Șapte Case

Back in September when Michael Ball & I first went to Bucharest, a few short days after arriving at post, I was so jet-lagged and flustered on the road that I didn’t really take in all the sights along the way. A combination of having a terrible rental car that made it exceedingly difficult to pass even the slowest horse-drawn cart, having to adapt to the crazy Romanian-style of driving, trying not to get lost and a lack of sleep and general disorientation rendered that voyage useless in terms of enjoyment.

Moldovan country side in the Fall...

Moldovan country side in the Winter... 

It’s amazing how much a few months and a functional vehicle can change your perspective. This past week I drove to Bucharest for the second time, and the experience was completely different. You might be wondering why anyone {in their right mind} would make a 7 hour trip on a Wednesday and return immediately, the following day. Well, for those of you who know me well it should seem perfectly normal and come as no surprise that the main reason I went on such a crazy road trip was to give two Brazilian soccer stars who play for the Dacia Chisinau Soccer Team a ride to the airport in Bucharest. It's a good thing Brazilians, in general, are pretty well-liked around these parts of the world and even more so when they are soccer players, because it made crossing the border a piece of cake. I just had to drop the "oh, they're Brazilian Soccer Players" line and the customs officials were totally won over, otherwise they might have thought it strange for an American girl to be driving two foreign dudes across the border into Romania. For the record, I did also have a few other {legitimate} things to take care of while in Bucharest; places to go {IKEA, Starbucks, H&M, an Indian Restaurant}, people to see, you know, perfectly rational reasons to go on a mega road trip by yourself, mid-week, to a foreign land. I'm always surprised how comforting having a sense of familiarity can be. Even though I actually never spent much time at IKEA, Starbucks or H&M in the US, something about those places in a strange location makes you feel at home and draws you to them. When I lived in Cuba for 4 months I remember really longing for something {anything} that reminded me of home {we have a little embargo going on so finding American products is pretty difficult}. The day I found Brazilian Chocolates at the local ice cream parlor I nearly shouted for joy, instead, I barely composed myself and restrained myself to purchasing all of their on-hand stock. 

While dining at said Indian Restaurant {with an Indian friend} we struck up a conversation with another guest who also happened to be Indian who was shocked to discover that my husband was OK with me driving by myself with two Brazilian Soccer stars to Bucharest. He was under the impression that Michael Ball should be entitled to give a ride to two Moldovan Super Models in exchange. 

After I had packed up my car with IKEA goodies, leftover Indian food and Dutch cheese from the Christmas Market, I hit the road and headed back to Moldova. The solitary ride home was actually quite enjoyable. At every turn there were scenic views of horse-drawn carts cutting across hazy hills, giant medieval-looking carts piled high with cabbage, Orthodox Churches dotting every tiny town along the way. The landscape would change every so often from bright green fields of winter wheat to brown wintry plots grazed by sheep, vigilantly watched by their shepherds. Vendors along the road were selling potatoes, onions, cabbage and "must" {aka young wine} in plastic bottles of ambiguous and suspicious character. It had snowed in the region to the east of Bucharest and in Moldova overnight, and everything was covered in a thin, beautiful layer of white. I so wanted to stop around every bend and try to capture all these scenes but the roads in Romania don't usually have a shoulder and stopping could lead to serious consequences. I did manage to snap a few along a lonely stretch of road in Moldova...

My favorite village along the way was a town called Șapte Case, literally, "Seven Houses." I counted them by the way, and there were closer to 12 but who's really keeping track of these things? When you enter the town there is a little sign with the town's name and a reduced speed limit. Typically in Romanian & Moldovan villages there is a well at one end of town or the other, beautifully decorated and made of carved wood; often painted blue. When you exit the town {less than 30 seconds later} there is another sign with an increased speed limit and the town's name with a red line going through it {in case you didn't put two and two together and figure out that you were out of the town already}. Șapte Case perfectly captures the region, a tiny little cluster of homes, surrounded by fields of fertile soil, with a road cutting right through the middle and not much else. There was something that struck me as quaint about it: Simplicity in it's purest form. 

My goal is to spend at least a little more than a day in Bucharest on our next trip there and do more than just eat exotic foods and shop for familiarity's sake...which will probably have to wait till the spring, after the treacherous wintry road conditions are long gone. 

At Post for 2 months...and counting...

Well, two months have come and gone and today I find myself on a gloomy & gray foggy day trying to come up with something interesting to write about. But you see, after the newness of a place wears off it turns out you just revert back to "doing" your normal life and there is nothing particularly glamourous about normal life.

Things like taking your car to the mechanic to get the crack in your windshield repaired {and embarrassing the kind man from the embassy who agreed to accompany you by driving like a crazy foreign lady} just don't seem that noteworthy or blog-worthy.

Lookout!

We kept spotting this type of decal on the backs of cars, or round yellow ones with exclamation marks in the middle which we discovered were designed to alert other drivers as to who's behind the wheel: either new drivers or women or some hybrid of the two. Hilarious. I thought about getting one for myself...

Attempting to mow your lawn which has bushes and plants very inconveniently placed so that your mower doesn't actually fit, therefore forcing you to try to cut most of it with an edge trimmer, then being accused by your {deadbeat} husband that it looks like you gave your grass a "bad haircut" is just not the kind of thing your friends back home are dying to read about.

So you can understand why I have abstained from writing for so long...who really wants to know that you've spent the last 5 weeks getting owned by the Insanity Workout DVD's and are currently procrastinating from doing it by writing this blog entry?

While still on relatively boring topics, the rest of our shipment arrived this past week and while unpacking boxes containing all your belongings may seem exhilarating at first, you very quickly realize you own way too much junk for your own good and spend half the time you're unloading grumbling to yourself and making little promises to yourself {which you secretly know you won't actually keep} that you will downsize before your next move {or else!} But it is nice to finally have things like my mixer and all of my spices/extracts so I can finally get to cooking the exotic things I like.

Seriously though, I do spend some of my time doing interesting things. We went to the Marine Ball two weekends ago which was, actually, glamourous. People got super dressed up and it made me really thankful that I had found a fancy schmancy dress on sale back home a few months ago. It was really fun!

Ronald didn't get to come to the Ball...

This past week I spent some time with some visitors from the US and got to visit a few orphanages with them in the countryside {including one for deaf children}, a soup kitchen for the elderly and a pasta factory in a tiny town in Southern Moldova, almost at the Black Sea. Back in the capital, we spent some time at a rehabilitation home for girls who had been rescued from trafficking and brainstormed various projects for providing employment to women who were rescued or who are at-risk of being trafficked, or re-trafficked as is tragically the case here. Unfortunately I didn't get any photos on these trips and the warmth of the lovely people I met doesn't really transfer well into writing, my apologies. You'll just have to stay tuned for more developments on that front...

Our First Official Visitor

Since I last posted, my mom came and went {is actually in transit as I write, having to take a convoluted itinerary home due to Hurricane Sandy} and was officially our first visitor. Luckily, she's up for almost anything and is quite the adventuresome 63-year old Brazilian lady...she even brought me cheese from the Dutch Cheese Factory near her home in Costa Rica!

Mom & me at Orhei Vechi, a historical monastery carved into caves on a cliff.

We took her to a soccer game, the ballet, some historical sites, a few good parks, a few good restaurants, a couple of museums, Malldova {yes, the mall here is called Malldova}, Church, visited the Piața Centrală {the central market which, according to the Moldovans, was too crazy to take anyone there, much less my Mom--we survived just fine for the record}, we handed out candy to all the Embassy kids for Halloween and somehow even managed to get ourselves invited over to our pastor's home for an authentic Moldovan meal which was delicious.

Unfortunately, we never made it to a winery...it was in the plans but we had some technical difficulties so she'll just have to go next time!

Spare Time

Some of you might wonder what in the world I do with my "spare time" here.

Well, for starters I have been reading more than I had been able to before we moved. I just finished an awesome book about Wal-Mart written by a few AEI Scholars, The Prodigal God by Tim Keller and am just about done with a book about Sex-Trafficking. Next on the list: The Brothers Karamazov & The Master & His Emissary.

As you might imagine, figuring out how to do life in Moldova takes up some of my time, more than one would suspect it would take, but it has been enjoyable.

But if you are on Pinterest at all, you have probably figured out that I spend half my time pinning mostly mouth-watering photos of food {and you may have also been growing concerned for me and the state of my mental health}. I would like to explain myself: it's not entirely that I am some sort of crazy food-obsessed person or that the food here is so terrible that I have to spend my free time daydreaming about delicacies {it isn't, it's pretty decent albeit limited in variety}, my obsessive-compulsive pinning actually serves two main purposes: culinary inspiration {for personal & professional reasons} & photographic inspiration {for personal & professional reasons}. Right before we left, I picked up a book on food photography, some software {that has yet to arrive} & I also downloaded a digital photography course in my attempt to accomplish one of my goals: to become a better photographer. And why not pick one of my favorite things ever {i.e. eating/making/drooling over amazing food} as a test subject?

Here is attempt #1, the "before" photo {I will post "after" photos once I am able to complete the aforementioned training}:

Pumpkin Cupcakes

Of course, in order to practice taking beautiful photos, I need to practice making delicious-looking food. So here is my bucket list of things to attempt to make {& photograph}:

• Homemade Marshmallows {torched in certain dishes for special effect}.

Chocolate Marshmallows

• Crackers. Good ones, with fancy herbs and whatnot.

Graham Crackers

Martha Stewart Sesame Crackers

Honey, Thyme & Sea Salt Flatbreads

• Gourmet Pizza Crust. Maybe even on the grill.

Blackberry & Fennel

• Pie & by default awesome pie crust. Can you believe I've never made a pie crust before? And I call myself some kind of baker...it's embarrassing, really.

Perfect

Cake-in-a-Jar

• Ice Cream. Because I am a true "Scott" at heart and by blood: my great-great-grandparents used to run an ice cream shop in Mt. Healthy, OH, back in the day when they cut giant chunks of ice out of the lake to put in their "Ice Boxes". Also, I read in some culinary magazine that homemade/artisanal ice cream was the next big thing, so it is only reasonable to experiment with this.

Book

Blackberry Ice Cream

• Fancy finger foods for all my entertaining needs.

F-A-N-C-Y 

Mushroom Tartlets

• Homemade Artisanal Bread. Already have 3 books coming in the mail on this subject.

Sourdough

Tartine Bakery

• Vegetable "Chips" of all kinds {Kale, Beet, Zucchini, Apple, etc.}

Beet Chips

• Reductions of all sorts. Mostly Balsamic...since I burnt the whole batch on my first attempt...

Balsamic Reduction

• Something with Figs. Anything with figs. I don't even like figs that much but they look so pretty and taste great when in cahoots with salty things and gorgonzola cheese.

Fig Tart

• Cakes & more precisely, fancier ways of decorating them.

Oooooh...

• Good corn tortillas from "scratch", my first attempt was mediocre...

Tacos

• Experiment with Panko Bread Crumbs.

Panko Crusted Shrimp

• Thai/Asian Dishes of all sorts.

Thai Green Curry

Lettuce Wraps

• Tarts. Croissants. Anything puffy and buttery.

Asparagus & Gruyere

Puff

• Canning. Awesome produce is available here but on a very limited time frame...so I have to learn to stock up and salvage what I can for the wintry months.

Step by Step

Sour Cherry Jam

• Let me add that I would have an entire section dedicated solely to avocados and another one to fancy cheese probably {maybe even crazily trying to make my own}, but those two things seem to be a little tough to come by in these parts of the world. I have found avocados but they were utterly disappointing and tasted really funky for lack of a better term. I'd rather have none than subject myself to those. The cheese here is OK, there's just not a great variety.

Moldova, at 1 month

This wednesday officially marks 1 month of life in Moldova, which is really hard to believe because it doesn't feel like that long ago when we were in DC, packing up our bags. At the same time, I've been here long enough to figure out a few basic things, like things I can do to try to attempt to fit in:

• When purchasing/receiving flowers, make sure to carry them "upside down".

• If you're a little kid, wear a full-blown suit to school every day.
• If you're a dude, you can wear a purse {"european carry-all"} and still be taken seriously. Also, you can wear a track suit to pretty much anything you want. If you work in construction you can wear overalls. Maybe even if you don't.
• When walking under a walnut tree, seamlessly crack open a fallen walnut by stepping on it, pick it up, eat it and continue walking as if nothing had happened. 
• Walk with an angry/serious look on your face at all times otherwise it's a dead giveaway that you're a foreigner.

• At the grocery store, you must weigh & price your produce in the produce section or you run the risk of {obviously irritated} pregnant ladies standing behind you in line yelling at you {in Russian} for being an idiot.
• Traffic signs/lights can mostly be ignored.
• If you're a woman in your 40's and under, you can wear skinny jeans and flat shoes or boots, or alternatively some sort of a mini-skirt and ridiculously pointy high heel ensemble. If you're in your 40's {or other ambiguous, undetermined age} and older I'm pretty sure your options are limited to the "bunica" grandma outfits and hair scarves. 

• When crossing any street where the pedestrians have the "right of way", what that really means is that you need to wait to gather enough critical mass and boldly start venturing out into the street and hope the cars stop for you. I accidentally led the charge on this when attempting to cross the busiest street in town. We all survived.
• Make sure to wear all black {at night} when going for a walk {making sure to walk in the street}.
• Blast this kind of music from your car to be cool.
• During Cherry Season {I've been warned by a kind neighbor}, make sure to note that the more expensive cherries "without meat" at the market come free-of-worms and the cheaper ones,  "with meat," come with worms.

At Post...finally!

Well, here it is...the long-awaited first post...from our first post!
{disclaimer: all these photos were taken on my phone, so I apologize for the poor quality!}



On the plane, taxing to the gate in Chisinau!


Rumor has it most spouses experience some level of boredom when they first arrive at post because they're new to the country, they may not speak the language, their spouses are at work, they don't have their stuff, internet, a car, friends, you name it. But not this girl, I have been super busy these last few weeks, in part owing to the fact that my best friend from High School was randomly in Moldova this month and introduced me to some fun new Moldovan friends.

I thought it would be kind of fun to start off with a little game: which one of the following activities/things did I NOT do in my first 12 days in Moldova?

1. Befriend the Brazilian Soccer star from Dacia Chisinau Fotbal Club (for their Epic theme song click here).
2. Witness a dude in his 30's pushing a stroller in a park with his kid and wife in all seriousness wearing a see-through crocheted half-sleeved shirt.
3. Drive all the way to Bucharest, Romania and back in two days in order to pick up Ronald.
4. Somehow get roped in to making a couple hundred cupcakes for next weekend.
5. Get bit by a stray dog in the park near my house.
6. Found a group of guys that Michael Ball can play soccer with.
7. Find more jobs/volunteer opportunities than I know what to do with.
8. Accidentally crash a Moldovan Wedding in progress.
9. Find an awesome church plant started by Harvest Bible Chapel.
10. Discovered that my Romanian hasn't come in as handy as I'd hoped.

The answer is: #5 While I have not {yet} been bitten by a stray dog I think it is just a matter of time...I have discovered that usually picking up a rock works to scare them off but they are definitely out to get me and Ronald, for sure. Good thing I got that rabies shot before I left, I think it'll come in handy some day!

All the other things are true.

1. I had been joking around with everyone back in the US that I was going to befriend the other Brazilian in town, but I was not exactly serious. Michael Ball & I went to the Dacia Chisinau vs. Sheriff Tiraspol soccer game last Saturday night and after the game was over, I made my way to the edge of the field and got in line to greet the players and called out to the Brazilian guy in Portuguese. It worked like a charm, he was shocked to hear anyone speaking Portuguese in Moldova and he talked to us for a few minutes after the game. We're pretty much best friends now and there are now officially 4 of us Brazilians in Moldova: him, the other soccer player and that guy's wife and me.

2. Definitely saw a dude wearing a crocheted see-through shirt. He was completely serious. Also, overalls and mullets are super-in here.



The park with a lake by our house...

3.We did crazily drive over to Romania to pick up Ronald in a rented car...he survived the whole ordeal and was overjoyed to see us. He's settling into his new home now and enjoys all the same things as he did back home...long walks, eating, and sneaking up onto the couch when I'm not looking. We survived driving on crazy roads while jet-lagged so that was a plus.

 

Ronald before pack-out...



Do dogs get jet-lag?

4. Is anyone surprised, really? Of course I have already committed to making a bunch of cupcakes for next weekend, never mind that I don't have any of my materials yet...why wouldn't I?

5. Never happened.

6. Thanks to my crazy connections, I did find a group of guys for Michael Ball to play soccer with...including a German guy who is doing a year-long internship here in Moldova. His parents are from a crazy German Colony in Kazakhstan...why wouldn't they be, right?

7. More to come on this...just to keep all my readers hooked...mua-ha-ha!

8. True story. We thought we were just going to Church, peeked in to the service and there was a couple getting married up front. Then an usher caught us before we knew what we were doing...and we were there for good. Apparently the thing to do here {at least in protestant Churches} is to have a hybrid combined Wedding/Regular Sunday Morning Church Service.

The main Orthodox Church downtown

9. Again, through crazy and obscure connections we stumbled upon a Harvest Church Plant which we are very excited about. The pastor is Romanian {and therefore easier to understand} and lives right in our neighborhood. His wife is a physician who works at a clinic for women who are the victims of domestic violence. They are awesome.

10. So it appears there are a lot more people than I thought here in Moldova who not only prefer to speak Russian, it may be their only language. At least they don't really speak Romanian and even then, the combination of the accent and the constant mixing in of Russian words into their Romanian makes them practically unintelligible to me. This includes some of the most convenient people around, like Taxi Drivers and waiters. Nothing better to make you feel like a dummie in a new place than to think you speak the language and it turns out you don't. Apparently this phenomenom varies a lot by neighborhood so I hope that is the case, and in all fairness I can understand what I need to and am understood enough to get around, it's just not very smooth.

  Well, that will have to be all for now...I have a little 3 year old boy (our friend's son) sitting next to me and asking me why I'm still "working", aka, why I'm not playing with him and his trains...gotta get my priorities straight!

On Traveling...

"Traveling is a brutality. It forces you to trust strangers and to lose sight of all that familiar comfort of home and friends. You are constantly off balance. Nothing is yours except the essential things -- air, sleep, dreams, the sea, the sky -- all things tending towards the eternal or what we imagine of it. "

                                                                 - Cesare Pavese

Official Countdown: T minus 6 days!