A Day in the Life of Laura in Moldova

Today is just a normal day in Moldova.  I wake up, go for a run, and get a bit lost on rutted out roads in my neighborhood.  After a hot shower inside, I have breakfast waiting for me (Multumesc, Tata Gazda.  Thanks, Host Dad).  Breakfast includes a large serving of mashed potatoes and a hot dog, as well as bread and cookies on the side.  Since my dad has already eaten his breakfast of champions, I return half of the serving of mashed potatoes back to the bowl.  It’s hard to convince this father of mine that I eat enough, but I tell him over and over that I do eat to my stomach’s content and often unfortunately then some.  He is a big guy with a much larger stomach than mine, and he’s Moldovan! He wants to show his hospitality by offering me limitless amounts of food.

 My host dad on the right, holding a mushroom grown by my host brother on the left.  Valentin, my host brother, sells high quality mushrooms mostly to places in Chisinau.  I have some white house wine in my hand.

After that, I made the 20 minute walk to work straight through the center of town.  I passed first a young boy carrying his purchase of a watermelon from the market.  I mumble to him, "Buna Dimineata" (Good morning).  The response is always better when I mumble and speak softly.  Moldovans like to greet each other softly, as if a wind current, which is known to make one sick here, might arise if they speak any louder than that. Next I passed an older man carrying his morning purchases- 2 holey boxes filled with chickens/geese and a punga (bag) of something.  

As I entered the center of town, the streets were busy with locals wondering to the bus stop and to and from the local piata (market).  The city of Causeni is the raion center of the raion, Causeni.  With a population around 20,000 (less probably due to those working abroad), they actually have quite a few thriving businesses.  I’m at the point that I know that when I walk or run through town, someone that I have met already is watching me, knowing exactly who I am.  They have one American girl to remember.  I have... many faces and names to remember, names that I struggle to spell/pronounce and that come in 5 different forms.  Bori, Olha, Nikolai, Victor, Vladimir, Nadejda, Svetlana, Voda, Galia,... and yes, I just named the easy ones that I have already learned.  The best is when you are introduced to someone and they give you 3 names.  “Sunt Sasha.  Alexandru. I am Alex.”  

Continuing on my walk, I pass the bank where there’s a crowd gathered, waiting for 9am to strike so they can collect most likely remittances they receive from abroad.  And also be on their way to the market asap.

So I wander for 20 minutes on my daily work commute with my stream of consciousness wandering even further. I sing American music in my head, remain curious on how to say _________ and __________ in Romanian, and recall my strong, challenging desire to learn the Russian alphabet and more. Finally, I arrive at work.

Doamna Nadejda begins to talk about plans for the rest of the week for me and also how I am to examine the X-Chel (xcel) document on the memory stick she hands me.  I do have a computer that has full capabilities (just installed Microsoft Office yesterday- woohoo!).  She also gives me a link to a site that we use quite often- http://aipa.md/index.php - the website for the Agency  of Intervention and Payments for Agriculture.  

My desk at the office.

 
After I grab my morning cup or two of instant coffee (addicted and happy), I read through news and peruse (to the best of my ability) the excel document and website (and other websites it links to).  Wheww this is a lot of work.  If you want to practice, try reading articles here: http://www.timpul.md/, in addition to the link above.

After a couple hours of this, we head to the mayor’s office to meet him for the first time.  He’s welcoming and talks about most things that I think I can understand.  Kind of.  Nadejda asks me to talk about my host family, and I stumble to say anything.  Good one.  You should have worked this out a little sooner.  Sigh.  But the mayor understands that I have a few months before my Romanian will be decent.  He mentions, of course, Kelsey, the infamous American that married one of Causeni’s own good men.  He points to the same future for me after two years.  I laugh.   When really I should have said something about how I am not all that appreciative of the offer at this time, thank you.  And that this kind suggestion has been told to me every day since arriving in this country.  But I refrain. Oh my poor Romanian.

After our short conversation, we returned to the office a block away on foot.  I attempt to call one of my host dad’s friends, Boris, who from my understanding had some type of agricultural enterprise with sunflowers.  And his operation is close to Ukraine.  (our raion to the south boders Ukraine) ...So I call him.  Try to talk, can’t understand a thing, and give the phone to Nadejda.  After only a couple sentences of conversation, all the information I wanted to synthesize was complete between the two of them.  Nadejda then said- Boris just has some land and grows wheat and sunflowers, which have already been harvested. But he lives in Causeni which isn’t right on the border of Ukraine.  Okay.  So the small understanding I had of the 5 minute conversation with Boris, other friend, and my dad on Saturday around the table  over the weekend seemed to be quite inflated, regarding what Boris actually did and where he wanted me to visit.  Hmm. I’ll try harder to listen and communicate better next time I guess?  (but that’s what I do every time!)

It’s almost time for lunch, and I can’t wait because they have a functioning toilet inside the restaurant where we will dine today!  Otherwise, I must use the outdoor hole in the ground next to the office or alternatively the outhouse at home.  Lunch was typical Moldovan-style for the summer- cooked potatoes and mushrooms; a cooked pepper filled with mostly rice; and a side of fresh cucumber, tomato, and dill salad.  And a good splash of oil on it all with a touch of salt.  And always bread.  We don’t usually go to the restaurant for lunch, but I think I prompted Nadea when I asked where the best place to eat in town was yesterday.  

After lunch, we met a couple more of Nadea’s friends as we make our way the two block walk back to the office.  The two are married and musicians and grew up with Nadea. Ion, the man, tells a joke which I fail to understand. Nadea retells it to me, and then I laugh (2 minutes after the joke was told). Before I went back to the office, I attemp to withdraw cash at the bank but am denied.  Although I can withdraw cash from any of my bank’s ATMs, I need both my residency card and a passport to withdraw any cash inside a bank with a teller. Can anyone explain?

Back in the office after that, I study some more Romanian and visit with one of the English classes in our office meeting room space.  I go home and find my host brother and his 4 year old son also at the house.  Every time I am in my room and my little host nephew comes to the house, I get a series of taps on my door until I answer/come out and play with him.  Today I play a simplified game of UNO with him, which essentially allowed me to teach him the 4 colors in English.  It makes my day to hear him say “gween” and “wed”.  After a few more times at this game, maybe we’ll move on to colors and numbers and play real UNO.

I continue to study Romanian, this time in a workbook.  After a bit of that, I help my mother in the kitchen.  She just had a gynecological operation and shouldn't be doing much.  Even though she has to go back to the hospital tonight to sleep, she is still amazingly and sadly the one cooking dinner.  I do what I can to help, although I would doubt that they would allow me to be the head chef anyway, since I am unable to cook like a Moldovan (although I'm developing simple theories on this)...   After dinner, I wash the dishes (something they know I can manage).  


And now I’m just ready to relax.  Or write this blog entry, study more Romanian un pic (a little), and read books before I fall asleep.  We ate dinner early today, so if my dad calls me to eat some watermelon later, I won’t be disappointed.