Winter has arrived

Well, after a very mild November, December and most of January, winter has finally arrived, and with it the snow, ice, and freezing temperatures we all love to hate. It was a bittersweet arrival. For the agricultural sector it was a welcomed freeze, giving the crops a chance to rest before the spring. For us mere mortals it is a time of year when we burrow under blankets in multiple layers of clothes, only emerging for the essentials, mainly more piping hot tea.

Last week all of us agribusiness and rural business volunteers had a conference in the big city, Chisinau. We were put up at a "fancy" new hotel that was kind enough to give us our usual "much less fancy" hotel rates. Yay, for new businesses! The conference was for both volunteers and our host-country national work partners. My partner, Vlad, and I worked together to develop a project that our community had expressed a need for. (More about the actual project later.) The constructive setting allowed for everyone to accomplish a significant amount of work over the two and a half day seminar. We discussed matters of sustainability, elements that make for successful projects, tips for writing good proposals, and other basic but essential knowledge when it comes to the world of grant writing.

The weekend that followed was typical for winter in Moldova (ie staying inside, at all costs). Taking advantage of being in the capital, a group of a few volunteers and myself got an apartment, enjoyed some Greek food, and listened to countless songs on Youtube before falling asleep, dead tired from a long week. The following day I visited a few other volunteers in a city to the north. We made Mexican food for dinner, and drank a local red wine while listening to hits from  the year 1993. When I began my journey back to site, I quickly realized the ruteria (mini-bus) I had planned on taking home was in fact broken, and no other buses were running. Luckily, another volunteer lives close by and I was able to find a place to stay for the night. After a little bit of work getting back to his site, we were able to salvage the night by making some tasty American grub, and watching an Adam Sandler classic, Billy Madison, before calling it a night. Thank goodness for the soba (wood burning heater) on these cold nights!

I learned a fun saying 'E un ger de crapa pietrele' when translated it means: 'It is so cold that stones break'. ...this expression is quite fitting for the current sub-zero temperatures we have been experiencing.

Until next time, peace.