Paşte fericit! Happy Easter! Sunday April 30th was Easter Sunday for Orthodox Christians. For the weeks follwoiung this, I greeted people in my village with Hristos a înviat! (Christ has risen,) or responded with Adevărat a înviat! (He truly has risen). My host mother and I went to church around 3 am Sunday morning and … More Easter 2019
In early October, 2018, I helped to pick an acre of corn plus a few roles of alfalfa on a Saturday morning. My host family had a tractor cut down the stalks so we didn’t have to walk through the stalks and weeds; a lot easier than it was last year. It always feels good … More Picking Corn 2018
I met some new animal friends and enjoyed the start of the colors of fall, the pinks, oranges, and golds. I tried a new type of date and discussed dates and figs with Tatiana. She is the curator of the local museum and the mother of my PC work partner, Liliana.
I was in Yerevan for a few days in June. It is a beautiful city, very easy to navigate and lots of interesting architecture to see. Some of the amazing food and drinks that I had. I was there during the Men’s World Cup and enjoyed watching the game on the inflatable screen that was … More Yerevan
On Saturday August 25, I visited one of the most amazing places in Moldova, Eco-Village Moldova. It is a sustainable living and community space. The buildings were created using local materials and the inside walls were painted with mineral paint. Straw was tested against reeds for construction; reeds won as they don’t compress as quickly. … More Visit to Eco-Village
August 16th marked one year in my village. I have learned so much and have come to love living in a village. I appreciate even more the beauty of nature, the cycle of life and death, living in the moment and enjoying everyday meals with friends and family. I very grateful for my M32 cohorts … More One Year of Service
At the beginning of August, people in the village were harvesting more items for the winter. For my host family, it was beans. The bean plants grow between the rows of corn. I helped collect the plants in one of their fields below their house. The plants are left to dry out and then are beat … More Harvesting Beans
Our final day of the trip included walks around Ijevan and Dilijan before driving back to Yerevan. In Ijevan, we visited Ijevan Wine-Brandy Factory. It was built in 1951 and produces wine, fruit wine, sparkling wine, cognac, fruit vodka, and fruit jams. The cognac is placed in the traditional large clay pots with a lid of wax to allow … More Armenia TCT Day 6: Ijevan and Dilijan
On our fifth day, we started off walking around the Haghartsin Monastery. An interesting fact is that in the past, monks wanted to be useful in service even after death so had their graves placed in front of the churches for people to walk on. (You can see some of these in the sixth row … More Armenia TCT Day 5: Haghartsin Monastery to Ijevan
Tudora’s peach festival was on Sunday July 15th and I was honored to be a part of the team to help organize it. During the festival, I was part of the group that welcomed people to the festival and handed out peach scarfs and peach compote. It was really fun to great all the tourist … More Hai La Piersici! Peach Festival 2018
