Today (June 24) is Zina’s 70th birthday, and the
whole family came to celebrate the occasion.
Parties (called masa meaning table because food platters literally cover
the entire table) are a big deal here in Moldova, and extended families and
friends gather for birthdays, holidays, weddings, etc., and there’s food, food,
food, and lots of wine and other brews to drink. Zina’s four daughters and one son, along with
their families converged on the house.
Zina did a lot of the cooking (apparently it’s traditional that the
honoree gets to cook her favorite dishes) with much help from Elena and
Victoria, of course. They started very
early on the big day. I had to go to
class but was fortunate to return home earlier than usual so I joined in the
preparations. The main table was brought
outside and set up for twenty people.
Among the delicious treats were racituri (chicken in aspic), sarmale
(stuffed grape leaves), clatite (crepes filled with fruit preserves), pirjoale
(meatballs usually of chicken and pork), batute (pan-fried chicken), salata,
rosii and castraveti (tomatoes & cucumbers), pulpe la cuptor (chicken legs)
and taietei (homemade noodles), limba soacrei (translated as “mother-in-law’s
tongue” but consists of zucchini, tomatoes, and mayonnaise), fresh vegetables,
and torta. As you can see, my family is
very much into chicken. Moldovan
champagne was poured for all to toast the birthday girl. Zina had a grand time when she finally sat
down to enjoy her own party. I took
candid photos and tried to understand all the talking back and forth in
Moldovan Romanian, which isn’t entirely like the Romanian we were learning in
class. Slowly I’m picking up more and
more. Uncle Vadim got me up for a bit of
dancing to a traditional Moldovan tune.
I didn’t do too badly but the mosquitoes were out in force, and I ended
up that evening with six bites that swelled up into reddish round welts. That didn’t dampen the mood of the party at
all for me, and at least I now have the treatment for the bites from the
Medical Office. It was a long eventful
day with joy and happiness for Zina and her guests. And some exhaustion too….
Last Sunday, I went on a hike with the other volunteers to
venture into some of the limestone caves that line the ridge of the valley
around Ciorescu. The hike took about
1-1/2 hours to arrive at the caves. With
our headlamps in tow, we went inside. Of
course, these caves have been abandoned for some time because the limestone was
virtually used up. These are man-made
caves with vertical walls and horizontal ceilings, like tunnels. There really isn’t much to see other than
mounds of fine limestone dust. It was
everywhere. During hot summer days,
however, just being inside the cave was a welcome respite because the
temperature is probably 20 degrees cooler.
It felt refreshing! One winery is
now using some of the abandoned caves to store their wines.
24 June
24 June
 |
| Outside of entrance |
 |
| View from inside the cave |
It’s now Saturday, June 29, and a special day celebrating
Peace Corps in Moldova took place in our community Ciorescu. Torul Moldova started around June 15th,
an activity comprised of PC volunteers who gathered together to walk from their
project sites to meet up in the capital Chisinau. Two sets started out, one from the north and
one from the south. Volunteers walked a
few days, then others would join and/or replace them, until the two groups
culminated their walks in Chisinau which is happening tomorrow. For now however, the group from the north is
walking through our town and we trainees met up with them to applaud their
efforts. The Country Director was here
to show support and walked a while with the US Ambassador’s wife, who is also
an avid supporter of PC. Later in the
afternoon, some volunteers teamed up to have a friendly competition with the
area’s youth in futbol and many townsfolk watched alongside the volunteers. Moldovans really appreciate Peace Corps in
their country, and the mutual admiration was evident.
Throughout the summer, events will be taking place to
commemorate the 20th anniversary of Peace Corps in Moldova. This is going to be a very fun time, with the
start of our actual project assignments happening in August. What an opportune time to be here!
29
June
Today (July 2), we learned where we will be permanently
placed when we finish pre-service training in early August. A huge map of Moldova was outlined in the parking lot of the school and we were individually called up and positioned in the location of our permanent site. I’ll be headed to Baltsi which is the second
largest city in Moldova. It’s about a
2-hour rutiera ride from the capital Chisinau (a rutiera is a mini-bus, a
popular form of transportation but they can get over-crowded, and the drivers
are not unlike those in India and Vietnam).
I haven’t yet had a rutiera experience; it’ll be a test. I've got a terrific team of fellow volunteers there including Robin (the blonde) who is also from the Bay Area! |
| All the volunteers in Baltsi |
I’m very excited about working in Baltsi – it’s known as the
capital of the north and has a lot of Russian influence. Living in Ciorescu has been wonderful but I’m
frankly a city person as my friends would attest. I’ll be living with a new host family, a
couple who has hosted 3 volunteers in the past so they are very aware of the
routine. This time I’ll be residing in a
12-story apartment building (with an elevator!).
What I’m really thrilled about is my project assignment – my
partner organization is the Association of Women in Business, and their charter
is to promote economic entrepreneurship for women and to plant the seeds of
entrepreneurship in the youth of the community.
This type of work was a top choice for me and I’m eager to jump right
into exploring the possibilities. My
language skills aren’t up to par yet, but by the end of July I hope I can
manage stringing sentences together without too much hesitation (even if
they’re not totally grammatically correct).
All of us are going to our new sites for 2 days to orient
ourselves to the location, get introduced to our new host families, and to meet
our Moldovan partners with whom we’ll be collaborating on our projects. I leave on Sunday July 7th, going
solo. I’m preparing all kinds of
questions in Romanian in case I get lost.
Details to follow…..Yipes, another move of all my belongings
– this time to Baltsi!
2 July
Love to all my family and friends!
Have to include the standard disclaimer:
THE CONTENTS OF THIS WEBSITE ARE MINE PERSONALLY AND DO NOT REFLECT ANY POSITION OF THE US GOVERNMENT NOR THE PEACE CORPS.
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