Malawi vs Moldova: McDonalds

Malawi

This is the closest thing to a McDonald's in Malawi. This vendor in Cape Maclear near Lake Malawi had this clever sign advertising his "chips" (in the British sense, which is french fries to us Yankees). Colii and I didn't try them, but I haven't tasted anything in Malawi that comes close to real french fries.

Oddly enough, we do have one American fast food chain in Malawi though. KFC is located in Blantyre. They offer chicken and chips, and for a little local cultural flare-- fried nsima balls. I might make Colii try them with me if she comes back to Malawi next year.


Moldova

Moldova has the real McDonald's. I had Colii take my picture here, but we didn't actually eat here.

Malawi vs Moldova: Porridge

Porridge is a delicious, filling way to start the day. Just ask Goldilocks and the three bears. It is also a popular breakfast in both Malawi and Moldova. Which one do you think Goldilocks would choose?

Malawi

In Chichewa we call this "phala". It is made by mixing maize flour with boiling water and adding a little salt. It is typically served with Malawian brown sugar, which Colii pointed out is not brown sugar at all, but just unrefined cane sugar. But it says brown sugar on the bag!

I make this most days except for the peak of hot season (which is just around the corner). I use the whole-grain maize flour known as "ngaiwa". My preferred toppings include sugar, dried fruit, and banana slices. Sometimes I make it with a little pumpkin pie spice. Mmmm!

Moldova

In Romanian, hot cereal is "terci" (pronounced "tairch"). The type below is basically the same as Cream of Wheat, but i don't know what kind of grain it is here. Mama-G makes it for me at least once a week. I think she makes it with milk, butter, and sugar. Sometimes she busts out the homemade preserves that i'll add to it. And there's always honey. But, like i said, she already sweetens it, so i usually don't add more sweetness to it...i already get enough sugar in Moldova.

Next to the terci is my black cafea (coffee). Moldovans don't understand how anyone can drink cafea or ceai (tea) without at least sugar...spoonfuls and spoonfuls of sugar. Mama-G knows i don't put sugar in my cafea or ceai, but most Moldovans will add it automatically before serving it. 

And, apparently i've lead by example cuz Mama-G doesn't put sugar in her ceai anymore! And she makes sure to tell me that she didn't put sugar in it! How cute is that?! She does, however, continue to eat bomboane (candy) and/or biscuiți (cookies) with it...but that's not new...she did that before too, so at least she's stopped adding MORE sugar to her tea! YAY! :oD

Malawi vs Moldova: Pre-Service Training (PST)

Since we both started our training a year ago in June, the theme for this month’s Vs post will be comparing the trainings between our two Peace Corps programs.

Malawi

Duration – My PST lasted from the 17^th of June until the 28^th of August, so it was just under 2.5 months

Living Conditions – For the first few days we stayed at a conference facility with private rooms, so I had my own toilet, shower and comfy bed. We got some training about how to live in the village, lots of vaccinations and info about security and medical stuff and some basic Chichewa lessons. After that I lived with a host family for the rest of my training. I stayed in a house with no running water nor electricity. But we did have goats and chickens and pet rats.

Sectors – In PC Malawi there are three sectors—Education, Environment and Health. Education PCVs teach in Community Day Secondary Schools. Environment PCVs usually work with issues of deforestation, invasive weeds and sustainable agriculture. Health PCVs volunteer at village health centers.

Intake Groups – In Malawi they have two PC intake groups a year. The Health and Environment groups arrive and train together. I think their group usually has around 40 trainees. They arrive in March and start their service in May. The Education trainees arrive in June and start service in August. The Education groups usually have around 20 trainees.

Site Announcements – Our site announcements happened about five weeks into our training. They led us all out to the field, blindfolded, and when we opened our eyes we were standing in a giant map of Malawi that the trainers had made out of rocks and sticks and other natural materials. For my site, they had made a mini Mount Mulanje out of rocks, and a little sign saying “Mulanje”. We didn’t get any other information about our sites, but since I was replacing a PCV I was able to contact him beforehand and get some information that way.

Site Visits – We had a two day conference with our counterparts at a local hotel in the Boma, then we traveled to our sites with our counterparts. I traveled with my Deputy Head Teacher. During Site Visit I checked out the school, local villages, the Boma, met the local PCVs and met the Chief. I also took my first bike-taxi!

Swear-in Ceremony – Our ceremony was held in the homestay village, then we went to a local conference hall for a small celebration. There was real cake and dancing, so it was a blast.

Going to Site – PC provided transport for us. We had three PCVs to a vehicle. Each vehicle had three mattresses and three bicycles on top, plus all our stuff inside. I thought it was really cramped, but that was before I had to take mini-buses on a regular basis. It is true what they said—PC transport is the nicest ride we ever get in Malawi : )

Moldova
Duraion -
I left for Staging in Philly on June 1 and arrived in Moldova for PST on June 4. My swear-in date was August 13.

Living conditions -
Directly after arriving in Moldova, we were all taken to a college where we were greeted by PC staff and PCVs. We were given a quick security lesson with important phone numbers to put in our phones. Then we were separated into groups, depending on our training villages, and driven to our training host families. After not having slept for over 24 hours, i was exhausted, so when i got to my new host family, i took a shower (i actually had a semi-working shower there, which was located in the kitchen) and my host mom made coltunasi (a meatball/ravioli thingy) for me for dinner, and then i went straight to bed. Although we had a kinda shower, we didn't have a toilet, so i spent the summer using a squatty-potty, which can get quite stinky in the muggy summer heat. We had a HUGE garden with tomatoes, cucumbers, gooseberries, currants, strawberries, cherries, raspberries, apricots, and on and on; chickens (meaning fresh eggs...YUM!), a pig, a cat, and 2 dogs that were never unchained - 1 super sweet that loved to be loved; the other wanted to kill me. We had water pumped in from a well and intermittent electricity.

Sectors -
There are 4 sectors here: Health Education (HE), English Education (EE), Community Development (COD), and Small Enterprise Development (SED).

I'm a healthE (HE), and like all other healthE's here, we teach health education with Moldovan partner teachers in schools in rural villages. Most of us (including myself) teach Middle School, which here is 5th - 9th grades. A few others teach Primary and/or High School levels too.

EEs teach English with Moldovan partner teachers, usually in raion centers (the major towns throughout Moldova - much more urban than the villages where healthEs teach) Primary through High School ages.

CODs also usually live in raion centers and partner with local Moldovans to work on developing and improving their local communities.

SEDs also live in raion centers  partner with local Moldovan business partners to develop and improve small businesses in their communites.

Intake groups -
All 4 groups arrive together in early June. CODs and SEDs trainings are 8 weeks, compared to HEs and EEs which are 10 weeks. When we arrived last year, there were about 70-75 PCTs (Peace Corps Trainees) - with 18 healthEs - all together, which we were told, was one of the largest intake groups ever in Moldova. This year there were a similar number of PCTs that arrived - with 17 healthEs.

Site announcements -
Our permanent sites were announced a month after arrival to Moldova. They drew a giant sidewalk chalk map of Moldova with numbers all over the map. Then they called our names out 1 by 1 and handed us an envelope with a corresponding number to the numbers on the map and a site name - Vasilcau, Soroca (Vasilcau is my village name and Soroca is the raion center i live in) for me. Inside the envelope was compiled information about our various sites - host family info, school info, partner teacher info, etc.

Site visits -
We had a 2-day training with our school directors at PC HQ before going to site. Then the last day of training, we went with our school directors to our sites. Once there, i went directly to my host family's, where masa (feast) was ready :o]

Whereas in my training site i had a kinda shower and a squatty potty, my permanent site was the opposite - indoor toilet, but now shower. Again, the water is pumped in from the well on the property. Like my training host family, my permanent home has a HUGE garden, chickens, cats, and dogs - which are allowed off the chain every so often.

After masa my host mom and her boyfriend drove me to the actual town of Soroca and showed me around.

The next day i was shown the way to walk to my school, where i met with the school director, vice directors, and one of my partner teachers (my other partner teacher was on vacation). My partner teacher walked me around the school, bought me ice cream, and walked me back to my host family's.
When my host mom came home from work (she's the director of the kindergarden), she walked me to the Mayor's office, health center, and post office - all on the same street right next door to each other.

We stayed at our future permanent sites for 3 days/2 nights.

Swear-in -
We (the healthEs and EEs; the CODs and SEDs swore-in 2 weeks prior) went back to the college for our swear in on August 13th. The news media was there and interviewed a lot of us. There were many speakers and congratulations all around :o]. There was also catered in food, which was delicious!

Going to site -
Directly after swearing-in, we left with our school directors again to move to our permanent site! EEK! and YAY!!

Malawi vs Moldova - Agriculture

Moldova

Economy - Moldova is founded on it's agriculture. Their 2 biggest exports are agriculture based. Most people in Moldova, particularly in the villages, have large gardens where they grow almost all of their own fruits and vegetables that they eat throughout the year, whether fresh, canned, or pickled. 

Major food crops - Porumb (corn) is used mostly for animal feed and then the corn cobs are used in soba's for cooking fires or heating. Other major food crops are grapes, cabbage, and potatoes.

Minor food crops, vegetables - Tomatoes, onions, garlic, cucumbers, pumpkins, carrots.

Minor food crops, fruits - Apples, pears, melons.

Minor food crops, nuts - Walnuts.

Major export crops - WINE from grapes (obviously) is Moldova's biggest and most lucrative export crop, followed by sunflower seed products - seeds and oil.

Animal agriculture - Just like most villagers have large gardens, they almost all have at least chickens as well, usually just for the eggs, but sometimes for the meat. It is very common to also have geese, ducks, pigs, cows, and goats. Mama-G has chickens only. I think that's mostly because she is a widow and any more livestock would probably be too much work! 

Growing season - April - September. They say winter here is from November - April, so it definitely gets too cold here in the winter to grow, unless you have a greenhouse, which i have seen a few. So in the winter there is a lot of canned and pickled foods, and hardy foods like potatoes and potatoes.

Fertility - Hmmmmm...back in the day when Moldova was occupied by the Soviet Union, chemical pesticides and fertilizers were used abundantly. With the collapse of the Soviet Union and Moldova's subsequent independence, it is said that Russia actually dumped TONS of these chemicals in the wells causing major problems in their once very fertile soils (Moldova used to be known as the "breadbasket" of the Soviet Union because so many crops were grown here that were exported throughout the Soviet Union). I have also heard that once they stopped using so many chemicals, there was/is no safe place to store them, so there are TONS of those chemicals sitting in abandoned warehouses, leaking into the soil due to rust and erosion. ...BUT, whenever I am presented with fresh fruits and vegetables from the garden (which is like very meal in the summer), I am always told that they are "natural" and "organic" and "fresh from the garden" and they wash them off in the sink...so i'm not really sure about the chemical situation here...if villagers use chemicals on their own crops or not...if so, how much? Dunno.

Farm equipment - I've seen tractors used in commercial farmlands, but in peoples' personal gardens, it's all by hand with very minimal equipment. Moldovan's are a very hard-working people!

Malawi

Economy - Malawi is primarily a rural, agricultural country. Most of the population are subsistence farmers. Even people with professional employment will usually plant maize for their families to eat.

Major food crops - Maize (aka corn) is the staple crop here, and everyone plants hectares of it to feed their families. Other major food crops grown include potatoes (sweet and Irish), cassava and groundnuts (peanuts).

Minor food crops, vegetables - Tomatoes and onions are grown year-round. A variety of seasonal produce is grown including okra, eggplant, squash, cucumbers, carrots, green peppers, hot peppers and a number of greens (rape, cabbage, Chinese cabbage, mustard).

Minor food crops, fruits - Tropical fruits galore! Mangos, papaya, guava, bananas, avocados, passion fruit, oranges, limes and lychees. Pineapples are planted in fields in my district, but most other fruit trees are just randomly scattered about. You don't usually see them planted in an orchard. 

Minor food crops, nuts - Besides groundnuts (which are actually legumes) they grow macadamia nuts in Thyolo.

Major export crops - Tobacco is grown in the Central region and tea in the South. Sugarcane is also grown here. (I tried some really fresh sugarcane last week and it was delicious. Sweet and refreshing.)

Animal agriculture - Most everyone has a few chickens running around. The better off families have goats and/or cows too. There is some hay grown in my area to feed the dairy cows.

Growing season - Year-round because it doesn't freeze here, although without irrigation most people only plant for rainy season.

Fertility - Commercial fertilizer is available at a discount due to government subsidies. People also use manure.

Conservation practices - They use contour farming in my area. Most of the maize residue is tilled in after harvest, though they do burn some residue when preparing fields for planting. Farming is typically organic due to the high cost of chemical inputs. They practice dry land farming. Monoculture is prevalent due to maize being the staple crop.

Farm equipment - Everything is by hand here, from planting to weeding to harvesting. The tools of the trade are a khasu (hoe), a panga knife (machete) and elbow grease.

Malawi vs Moldova - School

This post is the first in a series we will be doing on our blog, with direct comparisons between our sites in Malawi and Moldova.

Malawi

Public or Private: my school is a Community Day Secondary School, which is funded by the community as well as with student fees. Teachers are paid by the Malawi Government.

Supervisor - The school is run by the Head Teacher, with assistance by the Deputy Head Teacher.

Staff - We have 15 teachers including myself. Plus we have two priests that teach Bible Knowledge as well as a student teacher that is with us for one term. Half our staff are female, which is unusual for Malawi.

Number of students: about 290, including about 95 females

Class Size: 50-100. Officially the maximum number of students per class is 40 in Malawi, but there aren't enough schools and teachers, so the actual maximum is 100. My classes have about 90 in Form 1 and 70 in Form 3.

Number of Subjects - they are required to take six subjects (English, Chichewa, Math, Physical Science, Biology and Geography). We also offer electives (Bible Knowlege, Agriculture, Life Skills, Computer Studies and Social Studies).

School Terms - Three terms between September and July.

Proficiency Exams - The students are required to pass an exam to enter secondary school. Then they take the Junior Certificate Exam (JCE) to advance to Form 3 (equivalent to 11th grade), and the Malawi School Certificate Examination (MSCE) after secondary school to qualify for higher education as well as many jobs.

Fees - Primary School (1st -8th grade) is free, but students must pay for Secondary School (9th -12th grade). My school costs about K4000 per term, which is equivalent to about $8 US. They must also pay for the two required examinations (end of 10th grade and end of 12th grade). Students that do not pay are dismissed from school.

School Layout - Four classrooms plus a spare classroom, a library, an office, a staff room and a laboratory. Each grade has one classroom where the students have all their lessons.

School Day: 7:30am to 2:00pm with a 20 minute break in the morning and a 10 minute break in the afternoon. Students typically eat before they come to school and then again when they return home afterschool.

Transport: Most students walk to school, while a few ride bikes.

Religion: My school is on property owned by the Catholic Church so we observe Catholic Holidays, and all assemblies conclude with the Our Father prayer and making the sign of the cross. We also start staff meetings with a prayer.

Moldova (sorry, no pics for this one)

Public or Private:
Public - I teach "gimnaziu" which is middle school. It is overseen by The Ministry of Education. These days, a lot of Moldovans (especially younger Moldovans) move to other countries for work. This migration has caused dramatic decreases in school populations across the already tiny country, including in my school. 

Supervisor:
There is the main director of the school, which is similar to a principal back in The States, and 2 adjunct directors. All of them are also teachers at the school.

Staff:
We have about 25 teachers - all but 2 are women. One man teaches a computer class, the other one teaches PE. We also have a Director, 2 Adjunct Directors, Librarian, and a Secretary to the Director.

Number of Students:
I've been informed that my school used to have 800+ middle schoolers...now we have apprx 200 students, including Primary School students, which didn't used to be at my school.

Class Size:
5th grade: 28 students
6th grade: 26 students
7th grade: 18 students
8th grade: 26 students
9th grade: 25 students
If they all show up to class is another story...

Number of Subjects:
Required: Romanian, another language (either Russian or English at my school), Math, Physical Science, Biology, and Geography.
Electives: Religion, Computer Studies, Knitting, Dance, Art, Music, and Health (my class).

School Terms:
We have 2 semesters per school year -
     Semester 1 is September 1 - December 24
     Semester 2 is January 12ish - May 31.

Proficiency Exams:
They take proficiency exams, but i'm not sure what they all mean. 9th grade here is treated how we treat 12th grade in The States. Most kids don't go beyond 9th grade, so their 9th grade year is full of events surrounding graduation. They even have a yearly Middle School reunion where the current 9th graders perform songs, poems, skits, dances, etc for the staff and previous people that have graduated from that school.

High School here is more of like a trade school. Kids go there to learn a trade for their future careers. At least that's my understanding.

Fees:
I don't know about fees.

School Layout:
Over half the school is closed off because there aren't enough students to fill it. The building we all teach in is 3 stories. The 1st floor is Primary School, Biology, the gym, and the cafeteria. The 2nd floor is the Director, the Adjunct Directors, 2 staff rooms, Geography, Art, and Physical Science. The 3rd floor is the library, the computer class, English, Math, Music, and Health.

The Primary School stays in their same classroom all day. The Middle School students rotate classes depending on subjects.

School Day:
08:15 - 15:00 (they use military time here). There are 10 minute breaks inbetween classes and one 15 minute break from 10:50 - 11:05, which is when the Primary School students are provided lunch in the cafeteria, but not the Middle Schoolers.

Transport:
The students that live in the village where the school is walk to school. There is also a minivan that picks up students from other villages around the area.

Religion:
Eastern Orthodox. On September 1st - "First Bell" - the Priest blesses the school.