Friday, October 23, 2009

I am from Moldova

Today, while having a friend over and discussing countries and people, a blog address surfaced. I have read it almost entirely and i was silently or loudly laughing at the things that an American thinks of Moldova. He is a Peace Corps Volunteer and his assignment is Community and Organizational Development. At the moment, as i understood, he lives in a village, although i am not sure which. I am glad that there are people that get involved into such programs and i am sure that they can make a difference, even a small one, on every person that comes their way. It is true, as Chris has mentioned it, that for most people, he is the first American they meet, so his presence alone makes them aware of the fact that the rest of the world is not as far as they have immagined it to be. Having closed borders for so long and being under the soviet rule, people from Moldova remain closed-minded even today, some are extremely conservative, these mostly being features of the elderly. Things are changing now, but it will still be a while till we reach the levels of the developped communities. Some technology seems too far, too expensive, too useless and too complicated. But little by little, with combined efforts, due to the increased possibilities of studies abroad and due to better environments in fields like education, health care, research and media, i think that Molova will be able to make up for the time it has lost all the while keeping its values intact and cherishing its traditions the way it does now.

I am proud to be from Moldova and i know that to many people, we are a strange phenomenon. For example my room-mates comment on my food habits - on eating potatoes, meat-balls ( cotlete), fried eggs ( ochiuri) and for drinking lots and lots of tea. They do not want to try my salads (olivie, salata de crabi, salata de varza) and they do not share the same impulse to save energy, water and gas. It is true, we have been brought up in different ways, and yes, they have had more opportunities than i had, but i still feel that i have accomplished a lot by being where i am and who i am. I was a product of the education that the western condemn, i was the result of the rough education in school when teachers get to call you names and punish you for being bad. I was the one that tried to get myself heard just because nobody listened. Yes, we have harsh conditions, especially in villages, but we have developped a sense of endurance and a sense of greatfullness for whatever life brings us. We do not complain at the first hit of fait, we do not blame anyone but us when we err, and we do not expect any help from anybody, because experience tells us that waiting in is in vain. We are friendly and open, we are sincere and we have strong family values, we have good friends to love and cherish. We like to think of ourselves as rich in our souls, because even in our poverty, we make things look nice and bright.

I am from Moldova and i am not ashamed to say it.

4 comments:

dumitrash said...

i am following this one http://globalgoldbergs.org/

Christopher Cote said...

You know, it is not that weird that you guys drink a lot of tea, the thing that I think is crazy is HOW MUCH SUGAR you guys put in the tea, wow! :)

Roxanchik said...

Do not generalize, i drink it with only one teaspoon of sugar or with none ;) But ok, MANY people put lots of sugar in their tea :)

Jeka said...

there are not so many things to be proud of when being a Moldovan, that's why I do respect and admire people who can say it loud and with dignity "I am from Moldova"
it's like in love: not because, but despite evrything :)