The park
bench. As part of a larger project at my
work site, we raised funds to buy two park benches for the outdoor activity
area at the center. For a few days, my
partner, Sergiu, and I have been looking at the internet to see what was
available in Moldova. Most of the sites
we found were in Chisinau and the cost of a park bench was 2,700 lei ( $200).
Sergiu was concerned about the transportation cost to deliver park
benches from Chisinau to Piatra. It
probably would cost 500 lei ($35) extra to bring them the 40 miles here. So far you probably think we are talking
about pretty small change, but to Sergiu the price of one park bench is more
money than he makes in one month.
So we
decided to shop local and see if we could save the transportation cost. Early in the morning I went to Orhei with
Sergiu (10 miles). We began by walking
around town observing different styles of park benches. The plaza of Vasile Lupo has just installed
some very attractive benches. We walked
down the street to the Casa Cultura and saw a more modest style without a back
support, just a flat seat surface on metal supports. How do you like those? Sergiu asked. Well for me I like a back rest, but this is
mostly for children who will probably not notice, and its probably a cheaper
product. ‘They’re OK’, I said somewhat
hesitantly.
Back we walk to the center
part of town and keep on walking behind some buildings to what looks like a
deserted alley. There are some buildings
here but they look abandoned. In we walk
to a courtyard. Here is a metal worker
painting a metal structure with gold paint over black to make it look like a
distressed gold burnishing. We’ve come
to ask about benches, Sergiu says. The
man says the expensive part of it is getting the wood. It’s hard to get. I have to go to Chisinau myself and bring it
here. He takes us up a back stairway
that is entirely metal made. I say to
myself, this man has made sure his everyday workshop is a safe place to
be. He shows us the drawings of his
bench product and we ask ‘how much?’ Of
course he says 2,700 lei. (Does he check
the internet?) I am somewhat hesitant to
encourage this option. I see the person
is a one man shop, he has other business on hand. It may take a long time to finalize this
deal. We leave the shop with a promise
to call.
I'm thinking to myself, why don't we just go to Chisinau, buy them and spend the $35 to deliver them?
We go back
to main street and notice some very nice park benches outside the Codru
Restaurant. We ask at the restaurant,
Where did you buy these benches? 'Go
around back to the office and ask' was our answer. We enter the back door and find some office
type people. They hear our question
about benches and say that they came from a shop in Orhei. Sergiu tries to get information about where the
supplier is located. On the road to
Balti, just as you leave Orhei, on the left.
That’s about all we have to work on.
Sergiu says we need to go to the autogara ( bus station) to catch a bus
going in the direction explained. We
walk to the autogara.
When we
arrived at the autogara, Sergiu kind of knew where to stand to catch the bus
going north. After we stood around
looking like we knew what we were doing, Sergiu approached a group of drivers
that were killing time before their departures.
He asks them questions about a metal works place just outside of
town. 'Mmmm I don’t know, yeah maybe
there is, yes, yes…on the left.' OK, maybe we were going to find it.
he bus didn’t leave for 45 more minutes. It’s a hot summer day in the 80’s and we have
time to kill in the parking lot. (At
this point, an American would buy a coke or at least a bottle of water). I thought that at this point I should use my
networking skills and make a few calls on my phone. I call one PCV who works at the Chamber of
Commerce in Orhei. Can you find out where
the Raion Center got those new benches in the plaza? I try another PCV who works with a business
development organization here. ‘Well my
partner has a very good wood work shop and makes all sorts of things.’ No solid leads as yet.
The bus
leaves and within 10 minutes we are there.
I paid for both of us as we left the bus. Our village bus is 5 lei, so I gave the
driver 10 lei. When we got off, Sergiu
says how much did you pay? I say 10
lei. Oh, no! he says. It was only 3 lei apiece. These type of money mistakes just kill
Sergiu. Consider that one lei is less
than a US dime. We find ourselves in
something of a factory zone. With a
little walking around we find the metal works shop. ‘Do you make benches?’ Yes, indeed and we are shown exactly the
type of park bench we were admiring in front of the Codru restaurant. ‘How much?’
Well it’s the wood that makes it expensive. We’ve heard this before. ‘One thousand one hundred lei 1,100 lei. ‘
BINGO! We’ll take two of
those. How soon can we have them? In about three weeks.
This looks
like about the best deal we could hope for.
We’re getting a quality bench made right here in our raion center for
half the price of the Chisinau market or of the one man artistan shop in
Orhei. Believe me, by the time we were
done with this shopping exposition, I was ready for a park bench.
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