It's That Time, Folks!

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Hello Again, Friends and Family -- Adrienne and Wendy here.

It's our last day, and time to describe all the tidbits of cultural differences we have experienced here. We hope you will be amused by them.

Walking in Chisenau
Sidewalks as we know them in the U.S. do not exist in Chisenau. At best they are blobs of pavement, but never are they without cracks, holes, and ever-present mud and dirt. Often there are deep holes that have no cover or warning. How people keep from falling into them is a mystery to us. And, how women can walk on them at all in their spike heels is also a mystery.

The downtown streets are crowded like Times Square on New Year's Eve -- every day. Walkers crash into one another regularly, and we've become experts at the normal pushing and shoving that's a part of life here. There is no 'personal space.'

Cars have the right of way. Yesterday we saw a car stop for pedestrians in a crosswalk -- for the very first time in our entire three weeks. We have observed both cars and buses climbing curbs to the sidewalk, and honking for pedestrians to move. Sometimes they don't honk, but pedestrians don't even look up; they just get out of the way. We have been outraged at cars and buses that just expect you to move, and have been alone in this reaction.

Riding the Bus
If you don't actively maintain your spot in the crowd while boarding a bus, you will quickly be pushed to the rear and most assuredly will not just be standing on the bus, but be standing near the door.

Buses will stop at every stop, even if there is simply no more room on the bus. There is always more room, even if we don't think so. It's rare to find a seat on the bus. Mostly it's standing only, and you can be sure to find yourself in an armpit of questionable hygiene. And although we have become extremely irritated when the driver of a packed bus stops to let more people on, again we are alone in this reaction. Everyone else just shuffles a bit and makes room the best they can, without even raising an eyebrow or sighing a bit.

Elderly people are golden on the buses. Not only do they ride for free, but if there are no seats, they tell a seated rider to stand up and give them their seat. There is no facial reaction to this request. The requestee simply stands up, and the elderly person sits down.

We had a trolley bus incident yesterday ... the bus made a regular stop, and the driver made an announcement (in Romanian, of course). The passengers' response was to groan and deboard. Those that remained on the bus were laughing (though we suspect alcohol was involved in their amusement). We took this as a bad sign, but were helpless to know what to do. I caught the eye of a young girl and asked if she knew what was going on; she replied that there was a power outage in the Botanical area (where we live). No electricity means no power source for the trolley bus. Somehow the bus managed to lurch forward, leaving all the departed passengers on the sidewalk, and us on board with the bravest souls and those too drunk to do anything differently. It eventually went off route and everyone got off, including us, and we walked the half mile to our apartment.

Grid lock? No problem! On one heavy traffic day, our microbus simply went off route for several blocks to get out of the grid lock. We returned to the regular route, and found it still slow going. The driver went off route again, and didn't return to the regular route until traffic had thinned out.

EVERYONE lays on their horn here. Car in front of you too slow on the green light? Honk. Pedestrian crossing the street? Honk. Traffic not moving fast enough? Honk. We have gotten to the point that everytime we hear a horn (which is about every 15 seconds) we say "Shut up."

Eating in Moldova
Living in Moldova at this time of year means a plethora of healthy fruits and vegetables, and we have enjoyed them. Plums, peaches, grapes, watermelon -- all ripe and juicy. Squash, tomatoes (even Adrienne ate them), eggplant, cucumber -- you name it, we have eaten it here in its glory. In contrast to a previous blog, we have learned that this country cannot afford regular pesticides so, except for a bit of spraying when a plant is young, everything is pesticide free. Man, this is some good eating! Lack of pesticides is the one case where their poverty works out in their favor, and we hope that as this country progresses, they keep to their chemical free farming.

Plastic wrap does no exist here. Everything is stored in the fridge in the serving bowl or plate, and very little food is thrown away. Some food is not stored in the fridge at all; it sits out on the table or on the stove for hours (and occasionally days), and you are still expected to eat it. We have even seen mayonnaise'd food left out for hours, and eventually consumed (we didn't eat it).

It will be difficult to not eat cookies for breakfast after Moldova. Except for one or two days, that's what we've had for breakfast. Most of the time the cookies were the more traditional 'galletas' or biscuits, but some were outright cookies we would have as a treat.

Every breakfast at home was accompanied by the 'breakfast bees.' Since there are no screens here, as soon as we put out our cookies, jam and tea, in would fly four or five bees to enjoy these treats, or to sit a spell on the sugar bowl. One time our host put out these breakfast items and covered them with paper napkins. When we removed the napkin from the plate of cookies, out flew a breakfast bee. We will not miss the bees.

Speaking of paper napkins, here they are the size and texture of a kleenex tissue. You will need about four of them eat each meal.

When visiting a restaurant, there is no such thing as "Please wait to be seated." You simply find a table and eventually a waiter will come over to you. And regardless of how many people are at your table, you will only receive one menu to share.

So there you have it, some of the charm and some of the aggravations we have experienced here. One thing is certain, we will never forget this time! We are so fortunate to have been able to experience this adventure. We have taken cold showers, done our laundry in a bucket, gone three weeks without a hairdryer, used towels that don't dry us off, had a revolving door of roommates, and eaten things that have pleasantly surprised us or grossed us out totally (fish sausage, anyone?). But we have had a blast. One of us will remember something that one of the orphans did, or remember one of the times we blurted out something rude about a person near us because they can't understand us (we hope), and bust out laughing.

We leave tomorrow morning for the next leg. We are not sure when we will be able to post next but you will all be notified when we do. Say goodbye, Moldova!

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