Listening to Jazz in Moldova

I almost got hit by a car today. Let me rephrase. I almost got hit by a car today, while walking on the sidewalk. Narrowly avoiding being struck by automobiles has become an almost daily occurrence since I've been here. Thanks to a lack of urban planning and the relatively recent explosion of autos into the country, there's a severe deficiency of parking in the city of Chisinau. As a solution, everyone who owns a car simply parks on the sidewalk. It makes for a very interesting commute to school when I have class, as I must dodge the cars pulling in or pulling out or squeeze through the cars that have already parked. But today: I was merely walking to school like every Thursday/Friday and I look up and this car whizzes right by me. It was the first time I've had to step into the road to avoid being hit. Ah the fun games in this city never cease.

I'm shocked at how much Romanian I've picked up passively since I've been here. I can already count to 100 and not once have I actually sat down to study it. My Russian's improving as well, which leads to some humorous situations when dealing with people who don't speak English. Sometimes I'll know a phrase in Romanian and use that at one point during a conversation, then during the same conversation I'll know the Russian phrase and use that. But mostly my conversations still consist of confused pointing, smiling, nodding, and the occasional thumbs up. Another fun situation is when I come into contact with someone who does speak English. I will say something in incredibly fractured Russian/Romanian, they will respond in English, and I, refusing to give into the temptation of speaking English, usually respond in more fractured Russian/Romanian. It leads to thoroughly confused looks on both parties faces.

The culture shock I spoke of a few days ago has, for the most part, gone by the wayside. I'm sure it will strike again, but I think now that I actually have things do (and believe me, I've got a lot of them) it should be easier to handle next time. I've got to put some grant proposals together for Clipa, study up on the Balkans, learn ten billion Russian words, and figure out just what in the hell I'm going to talk about to the Moldovan students. Sylvia's in Romania for the weekend, which means I'm probably going to spend a good amount of time with the Peace Corps volunteers this weekend. They tend to come into the city on the weekends. I've decided not to go to Ukraine this weekend, I need to improve my Russian a bit more before I venture alone into a Russian speaking country. Maybe in a few more weeks. Also, I really don't want to go through Transnistria alone speaking minimal Russian.

That's it for now dear readers, keep fighting the good fight over there and I'll do the same here.

By the by: listen to Medeski Martin and Wood, and watch L.A. Confidential