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.

Apparently the shower curtain is an invention which has not yet made its way to Moldova. They have computers, mp3 players, and hi-tech cell phones, but not shower curtains. I assume this is because there are few actual showers, as Americans typically use, in Moldova.

There are two primary styles of personal cleaning systems. One is the standard bathtub with a shower head attached to a hose. To wash your hair with this variety of cleaning system requires getting down on your knees, which results in dreadful knee bruises. The other style of cleaning system is the hose and hole variety. There are two knobs, one for hot water and one for cold water. However, the water comes out of an instrument closely resembling a garden hose without a nozzle and the water disappears down a hole in the floor. The hole is very unassuming, not even a grate over the hole. Both of these personal cleaning structures require an amount of skill when washing your body, because there is no way to mount the hose while utilizing the soap. Thus the two options are either to turn the water off, which is a deplorable option because once the water flow is discontinued it generally takes about 10-15 minutes for the hot water to recommence. The second option for managing the hose while soaping the body is to hold the hose in a creative fashion. The water spraying device must be controlled at all times because if the hose is released while the water is on, the result is the hose undulating about with no semblance of control. My personal tactic for hose control is to hold the hose between my knees. (If from this description you have surmised that ‘showering’ in Moldova is neither the least bit sexual nor appealing to a spectator, you are correct. The pornography business in Moldova does not include shower scenes in their videos.)

Usually both styles of cleaning system, no matter how experienced the user, result in an entirely wetted bathroom. Therefore, it is wise decision to make sure the toilet paper and towels are outside the bathroom area before proceeding with the personal cleaning process.

To get clean here it is a process that must take place in stages. Because outside the months of June and July, when one can comfortably use a sun shower, a person never takes off all their clothes to get clean. You either just wash your hair, or just wash your body, but the only regularly washed areas are the armpits and feet. It probably sounds like I am implying that everyone in Moldova is unclean, which is partially true in comparison with American standards of cleanliness. But when everyone smells a little bit and always looks a little dirty, no one notices if you are smelly and dirty.

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.

To wash clothing here is a unique process. There are some people in country who have washing machines, but they are a minority of the people in Moldova. However, even those with washing machines do not have dryers. A dryer is a precious and rare commodity in Eastern Europe.

For all those who do not posses a washer, they wash their clothes by hand.
The preferred technique for washing clothes by hand:
- Put the clothes into a small plastic tub with some detergent and water.
- Once the tub is full, take a stick and poke the clothes around a little.
- Then allow the clothes to sit in the tub of water and detergent for at least 2 hours.
- Then the dump the soapy water and add clean water.
- Then allow the clothes to sit in the clean water for about half a day.

Following this method, to do one tub of laundry, is about a day long process. The tubs used are rather small. One tub holds approximately five shirts or two pairs of pants. Thus laundry is a never ending process.

Once the clothes have been poked about and soaked, they are wrung out by hand and hung on the line to dry. Drying clothes is a very different experience in the summer than in the winter. Drying clothes in the summer is a pleasant, simple task. Because most summer days are hot, and it only rains on occasion, thus the clothes dry in about a day. In the winter drying clothes takes on a whole different tone. In the winter, you hang your clothes out and then they freeze. Clothes never completely dry outside in the winter, however for them to stop dripping water takes about 3 to 4 days; due to the fact that, the sun is only up for about 8 hours and even when the sun is up it is overcast. So, clothes are left outside just long enough for them to stop dripping water. Then the clothes are brought inside and spread all around the house to thaw and finish the process of drying.

I will never complain about going to the Laundromat again!

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.

Random Thoughts From Moldova - Part 2

- Now that I have now spent a little time outside the United States, gotten to know another culture, and met a diverse group of people hailing from many different parts of America. I feel that my perspective on American culture has changed. I think I can now say, with total honesty and sincerity: I am American by birth and southern by the grace of god.

- Sunflowers are ubiquitous in the summer, they only bloom for about two weeks but their presence can be felt long after they are gone; because, people here are perpetually eating sunflower seeds. Moldavians have a technique for eating sunflower seeds, they put a seed in their mouth and a few seconds later shells begin to emanate from their lips. But it is a continuous and rapid action. Seeds are constantly going it, and a steady flow of black shells are issuing from their mouths. When eating sunflower seeds Moldavians do not think twice about where they allow the shells to discharge from their mouths. There are shells everywhere, on the street, on the bus, in buildings, in bathrooms. Sunflower seed shells are such a problem that on some buildings there are signs on the outside that say: no dogs, no bicycles and no sunflower seeds permitted.

- The radio is always playing in my host family’s house. What is unusual about this is the selection of music that is played. One would expect to walk into a traditional Moldovan residence and hear polka style music. Not at my house, maybe we only get one radio station, but upon entrance of our house a person is serenaded by the melodious tones of rap. I can never get over the incongruity of eating traditional Moldovan chicken soup with my 40 year old, widowed host mother while listening to the lyrics of 50 cent, crooning on about his magic-stick.

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.

In Moldova there are several dishes that are on par with pickled pigs’ feet and pickled eggs as far as dietary offensiveness. The first dish I ran into was rachatoare, which is meat jello. Typically the meat flavor is chicken; however, this jello can be made from any type of meat imaginable, pig, rabbit, fish, the sky is the limit. From what I understand, they boil the meat so long that the marrow comes out of the bones. That dissolved marrow that is what achieves the jello consistency when chilled. The flavor comes from the boiled meat broth. Rachatoare tastes like salty, with a slightly detectable meat flavor. The consistency is cold and jiggley with small particles of bone, quite the unique combination of qualities.

The next dish I came across, which I found fairly unpleasant is pig skin. I know that in America we also eat pig skin, but that pig skin is fried and then consumed, but I am not a fan of pork rinds either. In Moldova instead of frying the skin they boil it. It is then served cold in long strips, which allows for the pores to be visible. The preferred method for eating a strip of pig skin is to take the skin and put salt on the side with the visible subcutaneous fat, then roll the skin up with the pore side out and eat.

I tried this dish as well, for the sake of being open to new cultural experiences, and I immediately regretted putting it in my mouth. Consumption of a pig skin requires a significant amount of gnawing because it is rubbery. Pig skin is mostly flavorless except for the salt; however, it is oily. It is so oily that it coats your lips. In my estimation the consumption of pig skin is an act that a practicing Jew would find truly offensive.

These are two Moldovan foods that I unfalteringly bypass when they come my way at.

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.

I have noticed that being in Moldova has affected my emergency response time. Lately, my response time is much slower; due to the fact that before I take action I feel it is necessary to consider if my initial response is appropriate.

For example, in America, when I saw the fence next to the house on fire and no one around, I would have immediately retrieved some water and put the fire out.

Meanwhile, in Moldova: a few weeks ago, when I returned from work I noticed that the fence next to my host family’s house was on fire. No one else was home, and no one else would be home for a few hours. However, my first response was not to get some water and put out the fire; instead, I contemplated if the fire was intentionally set and whether I would be berated for putting it out.

I did not think that the fire had been set with arsonist intentions. It seemed possible that maybe my host mother did not like the fence any longer and wanted to build a new fence, thus set the old fence on fire. When I considered archetypal Moldovan actions and the line of thinking/logic pervasive among Moldavians it seemed that the fire could quite possibly have been intentional.
Thus, my time in Moldova has slowed my reaction time from 30 seconds to about 10 minutes; because, in the end I spent about ten minutes, while the fire consumed the fence, pondering the intentionality of the fire. I chose to put the fire out.

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.

Home repair in Moldova is a grueling process and it was a mystery to me why it is such a nuisance until I realized that contractors do not exist here. If you want something done to your house, that you can not do yourself, you must find the person in the village that is capable of performing the necessary task.

Then, once you locate this individual, you must find time when he is free; because, such work is only a tangential profession. Thus, your repairs must come between corn gathering, nut collecting, pig slaughtering, etc.

Another problematic element is the level of alcohol consumption common among men of such trades, meaning you have to catch them when they are sober. Not an easy task.

Here is a story to explicate the issue: My host mother is converting a back room of the house into a new kitchen. To accomplish this she had to find a concrete worker (because houses here are only made of concrete and wall paper). It took three months for the concrete worker to refinish the walls of the new kitchen because he got a hernia, thus repairs halted until he recovered.

Then she had to find an electrician to put lights into the room. This only took a weekend, but it was a nail-biting event considering the electrician fell off the step stool several times due to his constant high blood alcohol content. I was stunned he did not electrocute himself. Although, the light switch in that room has to be operated with force to compel the light to turn on.
Finally, there was the cabinet installer. We are still waiting for him to make his final appearance and install the stove. He has been busy selling cheese.

Witnessing this ulcer inducing process of repairs makes me happy that we have contractors in America.