Wine and Outhouses

I received an invitation to serve in MOLDOVA! The packet got to my parents on Tuesday and they sent it to me in South Carolina. I read it on Thursday...and then I looked up where Moldova is.

On Thursday, I was rather lazy all day. Not exactly morose. Not sad. Not eager either. But when I saw the UPS truck I was instantly giddy. I skipped/hopped back to the car and let out a little giggle. When I opened the three envelopes, there it was - in pink highlighter, nonetheless: MOLDOVA.

The excitement faded as I read the information packet they sent me. Thursday ended as solitary as it had started.

However, Friday and Saturday were much more energized. I read pages upon pages about Moldova, about the people, the culture, the assignment. Likely, I won't have running water and I'll be speaking ROMANIAN! I had only known one person who spoke Romanian, and she was my French teacher. There is a chance that I will speak Russian, as some of the larger (but not large by any definition) towns predominantly speak Russian.

Since then, I've come home from the beach with what felt like fifty pounds of seashells, Grace's new lizard, and an uncontainable excitement about going to Moldova. In two days I'll be in Northern California. In two weeks from today I 'll be on a plane to Dublin. In seven weeks from yesterday, I'll be heading to my two-day staging/orientation somewhere in the US and then heading to Moldova. That is, of course, if I accept the invitation. I don't see any reason why I wouldn't or shouldn't. I told myself that I would accept the invitation unless I felt like it was essentially wrong for me. I put my trust in God and the Placement Office. I would go where I was needed and I would reinvent my understand of human need, break my ignorance of what poverty looks like. My biggest hesitation and, simultaneously, my biggest fascination is that I will have considerable freedom. I will not have a Drill Sargent over my shoulder making sure I get up in the morning or that I do my share. This is, perhaps, my biggest challenge at home and may be a smart lesson to embrace, or it may be personally naive.

Dates are "subject to change," of course, but if all goes as scheduled I will leave September 9, 2007 for staging in the U.S., will start training in Moldova on September 12 to November 16, and will be an official PC Volunteer from November 17, 2007 to November 16, 2009.

Scratch the "if I accept" because I just called the Peace Corps office and accepted! Here we go! On to a country about the size of Maryland with bountiful wine country and bountiful sunshine! (Which is very important because I get depressed when it's gloomy). On to a country where the women wear dress suits and almost everyone uses an outhouse. See! I wanted a hut in the Sahara and now I get a hut in wine country! Well, we'll see how "hut-like" my village is. I could be in a town of 10,000 or a village of 1,000. But onward ho!

But, leaving South Carolina, I realized that as Mike and Angie and the kids were driving away, it was already the beginning of Moldovan life. I was already saying goodbye. As their blue van drove away it, hit me. I'd said it outloud, but I hadn't felt it until then: I will not see you for another two point five, likely three, years. And I cried a little. But people are wonderful and strangers on the plane offered their assisntance. "If you EVER need ANYTHING in Moldova." It was unexpected and totally inspiring that someone would offer, out of the blue, for resources. People have so much to offer eachother if we take the time to talk. I've picked up three email addresses. All from men, ironically. Two of the men gave me the numbers of their ex or their female friend who was either in the Peace Corps or spoke Romanian. So many people are connected to eachother and we don't realize it unless we talk about it. So and so knows someone who went to Moldova. So and so knows someone who is in the Peace Corps. "Will you be able to date the locals?" That's not really my focus right now. Two of my favorite females have already looked up the "gorgeous Moldovan men" and the "lush green" mountains. All I pray for at this point is the freedom from expectations. I want to appreciate EVERYTHING.

Here is the address where you can write to me during training September 12 - Nov 16, 2007:

Samantha Marangell, PCT
Corpul Pacii
Str. Grigore Ureche 12
2001 Chisinau
Republica Moldova

**Make sure you don't use regular envelopes because apparently people are skeptical that money is inside. Use padded envelopes or manila ones.


** AND A BIG GOING AWAY PARTY SCHEDULED FOR FRIDAY AUG. 31st. Everyone's invited. Mom and dad, surprise! More details to come. **