Easter

Churches here are beautiful and well kept and inspirational as was the midnight Easter luminaria service which we attended. As it is the custom for women to cover their heads when entering the church we had to scrounge around the house for a head cloth... here is the result... hmmmm.....
The midnight luminaria service was held both inside the church out out. The flame from Jerusalem was brought into the front of the church and people nearly ran to the altar with such excitement to light their own candles off of that flame... beautiful chants and songs were sung... we walked around the church perimeter serveral times and somehow I got separated from Vanny and Drea, but I stood alone amidst the sea of Romanian and thoroughly enjoyed the service. It is traditional to stand for the entire service which can go on for up to 3 or 4 hours I understand...

The next morning we ate with Drea's Granny. Granny brought out the red eggs - dyed red because Mary Magdalene brought eggs to the base of the cross and the blood from Jesus' feet dripped onto the white eggs..
You are to rub one red egg and one white egg on each cheek... for beauty of spirit or something, and then it is traditional to do this "egg crack" game with the first meal of the day on Easter.I really liked this tradition - fun for all You just start tapping the ends of your eggs with others in the room and when both of your ends are broken you're out! Vanny was the eventual winner as you see the two of us here tapping our eggs.

The next Sunday and Monday is another holiday which is the time when everyone goes to the cemetery with food and wine and they eat and drink in memory of those who have died. It seemed a little creepy to me at first, but everyone in town is theredoing the same thing... people are happy and talk about their mutual friends that have gone before them...and it is a great time to get together and remember loved ones. Here is a picture of a typical cemetery.

Here is an example of the tulips in bloom along the public sidewalk in Stefan Voda.. it's beautiful with gardens everywhere!!!

TRANSPORTATION STORIES

There are alot of way to get around in this country and here are just a few of them... first of all notice here the beautiful slippers and flip flops. Stop at any Moldovan household and you will find the exact same styles at just about everybody's door... I learned quite early that there are outside shoes and inside shoes and as you walk in the door you flip the outside shoes off and slip into your indoor shoes. So for a trip to the garden or the outhouse you'd find me in the blue flip flops on the left... not uncommon to see people walking around town wearing wool socks and the lovely blue sandals... I'm not quite so brave yet... guess I'm holding on to those good old American Style Values!!!

Then we have the typical (although this on is a Benz and they're not all so pretty!!!) Rutiera. These mini buses PACK in the people, stop when someone requests and pick people up on the highway at any time with a flip of the hand! I do not look forward to spending time in them in the summer as they are hot and crowded and the Body Odor is bad enough in the winter time!!!! They also refuse to open the vents or windows lest someone get sick!!! I try to avoid them if I can!

Below is a picture that I took on my way to work. I added some effects desaturating the color and bringing back only the colors in the wool blankets atop the horses. This is a Caruta... the people from the villages use them so we see quite a few of them in Stefan Voda. I haven't had the pleausure of a ride yet, but I fully intend on doing that one day... the next Caruta picture is in Razeni... snapped it while I was walking there. I think this boy looked pretty happy to have been captured on film..
Speaking of villages.. I keep threatening my dad that I am going to take his mashina and pick up my friends in the next villages and drive to Chisinau.. He imagines it and laughs because this little mashina is a beater!!! It think he paid 14 dollars for it and he fixed it up for a few more. It gets him back and forth from the lake and around town a bit.

I'm prohibited from driving a car or even RIDING on a motorcyle... which brings me to my "dad's" next vehicle.. his pride and joy.. Is it really suzuki??? or is that just a sticker?

While in Chisinau the trolley is the cheapest and most efficient ride in town.. but it's routes are limited. One night while trying to find a restaurant a bunch of us were riding in one and all of the sudden at an intersection our driver got out and started yelling at another trolley driver who was stopped with his cable disconnected... reminded me of a pending fight at a hockey game... we all waited with anticipation to see the violence escalate!!! They went face to face nose to nose and maybe pushed back and forth once or twice and they both got scared and went back to their buses!!!! But just a few more blocks down the road an old guy who'd had to much to drink started out sitting just to my left and quickly went right down in the aisle without so much as putting his hands up to catch himself... by the time I went to help him, he was already dusting himself off - don't know how they do it... he went down HARD!!!

Another transportation option and the one that has me sitting for two and a quarter hours for any trip into the city is Autobus. Once again, they are not usually as pretty and luxurious as this one How they make it back and forth many trips each day, I really have to wonder!!!! I keep waiting for the tranny's to drop out as they labor daily back and forth to Chisinau. One day I sat down only to find that the rain outside was coming in and dropping on my seat from the luggage rack... another time I noticed failed pieces of rubber floating back and forth on a sea of rainwater in between the panes of the window...

I have a favorite driver - Sergiu - On my first solo trip... he happened to be up at the ticket window as I labored to try to communicate that I wanted to buy a ticket to Stefan Voda... he cheerfully pronounced that he would be my "sofer" and tucked me in the seat directly behind him for the trip. He drives the 9:00 bus OUT of Stefan Voda and the 3:40 back. He's happy and helpful and takes care of me!!! One day I was almost two blocks away from the station in Stefan Voda and saw the bus pulling out... I desparately waved fully anticipating that I'd missed it and would have to wait for 2 more hourse for the next one, but it was Sergiu and he actually stopped and waited as I ran up to the bus with my heavy backpack and knitting bag!!!

I've got another bus story... Marisa and I were leaving SV together it pulled up and was a late model Mercedes Benz bus which I was glad to see... it was a later morning bus which usually stops for a good 20 minutes in Causeni ( a nearby city) and I was just telling her... I usually don't get off, because I'm afraid they'll leave me... but we decided to run to the store right by the stop to get some snacks..

I purposefully talked to the driver on the way out so he would know that we were on the bus and not leave us behind should something happen... well.. lo and behold we were in the store for no more than 10 minutes.. we came out started walking toward the bus and Marisa proclaimed.. "shit - they left us!!!" I glanced over noticed it was a mercedes benz bus but figured she pays attention mor than me and immediately realized that all of my belongings are on the road with the bus that has left us behind.. I knew we had to catch up with it... so I sprung into action...

I had noticed across the street a line of taxis so I explained to one of the drivers that we needed him to follow the bus that just left us we jumped in and he drove like a bat out of hell for probably ten minutes when all of the sudden Marisa in the back seat said.. maybe that WAS our bus back there!!!! UNBELIEVABLE... I'd thought she was sure!!!!!

so.... we asked the driver to turn around and go back and there was the bus... still waiting... we jumped on and the people on the bus started complaining that they had to wait for us... I apologized all of the way back to our seats in the rear.. explaining.. "we made a mistake!" we laughed later thinking that everyone in the bus probably saw us run across and get into the Taxi and then saw us come back and jump out of the taxi.. Stupid Americans or what??

My favorite ride though is the cute little green bike complete with shiny fenders to keep the mud off my back, three speeds, a headlight and a REAR view mirror!!! It has cut my time to and from work by almost 45 minutes! I love it and the freedom it gives me! I bought it from an organization in my town which is involved with Pedals for Progress... They receive shipments of used bicycles and put them together, fix them up and re sell. My bike from Japan!!! I knew right away when I saw it (like Pee Wee Hermann) that it was the bike for me!!!!

The two brothers that run the repair shop have become my buds... they happened to see that I was wearing a cross on day and began to inquire if I was religious or not... and now we're supposed to be meeting with our respective bibles to do a little bible study.. Oh by the way, he is from the Jehovah's Witnesses... and speaks only Romanian.. He can now say Minne soh ta!!! (with an accent of course) !!! Should be interesting!!!!

Where have I been and what have I been doing???

Some Miscellaneous Pictures of the winter which lasted for about two weeks...
I for one am very very thankful - it was a breeze!!!

I understand it is uncommon to have such a mild winter here and we continue to hear about LAST WINTER... the winter from hell... or when it froze over, I guess.... The coldest and longest on record ever in the history of the world...
Picture of from the Centru in Stefan Voda. The snow didn't stop the old guys from biking to work or the market.

A picture of Aliona and me in front of our house.












a shot of the bleak landscape on the outskirts of town. It depicts just how isolated and alone I feel some days!

GOOD THINGS ARE HAPPENING!!!

In March I helped organize a business development seminar. Here is a picture of the players... Larson, Dan and Greg who traveled to Stefan Voda spending two nights at my place and presented a Seminar in Romanian to 20 kids ages 12 - 17 from MUZA which is the organization in which I work. I made Chicken Wild Rice Soup for them and we also dined on Ion's Frigaruie and house wine... Lots of it!!!

We also had a poster contest sponsored by a donor organization encouraging the populace to Get out and Vote in the local elections which will be held in early June. Twelve posters will be chosen to adorn the calendar which will be distributed to further promote the idea.