The Talk of the Village

Well, that is exaggerating a bit, but I am at least the talk of a few people. My host mom mentioned to me, over a bowl of borş, that everyone is asking her if she feeds me. A few women in my village have noticed my slightly svelter self and come to the conclusion that I don’t eat, so my host mom does not feed me. They meet her in one of the many stores in the center of town and inquiry about my well-being. Whenever I go to school and am in the presence of my director, she practically pins me down and force feeds me cookies or whatever food is within reach. She tells me I have simply lost too much weight, and that it scares her.

I have been engaging myself in Billy Blanks, and his many Tae Bo exercises, since August. I have toned up and am proud of my lost pounds, the one or two of them. I often get the “oh, you are exercising so you won’t be fat,” or “you aren’t eating bread because you don’t want to be fat.” To which I reply, “I exercise because it makes me feel good,” and “I would rather have room for the delicious food my host mom makes.”

I have come to understand that weight loss in this country is not a New Years resolution or a personal goal for many. At least, this is the mind set of the older women in my village. I am pretty confident the 40+ crowd throughout the country also share this thought. If you lose weight, in this country, then you aren’t eating and it is a serious cause for intervention. This is a country that enjoys hosting visitors and presenting to them a large table full of food. This country, from my personal experience, loves entertaining people and food is just an expression of their appreciation and respect for their guests. Gaining weight is the result of being respected and invited to many masas (gatherings with tables of food). It also means that you have the means to eat well. If you gain weight in this country they say, “Bravo! You are eating well; your host mom must be a great cook! Congratulations!”

In America, if you are a little heavier than the last time someone saw you they think, “Wow, she really let herself go. She is lazy and isn’t taking care of herself.” Taking care of yourself, in this country, means eating well. Eating what you want when you want. How much someone is eating isn’t a big issue and isn’t what keeps people up at night. People aren’t spending thousands of dollars a year on toning devices, unused gym memberships, and diet pills that cause heart attacks like oh so many people in America.

It is really true, that in some countries, being a little plumper is something to be proud about. It isn’t a cause for stress or low self-esteem. There are many other things floating around in the world to keep your self-esteem low. Don’t let your weight be one of them.

Don’t get me wrong, being healthy and exercising is good. Your weight shouldn’t be a main point in your life, subjecting you to happiness or despair depending on which way the scale tips. Just be happy with yourself. That is a lot easier.

And remember, not everyone in the world thinks skinny is best, just Americans. Maybe you just need to move to a different country. J

Thanksgiving...a late Blog

Happy Late Thanksgiving!

I am late in writing this blog, but I wanted to speak of Thanksgiving. All the volunteers gathered in Chisinau to celebrate this totally American holiday and to have a few conferences. One Thanksgiving day we even played a little flag football. I joined in and tried to catch the ball a few times. I conclude that it was the throwers error and not mine in catching, so we will stick to that. The dinner, as usual, was FABULOUS and tasted just like America! I created a slideshow that played while everyone ate, and it was a success, if I say so myself. It only took me about an hour to track down the projector and another fifteen to twenty minutes to discover that the projector screen was in the same room as me and I just didn't know.
Employees from the Embassy and even the Ambassador arrived to eat the fantastic meal prepared by some of the volunteers. I had turkey, homemade biscuits, stuffing with gravy, corn, and there was even green bean casserole! For dessert...you guessed it, pumpkin pie! I will have to remember next year to mail a big box of the french fried onion things and canned pumpkin. It was great!
After the meal, there was the annual talent show. It was great, with even the Peace Corps staff joining in to encourage a few laughs. There was singing and dancing and harmonica playing.
On Saturday, the volunteers attended a seminar on the bird flu. Conclusion: the bird flu is not in Moldova and if it gets out of hand, could kill millions. We learned about what we can do to prevent the spread of bird flu and how we can protect ourselves in the event of its appearance in Moldova. It was all kinds of informative.
I hope every that is reading this had a great Thanksgiving and gained a couple of pounds!

Correction to the Fortune Teller

I made a mistake in the last blog, which was cleared up by my host mom. The cards show four types of people that coincide with the four symbols in the deck. I am not sure which goes with which but here they are:

Doba - fair skinned, light hair, light eyes (usually green)
Rosu - light skinned, a little red to their skin color, light to medium brown hair, light to medium eyes
Cruce - medium skinned, medium to dark hair, medium to dark eyes (ME!!!)
Verde - dark skinned, dark eyes, dark hair

So I will have two men in my life, one will be a Doba, and the other Rosu. The Doba man will not be good, will begin to drink and lie to me, going places and not telling me where. The Rosu man will be the one that is meant for me. Ok, glad we got that all cleared up, and I hope we are now all on the same page.

Just another day at the Fortune Tellers

She isn't really a fortune teller, she reads playing cards. I have been wanting to go to one of the ladies in the nearby city to have my cards read. My host mom talks about all the times she has gone, what they have said, and whether or not they turned out correct or not. So, this week we made an agreement to go track one down today. We arrive at a nine story apartment building. Don't think its like your Spring Creek apartment complex...more like Soviet style cinder tower (if you can imagine). We have to wait a few minutes on the stairs outside of the woman's apartment while a couple is in there. Once inside, and shoes off, we get down to business. My host mom gets her cards read and is told about the things her husband is or isn't doing while working abroad. Not that interesting. Now on to me! She hands me a card (the card that I am...I believe based on eye color) and I am supposed to hold it and think good thoughts while she shuffles the deck. Now the fun begins. She puts cards on the table in varying patterns and begins to tell me that I will have two men in my life. Both will be blonde, one with green eyes and the other will have blue. The green eyed man will not be good, he will begin to drink, leave and not tell me where he is going, and lie. So I should not be with him. The other, the blue eyed blonde, I will meet here in Moldova. He will be nice and he is the one meant for me. One of my friends, a blonde green eyed girl will also like him, but he will not like her. I will not be as crazy about him as he is with me, but I should just go with it and it will come step-by-step. I will know it is him because he will give me a present. After that (who knows how long), he will ask me to marry him and I must not refuse because he is the one I am supposed to be with. He will be slightly older than me, and of course, taller. He will leave with me to go live in USA when I go, completing all paperwork and everything. Also, blonde hair green eyed people in my life are not good, male and female. I should be very attentive when crossing the street, because that is the one bad thing hovering over my life. My host sister's is water. My host mom's is climbing trees (go figure). I don't think I believe I will meet my man in Moldova, seeing how unlikely it is that I will meet men here, and I already checked out the new volunteers. I think she mentioned me taking him back to my country and finding him here because she knew I was not from Moldova. Otherwise, I think the reading was very interesting and now I have a lot to think about. Oh yeah, she also said that I would have two children. Ha!