A Day in Old Orhel - Historical Ruins and Caves, Moldava Exchange 3, WTRD 19, August 28, 2016

Touring, Eating, Playing Games, and Opening the Piggy (cow) Bank

We all sang happy birthday to our host Marianna this morning while socializing over coffee at a cafe downtown.  About 30 of us loaded into two mini vans by 11:30 and headed to an area called Old Orhel, an hour and a half drive from Chisinau.

The area we we went to is an ancient sea bed at the top of the escarpment.  There is a deep valley below the cliffs with a river running through the valley.  It is difficult to know whether this was a natural depression under the sea or whether the river carved out the valley.  The cliffs of the escarpment are sandstone that easily erodes and which Christian monks carved out caves, much like the ones we saw in Cappadocia, Turkey.

We gazed down at the river and the Village below us on one side a ridge running down between valleys, and on the other fertile fields and cave dwellings in cliffs on the other side.

The vans here do not have air conditioning or even vents or windows that open. As the day grew warmer the vans became intolerably hot especially when we stopped moving.  The front windows opened and two overhead hatch windows tilted up slightly to let out the hot air and capture some incoming air as we moved along....but not when we stopped.  Then it was like being in a solar oven.  At each stop we bolted out of the van and lingered outside until the last minute to get back inside.

We visited some Turkish baths, circa Ottoman Empire.  The ruins of these baths had changing rooms, water heating rooms where runoff or spring water once ran down hill into the top level of the baths and was heated by fires then continue to run down hill into rock basins where there were separate pools and rock platforms for men and women.

From here we visited a tradition peasant home,

a small church carved into the escarpment cliff.

A church tower is built on the rock.  Patrons file down the stairs into a cave where there is now an alter and religious paintings.  An outdoor exit leads to an un-railed ledge that looks over the valley below.  The monks who lived and worked at this church had bedrooms of to the side of the main chapel.

Looking down from the Ledge of the Cliff Church

After stopping at the cave church, we visited another church up the hill

where we also found a geocache, our first in Moldova.

Our group did not get around to eating lunch until almost three pm.  Hosts Vasili and Nathalie helped us translate and pronunciate a stanza to the Moldovan anthem which we are to learn for a television interview on Tuesday.   They cracked up at  how our translator  app was translating and how we were mis-pronouncing the words.

There was a small wedding party at the restaurant.  The bride and groom were in heritage dress.





















We took one more photo of our group in Moldova

We did not return to Chisinau until 6:30.  Marianna called a cab from the drop-off point, and we returned to her home and had a late dinner of pasta with chicken balls in white sauce, and wonderful garden fresh tomatoes and basil.

Once the dinner dishes were cleaned up, the dining table became the game table for a  few rounds of Left, Right, Center  The game was fun, but even more so  with 8 year old Catalina playing with us.  Her enthusiasm and depression swung back and forth hilariously as luck was quite fickle.  When we had played 4 rounds, Russ was the only one who had not won a round.  He made a pouty face that delighted Catalina.

By now it was pretty late and really should have been everyone's bed time, but Russ asked if he could trade Catalina a few American dollars for some small coins for his coin collection  that she might have in her possession.  She went into her room and trotted out with a cow bank, which she proceeded to open and Marianna dumped out on the table.

The bank was filled with small coins, each worth about 1/10 of five cents American, 1/2 of a penny.   Catalina had made a good deal.  Even though the bank was nearly full, I doubt whether there were 400 coins that would have made up the 2 dollars.

We had a lovely at home evening with our host family.

All is Well With the Worrall Travel Rs in Moldova.

Moldova Independence Day, Moldova Exchange Day 2, WTRD 18

Today is our second day in Moldova.  It has been incredibly busy, starting early and ending late.  Moldova celebrates 25 years of Independence from Russia.

We started the day by meeting up with our Friendship Force group at 9:15 at the central park downtown.  Since our host does not have a car, we rode the bus.

Catalina and Marianna

Most of the streets were closed off because of the Independence Day parade so we walked several blocks to get to the meet up point.   Our host and her daughter had an out of town wedding to attend in the evening, and Marianna had many things she had to do before the wedding, so she and Catalina continued on their way.

We watched the Moldovan Independence Day Parade, consisting mostly of Romanian military regiments and those of nearby countries, also liberated from the USSR about the same time, in 1991. This day marks 25 years of Independence.  Unlike American parades filled with school marching bands, clowns, service clubs, car clubs, and bands, the Moldova style parade is still reminiscent of Russian strong men military with somber music and lots of marching men and women carrying arms.

We did see many people in traditional Moldovan and nearby countries traditional dress as their were several dance troupes in town performing for the celebration.  They did not walk in the parade however, and neither did the military band.

Not a Happy Camper!

Policemen stood shoulder to shoulder on the curb facing the spectators, lined up the length of parade route.

Often there was a double row of policemen.  There was some anticipation of a socialist protest...and apparently there was but not in the location we were.  Apparently, the police had to use tear gas when it got out of hand.  But with so many policemen, it was difficult to take photos of the parade.

After the parade where we stood for nearly and hour and half, we walked to the National Museum where we walked around some more, enjoyed seeing 4th and 5th century BC artifacts of the Greek and Roman Empire.  By the end of the museum time, we were ready to sit down.

Large collection of 4th-5th century BC Pre-Roman and Roman Artifacts.

1935 Moldovan School Photo

The Moldovan Welcome Tradition of Sharing Bread and Salt

We had a wonderful lunch giving us energy for the rest of the day.  We participated in an activity called City Quest, where we were divided into 4 groups with a Moldovan Guide, who would give us photos of Chisineau landmarks.

 Our job was to find the the landmarks and have our picture taken in front of them.

Our guide would only interpret for us, but not give us any hints.  

Our mission was to interact with Moldavians to ask directions. Many speak some English.  So we would approach people on the street and ask them first if they spoke English.  If they did, it was usually no problem.  If they didn't, we would show them the photo and ask them in English " do  you know where this is?"  Most of them understood what we wanted and were quite friendly trying to give us directions.  Our guide, did not interpret unless we asked him to do so.  We had a good time walking through the city streets and finding the locations.

Russ gets a Moldovan Pin for His Hat

We stopped a handsome young man on the street and asked if he spoke English. "No" he shook his head.  So at least he understood a little.  We showed him the photo and asked if he knew the place of the photo.  He said Romanian Consulate and he pointed in a general direction and started giving us directions in Romanian.  

Our guide was watching this unfold without interacting.  The young man flagged down a pretty young woman and asked if she spoke English?  She did.  He asked her to translate.  They started a lively conversation of which we did not understand.  There seemed to be some disagreement about the directions.  We finally got the gist of what we were told,  Thanked them and they walked off together in the opposite direction from where we were going.

Our guide then explained what had occurred.  This young man had hailed down the pretty woman, he suggested to her that they could guide us to the consulate together, charge a small fee and split it.  Haha!  He was getting to know her and was trying to come on to her while he was helping us.  Anyway, they walked off together.  Perhaps our interaction triggered a new relationship.  

The interaction was a good reminder how important understanding another language is or you miss the finer nuance of the conversation.  Eventually we found the Romanian Consulate. There are two consulates, a new one and an old one, both still operating.  After Moldova's Independence, the citizens were told they could hold two citizenships in any country that would grant them a second.  Most of them chose Romania.  There was such an influx of activity of people seeking second citizenships, Moldova opened a second consulate to process all of the requests.

Unlucky for us, our group surely had the longest route to walk.  We must have walked 6 miles on the Quest alone.  By the time we returned for dinner at 5:00 pm. our group was exhausted. We as a group all took taxies to where we were going to dinner by the train station because it was too far to walk. Turns out we took the same route by taxi that we walked on the city quest and were only a few blocks short of the restaurant and train station!   When we got to the restaurant, I drank a liter of water, and could barely bring myself to pickup my fork.

The spread of food for our Moldovan welcome dinner was wonderful.  Fresh and sautéed vegetables, cheeses, potato pancakes with cheese, stuffed cabbage rolls, polenta, sour creams grilled beef and chicken, red wine, white wine, and cherry and apple pastries for dessert.  Our hosts provided us with some lovely folk music and traditional songs.

Before Marianna left for the wedding, she came to the dinner for a little bit to drop off the key to her apartment.  She looked lovely and promised to tell us about the wedding the following day.

We optioned out of staying for the fireworks and returned to our host home by 9:00 pm, took showers, and at 9;55 we could hear, but not see the fireworks.  They lasted 5 minutes.  Not a very long presentation, but I am sure it was delightful for the free Moldovan citizens.

The people here are wonderful and we are enjoying our time. Tomorrow we are driving out of the city to visit some old Roman ruins.

All is Well  With the Worrall Travel Rs in Chisinau Moldova.

Hello Moldova - Friendship Force Greetings, Exchange Day 1, WTRD 17, August 26, 2016

Sleeper Cabin is a Euphemism for Sleepless Cabin

Our sleeper car on the night train to Chisinau, Moldova turned in to a sleepless cabin.  I actually slept pretty well until a 2;30 am nature call.  It went downhill from there.  About 3:30 just as I was getting back to sleep, our car conductor, opened our door, turned on the overhead lights, and said that we would soon be boarded by Romanian Check Out officials.  First officer was passport control.  He peered at the passports, then us with our train tossed hair to see if we were a match, then thumbed through the double thick passports to find our Romanian entrance stamp so the he could place the exit stamp in close proximity.  Next came the customs agent who wanted to make sure we were not smuggling cigarettes and art antiquities out of Romania.

Heads back on the pillow for 10 minutes while the train moved across no man's land between Romania and Moldova., then the process repeated itself, but this time it was check in with Moldovan Passport control and customs.  

We were not in a cabin directly over train wheels, but other FF members were.  They had an additional visitor  The tracks in Romania and Moldova have not matched since the the communist era.  Apparently the rails on one side or the other are thicker or thinner.   Consequently, all the wheels on the train have to be changed upon arrival and departure between Romania and Moldova.  No kidding!  Look at the length of this train!

Each car on the train is jacked up and down, and moved back and forth, rumbling and grumbling and the wheels get changed.  Those who have a cabin above the wheels gets an extra visit from the wheel men to make sure everything is ok.

By 6:30 am, Russ and I gave up trying to sleep, got up, cleaned up, ate some protein bars, and I had some coffee.  Like the Chinese and Russian trains, this train had a boiler full of water.  I carry a thermos bottle and instant coffee, so I got my morning fix.    Our train arrived at the Chisinau station around 9:00 am where we were warmly greeted by our Moldovan Friendship Force Hosts, and reunited with members of our Sacramento club who came a day earlier directly from the US.  Our hosts arrived with flags, smiles, and fresh bread.  The symbolic Moldovan welcome  is offered and each guest partakes in bread dipped in salt.

Once we have accepted the welcome offering, we are partnered with our host.  Our host is a single mom, Mariana and her 8 year old daughter Catalina.  After a wonderfully sweet breakfast of Moldovan pastries and coffee at a nearby restaurant with our hosts,  we have a short orientation meeting and our Moldovan Exchange coordinator explains the week's schedule to us.  It is going to be a busy weeks starting with the Moldovan 25th anniversary making its Independence from the USSR.

Our host actually had to return to work, so one of the other host/coordinators drove us to our accommodations, where we spent the rest of the day catching up, sleeping,  relaxing, and getting to know our host family.

Mariana and Catalina's cozy apartment is up 5 flights of steps.  We will be able to work off all of the treats we have been eating.  Mariana has fixed up her living room as our bedroom.

Mariana cooks us a t nice meal, plinimene  (similar to raviolis) with fresh cream.

After the evening meal, the four of us took a walk to see Catalina's school and then shared with our hosts some gifts that we brought from California.  

All is Well with the Worrall Travel Rs in Moldova.