Neverending celebrations

The holidays are still going strong here in Moldova. On January 7 I got to experience my first Orthodox Christmas celebration, and the Old New Year will be celebrated January 13-14. For Christmas, I had the chance to go to a village in Gagauzia with my co-worker/friend Aliona. We arrived at her house on the evening of the 6th and I was able to be a part of the tradition in the villages where boys dressed in traditional Moldovan costume go around to all the houses and sing carols. Then we put flowers in their hats and give them money and a special round bread (although Aliona’s mom decided to give cake instead this year). By doing this, the people of the house ensure that they will have a good harvest and luck throughout the year. One of the boys also had to play the role of the cat who runs in at the end as they are about to leave and steals the money and bread from the guys. It was pretty entertaining.


On the 7th I went with Aliona and her parents to her cousin’s house and celebrated Christmas there with her relatives. Here they are.


I tried a new kind of food which is this meat jello type dish that I’ve heard other friends have had to try with their host families and I haven’t been looking forward to encountering. Yeah I wasn’t a big fan. The other stuff was good though and we had lots of toasts to give because it was going to be my birthday the next day, Aliona’s mom’s the next, and Aliona’s mom’s older sister’s on the 13th. My friend taught me how to say cheers in Gagauzian which is something like salac Allah versin and everyone got a kick out of me saying this. After dinner we went back to Aliona’s house and watched TV for a while then Aliona and I went to the village disco to meet her cousins. This was a lot more fun than I expected. It was just like in the US when you come home from college for winter break and go to the bar and everyone you know from high school is there. The DJ played one Ace of Base song I knew and then the rest was mostly traditional Gagauzian music. I got to dance the hora a couple of times so that was a first for me. That’s the traditional circle dance you see a lot in Moldova and other countries where you hold hands with everyone and sashay around the circle crossing your feet or kicking your legs up now and then. I got to meet a bunch of people including a couple of girls my age who were absolutely amazed to see an American there and I had fun talking to them. Here is a picture of the outside of the retro disco.


Overall, I thought life in the village seemed pretty good but it’s also one of the biggest villages with more than 12,000 people and I was staying in a newly renovated apartment. However, there are no jobs to speak of, most people have outhouses instead of bathrooms (including the disco), and often they do not have running water and their houses can be very cold. I like how in the villages everyone knows each other and says hi on the street and that they still carry out all these old traditions. I’m looking forward to visiting more villages around Moldova soon.

I left Congaz in the afternoon on the 8th, my birthday, and since it was difficult to find a bus because of the holiday my friend flagged someone down who was driving to Chisinau and I went with 2 other guys who were waiting at the bus stop to go to Chisinau as well. We got there a lot faster than we would have with the bus and I didn’t feel unsafe at all. The guy blasted Russian pop music the whole way and no one talked at all. He dropped us off in the center and he didn’t want to accept any money from us but I gave him 50 lei anyway which is what it would cost for the bus. About $5 for a 2.5 hour drive.

So then it was time to celebrate my birthday. I had planned with Melissa and Liz to go out to dinner because we hadn’t seen each other for a long time and had a lot to catch up on about our holiday travels. Melissa came to my house and brought earrings from Italy as well as an amazingly random bag of gifts from her host mom which included a liter of homemade wine, a bath towel, a Milka chocolate bar, soap, deodorant, hand cream, and probably something else I'm forgetting. Quite a surprise. Liz decided to stay in a hostel in Chisinau because she just really loves doing that and she met a couple of American guys and an Israeli guy who were visiting Moldova so they came out with us too. We met up with other Fulbrighters, Peace Corps Volunteers, and my Russian friend at Bier Platz. My Russian friend decided that we should carry out a Moldovan tradition and I got a little nervous when I saw him plotting with Melissa and Liz. He got 4 of the Peace Corps guys to lift me up in my chair 23 times and sing happy birthday and since my friend is really into photography he took a bunch of pictures of this happening in which I probably look absolutely terrified because I thought I was going to die. It was a cute idea though.

I will upload pictures from all the excitement soon. Don't worry.