A Note To All

Greetings. This last blog is to inform everyone that we have made the decision to return to the states. This choice was not an easy one and we just wanted to thank everyone for all of the support and efforts to make Moldova a better place for children. We received package after package of awesome school supplies to distribute to the local schools. People sent food, books, dvd's, etc. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! The students were in awe that people from "America" cared enough to help Moldova. We came to the conclusion to leave Moldova early because we were not getting the opportunity to serve as a couple and most days it seemed as if we did not have an assignment or that we were not doing anything to help the people. In short, we think that it was not going to be worth 2 more years away from our friends, family and careers. We love you guys and thank you for everything. :) You all have been such a blessing to us. Hope to see you soon. :)

Peace and Love

Caleb & Brynn

First Week of School...

We found lettuce in the market today. We were both so excited to see lettuce since neither one of us have eaten a salad since we left the states. Lettuce here is only for sale when it is in season which I think is only a few times a year. So for lunch we both ate yummy salads with chicken, peppers, and tomatoes...it was wonderful. The market here in our town is open every Thursday and Sunday. So on Sundays we go to the market and buy our fruits and veggies for the week. It is amazing, we can buy a whole bag of ripe tomatoes for only about 60 cents.
Caleb and I have survived our first week of school here. Every year here school begins on September 1st...the morning of September 1st all the students, parents, and teachers gather in front of their school and there is an opening ceremony. The director talks, kids sing, students give flowers to their teachers...it is so different from school in America. After school the first day, both of us came home with an armful of flowers. The kids are still excited from their summer vacations and we are hoping they settle down some in the next few weeks!
We are settling in to our new home here and are enjoying being back together again. Our host mother is very sweet and supportive of us. She asks us all the time if we miss our family and friends and if we have talked with anyone from home.
Can't believe it is September already!! Miss you all- will write again soon!
- The Whitworths

rainy saturday

Rainy day here in the DOVA. Just wanted to say hello. Brynn and I just got done finishing lunch. We had fried potatoes and a yummy tomatoe, cucumber, and pepper salad w/ a splash of balsamic and olive oil. College football is starting soon. GO VOLS!

Hard to Believe...

It's hard to believe we have made it through 10 weeks of pre-service training...it's amazing to realize how much we have learned and also how much we have experienced in such a short time. Last night, we had a farewell party with our host families. Each village presented a song, dance, or skit in thanks to how much our families have done for us. We also prepared American food including: chocolate chip cookies, salsa and chips, peach crisp, pizza, pigs in a blanket, etc. It was wonderful!! And I think most of the Moldovans enjoyed the food...except for anything that was spicy!
Tomorrow, Caleb and I have our final language test and some wrap up sessions with peace corps. Tuesday we move out of our host family homes and Wednesday we swear in and move to our new site! Please pray for us as we make this transition. We miss you all.
- Brynn

Buna seara! Good evening!

Can't believe in two days we will have been away from home for 2 months. It has been crazy! We have learned so much in such a short amount of time. Caleb and I have two more days of practice school and then we are finished. Next week is a wrap up week for training and then we officially swear in on August 20th. Please continue to keep us in your prayers- for strength and endurance!
Practice school has been very interesting. I have been teaching in Romanian with a partner teacher. Of course I have been reading from note cards, but also trying to use some of my improv skills, which is difficult because I am not really sure if what I am saying is correct or if they understand me! It's hard to hold discussions or respond to what the kids say. Nonetheless, it has been fun! The students here are so different from at home, they are all very timid and shy. It takes awhile for them to loosen up and participate. I believe the idea of "interactive" teaching is very foreign to them. But once they do open up, it is amazing and they have so many great ideas and thoughts!
Miss you all! Hope all is well. - Brynn

And...

I almost forgot to mention that i have been teaching English to a 5th grade class here in Moldova. I absolutely love it. Eventhough English is not my subject I feel pretty good about teaching it. The students are precious. They are a little different from American students, but your usual 5th graders. Every student carries white out and a ruler. They are very specific about things being correct and frumos (beautiful). I'm very impressed with them. They call me Mr. Caleb. :) Tomorrow we have our last day and then I begin teaching the 9th grade for a week. If anyone gets a wild hair and wants to send some school supplies get in touch with me. ;) We can make it happen.
Peace and Love
Caleb

Some things

A few cools things that I enjoy about Moldova. In the mornings I wake up to the sound of a rooster. Then I walk downstairs where my mama gazda is preparing oatmeal for me and brewing some fresh hot tea. On my way to school I pass a goat that usually says greets me with a long baaaaahh. Sometimes I stop by the magazine on the corner (small store) and say buna dimeneatsa (good morning) to Doamna Zina and to buy a Snickers. Then I continue to school passing children and people. When I go home for lunch (Prinz) my mama gazda always has something fresh and yummy to eat. My meal consists of fresh parsley from the garden, some potatoes, chicken from the chicken coop, and of course fresh tomatoes and cucumbers from the garden. I also get to snack on our apple, cherry, sour cherry, and plum trees. Moldova rocks. It is big sky country and the stars are so bright. I had the chance to do some romanian/English karaoke the other night with my family. I sang Fuga Fuga and crazy by aerosmith. Funny stuff. My family is so tight here. They all hang out together and play games, etc. Im place ( i like it) :) I miss you all. Please keep reading the blog and commenting. It makes me smile. :) Peace and Love,
Caleb

Sunflowers

The sunflowers are amazing in Moldova, there are fields and fields of nothing but huge, wonderful sunflowers. I think the sunflowers are close to the top of my list of what I love about Moldova!
This past weekend I went to Caleb's village, we spend most of Saturday just relaxing and on Sunday we went to a "masa" (a party) for Caleb's host sister's birthday. We started out having the masa at the lake but after the down pour of rain we relocated to Caleb's sister's house. Moldovans love their masa's....there is always a ton of family, including several children running around, and a massive amount of food that is prepared. It is fun and I think something that definitely needs to be experienced if you want to know about Moldovan culture.
The next few weeks Caleb and I will be teaching in practice school to children in our villages. On August 20th we will finally swear in as official peace corps volunteers and we will move together to our permanent site! We can't wait!
We miss you all!
- Brynn

July 17th

Hello all!
Last week, Caleb and I found out about our permanent site. It is a city located on the western side of Moldova, right on the Romanian border. We will both be teaching in high schools there and I will also be working in the medical college. This past weekend we took a trip together to visit our city and we met different host families. We met one family we really enjoyed and on August 20th we will be moving in with them for 6 months. Afterwards, we will hopefully find housing on our own. We will be living with a mother and two small children. It is a beautiful house in a really nice neighborhood, they have a large garden and chickens. We can't wait to be there and to be living together again.
We are still in language classes and next week we will both start our practice teaching sessions. Caleb is going to travel to my village to stay with me on Saturday night! We can't believe we have been here for over a month now!
We think of you all often! Please continue to pray for us!
- Brynn

July 14th

Greetings,
As usual, We miss everyone. This weekend Brynn and I visited our future schools and host family. Our city is perfect for us. We are in good health and still truckin. Thanks to everyone for the packages, prayers, and kind words. Peace and Love
Caleb

Happy 4th of July!

Hello all! Happy 4th of July! We miss you all and wish we could be there to celebrate. In particular we wish we could be on the farm (Caleb's family) to shoot off fireworks and eat homemade ice cream! The Peace Corps is having a celebration tomorrow in Moldova for the 4th, but we are skipping it to spend some time together. I am going to go to Caleb's village tomorrow and will stay until Sunday. Things are well. Just really busy with language learning and learning how to teach classes. Today I taught my first trial class to my classmates on environmental awareness and littering. The next class I will teach will be in Romanian! I am really nervous, the language is coming, but it is soo much to learn in only 10 weeks!
I am still enjoying my host family and feel more and more at home here each week. Just like Caleb said, they treat me as if I am their daughter! The food is good! I am going to talk a little bit about the food (my dad made a special request)...On a normal day for breakfast I eat terchi, which is kind of like an oatmeal/wheat mix with milk. They serve french bread with every meal and lots of butter. For lunch I might eat soup with veggies and either chicken or pork. For dinner it might be potatoes and a salad made of cabbage, cucumbers, tomatoes, and onion or it might be rice with chicken. I have eaten hot dogs here, pasta with butter and sugar (for breakfast!), cheese...everything is very fresh. Most of the families here raise their own chickens, rabbits, and turkeys! They don't eat a lot of spicy foods here. There are several magazines (small stores, kind of like gas station market) and they have ice cream and candy bars. They have lays potato chips here, which I think are not as greasy and really tasty. If you have any questions, ask away!
Miss you all,
B

Moldova

Hey yall. I have been trying to get to the internet more lately. The language learning is going well and I feel like my hosy family is growing on me. My mama gazda (host mom) treats me as if i'm her own son. :) I just began my third week of pre-service training (PST). After the tenth week of PST we are officially sworn in to the Corps. If anyone has any questions shoot me an email. I will try to put up some pictures soon. I have been taking lots! La Revedere.

-Caleb

June 26th

Yesterday, I helped my family plant cabbage in their garden. They have a huge garden with beans, raspberries, strawberries, potatoes, tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, and snap peas. It makes me want to have a garden when we get to our permanent site and also when we get home to Tennessee.
The time is starting to go by quickly here in Moldova. Caleb and I are very busy with learning the language and preparing to teach our english and health education classes. I spent some time with him this past weekend at his host family's house. It was nice to be together and just relax. This weekend we go on a field trip to South Moldova with the other volunteers in our group to learn about what is called the Gaguaz region. Then Caleb is going to stay with me on Saturday night and meet my host family. We will find out in a few weeks where our permanent site will be for the remainder of our time here. We are scheduled to move there in mid August after we officially swear in as Peace Corps Volunteers. We will let you all know when we find out the big news!
Miss you all very much!
-Brynn

hey yall...

First time I have had access to the internet. Just wanted to say a quick hello. Moldova is... BINE! The people are wonderful. :) I miss everyone. Please be praying fo Brynn and I as we are praying for you all. To God be the glory. ZING!

June 18th

Noroc! (hello, Moldovans have many words for hello!)
Well we have been here for a week! Caleb and I are enjoying our time so far, we talk often throughout the day and tomorrow we will see eachother in a nearby village.
On Sunday our villages held welcoming ceremonies for the Peace Corps Volunteers. In my village they greeted us with a traditional Moldovan custom of bread with salt and wine. Then some of the Moldovan kids sang to us and we all danced. The mayor and some of the community people spoke words of encouragement and success to us. It was a sweet and welcoming time.
Monday we started language classes at the primary school. There are 9 health eduation volunteers including me in my group. It only takes me about 5 minutes to walk to school, the roads are just dirt here so when it rains everything turns into mud! After class I usually study, spend time with my host family, or hang out with the other volunteers. Each day I feel more at home here. I am interacting and participating more with my host family (learning the language is helping a lot.) The people work hard here at their jobs and in their homes. There is no driving to grab a bite to eat, all their food is homemade and so far delicious! I am hoping to get some pictures up soon for you all to see what it is like here, but I am having trouble uploading for some reason? I will try again soon.
Caleb and I miss you all!
Cele Buna! (All the best)
- Brynn

Moldova!!

Salut (hello)!
Greetings from Moldova. Moldova is a beautiful country, it reminds me much of Tennessee with rolling hills and everything is very green. Caleb and I arrived here on Wednesday evening. We spent Thursday and Friday at the Peace Corps headquarters and a nearby school sitting through informationl meetings and classes. We also started our language learning for Romanian! There are 38 total volunteers here in our group. Everyone is very nice and we all get along well. Today (Saturday, June 14th) we arrived at our host families. Caleb is in a village about 15 minutes from here and we should see eachother about 3 times a week. We will be with our host families for the next 10 weeks for pre-service training. Language classes are 6 days a week and we will also be learning the culture. My family is very hospitable, they have a beautiful house in the village where I live. We have a garden, chickens, and rabbits! So far we are so excited to be here. The first few days were hard! We were exhausted from jet lag and I think the reality of being here for 2 years finally set in. But I think we will enjoy it here in our new home called Moldova! We miss you all very much!
Buna seara (good night)!
-Brynn

Leaving in less than 3 weeks!!

We are heading out on June 8th for Philadelphia, PA where we will spend a few days in staging with the Peace Corps. Then we depart for Moldova on June 10th arriving on the evening of the 11th. The first ten weeks we will be in seperate host families as we learn the language and prepare for our jobs. We will be able to see eachother some throughout the week and on weekends. We are a little nervous about being seperated, but we have faith God knows just what we need! We are getting really excited. Please pray as we prepare for our adventure and spend these last few weeks with family and friends!

Moldova