A tour of Piatra, ORHEI

Well like I've mentioned before, Piatra and Jeloboc are twin villages under one comune government, that being Primaria Piatra.  And here's the Doamna Primarita (Da Mayor) hard at work at her office.  The local government serves about 3,000 people.  They figure the number is a little high because many families have members abroad in other countries working to help make ends meet.   They often are away for years at a time and sometimes they don't return at all..  We observe the local orthodox church.  Almost all Moldovans are orthodox christians...98%.   Next we walk by a "fintina"  or well.   It's inside the small house next to the road side shrine.  The next large building is a museum.  It's currently under repair.  It seems like just the roof has been redone.  It is about some famous person named Sergiu whose bust you can see on the grounds of the museum.  Next is the gymnasium or local school.  It covers grades 1-9.  My friend Sergiu is posing in front of antoher statue of the more historical Sergiu.  Segiu, my friend, went to this school himself a good dozen years ago.  Hey US taxpayers.  You can be proud that some USAID money went to upgrade this school.  Next we see the "teren de sport"  or playing fields of the gymnasium.  Notice the clever use of old tires for sideline boarders.  Next we have the "casa cultura".  Every place of any size has one of these.  Its where all the public activities take place.  I've heard that ours has a "masa de tenis" or ping pong table in it.  I can't wait to check that out.  Next we see the local post office "Oficiu Postal".  And a War Memorial to those who fought for peace in World War II.  And finally we come to the place where I work.  The CCM UNIVERSUL,  That stands for the Centru Comunitar Multifunctional Universul.  You can see me with my Moldovan partner, Viorica Osfatinshi.  Its a wonderful place and I have had a whirlwind first week of observations there.  Tomorrow I'm starting an English class for the staff.  They asked for it!

Down in the Valley

My favorite part of the day is when the cows come home.  Most of the families here in Jeloboc have some type of animal to raise.  Some ducks, some geese, some goats and sheep, and of course the cows.  When it comes to cows, families own one to four cows.  All the cows pasture together everyday some distance from the village.  Each family tends the herd for the number of days they have cows.  So for my family it is four days a month.  I've tried to count the cows as they come home.  I'm estimating there are at least 50 or 60 in the herd.  About eight oclock in the evening, just before sundown, the herd comes walking back to town along the valley.  You can hear them moooing as they approach.  Maybe they're glad to be home? Maybe they're saying they want to be out longer?  I don't speak Romanian cow yet.  So your guess is as good as mine.  In the pictures above you get a view of the valley, the herd of goats and sheep, and the cows coming home.  My host Sergiu is there to make sure our four cows find their way home.  We make it to our back door and in they go.  Looks like you can also see a little bit of someone else's back door in the last picture.  Now its time to milk the cows.

Welcome to Jeloboc

Well I haven't even been here a week and already it seems like home.  As you can see when you arrive on the routiera from Orhei, Jeloboc is to your left and Piatra is to your right.  Straight ahead is the CCM Universul.   That's the Centru Comunitar Multifuncional Universul.  That's where my primary work time will be spent in the next two years.  More on that another day.  Go past the church and make the next right.  At the next well, make a left and take it down the hill til it T's and the first house on the right is where I live.  The family here are the Leca's:  Domnul Iliea, Doamna Iulia, and son Sergiu.  Sergiu is 28 just like my son Zachary.  Hey Wisconsin! this is a Moldovan dairy farm.  I get fresh milk and home made butter and cheese every day.  Some pictures above show our outdoor eating area, the lovely balcony of the casa mare, and the outdoor bathroom facilities.  As you may have guessed the lovely room in the casa micha is mine and you even have a view from my bedroom window.  It's looking East and I can see the sun come up over the valley every day.

Orheihul Vechi-Part V

Back to our expedition to Orhei Vechi,  the caves or "groapa".  Once again this landscape is part of the Raut River basin.  The caves are just outside Trebujeni.  You can see us traveling up the trail to the cave.  We seem like tiny ants.  When we get to cave level we can look back at the town of Trebujeni.  We notice evidence of sea shells in the rock.  Could this have been part of the ocean thousands of years ago?  We explore the caves further.  You can see the great panoramic view I had from up this high.  Peace Corps explores the archeology of Moldova.  And then they rest their tired feet in the Raut River. 

Orheiul Vechi- Part IV

Part IV of visiting the Orheiul Vechi cave monastery is also visitng the new monastery high on the cliff above.  You can see the Peace Corps volunteers hiking the dusty trail down the ridge of the bluff to the new "briserica"  or church.  The court yard of the monastery has beautiful flowers and shirnes.  It also has a very welcoming cold water pump.  Several of us could not pass up the opportunity to be rebaptized with this refreshing water.  From here we went down into the valley near the town of Trebujeni.   You can see the "albastaru" (blue) domes of the town briserica off in the distance.  The Raut river has its natural admireres too as well as a local holstein hefer.  Ya sure, you betcha.