Dear Friends and Family,
We’ve had a few people ask us this month to write more about what daily life is like for us in Moldova, so I thought I’d try to paint a picture of it for you in this letter.
Rachel and I live in a studio apartment on the first floor of a four-story apartment building that was built during the Soviet period (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moldova to learn more about the history of Moldova). We have a kitchen, bathroom, bedroom/living room and an enclosed balcony that also functions as a sun room. We live on the north side of downtown Chisinau (the capital of Moldova with a municipal population of almost 800,000) in an area inhabited by many ethnically Russian Moldovans. This makes it challenging at times to communicate with some of our solely Russian-speaking neighbors as we are learning Romanian, the majority language in Moldova as well as the language of the children with whom we work. But despite the general language barrier, this past month we have gotten to know one of our neighbors in particular a little better. M. speaks both Romanian and Russian and flows from one to the other without realizing when she switches, so we often have to gently remind her that our Russian is a little rusty. She is maybe in her 80’s and often sits alone on the bench in the courtyard outside of our kitchen window. When she sees us cooking in the evening, she often taps on the window and asks how we are doing. We enjoy inviting her in as well and have been able to hear more about her life.
During the work week we leave the house at 8am and take a maxi-taxi (a minibus that seats anywhere from 10 to 20 people and provides standing room for at least that many more, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marshrutka) to work on the other side of town. At around 8:30 we take the elevator up to the 11th floor of a Soviet-era building and get situated for the work day. Our office space is on a hallway with other organizations, including electricians across from us and a translation company on the left. The office itself has a main room where our desks are situated, a storage area and a break/kitchen room. Across the hall is a small room that we use as a chapel and meeting space. The main room provides us with a beautiful view of the Moldovan countryside while the chapel overlooks the boarding school where we run our program for kids. Chapel starts at 9am each day and is led by rotation which provides variety in the spiritual practices we use. Chapel time might consist of singing, Scripture reading, a book study, contemplative prayer, intercessory prayer or a special discussion. It is a time that we set aside to pause from our active life to center ourselves and to soak in God’s love for us, the children and the whole world.
After chapel we spend the morning working on individual tasks. Rachel often has Romanian language lessons during this time, and I am able to focus on my administrative and leadership responsibilities. For lunch we all bring food that we share and always eat together as a community. After lunch, our after-school program begins at 1pm. The school where we work has a capacity to house over 700 children, but there are currently only 180 children enrolled (look for more on institutionalized Moldovan children being reintegrated into families in a later letter). There are all of the elements you might expect at a boarding school: the school building itself, a cafeteria, soccer field, playground equipment and three dormitory buildings. We run our after-school program until 5pm each evening.
In the evenings we’ve begun taking yoga classes three times a week both for the exercise as well as a way to meet more people in Chisinau. We also cook together almost every day, although we do occasionally enjoy the pizzeria that is down the street.
On the weekends we take time to rest by reading, going to concerts or listening to music at home, taking walks in the many parks in Chisinau and spending time with friends. We also almost always go to the large central market on Saturday or Sunday to buy food for the week. The market in Chisinau is enormous; it is two city blocks deep and four city blocks wide. We can buy almost anything we need there. From household items to construction supplies and from colorful vegetables to tofu, the central market is pretty much a one-stop shop for us. Our favorite part of shopping at the market is walking around to all of the fruit and vegetable vendors and picking out the cheapest and best-looking produce. Another thing we like is that there are generally little signs telling us where the produce is from so that we can shop as locally as possible.
I hope that this has given you all a better glimpse into our daily life in Moldova. Look for an update next month on the summer camp we hosted in August as well as news on the beginning of the school year.
We are grateful for your support and continual interest in our lives.
With love,
R & J