Orhei Host Family

For 2 months while studying Russian intensively and attending Peace Corps training sessions I lived with a retired couple in Orhei, a town 1 1/2 drive north of Chisinau (the capital of Moldova). They were very hospitable, especially considering I didn't even know how to say "hello" let alone anything else comprehensible when I first moved in. Interestingly, they are native Romanian speakers, but since everyone during the soviet era had to learn Russian we spoke in Russian to each other. Why am I learning Russian, you wonder? Because after training I was sent to live in Gagauzia, an Autonomous region in the south of Moldova filled with non-Romanian speakers who use Russian as their lingua-franca.

The two months living with Simion and Larisa were very memorable. I learned how to speak my first Russian sentences, and made many laughable mistakes in the process. We cooked apple crisp together. I played with their grandchildren- four beautiful girls! The youngest granddaughters didn't know Russian so it made for many interesting "conversations" mostly with gestures and silly facial expressions. Fortunately for me, the older girls (in high school) spoke practically fluent English and were often called upon for help- literally on the phone- to translate.
Other highlights include Toby, a plump white and black spotted puppy who greedily wanted scraps of food and constant attention. He tore plenty of holes in my socks and ate the inside of one of my shoes, but was a great friend during the time when I couldn't communicate with people. I often held him until he fell asleep. He's also the only dog I know so far in Moldova that speaks English. I taught him to bark when I said "Speak!". My host mom tried to do the same, but instead ordered him to "Sneak!".

Here is a video of one fun Saturday afternoon with my host mom and granddaughters bathing dogs, skipping rocks, and being girls.

The first two months living with a Moldovan family was also filled with many first experiences. Many with Toby involved. The outside didn't have a door on it until a month after I moved in, and Toby followed me around everywhere... including into the potty. Outhouses usually have a deep hole above which you squat over as you do your business. Little tubby Toby would wander in with me and since I was afraid he'd fall into the pit of utter smelliness and die of the fumes never to be heard from again, I would hold Toby in one hand and wipe and put on my pants with the other. You can imagine how happy I was when a door was finally put on the outhouse! At least I won't be charged with puppy murder, as that would've been a grave hindrance to "community integration", as the Peace Corps likes to calls it.

Other firsts in Orhei include an introduction to people's apathy that I heard so much about before coming to Moldova. If anything was broken, including the door handle, or if there was no water for 3 days, one grunt sound I hear continuously that expresses this apathetic attitude is "Ehh". In other words, who cares, not a big deal, not worth putting any energy (or money) into doing anything about it. Sadly this attitude is prevalent in many parts of life here in Moldova. Garbage in the streets, stray dogs, polluted water, alcoholism, domestic violence, the list goes on. "Ehh."

On the bright side, I've really found the people of Moldova to be incredibly hospitable. If you come here, be prepared to eat more food than is humanly possible to appease your hosts.

Here is short video of Orhei Town. Making this video was a training project to show what resources we have in our community. Parts might not be too exciting, but you can see where I lived for 2 months. (Please ignore the spelling mistakes as the software program I use decided to eat the last letter of most titles instead of publishing them that day. Very finicky.)

I'll leave you with someone else's video about a phenomenon in a parking lot by a restaurant in Orhei. Everyone knows that if you put your car in neutral at the bottom of the slope it will move forward, up the hill, on its own. I've been shown it about 3 times and it works. The car even jolts forward sometimes. Many people say it's because of magnetic forces, the Romania & Moldova Lonely Planet travel book says, "In the parking lot of Cafe Safari resaurant is a supposed 'magnetic hill'. Nazis were reputed to have buried Jews alive here, and strange happenings are alleged to occur in the area." Kind of spooky if that's true. Of course no local has mentioned the Nazi story.. just that it's a magnetic phenomenon. Certainly is interesting!