WHAT THE HELL DO YOU DO IN ROMANIA?



Recently, people seem to think my life is just booze and vacations... And I can't lie, there is some truth to that. Since I've come to Romania I have travelled a bit and taken some time out for "business travel." But hey, I do business!

Travels to date from 2/04 (outside Romania) include Bulgaria, the US, Amsterdam, Belgrade, Montenegro, Sarajevo and I'm leaving for Croatia next week with plans to stop in Ljubljana and Budapest. And I'll be headed south for Christmas - destination unknown!

When I'm not otherwise vacationing and boozing all over Romania I like to work.

The life of a Peace Corps volunteer is so funny- I throw my head back and laugh, haha!

My principle job as a volunteer is:
1. To transfer my skills to Romanians.
2. To share in the culture of Romania and spread my aromatic American culture.
3. To bring back to the US the flavor of Romania.

Which is a rather vague job description.

So- here is what I decided to do! And I just got crazier with it and crazier with it!

First, I got rid of my initial Peace Corps assignment and left the bar. Then I found an organization that actually provided services to the community- go figure! And then I sat around a lot... and I wait a lot... and I learn a lot of Romanian... and I tried to get them to talk about doing a project... and that took a really long time... then I wrote them a grant proposal and got them some money to do the project... but that's not so simple as it sounds. In the middle of that, they asked me to chair a salary and job description committee - so I said sure, what the hell, but I didn't use 'hell' because remember I work for missionaries. And I sat through 4-hour meetings every Wednesday morning and listen to people screaming and yelling at each other in another language - the frightening thing was I understood everything!

And after working there about 8 months - I started making some headway on getting the project started! Just started! But YAY! It was starting!

Somehow I managed to convince the Director of the Foundation that they needed someone to start writing professional grants for them and not just an American that volunteers and goes away but a real Romanian who had a stake in the organization and also would be further enhancing his skills. And I can only say that I did it to myself... but I agreed to work with Vlad and transfer my skills to him. In anguish we work on grant proposals - to date we have written grants to the Global Fund for Women, UNIFEM ($90K), and Listen Charity ($60K). If we see any of that money it will be great!

Just a few other little things I might mention that I happen to start doing in the mean time while I was sitting around a lot:

• Peace Corps Gender and Development Committee (GAD)- which I am the PRESIDENT- I am helping them with fund raising, we do many great things because gender is really a major issue here. Women are treated as second class and up until about 2 years ago being gay or lesibian was outlawed! So we do things that raise gender awareness. In November we promote the 16 day National Campaign against Domestic Violence. We also held a conference for journalist students in Bucharest, to help the media see that how women are presented in the media impacts the social position of women. We are having a Gender and Sensitivity training in September/October to train social workers who have clients that identify as gay or lesbian how to treat, respect and help their clients.

• Timisoara English Teachers Association- I taught a week-long camp on human rights and citizenship and helped the students prepare for a debate about the EU accession.

• Southeastern Europe Youth Leadership Institute (SEEYLI)- I have facilitated two of the trainings for students, the first one about culture shock (of going to America- which the students get to participate in an exchange for 1 month) and community service projects; the second, about project development and management because the students have to develop and manage a community project in their towns.

• IDEA Romania (Youth Parliaments)- I helped them with training seminar for the students to recruit volunteers to organize a parliamentary election.

• Habitat for Humanity - I spent a week in Cluj working with my Peace Corps group to help construct low cost housing.

• GLOW Camp (Girls Leading Our World Camp) - Teaching girls to be leaders and to have self-confidence. A week long camp in which we climbed a mountain!

So- on and off - I work with my secondary projects and consistently try to plug-away at my primary assignment.

What I love about my job in the Peace Corps is the freedom I have to be as creative as I want! I love that I can be involved in so many projects! I love that I don't have to work a 9-5 job and wonder where I should eat lunch- Cozy or PotBellies...?

I feel like I am a plate spinner here - and I am spinning all these plates and I just have to keep them spinning! It is completely neurotic and I thrive on it!