A Very Different Christmas at the feet of The Carpathians

Peace Corps provides us with 48 vacation days earned 2 per month over the course of 24 months of service. Last month we decided we would spend a few of these vacation days for Christmas. We researched a few localities in Romania in The Carpathian mountains, where we could see (more) snow, evergreen trees, and mountains. Eastern Europe's picturesque range has not disappointed, but the day of travel provided some unexpected surprises that need to be conveyed.

So... our plan was to travel from Briceni to Lipcani (Moldova). At Lipcani we would walk across the border, find a rutiera to Suceava, Romania. At Suceava we would get another rutiera (or possibly the train) and arrive in Gura Humorului. From there a quick rutiera or taxi ride would bring us to our destination at Bucovina Hills Guesthouse, a kind of hostel. We all know, however, that "the best laid schemes of mice and men go often awry."
From Briceni to Lipcani would only be about a 30 minute ride in a rutiera. As we were riding, however, I began asking around trying to learn more information about where exactly we would get off to be closest to the border crossing. Two people in front of us wanted to help, but only spoke Russian. An older gentleman next to us spoke Romanian and said we needed to go past Lipcani to Criva where we would cross the border. He said at Lipcani we would have to walk a lot, but at Criva we would not have to walk. We told him where we were going in Romania and he said that would be the best idea. We trusted him. Oops.
We stayed on the rutiera until it terminated at the border with Ukraine after the Moldovan village of Criva. There we walked across the border with our two backpacks and Peace Corps passports. Once on the other side, there was supposed to be another rutiera to take us to a city in Ukraine. We waited. We waited. We asked what kind of money the driver would take, which of course would be Ukrainian grivna, and found a place to exchange. We waited. We froze outside in the snow. Finally a rutiera came. We rode that bus, not quite sure where we were going or if there would be a bus to redirect us to our planned path in Romania. We arrived at a little town and started asking around. We learned we needed to take another bus to go into Chernauti, Ukraine, which is a larger city and where we would find a bus going to Suceava, Romania. Aha! So, we waited for the bus, jumped on when we found it, and headed to Chernauti. While on the bus a drunk Ukrainian man wasted no time learning we were Americans and trying to speak Italian with us. Smiles and nods will get you through situations like that. When we arrived, we were not at the bus station. We were at the piata or market. So we asked around and found an in-town bus to drop us at the autogara (bus station). We walked around the bus station and finally asked to learn that the next bus to Suceava, Romania would be the next day at 7:30 a.m. Hmmm, so now we felt stuck in Ukraine where we didn't have much money and no reservations or knowledge of our exact whereabouts. We were both stressing out, but knew we weren't far from the border. If we could just hitch-hike or find something going to the border we could at least get out of this country! We helplessly walked towards the entrance of the gara/station where sometimes you can find taxis or private transports. Sure enough some men asked us where we were going (we think, because of course they asked in Ukrainian/Russian either of which we don't know). We tried to reply in Romanian that we were trying to get to Suceava. One man knew some Romanian, so in our broken Romanian and his broken Romanian we made a deal to be taken to the Romanian border. The cost, unfortunately, was much higher than the rutiera would be. We didn't quite have enough Ukrainian money left, and he laughed when we said we had some Moldovan lei. Eventually he took, it though. He took us to the border and dropped us off. We made it through the Ukrainian/Romanian border without incident and began walking. We asked the first driver we saw if he was going to Suceava. He said he was not going that far, so we kept walking. That same driver pulled up behind us later and offered us a ride a little further, and we gladly accepted. He took us to a town where he said we might be able to get a ride or find a taxi. We thanked him (happily in Romanian, which could understand and appreciate) and started asking some taxi drivers, all of which said they would not take us.? A private transport was about to leave and asked us where we were going. Luckily he was taking a man to Suceava also, so we got a ride with him. He dropped us at the train station where our day started to change rapidly. We were now back on our planned path, out of Ukraine, and quickly learned there would be a train to Gura Humorului within the hour. Shelbi warmed her feet and I went walking around the train station, found some hamburger attempts and returned to Shelbi to surprise her with some dinner. We bought some 1.5 RON (Romanian lei) coffees and ate our nice dinner and felt more pleasant than we had all day waiting for that train.
As we settled into our train car, we exchanged smiles with the young family that occupied our car with us. Their young children were very cute and we smiled at them all the way up into the mountains, the sun's light fading on the snow-covered foothills. We arrived in Gura Humorului and made the short walk to the center where we found a small petting zoo and beautiful Christmas tree. We waited for a while and finally took a taxi up to Manastirea Humorului (the small village where we stayed). There we stayed for four nights exploring the monastery and the two towns through the Christmas holiday.
What have we learned from this experience? We need to stick with plans if at all possible. If I had not second-guessed our plans and had stopped in Lipcani as planned, we would have learned that the border was open and that there were rutieras going to Suceava. You live and learn, and we're learning a ton! Below are some of the pictures from our vacation.

 The giant Christmas tree in Gura Humorului was a wonderfully-welcoming sight for us.

 Each of these pieces is as tall as my head. The table (and stools) are part of the set. It is the most beautiful chess set I've ever seen, and if I had $3000 extra in my pocket at the time, I might have bought it.

 These photos show Monastirea Humorului (or Monastery of the River Humor). The paintings on the outside of the old Monastery were amazing but faded. Below you can see a newer church which is just behind the tower. We climbed the tower and watched some nuns walk from the old Monastery to the newer church. Shelbi started singing, "How Do We Solve a Problem Like Maria?"

 The masks below are part of Romania's traditional New Year's celebration in which people "scare away" the evil spirits by wearing frightening masks. They can be quite scary or hilarious. The second picture reminded us of Ewoks.

 

 Above is an Orthodox church in Gura Humoului. The Freemasons, I mean God is watching with the Eye of Providence in the center. The paintings are beautiful and the church was playing a capella songs throughout the day and was located close enough to the center of town activities for us to hear as we walked around.

 Below is our Christmas feast with plenty of roast beast. You can see we were very comfortable and that we over-endulged in some sweets for our Christmas. We put the Coke and cheese on the window sill to be cold. The third picture shows one of our Banana-grams games. It's a great way for us to have fun together.

 

 

 Vampire Stefan cel Mare!!

Snow, snow, and, yes, more snow.

We were surprised last weekend when we returned from Chişinau to discover a foot+ of snow lying gracefully across Briceni. The rutiera (small bus) even had trouble on the roads because of the abundance of this fluffy white substance and under-coat of ice. Luckily we haven't had any real problems with traveling in the weather. As we settled back into our apartment, the snow fell..and it fell...and it fell. School continued as normal throughout the week, but the students took every opportunity to play outside during the breaks, and we might have thrown a snowball or two.

 

Many people told us that when we moved to the new apartment it would be very nice to live in the "center," (Briceni is a small town and a five-minute walk would bring you from one side to the other), which we smiled at and secretly wondered why they talked so much about the differences in locations of this seemingly small town. We have the answer in the form of a few feet of snow. Briceni grew much larger once the snow fell. It now takes us about 12 minutes to get to school, not counting the time used clothing and unclothing, booting and de-booting ourselves anytime we want to go anywhere.

 

We looked through old pictures this week and chanced upon some of a surprise blizzard we experienced driving through Flagstaff. The snow was definitely deep, but mostly in the drifts. Moreover, we didn't live in Flagstaff; it was a small adventure that occupied less than a day of our year.

 

In Briceni we have already experienced many different kinds of snow. School was canceled today because of more snow last night, and we've had a light dusting of snow all throughout the day. It looks like it will let up and we'll return to school tomorrow.

 

We have one week left of this semester and are sure the students will be as energetic as ever. This Saturday we plan to go to Romania (if the buses are running) and stay for a week to enjoy the foothills of the Carpathian Mountains. The town is called Gura Humorului, and we'll be staying in a hostel, the hosts of which speak English and hosted a PC volunteer a few years ago. We look forward to celebrating Christmas there and experiencing the village's traditions. We'll be sure to take many pictures.

 

We are adjusting well to our new home. Here are some pictures of where we live. You can see we are quite comfortable as our Moldovan counterparts set us up with a very nice place.

Borscht!!!

Cooking and Listening to Christmas Music!

The blog title really explains everything, but for anyone who might want a few more details or thoughts, here they are.
Shelbi and I are spending our last night together in our current host family's home by cooking (well, Shelbi is cooking) and listening to a variety of Christmas music. Shelbi is cooking up a storm, because tomorrow we are heading down to Balti where we will celebrate Thanksgiving with a few other volunteers. We made sausage balls earlier this week and will get up tomorrow morning to cook them and jump in a rutiera. Tonight Shelbi is making a cheesecake (my favorite with apples and cinnamon) and more corn casserole. She is making two corn casseroles and we've been eating on one for the last few days. Delicious!!
Today at school Shelbi brought her students some muffins, so after they were done with work, they ate muffins and talked a bit while Shelbi put on some Christmas music for them. Mannheim Steamroller and Trans-siberian Orchestra really help put Shelbi into the Christmas mood, so that's what they listened to.

Yesterday before our English club, I ran home and ate a quick bite with our host dad. Shelbi was at the store purchasing some minutes for her phone, but I was strapped for time, and we hadn't made plans to eat a big meal together. When Shelbi returned, she was upset that I had eaten without her, and we both realized what it meant to be away from family on Thanksgiving. We both felt very strange on this Thanksgiving, but we ate some corn casserole together quickly and tried to finish planning our English club meeting.

Shelbi and I were thinking of how to communicate the ideas of Thanksgiving and teach the students something. We finally decided to bring some food, plates, cups, drinks, and forks and give them a little meal to help them practice table manners and food items. It was a simple meal, but we managed to bring some gustos (tasty) corn casserole, multi-fruit juice, cookies, and salami. We told the students about American Thanksgiving traditions and showed them some simple pictures and videos about Thanksgiving. We then taught some vocabulary and expressions and concluded with enjoying a meal (more like a snack) together. Our salami substituted for a corcan (turkey) and the kids all thought that was pretty funny. What seems a cliche activity in the U.S. was the highlight of the event: the students all said (practicing English) what they were thankful for. Many said parents, God, friends, and some said they were thankful that we came to spend time with them.  Shelbi suggested after we clean up that we all go on a walk. The students were surprisingly enthusiastic about the idea, so we did. We walked around the park talking about traditions and swappin' culture.

Amid a hurricane of emotions about purpose, not being close to family, meaning of service, God's plans, what to be thankful for, moving away from our hosts, and many other ideas, these students simply accept us and seem to enjoy learning about who we are and how we lived in America. They have made us feel welcome and accepted time and again, and our Thanksgiving was no exception. Even without a turkey, Thanksgiving in Moldova was great, because we had people to connect with.


I'd love to upload some pictures, but the website claims we've max-ed out our storage. I'll try to find a solution for that issue.

Thanksgiving Thoughts

We are on the Eve of Thanksgiving, and in the midst of a season of "strangeness," I would say. Holidays are a dime a dozen in Moldova, although they are treated with more reverence than that phrase implies. The abundance of holidays, mostly being to some degree "holy" by association with the churches here, makes me think of our own holidays. I've decided Thanksgiving is the best American holiday. For me it's never been about football and certainly not about the day after. Thanksgiving is awesome. Think of Christmas. Now think of Christmas without the presents. That's what is so cool about Thanksgiving. For some reason we developed a tradition around the simple idea of getting together. It falls in the time of year that makes me think it has a lot to do with thanking God for a harvest (the fact that it's annual reminds us to thank Him regardless of the size or quality of the harvest). The harvest of the summer and autumn bring food and our creativities bring dishes to each others' homes. We get together with family and/or friends and just hang out. In this way it is a little less like Christmas, with the distractive gifts of Christmas. Thanksgiving is simply about family sharing time and food together.

Consumeristic culture can keep its football and black Friday deals. Just give us each other.

Our host family took us to the village our host dad is from. We were welcomed into his parents' home with handshakes, hugs, and kisses. These were people who had never met us, and by the way our host dad spoke on the phone with them before we left, had not planned on hosting us. Yet, when we arrived, we felt esteemed, prodigal guests. Why would these people welcome us to their home?
We exchanged names, which don't seem to be as important here as in America, and immediately began experiencing their hospitality with a quick tour of their home. It was small but very comfortable. We began sharing a meal, 90% of which came from the family's garden and stores. The work represented in this meal must have totaled in the dozens of hours. The homemade wine, vodka, and fruit juice tasted wonderful and was given freely. We all enjoyed a few laughs and exchanges of culture as we compared words and Shelbi and I tried to keep up with the Romanian.
At one point in the meal, Shelbi teared up. When our hosts asked her what she felt, she couldn't explain. I asked her what she was feeling, but I also had trouble. Finally we both said something like, "Nu sint cuvinturi," which means 'there aren't words.'
The weight of the situation had just hit her. We were thousands of miles away from our families experiencing exactly what our families would offer us if we were there. Yet there was no reason for it. Our host mom understood Shelbi clearly and voiced that we're all family, and later her mom expressed it even more completely when she said in Romanian that we're all children of God, and it doesn't matter what language you speak or where you live, but that we have God to thank for everything.

At this point the "tearing up" came down like a flood. I've never been so proud of my wife as when she expressed wordlessly to our Moldovan guests our utter appreciation for their hospitality. If pictures paint a thousand words, tears must provoke a million. The feelings I felt that were reflected in my wife's tears continue to put life in perspective for me.

So, tomorrow is Thanksgiving. My goal is to share the love I felt today with the people I encounter.

A Trip to Iaşi, Romania

Saturday the 17th we got to see a bit of Romania. We traveled by rutiera (small bus) to Iaşi (pronounced, "ee-ah-sh"), one of the closest Romanian cities to Moldova. We had to travel down to Balţi to get the correct rutiera, and at Balţi we met up with Mary O'Connor who traveled with us. The official reason for our travel, I'm ashamed to admit, was to check out a movie theater by seeing Twilight. Oh, whew, there I wrote it. But, Iaşi was so much more than a movie theater. While there we walked around the city a little and got to see a fabulous monument of Ştefan cel Mare (the sainted hero-leader of Moldavia around the turn of the 16th century), speak some authentic Romanian, and take a picture with Romanian scholar and monk Dosoftei. Don't judge us too harshly, but we were also excited to eat some McDonald's food. Here are some pictures from our day:

 Mary and Shelbi about to rip into some nachos.

 We were in a super nice movie theater. Shelbi was a little more excited about the movie choice than John was, but it was still a fun day out.

 The Hobbit preview with Romanian subtitles.

 Our KFC lunch. Fried chicken never tasted so good.

 This appears to be soviet-style architecture. We have some walls and buildings with those shield-looking pieces on the right in Chisinau, also.

 Here. Now. Pepsi.

 Just because it was strange to see Pizza Hut as we walked down the street.

 The church on the right was established by Stefan the Great.

 This is a part of the cultural palace.

 This is Ştefan cel Mare, or Stephen the Great. Some PCVs refer to him as "Big Steve."

 This is Dosoftei, a Romanian scholar, monk, and bishop.

 It's as disgusting as it looks. That was a Big Mac.

And this is what it did to me on the ride home. I guess Shelbi got this picture while I was in dream-land.
We are planning five days in Romania in a place called Gura Humorului for Christmas. We've talked with the owners of a guesthouse hotel/hostel and they are excited for us to come. They used to host a PCV. It sounds like there are some pretty cool things to see there including monasteries and some Christmas events. We'll write more about Christmas and New Year's traditions here later. Suffice it to say Shelbi is currently "researching" Moldovan New Year by watching videos of dancing, yelling, and singing "capras" (goats). It should be a fun New Year.