Culture in Chisenau

Today Sarah and I spent the afternoon and evening together just being Canadians in Chisenau. It was the wine-tasting festival and the street was closed off and people were everywhere. There was a whole string of wine-tasting booths which we avoided in favour of the parallel food booths. Managed to communicate what we wanted food-wise, and then went looking for a table. There were none empty but some vacant seats on the end of one bench at a table. The people warmly welcomed us to sit down and began conversing with us in a great deal of Romanian. I understood virtually none and Sarah understood a bit more than that. The woman sitting next to me was very close and very friendly - arm around the shoulder, offering me wine and cheese, etc - while her brother was telling her to leave me alone and let me eat (I guess). It was quite hilarious and we took a picture and the other lady gave Sarah their phone number... go figure!
Then later we walked through the park on the way to the coffee shop where we planned to eat supper. Halfway through we saw a bride and groom with a whole group of dancers in traditional Moldovan costumes dancing around them! It was amazing! What fun! It turned out the dancers weren't even with the wedding party but were with one of the wine factories and just happened to see the couple and decided to help them celebrate. It was awesome.
The plan for the evening was to attend the opera - Sarah's first! So for 20 lei (@$2) we each purchased a ticket to Tosca and saw the performance in the Chisenau Opera and Ballet Theatre. In spite of the great price, there weren't a lot of people in the theatre but those that were, were not quite like a Toronto audience. For example a girl in front of us was receiving and making calls on her mobile during the performance. Across the aisle from us was a guy who obviously was a great opera fan and felt compelled to sing along with some of the best songs. (I kid you not.) The lady next to me had actually come to advertise some organ concerts and leaned over to me after the first act to tell me about them - when I didn't understand, one of the girls in front of us translated for us. The lady wasn't there for the third act - maybe she didn't like the show.... During the second intermission, Sarah, who could never be described as shy, heard some people speaking English so she walked over and introduced herself to them. I came over too. It turned out they were with the Salvation Army - Norwegians working in Moldova and friends visiting them from the US. We had a nice chat and they helped us get the story straight about the opera since we didn't know the story line and we couldn't figure out the Romanian program. At the end of the program people from the audience took flowers up on stage to the performers. The funny thing was that they gave flowers to the two male leads but the female lead wasn't given any flowers! There is no end of surprises here including the washrooms we finally found in the basement of the opera house and then almost got locked in by the time we made our way back to the entrance. We had SUCH a fun time today!
Took a taxi home successfully but only because Sarah knows enough Romanian to tell the driver which way to go - and she knows the way home. She has truly been a gift to me - not only in the fun we had together but in the sharing and encouraging we were able to give each other. She misses her mom and I miss my daughter so we're a good combo. Thank you, Lord!
Tomorrow I will attend a Moldovan Baptist church in Oru (?) with Matthew and some others. Watch for more details...