41: Vin de Casa (House Wine)

I stole this pic from google images.
My pictures of anything wine related are severely lacking.

Whenever I stop and I try and think of the three things that define Moldova more than any other or even just asking a Moldovan what they are most proud of I think the answer would almost always be:  Moldovan wine, Moldovan Orthodox traditions, and the Moldovan/Romanian Language. Wine in Moldova is not simply a drink that is consumed with a meal it is a very serious part of their culture. Whenever any event or holiday happens you can be assured that it has not properly been celebrated unless there was wine involved. Wine is also how Moldovans display their hospitality by offering it to any visitors who come to their house and since every house usually makes their own wine each vin de casa is unique and in a way defines that household from others. Recently we had a person from the neighborhood come over to our house and actually serve us with their house wine as they invited us to a party which is a much different approach to the average party invitation. My host mother also refuses to serve placinta without accompanying it with wine which is notable because it is the only meal we have with wine when we are at home without guests.

I should also note that the actual way wine is consumed is quite different from the way it is consumed in America. Instead of a wine glass with a tiny dab of wine that you sip on throughout your meal, in Moldova it is much more common to have wine in glasses that have more in common with juice glasses, and the way the wine is consumed is much more like a shot with everyone taking the whole glass of wine all at one time. There are also several variations on how it is served with each person given a glass and everyone takes the round at the same time after a short toast or if there aren't enough glasses only one glass will be used and it will be shared with everyone around the table with each person filling the glass saying a toast of good health to the others at the table chugging the wine and passing the glass to the next person. This usually continues until the pitcher that the host filled from their wine barrel is empty and as I have mentioned many times before the host is usually very adamant on making sure no one leaves until all the wine has been served from the pitcher... but also it is very likely that after the last of the wine is served that the host will try to run off with the pitcher to fill it up again. At which point if the whole group doesn't get up to leave then the whole group will most likely be forced to finish off the second pitcher as well.

I've never had much experience with wine outside of Moldova so I'm not sure if this is true with wine in general but one way to know if someone has been indulging in house wine is just to wait until they smile and observe the color of their teeth. House wine has a habit of staining teeth bluish and it really only takes two glasses to make a noticeable effect and it only gets worse with the more wine you drink.

Finally I plan on writing about Moldovan folk music in a future post but since wine is a major theme in Moldovan folk songs I will give you an example and you will have to wait for further explanation in the future.

I previously posted about how Moldovans make wine in a past post but in case you missed it or want to read it again you can find it here. 

There are some pics of me recently going on a wine tour that can be found here. Which also reminds me that vin de casa taste nothing like professionally made wine. 

42: 5 dollar gas

So while not that many people in my village drive cars there are a few people who own and operate cars on a daily basis and the cities in Moldova are of course filled with people drive around guzzling gas just like in any country. What always has surprised me is just how expensive the gas is here compared to what I am used to.

I just took this picture this week and it shows that gas prices are about 17 lei for each liter which once you translate the measurements comes out to about $5.20 for each gallon. Although it should be noted that they don't sell regular 89 the cheapest is 92 plus and of course the more expensive 95 supreme.

My favorite part about riding in a car with people is when we hit a hill they kill the engine and ride the momentum down the hill and turn the engine on once we need to accelerate. At those prices I can completely understand although really that is still better than most other places in Europe. So for all those Americans out there who still find reason to complain about gas prices the next time you see the gas prices rise you should do a quick google search for gas prices in Turkey or the Netherlands and you will see the world in a whole new light.

Oh, and in Moldova the gas is never self serve so you never have to leave your car you just let the man at the pump handle it for you and oddly enough the man at the pump is usually wearing a very sturdy looking jumpsuit. Which I guess when you think about the material he is handling it really isn't odd at all just odd to me since as an American I'm used to being rather careless with my gasoline pumping.

43: A Bear of a Dog and Moldovan Mutts

I wasn't planning on doing animal posts three days in a row but yesterday I had another encounter with the largest dog I have ever met. She lives with a family who work in the embassy and have dinners at their house once a week. Since the dinners usually happen in the middle of the week I have been unable to go since July and when I was there that time I didn't have my camera so I wasn't able to share with everyone the bear of a dog I got to eat dinner with the last time I was there. This time, however, I had my camera.

However, since this is supposed to be posts related to Moldova I will run with the topic of dogs and see what I can come with.

Peace Corps Moldova's newest member

The first thing that comes to mind is the overwhelming amount of stray dogs you find in the capital city. They are usually friendly but are a lot more apprehensive to human contact since people in Moldova have more a tendency to hit or kick them if they get in the way. They also tend to form little dog packs so its not unusual to be walking down the street and have a pack of 5 dogs just run past you on their way to their next meal.

Our guard dog Vova (which is the short form of the name Vladimir)

Also, no Moldovan house would be complete without its guard dog. Whenever someone comes over to visit they usually stand outside the gate of the house and call out for the person they are looking for, usually though unless the windows are open you probably won't hear anyone calling out for you. This is where the dog comes in, as soon as someone calls out from the gate the dog starts barking and the barking is usually a lot more effective than the actual calling out. 

I should also note that almost all dogs you will find in Moldova are mutts and are all about the same size. Whenever, I have run into pure-bred dogs or at least dogs that held stronger resemblances to specific breeds I have usually caught myself doing a double take. Which brings me to my next subject: ляля or Lyalya.

The face she gives me when I don't give her food. 

Our other dog is not a mutt like Vova she is purer bred though I really can't think of what she might be. However, I can tell you that she is a bottomless pit for food and will forget within a minute of her last meal that you fed her and will constantly bark until she gets more food...although you can distract her for a while by playing she will eventually get bored of playing and go back to barking.

44: Public Enemy #1

In contrast to the lovable and docile, albeit sometimes stubborn goats that sit peacefully in the pastures there are also marauding hoards of loud, exceptionally combative and forever grumpy geese whose chief goal in life is to wander around aimlessly in groups and make as much noise as possible when anyone or anything gets within a certain range of their personal space.

However...they are delicious...so I guess there's that.

45: Goats and Other Assorted Living Lawn Ornaments

Consistently one of my favorite parts of Moldova that always makes me smile is surprisingly the goats. They are everywhere...no really. Everywhere. Anywhere you go that might have even the smallest patch of grass is a good enough spot for someone to park their goat for the day.

Every morning anyone with a goat will take it for a walk to a nearby pasture and hammer down a post to keep them tied down. This isn't just true for goats but also for cows and horses as well, however goats are the most common. Although this isn't a year round occurrence as animals are usually kept at home in the winter and during the summer it becomes more common to have a shepherd take care of your sheep along with pretty much everyone else's in the village as everyone is too busy with the harvest and their gardens to take care of them. This has the added advantage of them most likely coming home pregnant in time to have a baby goat in the fall and the kid will have enough time to fatten up through the winter in order to be slaughtered in the Spring. The slaughter is all but assured since lamb or mutton is the traditional centerpiece of the Easter feast in Moldova.

Goats tend to be more common than cows and as such goats milk is more often used to make cheese and other dairy products which are a major part of the Moldovan cuisine. Although cow's milk is readily available at the market...however oddly enough it usually comes in a plastic packet and not a bottle which no one has been able to explain.

Seriously. I don't get it.

46: My Classroom

My classroom in Moldova that I taught in for most of the two years since I initially taught on the third floor of the building for a few months until we were moved to the first floor.

Some key elements to take notice of is the giant poster in the back of the class. Every single Moldovan classroom will have a poster of some sort of beautiful landscape. I would assume it gives the teacher something nice to look at while they are teaching. But for me it had a lot of practical uses and I can't begin to number the amount of times I used to illustrate a new vocabulary word we were learning that I somehow found a way to tie into that landscape.

The turkeys that set up shop outside my classroom window on Thanksgiving to not only remind me that I had to go to school but also that I wouldn't be getting any Turkey on Turkey day.

And lastly in the winter time the furnace that heats the school is right by my classroom so whenever the horse drawn cart full of coal pulls up next to the furnace the horse is perfectly positioned at the window to my class, which is always the biggest distraction you can imagine.

47: School Art

I showed these pictures in the Fall of 2011 but they are so well done I thought I should showcase them as an example of some very talented Moldovans.