It rained a lot in Moldova. And I mean a lot.
We thought maybe after the first four days of constant rain, the clouds would clear up and the rain would go away, and for a couple of days it did, but then it came back just as cold and dreary as it was in the beginning, as if two and a half days of sunshine and warm weather didn’t matter a single bit.
It was relentless and we slowly started to become restless with nothing to do.
Our contact, Andrei, told us that “maybe people in America go outside in rain, but in Moldova, we stay home.” So that’s what we did. We stayed home in the little cabin where we lived, mostly resting with bouts of productivity and game nights.
In the nighttime, I would lay my head down next to the crackling fire and then wake up 2 hours later and run through the rain to the squatty potty, because when you don’t have a lot to do during the day, you tend to make a lot of tea.
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A couple of the rare, sunny afternoons we were able to go play with the kids in the youth group, and one afternoon Cara and I went to the middle school with Andrei and answered all of the kids’ questions about America, iPhones, and all the different countries we’ve been to. Another non-rainy day, a few of us were able to help with a medical team from the states who were serving in a village nearby, and I was able to ask questions about the clinic and see firsthand what overseas medicine looks like, which was something I’d really been hoping to see on the race.
And the first really nice day was the day before Easter, and we went to the church to help clean up, haul some dirt, and make the curbs look nice and pretty.
And then it rained again.
And we were back in the cabin, watching Dirty Dancing and Pretty Woman, and playing head’s up to pass the time. I could tell the sun was trying so hard to come out and the flowers were blooming, their bright colors telling the rain that they’d had enough and it could stop now, and after a few more days all cozied up in the cabin, it slowly but surely started to listen.
The sun came out with the dandelions and the bees and the sunny side of spring welcomed me with my first ever bee sting. So that was nice.
With the sunshine we helped cut wood and move cement bricks to do some landscaping around the house. We spent a few days over at a friend’s house and were able to help her and her husband with clearing land around their home and afterwards they surprised us with a delicious, traditional Uzbekistan dinner. We were also able to play soccer, volleyball and basketball with some of the kids from the community and share our testimonies with them during halftimes.
And one nice day towards the end of the month we were able to go to the Ukraine for pizza.
Eastern Europe has been the hardest two months for me on the race.
I’ve met wonderful people and had great contacts, but life in Moldova and Romania happens at a much slower pace than anything I am used to. Coming from Nepal, where all I wanted to do was everything I possibly could in a months worth of time, and then being caught in the business of parent vision trip, life was so hurried and fast pace and it suddenly came to a startling stop the end of Romania and all of Moldova.
It’s been a struggle to figure out the line between rest and laziness, and in the beginning of the month I felt guilty for the moments I was not working and lounging around the cabin with no agenda and nothing to do. I kept wishing we could work and I didn’t see that what I really needed was a second to sit down before all the excitement that’s going to come in the next part of life.
I realized that sometimes life gives you moments to rest when you aren’t necessarily expecting them or wanting them, but the surprise of restful moments is not a gift meant to make you feel guilty for everything you could be doing, but thankful for what you already have.
And I’m thankful for Moldova.
I’m thankful for rain and I’m thankful for rest.
Because it was these things that slowed me down when life started to become fast paced and blurry, and allowed me to see the beauty and color that is blooming before my very eyes.
