Imbibing

TUESDAY

Sit down, children, and let's have a discussion about the dangers of alcohol.

Peace Corps does not tell us not to drink. Peace Corps does make every attempt possible to pound it into your head that, while you may drink,

it's just bad m'kay?

There are a good many reasons for PC to have concerns about volunteers drinking. I respect all of them greatly. Top among them are volunteer safety, Peace Corps reputation, and the way that Americans are viewed by a population that's only access to American culture is through Nickelodian and dubbed over movies like Legally Blonde.

(Not that there's anything wrong with Legally Blonde mind you- the second one was on the other day, and that movie is straight up a lesson in American politics.)

But you see my point, I really do get it.

Except here's where I started to get, for lack of a better word, itchy, during our alcohol safety 3 hour seminar.

Things like, for a girl, drinking anything over a tall shot glass of wine is exceeding the moderate drinking level.

Things like, even when you're in Chisanau visiting friends, people from your site will find out that you've been drinking or at a bar and it could affect your reputation.

Things like, Peace Corps hears about our behavior, "even if they don't want to."

Things like, in some villages women don't ever drink with the men.

Ok, point by point, I don't even think a tall shot glass of wine would put you over the .08 legal limit. I could totally be wrong, but seriously? I don't feel bad about taking a few of those shots, particularly over a five hour dinner. How many tall shot glasses would even go into one glass of wine? And most of this wine is homemade, not even as potent.

Second: If people from my site find out that I've been drinking outside of the village. Well ... first this might mean that I'm not drinking at all in my own village - a possibility, to be sure. Let's say that is does mean that - if they find out that I'm drinking outside of the village, but not their own, doesn't that in its own way indicate a respect towards the tradition of their home? A desire to fit in with the way of things in my placement?

Third: I'm going to take four first, actually.

Four: part of Peace Corps mission is to break down gender barriers and stereotypes. And one of the first ways of doing that, surely is to allow women and men to interact together, and to ensure that the women are treated respectfully in a recreational environment. My culture, one that I'm here to represent, allows for me to drink with my male friends. Now, while I'm here, I have to take some uber-fantastical precautions if I want to drink and I'm well aware of that. However, I believe it's important for Moldovan men to, you know, start to think that it's

- appropriate to shake women's hands when they meet them
- appropriate to say hello when they pass women on the street
and
- okay for women to join in extra-curricular activities.

Now, for number 3. I'm about to turn 28 years old, and I'm not a child. In fact, the most common reaction I get when I'm introduced to people by my host family is "why aren't you married? you're so old!" If Peace Corps staff hears things about things that i'm doing well, then, I'm very much responsible for my actions. I'm more inclined to think they will hear good stuff about me, but I'm also not a pushover, and I wonder if my adult determination and stances will sometimes reflect as ... I don't know, something that it's not, or that I surely don't mean it to be.

It's probably really good that PC staff didn't tell us that drinking is forbidden, because I would have probably bristled extremely: "this is a wine producing culture! how can they expect us to integrate into the community if they don't allow us to participate fully" la de da.

As it is, I'll give them credit in that they did a really good job in giving food for thought. They brought in some obviously "super rece" (rece is cool in romanian, I'm trying really hard to start a trend) older volunteers who had stories of people who had gotten hurt, or had done just stupid things that had screwed things up for other volunteers, or how they'd really messed up their site placement...

what really surprised me is how, it seems that the longer people are here, the more likely you are to give up alcohol, altogether. And these are younger people, 25-30 (some older).

One of the staff asked us to ask ourselves, if you're just getting together to drink, what are you really doing?

Which damnit, isn't the only reason I want to get together with the rest of my volunteer group, but I'll admit it's part of it! I feel like I'm wound tighter than a top, and I just want to relax and decompress and digest all the information that's been thrown at us...

I want a 5:07 club night.