Today Masha and I went to the Arlington National Cemetery. It was her first time there and my first time back since I was about 12 years old.
The weather today was absolutely beautiful. Blue skies and about 65 degrees, the perfect day to spend a lazy Sunday outside at the cemetery. We started out by walking up to see the changing of the guard. It was a really pretty ceremony that only lasted about 10 minutes. From there we went inside the viewing area right next to where the guards patrol and directly in front of the tomb of the unknown soldier. Inside we saw gifts from several foreign armed forces to the U.S. Armed Forces. Most of the gifts were medals from the foreign nations, but some were more elaborate like pots from Japan.
Next we went to see the eternal flame at the President John F. Kennedy grave. Just above the grave site is the highest point in the cemetery which is the Robert E. Lee house. However, even from the Kennedy grave site you have a great view of the cemetery and the National Mall just across the Potomac.
We took lots of great pictures today, some of which I've posted to this blog. It's our plan to see all of Washington, DC has to offer while we live here and today was a great start. Even within the cemetery we have more to see since it's so vast we only managed to see a small portion of what the National Cemetery has to offer. Hopefully we'll go back soon to experience the full scale of this huge monument to our nation's fallen veterans.
Jerad
Monday, February 9, 2009
Sunday, February 1, 2009
New Washingtonians
After quite a long hiatus I've decided to continue this blog. The revised concept will now focus on our life in Washington, DC.
We've been living in our nation's capital now for just over three months and it's been a great experience thus far. Life in this city is far different from Moldova, or even Michigan. Most people you meet have been abroad for an extended period of time, whether they traveled abroad, moved abroad, or are from abroad. This creates a great mix of different cultures, which is always interesting.
After staying with some friends for about a month-and-a-half, we both got jobs and now live just north of Washington, DC, in Silver Spring, MD. Silver Spring is a great place for us and we found a great place to live that is close to the downtown area and the Metro.
When we moved in to our new apartment we literally had no furniture. We spent the first two weeks sleeping on blankets in our bedroom. When we moved to the US from Moldova we brought no furniture, not that we had any to bring in the first place. While in Michigan for the summer we acquired a dining room table and some chairs, but we never really had any furniture before since we had never lived on our own, until now. My parents, Jen and Keira visited us in January 2009 to bring us the furniture, as well as some other things. Now I can honestly say that it looks like we really live here rather than us just squatting in a vacant apartment.
Our jobs are keeping us pretty busy. Life in the world of international development is a busy one. There are always new challenges when working with developing countries, and this is my first time working with African countries, specifically Angola, Malawi, and Mozambique. I might even be making a trip out to those countries in the coming months, which would be amazing.
Masha and I have been doing our best to get out and experience Washington, DC. We've been able to meet up with friends on a regular basis, but we've still got so much to see in and around the city. There always seems to be something going on and, not least, was the recent inauguration. We were very lucky to have been able to attend the inauguration of Barack Obama on January, 20, 2009. It was a very cold day by Washington, DC standards and we stood right next to the Washington Monument during the historic event. There were an estimated 2 million people there and everyone was in a very good mood. To make things even better, our friends Chris and Katie made it to Washington for the inauguration too. I hadn't seen Chris for a very long time and it was great to catch up with him.
Our next major event will be attending a Superbowl party tomorrow. Our good friends Mike and Katy will be hosting a party. Mike's a huge Steelers fan since he's from Pittsburgh, so it should be a pretty good time.
Our other good friend Mike Majerus and his wife Kate just had their baby Liam on Wednesday of this past week. Liam was born slightly premature so he's still in the hospital, but he's expected to be home any day.
Masha is doing great here and she misses Moldova, but she is able to speak with her family on a regular basis, which helps a lot. She speaks to her mom through Skype and also through a calling card that we purchased, which is the same card plan that my parents used to call me while I was in Moldova. I also miss Moldova and we will live and work in Moldova again.
I'll keep this blog updated, but it might not be in regular intervals like I did in Moldova. I will probably update this whenever we do something interesting, or if I have something that I'd like to say. This newly revised blog is a tool for us to keep track of what we have accomplished and what we'd still like to achieve in our life.
Washington is our new home and we are very happy to be here.
Cheers,
Jerad
We've been living in our nation's capital now for just over three months and it's been a great experience thus far. Life in this city is far different from Moldova, or even Michigan. Most people you meet have been abroad for an extended period of time, whether they traveled abroad, moved abroad, or are from abroad. This creates a great mix of different cultures, which is always interesting.
After staying with some friends for about a month-and-a-half, we both got jobs and now live just north of Washington, DC, in Silver Spring, MD. Silver Spring is a great place for us and we found a great place to live that is close to the downtown area and the Metro.
When we moved in to our new apartment we literally had no furniture. We spent the first two weeks sleeping on blankets in our bedroom. When we moved to the US from Moldova we brought no furniture, not that we had any to bring in the first place. While in Michigan for the summer we acquired a dining room table and some chairs, but we never really had any furniture before since we had never lived on our own, until now. My parents, Jen and Keira visited us in January 2009 to bring us the furniture, as well as some other things. Now I can honestly say that it looks like we really live here rather than us just squatting in a vacant apartment.
Our jobs are keeping us pretty busy. Life in the world of international development is a busy one. There are always new challenges when working with developing countries, and this is my first time working with African countries, specifically Angola, Malawi, and Mozambique. I might even be making a trip out to those countries in the coming months, which would be amazing.
Masha and I have been doing our best to get out and experience Washington, DC. We've been able to meet up with friends on a regular basis, but we've still got so much to see in and around the city. There always seems to be something going on and, not least, was the recent inauguration. We were very lucky to have been able to attend the inauguration of Barack Obama on January, 20, 2009. It was a very cold day by Washington, DC standards and we stood right next to the Washington Monument during the historic event. There were an estimated 2 million people there and everyone was in a very good mood. To make things even better, our friends Chris and Katie made it to Washington for the inauguration too. I hadn't seen Chris for a very long time and it was great to catch up with him.
Our next major event will be attending a Superbowl party tomorrow. Our good friends Mike and Katy will be hosting a party. Mike's a huge Steelers fan since he's from Pittsburgh, so it should be a pretty good time.
Our other good friend Mike Majerus and his wife Kate just had their baby Liam on Wednesday of this past week. Liam was born slightly premature so he's still in the hospital, but he's expected to be home any day.
Masha is doing great here and she misses Moldova, but she is able to speak with her family on a regular basis, which helps a lot. She speaks to her mom through Skype and also through a calling card that we purchased, which is the same card plan that my parents used to call me while I was in Moldova. I also miss Moldova and we will live and work in Moldova again.
I'll keep this blog updated, but it might not be in regular intervals like I did in Moldova. I will probably update this whenever we do something interesting, or if I have something that I'd like to say. This newly revised blog is a tool for us to keep track of what we have accomplished and what we'd still like to achieve in our life.
Washington is our new home and we are very happy to be here.
Cheers,
Jerad
Monday, June 9, 2008
The End of an Era
Hello,
I am almost in disbelief that this time has come. After almost four years of writing to you all, first by simple email and now by way of this blog, this will most likely be the last blog I write from Moldova. This is my last week of work and next week we'll be pretty busy attending going away parties and beginning to pack so I can say that I probably will not have time to write again before we leave Moldova. I would like to thank you all for being such a captive audience over the past few years. I can say that many times I wrote this blog I thought that it was too mundane to be interesting, but I guess when you write about your own life it some how seems less glamorous. Anyway, thank you all for being interested in what Masha and I have been doing in Moldova.
We leave Moldova exactly two weeks from today. Again, it's almost unbelievable that the time for us to leave Moldova is coming up very quickly. I believe that coming to Moldova was one of the best decisions that I have ever made and I know my life is better for it - Masha being the perfect example of this. I was talking to my dad on the phone last night and we were wondering what our ancestors would say if they knew that I had been living here for the last few years. They left this region close to 100 years ago for a better life and now here I am almost 100 years later claiming that my experience in Moldova has been life changing. It seems that our family has kind of come full circle, but my dad, Masha, and I believe that we will be back in Moldova to attend to business in the future.
Masha and I are not the only ones leaving Moldova at the end of June. The U.S. Embassy and many other international organizations are going through their transition cycles and many many expats are leaving Moldova in the next month or so. Even the U.S. Ambassador is leaving Moldova at the end of this month. He has excepted a new position in Washington D.C. that will put him as the second person in charge of all visa applications to the U.S. During his time as Ambassador in Moldova he has worked closely with us and AmCham and we wanted to thank him for all that he has done for us. On Friday of this week John, the AmCham President, and I had coffee with the Ambassador at the Embassy.
I had never been to the Ambassador's office before and I guess I was kind of expecting it to have an extravagant feel to it, you know, a swimming pool with mermaids in it, butlers, champagne, the works. When we got to his office though it was very nice, but not unlike any other office. We were not disappointed with the meeting though and we presented the Ambassador with two gifts. The first was a carving of three Moldova haiduci drinking wine in a cellar. I would say that a haiduc is a man that lives in the forest and likes to drink. Anyway, the second present was an honorary lifetime membership in AmCham Moldova. The Ambassador was really happy to receive the gifts and right before we left John mentioned that I am also leaving Moldova. Once I told the Ambassador that I was from Detroit he congratulated and sympathized with me on the Red Wings winning the Stanley Cup, the Pistons losing to the Celtics, and for the Tigers and Lions being just generally bad. He then asked me what I was going to back in the States and I mentioned that I have been thinking about joining the Foreign Service. He was happy to hear that I was considering such a career and then we said goodbye and good luck.
This weekend we didn't really do a whole lot. On Saturday I came to the city and applied for jobs and registered for the Foreign Service exam. Masha stayed at home and prepared for today when she will defend her thesis. On Sunday I went back to the city with Masha's mom to buy some things for the kitchen. The remodeling job had been going on for a few weeks it was finally completed this weekend. The kitchen now looks great and it feels good to see how happy every one is now that the job is done.
As I mentioned above, today is Masha's last day at the university. She defends her thesis today and then we have a birthday party to attend tonight. I think that Masha will do great defending her thesis but she is still a bit nervous about it. Anyway, it will be great for us to celebrate our friend's birthday and to celebrate Masha finally being done with the university.
This is my last week of work and I think it will be relatively laid back. I would like to finalize the 2007 Annual Report for AmCham and hopefully we can get it done by the end of the week. This coming Sunday Masha and I are planning to host our own going away party for our friends. We are going to invite them all to come to our village for a BBQ in the forest right next to the Monastery in our village. Only a couple of our friends have ever been to our village so it should be a great time. We're inviting like 30 people and it will be a real Moldovan/American celebration.
Masha and I are looking forward to seeing you all when we get back to the U.S. on the 23rd. I'm not sure what the future holds in store for this blog since I don't think writing about our life in the U.S. will be so interesting for you all to read. Maybe I'll just update it for us so we can look back years from now and remember this time in our life together.
From last week's survey:
60% of participants said that they have played mini golf 21 or more times;
33%, 1 - 10 times;
and 6% 11 - 20 times.
Thank you all once again for taking in interest in us and in Moldova and we'll see you in a couple of weeks.
Jerad
I am almost in disbelief that this time has come. After almost four years of writing to you all, first by simple email and now by way of this blog, this will most likely be the last blog I write from Moldova. This is my last week of work and next week we'll be pretty busy attending going away parties and beginning to pack so I can say that I probably will not have time to write again before we leave Moldova. I would like to thank you all for being such a captive audience over the past few years. I can say that many times I wrote this blog I thought that it was too mundane to be interesting, but I guess when you write about your own life it some how seems less glamorous. Anyway, thank you all for being interested in what Masha and I have been doing in Moldova.
We leave Moldova exactly two weeks from today. Again, it's almost unbelievable that the time for us to leave Moldova is coming up very quickly. I believe that coming to Moldova was one of the best decisions that I have ever made and I know my life is better for it - Masha being the perfect example of this. I was talking to my dad on the phone last night and we were wondering what our ancestors would say if they knew that I had been living here for the last few years. They left this region close to 100 years ago for a better life and now here I am almost 100 years later claiming that my experience in Moldova has been life changing. It seems that our family has kind of come full circle, but my dad, Masha, and I believe that we will be back in Moldova to attend to business in the future.
Masha and I are not the only ones leaving Moldova at the end of June. The U.S. Embassy and many other international organizations are going through their transition cycles and many many expats are leaving Moldova in the next month or so. Even the U.S. Ambassador is leaving Moldova at the end of this month. He has excepted a new position in Washington D.C. that will put him as the second person in charge of all visa applications to the U.S. During his time as Ambassador in Moldova he has worked closely with us and AmCham and we wanted to thank him for all that he has done for us. On Friday of this week John, the AmCham President, and I had coffee with the Ambassador at the Embassy.
I had never been to the Ambassador's office before and I guess I was kind of expecting it to have an extravagant feel to it, you know, a swimming pool with mermaids in it, butlers, champagne, the works. When we got to his office though it was very nice, but not unlike any other office. We were not disappointed with the meeting though and we presented the Ambassador with two gifts. The first was a carving of three Moldova haiduci drinking wine in a cellar. I would say that a haiduc is a man that lives in the forest and likes to drink. Anyway, the second present was an honorary lifetime membership in AmCham Moldova. The Ambassador was really happy to receive the gifts and right before we left John mentioned that I am also leaving Moldova. Once I told the Ambassador that I was from Detroit he congratulated and sympathized with me on the Red Wings winning the Stanley Cup, the Pistons losing to the Celtics, and for the Tigers and Lions being just generally bad. He then asked me what I was going to back in the States and I mentioned that I have been thinking about joining the Foreign Service. He was happy to hear that I was considering such a career and then we said goodbye and good luck.
This weekend we didn't really do a whole lot. On Saturday I came to the city and applied for jobs and registered for the Foreign Service exam. Masha stayed at home and prepared for today when she will defend her thesis. On Sunday I went back to the city with Masha's mom to buy some things for the kitchen. The remodeling job had been going on for a few weeks it was finally completed this weekend. The kitchen now looks great and it feels good to see how happy every one is now that the job is done.
As I mentioned above, today is Masha's last day at the university. She defends her thesis today and then we have a birthday party to attend tonight. I think that Masha will do great defending her thesis but she is still a bit nervous about it. Anyway, it will be great for us to celebrate our friend's birthday and to celebrate Masha finally being done with the university.
This is my last week of work and I think it will be relatively laid back. I would like to finalize the 2007 Annual Report for AmCham and hopefully we can get it done by the end of the week. This coming Sunday Masha and I are planning to host our own going away party for our friends. We are going to invite them all to come to our village for a BBQ in the forest right next to the Monastery in our village. Only a couple of our friends have ever been to our village so it should be a great time. We're inviting like 30 people and it will be a real Moldovan/American celebration.
Masha and I are looking forward to seeing you all when we get back to the U.S. on the 23rd. I'm not sure what the future holds in store for this blog since I don't think writing about our life in the U.S. will be so interesting for you all to read. Maybe I'll just update it for us so we can look back years from now and remember this time in our life together.
From last week's survey:
60% of participants said that they have played mini golf 21 or more times;
33%, 1 - 10 times;
and 6% 11 - 20 times.
Thank you all once again for taking in interest in us and in Moldova and we'll see you in a couple of weeks.
Jerad
Monday, June 2, 2008
Slowly Getting Ready
The time has finally come when Masha and I can say that we'll be back this month! We leave three weeks from today and we're slowly getting ready for the trip.
I say slowly because we are both still pretty busy. Masha has her last final exam today and then she has to defend her thesis next week, after that she's done! I am done with work at the end of next week and then we have about 10 days in Moldova to say goodbye and pack. Ten days would normally be enough but in Moldova you need a lot of time to say goodbye, and pack.
Last week went by pretty fast. The highlight of the work week was our AmCham event. We hosted our members at the Family Golf Center, which is the only miniature golf course in Moldova. As I mentioned in the last blog post, many Moldovans had never played miniature golf before so it was a learning experience for them. As I predicted, I was an instructor for part of the night showing people how to hold the club and giving them great advice like "just aim for the hole". Everyone ended up having a great time, and I was happy to help Masha with her first miniature golf experience. She played pretty well for a first-timer and we hope to play more in the U.S. this summer.
On Friday we had a short day at work and I spent the afternoon helping Masha get ready for her office farewell party. It's common practice here for a person leaving a job to throw a party for themselves. The outgoing person brings food and drinks to the office for their co-workers and so I helped Masha buy every thing and then take it to her office. While Masha had her party I met up with some friends for a beer at a bar in Chisinau. We were sitting outside on the patio and we actually witnessed a minor car accident. It was just a fender bender and no one was hurt but it was pretty loud and the two drivers even started arguing over whose fault the accident was. After her party was over Masha met up with us at the bar and then we went home.
This weekend was very relaxing (for me). Masha was preparing for her exam all weekend which meant I just watched tv and movies. I had planned to go to the city and do some things but it was pretty hot outside and the thought of riding in public transportation was enough to keep me home. Now that the weather is starting to get warmer public transportation is getting much worse, mainly due to the fact that people don't like to open up the windows because of the draft and air current that comes in while the transport is driving.
I have mixed feelings on this belief. I learned about it back when I was a Peace Corps volunteer and many Moldovans swear that if you are in a confined space (car, bus, room) and one or more windows is opened, then the draft/air current that is let in will make you cold and lead to an imminent sickness, which could vary from mild to severe. I do think that people in Moldova believe this theory so much that they make it into a reality. Doctors even site the draft/air current as a potential source of sickness. I have many American friends who think the whole idea is crazy, but I'm some where in the middle. I just think that if you believe something enough then you can make it a reality, for better or worse.
From last week's survey:
66% of participants believe that now is a good time to buy a home;
13% said no;
and 20% said that they don't know.
Have a great week.
Take care and keep in touch.
Jerad
I say slowly because we are both still pretty busy. Masha has her last final exam today and then she has to defend her thesis next week, after that she's done! I am done with work at the end of next week and then we have about 10 days in Moldova to say goodbye and pack. Ten days would normally be enough but in Moldova you need a lot of time to say goodbye, and pack.
Last week went by pretty fast. The highlight of the work week was our AmCham event. We hosted our members at the Family Golf Center, which is the only miniature golf course in Moldova. As I mentioned in the last blog post, many Moldovans had never played miniature golf before so it was a learning experience for them. As I predicted, I was an instructor for part of the night showing people how to hold the club and giving them great advice like "just aim for the hole". Everyone ended up having a great time, and I was happy to help Masha with her first miniature golf experience. She played pretty well for a first-timer and we hope to play more in the U.S. this summer.
On Friday we had a short day at work and I spent the afternoon helping Masha get ready for her office farewell party. It's common practice here for a person leaving a job to throw a party for themselves. The outgoing person brings food and drinks to the office for their co-workers and so I helped Masha buy every thing and then take it to her office. While Masha had her party I met up with some friends for a beer at a bar in Chisinau. We were sitting outside on the patio and we actually witnessed a minor car accident. It was just a fender bender and no one was hurt but it was pretty loud and the two drivers even started arguing over whose fault the accident was. After her party was over Masha met up with us at the bar and then we went home.
This weekend was very relaxing (for me). Masha was preparing for her exam all weekend which meant I just watched tv and movies. I had planned to go to the city and do some things but it was pretty hot outside and the thought of riding in public transportation was enough to keep me home. Now that the weather is starting to get warmer public transportation is getting much worse, mainly due to the fact that people don't like to open up the windows because of the draft and air current that comes in while the transport is driving.
I have mixed feelings on this belief. I learned about it back when I was a Peace Corps volunteer and many Moldovans swear that if you are in a confined space (car, bus, room) and one or more windows is opened, then the draft/air current that is let in will make you cold and lead to an imminent sickness, which could vary from mild to severe. I do think that people in Moldova believe this theory so much that they make it into a reality. Doctors even site the draft/air current as a potential source of sickness. I have many American friends who think the whole idea is crazy, but I'm some where in the middle. I just think that if you believe something enough then you can make it a reality, for better or worse.
From last week's survey:
66% of participants believe that now is a good time to buy a home;
13% said no;
and 20% said that they don't know.
Have a great week.
Take care and keep in touch.
Jerad
Monday, May 26, 2008
Work & Travel Fever
Hello,
I'm not sure if I've ever mentioned this, but there are many Work & Travel programs in Moldova that send students to the U.S. to work for the summer. Masha and I personally know at least ten people that have done this and the number of students obtaining visas this year is expected to be around 5,000 (according to the U.S. Embassy in Moldova). The Work & Travel to the U.S. business has taken off in the past couple of years and the Embassy has even issued a Black List for programs that don't take care of the students that they send. A company can also get on the Black List if they have a very low return rate of students at the end of the program. Some people that Masha knows went to work for the summer and never came back. They are now studying in a couple of different universities. One of Masha's friends from our village is leaving today for her Work & Travel program.
She and a group of other students are taking a bus to Kiev and then flying to New York before they get to their final destination - Utah. I guess when I think about where a visitor to the U.S. would like to go I imagine New York, Chicago, L.A., etc., nothing against Utah. Masha's friend will be working at a summer camp and national park and her friend was very excited when she called us yesterday to say bye.
That got us excited about going and we talked a lot about our upcoming move yesterday. Ultimately we are both looking forward to the move very much but since Masha is pretty busy with her exams and thesis she hasn't had too much time to think about it. We now have less than one month until we're back in the U.S. if you can believe it. Of course we have much to do between now and then but we hope that the time will pass quickly.
On Friday we went to dinner and then a concert with some of our friends. We had dinner at a place called Pizza de Italia, it's some of the best pizza in the city. After dinner we went to see The Snails play. The Snails are a pretty good Moldovan band and we've seen them perform many times before. We even know the guys in the band because they played at the AmCham 4th of July party last year. Anyway, the concert was a lot of fun and we realized after the show that it was probably the last time that we'll see them perform live.
On Saturday we stayed home and just relaxed and cleaned the house. Masha's mom had a big certification test that day. Masha's mom has the highest possible certification for teachers in Moldova and she was getting it renewed. Only about 5 or 6 teachers in the whole country have this certification for Russian and she is one of them. She ended up getting the certification renewed and now she won't have to do it again for five years.
Yesterday we came to the city and Masha did some research on the internet and I applied for different jobs. My job search is starting to make some headway and I've made some pretty good contacts recently. After we did our work we went home and spent the evening watching the movie "Wedding Crashers". We had seen it once a long time ago and it was good to watch it again for the second time.
The weather forecast for this week calls for rain and cool temperatures. One night last week, I think Wednesday night, it was raining so hard that it woke us up in the middle of the night. It was easily the hardest rainfall that I had ever heard and it sounded like our house was in the shower with the way the rain was hitting the roof. We have an AmCham member social event planned for Thursday.
We are going to have our members play miniature golf. There is one mini golf course in Chisinau and not many Moldovans have ever played so we've been getting a lot of questions about how to play and I think that I'll have to be an instructor for the evening. Golf is just not something that people play here, I'm not sure, but I don't think there is even a real golf course in Moldova. If the rains holds out for our event then it should be a good time, if not, I'm not sure what we're going to do.
From last week's survey:
93% of participants said that food prices have recently gone up in their area;
6% said that they had not.
Have a great week. Take care and keep in touch.
Jerad
I'm not sure if I've ever mentioned this, but there are many Work & Travel programs in Moldova that send students to the U.S. to work for the summer. Masha and I personally know at least ten people that have done this and the number of students obtaining visas this year is expected to be around 5,000 (according to the U.S. Embassy in Moldova). The Work & Travel to the U.S. business has taken off in the past couple of years and the Embassy has even issued a Black List for programs that don't take care of the students that they send. A company can also get on the Black List if they have a very low return rate of students at the end of the program. Some people that Masha knows went to work for the summer and never came back. They are now studying in a couple of different universities. One of Masha's friends from our village is leaving today for her Work & Travel program.
She and a group of other students are taking a bus to Kiev and then flying to New York before they get to their final destination - Utah. I guess when I think about where a visitor to the U.S. would like to go I imagine New York, Chicago, L.A., etc., nothing against Utah. Masha's friend will be working at a summer camp and national park and her friend was very excited when she called us yesterday to say bye.
That got us excited about going and we talked a lot about our upcoming move yesterday. Ultimately we are both looking forward to the move very much but since Masha is pretty busy with her exams and thesis she hasn't had too much time to think about it. We now have less than one month until we're back in the U.S. if you can believe it. Of course we have much to do between now and then but we hope that the time will pass quickly.
On Friday we went to dinner and then a concert with some of our friends. We had dinner at a place called Pizza de Italia, it's some of the best pizza in the city. After dinner we went to see The Snails play. The Snails are a pretty good Moldovan band and we've seen them perform many times before. We even know the guys in the band because they played at the AmCham 4th of July party last year. Anyway, the concert was a lot of fun and we realized after the show that it was probably the last time that we'll see them perform live.
On Saturday we stayed home and just relaxed and cleaned the house. Masha's mom had a big certification test that day. Masha's mom has the highest possible certification for teachers in Moldova and she was getting it renewed. Only about 5 or 6 teachers in the whole country have this certification for Russian and she is one of them. She ended up getting the certification renewed and now she won't have to do it again for five years.
Yesterday we came to the city and Masha did some research on the internet and I applied for different jobs. My job search is starting to make some headway and I've made some pretty good contacts recently. After we did our work we went home and spent the evening watching the movie "Wedding Crashers". We had seen it once a long time ago and it was good to watch it again for the second time.
The weather forecast for this week calls for rain and cool temperatures. One night last week, I think Wednesday night, it was raining so hard that it woke us up in the middle of the night. It was easily the hardest rainfall that I had ever heard and it sounded like our house was in the shower with the way the rain was hitting the roof. We have an AmCham member social event planned for Thursday.
We are going to have our members play miniature golf. There is one mini golf course in Chisinau and not many Moldovans have ever played so we've been getting a lot of questions about how to play and I think that I'll have to be an instructor for the evening. Golf is just not something that people play here, I'm not sure, but I don't think there is even a real golf course in Moldova. If the rains holds out for our event then it should be a good time, if not, I'm not sure what we're going to do.
From last week's survey:
93% of participants said that food prices have recently gone up in their area;
6% said that they had not.
Have a great week. Take care and keep in touch.
Jerad
Monday, May 19, 2008
Weekend of Birthdays
Hello,
It seems that the spring weather is already starting to give way to summer. For the last month or so the weather has been cool and we've had a lot of rain. However, towards the end of last week the temperature started to rise and it got up to around 30 Celsius (80 Fahrenheit) this weekend.
On Saturday Masha and I hosted two of our American friends in our village, Sean and Jerin. They had never been to our village and they hadn't had much exposure to life outside of Chisinau. Jerin just arrived in Moldova last week and he is going to be working with an NGO here for the summer. Sean is a Fulbright Scholar and has been here since November.
So on Saturday morning I met them at Sean's apartment in Chisinau and we made our way back to the village. Jerin is staying with Sean at the moment while he is searches for a place to live, which was how they decided to come to our village. We mentioned to Jerin that a family from our village may be interested in letting him stay with them so we did some asking around and we found a family that was willing.
When we got to the village we stopped briefly at our house to get Masha and then we made our way to the school to pick up Masha's mom and the woman that agreed to host Jerin. From the school we went to the woman's (Aliona) house and she showed Jerin around and where he which room he would be staying in, etc. Once the tour was over, Aliona provided us with lunch and some house wine - both of which were really good. After leaving her house we were on our way to the Monastery in our village and we passed by the home of Maria, where I lived when I first got to Moldova. She was outside in her garden so we stopped by to say hello and then she served us all a glass of wine and some more food. I've said it before, but the people here really are very generous. You can show up to some one's house without warning and they'll feed you and give you some wine. Anyway, we stayed at Maria's house for a little while and then continued on towards the Monastery.
It was very hot on Saturday and the Monastery is located up on a hill in our village, so by the time we got there we were all very thirsty. Luckily the Monastery has a very nice fountain so we had a drink from the well and then went into the summer church. The church was full of touring students so we only stayed for a little while and then visited the natural spring at the Monastery for some even better water. The spring comes from under the hill and the place where the water comes out of the soil they have built a small collection point where people can collect the spring water. If you ever seen one of those diagrams on the back of a bottle of water, that's exactly what they have at the Monastery. We didn't have a cup or bottle so we just drank the water from our hands. The water was very cold and very refreshing and from there we went to the cemetery next to the Monastery. The cemetery is pretty old and some of the graves date back to the early 1900s and some even earlier. Since that was the last attraction at the Monastery we headed back to our house.
We didn't stay long at our house because we all had to get to Chisinau that afternoon for a surprise birthday party. Our friend Ana's birthday was Saturday and her husband Heath threw a surprise party for her. Heath is a teacher at one of the international schools in Chisinau and the school is a very large house that has been converted into the current school. Many of our friends gathered at the school and we waited for Ana to show up. Heath had sent her on a scavenger hunt around the city and the last stop was the school. She was very surprised when she opened the door and we all yelled surprise. The party started when Ana got there and we had a great BBQ with hamburgers and other good stuff. Later in the evening we all played basketball and volleyball. Around 10 or so we all went to a bar where they have live Jazz music and we stayed there until the end of the night.
Yesterday Masha was busy all day studying for her first final exam which will be on Tuesday. She is going to be done with all of her exams and thesis on June 9 and then I'll be done with work on June 13th so we are both looking forward to those dates, not to mention the big date of June 23rd.
Masha's parents are remodeling the kitchen and I've been helping her dad off and on with small things. Last Sunday I helped him mix and haul cement because he had to lay some new cement in our kitchen to raise the level of the floor in one part of the kitchen to make it level with the other part. The hauling didn't last very long and we actually ran out of cement just before we reached where we were supposed to stop. Since we didn't have any cement Masha's dad asked around and ended up finding enough cement for us to mix two more buckets and finish laying it. I was amazed that he was able to find it but I guess that anything can be found in a village. My back was pretty sore last Monday after hauling the cement and the kitchen in coming along well.
Yesterday was our niece Keira's first birthday. The party was held at my parents' house and when I was talking to my parents yesterday Keira seemed to be in a really good mood because she was dancing to a special birthday CD. Masha and I are really looking forward to meeting her and it's amazing how fast a year can pass. So, happy birthday Ms. Keira, uncle Jerad and Aunt Masha will bring you something nice from Moldova.
This weeekend was also my good friend Dustin Weber's birthday. I've known him for a very long time and I hope he had a chance to celebrate in true D-Web fashion this weekend.
From last week's survey:
62% of the participants said that it took them 0 - 3 months to find their last job;
18% from 3 - 6 months;
12% 6 months - 1 year;
and 6% of said that it took them more than a year.
Take care and keep in touch.
Jerad
It seems that the spring weather is already starting to give way to summer. For the last month or so the weather has been cool and we've had a lot of rain. However, towards the end of last week the temperature started to rise and it got up to around 30 Celsius (80 Fahrenheit) this weekend.
On Saturday Masha and I hosted two of our American friends in our village, Sean and Jerin. They had never been to our village and they hadn't had much exposure to life outside of Chisinau. Jerin just arrived in Moldova last week and he is going to be working with an NGO here for the summer. Sean is a Fulbright Scholar and has been here since November.
So on Saturday morning I met them at Sean's apartment in Chisinau and we made our way back to the village. Jerin is staying with Sean at the moment while he is searches for a place to live, which was how they decided to come to our village. We mentioned to Jerin that a family from our village may be interested in letting him stay with them so we did some asking around and we found a family that was willing.
When we got to the village we stopped briefly at our house to get Masha and then we made our way to the school to pick up Masha's mom and the woman that agreed to host Jerin. From the school we went to the woman's (Aliona) house and she showed Jerin around and where he which room he would be staying in, etc. Once the tour was over, Aliona provided us with lunch and some house wine - both of which were really good. After leaving her house we were on our way to the Monastery in our village and we passed by the home of Maria, where I lived when I first got to Moldova. She was outside in her garden so we stopped by to say hello and then she served us all a glass of wine and some more food. I've said it before, but the people here really are very generous. You can show up to some one's house without warning and they'll feed you and give you some wine. Anyway, we stayed at Maria's house for a little while and then continued on towards the Monastery.
It was very hot on Saturday and the Monastery is located up on a hill in our village, so by the time we got there we were all very thirsty. Luckily the Monastery has a very nice fountain so we had a drink from the well and then went into the summer church. The church was full of touring students so we only stayed for a little while and then visited the natural spring at the Monastery for some even better water. The spring comes from under the hill and the place where the water comes out of the soil they have built a small collection point where people can collect the spring water. If you ever seen one of those diagrams on the back of a bottle of water, that's exactly what they have at the Monastery. We didn't have a cup or bottle so we just drank the water from our hands. The water was very cold and very refreshing and from there we went to the cemetery next to the Monastery. The cemetery is pretty old and some of the graves date back to the early 1900s and some even earlier. Since that was the last attraction at the Monastery we headed back to our house.
We didn't stay long at our house because we all had to get to Chisinau that afternoon for a surprise birthday party. Our friend Ana's birthday was Saturday and her husband Heath threw a surprise party for her. Heath is a teacher at one of the international schools in Chisinau and the school is a very large house that has been converted into the current school. Many of our friends gathered at the school and we waited for Ana to show up. Heath had sent her on a scavenger hunt around the city and the last stop was the school. She was very surprised when she opened the door and we all yelled surprise. The party started when Ana got there and we had a great BBQ with hamburgers and other good stuff. Later in the evening we all played basketball and volleyball. Around 10 or so we all went to a bar where they have live Jazz music and we stayed there until the end of the night.
Yesterday Masha was busy all day studying for her first final exam which will be on Tuesday. She is going to be done with all of her exams and thesis on June 9 and then I'll be done with work on June 13th so we are both looking forward to those dates, not to mention the big date of June 23rd.
Masha's parents are remodeling the kitchen and I've been helping her dad off and on with small things. Last Sunday I helped him mix and haul cement because he had to lay some new cement in our kitchen to raise the level of the floor in one part of the kitchen to make it level with the other part. The hauling didn't last very long and we actually ran out of cement just before we reached where we were supposed to stop. Since we didn't have any cement Masha's dad asked around and ended up finding enough cement for us to mix two more buckets and finish laying it. I was amazed that he was able to find it but I guess that anything can be found in a village. My back was pretty sore last Monday after hauling the cement and the kitchen in coming along well.
Yesterday was our niece Keira's first birthday. The party was held at my parents' house and when I was talking to my parents yesterday Keira seemed to be in a really good mood because she was dancing to a special birthday CD. Masha and I are really looking forward to meeting her and it's amazing how fast a year can pass. So, happy birthday Ms. Keira, uncle Jerad and Aunt Masha will bring you something nice from Moldova.
This weeekend was also my good friend Dustin Weber's birthday. I've known him for a very long time and I hope he had a chance to celebrate in true D-Web fashion this weekend.
From last week's survey:
62% of the participants said that it took them 0 - 3 months to find their last job;
18% from 3 - 6 months;
12% 6 months - 1 year;
and 6% of said that it took them more than a year.
Take care and keep in touch.
Jerad
Monday, May 12, 2008
Happy Mother's Day....and Victory Day
Hello,
Now that the Easter holiday season is over we are back to work like normal. We had about three weeks of short work weeks due to Easter and this week we are back to full work weeks. Actually, I have only one month left at AmCham Moldova. My last day in the office will be June 13, which will allow Masha and me the chance to have the last week or so free.
Masha spent all of last week working on her thesis. She has to present the first final draft today to her professor and then he will give her some suggestions so that she can prepare the final paper and presentation. On June 12 she has to defend her thesis in front of a panel and before that she has her final exams, a pretty busy time for her. However, things will all be moving by pretty quickly and it will be June before we know it.
On Friday of last week we went to a small get together with our usual group of friends. Noticeably absent were Heath and Ana, since they had prior plans. Our friend Sean organized the party at his apartment and we went there and had a great time. Our friends Carly and Bledi were there and they had just gotten back from Albania, where they had their third wedding. They had some great pictures and stories to tell and they both said that three weddings was enough (one in the U.S., and two in Albania).
Sean also had a guest at his apartment. He was hosting a relative of an acquaintance that just graduated from college. The guest's name was Jeran and he had just arrived from Kiev the night before. He's got an internship with the International Organization of Migration Mission Moldova this summer and he'll be in Moldova until the end of July. Trent and his wife also came to the party and they got to meet our group of friends (Trent is the person that will be taking my position at AmCham). We stayed late a Sean's house and then took a taxi home.
On Saturday I met Sean and Jaren in the city and we had lunch at the new sushi restaurant. There are a few sushi restaurants here but this one is supposed to be one of the best. Masha was too busy working on her thesis so I met them by myself. I have not really eaten too much sushi in my life so it was kind of a new experience for me in that the menu had a very large selection of things that I had never considered could be put in sushi, sea urchin for example. After lunch I met up with Masha since she had been working on her thesis at my office.
I should also mention that Friday was victory day (a.k.a. Europe Day). It was the anniversary of the end of WWII and there were many concerts and small celebrations on Friday. It was a day off so I spent most of the day in the office searching for jobs before meeting Masha and going to Sean's house.
Sunday I met up once again with the people from Friday and we had lunch. Masha spent the day finishing her thesis and then we watched the movie The Illusionist last night. It was a very good movie and we both really enjoyed it.
Since yesterday was Mother's Day, I would like to wish all of the mothers out there a Happy Mother's Day. Especially my mom. Happy Mother's Day and thanks for being such a great mom. Masha and I can't wait to come back and see you more often.
From last week's survey:
71% of participants said that they would spring clean their homes;
29% said that they would not.
Have a great week. Take care and keep in touch.
Jerad
Now that the Easter holiday season is over we are back to work like normal. We had about three weeks of short work weeks due to Easter and this week we are back to full work weeks. Actually, I have only one month left at AmCham Moldova. My last day in the office will be June 13, which will allow Masha and me the chance to have the last week or so free.
Masha spent all of last week working on her thesis. She has to present the first final draft today to her professor and then he will give her some suggestions so that she can prepare the final paper and presentation. On June 12 she has to defend her thesis in front of a panel and before that she has her final exams, a pretty busy time for her. However, things will all be moving by pretty quickly and it will be June before we know it.
On Friday of last week we went to a small get together with our usual group of friends. Noticeably absent were Heath and Ana, since they had prior plans. Our friend Sean organized the party at his apartment and we went there and had a great time. Our friends Carly and Bledi were there and they had just gotten back from Albania, where they had their third wedding. They had some great pictures and stories to tell and they both said that three weddings was enough (one in the U.S., and two in Albania).
Sean also had a guest at his apartment. He was hosting a relative of an acquaintance that just graduated from college. The guest's name was Jeran and he had just arrived from Kiev the night before. He's got an internship with the International Organization of Migration Mission Moldova this summer and he'll be in Moldova until the end of July. Trent and his wife also came to the party and they got to meet our group of friends (Trent is the person that will be taking my position at AmCham). We stayed late a Sean's house and then took a taxi home.
On Saturday I met Sean and Jaren in the city and we had lunch at the new sushi restaurant. There are a few sushi restaurants here but this one is supposed to be one of the best. Masha was too busy working on her thesis so I met them by myself. I have not really eaten too much sushi in my life so it was kind of a new experience for me in that the menu had a very large selection of things that I had never considered could be put in sushi, sea urchin for example. After lunch I met up with Masha since she had been working on her thesis at my office.
I should also mention that Friday was victory day (a.k.a. Europe Day). It was the anniversary of the end of WWII and there were many concerts and small celebrations on Friday. It was a day off so I spent most of the day in the office searching for jobs before meeting Masha and going to Sean's house.
Sunday I met up once again with the people from Friday and we had lunch. Masha spent the day finishing her thesis and then we watched the movie The Illusionist last night. It was a very good movie and we both really enjoyed it.
Since yesterday was Mother's Day, I would like to wish all of the mothers out there a Happy Mother's Day. Especially my mom. Happy Mother's Day and thanks for being such a great mom. Masha and I can't wait to come back and see you more often.
From last week's survey:
71% of participants said that they would spring clean their homes;
29% said that they would not.
Have a great week. Take care and keep in touch.
Jerad
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