The following are strictly personal views/observations and in no way reflect the views of the Peace Corp nor the federal government of the United States.
Finally...internet acess, oh how I have missed it.
Moldova is quite a change from the United States, more than I had anticipated.
The capital city, Chisinau, was everything I had imagined that a city in a post commuist country would be; crumbling buildings and a plethora of monuments honoring Lenin.
I am currently living in a village outside Orheii, which is a medium sized town north of Chisinau. Here in the village there are a tremendous number of farm animals roaming the streets. Goats, sheep, cows, horses, ducks, turkey, chickens, and some incredibly mangy cats and dogs. Hopefully soon I will be able to post some pictures.
The electricity is available most of the time, occassionally it will just go off for a half a day or so. Although the power not being available doesnt seem to phase any of the Moldovan locals, obviously it is a very common occurance.
There is running water, however, it is only running about one hour a day. What hour of the day it is, no one knows. Could be in the morning, could be at night, could be that it didnt come on at all. Its a guess and check system, you turn on the faucet and hope that something resembling water comes out of it. When the water is not running, which is almost all of the time, then it must be fetched from the well. The well is not the kind from the 1900s with a pump, its the kind from the 1300s with a bucket that is dropped into a stone lined hole. I have gotten water from the well several times and it is a workout. Water is heavy!
Showering/bathing is done by fetching water from the well, then heating it on the stove and mixing it with a bucket of cold water. This produces water that is just below scalding temperatures. Then this just below boiling water is dumped into two small plastic tubs which are inside a large bath tub. After all the preparation comes the process of bathing and washing one's hair.
You stand in the tub and using a plastic cup pour the hot water over you. It is difficult to capture with the written word the complete unpleasantness of bathing/showering in this manner. Needless to say, Im a dirty girl. Ive cut back on hair washing to one or two times a week, bathing to three or four times a week.
The food is good, or at least I enjoy it. Although I do need some heat, and neither spicy foods nor hot sauce exist here. The Moldovan diet, from my experience, consists of alot of homemade cheese, bread, pork, cabbage salad, and wine. The wine is drank in quantity almost every day and thus far it has all been homemade and it is awesome! (Eat your heart out Corky)
Finally...internet acess, oh how I have missed it.
Moldova is quite a change from the United States, more than I had anticipated.
The capital city, Chisinau, was everything I had imagined that a city in a post commuist country would be; crumbling buildings and a plethora of monuments honoring Lenin.
I am currently living in a village outside Orheii, which is a medium sized town north of Chisinau. Here in the village there are a tremendous number of farm animals roaming the streets. Goats, sheep, cows, horses, ducks, turkey, chickens, and some incredibly mangy cats and dogs. Hopefully soon I will be able to post some pictures.
The electricity is available most of the time, occassionally it will just go off for a half a day or so. Although the power not being available doesnt seem to phase any of the Moldovan locals, obviously it is a very common occurance.
There is running water, however, it is only running about one hour a day. What hour of the day it is, no one knows. Could be in the morning, could be at night, could be that it didnt come on at all. Its a guess and check system, you turn on the faucet and hope that something resembling water comes out of it. When the water is not running, which is almost all of the time, then it must be fetched from the well. The well is not the kind from the 1900s with a pump, its the kind from the 1300s with a bucket that is dropped into a stone lined hole. I have gotten water from the well several times and it is a workout. Water is heavy!
Showering/bathing is done by fetching water from the well, then heating it on the stove and mixing it with a bucket of cold water. This produces water that is just below scalding temperatures. Then this just below boiling water is dumped into two small plastic tubs which are inside a large bath tub. After all the preparation comes the process of bathing and washing one's hair.
You stand in the tub and using a plastic cup pour the hot water over you. It is difficult to capture with the written word the complete unpleasantness of bathing/showering in this manner. Needless to say, Im a dirty girl. Ive cut back on hair washing to one or two times a week, bathing to three or four times a week.
The food is good, or at least I enjoy it. Although I do need some heat, and neither spicy foods nor hot sauce exist here. The Moldovan diet, from my experience, consists of alot of homemade cheese, bread, pork, cabbage salad, and wine. The wine is drank in quantity almost every day and thus far it has all been homemade and it is awesome! (Eat your heart out Corky)
posted by Klharmon | 5:42 AM
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