Heat, Prey, Lug

As a huge fan of the book 'Eat, Pray, Love', I thought this play on words was too cute to pass up when thinking about what to write in this blog post. Though my moments here in Moldova have been (in the majority) amazing, many adjustments have been made. I have identified three of the major slight adjustments between life here as compared to life back home. These three things in particular have become more noticeable as time has gone on.

My first summer in Moldova. My summer of Heat, Prey, Lug.

Heat:
Being that it's summer, it's hot. Living in NH my whole life I understand...hot summers, cold winters; just a part of life. This being said, the humidity here is dreadful. The saying 'you could cut the air with a knife' doesn't begin to cut it, this stuff needs a machete. The sort of heat where sitting still, in shade, not moving, still leads to the trickle of sweat. Now, I was not raised with air conditioning in my house, but living in this heat without a fan is rough. My ice cream intake has seen a steady upward linear progression since my arrival. One of my first language misunderstadnings in Moldova happened in reference to the heat. My host sister and I were walking down the street when she truned to me in the sweltering heat and said one word: "Cold!". My being the unadjusted American, thinking she was trying to practice her English, and simply mismatched her antonyms, replied "No, hot!" The next day in language class I learned she was actually saing "cald", the Romanian word for "hot". Yes, summers here are filled with cald, cald, heat.

Prey:
It's commical really, the one animal all volunteers have been affected by isn't an animal at all, but rather an insect. Yes, that's right, the big bad mosquito. These are not just any ordinary mosquitoes out for blood. These mosquitoes are looking for limbs. Biggest difference is what these suckers leave on your body, post-bite. I have identified three different forms that the bite can manifest into. The first, the blister bite, creating a legitimate blister on the skin. The second, the cone-shaped red bump, itchy little things. The third, I more fondly refer to as the punch-shaped welt. These bites are huge, usually swollen with a hard center. Yes, the mosquitoes seem to prey on us Peace Corps volunteers. Perhpas it's fresh blood, perhaps they can smell our vulnerability, or perhaps it's just summer and these bugs are hungry.

Lug:
In the USA we are, usually, lucky enough to live in a community where clean water is in high supply. Though many of the homes we live in here have running water, well water is also a common resource for consumption. Given the standards for water quailyt in the US, we as Peace Corps volunteers, are advised to boild and filter all of our drinking water. In the summer, with the heat, this process is long, hot and is only as prosperous as the amount of water that fills the kettle. It's no lug and chug process, it's more of a lug, boil, cool, filter, sip process.  As a result this leads to dehydration, given the effort to make the water is less than appealing in the heat.

But, here it is about adjustments. As Peace Corps countries go, I feel blessed to be in wonderful Moldova. For now I will continue to adjust and live in Moldova, and get used to my summer of heat, prey, lug.

~Peace