Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Nils the Grad Post Grad

Last week Nils finished his final project for his Master's Degree in Public Administration from the Monterey Institute of International Studies (MIIS). It wasn't until I saw the website where he posted his entire project did I realize how much work he put into it! I'm really quite proud of him. Anyway... YEAH for Nils!!

Anyone who's interested in his final Master's project, you can view the complete project on:
http://notebook.zoho.com/nb/public/nbergeson/book/69926000000011027
There's a lot of really interesting stuff that may be useful to anyone working on future facilitation or evaluation projects.

We've also posted some video footage of Nils' facilitation exercise on Youtube. Go to http://www.youtube.com/ and search for nbergy5 and you'll receive a complete list of all of our film entries (all the ones with Youth Vision in the title are relevant to the project). I even got to play a small role as the interviewer for the evaluation of the exercise afterward! :) Take a look! And here's a picture of the participants.


Again, congrats Nils! You're officially done with school!!! (Unless of course you decide to pursue your PhD... )

Sunday, August 24, 2008

Zilele Brailei

"Zilele Brailei" means "the days of Braila"... or better interpreted, Braila Days. This was last weekend and Cynthia joined us for the fun, food, and .... heat. We went on the Faleza (kinda like a board walk, without the wood...) along the Danube and looked at all the vendors with their various trinkets and things. We didn't end up buying anything. We've got to save up for Christmas. Big travel plans in the works.... Greece, Turkey, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Albania, Monte Negro, and Serbia to be exact.

Here were some pictures we took during the days of Braila.

Behind us are the seats in preparation for a concert. Behind the "photographer" is a stage for live performances. Behind us also is the rows of foundains which lead up to the world-renown fountain of Braila. More pictures on that later...


Emily and Cynthia

So Braila is working on a project called "Rebranding Braila" and Nils and I had the opportunity to sit in on some of the meetings. There are very smart and knowledgeable people in Braila. Several great ideas came out of the meeting, from the youth and from the more experienced members, from leaders and from the citizens. It was an experience that got me very excited to be involved in any small projects that may occur in the future that would improve Braila for the benefit of its citizens and its economy. It's exciting to see people take an interest in their community and their future! Great job Braila!!

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Per Toby's request...

Nils with his "pot trap" and the victorious mouse...


Emily and her "snap-trap" and her dead mouse....


And last... but not least... dead mouse.


Nils did put the actual dead mouse in this very spot this morning, but he's gone now. We figure his family must have gathered his remains for a proper burial (or some other animal... for a "proper" burial).




Good-bye Mouse

It's true... I did it. I had no other choice. Here's the story:

One pleasant evening, Nils and I were in the living room enjoying some light entertainment when I noticed a small thing dart across the back wall. I looked over at Nils to see if he had seen what I'd seen, and I could tell that he had. We decided not to worry about it. And then I saw it again! "There! Did you see that!" And there he was... a cute little teeney mouse. He darted from behind the vacuum and toward the hall. It was so strange to see a little mouse quickly moving around the house. I was used to spotting and spraying bugs, but this was quite different.

We decided not to bother him and finished our evening as pleasant as it had started. As I prayed that night, it occured to me how much I wished we could live with all of these creatures in peace. I didn't mind sharing food with the mouse, especially if he ate what we left behind. No harm in that.

Well, the next day, I was cooking in the kitchen when I heard this rattling sound along the tube of the washing machine. Our washing machine is in our kitchen in the back corner. I turned quickly at the sound and saw just then the faintest blur... so I wasn't sure if it was our mouse. I tip-toed over to the washing machine and peered over the side. There was the "carpet roller cleaner thing"... the plugs.... but I didn't see anything else. Hmm... maybe I was imagining things. I went back to the stove. But then I wanted to check again... so I returned to the corner and slightly moved the "carpet roller cleaner thing" and... there was the mouse! As I moved it he darted back toward the main part of the kitchen as I screamed! I felt like an elephant :) Being scared of such a small creature. Silly me. But I couldn't help it. I ran to the living room where Nils was working quietly and yelled, "The mouse! It's in the kitchen!!" Nils being curious got up and went to the kitchen. "Where?" "It was over by the washing machine!" He couldn't find it. The little mouse had vanished.

Nils and I discussed what we should do. We didn't was to exactly kill it... There must be some way to capture it and then take it somewhere far away outside. Sounded like a good idea, so Nils started gathering supplies for a pot-trap. Nils baited it with cheese and set up string and a clothespin to spring the trap and bring a small pot down over the mouse. We had the trap set for a few days hoping to catch the little guy and set him free. Nothing. I decided to add a little peanut butter since the cheese was getting a little dry... hoping to entice the mouse that way. Still nothing. Then Friday came... and I had some cleaning to do.

I cleaned the kitchen, the living room, the bathroom and the hall... feeling good about myself for getting things in better order. As I was cleaning in the kitchen, I did accidentally spring the pot-trap, but seeing that it hadn't caught anything yet, I let it be. Nils came home and made ready to go grocery shopping and was quite excited to see the pot-trap sprung! "Sorry, honey... it was me."

So Nils went off to get the groceries and I finished tidying up. And then I started hearing a scraping sound on metal. "Ah-ha!" I thought. "It must be the mouse trying to get the food in the pot!" I quietly went over to the kitchen and slowly looked over to where the pot was laying. There was nothing there. And then I heard the scrapping sound again, but this time it was a lot closer to me... like it was right next to me. I looked around and realized I was standing next to the stove. Was the mouse in the stove? I couldn't be sure. I stood still a few more moments and then banged on the stove. Nothing. I tried a few more times to get some kind of movement, but nothing. Oh, well. I decided to start dinner. The heat would at least hopefully get the mouse out of the stove.... or we'd have a crispy snack to go with dinner... either one. I got to my preparations and a few minutes later I again heard the rapid rattling along the washing machine hose (which runs along the kitchen from the back corner to the sink ... if I didn't mention that before). The mouse was making his way back to that corner again. But when I looked, he wasn't in the same spot. Hmm...

I was getting a little more frightened and I didn't like the unpredictability of our little friend. *sigh.... Guess we'll have to wait til heaven to live in complete harmony with rodents and bugs. So I prepared the snap-trap. A previous volunteer had given it to us before heading back to the states. It hadn't been used yet... (except on Nils' fingers... more times than I'd like to mention. He had a lot of fun playing with it before we got to try it on the mouse.) So I put some peanut butter on it, set the trap, put it somewhere out of sight, and waited. And waited.... and waited. Seeing nothing, I gave up and went back to cooking. I announced to Nils when he got home what had happened and that I'd decided to kill the mouse rather than be worried where he might be all the time. I can't speak for Nils, but I did feel bad giving up so easily and just going for the kill.

Well, the whole weekend Nils kept hearing some snapping sound. He'd go over to check the trap and would find nothing. This morning we were up by 6:00am (or so) and it wasn't until 9:30am that I went to check on the trap. And there he was, the little mouse, caught in the trap. Dead. No blood... no mess... that was kind of him.

But I couldn't bring myself to dispose of him. I asked Nils if he would, but he said since I was the murderer, I should probably be the one to finish the job. I tried to gear myself up, but I just couldn't do it. I realized Nils probably didn't want to do it either.... so I probably should. Then definantly I said I would hire someone to come and dispose of him. Nils quickly volunteered... so now I owe Nils..... Ah well. It's all over now. I'm guilty as charged, and the poor mouse is dead. I do feel some pangs of regret... but in all fairness, we did try to catch him and set him free first. At least I'm not a murderer at heart.

EXTRA!! Emily Kills Mouse

NB - Early morning reports coming from Braila, Romania, have confirmed that Emily O'Hara Bergeson, a Peace Corps volunteer serving in that city, has killed a mouse. Unconfirmed rumors indicate that an archaic "snap trap" was used, perhaps baited with peanut-butter. Due to Ms. Bergeson's lack of a criminal background, it seems unlikely that she would have committed the act for any reason other than self defense. The name of the mouse has not been released. Further details surrounding the incident will be reported as they are divulged.

Nils Bergeson, Independent Journalist (actually, he's not as Independent as he thinks...)

Monday, August 18, 2008

Moldova... the country

So it's interesting how there's a "Moldova" region in Romania and then just across the border is the Republic of Moldova. It does cause a little confusion, for me anyway, when someone mentions "Moldova". I'm thinking... are they talking about the country or the region? Well, anyway, back in June, we got to visit the country, and I must say... it's gorgeous!!! We traveled with Tantza and Marie from Galati just in time before Marie left for her long journey through Europe and eventually back to the States. We went to Chişinău (Kee-sheen-oh) and met some amazing people, including the Blakely's, a couple who hosted us during our stay. Here are some amazing pictures.


Tantza, Marie, Nils, and Emily in the Botanical Gardens in Chisinau with the "gates" behind. The two buildings behind us form a sort of a gate to all who enter the city... really cool!

The Blakely's, Trent and Iuliana, and Nils and Emily

Some other really cool building, there were lots in the city... It definitely felt like a country capital.

Sunday, August 10, 2008

Mastacani Countryside

There's another volunteer in our group, Cynthia, who's serving in the village of Mastacani. Whenever we need to relax and be among nature, we take a little trip North.... two maxi taxi rides of about 1 hour and a half total time to visit Cynthia. Here are some pictures...


So... Cynthia's water doesn't always work, so she gets to draw water from a well whenever it's not working. In this case, she let us draw the water... fun! (But probably not fun when you would rather take a shower...)

I didn't quite get it right the first time... a lot ended up on my shoe. How it works is really quite cool. You fill it up, and then release the water from the bottom!

Here's Cynthia (who was kind enough to give us this cool country living experience) with Nils hanging out on a little bridge. Does the water look brown? Yeah, it is... we thought about doing a little wading... but the thought of animal excretions stopped us.

Here's my favorite. We saw this women following her flock of geese... who were apparently leading HER home! :) We followed them a little ways, since we were headed in the same direction, and it was just so cool to watch. Anytime they started to stray, the woman would talk to them with little sounds and they would change their direction. And they even made it across a little narrow mud-bridge over a canal! I should have been taking video instead of pictures! Maybe next time....