The rooster
crows. I roll out from under the
covers and wrap a scarf around my neck as I head to the outhouse. The man next door is already at work in
his apiary – boxes of beehives for making honey. (Unfortunately,
I am neither sneaky enough nor bold enough to take his photo.) I greet him in Romanian and marvel, again, at
the fact that I am in Moldova. Ah,
the charm of
Eastern Europe! I feel like I have
stepped back into the medieval times – life seems to go on pretty much as it
would have five hundred years ago.
Horse-drawn
wagons share the road with old cars and bicycles. Women dressed in dark colors, with kerchiefs covering the
hair – reminds me of my little Greek grandma – sell vegetables on the side of
the road. (Sorry I haven’t gotten a good photo of them yet.)
Last week,
we were based in the Moldovan village of Cornesti. All day long, we toiled in the fields, literally: digging up
grass and weeds, tilling the soil, preparing it for planting. This week, in the village of
Soldernesti, we are also working in the garden: pruning vines and planting
vegetables. There are so many
parables in the Bible related to farming that I am grateful for this
opportunity to learn more about it (even if my back hurts).
Both homes
where we have stayed have been without indoor plumbing. That means more trips to the well. It sort of reminds me of our experience
in East Africa, except here the water is freezing! Bathing is quite a hassle, so it doesn’t happen but once a
week. And sometimes our guys have
to actually chop the wood to make the fire on which to heat the water.
I am a big fan of medieval times, but I’m not sure I’d be able to live there full time. I guess these could also just be qualities of rural life, in which case, it’s still true.
