Brooke D.

1. What got you interested in the Peace Corps?

I have been interested in volunteerism from a young age. I first heard about the Peace Corps when I was in college. My favorite professor’s wife, who is now a doctor, served in the Peace Corps and really enjoyed her service. She learned a lot, grew as a person, and integrated into a new culture. After hearing how rewarding her experience was, I decided that I wanted to serve in the Peace Corps in the future.

After college, I attended graduate school at the University of Michigan. This is where I heard about John F. Kennedy’s speech in 1960 at the student union. The speech inspired young people to dedicate themselves to global peace, friendship, and justice. Hearing about JFK’s impactful speech reminded me of my desire to serve in the Peace Corps. Additionally, some of my closest friends at U Mich were Returned Peace Corps Volunteers (RPCVs). My friends spoke so fondly about their services and encouraged me to apply, so I did!

2. What projects are you working on?

My main project is co-teaching English as a foreign language. I work with three amazing English teachers. We collaborate every day to create detailed lesson plans, design interactive activities, analyze our students’ progress, and teach together. I teach 25 English lessons every week for students in grades 2 through 12.

I also co-facilitate an English club for middle schoolers with one of my counterparts, Elena. We meet for one hour every week to discuss a variety of topics from U.S. holidays to sports, and do interesting activities such as making gingerbread houses.

Since my site is close to Chișinău, the capital of Moldova, I have also led and co-led a number of events at America House Chișinău. In February 2025, I co-led a workshop celebrating girls and women in STEM. The participants had so much fun learning about STEM and doing three experiments.

3. What strategies have you used to integrate into your community?

For me, the most effective strategy for community integration has been learning Romanian, Moldova’s national language. Many Moldovans speak Russian in addition to Romanian, but Romanian is more widely spoken in my site. Even though my Romanian is far from perfect, I am able to communicate with my host family thanks to Peace Corps Moldova’s language training and my wonderful Romanian tutor.

My host family has played an integral role in my community integration process, especially my host mom. She invites me to community events about once a month. At these events, she introduces me to her neighbors and friends, so I can expand my network.

Another strategy that has been helpful is getting to know people, especially the teachers, students, and staff at my school. Moldovans are kind, welcoming, and curious. Whether we are speaking in Romanian or English, I really enjoy chatting with people from my school community during breaks between classes or after school.

4. What is a highlight of your time in service so far?

In March my main counterpart, Irina, and I led a district-level workshop/conference. We gave an open lesson where approximately 20 teachers sat in the back of the classroom and observed how we taught. I remember feeling a little nervous beforehand, but once the bell rang and the lesson started, I felt at ease. After our lesson, Irina and I were pleasantly surprised that we only received positive feedback. I always expect to receive a little bit of constructive feedback. I remember feeling happy, relieved, and proud all at once. To wrap up the event, our primary students performed a play about the months and seasons in English and it was perfect! Additionally, Peace Corps’ English Education program manager and program specialist attended the workshop. It was so great to have their support and showcase all the skills they helped me acquire during pre-service training.

5. What have you enjoyed most about the community where you are serving?

The people are the heart of the community, and I appreciate them dearly. Everyone in my community is friendly, hardworking, encouraging, passionate, and talented—I could go on and on!

There are lots of resources in my community. We have a few different grocery stores, a handful of clothing stores, ATMs, an electronics store, pharmacies, and parks. If I need to run errands, I can find almost anything in my community. I don’t have to go into the capital to find something.

I also love the location of my community. I am 15 minutes away from the capital by car and 45-60 minutes away by public transportation (trolley bus).

6. What are some of the most important things you’ve learned from your community?

The most important things I’ve learned from my community are patience, flexibility, and hospitality. Through co-teaching, I have relearned how to compromise. I have learned that there is more than one way to do something. I’ve also learned how to be flexible. Sometimes my counterparts are busy in the afternoon, so we plan in the evening. Sometimes we co-plan asynchronously via WhatsApp on the weekend because our free time does not align.

My host family has taught me to be more generous. My host mom always offers me tea, homemade fruit juice (compot), freshly cracked walnuts, or pies made from scratch. When I was in college, I didn’t like hosting, but seeing how happy my host family is when they serve guests something delicious makes me want to be a good host in the future.

7. How do you spend time when you are not working on a project?

When I am not working on a project, I enjoy going for walks in my community, baking sweet treats, and watching TV. I love Moldovan folk music, so I attend concerts in my free time as often as I can. We have a Casa de Cultura (culture house) in our community. Usually there is a concert every 3-4 weeks at the Casa de Cultura and, most of the time, the concerts are free.

Additionally I love doing virtual game nights with my family at home. Most weekends, my parents, sometimes my sister, and I play a board game on a WhatsApp video call. The physical board games are at my parents’ house. Usually, I partner up with someone and they send me pictures of our cards. If you are interested in trying a virtual board game night, I recommend Clue, Trekking, Wingspan, and Probe.

8. What are you looking forward to in your remaining time as a Volunteer?

In my remaining time as a Volunteer, I hope to apply for a grant with the help of my school director and counterpart, Irina. Our school community dreams of having an outdoor classroom and this grant would help make that dream come true.

In addition to the outdoor classroom grant, I hope to continue offering engaging extracurricular activities such as office hours, English clubs, summer camps, and discussion-based events. In May 2025, I am starting an English conversation club at a local library, and I am super excited to see how it goes!

I am also interested in collaborating with other Volunteers. Last summer, I assisted Lucy with a summer camp and it was a ton of fun. Lucy and I plan to collaborate again this summer. I also plan to collaborate with Ella and do some interesting experiments with the youth in her community.

9. Once you finish service, what will you do differently when you return to the U.S.?

When I go back to the U.S., I will definitely purchase a pair of house slippers and not walk around in my socks or barefoot. In Moldova, everyone has house shoes. No one walks around their house in socks.

The produce in Moldova is so fresh and is great quality. I’ve noticed myself eating more seasonally here. When I return to the U.S., I think I will alter my diet a little bit and eat more things that are in season.

Want to learn more about serving in Moldova? Connect with a recruiter today.