Springtime Walk

Let's take a walk!

Raut River

A footbridge

We did it, we crossed the bridge.

Village of Jeloboc

Follow the trial up.

I know we can do it.

Looking north.

Looking south.

Looking west at Jeloboc

My house is above the blue one on the left.

Following the river west we see Piatra.

yellow peaks in center is where I volunteer.

There's the village of Piatra.

blue roof to left is church, center counated is casa cultura

The river turns again towards Orhei.

We return as we came.

Hi there.  Let's take a walk on this beautiful Spring day.  It's always beautiful down here by the river.  Today we're going to cross this foot bridge and see what things are like from the other side.  There's the village of Jeloboc.  How strange to be looking at it from over here.  We're going to take this well worn trail up to the ridge.  I know we can do it.  Here's the view north of the Raut River.  Do a 180, and there's the valley looking south.  As we look west across the rive we can see the village laid out before us.  See the blue house in the closeup center left?  Well the house right above it on the hill is where I live.  And I've been looking at this ridge for the last 575 days!  Next we follow the river around the bend and look west.  See the yellow building in the center of the next picture?   Thats the Centrul Comunitar Multifunctional Universul where I volunteer 5 days a week.  I present to you the village of Piatra.  The village church is the blue roof on the left bottom corner, and center with columnated front is the Casa Cultura.  To the right with obvious red tiled roofs is the Primavera (mayor's office) and the Gradinita (kindergarten).  The river bends again as it leads to Orhei.  Time to walk back down and take the bridge.  Looks like we're not the only one's out for a Spring walk.  Baaa!

How are things in Taraclia

KOMPAT  =  Comrat

Taraclia , a city on hillsides

Sitting on the Peace Bench

The primeria in Taraclia

The raion center of Teraclia Raion

Casa Cultura with statue of Lenin

World War II Memorial

Local heroine nurse comrade.

a local school

Woman Soldier

New Park in city center

200th Anniversary of Teraclia 1813-2013

lama and Peace Bench

Orthodox Church

City Piata

Uncle Sasa's 

How are things in Taraclia ?

How are things in Taraclia?   I always have a melody in my head when I say that sentence that goes "How are things in Glocamora?"  If you know the tune, I'm glad I shared that with you.  Taraclia is a city that is about 100 miles south of Chisinau in Moldova.  That puts it in the southern tip of the country and I was anxious to visit.  The trip takes about 3 hours by bus or rutiera from the capital.  Half way there is a 20 minute stop in the city of Comrat.  Notice in our first picture that Comrat is spelled Kompat.   That's how it is spelled in Russian.  At this point in our journey south, the lingua franca turns from Romanian to Russian.  When I arrived in Taraclia I noticed that it was a city built on hillsides.  I was anxious to visit because my friend Sylvia (another PCV) lives here.  She showed me around town.  Main street has a new supermaket that just opened this year.  The first in town.  The primeria (mayor's office) has a pretty garden in front of it.  Taraclia is also a raion center (county seat) and has a handsome office building for it.  Across from it is the casa cultura with a statue of  Lenin guarding the front door.  On Main St. there is a World War II Memorial that depicts a local heroine, a nurse who was active in the defense force against the nazi army.  A local school also has a monument to a female warrior of this period. Looks like the women of Taraclia are not to be messed with.  There's a new upgraded park in town center that helps commemorate the 200th anniversary of Taraclia which was founded in 1813.  One of the sculptures in the park reminds us of a Lama, but we suspect it was meant to be a forest deer.  Next to the lama is the Peace Bench.  The story is that a married couple would come to the park to air their differences.  They got so excited in their argument they broke the bench in the middle.  Then suddenly they slid into each other's arms and all was well again.  The break in the bench has been kept so that others may benefit from its effects.  Next we see the main orthodox church here.  Immediately next to the church is the city's piata (market).  I took a picture of Uncle Sasa's establishment which offers ritual preparation (washing of the dead for burial) as well as light refreshments (bar).  But Taraclia has some fancy restaurants and we enjoyed a fine meal at one of them.  How are things
in Taraclia?  I'd say they are Buna !

Women in March

Women and the month of March.  You may wonder what's the connection.  Well 8th of March is International Women's Day and it's a widely celebrated day on this side of the Atlantic Ocean.  In Moldova this day actually doubles as Mother's Day as well.  So Opt Martie (8th of March) is all about honoring our women folk.  There was a special program given at our local school here in Piatra to honor the day.  You see some young students welcoming us to the school for the event.  If you can make it out in the second picture, the theme on the wall says "Sarut Femeie mina ta!"  which means Kiss the Hand of the Women. This saying actually has cultural roots in the custom of men actually kissing the hand of women they met for the first time.  Our masters of ceremony are dressed in the red and white colors of "martisor" or the beginning of Spring.  Notice that quite a few of our young ladies go all out to look their best for the day.  Our program included an adult female ensemble from a neighboring village.  They were accompanied by an accordion.  A junior dance ensemble of our own school children also performed.  I uploaded a little of the action for you to enjoy.

Moving along, a week later, we had Baba Dochia Day.  Baba means old woman.  Now there are many legends connected with Baba Dochia regarding the start of Spring.  We had a special program at our community center to share the stories with the children.  They helped tell the story by reciting some poems about the famous Baba.  Most notably the baba takes off her winter coat and gives it a good shake.  Like the winds of Spring, this causes a good bit of dust to fly in the air.  But the program was a lot of fun, and to celebrate we even had popcorn!   The Baba did such a good job of shaking off the last of winter that we could all go outside and enjoy the sunshine.  I hope you too will be able to go out and enjoy the fresh winds of Spring soon.