Last weeks of October

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Additional comments are in order on Chisinau’s Wine Festival which I had mentioned in my last blog posting.  It took place Oct 5-6, and is a prominent event for the city and the country as it features virtually all of Moldova’s wineries, about 30 present.  Many people from other European countries attend, and even delegations from other parts of the world, to explore the latest offerings in Moldovan wine-making, and to make deals.  The ordinary folks, of course, are simply there to taste the wide variety of wines, and maybe purchase some at very reasonable prices.  Some of these wineries don’t sell much of their output within Moldova, preferring to mass-market to Europe and former Soviet countries.  After all, Moldovans by and large are not exactly middle-class.  Likewise, many Moldovans make their own wines at home and can’t see spending money for another’s product. 

WINERY TOUR

As a follow-up to a private wine-tasting of Asconi wines that we had prior to the wine festival, several of us PCVs were fortunate enough to attend a private tour of Asconi winery in Puhoi which is a small town outside the city limits of Chisinau.  Andrei Sirbu is the sales manager for the winery and whose family has been in the wine business for several generations.  He was gracious enough to spend an afternoon walking us around the complex which incorporates state-of-the-art technology and processes to produce massive quantities of white and red wines with virtually foolproof quality.  Living near Napa and Sonoma where I’ve been on many a wine tour, this one of Asconi was like no other tour I’ve witnessed.  Their process is monitored for all manner of metrics through equipment spread out over the entire operation.  Asconi uses some of the most advanced technology in the Moldovan wine industry.   Their reputation is so good that other wine makers use Asconi’s equipment and processes (when capacity allows) to produce their own wines. 

Main wine storage facility and reception facility

Tanks waiting to be put into
refrigerated storage space

Filling and labeling bottles

Nothing gets wasted – the stems from the grapes are cut off and used in compost.  The ‘sludge’ from the grapes including the skins and seeds are also re-purposed.  Even the remains from the yeast fermentation are squeezed out until the last drop of wine is yielded.   

One of the storage rooms

Gas bag

Andrei explaining coolant system

Very specific kinds of yeast are introduced to the vats depending on the types of grapes.  In the crushing rooms, massive bags of nitrogen gas or carbon dioxide gas are used to gently crush the grapes – no foot-stomping here.  This method significantly slows down the oxidation process that naturally goes on when grapes are exposed to air during crushing.  These bags are very impressive as you can see.  They look light as air; how heavy could a gas be?

Our gang along with Andrei

Reception room on top floor
in rustic Moldovan style

Another impressive piece of equipment was a very expensive tester that takes a small sample of the wine and analyzes it for about 24 different readings.  This analysis can be done during any stage of the wine production, an advantage to Asconi as it can then re-align the process as needed to remedy any problems that might be diagnosed from the readings.  



All of these efficiencies have saved the winery a lot of money and time, making it a leading producer of some of Moldova's finest wines.

American oak barrel

MASTER CLASS IN COSMETOLOGY

AFA had coordinated a class for beauticians who wanted to learn additional techniques for make-up artistry.  For this particular session, an experienced cosmetician provided instructions on eye make-up.  Each student was also supposed to bring along a companion to serve as a “model” for their practice session.  Out of curiosity, I sat in for the afternoon session.  The instructor drew different shaped faces and demonstrated how to draw in the “right” shaped eyebrows for each face.  I got enlisted as a model for the instructor (probably because I have a foreign face).  The students were taking a lot of photos of me as the instructor went through excruciating detail on how to make up my eye.  Yes, the mascara was tricky because like most Asians, I have very skimpy eyelashes.  Only one eye got made up.  But I did get a photo of my two eyebrows after they had been worked on for about 20 minutes!  

CHANGING HOST FAMILIES

I have a NEW host family!!  YAY!  You probably recall I had bemoaned the fact that my host family in Balti has been absent during my 3 months here.  They appear at random when they need to use the clothes washer, or take care of small household tasks.  I had decided by early Oct that I wanted to find a different host family with whom I could converse in Romanian and socialize with during downtimes.  I had been missing a key part of the PC experience by living as a tenant rather than as a family member.

My program director finally agreed with me, and referred a previous host(ess).  Emilia is an older woman, probably in her late 50’s, a widow.  She had hosted an older couple in 2003-05 and from all accounts, she fulfilled her role very well.  Her apartment is located closer to the central plaza (less than 2 blocks from my office!) in a very nice high-rise building.  In the early days, PCVs could stay in any apartment but in recent years, PC had set a rule that no volunteer could live above the 5^th floor of an apartment building.  We were told it was implemented for safety reasons.  (Many high-rise apartments have old elevator systems from Soviet days, and they do rattle and make noise.)  Emilia’s apartment is on the 11^th floor, so her place had been ruled out for at least 5 years.  Given my situation with the current absent host family, however, I think my program director made an exception for me.  I met with Emilia last Friday, and liked her immediately.  I could even converse with her in my fragmented Romanian, and understood her speech fairly well as she spoke very clearly (not always true among the natives).  We agreed I would move in by the end of the month.  Emilia has elderly parents who live in a nearby village so she visits for 2-3 days about every other week to help attend to them.  Most likely, we’ll have a few dinners together to further bond.  I’m looking forward to really developing a friendship with a native Moldovan. 

Another great find was my new friend, Anna.  She heads a small NGO that concentrates on offering language classes to young people.  The latter are usually not enrolled in the regular high schools (lyceum) or university but they also are aware they need to learn other languages, especially English.  Anna is a young, energetic, dedicated teacher who has taught English, Romanian, and Russian, and also knows Italian and some French.  She is going to coach me on my Romanian two times a week.  And the amazing thing is that she lives in the same building as my new hostess, Emilia!  I in turn will be assisting with Anna’s English conversation class 1-2 times a week.  I met with one class last week briefly, and they seemed very intrigued about learning American English with me.  I can tell this will be a lively group.

As for my own tutoring in Romanian – alas, the tutor that I thought I would have after an initial meeting in mid-Sept has canceled on me for several weeks, apparently due to other project priorities.  However, I’ve been disillusioned with her despite that, and altogether my lack of language studies has set me back even more.  It’s been frustrating trying to find a reliable tutor.  I’m going to try another one with whom several other PCVs have used but who lives considerably farther than any others I’ve been in contact with.  These other PCVs all vouch highly for her, so I’ve got to make the sacrifice and attend her classes on a weekend morning.  I will feel like a dunce since everyone else is so much farther ahead of me!

A word on English clubs – there are quite a number of them.  Many are affiliated with an educational institution like a high school or university.  Others are operated out of an NGO who provides a facility and a volunteer leader.  They all reach out to PC to solicit native English speakers.  These students are very serious about getting more proficient in English, and their motivation inspires me to do my best for them.  In terms of my own drive to learn Romanian, it certainly doesn’t compare to theirs but then again, there is a big gap in the availability of Romanian conversation clubs!

                                                                                                        21 October

Julie is a very energetic and competent PCV based in Soroca, consulting for a business incubator organization funded by a Norwegian NGO and which has been successful with several small business enterprises.  (Note:  several other European countries have invested in Moldovan development, partly because they want Moldova to join the EU and provide a labor pool as well as an additional market, and partly to help thwart the Russians who keep eyeing the country for their own economic hooks.)  Julie’s also heavily involved in secondary projects, mostly targeting assistance for the minority Roma population which is prevalent in that city, and also young people for whom opening equal opportunities to achieve is very important for the sustenance of the country.  On this particular Saturday, Julie was leading an event for the teenagers, introducing them to the idea of a “haunted house”.  Several volunteers signed up to help her create this house, me included.  She wanted to simulate the terror and fright engendered from the movie “The Shining” for the teens’ experience.  They have never heard of people going through a “haunted house” for the “fun of it” and to subject themselves to scary actions for entertainment. 

Dismembered dollies

Talk about blood bath

Severed leg

Clown with strange appetite

Chip as Sweeney Todd

We were fortunate to have among us PCVs, someone who had actual experience in creating haunted house scenes.  Chip had spent some of his teenage years working at a haunted house, and he came up with great ideas to strike fear in the tender psyches of the unsuspecting Moldovan teens.  Of course, we put up scary effigies around the dark corridors, ghosts, sheets splattered with blood, and various actors who took on the typical roles of a dead corpse on a bench who would rise up as the onlookers approached, a hooded grim reaper, a screaming young lady whose bloody leg was dismembered, a grotesque woman screaming over a pool of blood in a bathtub, a Joker-style clown eating the guts of a dead child, and finally, the butcher himself coming towards the spectators wearing a bloody apron and wielding a bloody cleaver.  For a small-time operation like ours, the haunted house came off quite well for the attendees and they enjoyed their first experience being scared out of their wits.
                                                                                                      28 October

Moved to New Host Family

Many of you have been following my experience with Tatiana and Vlad who were my host family in Balti when I arrived.  You were aware that this couple was absent virtually the entire three months that I’ve been resident in their apartment.  Now I’ve moved out, and found a terrific replacement in Emilia.  What a stark contrast she presents! 

New bedroom

Cozy kitchen

I had a very nice welcome dinner my first night at the new apartment, and Emilia was practically waiting on me, making sure I had enough to eat and drink.  I too celebrated by bringing a bottle of wine as a gift to her, but she insisted we drink it with our meal.  We had chicken pan-fried in egg and a little flour, salad, bread, and grapes for dessert.  Emilia is a terrific cook – the next day she made a big pot of soup (zeama) using the leftover chicken meat, and filled it chock full of vegetables.  Again, it was delicious! 

Emilia's bedroom

Another view of the kitchen

Bathroom with
stand-up shower!

I decided to make dinner on Sunday as she works most of the day in her little gift shop.  I cooked spaghetti with mushroom and tomato sauce and made a salad.  Italian food is readily available here in Moldova especially their own kind of pizza and pasta, but it's hardly true Italian.  But homemade spaghetti the Jue way is much tastier, I think!  This would be quite a different dish for Emilia.  I like my sauces spicy but Moldovans aren't known for favoring spicy dishes.  However, Emilia really liked my spaghetti and even commented that it wasn't really spicy at all.  Watch out next time!  We drank her parents' home-made white wine along with the meal.  I can tell that Emilia and I will enjoy some very nice home-cooked meals together and she's up to trying more of my own recipes.  HHhhhmmm, I found out she has a spring-form baking pan -- gotta try that NY cheesecake recipe again!  Baking will be such a joy - I’ve been missing scones. 

A word about beds – in all three of my host family situations, I have slept on a convertible couch, the latest one being a grand wrap-around sofa with a pullout trundle that can sleep two people.  The other two sofa beds were just 2-3 inches longer than my height but it’s a good thing I don’t move around much when asleep.  Many of the other PCVs also have this kind of setup in their host families.  Sofa beds are versatile pieces of furniture, and with a general lack of space in many households, they bear multiple functions when beds have less utility.   I will say none of my beds have been soft, and come to think of it, my back needs another massage!  

I took in a Ducu Bertzi concert at the V. Alecsandri Theater here in Balti, courtesy of Dragos, my co-worker at AFA.  It was my first time at the theater, and it is a very classy venue.  The government subsidizes the costs so the tickets are quite affordable.  Bertzi is a very well-known Romanian folk singer, with many hit songs, and practically everyone in the audience sang along with him.  He's probably similar to a Kris Kristofferson.  Accompanying him was a virtuoso violinist - amped up, of course.  It was definitely an enthralling concert!   You can catch his music selections for yourself on this website:  http://www.last.fm/music/Ducu+Bertzi

Ducu Bertzi concert

                                                                                                      3 November

Love to all!