Presenting on service-learning strategies at a workshop I organized for
Moldovan English teachers (held at the American Resource Center)
Participants at the workshop (Dr. Dan
Bauer of Georgia College & State University is kneeling next to me).
My last dinner in Chisinau with my friends, Betsy Lewis from the embassy
and Dan Bauer from home.
|
|
The lake in January...
The lake in July...
While I am not leaving Chisinau on a jet plane, I will pass the airport
on the drive to Odesa...
|
|
7 July 2006...I know where Moldova is...I have
told this story to many of you but I will tell it once again.
Almost two years ago after I completed a summer teaching gig in England
and a visit to Hungary and Holland, I sat on my Delta flight
Amsterdam-Atlanta when a funny old Russian plane (like the one in the
photo to the left) pulled up next to us. It had the words "Air
Moldova" emblazoned on it and I was immediately perplexed. I knew
Moldova was a former Soviet republic but I was not sure where it was.
It was not Baltic, nor was it Asiatic--and I did not think it was
Caucasian. So I pulled out a map from the airline magazine and
quickly found it was a small country sandwiched between Romania and
Ukraine. I remember thinking "who the heck goes there, and why do
they go there?" I got home and did a little more reading and then as I
was completing an application for a Fulbright scholarship to Poland, I
decided, Moldova might be more interesting--I now know that I made the
right choice. Now 23 months later, I am leaving Moldova. I have
spent more time in Moldova than in any other country besides the United
States. I have friends here and it is a place that I have grown to
love and to appreciate. I watched the ice turn to green and the
unfamiliar and exotic turn to comfortable and quaint.
My last day in Moldova was spent giving talks in a workshop
conference that I organized for English teachers that dealt with
teaching techniques and academic integrity. It was as rewarding as
so many of my other experiences have been. The participants were
grateful to have the experience and the embassy was generous in their
support for the conference. It was another wonderful moment for me
in Moldova and the effort spent organizing the conference helped me to
not to focus on my sadness at leaving this very special place.
I know that new adventures await me in Macon and I am eager to return
to my "other" life but I am very grateful to have had the opportunity to
live in a different place, a faraway place, and a very special place.
I look forward to reconnecting with my Georgia friends at the end of
the month even as I bid my dear Moldova friends a very fond farewell. |
