Week 3 Day 7
Once again (thank GOODNESS), I got to sleep in until about 8:30, since we didn’t have to be at the American Councils building until 10:00 for our excursion.
I got into the city with little trouble, and for once, everyone was on time! We drove between an hour and an hour and a half to the IA Mania Moldovan cultural festival, which was somewhat near Orhei, a town near the first monastery we had visited.
On the way, we stopped to take pictures in one of the many sunflower fields along the road, which was really pretty.
When we got there, the festival was in full swing, and once Elliott gave us our lunch money, we were free to explore for the next 3ish hours.
First, most of the girls and I went to buy flower crowns (we saw a lot of people wearing them, and there were multiple booths where they were making them as we watched), and somewhat oddly, we were all able to find ones that kind of matched our own looks and personalities. They varied somewhat in prices, but mine was 100 lei (almost exactly $6), which seemed like a pretty good deal.
After we browsed some of the booths selling jewelry and clothing, we moved over to the other side of the field, which was the designated food section. There were a lot of buffet-style lines where you could choose what meat and vegetables you wanted, and it would be weighed for the price...unfortunately, we only had 100 lei each for lunch, which meant that it you were getting meat, you wouldn’t be eating too much.
I had some kind of meat—I don’t really know what kind, but it was really tender and juicy, and some potatoes...not really the healthiest meal, but it was good (and affordable).
I saw a lot of people in *traditional garb*, which consisted of embroidered blouses and skirts, and since there were a lot of booths selling articles of clothing, I decided to loot for a blouse to buy. At one tent I found two, and I was about to buy one, but it turns out I had misheard the price...instead of 450 lei (about $27) it was 4,500 lei (about $270)...which meant I couldn’t afford it. I guess it’s good that I didn’t spend that much money on it, but I was slightly disappointed, since I really liked it.
On the bright side, this meant that I had much more money to spend on other things. I managed to get a bit of souvenir shopping done (I won’t say what in case the intended recipient is reading this, but I think I did a good job choosing), and I also bought myself an over-the-shoulder bag. I had sought multiple people’s advice before buying it and gotten mixed answers...mostly yes’s, a no from Miette, and Maggie just said “that’s so art lesbian”—which wasn’t a clear yes or no and I’m still not really sure what that’s supposed to mean, but I thought it was kind of funny.
We walked around for a while until we met up by one of the gates where we had come in to meet Elliott. As it turns out, he was with some FLEX alumni and current participants, so we talked to them for a while, too. FLEX is kind of a reverse NSLI-Y...it’s a group of students from all around Eastern Europe and Central Asia who go live in different parts of the U.S. for a year during high school to learn English. They were in Chisinau for their equivalent of pre-departure orientation, before they go to the U.S. in about a month. It was really cool talking to them and we were all pretty impressed at how good their English was (definitely better than our Russian, but they also have to use it amongst themselves as it’s their only common language, so they get more practice, too).
After a bit of that, we left and drove back to the city, where we arrived just in time for dinner. Overall, Sunday was a really fun day, but we were all left a bit exhausted by the end of it!
I got into the city with little trouble, and for once, everyone was on time! We drove between an hour and an hour and a half to the IA Mania Moldovan cultural festival, which was somewhat near Orhei, a town near the first monastery we had visited.
On the way, we stopped to take pictures in one of the many sunflower fields along the road, which was really pretty.
The sunflower field.
When we got there, the festival was in full swing, and once Elliott gave us our lunch money, we were free to explore for the next 3ish hours.
First, most of the girls and I went to buy flower crowns (we saw a lot of people wearing them, and there were multiple booths where they were making them as we watched), and somewhat oddly, we were all able to find ones that kind of matched our own looks and personalities. They varied somewhat in prices, but mine was 100 lei (almost exactly $6), which seemed like a pretty good deal.
Our tickets to the festival.
The admissions bracelets they gave us to wear.
A few of us in our flower crowns.
Left to right: me, Maggie, Georgia and Melina
(Credit to Cameron)
After we browsed some of the booths selling jewelry and clothing, we moved over to the other side of the field, which was the designated food section. There were a lot of buffet-style lines where you could choose what meat and vegetables you wanted, and it would be weighed for the price...unfortunately, we only had 100 lei each for lunch, which meant that it you were getting meat, you wouldn’t be eating too much.
My lunch.
I had some kind of meat—I don’t really know what kind, but it was really tender and juicy, and some potatoes...not really the healthiest meal, but it was good (and affordable).
I saw a lot of people in *traditional garb*, which consisted of embroidered blouses and skirts, and since there were a lot of booths selling articles of clothing, I decided to loot for a blouse to buy. At one tent I found two, and I was about to buy one, but it turns out I had misheard the price...instead of 450 lei (about $27) it was 4,500 lei (about $270)...which meant I couldn’t afford it. I guess it’s good that I didn’t spend that much money on it, but I was slightly disappointed, since I really liked it.
One of the blouses I had wanted to buy.
On the bright side, this meant that I had much more money to spend on other things. I managed to get a bit of souvenir shopping done (I won’t say what in case the intended recipient is reading this, but I think I did a good job choosing), and I also bought myself an over-the-shoulder bag. I had sought multiple people’s advice before buying it and gotten mixed answers...mostly yes’s, a no from Miette, and Maggie just said “that’s so art lesbian”—which wasn’t a clear yes or no and I’m still not really sure what that’s supposed to mean, but I thought it was kind of funny.
The bag I purchased.
We walked around for a while until we met up by one of the gates where we had come in to meet Elliott. As it turns out, he was with some FLEX alumni and current participants, so we talked to them for a while, too. FLEX is kind of a reverse NSLI-Y...it’s a group of students from all around Eastern Europe and Central Asia who go live in different parts of the U.S. for a year during high school to learn English. They were in Chisinau for their equivalent of pre-departure orientation, before they go to the U.S. in about a month. It was really cool talking to them and we were all pretty impressed at how good their English was (definitely better than our Russian, but they also have to use it amongst themselves as it’s their only common language, so they get more practice, too).
After a bit of that, we left and drove back to the city, where we arrived just in time for dinner. Overall, Sunday was a really fun day, but we were all left a bit exhausted by the end of it!
When I got home, there was a cat sunning itself on one of the cars parked outside.
Oooo, pretty sunflowers and flower crowns!
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