December 16, 1998

During the 1997-98 academic year I was on sabbatical assignment from my unit of the School of Family & Consumer Sciences in the Lumpkin College of Business and Applied Sciences. The focus of my activities was to observe, experience and study the culture of the Republic of Moldova.

During the time that I lived in Moldova, I spent time absorbing the urban cultural milieu of the capital city, Chisinau. I lived independently in a Soviet-style apartment and learned to manage the public transportation systems, purchase food, and pay utility bills each month. The biggest obstacle was the language barrier. Russian and Romanian are the languages of daily life and commerce. I employed an interpreter to facilitate my initial acclimation to daily life. Once settled in, my interpreter facilitated making appointments with individuals whom I later interviewed, interpreted these interviews, and was of immeasurable support in helping me to begin to understand the complexity of the culture and have experiences in the daily life of Moldovan families.

My experiences fall into the following categories.

LANGUAGE STUDY: I took Romanian language lessons 3 times per week during the duration of my stay. While I did not gain proficiency in the language, the study was of invaluable assistance in helping me to have an insight into the culture and political history. It also helped me to be more independent in my daily activities. But most significant of all, knowing even a small amount of language opened the hearts of Romanian-speakers to me in an unexpected way, enabling me to get closer to daily life realities.

OBSERVATIONS: My study of Moldovan life included watching the people in my neighborhood, spending time in various markets or piates, using public transportation extensively, visiting all types of stores and shops outside the markets, visiting the Free Enterprise Zone several times, and watching people whenever and wherever I could (on the streets, in the park, on the trolibuz, in the markets, in banks, and in schools/universities). These observations focused on seeing how people purchased goods/services; how they dressed during various weather and during different activities/occasions; how strangers, friends and family members interacted; indicators of gender role practices and attitudes; evidence of accommodations for disabled citizens; ways consumers/clients were treated; how individuals negotiate transportation; how the aged and children appear in public; and the general tone of the culture related to political climate and optimism about the present and future. There were two factors that made these ongoing observations a rich source of cultural exposure. One is the long duration of my stay and the sheer accumulation of time spent observing week after week and month after month. The other factor was that I had resources of individuals with whom to discuss my perceptions. Altogether, I had 10 individuals in highly divergent positions with whom I could discuss and question aspects of what I thought I was seeing and the historical and current context. During the 7 months of actual presence in Moldova I was able to correct misperceptions and initially distorted views of the society. Most notable of all, the individual who functioned as my interpreter during my entire stay was able to help me to understand the context of much of what we experienced as we moved through the city and contacted individuals for interviews.

INTERVIEWS: The goal that evolved for the interviews to understand the nature, extent, philosophical base and sources of social support provided for children and families. This was particularly enlightening to me. The long and arduous process continually drove home the point that this has been a socialist society for the past 40 plus years. Coming from my U.S. perspective, this was difficult to absorb as I tried to put things into the context with which I was familiar. The process of getting the interviews was almost as instructive as the interviews themselves. It took all of my ability in accessing the diverse connections I cultivated to gain access to the following:

Two areas where I made every effort to secure interviews were in hospitals (especially child-birth related facilities) and prisons. None of my efforts and the efforts of those who attempted to help me were productive in getting into medical or prison facilities. However, I was able to interview a medical student in his 8^th year who has had extensive hospital experiences.

QUESTIONNAIRES: After more than 2 months of learning, I began to attempt to construct a questionnaire based on my understanding of the society and the issues and problems that appeared to be the most significant. This four-page document is attached in English, Romanian and Russian. After the draft was reviewed by 3 individuals, the instrument was translated and reviewed again by 3 multi-lingual Moldovan individuals. The purpose of the questionnaire was to gain demographic information, household income data, gender attitudes indicators, information on child guidance practices, and information on types of crises individuals have encountered. The questionnaire has more than 80 responses and 10 of those items are open-ended, providing qualitative data.

249 – Moldovan adults

62 – Moldovan adolescents (a slightly revised version)

My data collection fell into 3 categories. I personally gathered the majority during 14 sessions in English classes at a university. Secondly, individuals took questionnaires and asked friends, students, co-workers and family members to complete them and then returned the questionnaires to me. Lastly, I distributed a modified version to my classes at Dante Aligheri Lyceum. Since returning to the U.S. I have modified the questionnaire for this culture and gathered 99 questionnaires for comparison data between U.S. and Moldovan citizens. At this writing, all questionnaire subjects have been entered into a computer analysis format (about one-fourth of the total body of data has been entered for each subject). I expect the analysis of this data to continue for some time.

DANTE ALIGHERI LYCEUM: After being in Moldova for more than 2 months I was invited to teach at a lyceum (high school) not far from my apartment. I considered this to be an exceptional opportunity to observe firsthand the educational system and teaching styles. I also realized that it would be a way to get to know groups of adolescents and learn about their lives, families and attitudes in a ways that would be impossible otherwise. This was very energy and time-consuming, but was extremely worthwhile. I taught 5 classes of English (one 8^th, three 9^th, and one 12^th "form") I had a total of about 80 students and was able to interact with teachers, school administrators and staff. Teaching took up 3 and one-half days per week.

PHOTOS: The photographs/slides which I was able to accumulate during my months in Moldova number around 1200. This is an invaluable resource as I compile presentations with general information about the country but with a specific emphasis appropriate to the audience and occasion.

CONFERENCE: During the spring of 1998 I was invited to submit and present a paper at the annual conference for ULIM (Universitatea Libera Internationale din Moldova). I submitted the paper and abstract but had to leave the country prior to the date of the conference. The abstract was published in the proceedings of the conference (copy included).

CULTURAL "IN HOME" EXPERIENCES: During the course of my study in Moldova, two of my children stayed with me. As a family we were invited to visit in numerous Moldova homes – always for a lavish meal. In two homes we were guests repeatedly, to the point that we were no longer guests, but close friends. In the company of these hospitable individuals we were able to participate in birthday celebrations, national holiday celebrations, family events such as garden planting, a wedding celebration, traditional cooking, and even watching home movies. We heard the family folklore, saw the family interactions, helped with the preparation and clean-up of "parties", and learned about attitudes of individuals toward the history of their Republic. Through these repeated and intense interactions we were able to meet and develop relationships with a wide variety of extended family and friends. It is in these settings that I was most easily accepted as a parent since I had my own children in tow, and also where I feel I learned the most. I visited a total of 16 Moldovan homes in the process of interviews and social contacts.

DISSEMINATION: Since returning from my sabbatical assignment I have formally presented 3 times on my experiences. I am scheduled to present at an annual state conference in the spring of 1999. Additionally, I have been able to apply my sabbatical activities into summer class work (FCS 2831 Women and Contemporary Society) and a currently taught course (FCS 4854 Parent-Child Study and Community Involvement). I find opportunities to apply illustrations and comparisons from what I have learned. Students benefit from an international exposure in attitudes and experiences. I have information on my homepage related to my sabbatical experience, and I am in the process of updating and expanding.

In addition, I have submitted and had published an article on my experiences in the newsletter of the Illinois Council on Family Relations. I look forward to presenting additional programs on my sabbatical experience in the future and I continue to develop my skills using PowerPoint 97 presentation software. As my data analysis progresses, this information will be integrated into my presentations on campus and to professional organizations.