Week 6 Day 3
Wow...yesterday was quite the day.
In class we went over the grammar and vocab that was going to be on our test and practiced talking about illnesses.
We had a group lunch scheduled at Smokehouse, an American barbecue restaurant that is owned by a few former peace corps volunteers. There, we had an informal Q & A session with two of the owners, David (who is from Virginia), and Vlad (who is Moldovan, I believe). Their big focus is about encouraging locals to fight corruption and open corruption-free businesses, so they told us a lot about the process of opening the restaurant, the times they were persuaded to bribe someone, and just other examples of corruption in Moldova.
One thing they told us was about the way the trolley bus system was kind of corrupt, because apparently many of the locals try to “help out” the ticket takers (who they think don’t make enough money) by returning their tickets after paying, so that they can be resold to another person. This means that the sale is only recorded once—the amount of daily passengers is recorded by the number of tickets sold—and the ticket controller gets to take the extra money for themselves.
That was really interesting for me to hear, since I had never personally noticed that (the busses I take in the mornings are very crowded), but I’ve definitely been paying attention to it more now that I know it’s happening, and a lot of the other participants have noticed it during their commutes.
During that time, we also ate lunch, and we had a lot of really great food (that I had been missing just a bit): ribs, potato salad, quesadillas, hush puppies, nachos, chips and salsa and a few other things, too.
That went until about 2:30, and then a bunch of us headed towards the park since we had some time to kill. Earlier in the week, someone in the group had invited some people (on a first-come, first-serve basis) to a decoupage class, but since the date and time were moved, Sara wasn’t able to go and I had volunteered to take her place. The class was set for 4:00 that afternoon at Emmy’s apartment, and was going to be taught by a friend of her host mom’s. We played mafia in the Central Park for about 45 minutes before going across the street to catch the #24 trolley bus going towards Ciocana (the opposite direction of my apartment). We got off the bus at about 4:00—it had been really stuffy and hot and crowded inside, so it was a huge relief when we got off. From there, we walked about ten minutes to Emmy’s apartment building, and took the elevator up to the 9th floor, which had a pretty great view of the city (but none of my pictures came out too well).
Emmy’s host mom introduced us to her friend, and all eight of us sat down in the dining room to start the class.
We ended up making a little wooden thing (for lack of a better word) with some hooks in it to hang keys from, and they turned out surprisingly well!
We ended up finishing our projects at about 6:30, and while we made them we listened to a lot of music, both Russian and American (ABBA, and I heard Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen for the first time that I could remember, too—everyone was shocked when they heard that). Once we were done with that, Emmy’s host mom gave us tea and cake and cookies and a bunch of other Moldovan candies, and at which point I called Vera to tell her I’d be home later than usual, but she said that was alright since she was at church.
We ate for a bit, and then went to Emmy’s room to look around and play a few more rounds of mafia (I swear, it never gets old). After another ten or fifteen minutes, everyone left except me, Willow, Alex and Whitson, who stayed for a few more rounds. When we decided it was time to leave, we got our stuff and thanked Emmy’s host mom and friend for the afternoon, and Emmy came with us to make sure we could find the bus stop. All of us crammed ourselves into the tiny elevator, and all was going smoothly until it just stopped between the 3rd and 4th floors (I think). We were probably only stuck in there for about 15 minutes, but to me it felt more like half an hour. Eventually, someone heard us and from what it sounded like, climbed on top of the elevator, shouting instructions at us in Russian that we could only half understand. It was certainly an experience.
Eventually, we made it to the bus stop, where we had to wait a good extra 10-15 minutes for the right bus to come. We managed to get seats, and Alex got off after a few stops, Whitson and Willow got of at the center, and I stayed on since it went straight to my apartment. Unfortunately, in the middle of a traffic circle, the wires on top of the bus got crossed and the conductor had to climb on top of the bus, which added an extra five minutes onto my commute, and I was already late.
I ended up getting home at around 9:35, and did my best to explain to Bepa why it had taken me so long, but she was very calm and understanding, which really helped to put me at ease.
After that, I Skyped with my mom for a bit before going to bed as soon as I could, since it was getting late.
In class we went over the grammar and vocab that was going to be on our test and practiced talking about illnesses.
We had a group lunch scheduled at Smokehouse, an American barbecue restaurant that is owned by a few former peace corps volunteers. There, we had an informal Q & A session with two of the owners, David (who is from Virginia), and Vlad (who is Moldovan, I believe). Their big focus is about encouraging locals to fight corruption and open corruption-free businesses, so they told us a lot about the process of opening the restaurant, the times they were persuaded to bribe someone, and just other examples of corruption in Moldova.
One thing they told us was about the way the trolley bus system was kind of corrupt, because apparently many of the locals try to “help out” the ticket takers (who they think don’t make enough money) by returning their tickets after paying, so that they can be resold to another person. This means that the sale is only recorded once—the amount of daily passengers is recorded by the number of tickets sold—and the ticket controller gets to take the extra money for themselves.
That was really interesting for me to hear, since I had never personally noticed that (the busses I take in the mornings are very crowded), but I’ve definitely been paying attention to it more now that I know it’s happening, and a lot of the other participants have noticed it during their commutes.
During that time, we also ate lunch, and we had a lot of really great food (that I had been missing just a bit): ribs, potato salad, quesadillas, hush puppies, nachos, chips and salsa and a few other things, too.
That went until about 2:30, and then a bunch of us headed towards the park since we had some time to kill. Earlier in the week, someone in the group had invited some people (on a first-come, first-serve basis) to a decoupage class, but since the date and time were moved, Sara wasn’t able to go and I had volunteered to take her place. The class was set for 4:00 that afternoon at Emmy’s apartment, and was going to be taught by a friend of her host mom’s. We played mafia in the Central Park for about 45 minutes before going across the street to catch the #24 trolley bus going towards Ciocana (the opposite direction of my apartment). We got off the bus at about 4:00—it had been really stuffy and hot and crowded inside, so it was a huge relief when we got off. From there, we walked about ten minutes to Emmy’s apartment building, and took the elevator up to the 9th floor, which had a pretty great view of the city (but none of my pictures came out too well).
Emmy’s host mom introduced us to her friend, and all eight of us sat down in the dining room to start the class.
The supplies we started out with.
We ended up making a little wooden thing (for lack of a better word) with some hooks in it to hang keys from, and they turned out surprisingly well!
What mine ended up looking like.
We ended up finishing our projects at about 6:30, and while we made them we listened to a lot of music, both Russian and American (ABBA, and I heard Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen for the first time that I could remember, too—everyone was shocked when they heard that). Once we were done with that, Emmy’s host mom gave us tea and cake and cookies and a bunch of other Moldovan candies, and at which point I called Vera to tell her I’d be home later than usual, but she said that was alright since she was at church.
We ate for a bit, and then went to Emmy’s room to look around and play a few more rounds of mafia (I swear, it never gets old). After another ten or fifteen minutes, everyone left except me, Willow, Alex and Whitson, who stayed for a few more rounds. When we decided it was time to leave, we got our stuff and thanked Emmy’s host mom and friend for the afternoon, and Emmy came with us to make sure we could find the bus stop. All of us crammed ourselves into the tiny elevator, and all was going smoothly until it just stopped between the 3rd and 4th floors (I think). We were probably only stuck in there for about 15 minutes, but to me it felt more like half an hour. Eventually, someone heard us and from what it sounded like, climbed on top of the elevator, shouting instructions at us in Russian that we could only half understand. It was certainly an experience.
Eventually, we made it to the bus stop, where we had to wait a good extra 10-15 minutes for the right bus to come. We managed to get seats, and Alex got off after a few stops, Whitson and Willow got of at the center, and I stayed on since it went straight to my apartment. Unfortunately, in the middle of a traffic circle, the wires on top of the bus got crossed and the conductor had to climb on top of the bus, which added an extra five minutes onto my commute, and I was already late.
I ended up getting home at around 9:35, and did my best to explain to Bepa why it had taken me so long, but she was very calm and understanding, which really helped to put me at ease.
After that, I Skyped with my mom for a bit before going to bed as soon as I could, since it was getting late.
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