Monasteries

      This past week has been very busy. I've worked at the orphanage every day and really enjoyed it. I have a couple of older children and am trying to teach them some sign language. Right now, they just cry and whine whenever they want something. I'm trying to teach them to say please and show me what they want. I've gotten them to start coming to me. I'll move my fingers and say 'Come on' and then they'll totter towards me and I'll pick them up and throw them in the air. They love it. The other babies have been so sweet too. There are still some in quarantine, and we take them out to play in the main room when the others are napping.
    Every day a lady comes in with special swaddling blankets and swaddles some of the babies. She only swaddles them from the belly button down and she has a list with the names of the babies to be swaddled. On Tuesday, I got a good look at the swaddling and noticed that the babies are swaddled in clay. It is a big square of clay that is wrapped in plastic and then a blanket. The woman puts the baby's legs (sans diaper) on the clay and then swaddles the baby tightly. I had never seen such a thing before and was very confused by it. I asked a couple of people about it, and they didn't know what it was. Then I asked one of the caregivers, in russian. She said it was Parafina. I googled it and it looks like they are using parfin wax to swaddle the babies in. Parfin wax is used for arthritus and other forms of pain, so I assume that is what they are using it for with the babies-some kind of pain relief.
      The other volunteers haven't been having as much luck with their caregivers as I have. In fact, their caregivers really would rather not have them there. One their second day, the caregivers made the volunteers take a child into another room. They didn't want to be around them. Then, after lunch, the caregivers refused to let the volunteers back into the room. Vika called  the orphanage and everything was cleared up, however, there are still a couple of caregivers who won't even look at the volunteers. It is not a nice environment to be in.
     On friday after work, Vika took us to Mall-dova, the mall here in Chisinau. (Yes, it really is called Mall-dova). We had Greek for dinner and then she took us to her fruit and chocolate place. It's a little stand that sells cups of ice cream with fruit and covered in chocolate. I got white chocolate in mine. It was delicious. We went back today for more!
    Saturday, Valeru, picked us up and took us to a couple of monasteries. One monastery, Orhei Vechi, was built into a cliff over looking a river. It was amazing. We climbed up a hill and went into a church at the very top. We walked down a darkened, stone cooridor into the chapel. Then, we opened a door that lead out onto a ledge. It was incredible. In the 13th century, monks had carved out a series of caves in the cliff to live in. The 'dormotory' where the monks lived still exists. It is a low ceilinged stone room with twelve little compartments. We had to hunch over to walk around. One monk still lives there. He speaks a little bit of English and said Hello to us as we passed him on the path. The monastery was breath taking.
    Before taking us to the monastery, Valeru took us to a traditional Moldovan house. He showed us the Casa Mare, which is the guest house. It's used by the family in the summer, but when guests come they give it up and move into another, smaller house. They keep the Casa Mare very clean, because they believe Jesus is always a guest in that house. It was a little wood cottage that was very cute. The real house was a stone house, carved into the side of the hill. It was very small, with a lofted area where the children slept. The loft was made of stone and carved out underneath so that a fire could be made inside to heat the children's bed. The mother and father had separate beds on the ground. Next to the real house was the cellar, where all the wine and food was kept. Many people in Moldova make their own wine. Valeru told us, it used to be a tradition to pick grapes on the day your child was born, put them in a barrel and bury them in the yard. Then dig the barrel up the day of that child's wedding.
      The other monastery we went to was called Curchi and it was also very beautiful. About 40 monks live there today. It's not in the side of a cliff but is a brilliant red color. A monk gave us a little bit of a tour with Valeru translating.
    After visiting the monasteries, Valeru took us to his home in a village outside of Chisinau. There we meet his wife (we'd actually met her before), his two young sons, infant daughter and mother-in-law. His wife, Victoria, is an English teacher and she took us to her school, right across the street, to meet a couple of her students. We spoke with  them in English for about an hour. They were very nice, and very excited to practice their English. I will be going back, and one of them offered to make me a Moldovan dish that I am excited to try.
    After the English lesson, we went back to Valeru's house for dinner. We had had a large lunch and we were still full but we ate what they put in front of us anyway. It was soup, noodles, and peaches. They have a large garden and do a lot of canning so we got to try a couple juices they had made. We also tried some wine Valeru had bought from a Monastery. It was very good. Sweet and very grapey. After dinner, the whole family piled into the car and dropped us off at home.
    Today is Memorial day here and on Monday no one works. However, Vika asked at the orphanage and they said that we can come in tomorrow. The other volunteers are only here for one more week and they didn't work last monday, half tuesday and half wednesday. They didn't want to miss out on anymore days.
     Today we were very busy once again. We went to the craft market early in the morning and then got on a bus to visit a very beautiful blue church I had noticed on our way to Mall-dova. Then we headed to the central market, where I bought a puke apron (an apron with sleeves to wear over my clothes at work since I have been getting spit up upon regularily). The other volunteers bought some small hay brooms to give as soveigners. After the market, we went to the grocery store and then headed home. We had some tea and then went to a restaurant for lunch. We had mushroom pancakes, corn mush (that's what it is actually called, it is like grits and served with sour cream and feta cheese) and fries. After lunch, we grabbed a bus and went to visit a cemetery.
    On Memorial day, everyone goes to the cemetery to lay flowers on the graves of their loved ones. They also bring a big meal and everyone eats over the graves. Quite a few graves actually have picnic tables overtop of them so that people can eat on the graves. The cemetery was pretty busy. A lot of the grave stones had pictures of people on them, which were interesting. The cemetery wasn't as organized as ours tend to be,. Their graves were surrounded by metal fences and set close to one another, facing different ways. We passed a huge gravestone of a husband and wife holding hands and then we realized we had seen them before. While walking past the National Palace (a music venue) we saw that there was to be a concert in memory of the famous singers Ion and Doina. This was their grave.
      After the cemetery, we took a bus back home and then took a bus to Mall-dova for some more fruit and chocolate. Buses here are 20 cents so we don't feel too guilty about taking 6 buses in one day. Now we're back home, drinking monastery wine and relaxing. Vika has gone home this weekend for the holiday, so it is just the volunteers and me. It's going to be so hard to say goodbye to them in a week.