Random Glimpses

It's harvest season, and the main crop harvested in Moldova is grapes! The other evening on the way home from work we were behind this truck and, as you can see, it is full to the brim with... grapes! We have a grapevine in the garden of the OM base and on the way to and from the office, you can just hide under the grape arbor and have your fill - or grab a bunch of grapes and take with you. :-)

One morning when I parked my car in the upper parking area (actually an empty lot) there was a horrendous, loud, continual bleating sound. Not far from where I was, there was a goat, fastened on a rope and standing on a pile of sound. Crying. Bleating. All day long. His mournful cry echoed in the empty lot surrounded by half-constructed building. Poor thing. Other days there is a cow fastened by the path to the Mission Centre. Or sometimes there is a horse tied up near the driveway. You never know what the animal accompaniment for the day might be. But if you're wondering whether Corinne is at the office or the Mission Centre, just take a look to see if her dog Silas is anywhere nearby. Where Silas is, Corinne is - and vice versa. Corinne had a few of us over to her place for supper last Saturday. She and her dog and her cat Jonah entertained us in fine style.

Every property is generally surrounded by a fence. It's the first thing you build when you're starting a new construction. Our new building is fairly high so I can get some good perspective on what's beneath. Here's a picture of our side and the neighbour's side of the fence. Actually, it's a picture of their outhouse. We demolished the pathetic outhouse we had because we now have indoor plumbing - and electricity too so you don't have to light a candle to see in the bathroom anymore. On the right side of the fence, you can see the beginning of the terra cotta basketball court we are installing.

I wanted my roommate Viorica to teach me how to make Moldovan food. One of the basic foods is mamaliga. She showed me how the other night. Basically, mamaliga is cornmeal and water. They serve it with meat sauce or eggs, brinza (sheep cheese), sour cream, and garlic mixed in oil. Here's the evening meal in my apartment, with the mamaliga in the middle of the table. Lilia is on the left and Viorica on the right.