In Moldova now, day 2. We arrived late Sunday night and made it just in time to catch the final bus from airport to city of Chisinau. We get dropped off and walk about 4 blocks to airbnb apartment. It's passed 11pm and about 10 degrees out (yes, that's fahrenheit) and our host said she'd wait for us for 40 minutes after our plane landed.  We make our way to an exterior courtyard poorly lit with no clear markings on doors. At this point I'm wondering if it's past 40 minutes then what? Will she actually leave? Jamie reached her and thankfully figured out we were at the wrong building and we found the door. The exterior and hallways are super sketchy, but interior is nicely decorated with many accommodations. And warm.

Walking into interior courtyard of apartment complex.
This pic was after the first night because thankfully there was no snow when we dragged luggage from bus stop to apartment:

View of courtyard behind apartment: 

Super nondescript door into apartment:

Up to third floor apartment.  Lights motion sensored so hallways are dark when you first enter: 

Electrical wiring above front door.  Not a smoke detector in sight. Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray these wires don't burn me to a crisp....

Enclosed balcony overlooking street. Cold enough to store butter and yogurt so we didn't have to turn fridge on:  

View from balcony overlooking street:

Monday morning we walked a few  blocks to the bus station and took a ride out to the country to meet Jamie's host family and check out the village. After a 1-1/2 hour bus ride we get dropped off at the entrance of the village in the middle of nowhere and walk the rutted dirt roads to his host family's home. Most homes have concrete or metal fencing around the entire perimeter, and many are quite decorative. There is a constant juxtaposition of underdevelopment (e.g. dirt roads) and attempts at opulence (e.g. ornate fencing).

Bus to village.  Notice picture of Jesus behind the driver's seat.
Moldova version of "Jesus Take the Wheel"!

Bus full on way to village.  Notice everyone except guy right in front wearing hats.  EVERYONE wore hats!

We were greeted by Jamie's host parents and sister-in-law who welcome us with a beautiful Moldovan lunch they clearly spent a lot of time preparing. There was placinta (pronounced pla-CHIN-ta) which has no relation to female anatomy but is a fried thin dough, similar to pizza dough but without the yeast, and can be stuffed with a variety of fillings. We had one with cabbage and one with butternut squash. There was also baked goose, mamaliga  (mo-ma-LEE-ka) which is some cornmeal mould you dip in sour cream or some traditional fermented cheese (looked similar to feta cheese but in small bits), cabbage and carrot salad, fresh hrean (h-ray-un) which is a horseradish beet wine mixture (about one of the only hot/spicy foods they tolerate), ajica (a-JEE-ka) which is a tomato chilli pepper apple sweet pepper salsa type dish, stuffed cabbage leaves, pickled watermelon, homemade pickles, and a red pepper, mushroon, cauliflower marinated dish. We were given house wine throughout in teeny tiny cups, so if I say I had 6 glasses it was about 1/2 of my usual glass at home. Lol! After going on a tour of the greenhouses outside in their back yard, we had some wonderfully hot mulled house wine.

Backyard greenhouses where Jamie's host family grows organic vegetables to sell to co-op buyers and restaurants in the capital of Chisinau.  Family takes produce by bus on 3-hour round trip ride to capital.  Silent prayer of thanks for my car.

Jamie and host dad: 

More greenhouses:

Host dad checking on lettuce: 

Jamie, Tony and Polly talking to host mom.  Polly likes attention :)

Neighbor's fence line with chickens on other side: 

Jamie talking with host mom and dad: 

More greenhouses:

Jamie and Polly: 

Polly Guanciale (and should she be a he, Ollie Guanciale): 

Grapevines from the States: 

Jamie and host mom with grapevines:

Tony, Polly and host dad.  Don't let the host dad's dress fool you.  It was flippin' cold!

Host family's car they bought to fix up and resell:

We got to see Jamie's adopted cat, Polly, who adores Jamie. She was outside when we got there (it's still less than 20 degrees out, but sunny) and probably been relegated to the outdoors in Jamie's absence. Cats are for mousing and that is it. They are appalled Jamie lets the cat sleep on his bed, but Polly comforted him through bouts of food poisoning so he takes care of her in kind.

Later we took a walk through the village to a corner store to gets bottles of water for the host family to fill with wine for us to take home. Along the way we crossed paths with several of the dogs Jamie has befriended over time. He's the Pied Piper of Moldova! One little dog was wagging himself into a frenzy and was very excited to see him. Jamie bent down to pet him as well as another big furry dog behind a gate. I went up to pet the little dog and his demeanor immediately changed to skittish as he gave a little growl while backing away sideways. Jamie said it took home over 6 months to gain his trust. Poor thing.  We found out later the little dog is a stray with no home and gets rocks and sticks thrown at him by others.  Jamie is the only one in the whole world who shows him what love is.  Soon after we left Moldova Jamie said he found him bloodied and beaten up.  The dog still managed to wag his tail when he saw Jamie, and while Jamie petted him he felt at peace enough to rest his bloodied head in Jamie's hand and almost fell asleep.

Say a prayer for those who rescue and home stray dogs.

Little stray dog that ADORES Jamie:

Jamie's canine affection transcends the fences! 

Village turmoil as a resident bought geese to raise and lets them wander the streets.
Yup, every town around the world has "that guy".

Village school: 

Resident's fence: 

Village monument to those displaced and sent to Soviet Gulags: 

Display case in small village store.

Please note the fish heads two shelves down from the candy. One stop shopping. lol! 

Village electricity supply building:

Staircase inside village school:  

Way cool snowflake in village school.  They totally rock the paper snowflake! 

Scarecrow in villager's yard: 

We also got to meet the town mayor and preschool program director. The preschool dirctor welcomed us into her office and we sat to have a nice conversation with her. Jamie said she's a hard worker and runs a very tight ship. Essentially non-Moldovanesque. She had a very kind nature to her that came through despite the language barrier. We were not able to meet the librarian who was out to lunch.

Once we got back we took some group photos (mental note: NEVER attempt to figure adjustments on cameras immediately before taking once-in-a-lifetime moments), collected the caché of gifts they provided, and got a ride back to the capital from Jamie's host brother. The roads are horrible! Jamie says there is an extra charge for delivery to the country because nobody wants to drive on the roads. On the bus ride out we passed an accident that was later reported on the news with 5 deaths. On the way back we passed another crash on the same stretch. Driving is not for the faint of heart here.

Notice the blank stares in the picture below? That is because I cannot figure out how to get the &#%! camera to work after attempting the self-timer feature so we could all get into the picture.  You know what the host family thought of me at this moment?  Idiot! Way too much camera for that little lady. UGH!

Back row from left: Jamie, Tony, host dad, host mom
Front row from left: host brother, host niece (host brother's daughter), host sister-in-law, I'll get back to you on the other couple...

Host niece, host sister-in-law, host mom, me, and uh.... host mom's sister-in-law? 

Host parents, oh you get the picture by now.... 

Host brother only made the first shot then skedaddled to warm the car up for our trip back to the capital. He had enough of the camera malfunction shenanigans!

Tony opening gummy bears we brought for host niece. Someone told me they didn't have gummy candy over there, so we brought a monster bag of it... and come to find out they DO have gummy candy.  But can you ever have enough of the bears?

The family gifted us some Moldovan cognac, handmade crochet bag, cute beaded flower arrangement ironically in blue and orange for S.U. colors so I will bring to work with me, 2 jars of the ajica, and 4 bottles of house wine. I felt horrible taking any of it but to say no would be rude.

Sometimes it seems those with the least give the most. One of life's ironies I suppose.  I am reminded of a passenger on the way over in business class in front of us who was being moved to first class and bumping someone back to business class, and "worried" the other person would be irate. And you have mentally ill or elderly people with no remaining relations in a country where the youth and educated flee living in a hovel with no windows or doors in some obscure village in sub zero temperature with no means to survive and no societal safety net.

Travel tip #1 - if you want to travel to countries and get a phenomenal exchange rate, you probably won't be flushing toilet paper.

Travel tip #2 - those types of countries keep you grounded.