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)