Reaching the End

I have been so busy counting down the days and writing about Moldova in general that I haven’t really written anything about how my life has been going recently. Not that I have much to say. After school ended I tried to stay busy by going to Chișinău as much as I could. Using the opportunity to start the arduous task of taking a load of things I don’t need with me as I went and meeting up with friends while I was there to make the last days with all the volunteers I’ve known here really count. I was also lucky enough to visit another town and a winery for a wine tasting. But in general my mind has been stuck on two things. Finding a job and meeting the new volunteer moving into my village.

As far as finding a job goes I really can’t feel too excited about coming back to America when coming back means I will lose all of the stability I have had in Moldova. It will be great to finally see everyone again and experience American culture and food but I feel like the novelty of that will wear off soon once I spend through the readjustment allowance Peace Corps gives me and I am left without a job and without any money to indulge in the American lifestyle I’ve been waiting to get immersed back in for two years. I feel like being in Moldova was made easier because it was Moldova. All the things that I was missing were out of sight and out of mind. If I had passed an Ihop everyday but wasn’t allowed to go in then I think my service would have been a lot harder but that’s exactly what I think it will be in America. I will be perfectly willing and able to go and do anything but now I won’t be able to strictly based on money. Which is a lot harder to deal with I think then just not having the opportunity based on where I am.

            

Otherwise, I got to meet the new volunteer last week and this weekend she made her site visit to my village and got to spend two nights and I was very excited to show her around all the village and tell her all the things she needs to know. It was especially uplifting to me remembering what it was like for me my first time coming to site and how I couldn’t understand anything or speak Romanian at all and to see just how far I had come and how much I had learned in the past two years. Just how easy it was for me to translate back and forth, even throwing in a little Russian since my host mother’s grandchildren are visiting and don’t speak anything but Russian.

            

I am also finding it hard to really imagine that I am leaving Moldova in 10 days. It feels the same way it did when I was leaving America. I wanted to try and grab as much of it as I could and remember everything but at the same time the days are passing just like any other day so it’s hard to really feel like I will be leaving. When I left Chișinău last week I was reminded on my way back that this would be my last time going back to my site and when I leave my village next week it will be for the last time. It’s just hard to really process that in my mind.

           

Besides taking a few loads of things to the capital to get rid of and going through my things and picking out a load of stuff that I didn’t want and thought would be useful to the new volunteer I really haven’t started packing yet either. I’m a little worried that I wasn’t as productive taking my unwanted things to the capital since every time I look through my stuff I keep seeing things that I don’t really need and will just take up room in my bags if I take them with me, for instance a lot of male clothes that have seen better days and won’t be much good to the new female volunteer. Worst-case scenario I can leave them to my host mother who I’m sure could find a use for all of it somewhere, if only to just give them away to others.

            

I have five more days in my village to pack everything and then about four days in the capital to fill out paperwork, do interviews, and close my bank account and all that, before I head off on a jet plane to Istanbul. On most occasions I would be excited out of my mind but I can’t think of anything else but leaving Moldova at the moment. Luckily I’ve done all the planning for my trip already and the tickets have already been bought so I really don’t need to be stressing about that now anyway…or at least I hope.