We're back!

We made it back to the States on Christmas Eve without any problems! Our luggage arrived and everything, praise the Lord! So, we'll spend the holidays with family and figure out what God has for us next. We tentatively plan to work and begin raising a son in the U.S. for the next couple of years, and then see where God takes us.

Thanks so much for your prayers and support! We couldn't have made it to Moldova and back without them! Please keep in touch!

(Aside: Justin has written a lengthy debriefing about his time in Moldova for his sponsoring organization, BPN. It includes his observations on the church, the economy, politics, and Business as Missions overall. If you're interested in reading a public version, just send him an email: justintapp@pobox.com).

We wish you all a VERY Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Our last day in Moldova! (Justin)

It's hard to believe that the time has come to say goodbye! We've had such an incredible time here, learned so much, and made so many great friends. We're very thankful for this experience!

We've had some tough goodbyes in the past couple days, including a mini going away party at the Invest-Credit office.

Vasile and I met online this morning and he showed me his great strides the past week. The site is looking great! The difficult administration side of the site is finally complete, and in the next week the first public version should be uploaded. It is going to be higher-quality than the secular sites of its kind here.
He's worked day and night this week to get things done. We're quite thankful for him, and for your prayers for him. We will leave him with a monetary gift of the small amount of donor funds we have left. We think that's a good use of our remaining funds.

Joni has worked hard to pack everything, and we appear to be under the limit in our weight allotment.

Today we will say goodbye to our host landlords. They will come over and pray with us and say our goodbyes. They've been very kind to us.

Our travel itinerary is:

12/23 (5:45pm-6:35pm) Chisinau to Vienna.**
12/24 (10:50am-3:00pm) Vienna to D.C.
12/24 (5:15pm-6:47pm) D.C. to Cincinnati.

**We will have an overnight stay in Vienna. This was unintentional; we couldn't find a reasonably cheap plane ticket without an overnight layover and this Vienna leg was the cheapest. We've tried to save as much money in travel as possible.

We will post again when we get back to the States.

Please lift us up as we travel home for safety, connections, and luggage arriving! Thanks so much for your prayers and support over these five+ months!

Crunch Time! (Joni)

I just wanted to give a quick report on the doctor's appointment we had on Thursday - our last appointment in Moldova! They did several tests and I spent a total of 3 hours there, given the 2 1/2 hours I spent in the waiting room! However, they officially declared me to be healthy and the baby is healthy, and they wished us the best of luck for our future. Overall, my experience with Moldovan medicine has been a positive one, although I'm glad to not have to continue it any longer - mainly because I'd prefer having a primary caregiver whose first language and culture are the same as mine! Praise the Lord both for our health and our positive experiences here!

The title of my post is referring to the fact that we're less than 48 hours from departure! The next two days are going to be really full for us - me with packing and Justin with finishing up his projects. Neither of us made as much progress on those things in the past couple of days as we wanted to, so please pray for God to multiply our time and give us wisdom and peace on dealing with everything that comes up!

The Countdown Begins (Justin)

We're in our final week in Moldova. Here's what it looks like:

1. Vasile is working hard on completing the behind-the-scenes admin stuff on the website and getting it set up like we want. I anxiously wait for his results. He's busy with exams, work, and other things, so please pray for him to have time and energy to get the brunt of the job done this week!

The final version of the site will not be completed by Sunday, so I will be staying in touch via e-mail and Skype once we return to the U.S. Hopefully, the vast majority of the site will be finished and all that will be needed is individual information from churches, translation in Russian/Romanian, and a willing Administrator to manage the site once it's completed. Please pray for these 3 things to be completed!

2. Joni is packing things up. That's a tough job, figuring out what to take and what to leave. Please pray for her stress level and energy.

3. Saying goodbyes. We've got several people that we need to say special goodbyes to. Our landlords, our co-workers, our friends, etc. Please pray that all this goes well and that we don't make any cultural "faux pas" by leaving someone out!

Thanks so much for your prayers and support. We'll let you know how it goes!

Snow!

Yesterday afternoon, Joni took this picture of snow falling on our gate.
We snapped this picture this morning from the street. You can see the accumulation! And then it continued snowing most of the day.
This is looking down our street. The snow makes everything look so much nicer, and is a lot of fun.
The problem is that they do not salt, sand, or plow the roads in Chisinau. So, the sardine-can packed minibuses slip and slide trying to gain traction on hills and such. It makes the ride across down much more interesting, especially at night as roads become sheets of solid ice!
Today we attended an international craft fair hosted by the International Women's Club. I think every humanitarian and international aid organization was represented, along with representatives from over a dozen countries. International foods, music, dancing, crafts, and information about what each organization is doing. The proceeds go to various charities here in Moldova. You can read more about it here.

One of the highlights was that Peace Corps and a few other American groups were selling American books, magazines, movies, and even American food-- Campbell's Soup, Hungry Jack pancake mix, etc. That was a very big deal to the large number of ex-pats who were there.

There were also Moldovan schoolchildren performing traditional songs and dances, accompanied by Santa Claus. They went around to each booth and sang carols and blessings. Santa Claus was pretty terrifying. Joni got this good pic of him loudly bringing Season's Greetings to some foreigner.
The snow was a blessing. Overall, it was a great day and we felt like we contributed to some good causes. It's sad to think we'll be leaving here in a week; the time sure has flown.

The Christmas Tree Saga Part 4 (final chapter?)

Last night we attended a "Town Hall Meeting" for Americans at the U.S. Ambassador's residence. I asked the Ambassador what his office was doing to foster better relations between the Chisinau Mayor's office and the national government. He joked a little about the Christmas tree controversy, but stated that he was doing what he could to convince both sides that cooperation with the opposition was essential to good governance.
He also gave some background into why both sides dislike each other, and says this is mainly a problem in the big cities like Chisinau, and not in the countryside.

On Wednesday a group of 50-100 protestors, mainly youth but including the Mayor and other officials, took to the National Square.

"Many of them brought artificial fur trees, which were put within the fenced place, designed for the chief New Year tree of the country. Then during several minutes the young people were standing silently and holding pictures of the European capital cities, where the New Year trees had been already installed. After this they left the square peacefully. The protesters placed a symbolic small fir tree in the place where the Christmas tree once stood with baubles conveying such messages as “Right to Personal Freedom”, “Right to Security”, “Right to Free Expression”, “Freedom of Thought, Conscience and Religion” etc."

News link 1. News link 2.


Apparently, the controversy contributed to quite an ugly day in the Moldovan Parliament. As we returned from the Town Hall meeting last night, we passed by the original fir tree (which was moved off the Square) and saw it still being guarded by several policemen.

When in Moldova...

...look like the Moldovans do! It's fun here now that the weather has turned very cold, because everyone's pulling out their serious winter gear. Fur hats, scarves, long leather coats, you name it. My missionary friend, Nancy Russell, loaned me this leather coat so I could stay warm this winter, but I must say it also makes me VERY stylish...It has a zip-in fur lining, a fur neck ruff, and a thick fur-lined hood. No getting cold in this dude! The fur hat was just a silly addition at Kelly's house where we took the picture. Even if I wanted to wear it, I couldn't because it was too small for my head! It made for one nice picture, though! And yes, people really DO walk around looking like this on cold days here.

The Chisinau Christmas Tree Saga (Part 3!)

More news. Yesterday, the mayor signed an ordinance instructing workers to restore the Christmas tree to the central square. When city workers arrived, they found the tree guarded by "tens of police officers." Thus, the tree remains where it is.

The Chisinau authorities have expressed concern about the central authorities’ unwillingness to celebrate Christmas on December 25, with the Christmas tree in Chisinau’s central square expected to be officially lit on New Year’s Eve and not earlier.

Since Moldova is mainly a European Orthodox country, Christmas is celebrated here on January 7 as per the Julian calendar after a 40-day fast.

The political struggle continues.

The Chisinau Christmas Tree Saga

The saga continues! Oddly woven into a news article about how Chisinau City Hall is having its heat cut off, there is a long story about the Christmas tree. The English version is a little confusing.

Apparently, on Friday the mayor of Chisinau (a young, Western-minded, non-Communist) ordered a Christmas tree put up in the central square. The mayor had 3 youth from the Liberal Party guard the tree in his own personal car. He apparently anticipated trouble, as they were armed with video cameras.

The police (who knew whose car it was) came, arrested them, drove them around the city for hours and erased their video. The police also ordered the tree cut down and moved off the square. They placed it behind the Arc de Triumph across the street. Here's picture of where it is now. The youth were released, but may have suffered some emotional trauma: "(One of them) said that in such conditions the youth do not see any reason for remaining in the country, but, at the same time, they gained strength." The Mayor responds:

The Mayor described the given actions as “a gift made by the central authorities to the Chisinau residents on the International Human Rights Day”, which is celebrated on December 10. According to him, the three young men have been hostages of the government that does what it wants.

So... happy Human Rights Day! And, bah humbug!

Christmas Cards

Alina (Ghena's wife) makes fabulous Christmas cards and sells them internationally. You can look at her designs here:
http://www.davidsonrose.com

I am posting this months after I promised I would, so I feel really guilty. If you're interested in ordering some cards, we can perhaps bring them back to you when we return to the States in 2 weeks.

Baptism Today (Joni)

I had the privilege of being able to witness a baptism at church today! Well, actually, it was 41 baptisms! I really wish I had brought my camera! It was a sight unlike anything I've ever seen before. I'll do my best to describe it for you.
This is a previous picture of the stage of my church, and I've cropped it to zoom in on where the baptistry is. Until today, I didn't even know there was a baptistry there! The floor comes up from that part behind the choir loft where the plants are sitting in the picture, and the bottom window of the cross is actually a door! So the baptisees lined up along the front of the church, then filed up along the left side of the stage beside the choir and down into the baptistry. The baptisees (about 15 men and 25 women - They don't baptize children.) were dressed in all white and were a neat sight to behold! Two pastors in blue robes led the procession and preceded them into the baptistry. Then they went in two-by-two, and each were dunked by a pastor after affirming their faith. There was a guy standing in front of the choir loft holding a microphone on a stick to the mouths of the pastors and baptisees, so we could all hear what was going on. After being dunked, the newly baptized then proceeded out the rear door where the cross had opened, so they were actually getting out of the water behind the wall, and it worked so smoothly that way! Each time the ones who had just been baptized were getting out and the new ones were getting in, the choir sang a little "Praise the Lord, Alleluia" song - even though they sang it 21 times, I never got tired of it! It was so neat! And I was shocked that they were able to baptize all 41 people in just 20 minutes!

Especially moving were the man and wife that were baptized together - what a change in that family! There were also two sisters who were baptized together, and I know that was meaningful and special for them. Most moving for me, though, was this really old lady who clearly was physically ailing. But you could see the determination on her face even from where I was sitting in the balcony. She had to have an usher on each side of her helping her up the stairs of the choir loft, and it took about 5 men to get her down into the baptistry. Then she was baptized by herself so she could have a pastor on each arm helping her back out of the water. But what a victorious moment when it was accomplished! Praise the Lord!

And then the most entertaining part of the day was after the baptisms were completed and we were waiting for the baptisees to get dressed and come back out to their seats. The choir sang, and then a lady got up and was doing a solo. I noticed that the women who had been baptized were slowly coming back out to their seats one by one, and I was surprised that their hair was dry! I thought, Are all 25 of those women really back there using hairdryers? Can the electric system hold that? And surely enough, right in the middle of the poor soloist's song, boom, the power went out. A few of us in the audience snickered because we knew what had happened. All the hairdryers had overloaded the circuits and popped the breaker! We sat there in silence before about 30 seconds before someone finally decided to take action. We for some reason had a live brass band playing that day, so they struck up a tune while they tried to get the power back on. They got it back on before the band had finished their song, and not too much longer all of the baptisees came out, most with perfectly dry hair.

It was a neat, fun, and moving experience, and I'm so glad that I was able to witness it before leaving Moldova!

Bah, humbug!

Here's a great article that says so much about life in Chisinau, Moldova. Installing the official Christmas tree requires agreement with both the city and national government, who don't talk to each other. Anyone who wants to take their own initiative will be arrested on site. :-)

"The central authorities do not forbid the installation of a Christmas tree in the National Assembly Square before December 25, Minister of Culture & Tourism Artur Cozma told Info-Prim Neo.

At the same time, Cozma said the central authorities were looking for “a live, big, beautiful and representative fir tree”, which would be erected in the Square at the end of December.

“What’s the hurry with the 25th of December?”, answered Cozma when asked to clarify whether the Government’s quest for a Christmas tree would end before that date. The Minister suggested, however, that most probably it will take quite a while. “When we find it, we will think how to bring it to Chisinau, how to install it…”, the official explained.

Earlier this week the Chisinau authorities expressed concern about the central authorities’ unwillingness to celebrate Christmas on December 25, like i n most places around the word, which could leave Chisinau’s central square without a Christmas tree on that date.

Chisinau Deputy Mayor Lucia Culev said there were instructions not to erect any Christmas trees in the Square and “anyone who disobeys will be picked up by police”.

Chisinau Mayor Dorin Chirtoaca said he will wait for the confirmation of these rumours, and if they happen to be true, “will seek alternatives for the winter holidays to start before December 30”. At the same time, the mayor stated that he is inclined to avoid any arguments with the central administration on this matter and rather seek to come to an agreement as to the preparations of the city for the holidays."

New Years is when people typically do their Christmas-like rituals. The Orthodox Church's Christmas (the Orthodox Church is supported by the central government) is actually January 7th, so that may play a part in the "what's the hurry?" statement.

On Time (Justin)

Maybe the most difficult thing I've had to deal with here is the concept of doing things on time. You hear this complaint from Americans in just about any foreign country, but it seems a little more acute here.
I once joked with a British guy here, after he'd waited a long time for someone to pick him up "on time," that Moldovan time is GMT + 2 hours and at least fifteen minutes.

This morning I was told I'd be picked up at 8:30. Then, at 9:15 I received a call saying "we'll be there in 5 minutes!" The car finally arrived at 9:30. It was raining outside, so I ended up going in and out of it while waiting. Unfortunately, someone showing up an hour later than they stated is quite common here. It's hard to make dinner plans with someone.

Paying bills on time is a big one for me. In America, our credit scores are penalized if we make a late payment. Here, there is no credit score, so there's less incentive for people to pay on time.

Example: Our cellphones are on someone's "family plan," so we're reliant on them to pay the bill.
We get text messages from Orange saying "tomorrow is your due date!" However, after the due date there is a 2-week grace period for paying. You receive a few text messages saying "if you don't pay in 5 days your service will be disconnected!" Orange even makes it easy to pay, you can just buy cards at any kiosk on the street. The owner of the family plan never pays on the due date, but waits until the very end of that grace period. This makes me quite nervous. If we lose cell service, Joni can't call me if she needs something, I have to borrow other people's phones, etc.

Sure enough, last month our service was disconnected because the owner waited until the last possible day, then something came up and he couldn't make it to the store. When it approached time to pay the internet bill I started calling him every day to remind him. It made him angry, but it made me feel better.
(Yesterday he called and said he'd paid the bill early, ie: 2 days before our service was cut off again. I was very surprised and happy!)

I learned in my Corporate Finance class how to calculate the time-value of money, and that you should always wait as late as possible to pay your bills. "Wait until it costs you goodwill with the other party," or in other words until it is unethical.

Invest-Credit deals with late-payers all the time. These people are mostly Christians, but struggle with paying on time. I get to listen to Roman chide them out over the phone as any good bill collector should. I asked him this morning:
"Roman, do you think not paying on time a sin?"
He thought for a minute and replied:
"Yes. Because you're lying. You say you'll pay at a certain time and then you don't pay, so it's a lie."

As Christians, we should conduct business transactions "as for the Lord," (Col. 3:17). We should be examples of our ethics and good work that the World will look at and marvel at (Matt 5:16). Our reputations should be spotless (Eph. 5:3). We should be the best clients, the best customers.

It's important to instill in Christians the ethic to pay on time to ALL their creditors. This Saturday, Invest-Credit is holding one of its client trainings, where they teach things like ethical business practices. Maybe there will be a session about paying on time? That'd be nice to hear.

Girls' Day Out... to Romania!

On Sunday, our friend Tanya needed to make a trip to Iaşi (pronounced yahsh), Romania to pick up something from a coworker. It's only about a 3 hour drive, and she wanted some company, so she invited us and Kelly to go with her! Justin needed a day to rest before starting another work week, so it was just us girls who decided to take a day trip to another country!

We left at about 9 in the morning, arriving in Iaşi right at noon. Tanya was supposed to meet her coworker at a mall, so she waited for him while Kelly and I wandered the mall. Moldova definitely does not have anything that looks even remotely as Western as this mall! Romania is newly in the European Union, so I guess they want to prove they belong there! Kelly and I looked like country bumpkins coming to the big city for the first time... eyes big, ooh-ing and ahh-ing at everything. The mall had all sorts of neat Christmas decorations, and they were playing American Christmas music over the speakers, so it was just like walking into any mall in America!One thing I had definitely been excited to learn about this mall was that they had a KFC in their food court! Now, in the States I'm not a huge KFC fan, but I have been absolutely craving chicken strips during my pregnancy, and Moldova does not provide anything even remotely like what I've been wanting. So we stopped at KFC and got me a large order of chicken strips to bring home with me!I didn't eat them for lunch, however, because Tanya said that Iaşi had a Pizza Hut, and THAT'S where we were going for lunch. However, when we arrived where the Pizza Hut used to be, it wasn't there anymore! At that moment, though, Tanya remembered a really neat place called Little Texas, and she said we just HAD to eat there. It is a restaurant that was opened up by an American, and they serve real authentic Tex-Mex food! (Read the NY Times article that includes this restaurant here.) It was so neat walking in there and seeing the swinging doors, the longhorns over the door, the huge Texas flag on the wall, and the life-size cutout of John Wayne to greet you!

After splitting appetizers of nachos and chicken quesadillas, Kelly and I ordered the Colorado Chicken Burrito that came with rice and beans, and Tanya got a Barbecue and Mushroom Burger. The food was AMAZING and definitely authentic. I felt like I was back home in Waco for that hour! :)On the way back out of the town, we stopped at the Gelateria Venezia for some Italian-style gelato, which was also delicious. Then we hit the road back for Moldova!

Our border crossings weren't the smoothest they could be - long lines and inefficiency. However, we made it and we are SO GLAD we went! And now I have another stamp in my passport - I've been to Romania!

Thank you, Tanya, for letting me tag along and making it a fun day of new experiences!

By the way, I had my KFC chicken strips for lunch today, and they were DELICIOUS! :)

A Day Against Traffick

Tomorrow is the National Day of Prayer Against Human Trafficking in Moldova. This was organized by some international NGOs in cooperation with the various denominations here. I know some churches will have some prayer meetings and possibly sermons about the situation.
If you watch any documentary about sex trafficking you'll always see Moldova highlighted, as many of the women and children are trafficked into Romania, Bulgaria, Italy and other places for exploitation. (Apologies for previous email we sent stating this was a few weeks ago, we misunderstood the schedule in church that day). Ask yourself this Sunday: What am I doing about injustices like these? What is the Church doing?

Here are some numbers of significance (HT: Smitty at Cloud Chasing):

27 million slaves exist in our world today…in the year 2007. Slave trade generates $32 billion annually (it will soon overtake drugs and arms trafficking). MORE slaves are in bondage today than were bartered in 4 centuries on the trans-Atlantic slave trade. Each year 800,000 to 900,000 HUMAN BEINGS are bought or sold. Nearly 200,000 people live in slavery at this moment in the US…an additional 17,500 new victims are trafficked through out borders each year. Over 30,000 additional slaves are transported through the US on their way to other international destinations. 80% of trafficked persons are female; 50% are children. 1,000,000 children are FORCED to sell their bodies every day in their global sex trade.

Book Review 2 (Joni)

Justin and I have both recently read books about Moldova. Justin read a deep and ponderous tome exploring the historical and political facets about Moldovan identity. I read a book by a British comedian exploring his misadventures in accepting a bet that he could beat all 11 players on the Moldovan national soccer team at tennis or else he had to strip and sing the Moldovan national anthem on a public street in downtown London.
Playing the Moldovans at Tennis by Tony Hawks was exactly as funny as my brief description of it above makes it sound. This is Hawks' second book and also Hawks' second bizarre bet. (The first book/bet involved something about hitch-hiking across Ireland with a refrigerator? That book is next on my "to find and read" list.)

Besides the hilarity of the whole situation, the book is actually pretty insightful about Moldovan culture. It definitely expresses very well the feeling one from a more Western country gets upon arriving in Moldova and trying to accomplish anything. The adventures set forth in this book took place in 1998, so it also helps me understand how far Moldova has come in just 9 short years. Some things are very different from the way they were back then (For example, now Moldova has street lights at night. Back then, the government wouldn't pay for the power to light the streets at night - the danger of falling into an uncovered manhole was imminent.), but some things are still very strangely the same (For example, there is still a strong possibility that the inattentive person could fall into an open manhole...).

I have come across some who didn't think the book was as great as I did. (My husband is one of those people.) The storyline is pretty basic and could be outlined in about 10 pages. However, with the humor and insights, Hawks manages to fill about 200. Justin thought this was kind of gratuitous and wished he would just get on with the story. I, for the most part, enjoyed all of his notes and side stories, especially things involving the family he lived with in Moldova. He in fact was able to form moving relationships with them, and it was very neat to see him explore how to cross that line into becoming accepted into the hearts of Moldovans - something I am still trying to learn about.

And Hawks is just plain funny. By page 6 I was laughing out loud, and by chapter 2 I had tears streaming down my face. I literally had to stop reading and put the book down so I could start breathing again because I was laughing so hard! Not every chapter was that funny, but just when I started to get bored and wish the story would move on, he would include a funny story that had me laughing again. (The one where he compared the way one of the Moldovans played tennis to a man trying to ward off an attack by a swarm of bees comes to mind...)

So I would recommend this book to those who want to be entertained and learn a bit about Moldovan culture.

DISCLAIMER: There is some language in this book, and I've spoken to others who found some of the humor to be off-color. Please don't read this book and then be offended or think I'm some kind of heathen. If you might be offended, don't read the book!

News Update (Justin)

1. Joni got her latest blood tests back today. Her bilirubin levels were great, everything was great. That should be her last blood test! Praise the Lord!

2. The final version of my project website's front page should be completed by tomorrow.

3. I've been given the task of helping create the official Invest-Credit website. This will mainly involve writing much of the content in English so they can translate it into Russian and Romanian. Here's a competitor's website, you can see how high the bar is for us (note at the top you can choose English an option. This organization receives a lot of funds from the Soros Foundation).

4. McDonalds now does home delivery here! I saw the sign on the way to the office today. I doubt that we'll be taking advantage of that, but I thought it was cool.

5. On Sunday, we're tentatively scheduled to take a day trip to Romania with Tanya. Another stamp for the passports!

Book Review 1 (Justin)

Joni and I have been reading books about Moldova. I finished The Moldovans by Charles King. Considered the definitive history of the people and country.

If you spend much time in Moldova, or plan to, this book is a MUST read. From the 1300s to 2000, King has done amazing research into the fascinating history of this part of Europe. He explores the Moldovan identity crisis. I learned that what I wrote in my previous post doesn't even cover half of it. Reality is always more complicated than it seems.
I found it fascinating how from 1812-1989 there were large battles for the Moldovan identity. Romanians didn't treat Moldovans all that well when they owned the territory, and the Soviets were inconsistent with their manipulations of the language, changing their mind about 3 times and killing or imprisoning those who followed orders the first two times.
King also covers the troubles in the 1990's, the issues with minority people groups, and possible political consequences for the future. He does a really thorough job of defining the various political views and giving their histories.

I give the book 4 stars for a really well-researched history on Moldova. I learned a lot.

Thanksgiving Celebration

We were very blessed to have a WONDERFUL Thanksgiving celebration right in our own home! We had four American friends over - Kelly, Shauna, Tanya, and Rachel. We didn't eat until about 4:30, but the girls arrived at 3 to help me cook the last of the meal, and it was so much fun cooking all together!!! Of course, my tiny kitchen only holds about 1, but we managed to squeeze 4 of us working in there all at once - we're good friends!

In this picture, Tanya, me, and Kelly are working on the turkey. We decided not to try to do a whole turkey, so we just bought some turkey breasts and I found a yummy-sounding recipe on cooking.com called "Turkey Breast with Mustard Sage Crumbs." So Tanya placed the turkey breast on the pan, I coated it with Dijon mustard, and Kelly put on the crumb topping. Good teamwork, and the results were DELICIOUS. Meanwhile, Rachel was at the sink peeling potatoes.

Once the turkey was in the oven, Kelly went to the living room to work on the table decorations, and Justin helped her. She wanted to make origami turkeys, but they turned out to be more difficult than expected. Between the two of them, though, they managed to end up with one perfect turkey, and he was definitely a good addition to our Thanksgiving festivity! In this picture, he's really enjoying his apple cider.

Justin also, being the gentleman of the group, brought home some beautiful flowers to adorn our banquet, so I arranged them in a teapot for display.

Our table was a sight to behold once it was finished! We had the turkey breasts, green bean casserole, broccoli casserole, mashed potatoes, candied sweet potatoes with apples, Stove Top stuffing, cranberry sauce, and croissants! We're very thankful to Tanya, who had brought over many American items for the celebration, which enabled us to do the green bean casserole, sweet potatoes, stuffing, and cranberry sauce! She also brought the festive paper plates and napkins, which made cleanup much easier!

In this picture, from left to right, are Rachel, me, Justin, Kelly, and Shauna (Tanya was our photographer!). The food was all delicious, and we had a FANTASTIC time together - eating WAY too much. After the meal, we watched a little bit of football we had downloaded... You can't have Thanksgiving without watching football, right?! Then we ate dessert - apple pie (made by Tanya) and pumpkin pie (by Kelly)! Both were delicious. And then we rounded off the evening with a vigorous round of Phase 10 before saying goodnight.

It was such a fun evening, and we are SO thankful for the dear friends God has given us for our time here in Moldova.

Cultural Note (Joni)

I had a funny story this week that I wanted to share on here. Inna is one of the daughters in our family who lives next door and owns our house, and she is also Justin's language helper. She is a gorgeous, talented 19-year-old. When she came to our house on Friday evening for Justin's language lesson, I noticed she had gotten her hair cut. So I mentioned it, and the conversation went something like this:

Joni: Inna, did you get your hair cut?
Inna: Yeah.
Joni: I love it! It looks great!
Inna: Well, thanks. I liked it for the first hour after I got it cut, but then I didn't like it anymore.

I didn't laugh at her then, but I did laugh over it later. What woman HASN'T said this over a new hairstyle?! So it looks like in some respects women are the same everywhere, no matter what country they live in!

A Moldovan education

One of the best ways to learn language and culture is to read the same textbooks that children read in school. In post-Soviet countries there are textbooks for teaching Russian to non-native Russian speakers. I discovered this method in Azerbaijan, where I bought a collection of books teaching Azeri to Russian-sector students. They were all printed in Soviet times, and had lots of stories about the horrors of child labor in evil Capitalist countries like America. It gives you an idea of what the government wanted children to know early.

So, I found a textbook for teaching Russian to primarily Moldovan-speaking 6^th graders. It’s filled with wonderful stories, Moldovan poems, legends, and information about the country. (Fortunately, it was printed in 1997, so nothing bad about Capitalists). Here are a couple that struck me as, well…Moldovan.

One exercise required putting the sentences in proper order. Yes, I did it correctly:

1. Tanya put on her fall coat and went out into the yard.
2. There were other girls there.
3. Tanya began to play.
4. She ran and began to get hot.
5. Tanya unzipped her coat.
6. And then she drank some cold water.
7. That evening, Tanya became ill.
8. Her throat and head hurt badly.
9. Tanya was sick a long time.
10. Later, the doctor came and gave her medicine.

The exercise’s discussion question: Why did Tanya get sick?

In Eastern European countries there isn’t much said about microbes and washing your hands but there is a lot said about “never drink cold drinks,” and “stay away from any draft!” The tightly-bundled babies in the summer and the looks of horror older people have when they feel a draft on the minibus is evidence of this.

There’s a section in the book that features Aesop-like fables with animals. Most have a good moral to the story. Then, there’s this one:

“A cat was happily playing in the meadow with her kittens. At that time above them, a giant hawk flew by. He saw the kittens and swooped down to the ground. The hawk snatched up one of the kittens. But he couldn’t make it back into the air because the mother-cat pouncedon him. The fight began.
The hawk let go of the kitten and began to tear the skin of the mother cat with his claws. He poked the cat in the eye but the cat didn’t give way. She threw the hawk to the ground and grabbed him by the throat. The hawk couldn’t get free from the mother-cat. And the cat bit off his head. And thus, the fight ended.”

Wow. I guess the moral of the story is “it’s a cruel world out there.” Or, “don’t mess with the mother-cat.”

My least-favorite story is one that goes like this:

“The teacher called Vasile to her desk and asked him to write on the blackboard in Russian: ‘Radu eats lunch at 2:00.’
Vasile went to the blackboard and wrote: ‘Radu eats lunch in the course of 2 hours.’
All the students began laughing, and Vasile asks them why.
‘Shame on you for not paying attention!’ one of his classmates said.”

Ah, the traumatic and brutal education of public schools. Radu’s mistake in Russian was a common one of forgetting to write the preposition “at.” This probably happens often in my Russian speech as well, but I’d rather just be told I made a mistake rather than “Shame on you for being careless!” But, Vasile probably never made that mistake again, so maybe it really is a good thing.

So, just a couple examples of what I learn while studying. Much of the book is surprisingly a-political, not much history or discussion of current events or even geography. Much of it is just about family, nature, and education. I will probably keep it forever.

The Nutcracker

On Saturday we went with a group of friends to see The Nutcracker ("Щелкунчик," in Russian). It was fantastic!
First, we met for dinner at a new Italian restaurant. It's owned by this little Italian guy who only speaks Italian and bad Russian. It's the type of place that serves bruschetta as an appetizer, and has real oil and vinegar on the table for your bread and salads. Here's a pic, you can see the owner/chef in the middle. Joni had a fettucini alfredo that came with ham, and Justin asked for the chef's special and got one of the best penne dishes in tomato sauce he's ever had (also with ham). For desert we had homemade tiramisu, which was incredible! The prices weren't bad, the place was packed with Americans, and we had a great time! Then, it was off to the ballet!

The show was packed and the audience was really into it, applauding a lot. When they really get into it, everyone starts clapping in unison to the beat of Tchaikovsky's music. We were really impressed by the stage props and the orchestra. In a neat twist, the Nutcracker was a real person from start to finish, no toy props were used.Apparently, several of the dancers also perform in plays (like Romeo and Juliet) at this same theater. Quite a bit of work and rehearsing for only one performance per show.

A great Saturday evening with good friends and fun culture in Chisinau!

Project Update (Justin)

I had 2 crucial meetings with Vasile in the past week, as there has been much concern about the website not being completed on time. First, the basic skeleton is near completion. The page has at least one cool feature that will differentiate it from other commerce sites here in Moldova. It will be very user-friendly.

Meeting with Vasile in the office can be frustrating, because I'm trying to explain and understand things in Russian and English, which gets really hard when talking about technical stuff.
When Ghena joins the conversation I have to have him translate their Romanian dialogue to me, which is frustrating for all parties. Yesterday, Vasile called and said "Why don't we just Skype rather than go to the office to talk?" This ingenious idea saves us both 2 hours on the minibus and allows him to spend more time programming. I also discovered his typed English is quite decent, which saves me a whole lot of stress.

So, here's where we're at:
1. The front page will be completed by December 1.
2. The 4 major sub-pages will look just like the front page, so hopefully those will only take a few hours to write.
3. The behind-the-scenes administration stuff will be completed by Dec. 23.
Dima and Sasha are still working on all of this at home, and Vasile just has to get them together occasionally to combine code. All of them are working in their spare time, around school and other for-pay projects.

We're still on track to have the first version posted by the time we leave.

Thanks for your continued prayers for their efforts! Pray for free time and creativity for them, and smooth communication along the way. Thanks!

A Pleasant Surprise! (Joni)

...And it happened at the doctor's office, too! We went to the OB this morning for a routine checkup - fingerprick hemoglobin test and urine sample. We got good news that both tests were completely normal, but that's not the pleasant surprise I'm referring to in the title of this post. After doing the above tests, the doctor took me back into her exam room (I'd never been back there before!), and Justin had to stay out in her office area. I was a little freaked out at what she might do to me back there, but all she did was make sure my uterus was in the right place, and then she pulled out a little machine that looked like this:except at least 20 years older than the new model in this picture. Many of you may recognize it - it allows you to hear the baby's heartbeat! So for the first time, we were able to hear the heartbeat of our precious little one. Justin was right outside the door, so he got to hear it too. We definitely weren't expecting a blessing like that at this doctor's appointment, and we're very thankful. :)

Orheiul Vechi

On Saturday, Ghena took us, Kelly, and our new Estonian/Canadian friend Robert to Orheiul Vechi or "Old Orhei" as it's called. There is a complex of caves and a monastery built into them.

From centuries B.C. it was used as a hilltop fortress, surrounded by a river. Later, Stefan Cel Mare ("Stefan the Great"-- Moldova's historical patron figure, king, and military leader) built a fortress there. Control of this territory has passed from Germanic tribes to Slavs, to Romans, to Greeks, to Mongols, to Turks, to Moldovans, to Russians... you get the picture.

This was the nearby village as viewed from a cliff high above.
In the distance you see the monastery and cave complex there where monks dug out a dormitory and used to live by the hundreds. That's what we toured.
There's a village just under the complex. This is a "traditional village home" renovated for tourism.

The belltower and entrance to the monastery/cave complex. They rang right at 3 o'clock.

These were the dormitories. This was pitch black, except for the flash of the camera. You could see on the walls where thousands of candles had been burnt through the centuries by monks.Not pictured: The worship area inside where the Romanian Orthodox priests still work and people worship. There were a lot of icons, candles, and a monk-like priest who lives there and keeps people quiet.
There was also a sign in Russian about a patriarch of the church who, just before he died, prophesied that one day there would be telephones without cords (cellphones) that would connect people all over the world, and connect them via sattelite to the cosmos. It is through these devices that the Antichrist will communicate with people before the end-times. In other words: "please avoid using your cellphone here."

Here's Joni on a ledge just outside the dormitory and worship area. Yes, it was cold. It's snowing in Chisinau as I write this post.

A cross on top of the plateau/complex. There are only traces of all the old fortresses that used to exist here.
We didn't learn much about the history while we were there, but saw some historical artifacts at a museum. The only somewhat-complete history I can find is on this website, but the English is isn't great. It was a fun time!

Heating Systems in Former Soviet Countries (Justin)

In former Soviet countries like Moldova, hot water is almost a luxury. The government of Chisinau provides both hot and cold water to residents through a boiler system. The hot water is turned off in the summer while maintenance is done on the pipes. (See this NY Times article from this summer about it being the same way even in Moscow). Here’s a picture of the hot water pipe in our neighborhood.

But, November 1 was a holiday of sorts because it is when the government turns on the hot water systems to all the heating systems in the city. Most buildings use a radiator heating system (“отопление”). The radiator pipes fill with steaming hot water, and this radiates enough heat to warm entire rooms. We were fortunate enough to have a mild fall, so the office wasn’t too cold before that. Now, it’s ridiculously hot in the office (but it’s great).

Our house has a similar system, except our hot water is dependent on our own heater instead of the government. We have a European-model gas heater that runs our radiator system and even has its own thermostat, so we can keep our home a comfortable 21 degrees celcius. Here are what the radiators look like, we have one in every room.

Having the water heater means we didn’t lack for hot water this summer, either. When you turn the hot water in the tap on, you hear some clicks from the heater as it is sparking the gas burners to come to life. The water runs through the heater and heats up pretty quickly.

I imagine this system is probably more energy-efficient than the central air-heating systems we have in the States and our electric hot water tanks that run all the time.

This is the first time I’ve lived in a place that had such a system that actually worked and I think it’s great. The last place I lived had the physical infrastructure, but after Communism fell the boiler system was looted and never rebuilt, so everyone had to either cook their own hot water or install water heaters. We’re very blessed not to have that problem here!

World Series Girls' Day (Joni)

I had an excellent adventure with some American girlfriends a couple weeks ago that I wanted to share with you! Tanya lives just down the street from us. She is from New York and a HUGE Boston Red Sox fan. So when the Red Sox were playing in the World Series, she would get up at 3:00 every morning to watch the live broadcast of the game on her TV! The night before the final game, Justin and I had a get-together at our house with Tanya, Kelly, and Shauna. Tanya was excitedly telling us about the next morning's game and how excited she was, and how she planned to make a big breakfast to celebrate the Sox' victory. Then she said "Well, why don't you all come over and watch the game with me, and we can do breakfast together!" Justin didn't really have much interest in getting up that early in the morning, but us girls thought it sounded like fun!

So Kelly and Shauna just spent the night at Tanya's house, and I arranged to arrive at Tanya's about 5:45. (The game started at like 2, but I wasn't really interested in watching the whole thing. I believe Tanya is the only one who got up and watched the whole game.) I arrived just before 6am, just in time to see the bottom of the ninth inning and the Sox win!!!! I can't imagine Tanya's neighbors were very thrilled with the shouting and clapping, but we sure were excited!In this picture is me, Kelly, Tanya, and Shauna. Tanya provided all the Red Sox shirts. We are all holding little plastic pumpkins, which is a tradition in Tanya's family to hold a pumpkin when you're nervous at the end of a game.

Then we made a delicious breakfast of pancakes (with real maple syrup that Tanya had someone bring to her from the States, and peanut butter!), scrambled eggs with tomatoes and cheese, Canadian bacon, muffins, and hot chai tea! YUM!!!!!!!!

We sat and talked til almost 11:00, when the other girls realized they had to get going for the day. It was such a blast, though, to do this fun thing with other Americans here in Chisinau! I'm very thankful for some girlfriends to talk to and have fun with here!

How to Learn Languages (in your spare time?)

Last week, I replaced my Russian teacher with a (“less-qualified”) Russian language "helper." I want to explain the difference between the two, and give some general advice on learning languages.

When most Americans think about learning language, they think about sitting in a classroom with a textbook open. That’s only one (very weak) aspect of learning (you probably don’t remember much of your high school French, do you)?

I used to work for a missions agency that was over-the-top serious when it came to learning language. They equipped us with seminars, workshops, evaluations, materials, etc. to train us how to learn languages. From that experience in learning Azerbaijani, to teaching English to foreigners, and studying Russian in various settings, here’s my advice on how to learn a language:

1. You have to want to learn. It’s not just enough to see it’s necessary. My dad has seen the value of learning Spanish for 20 years, has bought some books and software but has never actually learned it. It takes time, stress, and pain. If it doesn’t hurt, then you’re not doing it right. Everyone can learn, it just takes some people longer than others.

2. (easy one) Expect how many hours it will take you to learn. Our government’s translation service lists their expectations for language students to attain General Professional Proficiency (meaning you can converse on the street on basically any topic and some work topics).

French, Spanish, Romanian take 600 hours.
Turkish, Russian, Greek, Hebrew take 1,100 hours.
Chinese, Korean, Lezgi, etc. take 2,200 hours.

Consider this a bare minimum, as those numbers are generally for those already learning their 3^rd or 4^th languages. If you can only devote 10 intensive hours a week to learning Spanish, then expect to be studying Spanish for at least 60 weeks.

3. Organize your language-learning hours as follows:
25% with a textbook/teacher format.
25% with a language helper.
25% on your own (homework!)
25% in the culture.

1. Textbook/teacher- Find someone who is qualified and knows proper grammar. Either let that person teach you using their method, or have them teach you via the textbook/curriculum of your choice. Strive to ONLY use the foreign language with this person,

[true, if they speak English they can explain certain things to you. The danger is that too much of your lesson will be in English. I prefer to use a textbook in English for the explanations, and the teacher to reinforce the principles with his/her own curriculum].

2. Language Helper- This is when you pay someone to sit down and practice what you’re learning with the teacher/textbook. This person can be anyone in the culture who speaks fluently. This is the person you ask “How do you say ______.” Record these conversations and practice listening and pronouncing with them. This is one resource I use with my language helper that is a HUGE help.

I replaced my Russian teacher because she was qualified for #1 (and wanted money like she was qualified), but what I really need is more #2. I have worked through a host of textbooks and can explain to you just about any point of Russian grammar. What I need is conversation practice and to learn how people really say things, instead of just a textbook way. Helpers are pretty cheap, flexible, and easily replaceable.

3. Homework- Flashcards (preferably in software format), grammar exercises from the textbook, journaling, reading, memorizing. This is where the rubber (#1 and #2) meets the road.

4. Immersion- Shopping at the market, riding the bus, going to church, listening to the radio, music, watching TV, movies, fun stuff! Just making the language a part of your day.

All 4 of these are essential to learning. In high school you probably only had #1, which is why you don’t remember your French. Eventually, you can even drop #1 and divide time among the other 3.

There are 2 quotes that I think about every day. One is on the bulletin board in the office and is written: «Кто не хочет—ищет причины. Кто хочет—ищет возможности.» Translation: The person who doesn’t want to do something looks for excuses. The person who wants to do something looks for opportunities.

The other comes from Steve Prefontaine: “To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift.”

Of course, the fastest way to get your 2,200 hours is to spend 40 hours a week at it, like a full-time job. Unfortunately, only spies and missionaries get paid to spend that much time on a language. However, I find that I need at least 20 a week to keep moving forward and not forget things, and that’s a big commitment for most of us.

Other advice:

Monitor your “iceberg.” Your iceberg is how many words you know. Some of those words are above the surface and easy to access, other are buried under the surface—words you’ve learned but forgotten, usually because you don’t use them much. The more of your iceberg is above the surface (through practice and immersion) the better you are.

I use flashcard software to keep track of how many verbs I’m memorizing, and the software keeps track of what I know well and not-so-well.

Use Total Physical Response (TPR) learning whenever possible. Learn the basic actions of your day as you do them. I wake up, I eat breakfast, I shower, I brush my teeth... all of these are good for use with your helper.

Keep a notebook handy to write everything down. When you come across a new word somewhere, write it down immediately. Look up the definition and consider adding it to your flashcard list. I’ve filled up tons of notebooks with words, phrases, quick-reference grammar points, etc.

DON’T GIVE UP. 99% of people will say “I don’t have ______.” Do what you can with what you do have, and do your best to find a way to fill that ______.

Hope this helps someone somewhere!