., volunteer from WI; Irina and Virginia translators; Tatiana, FtF employee. The new person in the second photo in the black dress is Victoria, FtF program coordinator.

It's hard to believe that this is my last weekend in Moldova. The time has really flown by. Last night Victoria, myself and John went to a nice dinner at an Italian restaurant and it got to be a late night. We had the best risotto with mushrooms and a great tiramisu for dessert. And, oh ya, the wine was the best. It was from a winery in the Purcari region. They sure know how to make good wine.
I stayed in the apartment and worked on data and spreadsheets this morning. I feel like there is so much more to do and the time is getting shorter. We only have a few days next week to wrap it up with my two host companies. I want to leave them with some good excel tools that they can use to determine if they should invest in new operations. This seems to be a common problem through out Moldova. It's very hard to plan on anything because the business environment changes all the time. But, I worked up some pretty cool spreadsheets that they use to do different scenario projections using different assumptions. I hope it's helpful, but I'm know that they still have a long way to go. First they will have to learn to trust in each other and to change the system. That won't be so easy.
This afternoon I walked down to the center of the city and took some of these great pictures. It's always a good place to just wander around and people watch. It was hot again today. So, it best to just meander and take your time.
Hope you enjoy these pictures. I was so mad because I think I finally figured out what I am doing wrong when I take the videos. But, it was after this great video of a church service at the Cathedral. I just happened to be going by there and was lucky enough to catch a little of this. I'm just upset that it's not shot the right way. Hopefully I'll get to do this again.

Just Pictures

2008-08-22T02:01:00.000-07:00

Sometimes pictures say it all. Hope you enjoy these.

Day Ten

2008-08-21T09:14:00.000-07:00

Me trying to jump in the wine fountain.

One of the "street signs" in the tunnels. It's the name of the wine stored on that "street"

A hand-painted mural

One of the wine corridors

The oak barrels that store the wine

Sign in one of the tunnels

The certificate from the Guinness Book

Old wine that was put into the collection in 1987

The spot where the experts come to test the wine. Each of the archways is considered a house.

The Milestii Mici Crest

Water features at the winery. Terry will have the design for a new project now

The bottle on the left is about $2,300 US Dollars

An old wine press

A picture of a pharmacy on the way to the winery - for Kristen

It’s hard to believe, but one week from today I will leave for Paris. Where has the time gone too? Today was a relatively short day. I went into the office for a few hours and worked on my two assignments. Around 10:15 the morning, we left the office to travel to Milestii Mici, the largest underground wine “gallery” (storage) in the world. (So, I was drinking wine before any of you were up for the day☺). They are in the 2007 Guinness Book of World Records as having the most wine in the world. We traveled below ground about 100 meters in my translator’s car and then we drove through the caves and tunnels to see the collections of wine and to visit the tasting room. The network of tunnels is about 34 miles long and is dug out of limestone rock.
We had an English speaking guide from the winery with us in the car to explain everything. There are over 1.5 million bottles of wine, of all different varieties stored down there. The climate is just perfect for wine storage. The first bottle of wine was first stored their in 1968, and they add bottles every year. The storage is for what they call their collection wines. These wines are sold from $25 per bottle to $3,000 per bottle depending on the variety and the vintage. We heard that Queen Elizabeth of England orders 3,000 bottles each year of the Negru de Puracri. Puracri, is one of the regions in Moldova where the best grapes are grown. They purchase wine and grapes from all the different regions in Moldova and either process or store it underground here.
In addition, we heard that when Steven Segal was here, his rich Moldovan friend purchased one of the most expensive wines for him, at around $3,000 for the bottle. This is almost double a normal working person’s yearly salary in Moldova.
I decided to purchase the Queen’s favorite at $355 lei or about $37 dollars. Not bad for a collection wine. I hope it makes it back ok. We saw many wines in the collection that were produced in the 1980’s and in fact, the wine in my collection bottle was produced in 1986. Because of the climate in the underground storage area, the wine ages very nicely. We were told that the sparkling wines will keep for over 125 years. We got to sample 3 wines, a white, red and sparkling dessert wine, while being served a meal of traditional Moldovan foods. The wines were very good and somewhat different from those at home. (I think that they were less acidic.) Also, as part of our tour package, we received two bottles of the table wines. So, if I can get all this wine home in one piece we’ll have a wine tasting party. We were also entertained by the two musicians. They played traditional music, but also tried to play some “cowboy” music when they learned that we were from the U.S.
There are roughly 2,000 different “houses”of wine in storage and every three years the wine experts taste one bottle from each house to make sure that they are still good. That process takes about 3 months. (I am signing up for the job next year.)
During the days of the Soviet Union, Russia used to get much of its wine from this region. We learned that last year Russia put an embargo on the wine from Moldova, but this year it has been lifted. So, the winery will start to export wines to Russia again. They also export wine around the world.
When the tunnels system was constructed, the limestone that was taken out of the tunnels was used to rebuild much of the city of Chisinau. Most of the city was destroyed by the German’s and Russian’s during WWII.
Even if you’re not a wine lover, this was what I consider a trip of a lifetime and I’ll always remember this place. Now, I need to return to work and get ready for tomorrow.

The video is sideways for some reason, but still fun to watch. Maybe it had something to do with the wine.

Day Nine

2008-08-21T00:12:00.000-07:00

All pictures are of the shopping mall

Today we meet with Glina, Ion and Tatiana in the morning to discuss the development of a business plan for a current egg operation and a possible turkey operation in Moldova. The current egg operation supplies about 1,000 eggs per year (I think) and is one of the largest of its kind in operation in Moldova. After a lengthy discussion, it seems like the longest that they can do a realistic plan is 6 – 12 months out, since prices and input costs are so volatile. It makes it very difficult to make major investments in equipment and hard assets, in this type of environment. However, I think that I can help them learn how to us some excel tools that might be useful. Then we spent the remainder of the day with Irina, discussing business issues and long-range planning as well. Everyday, I begin to understand more about the business climate here and what a dynamic and difficult setting it is.
In the evening I walked down to Stephen Cel Mare and went back into the shopping mall to take another look. I couldn’t resist taking these pictures so that you can get a better understanding of the shopping environment and also the types of clothes/items that they are selling. These outfits would be typical of what you see people wearing on the streets. In addition, many people must sew or make their own clothing as there are many booths that sell sewing machines, yarns, embroidery threads, yard goods, etc. I will go back and get a price on the yard goods for those of you that sew to give you a perspective. (I didn’t think of that until now!!)
Every day on the way to the CNFA office, we pass by a hospital which prompted today’s discussion on health care issues in Moldova. From what I understand, every one in Moldova can purchase a health insurance policy, but the best way to get good health care is through bribes. If you want to see the doctor right away, you pay them a bribe otherwise you wait until all those that have paid the bribe get help and then maybe they will help you. So again, you want to have access to cash. It’s crazy just to watch the people try to get across the street as the hospital is in a busy section of the city. One day an older gentleman in a wheelchair was trying to cross and no one would stop for him. I’ve also seen parents with little kids in strollers, pushing them right out into the traffic, as they try to get over to the hospital building. I think that the majority of them make it across, (hopefully). Also, there are regional health care centers that serve the people in the villages. But, it sounds like the majority of the people would prefer to come to Chisinau if they have the need to see the doctor. Also, there are many Pharmacies (Farmacia’s) in the city and in the larger villages, but none in retail stores. However, there is usually a money exchange office in the larger grocery stores.
Another thing that we have encounter to some degree are beggars, but not as many as we have in some of the bigger cities in the U.S. The other day we saw a mother with a baby in a front carrier walking in the middle of the cars at an intersection asking for money. I had a fit that day, but Mihail just kept on driving. This kind of stuff happens all the time in Chisinau. It seems like the begging is more creative here and usually involves small children or dysfunctional adults.

More Day Eight

2008-08-20T23:30:00.000-07:00

The village of Orhei

The medivial bath

The Raut River by the bath

One of the collective farms

The Raut River

The monastery is in the cliffs

View of the river from the underground tunnels

Rooms where the monks slept

The sanctuary

View to the outside for Luke. These pictures was taken by Mihail Ojog

Yesterday, I didn’t give you a complete picture of the full day. So, therefore this post is an extension of Tuesday’s post. (The village, in Day Eight pictures, called Butuceni was first settled in 1330, and is very near to the monastery) In the afternoon, we traveled by car about 50 kilometers to the monastery Orheiul Vechi. The monastery complex is a combination of natural and man-made sites, carved into the limestone hillside. The actual current monastery, which is inside the underground tunnels, dates from 1820 and is called the Pestera Hermitage. We were able to go inside the underground caves and we got these excellent photos there. Currently there is only one monk that stays at the monastery.
The yellow church on the hill near the monastery is closed, so we couldn’t go inside for a look. The church is called the Birth of the Holy Virgin. The river that flows at the bottom of the hills is called the Raut.
Basically, the village of Butuceni was abandoned at the dawn of the 18th century and the people settled in the new village of Orhei. The current village is the one in the pictures with the yellow and blue church. There are still some people that live in the old village, and some of these people were in yesterday’s pictures. In addition, we found the home of one entrepreneurial individual in the old village. This person had started a bed and breakfast complete with a beautiful yard and pool.
From what I have heard, one of the efforts that people are undertaking to revitalize the villages is to start up bed and breakfasts in some of the old homes or farmsteads. This has been successful in Poland and people from Moldova have been traveling there lately to attend seminars on how to do this.
I also found out that Tuesday was a religious holiday, one of about 100 per year. This one has a connection with fasting. So, that is why many of the older people in the village of Butuceni were resting in the late afternoon.
Near the village of Orhei, and along the banks of the Raut River, are the remains of an ancient medieval bath that dates from the 14th century. It seems like this bath was similar to our current day spa – complete with massages.

Day Eight

2008-08-20T10:15:00.000-07:00

Soviet Truck

An typical house

Flowers growing wild

An abandoned House

Russian Newpaper used to cover the door in the abandonded house

Kids playing in the street

Lady sitting out in the street in front of her house

Lady going out to her garden

Each house has a gate with its own unique design

Cow along side the road

I spent the better part of the day in the office working on materials to give to Agrostoc on Wednesday. In addition, I was also able to meet Gilina, another business woman, to start a discussion on business valuation tools. She is working with a businessman who is trying to start up a turkey operation and they need help in determining if they could be profitable.
As I am interacting with business people and with the other volunteers I am beginning to better understand the difficulties that the farmers and businesses face when working in the Moldovan structure. The system is very corrupt and the only way to get ahead is to get favors from those in charge. There are subventions (subsidies) available to start new businesses, but there is no guarantee as to how long they will last. If the individual falls out of favor with the government, the subsidy can be stopped at any time. So, most people that want to get into a bigger operation need to start with their own funding. In the Moldovan system, this is very hard to do. Bribes are commonplace and used at all times by people that are trying to get ahead.
This example should help put it into perspective for you. In 1991, when Moldova gained its independence from the Soviet Union, there were about 1.3 million dairy cows in Moldova compared to about 40,000 today. So as the villager could no longer afford to replace its cow after it died, or if they had to use the cow for meat, they have not been able to replace it with another. Most of the milk in Moldova currently comes from Ukraine as they can not produce enough to meet all the needs.
As part of the restructuring, the collective farming system was dismantled and anything of value was distributed to all the people. So, each person got one cow, one goat, one chicken, 1 acre of land, etc. The land was given in 1/5th, so that each parcel is not adjacent to the others. They may have gotten 1/5 of an orchard, 1/5 of a field, 1/5 of a vineyard, etc, in different locations. So, you can imagine how hard it would be to manage the land in this way. It makes it very difficult for the average person in Moldova to do anything other than just survive off what they have been given. The person keeps the cow in the backyard in his village and then sends it out to graze openly during the day. When you drive on the highways, you will see cows, goats, etc along the ditches. In fact, last night, we saw the villagers bring the cattle out for the night. The cows were tearing down the road to the highway and the villagers were running along to try to stop them from getting to the highway before traffic was stopped. To put it into perspective, this would be like driving down Highway 61 and having a whole herd of cows trying to cross the four lanes of traffic in front of you. This is very dangerous, as you can imagine.
The villager also milks the cow and uses the milk for their own needs. If they happen to have excess, they can take it to a milk collection site, where they can get paid in cash about a week later. There are big quality issues as there is a limited amount of testing done and all the milk from many different farmers gets mixed into one holding container. In addition, no one trusts anyone else so the villagers are constantly on guard protecting what is there.
This is the way that it goes with any crop or any kind of agricultural product that is being produced. Even worse, the government controls the price that the farmer can be paid for the produce. We have heard of many cases where the farmer takes his produce to one of these collection sites and then the person in charge tells them that there is some kind of hold up in processing, meanwhile the produce spoils and the farmer gets nothing. The world price has no effect on the pricing, so the farmer is at the mercy of the system to pay them whatever they like.
Some business people are trying to start bigger farms and trying to produce more than they need so that they can sell lots of excess. However, because it is hard to get access to capital, modern farming equipment, the expertise needed to effectively run a large farming operation and mainly because the system is so corrupt, many of the current efforts to commercialize agriculture may never come to fruition.
So, this system has started the downward spiral of the farming system. Most of the younger or middle aged people have left the villages and in many cases the country. Estimates are that about 30%-40% (I’ve heard as high as 60%) of the countries GDP is coming from outside the country, as Moldovan’s that are working abroad are sending the money they earn back here to support their families. In the villages the only people left are the older people and the very young, who are being cared for by the grandparents. There are very few people who have the money or the expertise to run a farming operation of any size. In addition, many of the teenage children in the city have been left to raise themselves as their parents are abroad trying to earn a living. This lack of parental supervision has resulted in lots of underage drinking both in the city and in the villages.
Also, there is a big difference between the ways that the people live in the city versus the villages. All the young adult girls dress very provocatively and flashy – very grown up for their ages. The boys, however, seem to be no more for window dressing for the girls, as they dress very nondescript and normal. When you look in the faces of the people, young and old, I can see a relationship to someone I know back home. They don’t look much different than the traditional Anglo-Saxon American. I have not seen anyone of a different race in the crowds of people and definitely there are not many tourists here. Most people don’t speak much English, or don’t admit to it. So, I do a lot of pointing and nodding when I’m not with one of the translators. Again, as I have said all along, the people that I am working with here are top notch and are very glad that I am here helping them.

Day Seven

2008-08-19T02:02:00.000-07:00

The view from my kitchen window and the keys needed to get in

Statue of Stephen Cel Mare in the park. He defeated the Turks in 43 wars.

Parrots in the park

A church in Chisinau

It's hard to believe that a whole week has gone by. The time has gone by really fast. Today we spent the morning in the office and the afternoon with Irina at Agrostoc. We continued our discussion regarding the credit policy and current practices and then we began a discussion on various methods for valuing capital investments.
In the evening I took a walk down to the centre of the city again. The weather has cooled off, but the humidity has returned. You don't have to walk very far before working up a sweat.
I think that I maybe getting a little homesick. The apartment is quiet and lonely at nights. I am glad that I have been getting so many good e-mails and comments on the blog. - it helps. I think that because we are so busy during the day, that coming back to the apartment is somewhat of a letdown. However, I have been reading books like mad and I have been watching the movies that I brought from home. I've watched A River Runs Through It, The Blues Brothers and the Office. I have also read Memories of a Geisha and am starting the English Patient. I also copied a bunch of music onto my computer, so I can crank up the tunes when it is really quiet. The days have started to flow into a routine.

Day Six

2008-08-17T09:55:00.000-07:00

Two ladies being interviewed at the park, probably for a news spot.

Today was Sunday and I ventured out on my own. I walked down to Stefan Cel Mare, the main street. I went into a shopping mall. Was that crazy. Each vendor has a small booth and they sell clothes, shoes, purses, etc. Talk about claustrophobic. The walked over to the Cathedral and went inside to take some pictures. As I was walking toward a restaurant I meet LeWayne, one of the other volunteers, and Virgina, one of our interpreters, on the street. What a chance meeting that was. So, I joined up with them and we continued on our tour. In one of the parks they had a brass band playing traditional music and all the old ladies were dancing with each other. Kind of reminds me of home. Anyways, hopefully my video will work. I later learned that the celebration in the park was for WWII vets. WWII is still very much in the minds of the people. It was a very devastating time for them as they were invaded by both Russia and Germany many times. Much of the country was destroyed during the bombings and many people still remember hiding in the root cellars.
I found a cafe with wireless Internet, so I could catch up on my postings. I will head back home soon. It's really smoky, as everyone smokes here. Especially the young people. I'm sure they'll learn someday that this is a bad habit, like we have.

This celebration was for the WWI veterans.

Even More Pictures Day 5

2008-08-17T09:46:00.000-07:00

Soviet Era Motorcycle for Justin

Garden gnomes for Kristen

More Day 5 Pictures

2008-08-17T09:39:00.000-07:00

Roadside well

People in a country village

The monastery - Capriana

A road-side statue where the priest had blessed the land.

A bus stop in the countryside

Countryside with various crops

Capriana

Painter in the cathedral

Day Five

2008-08-17T09:33:00.000-07:00

Today we drove out in the country to visit two monasteries (“manastires”). Many of the old monasteries where destroyed when the communists came to power in Moldova, so many of the church-type building are in the process of being rebuilt now. The first one that we visited, Hincu, was more remote and also was in the process of building a new building on the grounds. The smaller yellow building was just beautiful inside. The walls were hand painted with the most beautiful scenes. The brickwork on the new building was amazing. The monks and nuns that live and work in the monasteries are self-sufficient and provide for themselves with their gardens and the animals that they keep there. There was sacred a pool at this monastery where people would come to wash and pray. I saw a number of ladies jumped right in with their dresses on and then fully submerged themselves in the cool water. Men, kids and women were all jumping in. I learned that water is a precious item here.
As we drove throughout the countryside and the villages I noticed that there were many statues of Jesus along the roadside or there would be a statue and a well. I learned that if the priest blesses a place, a statue is put up as a monument. Also, there are many water wells along the highways that have been blessed, so they have a monument too. The more money the person has the bigger and more elaborate the monument. Even in the villages, about every 5 houses share an outside well. Some of them have running water in the homes, but they still us the wells for much of their water. However, we learned that many of the apartments at one time didn’t have water, so those people had to go outside to the well and carry their water up many flights of stairs for all their needs (even bathing).
The second monastery, Capriana, was very beautiful, and also had a lot of construction going on. Many people give funds to the monasteries and that is how they pay for their building activities. This one was closer to Chisinua and was also in the village of Capriana, so they seemed to have plenty of funding because of all the activity going on there. When we were at this monastery we had the chance to watch a painter doing free-hand painting of a beautiful scroll design on the walls. Painters are commissioned to paint the whole sanctuary with elaborate scenes and scrolling. It really made me appreciate the workmanship even more when you see the work that goes into these places.
The monasteries are of the Eastern Orthodox religion. There are no pews or places to sit. Many times they stand for hours as the service goes on.
As we traveled the countryside, you could make out the all strips of land that are individually farmed. After the breakup of the Soviet Union, the land was distributed to the villagers in about 1-2 acre parcels each. Many of the parcels run up and down the hills so that is the way that they farm it, mostly by hand. This makes it very difficult to have a field of any size that will support work by tractor or combine. Many times there would be a small strip of corn and then a strip of grape vines and then another strip of corn. If you look closely at some of the pictures, you can see the patchwork designs that reflect how the farming is done. The worst part is if someone neglects their land, and don’t take care of bug infestations or weeds, it is hard for others to get a good crop. The people are reluctant to farm together, because they still remember how it was when it was done under the communist collective farm system. So, that is one of the biggest challenges for agriculture and cooperatives now. Most of the people are self-sufficient, but are not in a position to grow more than they can consume themselves.
We stopped for lunch at a road-side restaurant and had a good lunch of barbeque and sopschii (a tomato, cucumber and sheep cheese salad). That is where I took the picture of the garden gnomes (for Kristen).

Day Four

2008-08-17T09:26:00.000-07:00

The picture is of Nadeja with our Moldovan pies. Yummy!!

One of the government buildings.

This is the outside of my apartment building.

Today I spent the morning in the field office getting caught up e-mails and getting ready for the afternoon meeting with Agrostoc. At lunchtime I went with Mihail and Nadejda, the FtF Country Coordinator. At lunch on Thursday, Mihail had promised that he would take me to a place that had the best chicken soup ever. So, we went out of the city a ways and sure enough to his word, it was the best, even though we sat outside in a temperature of 100F in the shade and ate our hot soup. In addition, they ordered traditional Moldova “pies”. The pies were a crust folder over a filling (sort of a cross between a croissant and a flaky pie crust). The ones we had were of two varieties – cheese/dill and cabbage. (There are also ones stuffed with fruits and other good things that are on the list to try.) I’ve never had something so interesting and good!! I think it’s just a start of my venture into good Moldovan treats. Both Mihail and Nadejda are so excited about having me check out the other local traditional favorite foods. If there are all this good, I better watch out. It’s hard to believe, but true - the total bill for 3 people was $10 US dollars. Not only was the food good, but the company was even better. I am finding that everyone that I interact with on a regular basis is interested in explaining their culture to me and also listening to my explanations of the U.S. culture. In addition, I am finding that my Moldovan friends are never at a lack for words, either in their own languages or in English.
After lunch Mihail and I dropped Nadeja off and we headed over to Agrostoc for our afternoon meeting. We continue our conversation regarding credit policies with Irina and then we talked about the schedule for the next week. I am starting to get comfortable with our three-way communications with Irina. So, I felt like I had broken the language barrier. I quickly found out that I was way to confident with myself. After the 3 hour meeting with Irina we settled into Igor Tagaduic’s office for a talk about the history of the cooperative and his short and long-term goals. I was listening to Igor in my right ear talking in Russian and Mihail on my left side translating in English at the same time. We talked for over an hour this way. I was worn out after this we headed back to the apartment. We stopped along the way home and I drank bottled water with “gas” in it, as they call carbonated water. I thought that this was the end of the day, but it was only really the start.
When we arrived back at the apartment I had asked Mihail to come up to show me how to use the DVD player (or so I thought there was one) so that I could start to watch some of the movies that I brought along. Well needless to say one of the keys got stuck in the lock and we couldn’t get the door open or get the key out. (The apartment has two doors and three locks before you can get in). After trying for about 15 minutes, we called to see if we could get in touch with the landlady but to no avail. She is at the seaside. Thanks goodness for Mihail’s resourcefulness. We drove through the city to find his friend Yuri, who came along with needle nose pliers, screw driver, and a strong determination to get the door open one way or another. After some finagling we got the door open and I was in for the night. Thank goodness for two “smart” resourceful guys. I am told that there are no “locksmiths” in the city like we have at home. So, I’m not sure what I would have done if I had been left on my own. In their words, “they killed the lock”, so I shouldn’t have any troubles from now on.
Much to my disappointment the multi-system unit turned out to only be a VCR player. So, instead of watching my movie on the big 42 inch flat screen TV I had to watch it on my little computer screen. But, I enjoyed watching Jen’s parent’s copy of Season One, of the Office. I got a good laugh. (Jen you’ll have to tell your Mom and Dad that my Moldovan friend Nadejda knows all about the Office and loves it).
It’s been a busy Friday. Tomorrow we go to check out some of the monasteries in the country side. I have been given strict instructions not to wear pants of any kind and to bring a scarf to cover my head and something to cover my arms or I can’t go in. It will continue to the over 100F tomorrow.

Day Three

2008-08-15T01:24:00.001-07:00

Since everyone has had some concerns about the situation in Georgia, I wanted to start off today by assuring everyone know that there is no sign of any trouble here and the local people do not seem to concerned about it at this time. They are more worried about the heat. On Thursday it was about 104F and Friday about 122F (50C). That's hot. Today I am really thankful for an air conditioned office and apartment. Many are not so lucky.

Thursday we visited Agrostoc Cooperative the host company that I will be working with while in Moldova. I spent the morning with the Chief Financial Officer, Irina Virlan, discussing equity issues for the cooperative. We worked through my translator, Mihail, and Eugenia, my project coordinator. It's take a little bit of getting used to and I didn't realized how stressful it was until after the meeting. However, Irina did understand some English, but on the other hand I didn't understand anything that was said in Romanian. As we were having our discussion regarding equity, I realized how similarly the member of the Agrostoc Cooperative and the members of any cooperative in the U.S. are. I had promised Irina that I will help her develop an equity redemption plan that she can share with management and the board for approval. They have not revolved any equity yet and the members are starting to bring this up more and more. We will return to Agrostoc on Friday to talk to Irina about a credit policy for the cooperative. They are interested in seeing examples of how U.S. Cooperatives deal with these issues both from a business and accounting perspective. On Friday, I also hope to have my first meeting with Igor Tagadiuc, the President of Agrostoc to find out what his views of the coop are. I am so impressed with the spirit and determination of the Moldovan people to make agriculture a successful venture here. They are so open to the ideas and opinions that the volunteers bring to them and then they use that information to formulate their own plans.

There are two other volunteers here working on the FtF program. One is a dairy farmer from Wisconsin, who is designing farms and barns for the people out in the countryside. (Many of the barns were destroyed when the collective farms were broken up). The other volunteer is an insurance guy from Kansas who is working with insurance companies in determining how to develop a Crop Insurance Program.

Last night I had dinner with Lewayne, the insurance volunteer and Irina, his interpreter. The picture is of them in a French style restaurant. The we got to meet Irina's husband and her one year old baby girl, who was soooo cute.

I have learned how to say yes - da.

Day Two

2008-08-14T04:39:00.000-07:00

Today I went to the CNFA field office and spent the day with the staff getting briefed and planning for my assignment while I am here in Moldova. There has been a slight change in plans and adjustments to the schedule, but it will all work out.
The office is very nice and everyone is so friendly and kind. They totally loved the Mighty Leaf Tea that I brought for them from the U.S. The FtF staff is very professional and accommodating. I also have had the chance to interact with three different translators. They are very fascinating people who are able to comprehend what I am saying in English and then translate it so it can be understood in Romanian or Russian. I am learning that the preferred language is Romanian, but many people still speak Russian. I also am trying to learning a few phrases, but it is difficult for me to remember. Hopefully Eugenia will be successful in at least teaching me how to say good morning, good night and thank you.
Last night I went to dinner with Virginia, one of the other translators and LeWayne another volunteer. We went to a traditional Moldovan restaurant and dined on tomato/cucumber salad, potato dumplings and a dish that is sort of like a crepe. I am finding that I really enjoy the local food.
After dinner we walked to the center of the city and then by many of the government buildings. The streets are very busy in the evening and many people are outside. It has been very hot, even my Molodovan standards. (Yesterday it was close to 100F.) Thank goodness Virginia helped my find and turn on the air conditioner in the apartment.
I am really starting to appreciate the contributions that both Jerry Bahenksy and Joel Koonce made to get the cooperative structure established in Moldova. Both gentlemen are true legends here and are talked about very fondly.
Hope you enjoy the pictures. I will try to put a label on them later after Virginia helps me remember what each of them were.

Thank you everyone for your comments.

Day One

2008-08-13T02:25:00.000-07:00

First Day in Moldova

I arrived in Chisanau, Molodva yesterday evening without an trouble. The three legs of the flight went very well. I made all my connections and was meet by both my translator, Mihail and Eugenia, the FtF project coordinator when I arrived here at the airport.

We went to the apartment first to drop off my bags and have a look around. Then we went to the grocery store and picked up a few groceries and water.

Introduction

2008-07-03T11:13:00.000-07:00

The view from the kitchen window in my apartment.

On August 11, 2008, I will leave the U.S. for Chisinau, Moldova on a two-week volunteer assignment sponsored by CNFA. I am not sure how much you know about CNFA or the Farmer to Farmer program so please allow me to explain a bit. Funded by the US Agency for International Development as part of the American foreign aid program, Farmer to Farmer has sent nearly 1,000 American farmers and other agribusiness professionals on short-term assignments to the former Soviet Union and Africa to share their know-how with counterparts and empower them to solve problems. CNFA’s mission is to empower disadvantaged rural communities to increase income through entrepreneurship, private and cooperative business development and market access. Through the CNFA Farmer to Farmer program in Moldova, Belarus, and Ukraine, volunteers train the new family farmers who have emerged from the old collective farm system to make better business decisions, improve productivity, and market produce more effectively. CNFA Farmer to Farmer supports the development of democratic farmer associations, cooperatives, and agribusinesses that strengthen private enterprise agriculture.
During my assignment I will be working with the management of Agrostoc Business Cooperative to review and assess the current cooperative financial status and provide training to more efficiently organize and carry out their responsibilities.

Stay tuned to this site to follow my adventure.

Where is Moldova?

2008-07-03T11:04:00.000-07:00

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