Timp de patru luni

I've looked back and realized that all of my blog posts express how I love living in Moldova. To be fair to the grand ol' USA, here's some things I miss from back home, aside from the obvious like spending time with my family and friends:

- thick, soft, and long mattresses
- running water
- toilets
- indian food, italian food, seafood, mexican food, and all kinds of food that I took for granted, especially fish
- people smiling, waving, and throwing the bird or peace sign
- being around a university campus
- microbrewed beer, specifically ales (nothing but lagers in Moldova)
- playing golf and tennis
- hiking in the mountains (hopefully next year I'll hike the Carpathians in Transylvania, Romania)
- voicing my opinion about anything without a language barrier
- being sarcastic or telling or a joke without a language barrier
- stand up comedians
- live bands
- smooth, paved roads
- tailgating for college football
- roadtrips
- and last, but certainly not least, the Atlantic Ocean

piaţa Cotovei

Most small villages have a market once a week. Larger villages or towns may a have a market every day, but my village and my neighboring village of Cotova only go on Sundays. Here's some pics of my neighboring village's market, which is about 4 km from me.

Buy what you need for a week, because they'll pack up until next Sunday.

Classic Russian car with a watermelon on the roof. These little cars are probably half of the cars you see on the road. I'm buying one when I get back to the States. A green one.

Cotova's market is set up in the village center, near the mayor's office.

Another pic of the market in the center. Notice the statue of Lenin still standing in the background. The Lenin statue is interesting, because ironically (or not) it stands in front of an abandoned Soviet building.

Doing business like it's their job, because it is their job.

The horses pull the carts to the center, and then the owners tie the horses in a nearby field to graze for the day.

Dăti-mi mai ieftin, vă rog - Give it to me cheaper, please.

One thing that was difficult to learn in Moldova was buying everything in grams/kilograms. In America, everything is either pre-packaged or in pounds (produce). In Moldova, everything is weighed, so you have to tell them how many grams/kilograms of something you want. For example, the first time I went to buy some rice I looked for the typical 5 pound bag we would have in America. Of course they didn't have it, but instead the lady asked me how many kilograms I wanted. First, I had no idea how many "kilograms" I wanted. Secondly, my Romanian was horrible back then, so for all I knew she could have been asking me how much my first born child was going to weigh.

This isn't the market, but it's the back patio at my work partner's house. Not sure exactly what happens next. I've got a feeling I'll be eating a lot of pumpkin placinta (placinta is a national dish that is similiar to a pie/pastry filled with apples, potatoes, cabbage, pumpkin, etc)

Proiect la cimitirul din Zgurita

Here's what wikipedia has to say about my village:

"Zguriţa or Zguritsa (Yiddish: זגוריצה, Russian: Згурица) is a commune in Drochia district, Moldova, composed of a single village, Zguriţa. It was founded in 1853 on an area of over 1,000 acres rented by Jewish settlers in Bessarabia. It was the last Jewish agricultural settlement in Moldova. In 1878 the new Jewish owner canceled the lease of the estate and Zguritsa lost its status as a Jewish agricultural colony. From 1890 to 1903 further Jewish settlement in Zguritsa was prohibited by virtue of the May Laws issued on May 3, 1882.

In 1897 Zguritsa's Jewish population was 1,802, comprising 85 percent of the total population. Following the First World War, the village fell under Romanian control. Agrarian reform in Romania in 1922 granted plots of land to 150 Jews of Zguritsa. In 1925 the 193 members of the local loan fund included 40 farmers, 25 artisans, and 113 tradesmen. In 1930 there were 2,541 Jews in Zguritsa (83.9% of the total population), supporting a kindergarten and an elementary school both of the Zionist Tarbut organization.

In 1940, the Soviet Union annexed Bessarabia as the Moldavian SSR, closing privately-owned businesses, and religious schools. The agricultural community was collectivized. A year later, pro-Nazi Romanian forces reoccupied the village. On July 3, 1941, Jews who did not flee were rounded up and deported to Transnistria, where most of them died of starvation and disease.

Today, the population of the village is largely Moldovan, with some Russians and Gypsies. The Jewish cemetery is in ruins, and the former Tarbut school was expanded as a public school. "

We did a project to clean up this cemetery this past weekend. It is one of the only few Jewish cemeteries in Moldova. It was my buddy Justin's project, so he did all of the organizing. He got several PC volunteers to come stay at his place for the weekend, and he invited a Jewish organization to come out for the day and help us out. About 10 ten girls from the capitol showed up, and we worked for several hours cleaning the place up. It's going to take a lot of more work, but we made a good start by cutting lots of limbs down that were hanging on the tombstones.

A few PC Volunteers and friends hanging out before we started working.

When we got to the cemetery we realized there was more work than we anticipated.

Most of these stones date back to the 1800's. All of the script is written in Hebrew until you get to the mid 1940's. You can see on the graves when the Soviet regime starting impacting the community, because the script changed over from Hebrew to the Cyrillic alphabet from the Russian language.

Here you can see how the trees and shrubs were taking over the graveyard.

President Michael Leikin and Kevin Moses Cohen, this pic's for you.

As you can see, Neal is holding a Moldovan lawnmower.

It turned out to be a great day with some good people. Hopefully I can start up another project with those girls soon to finish cleaning up the cemetery.

Bine aţi venit la şcoală.

The first day of school for the entire country of Moldova is September 1. It's a national holiday and every school has a big celebration for the students. I got a call from my partners that morning to meet them at the school. Half of the village was there and the director (principal), mayor, and some of the village leaders spoke to congratulate the kids and wish them health and success. All of the kids showed up wearing fine suits and dresses, and they all brought flowers for their teachers. My partner introduced me to the village on the microphone. I thought for a split second there I was going to have to do an impromptu speech to the village in Romanian, but luckily they didn't ask. If the people of my village didn't know the tall, funny looking American dude before, they definitely know me now. The director proceeded to get back on the microphone, thanked me for being here, and invited me to join the first graders in their first class ever. So, next thing you know, I'm sitting in the back of the class with some cool, 7 year old, finely dressed Moldovan kids. I felt like Billy Madison. After class, I got invited into the director's office where I ended up taking a few shots of wine with the director, mayor, and a few village leaders. I would never find myself in this situation in America, but in Moldova a few shots of wine are taken to ensure the success of the new school year. Fii sanatos.




A video I took while sitting in the back of the class with the first graders. Their first lesson they learned about the significance of the first day of school celebration to Moldova.

National anthem being played.

Some of the kids wearing the national outfits while singing and dancing.


The first graders about to go to their very first class.


Some of the crowd around the school watching the kids.

Some sharply dressed first graders. These are the kids I sat in the class with.