Peace Corps: The Moldovan Wine festival

08/10/2011

Wine fest:

I left my village at 7:00 in the morning. I then took a four hour bus ride to Chisnau, with a stop along the way in Drochia, the raion nearest to my village. When I arrived in Chisinau I walked to Peace Corps headquarters and took a shower, the first one I had had in about a month. Baths are a regular thing, but showers are not because my family does not have one. After my shower, I hooked up with some other volunteers and we made our way to wine fest. We walked to a rutiera stop and took that to another that went near the Moldovan Expo center where the wine festival was held. The wine festival celebrates wine in Moldova. Since wine is so important, it makes sense that they would have a festival to honor it. When we got there, we waited for one of our fellow volunteers who was already there to meet us at the entrance. When he found us, we made our way back into the festival. On the way to the stage, we passed numerous honey and goods stands. I didn’t buy anything since I will have a chance next year and I was feeling too cheap to spend my money, knowing that I would undoubtedly spend a lot on various things through the course of the weekend. When I passed the stage, some people were performing Moldovan folk music. Anyway, after we walked around for a bit, we found the rest of the people that we were looking for, and went to find food. The lines for food were pretty long, but it was worth the wait. I had a sausage with some sashlik (barbequed meat). I had two different kinds. Eventually, I left the festival and went to Peace Corps to get my stuff. I relaxed there for a little while and then went to the hostel that I had stayed at before. The guy working there was from Seattle, Washington. I am always surprised when I see people from the US in Moldova. I can’t remember exactly why he was there. Regardless, the hostel is definitely a great place to meet interesting people. After talking to some other volunteers, I went to bed around one, the latest I had stayed up for about four weeks.

9/10/2011:

On Sunday, I was woken up earlier than I wanted to by a large group of Peace Corps volunteers that were leaving relatively early to go help in an orphanage. I tried to go back to sleep, but around 8:30 I got out of bed and had breakfast. I had some toast with some melted cheese on it, along with some tea. After I had gotten ready, I drank some more tea and talked to a person from Germany. He was living in Romania, but decided to spend a few days in Moldova. There were also two people visiting from Japan. I can’t recall why they were there. After drinking tea, and around 11, I decided to head out. I went first to the mall and bought some groceries and ice cream. I think the ice-cream I had was probably the closest to pink berry I will find while in Moldova. It was normal vanilla ice cream, but I was able to put fruit and chocolate sauce on it. It was pretty good. Afterwards, since it was raining, I called a cab and went to Peace Corps. I hung out at Peace Corps for a while. While there, I watched part of Austin Powers. I had to leave to catch my bus before the movie was over. I think I might download it though.

The trip back to my village was long, but uneventful. It was raining, dark, and cold when I finally arrived in Cotova. I basically got home, ate dinner, unpacked, and then went to bed. On Monday, school started again.

Some pictures from the wine festival: