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.

Brasov - Sinaia: Peles Castle – Bucharest Evening Train Departure to Moldova, Tour Day 7, WTRD 16, August 25, 2016

 Brasov - Sinaia: Peles Castle – Bucharest Evening Train Departure to Moldova

Bran Castle also known as "Dracula Castle"

was built in 1377 to safeguard the trading route between Transylvania and Walachia.

It has been enlarged and restored a few times to become a royal residence in the 1920s under Queen Mary of Romania.   Bran castle (no connection with Bram Stoker.  Bran is the name of the village) was built as a guard house with a view of the pass between Valachia and Transylvania.

The gothic style defense fortification was built by the Saxons who were brought in to defend Transylvania.  It has many secret rooms and passage ways.

Climbing up a steep, narrow, secret passage way.

Towers, corners, narrow walk ways, spiral stairs. lookouts.

Bram Stoker in 1890 described this castle in his FICTION, but Stoker's depiction of this castle in the book was between Transylvania and Moldavia because the scenery was more dramatic.  So what exactly if fact or fiction based on some semblance of fact or of folk lore?

Possible Connections with Vlad Draculea the Impaler, 1456 - connection with the castle.  

1) He may have conquered the castle when he was trying to pass from Valachia to conquer Transylvania.

2) He may have conquered and passed through to Brasov without even entering the castle.

3) When he was overthrown in 1468 he may have died in the dungeon at Bran Castle.

Connection with Vampires.  Romanians do not have vampires, but there are some folk stories that are religious.  Their is a creature, strigly (ghost or curse) that can appear after a person passes.  In the Eastern Orthodox religion the dead must be buried in the ground.  After 7 years, in a religious ceremony, the coffin is exhumed to see if the body has decomposed.  If there are bones and they are white, the body has rested in peace.  If it is still fleshy, it means the person has done something wrong and its spirits are not at rest, but roaming around haunting people.

How do you get rid of a srtigly?  In the old days, during the ceremony of exhumation, three men with no family left (if you fight evil, evil will fight back)were chosen for the exhumation.  They take the strigly body, chop of the head, and impale the heart.  The haunted persons must drink some potions.  This is still done in secret in rural areas, but is against the law now.

For those abiding the law, the ritual is mostly symbolic  Saint Andrew's Day is celebrated as the day of the dead.  At midnight, all families go to the cemetery, light candles, and priests perform a service releasing the spirits still left in all the bodies without exhumation.  Mourners light candles for good spirits, and the haunted go a different way home for the bad spirits cannot find them.  But just in case, garlic is spread all around the home's windows and doors.

Romania also has vampire bats that may have contributed to Bram Stokers fiction.

After our visit to Bran Castle we had some time to shop.  This shop caught my eye.

Can you find the doe with her fawn?  Two violins?

We also had the opportunity to  taste cheese made by a local shepherd, cheese man.

We tried a smoked cow cheese, a salty feta goat cheese, and a cheddar cheese.  The last cheese we tasted was from a crock.  It was a fermented sheep cheese.

All were tasty, but no one wanted to buy cheese and transport it in their luggage to Moldova.  Many of us do not appreciate the small of warm cheese in close quarters, and we will be sharing cabins on the train tonight.

We continued with our scenic drive to Sinaia mountain resort. Named after St. Catherine Monastery on Mount Sinai, Sinaia became the unofficial capital of the Kingdom of Romania towards the end of the 19th century.  The resort area is nestled in a valley with tall imposing mountains, 2000 meters high. People come here year round to ski, to play, to relax, and to visit the castle.  There is a large Casino building, with its architecture inspired by the one in Monte Carlo. 

Before our last tour of the castle Peles, we all sat down together in a restaurant for our last meal together.  We raised our glasses and thanked our guide and driver for a wonderful tour, memorable and safe experience.  We lunched together quickly so that we would not miss the last English tour of the day at the castle.




 A tisket, a taste, George shared his berry basket.

Our group took a guided tour of the Peles Castle and Gardens in Sinaia, the royal residence of King Charles I of Romania and known as one of the most beautiful summer royal residences in Europe.

The castle is Bavarian style surrounded with English gardens.  I thought the castle looked like a Tudor with the dark would and white washed walls with stucco.  The Castle is considered the most beautiful castles in Europe and the highlight of Romania.  

The interior of the castle is magnificent; the most outstanding feature is the dark wood, ornate, and beautifully carved.

Unlike the palaces of Russia and France, this castle does not glitter from every angle nor is everything crusted in gold.  It is turn of the century modern with elevators, electricity, and central vacuum system.  The Castle is considered the most beautiful castles in Europe and the highlight of Romania.

Taking our last photos of the castle,

our group headed back to Bucharest through many miles of grass land and sunflowers.

We met up with two more of our Friendship Force group members at the train station.

Our Sleeper Cabin

Our train left promptly at 7:15  We turned in early (10:00) as we knew the night would not be peaceful.  We have had a wonderful time here in Romania, and are happy we returned.

All is Well with the Worrall Travel R's our last day in Romania.

Woe to the Gypsy Woman - A special blog article, August 24, 2016

Margaret (14), Carla (24)

When we were in Maramures region of northern Romania, we had a unique opportunity to meet and talk with two young Gypsy women, Carla (24) and Margaret. (14), in their home. Carla and Margaret have a younger brother (7) who was outside sitting on the stairstep and  his 4 year old nephew (Carla's son) was sitting on his scooter.  Both boys were intently interacting with whatever was on their cell phones.

The family lives in a village where they "settled" 20 years ago. Their father of the metal worker class has an auto body repair business and is also a local policeman.

The family cast is that of metal workers, and they are in the middle class of their cast. The lighter the skin, the higher the cast. The ethnic ancestry of Gypsies are from India which accounts for their darker skin. They have carried with them their cast and patriarchal traditions wherever they roam. Their mother is the traditional stay at home mom and grandma. The parents are in their early 40's. Marrying young is the expectation.

At first glance, the house looks like a typical home in the Romanian mountains.

There are several dented cars in the front yard (part of the auto body business..although some of them may have been family autos as well). A fence encloses the car and living quarters.

As we approach, Carla, wearing a scarf around here head - indicating she is a married woman, is working outside on a covered porch having just completing a pleated skirt she is making.

She is a self-taught seamstress and makes her mother's and sister's clothing. She also makes skirts for other women and is on Facebook. The fabric is a beautiful light weight translucent floral print. Each pleat is less than a centimeter and tightly pleated. Gypsy beauty is measured by a woman's girth not her face, consequently, her skirts use a lot of fabric and have many pleats.  She pulls the pins from the board that the skirt is laying on with dental pliers and rolls up the fabric.

We are invited inside the home and enter through the kitchen. On the left, there is a large china cabinet loaded with china and dishes. Carla says these were a part of her mother's dowery.

In front of us, is a table spread with a white cloth with covered glasses of beverage and platters of small cakes.

 The walls have all sorts of regalia and there are sofas and chairs along the walls for our seating. Carla says that Gypsy women love sparkles and attributes this to their ethnic origin of India, bangles, and coins.

Carla takes a seat across the table from us and her younger sister stands looking at her cell phone and texting. We have been told that it is permissible to take photos and to ask any question we want. Nothing will be offensive. Carla's mother is in the next room. She does not speak any English, but she understands some, but she is not a part of the conversation.

Carla confides that she and her sister speak English (both very well) so that they can talk about whatever they want in front of their parents without their parents knowing what they are saying. As their parents have achieved a basic English vocabulary and are understanding more and more, the girls laugh and say they just speak real fast now in English.

Carla speaks four languages: Romanian, Gypsy, English, and Hungarian. She learned her English from TV cartoons and soap operas. Carla has an eighth grade education. Her fourteen year old sister Margaret was pulled out of school after fifth grade. It is considered a SHAME for Gypsy girls to be educated. The girls would have liked to continue their education, but Gypsy tradition does not change and it always trumps desire or apparently century.

Margaret is engaged and will soon be married. She is a beautiful girl with an uncovered head and long braids with ribbons that extend down her back.

She seems quite feisty and assertive, but also resigned that she will soon be married off. Pulling girls out of school and marrying them off is a father's way of maintaining a patriarchal hierarchy and controlling women which is the Gypsy tradition. Girls are to be submissive and boys are to be dominant. Domestic violence is a means of keeping women in their place and is an expected practice. Carla's husbands tried to beat her, but she says she beat them off with her high heels.

Margaret's marriage as well as Carla's first marriage were both arranged with young men/boys from their cast. One always marries in their cast. Margaret seems quite unhappy about her impending marriage to a 16 year old boy and is reluctant to talk about it. She doesn't even want to think about their "alone" time.

Carla at 24, has been married and divorced twice, and has a 4 year old son and a 2 year old daughter, each by a different father. Her first husband was convicted of some crime and is in prison. Marriage and divorce for these Gypsies is very uncomplicated. We are married. The woman moves to the husband's family home where the girl is supervised by the mother-in-law. We are divorced....the woman moves back home with her parents. When a child is involved in the divorce, boys stay with their father, girls go with their mother so that gender traditions and roles can be passed to the next generation.

Since Carla's husband was in prison, the paternal grandparents kept the child and gave Carla visiting rights, but cut off access after a couple of months. Brides in a household have no say. One must wait to express opinion until, she herself becomes a mother-in-law.

Carla would not stand for this so she accused the grandparents of abuse, sexual molestation of her child that gave her the right to take back her son. Her second husband suffered in an accident with brain injury and caused him to be "schizophrenic", and she could not tolerate living with him anymore. So she divorced him and moved back home.

Her parents would like her to get married again because as she puts it, "I have always been problematic for them." Carla is intelligent, assertive, and does not take direction very well. She enjoys working for herself and does not want to work for a boss.

Carla and Margaret seem to have a typical sister relationship. Carla tells her sister what to do, and Margaret talks back or pouts about it. She passes out something to drink and eat to all of us at Carla's instruction. A typical day for Margaret, so she says, is to wake up by noon and play on Facebook most of the day, and eat candy. Carla snorts and says Margaret is lucky to be up by 2:00 pm.

There is no Gypsy religion, and they are not practicing Hindus, as one might expect having cultural heritage to India.   As "settled" Gypsies, they join the local religions which in this particular village are Seventh Day Adventist, Pentecostal, or Jehovah Witnesses. Carla's mother is Jehovah Witness and is trying to convert the girls to this religion. Neither one of them is excited about this prospect.

When asked about Gypsy women who beg, Carla said often they are usually the lowest cast women who are placed by their husband somewhere to do the begging and they may have children around them or holding a baby that is not their own. She tries to counsel these women about social services available to them. In many cases the women are already receiving services, but still are sent out to beg.

Both Carla and Margaret are deeply invested in their Gypsy heritage and are resigned with whatever life brings them. It is hard to reconcile feisty, intelligent, and assertive women with the submissiveness and obedience that is expected of them. When asked what Carla's expectations were for her daughter and her own future, i.e. "Would she want more education for herself, for her daughter", she got a little flustered and said she can barely think about one month in advance. Right now she is thinking about school for her son.

There is undoubtedly laughter and joy in families, but this we did not talk about today. Today, it was about acceptance and resignation to what is and what will undoubtedly continue to be.

Sibling Relationship

Woe to the Gypsy Woman.

We took a group photo as we left, wishing the young women our best for their health and happiness, but all of us feeling quite saddened by their lack of free will and opportunity.  We were appreciative and grateful for this insight into one family's settled "Gyspy" life.