medical care in moldova …

The last week has been very strange and I’m sorry I haven’t written very much – I’ve been quite busy. I just finished taking one of the service users at my project for his first English lesson which was a bit disorganised and was more of a chance for me to assess his level as well as what I need to do to help him improve.

On Wednesday I went out with my flatmate and my friend Cristina, who is leaving for Timisoara university. If you’re reading this good luck mate

I went for my “on-arrival” (heh) medical examinations in Moldova. I now have a massive certificate saying that I don’t have AIDS among other things.

The “hospital” we went to didn’t feel like a hospita la tall – to start with it was very dirty and felt more like an office. Some of the tasks we had to do were the biggest waste of time ever.

We had to do a blood test which is fair enough, and then go to this x-ray machine which actually seemed more like an old time machine from a bad 1960s sci-fi movie, and I had to actually do this twice because the first time I couldn’t stop laughing! We then had to answer questions from a gynaecologist which were so pointless because all we had to do for example is say yes or no and they’d just take our word for it.

We also had to provide stool samples – fucking hell to be honest. It is completely over the top, especially since they know full well that everyone is lying and only wants to get a visa.

Today was a bit different, I had my “psychiatric evaluation” which consisted of this:

I went in and sat down.
They asked me whether I had had any head injuries.
They then asked me whether I smoked or took drugs.
Then they asked me where I was from, I said I was from England – and then it started getting “interesting”.

They said, did you study in English or in the London language? And I said – in English?
They asked whether the London Language was the same as English, I said that some parts of Londo have a different dialect but in general it’s the same. The psychiatrist was laughing as he asked this question, other people were asked how many countries were in the European Union and some other very very strange things. There were two doctors in the same room and we had to go out and then come back to that room moments later…

Basically I think they either need to do this properly or not at all, because at present all peopel have to do to get into Moldova is just lie and do a load of stupid meaningless tests … but woe betide you if you turn up to give your poo at the wrong time or without the sspecial “poo paper”. Jesus.

I’m relieved (and so are most other people I think) that we didn’t have to do anything to do with dentists here judging by the state of many people’s teeth

Hello again

Hi! I had a really interesting week, but unfortunately I couldnt get onto the internet at all .. so hello again.

I had my on arrival training, in a small village called Lalova. What it was was mostly team-building exercises, and getting to know everyone a lot better. I will write mroe when I’ve sort of organised my thoughts better but in the mean time I just wanted to touch base and let people know that I am still alive! After being ill and going on a very long hiking excurcion :rolleyes: I wasn’t sure that I would be

I start at Winrock next week, finally! I can’t wait, it should be brilliant.

Chisinau’s historical and archaelogical museum

Yesterday, I went to an exhibition on Poland, in Chisinau’s museum of archaeology and history.. It consisted, basically, of a series of posters in Romanian about various events in Polish 20th century history. There wasn’t really much to it apart from that.

It was quite interesting, although it brushed over Nazi atrocities and made the Soviets out to be the “bad guys” a little too much in my opinion, although a lot of the time, of course, they were.

The museum itself was very impressive. In my view however, the whole way that the information was organised could have been done so much better. There were some interesting exhibits from Moldova in the Roman period, as well as some religious artefacts including a Torah scroll from the 16th century or so (at one point, over 55% of Chisinau’s population were Jewish). However, I did feel that they should have provided more information about what the exhibits were, what they were used for, etc, not just in English but … in any langauge! The only bits of information about them were their names.

There was a really impressive panoramic painting on the ground floor of a WWII battlefield, with wreckage and a reconstruction of a real battlefield in the foreground, which by the looks of it had been turned into a bit of a wishing well. The back wall was covered with Soviet-era propaganda posters about Hitler, none of which were particularly subtle!

In the afternoon, I saw Cristina, who took me to a park where she lives, on the other side of Chisinau, in Ra^scani (I live in Buiucani). It’s an amazing place, very peaceful and relaxing. You wouldn’t really be able to believe that you were in a big city. Even where I live in Bourne End in the countryside you rarely get places like this. We also went to a memorial park for the heroes of the Afghanistan war in the 1980s. Chisinau can be a really beautiful place at times, especially with all the greenery and parks.

When I wrote this blog entry I was listening to all the stray dogs barking outside. Something like that must have been what Dodie Smith had in mind when she wrote 101 Dalmatians and described the “Twilight Barking”, carrying messages about Cruella DeVil’s doings! The dogs here, however, may look very sweet, but they’re not. They can be really aggressive. Some of them might carry rabies although I don’t know this for sure.

There’s actually an awful poster by the Stefan Cel Mare monument – Stefan btw is everywhere, on all of the money and everything – he’s Moldova’s national hero – of a dog with blood coming out of its nose, by Moldova’s equivalent of the RSPCA. I must say I was surprised at how many people own cats and dogs here.

This country IMO is quite underrated although it has a huge number of problems, it’s got an awful lot to recommend it too. I’m going to have to write more at some point about its history and about Stefan although I don’t know too much about him myself!!

Yay!

I’m starting one of my projects tomorrow – working with asylum seekers at the Charity Centre for Refugees. I’ll only be working there once or twice a week as it is not my main project.

I’m going to have to practice my Russian … seriously, as I will need it for work – as not many people there speak Romanian. Although my Russian teacher says I’m good, I don’t think I am. I barely understand any of it. I suppose that doesn’t really matter and I’ll pick it up but the most I can remmeber off hand is “hello”, “goodbye”, “how are you” and a few of the weekdays.

Apparently I’m going to be giving refugees computer lessons. That sounds fun, except I don’t know THAT much about it. I can show them Microsoft Word and how to go on the internet, I guess – maybe I can try and teach them touch typing! Ha …

I think I have found the perfect job.

Yesterday I bought two dictionaries (it’s a long story) and an English phrasebook designed for Moldovan tourists. I have never ever seen so many spelling and grammatical mistakes (especially the one that was sold to me as the “best” dictionary).

Some of them would have you falling about laughing, for example in the entry for “razboi” or something (war) it talks about an “intestine war”. In the back it has a conversion table for “British currency” but it talks about shillings and things like that!

The phrasebook is even more ridiculous, with s\things you would never hear anyone say in English and some that are just wrong. It’s really pretty bad.

Anyway it occurred to me that I could probably earn a lot of money making the new edition of the dictionary or something, because they really need it. There’s a section in the phrasebook called “regret and anger” and i thought to myself, oh dear, the poor sod who buys this is definitely going to be feeling that!

Last night, we made pasta with carrots and tomatoes. The Moldovan carrots are quite “special” and they blatantly haven’t hneard of the EU guidelines on carrot size and the like here!

The night before that, two Polish volunteers who were only here for a month, Bartik and Justyna, had a leaving party. Some of the details of what went on there probably aren’t suitable for a blog read by potentially quite a lot of people x

Crime in Moldova…

Well, this post has two parts really. Basically on Saturday night mz laptop was stolen by some guy I asked for directions from – i don’t have the internet at home so I had hoped to go somewhere where I could upload pictures. I’d just come back from seeing a friend of mine, Cristina, and I asked some people for directions, who were siting inside a shop. One of them followed me and started asking me all sorts of weird stuff, like where I lived, whether I lived alone, and I was a bit worried that he might try to do something to me; or steal my passport. Hew asked me for money and I said I didn’t have any – but then he ran off with my laptop.

The next day we went to the Police station (myself and my flatmate, and Marina my supervisor, who translated what I said into Romanain for the police). That was quite an experience in itself. The building is massive and it took quite a while before we were let in – so I had to describe the “suspect” etc on the stairs before they let us in. We went down into this basement type thing where the policeman’s office was. I noticed that the policeman who interviewed us had a pornographic picture as his desktop background, like a topless woman. At this point I was thinking, wtf? Seriously…

We had to go back and forth to loads of different rooms in the police station – mostly to look at pictures of criminals (which I’ll get to in a second). At the same time that the policeman was interviewing us, the woman he shared the office with (who might have been a secretary or a trainee policewoman or something, I don’t know – she looked arounmd my age) was playing loud Eastern European dance music.

We had to go back to the shop where I asked for directions and identify it – we drove in the policeman’s car. As he was driving he spent the whole time talking on his mobile, and if you drove at the speed he was in England you’d probably be arrested!

After that we went back to the station – the shopkeeper came with us as well, but a bit later. After a bit of time in the policeman’s office, I had to go into another room, and look through 672 pictures of criminals. At first I could see 20 or so who looked like the robber. After severaal attempts I could narrow it down to four, who will be interviewed tomorrow.

One thing I noticed looking at the pictures of the criminals was that a lot of them were very young. Some of them looked only about 8 or so. I’d imagine that some of them are street children unfortunately. Another thing I noticed was that some of them looked “in a bad way” as though they’d been beaten up or something – although probably not as many qas I was expecting. Some of them were posing and smiling! It was a pretty bizarre experience, and didn’t really feel quite real.

It amazed me how seriously they took it – but then I suppose it’s a very poor country, unfortunately, and they want to make sure that tourists and foreigners here are treated well, and make a good impression. I was impressed with the way they treated us, which wouldn’t have happened like that in a police station in England. Today, my Russian teacher told me that the police know where stolen goods are sold and go into those shops “pretending to be the buyers” – her friend had her phone returned to her about four months after it was stolen this way! I hope if I do get it back – and I think there’s a good chance I might – I don’t have to wait that long.

I really don’t know what to make of the whole experience really. I’m sort of seeing the funny side – the guy I had my russian class with today sasaid that he’d quite like to say he’d had something nicked just so that he could see it for himself! It’s a real pain in the arse though and I’m just glad that nothing worse happened…

Last night…

…I went to the house of some friends, and discovered that they don’t have a flushing toilet. You have to pour the water from this weird bucket thing into the toilet, to get it to flush.

It’s all very Soviet …

A restaurant in Chisinau

I went to the “Cactus” restaurant in Chisinau today with a friend. Before I came to Moldova I kept on hearing things about how disgusting the food was in that part of the world. I’d heard similar things about Russsia and was pleasantly surprised. One thing I did notice though – it was incredibly expensive compared to the rest of the food in Moldova (although in the UK what we ate would be considered very cheap, about four pounds or something).

It’s something I’ve noticed about Moldova to be honest. The buildings are extremely shabby. Everything is run down; the public transport looks like the most decrepit London tube you can imagine, except that it is a bus and the doors don’t shut properly. But yet on the other hand, most of the cars are brand new, and everything is covered by these giant flashy looking billboards.

Most people’s flats seem to be really tidy inside, too, from what I’ve seen. It’s quite a contrast.

Everything is dead after 11pm which I can’t decide is a good or bad thing. There are literally no people on the streets, although on Friday and Saturday night it may be different. However, all the shops are open until about 9 or 10 at night.

I’m meeting Cristina tomorrow; I met her on Sharedtalk.com, a language learning website. Tonight, I’m not really bothered abouit going out to be perfectly honest, although I might try and see what other people are doing.

I had another Russian class today and got a chance to talk to Chris.The teacher is only about my age; maybe a year older. She lives in a flat with her boyfriend. One thing I’ve noticed is that everyone seems to be very young and independent at a very young age, which in my opinion is one of the bad things about the UK, where people stay at home later and later. It does make me understand though how people in that situation could be susceptible to trafficking – very ambitious but not really able to find much of a future in Moldova.

Before I came here I spoke to one girl off Sharedtalk who said she didn’t think people trafficking actually existed. That makes me worry actually; maybe I am a bit more sensitive because of my work in rape crisis and the like but it reminds me of kids when I was at school believing that various drugs were harmless and the like, I know that isn’t a very good comparison!

In Moldova it’s hard to buy many books to help with learning English. But everyone wants to learn English; I was in a shop yesterday and the cashier spoke to me in English. It made me feel quite embarrassed actually, as most English people do not speak foreign languages at all well. The other night I practiced my French; the other volunteers are all from Europe but yet they can speak English really well, I’m not bad at French and I can get buy in Romanian, but even so! I’d feel sorry for an English person who came here never having learnt another language.

Some of the things here almost seem to be more advanced than in the UK. For instance, when you go to a supermarket, you can put your shopping in an overhead locker, while you do more shopping. I like the little kiosks you see everywhere in the street; it actually makes the whole “experience” a lot nicer than it would otherwise be, or often is in the UK.

In the next few weeks I’m intending to go to transnistria. My project will involve working with women from Transnistria anyway so I’ll probably have to visit there sooner or later. From what everyone has said it’s like a Soviet time warp; I heard a very funny story from Alexandra, my Russian teacher, who went there with her freind. It seems totally bizzarre. I can’t wait to go

buna ziua!

I’m in Moldova at the moment, in a library (we don’t have internwet in the flat). I’m not really sure what to say at the moment. My impressions of Chisinau are that it’s very small and quite quiet (the streets are pretty much dead after 11pm which I can’t decide is a good thing or not – I imagine after a few weeks it could get quite annoying).

I went to another volunteer’s flat last night, Katarina. Our flat is quite good in comparison; hers doesn’t have hot water and the toilet and bathroom are in different rooms!

I’m not really used to blogging to be honest although I spend nuff time on the computer so I should be. I’m liking it here so far;
II’ve been sharing a room with my flatmate Lies for the first few days as the “old lady” we live with has had her daughter over to stay. It was quite a relief discovering that I could sleep in the same room as someone after all and that I’m not completely impossible.

I’ve got to do Russian homework tonight. Tomorrow I’m meeting another volunteer from the UK, Christopher, we’re going to have Russian classes together. I had my first lesson yesterday and to be honest, didn’t really learn all that much yet!

Marina (my mentor type person) told me that I’m going to go to the project on Monday. I’m really looking forward to that because that’s basically what i came here to do! lol!

I’m not sure what else to write, going to add more later, I thijnknk.

Rachael

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