Jay-Z at Glastonbury

This is why I LOVE Jay-Z.


Jay-Z answers critics with Glastonbury performance

Sun Jun 29, 5:52 AM ET

LONDON (AFP) - American rapper Jay-Z answered his critics, notably Oasis's Noel Gallagher, with a performance at Britain's famous Glastonbury music festival that was received to rapturous cheers Saturday.
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Striding on stage with a guitar slung over his shoulder, he led the crowd in a rendition of Oasis's "Wonderwall", smiling throughout, and with wife Beyonce Knowles in attendance, his set included songs such as "99 Problems".

In a radical departure from the indie rock and guitar bands commonly associated with Glastonbury, the festival recruited the New Yorker in a bid to reach out to a younger audience.

Michael Eavis, who runs the festival on his dairy farm, admitted they had "stuck their necks out on this one."

Organisers staunchly defended the choice of Jay-Z, despite the slow ticket sales and sniping from Glastonbury veterans like Oasis guitarist Noel Gallager.

In April, Gallagher slammed the booking of Jay-Z to headline to festival as "wrong", declaring: "I'm not having hip-hop at Glastonbury. It's wrong."

The festival, held on Worthy Farm near Glastonbury in Somerset, south-west England, is the largest greenfield music and performing arts festival in the world.

The event, which turns more than 800 acres (320 hectares) of rolling countryside into a tent city, started with 1,500 people in 1970 and has its roots in hippiedom.

Where in the World is....?

designed by a lovely Smiley girl!

dominoes, powerpoint, and a European Cup

What is the life of a Peace Corps member like in a major Eastern European city?

Well, I have showed my little host sister how to use my computer, and she has co-opted it, and asks me to download her new music (bad music) pretty constantly. I taught my host mother to play dominoes, and upon reflection, I think THAT was a very very bad idea. I have been forced to play game after game after game for days.

Back in the day, my college days that is, I used to spend hours in April's apartment playing bones, smoking and drinking...

Those were some good times.

Somehow, it's not as fun when you're being forced to play game after game.

My family really likes me. Which is really great, but I'm not used to having to be this close to anybody. I miss, you know, not being accountable to anybody but myself and my job.

I spend most of my time at this point in a place called Havana Nights, a cafe with very fast wifi. I drink too expensive diet cokes, and have taken to rewatching each and every battlestar galactica.

God, it is such a good show.

At work, I've been given the task of creating a 10 minute presentation, in powerpoint, in romanian, about myself. I was given less than two weeks to do this, and I have to give it to people from about 30 organizations.

Rock.

I am just a little petrified, to say the least.

So i've been working pretty hard - I had to write what I was going to say in this hodge podge of english and romanian, and then work with my tutor to make it frumos - to make it pretty. Le sigh.

My tutor and the people at my work think it's very funny that I'm so dedicated to making this a good presentation. Este mai usor - it's very simple, no big deal, etc etc. Yea, well, a) it's in front of people from 30some orgs, so it's a little bit of a big deal b) it's my first test in my placement, which is a little more of a big deal and c) the reason I've gotten as far as I have in life is because I take my jobs very seriously.

I'll let you know how it goes.

As far as the rest of my life....

it's the European Cup right now... so I've been going to the big square in front of the opera house, where they've set up these massive tv screens and everyone gathers and drinks beer and generally parties and cheers for teams other than their own, because Moldova is not in this competition. Most people are routing for Russia or Romania, unsurprisingly.

Generally, I don't like sports that don't have background music. But I have to admit, I've gotten into this a little... the camaraderie of this square thing, everybody gathering together, and getting to know the teams, has been pretty cool. I have no favorite... generally speaking I go for the underdog, or whichever country I like better (meaning, which team has the cutest players...). It's interesting that the french seem to be universally disliked. I wonder where that comes from. Although Americans are often universally disliked too, so maybe we should build something other than glass houses.

In other news, later on today I go to get internet hooked up. Or rather, to sign a contract to get the process started... so maybe in another three weeks, I'll have it in my house?? Nu stiu.

Capdemort

Did I ever mention what Voldemort's name is in Romanian?

It's Cap-de-mort, which directly translates as "Head of a dead man."

Awesome.

His full name is Tomas Dorlent Cruplud, which works out as an anagram of Sunt Lordul Cap-de-mort...

or

I am Lord Voldemort.

Tom Cruplud. Now you have to admit that's pretty giggle-worthy. And doesn't this make you wonder what Voldemort's name is in all the other languages? And when you have books that are translated into other languages that are reliant upon anagramic principles, how does that work? Obviously, they found a substitution here, but can a substitution always be found?

Eurovision (weeks ago at this point)

I can't sleep.

It is like, way past my bedtime, but I really can't sleep, and there's really no reason except for my brain is going like a mile a minute. And rather than continue to compose these make believe blogs in my head, I figured I could go ahead and try typing a little.

Maybe my sounds of my typing, the visuals of my words will put me to sleep.

So, what's happening? How's it going? Has anyone else been keeping up with the fantastic-ness that is Eurovision?

For those of you who don't know, Eurovision is the most amazing and wonderful thing.... it's like American Idol, only eery European Country submits their own act and the entire continent (+ some extra) vote for the winner.

You'd think it just be a contest to see which country could put in the most votes, but no... see, it's not possible, if I understood this correctly (which, you know, it's possible that I didn't) to vote for your own country. You can only vote for others. And the voting is only for 15 minutes.

And the submissions, oh my god. From the Scandanavian heavy metal scariness, to the post-modern folkness of Bosnia-Herz, the heavy techno of Bulgaria....

it's all just so amazing. And you just NEVER KNOW what a country is going to do. For example, Russia entered a singer, whose background support was a gold medalist ice skater who skated around on a micro-rink and then, at the end, both the ice skater and the singer ripped their shirts off.

Estonia entered four old men doing some crazy song and dance.

Moldova, my country, had some middle-aged woman singing with a teddy bear.

But by far my favorite, and the most absurd, was Ireland. You see, Ireland didn't enter any *actual people* this year.... they entered Dustin the puppet DJ Turkey. And he was hilarious. HILARIOUS.

God I love the Irish.

Alas, the rest of Europe did not agree with me. Dustin the turkey is not going to the finals tomorrow. I was crushed.

Oddly enough, it's possible for non-citizens to perform for other countries - a former Miss American contestant, that has had Waaaaaaay tooooooo much plastic surgery, was Poland's entry. Alas, she did make it to the finals.

Bosnia-Herzogovinia






Ireland's Turkey





Here are my two serious favorites, Norway and Croatia








Here is the Russian winner, complete with ice skating...

Morose Moldova

I read this article on democracy, (Will Democracy Make You Happy?) that highlights Moldova as being a perfect example of how democracy doesn't necessarily indicate happiness for a population.

Walk around Moldova, it says, and all you see is long faces and morose people. Apparently we're very low on the happiness index, by free admission of the people living here.

Meaning that, when people are asked, "on a scale of 1-10, how happy are you?" people didn't rate themselves as highly as people in, say, Botswana.

This, the article trumpets, is an example of how democracy isn't all its cracked up to be! Moldovans are all free to vote and all, and they're all depressed!

What a load of crap.

Ok, yea, this is a pretty impoverished country in many ways, particularly compared to say, western Europe, but not in the least compared to say, the afore-mentioned Botswana. People here do *believe* that they are "pauperizat" - impoverished, which is important to note.

However...

All in all, I think this country is relatively happy. But people are *seriously* afraid of jinxing any happiness they might have.

When baby animals are born, it's tradition to spit on them because, basically, they're too damn cute, and if they're fawned over too much, it's like.... pride, vanity, and it'll cause sickness of death... basically, God will see the pride and smite it. The spitting thing applies to other aspects as well, like new houses, human babies, etc.

It's not a good thing to compliment things too much, because it could all go away in a second.

And if a person if forced to analyze their happiness in this country, particularly to compare it to other countries, of course they're going to think it's bad. Because what are they going to compare it to?

Teachers here make $18 per month. Seriously. This doesn't translate very well in the housing market. Which is why so many families are broken up here.... because half of the parents are working in different countries to send money home to their families.... this country has the largest remittance economy in the world.

Take that Mexico.

What good is a self-reported happiness index if people have different ways of evaluating happiness? Or if their comparing it to different things?

Victory Day

It's been awhile since I've written, although I do have some things to upload.

I feel like I should start with May 9th. Obviously, this was over a month ago... but what are you going to do?

May 9th was Victory Day for the Russians in World War II, and is a day that is celebrated throughout the former Soviet Union. I guess it's kind of a controversial day though, for quite a few reasons.



First of all, the war wasn't really over - at least not in the way Americans have been taught to look at it. Japan, after all, had not surrendered. We were still in the Pacific, and to call the war over at that point is a little bit of an insult to the people who were still fighting.

(Although, as I've been reminded many times, it's also easy for us Americans to remember that about five times as many Russians died in WWII than Americans did, and our insistence that we were this big savior in that war still grates on Russian nerves).

For Moldovans, the end of the war in Europe meant the re-occupation of their country by the Soviets, and the beginning of the process of isolation from what many considered their natural brethren - Romania, and the initiation of the... the what, the sovietication process? When Russia began to call the language spoken in this country - (Romanian) Moldoveneasca, and switched the entire country from the Latin alphabet to the Cyrhillic... imposed a new government, made the official language russian, barred outside communication ...

So, it's kind of a controversial day, although still, obviously, quite celebrated. What's interesting is that there's more than one VDay celebration here, because the folks that aren't exactly thrilled with the Russians chose to have a different celebration.



What was doubly interesting for me, as an outsider, was to watch how things are in Chisinau, the capitol. Obviously, the memorial that you see in these pictures are in Chisinau, and the big parade and celebrations are in Chisinau.

This country, if you recall, has a democratically elected Communist government, and thus, the federal government at least is very much into the celebration of Victory Day.

Chisinau, however, had a serious upset in its last Mayoral election - this city, with basically a quarter of the population of the entire country, put in a 34-year old social democrat.

Not to put too fine a point on it, but this was a big damn deal. As Chisinau goes, some says, so goes the rest of the country. And in Chisinau, they did indeed have a big celebration for Victory Day.

But at the same time, they also had a big weekend celebration for European Unification. There were European Union flags everywhere, even flower beds made up to look like EU flags.

That's kind of a slap in the face to Russia, who is still pretty intent on keeping Moldova firmly in the fold.

The next federal election is in February. And from all accounts, it's going to be a very, very, close election.

I do so love a good election.

This picture below, by the way, is the emblem of Chisinau....

Because I am in love with this little girl

the English Version



The Romanian Version

The brilliancy of anonymity and the dictionary project

I like cities. Know what I like most about them? It's not the ability to get brie, although that was a delightful treat. It's not the ability to buy curry paste, or ramen noodles, or numerous other edible treats not available in villages. It's not the constant thrill of the nightlife, or the public transportation...

Don't get me wrong, I do love the public transportation. And hey! I got asked for directions yesterday on the trolleybus! Not that I could do anything but look blankly at them and say, "scuzați, eu vorbesc puțin romaneste," only to have them look blankly at me, and then to realize that they were probably speaking to me in Russian, but *still*, I got asked for directions yesterday, which means somebody thought that I looked like I belonged. Somebody young and foolish, obviously, but somebody!

But what I really love about cities is that nobody expects you to look at them and smile and say "buna ziua!" or "christos anviat!" You keep your business to yourself, and I appreciate that reservedness.

Which is funny, I guess, because one of my fondest memories in Chicago was blowing tourists kisses and waving at them when they went around on those trolleys. Where was my reserve there, huh?

I guess when you know that the chances of you being able to communicate with anyone are pretty much in the lower 25% range, the desire to start up a conversation plummets.

Yesterday was mother's day in America. Not that I knew that until my host family *reminded* me of it, which is a little embarrassing considering that Moldovan's don't have a Mother's Day. They have a Woman's Day, and it's a State Holiday - people get off work for it and everything, and it's a big deal. Many masa and celebrations, and much homemade wine.

Other things that I love about cities? Fast internet connection. Oh my, how wonderful is that. I've been able to download all the most recent episodes of Lost, Grey's Anatomy, Gossip Girl...

How tragic is it, however, that Battlestar Galactica has moved to Amazon.com, and doesn't work with a MacOSX platform? What was SciFi thinking? Don't they know that most scifi geeks are mac users? Geez. Un!Cool.

I'm trying to decide whether or not to get dsl in my house. The temptation is strong, oh so very strong. But that would just make me more of a homebody than I already am. What to do.

In other news, I have a new self-imposed project. It's called the dictionary project. Since I no longer have lessons, I'm going through our dictionary and making flashcards of all the words and the phrases that I think are useful (because our dictionary comes with phrases like: that blows my mind! and who doesn't want to know how to say that in every language possible?) I have finished the A section and am halfway through the B section. It is a good way to spend time with my family, as homework time in my family is group family time. I figure it will take me about a month and a half to go through the entire thing, and then I can go backwards - go from romanian to english.

And of course at some point, I'll actually start studying the flashcards.

By far, they have been the most useful method of me learning vocab, and it's a nice way to interact with my new sister because she likes to do the romanian to english. I already have a stack the size of my arm from training. The cards keep getting smaller because - really, who needs a full sized index card? I can save $.02 if I cut them up into 1/4's.

Tonight I start my tutoring sessions with a woman named Vicky, or Victoria. She's a language tutor, although she wasn't mine... she worked with all boys in a neighboring village. She lives in Chisinău, so I think it will be a good match. The only problem is that another training session starts in three weeks, and so when that happens, I'll have to find another tutor. Fuarte Triste.

Last days in Peresecina

Ultimea Zilelor in Peresecina

Is it annoying that I write double, with both Romanian and English? I hope so. ;)

It's just, whenever I first think in Romanian, I figure I should encourage that oddity as much as possible.

I wanted to talk just really briefly about my last days in Peresecina, mostly to post some pictures, but also to talk about Moldova in general.

Mostly to talk about Moldova's soil.

It's AMAZING.

The last day that I was in Peresecina, Eden and Sarah and I decided to take one final walk around the town, and to try and venture up the hill. We've been talking about going up these hills since we've been here, but we've been, I don't know, lazy, and/or scared.

See, there are many many many dogs in Moldova. Wild Dogs.

One of the first days that we were here, Eden, brave, tiny Eden, decided that she was going to take a walk up the hills to take a look at our fair village.

Peresecina, you see, is most definitely in a valley.



On the way up a path, Eden met up with a family who asked where she was going.... when she said that she was going to go "in deal," or up the hill, the family said, oh no, she couldn't go up the hill, she was too small. Which of course, being the brave Eden, she immediately took umbrage to, and said well, small or no, I'm going up the hill.

And thus she went, up and up, until about halfway she heard a sound. The sound of barking. The sound of three very large dogs coming at her very quickly, and obviously not very happy that someone was invading their territory. Eden was, indeed, too small to be going up the hill.

Poor Eden, she had to run full out back down the hill, as quickly as she could. It was a very dangerous situation.

After her report, there was much mutual discussion about what we could do to get up that hill - bring sausages perhaps? Maybe if we went in a big enough group, the dogs would be afraid of us??

We talked a lot, but did little. Then one day, I found a hill and ventured up it with my little sister. We got about half way, noticed no wild beasts other than the odd cow, horse and goat, and I saw other people, so I suggested that we try that on our last day.

And go we did. The cow was there. The horse was there. The goat was there. And an old woman was there, sitting, watching the town, obviously having been in the cups at least a few times during the day already. She stopped us for a chat. And a chat. And a chat. Tried to get us to come home with her. Got upset when we said we couldn't. She offered wine. She offered food. She offered her grandson. She was quite upset when we explained we couldn't - we were on a hike because we wanted to take pictures of the village.



She thought that was brilliant! And she wanted to see the pictures. And demanded that we come to her house and show them all to her. We tried to explain that we couldn't, that we had dinner's to go back home to as soon as we were done... No Problem! She said... come back tomorrow morning. When we explained to her that this was our very last day in Peresecina, there was more confusion, she was more upset, and kept us there for another, oh, 10 minutes trying to figure out a way to get us to her house. I felt really bad, I must admit, and by the 7th minute was ready to go to her house already.

But we didn't, and went on our hike, and it was pretty cool. We stumbled across what looked to be the ghost of a grape vineyard that was still growing, but obviously uncared for. We came upon wild mint, and a teeming hill of ants that freaked me out. We saw quite a few lizards that started to freak me out because really, where there are lizards, aren't there snakes, too?

We got really amazing pictures of the town, most of which I don't have, but I'll post some. But the truly remarkable thing was the soil... it was like the entire world was covered in topsoil. Everywhere we stepped we sank down half a foot.

I read somewhere that 81% of Moldova is covered in black soil, the largest percentage of anywhere in the world. If that's the case, then it's truly a remarkable resource, and I hope that they're really trying to push sustainable farming methods. It would be a shame to lose something so amazing.

Later I will post the good pictures that Eden took, but right now I'll post some that I took from Easter.

< --------- This picture is of my house!! The green house behind the large building (a kindgergarden), that's where I lived!