The girls doing their thing for the camera 

Seeing double? Ha. The twins posing for the digi 

That's me! Coaching and happy doing it! 

Some of the boys lining up for the intro salut 

March Madness!!!

March never disappoints when it comes to basketball and Moldova is no exception. Last Saturday was the second meeting of the Peace Corps Basketball League and Edinet was locked and loaded as both the girls’ and boys’ team had games that day. The day started off early as the girls’ team played at 9:30 am, but this didn’t hinder their excitement for the game as they went on to win 38-21. The next game belonged to the boys and this was to be the third game for them (but the first game with my regular team). As the nerves settled down and the crowd cheered, the boys were able to overcome the first game jitters and easily take Cubolta 69-20. The third and forth games were to be against Glodeni, a team with experience and outside shooting. For the girls, the experience and shooting was too much to handle and they, unfortunately, lost (but no worries, they’ll live). And for the finale of the day, the boys - last but not least, were able to pull a stunning victory over the Glodenians as everything came down to the last second as Edinet was able to overcome the one point disadvantage at the end to take it by one. Hurray!!! Overall, it was an exhausting, but exciting March. The kids played with the hearts and left the court with smiles on their faces. The boys are now 2-2 and the girls 1-1. The next games will be on the 1st of April and the 8th of April. So until then, hold up the beers and keep up the good cheers.

A Happy Slaughter

Today, Saturday - March 18, 2006 in Balti, was the first Peace Corps Boys’ basketball competition for this year. Unfortunately for me, my main basketball team was taken by the school coach to play another competition that day, but fortunately for me, I was allowed to coach some of the coolest kids from that school. Only with one day to teach them everything about basketball, I got them to start thinking about the basics and intermediate skills needed to play basketball. Although they were younger, shorter, and weaker than the kids that they played, these kids played with their hearts and listened to every word I said. If I wanted zone, they did it… if I wanted them to box-out, they did it… if I wanted them to shake hands, they did it… and so on. They were the best bunch of boys I’ve ever coached and although the score turned out to be 57-15 and 54-14, my team came out ahead at the end. Thanks to everyone that helped put this league together and I’ll keep updating about how each team does in the upcoming weeks. Next week will be boys and girls. Until then… Peace.

The bride and groom getting praises from the parents 

Cheers and good wishes from Edinet 

My host dad looking stylish at the wedding 

On my way to Chisinau with Andre (nephew of my counterpart) 

Busy with the New

My life in Moldova always has something new in store for me. Just the other week, a friend told me that there was going to be a break-dancing contest the upcoming Friday. I said to myself that I had to go check it out even if it were for just a minute. So when Friday rolled in, I went to go check the place out. I saw a friend outside the place and asked if it had cost anything to see the competition and she said, “No” and I was like, “Hellz yeah!” (Ha! All you guys know how cheap I am). Anyway, the moment I entered the building, the organizers (who were very important people in the town) swarmed me and asked if I wanted to judge the competition. A million thoughts went through my head and finally I agreed even though I knew little about break-dancing. To make things short, there were teams from the capital and my town. They battled like crazy men (even some like crazy women). It was like a scene out of Bring It On or something. Freaking great though! Hot stuff! I wish I had my camera at the time, but I didn’t. I’ll try to get some from my friends later. Anyway, it’s stuff like this that makes my time in Moldova fun and worth it.

But my stellar weekend of fun didn’t stop here. Oh no, the next day, I had to go into the capital, Chisinau to judge the Odyssey of the Mind competition and to escort a friend to be trained how to become a basketball referee. The competition went great and most of the kids spoke English. There was dancing, singing, machines with remotes, and even bribes of wine and bread (Woo hoo!) Everything went great and I totally admire the motivation and imagination of all the teams that I got to see. Weird, huh? I would have never thought of doing things like Odyssey of the Mind until I got here and after judging it, I wonder what I was doing as a little kid, which took up all my time. Sometimes I wish that I could go back in time just to kick little Scott’s ass into doing something more productive with his/my life. Hopefully my time here will make-up for the laziness of my youth.

Alright, I got back home to Edinet that night. As tired as I was, there was one more thing to do this weekend and that was to go to a wedding dinner. I was late by 6 hours, but hey, things were still just getting started as weddings here go well into the morning. There, I got my first taste as to what Moldovans consider as their wedding traditions. I was very interesting to see the bride and groom sing and dance to each table asking for donations to their happiness. As the wine glasses rose and the vodka shots downed, the night was about to diminish and my time to sleep about to begin. But before my eyes shut, there was no doubt that these last two days are the types of days that I hope all my days in Moldova could be like.

English Debate Club at School #1 

Local newspaper article about me and the basketball league in romanian 

Some of the kids and I at basketball practice 

Fireworks at the Valentines Day Show 

My host mom at the fireworks show 

Happy Martisor!!

Happy Martisor everyone! This simply just means that I wish everyone the best of luck in the upcoming spring season. Unfortunately, for us in Moldova, spring is far from ever coming. I swear that I thought spring would be here five times, but every time, the snow kept piling back. Oh well, what can you do, but enjoy yourself. So as most people know by now, I have high-speed internet access at my house and on usually around 4pm central time to talk. I'm so happy that I don't have to use dial-up internet anymore as even my 64kbps speed brings up pages in tenth the time. How sweet!

So, as I've been online talking to people, the most common question is what have I been doing here in Moldova and so let me take this time to fill everyone in. My primary work is for an organization called Agroinform - Edinet and there, we are a collective unit trying to consult farmers on how to produce, distribute, and market their goods. We're basically a free agricultural consulting firm. So far, I've only been able to do one seminar for them (which isn't bad, but I can do more). Also, I've created a website for them (http://www.agroinfo.atspace.org) <-- It's in both English and Romanian. As for secondary work, I've been coaching two high school basketball teams, one English debate club, helping out with Odyssey of the Mind - Moldova, being a representative for MoldovaTIP (anti-trafficking and working abroad group) for Catholic Relief Services in Balti, will be starting on a park renovation project and a street light project soon, and finally, will try and setup a Candlelight Memorial on May 21st in Edinet (AIDS/HIV international memorial day). It's a good start for me, but I still want to work more on primary-related work and since the spring is coming soon, I should be able to get more work at Agroinform - Edinet. But until then, I’ll keep my mouth shut and my hopes open. Happy Martisor!!!!