International Women's Club

Last night I went to my first International Women's Club meeting. There are a number of different groups within the Club (I am most interested in the International Cooking Club, the Book Club, and the Lunch Group) -- and it seems that whatever your interests, you can meet other women in the club who share them.

I've always wanted to participate in a Book Club - but never have. It always seems to be such a challenge to stay abreast of the research in my field - and for my administrative responsibilities - that reading for pleasure (other than the newspaper) has just been non-existent for many years. I was so excited to learn that the September selection is works from Pushkin! I was planning to visit the Pushkin Museum here (on my own) and to read Pushkin first, before going (on my own) -- but now I will (depending on my class schedule, TBD) be able to read and discuss his work with others in the Club. AND they are arranging a tour of the Museum and other places relevant to the time he spent here. I'm so excited! And the October selection is another book I wanted to read, Playing the Moldovans at Tennis. And December's selection is Eat, Pray, Love (if only I had seen the movie before I left ;-)

(As a side note - there are movie theaters here - but - the movies are all dubbed in Russian. However, I learned at the International Faculty meeting at ULIM yesterday that there will be many international films shown on campus - with English subtitles - which should be fun - but there will be no US blockbusters in movie theaters for us this Fall)

After the social hour where we had the opportunity to sign up for these various clubs, the business meeting got underway. I enjoyed learning more about the Board Members and their responsibilities - and more about the charitable work of the IWCM.

One of the Board members (the wife of the British Ambassador) gave an excellent presentation about the project they supported with the earnings from their recent fundraiser. A local NGO started a home for kids who had aged out of orphanages and other services (similar to projects the Junior League supports for girls aging out of foster care) -- they had a vegetable garden -- but needed chickens and cows (they wanted to be able to have their own eggs, milk -- and then sell the surplus at the local market to raise additional funds for their programs). In the slide show, we saw the kids, the home, the new chicks and the cows. This is just one of many projects the IWCM has spearheaded. For more information about the ICWCM's charitable work, see

http://www.iwcm.md/

A local travel agent donated 2 spots on a tour of Romania and Moldova. Before pulling the winning raffle tickets, the agent took us on a slide show tour that was like a travelogue - and underscored that we must get over to Transylvania as well as to the wineries and monasteries in the countryside of Moldova before we go home.

The piece de la resistance was the musician who performed at the conclusion of the meeting. He was playing the nai -- a moldavian pan flute. Superb!! I wish I had my video camera with me to share this with you. It was an absolutely amazing performance!