Saturday, April 30, 2011

A visit to the Moldovan Village of Giurgiulesti

First, I apologize for not posting for almost one month.  Hard for me to believe it has been that long.  Anyway, we had a wonderful experience this week.  Vitali Neculseanu is a graduate student at the Technical University of Moldova and he helps Bob with translating two lectures per week, assignments, tests, and helping to solve problems.  He is a hard working young man who is Bob's friend and my friend also.  He invited us to visit his family in the Moldovan Village of Giurgiulesti.  We decided to rent a car with our friend Rod.  It was a big adventure for the three of us.   An opportunity to see the Moldova countryside and visit a village.  We made it fine, stopping to take a few photos along the way.


A village graveyard along the way.


It was taking us a long time so we had to stop for a snack.

We saw this stork with a baby in the nest in one of the villages.  Wow!

Vitali's mother Angela, his younger brother Andrew and his father Andre.  Rod, our friend was also invited (foreground).  It was a warm spring day and this is a semi enclosed patio.


The chickens were right outside the patio.  Always thought I would enjoy owning some chickens.  Now, after listening to them for a day and a half I have decided that if I ever have chickens they will be free range chickens.

The dinner was amazing.  There were so many serving plates on the table it was difficult to add more, but they did.  We had barbecued fresh fish, fresh roasted lamb, sarmale (a type of stuffed cabbage), salads, home made wine, home made rakia (very strong) and scotch.  Whenever your plate was clean or your glass was less than half full, they offered more.   After we had eaten for awhile, some of their relatives started to arrive.  This is Vitali's grandmother sitting with Rod.  Her name is Katarina.



The music was wonderful and we even danced a couple of times, Moldovan Folk style dance (as best we could).

The next day everyone was hung over.   Katarina made borsh soup for us which is a sure cure for any hangover.  I am not sure about that.  We went to their home which was about half a block away for soup, we thought, but when we arrived it was another large scale meal with many serving plates.  Vitali's grandfather even brought out more home made wine.  Bob, Rod and I were not feeling too good so we only ate the soup.  It was enough.  We toured their small farm, it was amazing.


Love the Moldovan Folk dancing.


Anna with baby chicks.  Angela and Katarina standing by their community oven that will bake about 15 loaves of bread.

Vitali's grandfather has many grape vines and makes delicious home made wine.


Vitali's home in Giurgiulesti and his mother and father.  We both enjoyed this visit so much.  It was an experience we will remember for many years.

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