Ratus

An orthodox church

Maria preparing mamaliga

Pouring wine in the cellar

Village Life

You know, I can't believe I haven't posted this yet. The reality is, the one very special quality Moldova possesses is its village life. On certain days, traversing the Moldova countryside feels like stepping into the Europe of the 18th century, into a Monet painting of haystacks or a dappled canvas of van Gogh fields.

Indeed, when I first came here, I envisioned myself taking trips to the countryside with an easel and canvas to paint the rolling fields, villages, and Orthodox cathedrals. Alright, I haven't really been outside of the dirty concrete hive of Chisinau in which I live much, let alone painted anything of note, but before I leave I promise to paint at least one haystack. Maybe a cow.

But what I offer you here, dear readers, is even better. The wonders of the digital age allow me to present to you this slice out of Europe's past, thusly transforming your computer into a veritable Guardian of Forever, a portal into time!

These photos portray the village of Ratus, just outside of Chisinau, a small village of somewhere around a hundred houses (fewer?) nestled amongst gentle pastures and tucked against a small lake and an old kabutz (sp?) where everyone worked communally in the Soviet days. This is the city in which my mom's host mother for the Peace Corps, Maria, lives. Visiting her home was always a special treat. She would prepare traditional foods for us, such as mamaliga, and serve us her own homemade wine which she prepared in great wooden barrels in her cellar. Her house is essentially built around a massive stove, which also serves to heat the whole house and functions as a bed for the whole family on the coldest days. Outside, attached to her house in the yard, is a chicken shed, an external kitchen, a cow barn, and of course the outhouse. We would sit around either her kitchen table or her outside gazebo and experience the true Moldova over food and wine.

When I leave Moldova, it won't be the miniskirted supermodel girls I'll miss, nor the cheap wine nor even my cozy and spacious apartment; instead, I will miss the village life.

Military Park

Yet another of my favorite parks! Well, okay, it isn’t really a park by conventional standards. I mean, it’s a parking lot with a few old tanks and planes in it. And some old bits of construction equipment for good measure. I guess the Russians left some broken hardware behind and the Moldovans said, “Well what the hell do we do with this shite?” and they stuck it someplace. But then some wino guy who drank vodka inside the plane’s cockpit realized that occasionally people wandered over to gawk at the tanks and he thought, “By gum, I can say I’m sort of the caretaker here and charge money for this!” and so a park was born. Or a … place, with old tanks. And planes. At any rate. But I mean, you can climb on them! Woo hoo! You can like pretend you are a Soviet soldier, like, sitting in a tank, sort of, drinking vodka and being all cold and thinking, “Damn I’m cold. When the hell do I get to leave this tank?” You know, or kinda.

Okay, it really is fun. For Moldova…

A side note: This place is just across from the “Ptitsa (bird) Market” where they sell pets and hardware supplies, all at one convenient place! And kitty corner is the prison! Happening crossroads that, what what!